An Ominous Sign (1)
The Chinese government announced that the explosions that had occurred almost simultaneously in several major cities were large-scale terrorist attacks carried out by remnants of the Old Blood.
Just as Seon Yul had said, there was not even the slightest mention of AbsoluteSafetyFirst or South Korea.
Cheon Li Yu found that strange, but Seon Yul kept saying it was only natural.
There was only one reason why Seon Yul was so confident.
The current situation in China…
A large-scale raid had occurred in Sichuan Province, and in Haikou City in the south, a chain of events had also erupted.
Not only that, but high-grade gates were sprouting up like mushrooms across several provinces, forcing them to scramble frantically just to deal with them.
After hearing all this from Cha Seong Hyeon, Seon Yul was able to predict China’s next move with ease.
“Looks like they’ll contact us soon.”
Seon Yul spoke as if it were obvious while talking on the phone with Cha Seong Hyeon.
[Excuse me? Contact?]
“China. China will probably contact us.”
[If China contacts us… Do you mean they’ll call to question what happened?]
“Absolutely not. I told you before, China will definitely ignore and bury that incident. They’ll contact us for a different reason.”
[If it’s for something else… Ah! Wait… Do you think they really will contact us?]
Cha Seong Hyeon, who was clearly sharp-minded, understood the implication just from that much.
“They will. Among all the users they currently know about, I’m the most reliable one. And after experiencing it firsthand through this incident, they must have properly realized that. So they’ll definitely contact us.”
[Well… the situation in China right now really is serious. Even if the Dimension Management Bureau had been operating normally, it would’ve been difficult… But right now, the Chinese government has stepped in and is trying to somehow keep the management system running, yet everything is in complete chaos. So it’s only natural that the entire country is in an uproar because they can’t deal with the gates in time.]
“All the key connections that held the Dimension Management Bureau together have been severed. Even if the Chinese government steps in directly, normalizing things will be impossible. That’s why… I think there’s a high chance they’ll contact me and ask for help.”
[The Chinese are famous for having strong pride… Do you think they’ll really swallow their pride and ask for help?]
“Pride only works when the country itself is stable. Right now, the problem isn’t pride… it’s the survival of the nation. There’s no way they’ll be able to keep their heads held high.”
[That… could be true. But if they really ask for help, what should we do?]
“First, listen to everything they ask for. And… if they present compensation and accept the conditions, then I’m willing to genuinely help them.”
[AbsoluteSafetyFirst-nim helping China? That’s a bit…]
Cha Seong Hyeon roughly knew what China had done to Seon Yul, since he had heard the general story from him.
So Seon Yul’s words were somewhat hard for him to believe.
“From my perspective, the punishment is already finished. So if they give proper compensation, I might help them. Of course… when dealing with China, the standard for ‘proper’ compensation will be very high.”
[Ahh…]
Cha Seong Hyeon nodded as if he finally understood.
“Anyway, the urgent side is China, not us, so take your time negotiating. When they contact us, I’ll tell you the compensation conditions then.”
[Understood.]
After ending the call, Seon Yul immediately contacted Cheon Li Yu.
He told her that they should rest for a few days, and if China didn’t contact them, they could look for another hunting ground where the two of them could go together.
Although Seon Yul was confident that contact would come, there was still a very small possibility that it wouldn’t. In that case, he planned to simply go hunting with Cheon Li Yu.
“By the way… maybe it’s about time I used that.”
After finishing all the calls he needed to return, the item Seon Yul took out was the Wish Box (S) he had received… no, taken by force, from the United States in the past.
Originally, he had intended to use it immediately after obtaining it. But various things had happened, and he had been busy. Also, he hadn’t been able to decide exactly what he wanted when opening the box, so he had postponed opening it.
‘But now I’ve definitely decided.’
After thinking about it for a long time, Seon Yul had finally decided what he wanted to wish for when opening the box. He placed the box on the table and organized his thoughts for a moment.
‘Enhancing firearms would be nice, but enhancing the wire is more urgent than that.’
Once again, Seon Yul decided that the type of item he wanted was an Enchant Soul.
Among them, he wanted an Enchant Soul that could enhance wires, rather than firearms.
The biggest reason for this decision was that, when he reviewed the battles he had fought so far, the wire had been used in combat just as frequently and in just as many ways as firearms.
The main wire Seon Yul currently used was ‘Arachne’s Thread.’
It was definitely a wire with many advantages.
The wire itself was quite long at 50 meters, and its durability was as strong as adamantium, so it would not break easily.
But that didn’t mean it was perfect.
After being used continuously, the length of Arachne’s Thread had already decreased from 50 meters to 48 meters, and there were a few minor shortcomings here and there.
‘That’s why I need an Enchant Soul that can strengthen this Arachne Thread.’
Seon Yul nodded slightly and held the Wish Box (S) with both hands.
“An Enchant Soul that can enhance wire-type weapons…”
He spent a moment thinking continuously about the item he wanted.
‘Please let something useful come out!’
Until the very last moment, Seon Yul kept thinking about an Enchant Soul capable of enhancing wire-type weapons as he slowly opened the Wish Box (S).
Click.
[You have obtained the Unique++ grade Enchant Soul’s Ability Sharing.’]
‘Unique++ grade? The grade seems good at least. But the name… is a bit…’
The grade wasn’t bad.
But the name made him feel uneasy.
Still, the only way to know for sure was to check the item details, so he immediately opened the item window to confirm the information.
[Ability Sharing (Enchant Soul) <Unique++>]
— Allows several of the item user’s abilities to be shared.
[Base Effect] None.
