Agency for Defense Development (2)
Before the age of mana civilization, a nation’s military power was extremely important.
Without this primitive yet powerful deterrent called military strength, a country could not properly assert its voice in the international community.
It was certainly true that as the era of mana civilization began, the military forces of the old era lost much of their power. But that did not mean they had become worthless.
The military power of the old era still retained sufficient deterrence.
In places where there was no mana field, that military force still demonstrated considerable strength. And, naturally, in this world, there were far more places without a mana field than places where one had been deployed.
Even before the mana civilization era, the Republic of Korea had been a military powerhouse, unquestionably ranking within the top ten in the world by military strength alone.
However, once the age of mana civilization opened, it came to be recognized as a powerhouse within the top five in the world.
The reason was simple.
The result of combining its existing old-era military power with the combat strength of mana users in the mana civilization era had grown larger.
Even so, Korea continued to make efforts to maintain its old-era military power as it was.
Although Korea possessed one of the most powerful mana-user forces of any nation, it knew very well that this alone was not enough.
The United States was still the so-called ‘Nation of a Thousand Trillion Dollars.’
China was still a great power competing with the United States.
In terms of mana-user forces alone, Korea did not fall far behind the United States or China. However, because the gap in old-era military strength was so large, the overall evaluation inevitably placed Korea below those two nations.
Those who did not understand these complicated interests often argued that the ‘Magitech-based National Defense System’ should be expanded even further. But that was seeing only one and missing two.
Balance was important in all things.
Harmony between the magitech defense system and old-era military power.
For that purpose, the Defense Science Research Institute still existed.
However, its name had now been changed to the ‘Magitech Defense Research Institute,’ and the fields it mainly studied were magitech weapons based on mana engineering. Even so, materials regarding old-era weapons remained intact.
And though not many, there were still a few projects that continued to research old-era weapons.
Now here was one decisive fact.
The overall director of this ‘Magitech Defense Research Institute’ happened… quite conveniently, Cha Seong Hyeon, who was also the chief magitech research director of the Republic of Korea’s Gate Management Bureau.
After receiving Seon Yul’s request, Cha Seong Hyeon coordinated a date with him and, on that day, cleared out the interior of the Magitech Defense Research Institute, leaving not a single staff member inside.
Only security personnel stationed outside the institute remained.
Just as Seon Yul had expected, the Management Bureau also wanted to conceal AbsoluteSafetyFirst’s identity as much as possible, so the matter was handled in strict secrecy.
Once everything was prepared, Seon Yul moved to the agreed location at the appointed date and time.
The meeting place was Daejeon.
The Magitech Defense Research Institute was located in Yuseong District, Daejeon Metropolitan City, and, precisely as promised, Seon Yul appeared at a bus stop near the institute at the exact agreed date and time.
He wore a baseball cap pulled low over his face, a mask covering his entire face, and even sunglasses. On top of that, he wore a thick leather coat that did not particularly suit the season.
Anyone who saw him might have found his attire somewhat strange, but since it was 2 a.m., there were hardly any people on the street.
Screech.
A black luxury sedan came to a stop in front of him.
The person who stepped out of the car was, of course, Cha Seong Hyeon.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Cha Seong Hyeon.”
“Let’s get in the car and talk.”
“Understood.”
Seon Yul quickly got into Seong Hyeon’s car, and Seong Hyeon followed immediately, driving toward the nearby Magitech Defense Research Institute.
“Hello. I’m AbsoluteSafetyFirst.”
“Only now… do I finally get to meet you.”
Seong Hyeon was genuinely glad to see Seon Yul.
“Thank you… for all the accommodations you’ve made until now.”
Of all people, Seong Hyeon was someone Seon Yul felt slightly comfortable with. They had spoken on the phone from time to time and had continued corresponding through emails, so it was only natural.
“On the contrary, we’re the ones who are grateful. Thanks to you, AbsoluteSafetyFirst, we cleared two new events without major damage… We truly look forward to working well with you in the future.”
“I only did what I was able to do.”
Seon Yul did not say this out of false humility.
He truly had only done it because he was capable of doing so.
If it had been something he could not handle, he believed he would have fled without hesitation.
“Nowadays, there aren’t many people who even do what they can.”
Seong Hyeon replied with a smile, and before long, the car carrying the two of them entered the institute grounds.
After parking in a suitable spot, they went inside.
