Deal Sealed
“Halt!! Halt!! Stop right there!!”
A melting pot of every race under the sun. That was the first thought that hit me as I climbed down from Yongil and found a wall of Americans leveling swords and staves at my chest. Black, white, East Asian, Latino—every face taut with tension, every weapon pointed straight at me.
I gave them a sidelong glance.
Average level: early four hundreds. The strongest among them barely scraped the mid-five hundreds.
I, on the other hand, was a monster past Level 1000.
If I felt like it, wiping out every hunter standing here would not have been particularly difficult. Instead I simply raised both hands in plain sight.
“Anyone here speak Korean?”
I asked carefully, making it clear I had no intention of resisting. The hunters muttered among themselves, then finally dragged one man forward. The moment I saw him I knew he was Korean—he just looked the part.
“You’re Korean?”
Slightly clumsy Korean reached my ears. Overseas Korean, then. I nodded.
“I want to speak with whoever’s in charge. The highest person you can get.”
“What’s a Korean doing here? Crossing into another nation’s territory inside a gate is a violation of international law.”
He wasn’t wrong. So I didn’t bother with excuses or persuasion. Instead I wordlessly flung a sack stuffed full of Magic Stones straight at the overseas Korean.
“Take that to your superior. Better yet, get it to a DARPA researcher. Those are Magic Stones harvested from Level 700 monsters. The mana density is overwhelmingly higher than anything from low-level beasts. We’ve got nearly thirty tons of them sitting at our base.”
“Why are you giving this to us?”
The overseas Korean took the sack in pure bewilderment. I flashed him a grin.
“Tell them I want to make a deal. Tell them it’s about high-level hunters averaging Level 900 stably supplying high-purity Magic Stones. Consider that a little gift.”
He stared back and forth between me and the sack for a long moment, then turned and relayed my words in English. After a brief huddle they jerked their chins, gesturing me inside.
“Wait inside the base for now. We’ll make the report.”
“Make sure the highest person possible shows up. This is extremely important.”
“Understood.”
The hunters vanished. I dismissed Yongil, accepted a few chocolate bars as a snack, and settled in to wait at my leisure.
Even so, the anxiety refused to leave.
Is this the right fucking call?
What if Magic Stones aren’t actually that useful?
All I ever saw was a single news clip.
What if the other hunters back at base are already restless?
What if deserters start appearing, or the whole group fractures and opinion scatters?
What if the U.S. government simply doesn’t want to risk souring relations with Korea?
Was choosing this path really the right judgment?
And my family still in Korea—what happens to them?
Will the Korean government grab them and use them as hostages?
If that happens, what the hell do we do?
I was bouncing my leg in raw nerves when I spotted someone sprinting through the gate in a panic. I rose from my seat.
A slightly plump, middle-aged white American man in a suit—the classic type—spotted me and shot straight toward me like a bullet.
What was he about to say?
That they needed to consult the Korean government first?
That they were sorry, but international law had been broken and I needed to leave?
Anxiety, expectation, dread, and hope all tangled together as I watched him close the distance. The moment he reached me he seized my hand in both of his and began speaking rapidly with a broad, beaming smile. Since I didn’t understand English, I simply stood there blank until the overseas Korean beside us translated.
“He says he’d like to talk outside the gate. He’s very positively inclined to accept your deal.”
The tension that had locked every muscle in my body melted away in an instant.
I had gambled.
And luckily, it looked like the gamble had paid off.
I sat across from Vincent Volkov, President of the U.S. Hunter Association, in a café inside the military base outside the gate, sharing a simple cup of coffee while we talked.
“So you’re saying you can stably hunt monsters Level 700 and above?”
“Yes. Entirely possible. We have a total of one hundred three people. Excluding the fresh recruits who just transferred in, the veterans average Level 700. Besides myself, there’s one more person over Level 1000.”
“I’ve heard that Korea currently has the highest-level hunter in the world. You’re saying that person will fight for us as well?”
“Of course. We’ll sell every last ton of the nearly thirty tons of Magic Stones we currently hold. And those one hundred three hunters will hunt on behalf of the U.S. government. We’ll supply large quantities of high-level Magic Stones on a stable basis.”
Volkov received the translation and burst into a hearty laugh, his face lit with pure delight.
“Demand for Magic Stones is only going to keep exploding from here on out. We’ll reach the point where we can’t sell enough of them. Frankly, Mr. Kim, your proposal is extremely difficult to refuse.”
“Thank you.”
“You must want something in return, of course. I’d like to hear the conditions.”
Finally—the answer I had been waiting for. I calmly organized the words in my head.
“I need the right to sell Magic Stones to private companies inside the United States.”
“We can arrange that. As long as you continue to supply Magic Stones to the U.S. government on a steady basis.”
“And I want one of the American bases inside the gate given to us. If there isn’t an empty one, build a new one. Place it as far forward as possible—right where the most dangerous monsters are running wild.”
“We can accommodate that as well. Fully possible.”
So far, everything was going smoothly.
Now came the harder part.
“I want U.S. citizenship.”
“Citizenship?”
“I’m thoroughly disgusted with Korea. We want to live with treatment that actually matches the sacrifices we’ve made. We intend to leave the Korean base. As I’ve already made clear, we want to settle permanently in a base inside American territory. As Americans.”
