Irreplaceable Manpower
Irreplaceable manpower.
Re-conscription.
As one might expect, for those who had finished their service and wanted nothing more to do with the gates—not even to take a piss in that direction—it was nothing short of a bolt from the blue.
"A-Are you insane? Re-conscription?"
"This is a national emergency. The outposts are empty right now. Under the Gate Act, we're re-conscripting you. Refuse, and your service will be extended."
"You fucking bastards!!! Are you messing with people?!"
Anyone who wasn't among the wise few who had already bolted to America the moment they realized magic stones meant money, or who lacked the family connections to quietly quash the re-conscription order, had no choice but to be dragged back in.
Some tried, belatedly, to reach the American embassy and apply for naturalization, but South Korea was thorough to a fault on matters like this. Every discharged hunter was slapped with an exit ban, and personnel were stationed near the embassy to snuff out any chance of them defecting at the source.
The discharged hunters themselves were in an uproar, yet South Korea maintained a terrifying silence on the entire re-conscription issue.
It only blew up on a handful of male-centric communities and never became a broader story. The chief of staff for civil affairs and the president were working overtime to muzzle the press and keep detonating other scandals, all to bury the real nature of the re-conscription issue.
"His Excellency is already getting torn apart over the economy. If the security issue trips him up too, we're in serious trouble. Bury this one quietly. Keep throwing other stories out there."
It was absurd and idiotic, yet it worked in South Korea. Through the seamless collusion of media and politics, while the public gorged itself on the latest celebrity and YouTuber scandals, the re-conscription vanished cleanly from view. One hundred thirty-four newly conscripted hunters were fed into the outposts.
"This is fucking insane!! Let us out!!"
"You sons of bitches!! I already finished my service!!"
The re-conscripted hunters howled. Their resentment hit the absolute ceiling. But the Ministry of National Defense threatened and cajoled them until they finally went back to work.
"The state will buy every magic stone you bring back. It'll be decent money. Think about it. You've all seen the news—you know how valuable those stones are. You can make a killing. So just tough it out one more time."
"I don't need the fucking money!! What good is cash if I'm dead?!"
"Let us out of here!!"
"That's not happening. Your choice. Live large on money ordinary civilians will never even touch, or go hungry again?"
"......."
"Don't even think about running for the American zone. Kim Seongho could pull that off because he commands wyverns. You lot would have to walk, and you'd all die to monsters on the way. Dedicate yourselves to the Republic of Korea one more time."
There was no real choice.
The one hundred thirty-four re-conscripted hunters had to shoulder the life-or-death duty once more, swallowing their tears.
"At least we can make money off the magic stones, right?"
"Fuck...... this is complete shit. Still, we have to hang on. What else can we do?"
They let themselves be suckered again by the promise of fat cash from selling magic stones—but it didn't take long to learn that promise was a lie too.
"A million won per magic stone?"
"That's already generous."
"I risked my life to bring these back and you're giving me a million? Are you kidding me?"
South Korea still lacked the American technology to refine magic stones into Elixir. Using the excuse that the stones were therefore still low-value, the hunters were forced to hand them over to the state for a pittance.
The reward for risking their lives on a raid came to roughly five million won per person. Resentment kept climbing, but inside the gates—where mana killed every electronic device—there was no way for the hunters to tell the outside world what was happening to them.
"This is a scam! A fucking scam! You said we could make a fortune!!!!"
And so, even the faint patriotism that had once flickered in the chests of those one hundred thirty-four men shattered into dust.
I watched the man ranting in front of me with a thoroughly bored expression. Yeonghak hyung's face wasn't much different from mine. The so-called spokesman from the South Korean Ministry of National Defense was furiously chewing out me, Yeonghak hyung, Association President Volkov, and the Korean-American interpreter standing beside him.
"We formally request the immediate return of the thirty tons of magic stones you stole. This is theft. Theft!!"
"As I have already stated multiple times."
Association President Volkov regarded the spokesman with a bright, easy smile. For nearly an hour he had absorbed the man's volcanic rage with that same smiling face, deflecting every blow with effortless flexibility.
"Magic stones belong to the people who hunted them. For a nation to simply seize them again strikes me as problematic."
"They belong to the Republic of Korea! To Korea!! Not to those hunters!"
"Regrettable. It pains my mouth to keep repeating the same words, but it seems the Republic of Korea and the United States interpret the legal status of magic stones differently. And since these two gentlemen are now American citizens, applying the American interpretation is only proper, wouldn't you say?"
"I never imagined America could be such a petty nation."
Volkov kept smiling that smooth, mask-like smile. Even I had to admire how slippery it was—the kind of smile that could shed any amount of rage without a single drop sticking.
"We would also like to convey how deeply regrettable we find the South Korean government's human-rights abuses. What can we do? We are a nation of immigrants. When capable people wish to come, we have no reason to stop them."
The spokesman's face said he wanted to unload every curse in the dictionary, yet he managed to swallow the fury. He straightened his tie and glared at the three of us.
"The Republic of Korea has no intention of yielding on this matter. From now on, every time America tries to maintain relations with us, this issue will keep tripping you up."
"Thank you for the concern, but it doesn't sound all that frightening. Countries that threaten to trip someone up rarely ever manage to actually do it. Haha."
The spokesman looked ready to murder Volkov on the spot. There was nothing he could actually do.
"One more thing."
"What is it?"
"Those one hundred three hunters are American citizens now. Correct?"
"Correct."
"Then see to it that they never again fly into the South Korean zone inside the gates. We would prefer no further violations of international law."
Volkov nodded.
"Of course. International law must be observed."
"You had better. Otherwise you will face a major international backlash led by the Republic of Korea."