[Owned Skill A] Recovery Sharing (Passive): Shares the recovery ability of the item’s user, allowing the enchanted item to perform self-regeneration. Depending on the user’s recovery ability, the recovery power of this self-regeneration can become infinitely lower or infinitely higher.
[Owned Skill B] Mana Sharing (Passive): Shares the user’s mana, allowing the enchanted item to store mana. The stored mana can be retrieved again by the user whenever they want and in whatever amount they want.
[Owned Penalty] None.
“Uh… this isn’t bad at all?”
After confirming the Enchant Soul’s performance directly, Seon Yul exclaimed in surprise and delight.
‘Yes, this is exactly the kind of thing I wanted!’
Seon Yul had originally thought it would be fine even if it only allowed self-regeneration, regardless of the speed of recovery.
But the result was Recovery Ability Sharing.
This meant that Seon Yul could share his tremendous recovery ability, Hyper Regeneration, allowing Arachne’s Thread to regenerate almost in real time.
With this, he no longer had to worry much about the thread being damaged or shortened.
On top of that, Mana Sharing felt almost like a bonus.
Now that he had drawn an excellent Enchant Soul, the only thing left was to enchant it immediately.
Seon Yul naturally took out Arachne’s Thread and enchanted it right away.
As a result, Arachne’s Thread became ‘Arachne’s Thread with Shared Abilities.’
After finishing this task in a good mood, Seon Yul spent a few days relaxing in his small apartment in Seoul for the first time in a while.
He was waiting for the contact he expected from China.
And indeed, just two days later, he received a call from Cha Seong Hyeon.
[China has contacted us asking to deliver a request to AbsoluteSafetyFirst-nim to clear the chain event in Haikou City and the raid event in Sichuan Province.]
Just as expected, his prediction had not been wrong.
[Things are really unfolding exactly as you said, AbsoluteSafetyFirst-nim.]
“China is the one in a difficult position right now. They probably had a massive internal argument, too. People must’ve kept asking whether it was really right to request help from the ‘enemy’ who attacked them.”
[Yeah… Normally, China wouldn’t have been able to ignore those opinions. They must really be desperate.]
“They’ve been hit a few times properly, so ironically, they now realize that the person who can solve this problem the fastest is me.”
Among all countries, China in particular knew very well just how powerful Seon Yul was.
That was why they ignored everything and sent the request to him.
[Anyway, how should we handle it?]
“What compensation did they propose?”
[They said they’re willing to match whatever you want, within reason.]
“So they really are desperate.”
Seon Yul could clearly read their urgency from the request.
“Tell them we’ll do it if they provide 1,200 kg of mid-grade magic stones.”
Seon Yul chose the simplest form of compensation.
The reason he chose this was that he had recently used a large amount of mid-grade magic stones during raids and retaliation, leaving him with only a little over 300 kg remaining.
So he intended to extract as many mid-grade magic stones as possible from China, one of the countries with the largest reserves in the world.
[I’ll relay that exactly as you said. But they’ll definitely try to negotiate the amount. How far should we compromise?]
“There’s no need to compromise. Just tell them that if they don’t provide 1,200 kg of mid-grade magic stones, we won’t accept the request. As you know, the one in a hurry isn’t me… It’s China.”
Since the opponent was China, of all countries, Seon Yul had absolutely no intention of considering their urgent circumstances.
So he simply refused to negotiate.
[Understood.]
Cha Seong Hyeon thought similarly to Seon Yul, so he agreed and immediately relayed Seon Yul’s terms to China.
Naturally, China tried to negotiate the compensation somehow.
But Cha Seong Hyeon firmly stated that the compensation terms were not open for negotiation.
He negotiated exactly as Seon Yul had instructed.
In fact, Cha Seong Hyeon had always been careful around China during past negotiations, but this time he felt extremely satisfied being able to act boldly against them.
And once again, Seon Yul’s prediction proved correct.
Within a single day, China accepted the compensation Seon Yul had proposed.
They contacted him, saying they would prepare 1,200 kg of mid-grade magic stones and asked him to resolve the situation as quickly as possible.
China had completely lowered its stance.
Clearly, they were not in a position to be picky anymore.
After hearing China’s reply through Cha Seong Hyeon, Seon Yul immediately accepted the request.
Normally, requests made at the national level were certified by the World Gate Management Bureau, so this time Cha Seong Hyeon also finalized the request through that certification process.
Although the request was directed toward AbsoluteSafetyFirst, the certification procedures could be handled by a representative, so Cha Seong Hyeon completed it on his behalf.
Once the request was officially certified, Seon Yul immediately departed for Haikou City.
Of course, he didn’t leave by plane.
He contacted Cheon Li Yu, and together they used Real Painting [The Door] to move directly to Haikou City.
After arriving there, they immediately checked the situation.
“Wow… I was wondering why China was acting so humble… but now I see why.”
After confirming the situation, Seon Yul clearly understood China’s position.
The reason China had been far more humble than he expected was simple…
The situation was truly disastrous.
The chain of events in Haikou City had already turned the entire city into hell.
Civilians hadn’t even been properly evacuated. They had simply been hit directly by the chain event as it unfolded.
Even at this very moment, countless people were dying, and because of that, chain reactions continued to occur, causing gates to increase rapidly as well.
“This is serious.”
Even Cheon Li Yu shook her head as she muttered.
“Yeah. Let’s clean it up quickly first.”
The situation was difficult, but that didn’t mean it was difficult to clear.
Especially not for the Seon Yul–Cheon Li Yu duo.
Why?
Because they were already the greatest monster hunters in the world, unmatched by anyone.
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