Since Seong Hyeon had already firmly grasped Seon Yul’s disposition, he made no unnecessary small talk and made absolutely no attempts to uncover his identity.
He had already realized that for Seon Yul… no, for AbsoluteSafetyFirst, rather than clumsy tricks, it was better to approach him directly and sincerely. True to that understanding, he focused solely on what Seon Yul wanted.
“Now, if you press here… everything inside and its location will appear. Since you might not feel comfortable browsing if I stay beside you… Please carry this tablet PC and take your time looking around.”
Seong Hyeon handed Seon Yul a tablet PC he had prepared in advance.
The tablet contained a map application of the Magitech Defense Research Institute personally created by Seong Hyeon.
“Ah… thank you.”
Seon Yul was sincerely grateful for such consideration.
“And if, at any point, you’d like a detailed explanation, please call me. I’ll come to where you are and explain it.”
Even to the very end, Seong Hyeon provided tailored service.
By now, Seon Yul even found it remarkable how Seong Hyeon had anticipated and prepared exactly what he wanted.
Thanks to him, Seon Yul was able to tour the interior comfortably and at ease.
There was plenty of time.
Seong Hyeon had already taken measures to ensure no one would enter the institute until 8 a.m. And if more time was needed, he said he could extend it further.
Thus, Seon Yul began slowly examining the various weapons present in the institute.
Of course, most of them were not particularly useful to him.
However, a few were worth registering in the All-Purpose Store, so he looked through everything carefully.
After surveying several floors, he finally descended to the fourth basement research wing, where all the institute’s most important development projects were concentrated.
Today’s objective, the K–9X, was in one corner of this level.
Certainly, since the Defense Science Research Institute had become the Magitech Defense Research Institute, most projects here were weapons utilizing mana stones.
Unfortunately, most of those were of little help to Seon Yul.
For someone who possessed the ultimate cheat ability of Absolute Space, it was far better to have weapons of overwhelming performance that could not withstand mana than mediocre weapons designed to endure mana.
Thus, he merely glanced at the magitech weapons, thinking, ‘Ah, so this is what they’re developing’, and moved on.
Instead, the things Seon Yul focused on were all old-era weapons.
More precisely, weapons that were almost awkward to call old-era… those that, right before the mana civilization began, had been acknowledged as cutting-edge next-generation systems.
Now they had been pushed down in priority, their development halted or drastically reduced.
Those were what caught Seon Yul’s eye.
“Oh… even this…”
“Hoh, this…”
“Wow, so this is how…”
Continuing to marvel, he registered nearly all of them in the All-Purpose Store.
Even if development was unfinished, he thought it best to register them in case they might someday be used.
Passing by numerous weapons like that…
He finally reached today’s target: the K–9X.
Even at first glance, it looked like a futuristic next-generation self-propelled howitzer.
Seon Yul quickly registered it in the All-Purpose Store.
Then, beside the K–9X, another presence equally eye-catching entered his sight.
“K–3 stealth tank?”
Astonishingly, it was the successor model to the nation’s main battle tank, the K–2 Black Panther.
“Oh… It’s even a prototype… and says completion rate is over 90%.”
Reading the description on the tablet, Seon Yul nodded repeatedly.
“Let’s register this too.”
Since it cost nothing, he registered the K–3 stealth tank as well.
Afterward, he registered all kinds of ammunition used by self-propelled artillery and tanks.
Then he inspected a few more remaining old-era weapons.
Only after that did Seon Yul conclude his four-hour-long tour.
With this, he had achieved his purpose here 100%… no, over 120%.
Having examined the institute as much as he wished, Seon Yul met Cha Seong Hyeon again and left.
While riding alone with him, Seon Yul said that this time he wanted compensation in the form of intermediate-grade mana stones and cash rather than weapons.
Naturally, Seong Hyeon received the request accurately and promised to handle it as quickly as possible.
They parted ways.
Seong Hyeon never clung to the meeting nor at the farewell, and Seon Yul appreciated that to the end.
A few days later, Seon Yul received 100 kilograms of intermediate-grade mana stones and 2 billion won in cash through community mail from the Bureau.
Kindly, the Bureau had withdrawn the 2 billion won in untraceable brand-new 50,000-won bills.
As soon as he received the cash, Seon Yul selected a detached house near Sehwa Beach on Jeju Island and signed a one-year lease.