Having said his piece, the spokesman rose and left the room. The moment he was gone, Volkov dropped the mask-like smile and lit a cigarette.
"What a tiresome bastard. How does he keep pushing arguments that won't even work?"
"Thirty tons of magic stones just vanished overnight. Of course he's going to be pissed. He's entitled to a little stomach pain."
Once the interpreter relayed my words, the association president burst out laughing.
"Stomach pain is fair enough. Haha! But not everything that man said was wrong."
Volkov looked at Yeonghak hyung and me the way a man looks at treasure.
"I would prefer that the two of you no longer involve yourselves in the Korean zone inside the gates. If Korea starts appealing to the international community, countries that already dislike America could openly pile on, and things could get noisy. I have no interest in that kind of headache."
"Understood."
"International relations are one issue, but more than that, America wants the two of you focused solely on securing magic stones. You are American citizens now. Instead of meddling in another country's affairs, put more energy into acquiring stones."
Volkov stood, flashing a sly grin.
"In return, we are already processing the request you made last time—bringing over the families of those one hundred three hunters. We should be able to get them all to America within a few weeks."
Yeonghak hyung's face lit up.
"Really?"
"Of course. America loves capable people. So from now on, stop worrying about Korean problems and just make sure the magic-stone supply never falters."
Volkov left the room with the interpreter. Yeonghak hyung and I both broke into laughter.
"Feels like things are finally running the way they should. For real."
"Adapting to life in America will take a little time, but people always adapt in the end."
Yeonghak hyung lit a cigarette. The smoke he drew deep into his lungs seemed to carry out every knot of bitterness that had been sitting inside him.
"Seongho."
"Yeah, hyung."
"You're the brains and I'm the muscle. So tell me. What do we do from here?"
I lit a cigarette of my own. Letting the smoke stream out long and slow, I laid out the plan I had already been turning over in my head.
"I'm thinking of taming about a hundred wyverns."
"Wyverns?"
"They're the ultimate all-purpose monsters—mobility, combat, transport, everything. If we can use them, our combat power will explode overnight. Escorting American hunters on raids will get a whole lot easier too."
"You've already tamed the Ancient Dragon, so it's definitely doable. Good idea."
Wyverns were formidable monsters in their own right, yet they also possessed an almost pathological fear of dragons. Certain worm-class dragons had exploited that trait, commanding dozens of wyverns as minions while they tried to open rifts.
I still remembered how much pure hell it had been hunting those dragon packs. If worm-class was that bad, what about an Ancient Dragon?
Commanding a hundred or more wyverns should be more than possible.
"But the only places that could support a hundred wyverns are the unexplored zones, right? You're saying we go there?"
The continent inside the gates—Eldorado—still had far more unexplored territory than mapped ground. Unexplored meant either nightmarishly rough terrain or the kind of monsters that could end a party in seconds. Any expedition would carry massive risk.
"We've got an Ancient Dragon, three wyverns, and hunters in the eleven-hundred level range. With us, we can come and go from the unexplored zones just fine. Don't you think?"
We weren't an ordinary party. If the 41st, 42nd, and 43rd parties that hyung himself had trained moved with us, the unexplored zones would be well within reach.
"True. With us, it's doable. All right. Let's tame those wyverns and turn the whole crew into wyvern riders."
Hyung crushed his cigarette butt into the ashtray and stared at me for a long moment.
"Why are you looking at me like that? Something else on your mind?"
"Seongho. What are you going to do about the Korea problem?"
"Do about it? That country's already finished with us. Unless they're begging on their knees and throwing serious cash to get us to hunt rifts, I have zero interest in getting involved again."
"They re-conscripted the hunters. Those bastards are definitely getting exploited the same way we were....... Don't you feel even a little sorry for them?"
"And do what? Cross into the Korean zone inside the gates as American citizens and pull the re-conscripted guys out?"
"Yeah."
I understood the feeling. I had been in the exact same exploited position, so I understood it perfectly. But you can't run every decision on pure emotion.
"Didn't you just hear what Volkov said? It's a violation of international law. Keep crossing the line and even America will get put in a tough spot. They won't be able to shield us."
Hyung laughed at that.
It was a laugh that somehow looked vicious.
"If we have an organization of a hundred wyvern riders that can handle transport, mobility, and combat all at once, don't you think America would swallow that burden? Because we'd be irreplaceable manpower they absolutely cannot afford to lose."
Yeonghak hyung lit another cigarette. His eyes were shining with a frightening light.
"We go with a diversion operation."
"Diversion operation?"
"You take the Ancient Dragon and the 41st, 42nd, and 43rd parties into the unexplored zones and come back with about a hundred tamed wyverns. While you're doing that, I'll take Yongil, Yongdul, and Yongsam, fly to the Korean outpost, and pull out the re-conscripted bastards. Sure, relations between America and Korea will turn ugly, but......"
"America won't be able to throw away a force that has a hundred wyvern riders?"
"Exactly. Once that happens, Korea will have no choice but to beg us. Please hunt the rifts for us. I want to see that sight. I want to watch that fucking dogshit Republic of Korea crawl to us, offering money, and beg."
I turned hyung's words over in my head for a moment. The more I thought about it, the more plausible it sounded. The discharged hunters were high-level as well; they would be a serious boost to our strength.
"Volkov's going to hate it."
"So what? Once we become irreplaceable manpower, it won't matter."
I crushed my cigarette into the ashtray.
"We'll need about a week of prep for an unexplored-zone expedition. Have to scout the routes on dragonback and stock the supplies."
"Then next Wednesday, a week from now. We hit them that day."
"And of course we keep it secret from Volkov and the American government."
A smile tugged at the corner of my mouth.
Just imagining how the faces of those high-and-mighty bastards in the South Korean government would crumple a week from now was enough to make me laugh.