“Hmm.”
For the first time, the man who had been firing off easy OKs wore a troubled expression.
“From our side, you’re more than welcome. We’re well aware of how inhumanely the Korean government has been treating its hunters. Granting citizenship itself isn’t difficult. But separate from that, the United States has no desire to watch the nation of South Korea itself collapse.”
Of course the Americans wouldn’t want their ally to suddenly crumble because of the cracks. That reaction was only natural.
“We have no intention of letting that happen either. What we mean is that we will no longer be exploited—we will protect, but only while receiving proper compensation. For every crack raid we risk our lives on, we will take an appropriate sum.”
“You’ll hunt high-level monsters in American territory while simultaneously controlling the cracks in Korean territory? Is that even possible?”
At Volkov’s skeptical tone I nodded without hesitation. This wasn’t empty bravado to hide weakness.
“I’ve tamed a Level 1200 boss monster and I’m using it. An Ancient Dragon.”
Volkov froze mid-motion. Disbelief flooded his face.
“A Level 1200 monster?”
“Yes. With that creature we can travel back and forth between the American and Korean sectors inside the gate at high speed. The moment a crack formation is detected and we’re notified, we can fly over, handle it, and return within minutes.”
“If that’s true, then it isn’t impossible. You wouldn’t be fighting on the ground—you’d project firepower stably from the air first, then clean up only the remaining monsters. Extremely efficient combat.”
Volkov’s eyes flicked rapidly. I could practically hear the calculations spinning. After a moment of thought he nodded.
“Then there shouldn’t be a problem.”
“In that case, we want to handle all negotiations with the Korean government ourselves. We want to decide exactly how much payment we receive.”
“Haha! That’s fine as well! We can accept every condition.”
Volkov fixed me with a steady look.
“If you also accept our two conditions, we can proceed exactly as Mr. Kim desires.”
“Let’s hear them.”
“First. I want to see those nearly thirty tons of Magic Stones with my own eyes. Can you take me to the Korean base? My combat ability is pathetic, but I am an Awakener myself.”
I nodded without difficulty. From their side, of course they would ask that.
“Agreed. And the second?”
“I want to see the Level 1200 ancient dragon monster you contracted with my own eyes.”
“It was heavily injured during a raid and is still resting inside my subspace. Full recovery will take about three days.”
“I can wait three days. After I confirm the ancient dragon with my own eyes, I want to proceed with the deal. From our perspective this is a matter that requires certainty.”
Of course it did. I started to nod—then an idea struck me.
“Would you care to stay at the Korean base for those three days, President Volkov?”
“Hm? What do you mean by that?”
“Thirty tons of Magic Stones. A Level 1200 ancient dragon boss. We’ll show you everything. And we’ll demonstrate just how exceptional our hunters are at their work. That should generate some trust, don’t you think? And while you’re at it, if you could bring food and drinking water along, we’d be grateful.”
Volkov seemed to find the suggestion reasonable.
“I’ll go. But I’d like to bring a few American hunters along as escorts.”
“No problem at all. Riding the wyvern I control will be more than enough.”
“A wyvern. That’s a Level 700 monster, isn’t it?”
“Exactly.”
Apparently I had made a very good impression; Volkov drained his coffee in one go and rose from his seat.
“Let’s go, Mr. Kim.”
A decisive man. Thanks to that, everything moved forward quickly and without unnecessary worry. I returned through the gate with President Volkov.
“Pack food. We need enough for a hundred people for three days.”
“Understood.”
A massive shipping container was prepared and packed tight with food and water. I summoned Yongdul to carry the container, loaded President Volkov and several American hunters onto Yongil, and headed back toward the Korean base.
Slower than an ancient dragon, certainly, but a wyvern still boasted tremendous speed; the journey did not take long.
“I’m rather curious about the abilities this boss dragon possesses. A Level 1200 monster—I hope its applications are versatile.”
“Of course. Given the nature of dragonkin, if we have even one ancient dragon, I suspect we may be able to command multiple wyverns.”
“Multiple wyverns?”
“As you know, oil, gunpowder, and electronics are unusable inside the gate. That makes both logistics and construction extremely difficult.”
“True. Right now all material transport is done through tunnels, but since everything has to move by manpower alone, it’s highly inefficient.”
“What if we transported via wyverns instead? Far larger volumes, with virtually no risk of monster ambushes—how does that sound?”
Volkov clapped his hands.
“That would be ideal. If it can actually be done.”
“We’ll research it step by step. We can show you a revolution in gate logistics. Ah—there’s the Korean base.”
The Korean base came into view in the distance. I brought both Yongdul and Yongil down onto the parade ground inside. The moment I dismounted from Yongil, hunters came pouring toward me in a rush.
“Seongho hyung!”
“Hey. I brought food—”
“That’s not important right now! That fucker Cho Geunseong is inside the base! He’s fighting Yeonghak hyung as we speak!”
That bastard who only ever looked after his own hide had actually entered the gate?
He must be shitting absolute bricks over the Magic Stones.
I turned to look at President Volkov.
“Shall we go together? I think you’re about to get a very entertaining show.”