At the signing, he paid approximately 30 million won in cash for the yearly rent on the spot, behaving as ordinarily as possible, so he did not arouse suspicion.
He placed the steel box he had stored in Absolute Space in the house.
For the time being, whenever he wished to visit Jeju, he planned to come via that steel box. Since he intended to keep using it for a while, it was convenient to leave it there and retrieve it as needed.
“If I go back and forth for about a year, I’ll know for sure whether it’s livable.”
Rather than immediately settling in Jeju permanently, Seon Yul judged it better to try living there first.
After securing the house, he followed his plan and commissioned leather artisan Michiko.
Michiko was the artisan who had made the mask he was currently using. Upon further research, he discovered she was actually quite a famous mana user.
Known for accepting only high-quality leather as payment, Michiko was reputed to be obsessed with leather, crafting exclusively leather goods.
Since Seon Yul happened to have an abundance of high-quality drake leather, he sent her a sample and requested that she make one top and one bottom using drake leather, offering to pay entirely in drake leather.
Drake leather was practically the best leather available at present, except for a few extremely special types, so Michiko replied immediately.
After Seon Yul conveyed the style and conditions he wanted, Michiko said that as long as she was supplied with sufficient Drake leather, she would create the finest top-and-bottom armor set using her best leathercraft technique: the triple-lamination processing method.
However, she required 10 sheets of Drake leather as a production cost. Since she stated that 40 sheets were needed for materials, a total of 50 sheets had to be sent.
At first, he briefly wondered whether she was exaggerating the required amount, but community reviews consistently said that while she was known for many things, she had great pride in leather craftsmanship and did not cheat on production costs. So he decided to trust her.
Fifty sheets of Drake leather were worth 1 billion won.
It was certainly not an insignificant amount. But to obtain a master’s work, expenses were inevitable. He immediately sent the 50 sheets via mail.
With the leather armor commission cleanly concluded, Seon Yul finally searched for a hunting ground where he could quietly level up for a while.
Over several days, he browsed various communities and the internet.
There were a few suitable locations.
However, they were all strictly controlled and managed by the Bureau or specific factions, making it difficult to enter secretly.
Even if he did slip in, hunting secretly would present another problem.
“In the end, the only viable place is there again.”
The Northern Dungeon Area… after going around in circles, it came back to that place.
***
The Northern Dungeon Area had been created through a chain event.
Then had the chain event that destroyed North Korea in the past ended?
The answer was no.
Astonishingly, the chain event was still ongoing.
The reason it appeared finished was that each chain event had a predetermined number of chains.
A chain event, by definition, occurred when the first gate was not cleared within the designated time. Two connected gates would then appear, and the remaining three events had to be cleared within their time limit.
Fail again? The gates increased to seven.
This process is repeated until reaching the predetermined chain limit.
In North Korea’s case, the chain limit had been twelve.
When all twelve chains occurred, the total number of gates created reached 4,097.
That number was nearly identical to the number of gates currently covering the northern region.
After reaching the set chain count, the gates no longer increased in number.
Instead, all the expanded gates became permanent gates, periodically releasing monsters outward.
Through this process, the former North Korean region became the Northern Dungeon Area.
Additionally, during the chain process, slightly ‘special’ gates appeared from time to time. Those gates were of a higher grade than ordinary ones.
The gate Seon Yul intended to visit was precisely one of those higher-grade special gate zones.
However, all such special gate zones were separately controlled by the Bureau for entry and hunting.
The Northern Dungeon Area, where Seon Yul had previously hunted, was simply a region beyond what used to be called the demilitarized border, where anyone could roam freely and hunt.
But this time’s location was different.
So Seon Yul had no choice but to receive a bit of assistance from the Bureau.
It was not significant assistance… merely permission to hunt in one of the several special gate zones.
He said he would handle the entry himself and asked only for hunting permission. Naturally, the Bureau granted it.
Up to this point, there was no problem.
However, in the process, the Bureau inevitably informed the staff member managing that specific special gate zone that a VIP guest would be visiting and instructed them to do nothing… simply allow the VIP to continue hunting alone until they chose to stop on their own.
And at this point, a problem arose.
The staff member is managing the special gate zone.
This employee had long ago been recruited by another faction.
Naturally, upon hearing this sudden, unprecedented directive issued directly from above, the recruited staff member felt strong suspicion and reported the matter to the faction that had recruited them.
That… was the beginning of the problem.
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