Chapter 97
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 097
Chapter Title: Guardian Deity of the Korean Peninsula, Kang Jun-chi - [3]
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We headed to Seoul in an official government car. With Baek Dam-bi.
Inside the moving vehicle, I questioned the minister in detail about the situation, and our exchange went something like this.
What do you want from me?
Bring Kang Jun-chi back after he left for Sword World. We know you're on friendly terms with him...
If Kang Jun-chi left for Sword World, was it just a few hours ago?
About two hours ago.
I heard that Director Seok visited Kang Jun-chi's house today. Did he leave in the middle of that?
That's right.
Then why ask me instead of Director Seok, who's probably still close to the scene? I thought he was closer to Kang Jun-chi than I am.
That's... hard to answer.
If you want me to persuade him and bring him back, shouldn't I know the full story? So don't hide anything—tell me straight. What the hell happened?
I asked.
"What did you do to make Kang Jun-chi leave? Did Director Seok, who was with him, blow his undercover agent cover or something?"
There was a brief silence after my final question, then the voice on the other end of the phone changed.
Director Seok spoke in an aggrieved tone.
"I'm not some undercover agent! I don't get why Jun-chi hyung and even Kim Geuk hyung are suspecting me like this..."
"So how did it all blow up? What did you do that made Jun-chi go half-mad and emigrate to Sword World?"
When I asked that, Director Seok gave a long, rambling explanation.
To unpack his explanation with my own interpretation, it went something like this.
Today, Director Seok had gone to Kang Jun-chi's house. Accompanied by technicians there to give quotes for plumbing and electrical work.
When Kang Jun-chi asked why he'd brought these people, Director Seok had apparently replied:
'Who knows when you'll leave here, Jun-chi hyung? At least the electricity and water need to be hooked up, right?'
'Even so, you know damn well why I didn't call technicians myself, so why bother...?'
'Don't worry. These are folks I know personally—I handpicked them! They might overcharge a rich guy like you, but they're not the type to plant bugs on the government's orders!'
Rather than feeling grateful for the thoughtful proposal from his caring little brother figure, Kang Jun-chi must have felt suspicion first and foremost.
And understandably so—he'd already been wary of Director Seok for a while.
More precisely, he suspected the government might have approached Director Seok and turned him into their puppet.
That suspicion was so intense that even when his life was in danger from a Deathclaw, he'd called me instead of the nearby Director Seok.
The reason for his suspicion was flimsy at best—"The government already knows we're close, so they must have contacted him separately"—but the key point was that Kang Jun-chi had already harbored doubts.
So when his close little brother made that suggestion, Kang Jun-chi must have been on guard. He probably thought something like:
Why is he suggesting this? What's he after?
In the end, Kang Jun-chi let Director Seok and the technicians into the underground bunker, likely to resolve his suspicions.
Over the phone, Director Seok said in a trembling voice:
"Jun-chi hyung asked to borrow my smartphone for a bit. Said he couldn't charge his down in the basement since there's no power. So I lent it to him. Even unlocked..."
And Kang Jun-chi wasn't planning to just web surf with Director Seok's borrowed phone.
He went digging through Director Seok's chat history and text messages.
And he found what he was looking for.
He discovered the call logs between Director Seok and Han Hee-seok. And when he saw the texts with the National Security Minister, his eyes rolled back in fury.
Among them was a text from the National Security Minister: "The special forces are planning to hide bugs in Kang Jun-chi's room in a few hours. We'll give you one too—plant it." Kang Jun-chi had shoved that in his face and interrogated him furiously.
'Jun-chi hyung, it's not...'
'Not what? You fucking spy bastard?'
The technicians Director Seok had brought were all there with their fingernails and toenails ripped out, apparently. Kang Jun-chi must have pegged them as bug-planters.
Kang Jun-chi's reaction wasn't just blind rage.
His anger wasn't some one-off explosion from realizing his close little brother's betrayal.
Stress had already been piling up layer upon layer inside him. The stress of the government wanting him gone. The stress of being under surveillance. The stress of not being able to trust even his close little brother. The stress of being cooped up in that hot, uncomfortable underground...
And when his suspicions were finally confirmed as fact, rather than the thrill of being right, all that accumulated stress must have detonated at once.
He must have felt an unbearable mix of disappointment and fury.
That disappointment and fury extended not just to the government that sent Director Seok, but to all of Korea.
And so he left the country. For Sword World. Putting into action that offhand remark he'd once made on HuntWeb.
Not because he thought Sword World was better than Korea, but to get revenge on Korea. To make his delusions a reality.
Awakener Hunters on HuntWeb sometimes fantasize like this:
That if a Hunter like them, who's basically the guardian of their region, up and leaves, everyone there will panic. And if they become powerful enough to protect an entire nation, the public will beg them not to go.
Kang Jun-chi had the power to turn that fantasy into reality. And without holding back, he did it.
So that everyone in Korea would feel his absence. So they'd realize what happens when he disappears from Korea—he left entirely.
Because he was the Guardian Deity of the Korean Peninsula, and he went to Sword World to make Koreans grasp the crisis they'd face without their protector.
"So up until now, you've been in frequent contact with Han Hee-seok and the National Security Minister?"
Director Seok replied to my question in a deflated voice.
"Yeah... I have."
"And you're still saying you're not an undercover agent? Then what are you? Interpol?"
"I'm not anything that grand!"
"Then what the hell are you?"
"I'm just a civilian collaborator! I pass on what Awakeners are thinking on a day-to-day basis and try to mediate between Awakeners and the government..."
With that, Director Seok whined that he hadn't taken a single penny for it, nor received any special privileges beyond money. He said the relationship wasn't official, so aside from Han Hee-seok naturally finding out since he sometimes visited his house, he had no real ties to other special forces agents. He occasionally got orders, but he only did what they asked.
"So you're saying you did the government's dirty work for free?"
Director Seok shouted in response to my question.
"It was necessary!"
"Spying?"
"Yes, that spying! I couldn't just let Korea end up like other countries! And the government wants to crack down hard on Awakeners to stop that stuff, but someone had to mediate so it didn't go too far!"
"And... did it work?"
"Just look at the bus protest last time! If I hadn't told the Awakeners there was no intent to overthrow the government, who knows what hardline response the assemblyman and minister would've taken instead of negotiating peacefully! This time, Jun-chi hyung seemed so stressed, I really just wanted to get the water and electricity hooked up..."
I remembered what Director Seok had told me before.
He'd said that about half a year after Gates started opening, when public order collapsed rapidly, he'd been working at a grocery store and got attacked by robbers. After taking a blow to the head and collapsing, the robbers thought he was dead and got scared, trying to bury the "corpse"—that's when he Awakened as a rock ability user.
Who knows what impact that experience of daily life crumbling under outlaws had on him. Or maybe he just liked doing it.
Either way, it wasn't important right now.
I fiddled with my smartphone and checked Kang Jun-chi's broadcast channel.
There was a new video uploaded.
A three-minute clip. A short, unedited raw take featuring only Kang Jun-chi's furious expression amid shaky camera work, brimming with his rage.
"You fucking Korean bastards. You hate me just existing, huh?"
Kang Jun-chi snarled, his face twisted in rage.
"Fine, I'll fuck off. Just like you wanted. So go live your happy lives without me, yeah?"
Looking at the comments on the video, no one seemed to grasp the full situation yet.
What the hell? Is Kang Jun-chi emigrating?
If you wanna leave Korea, then fuck off already, you bastard.
Hasn't Behemoth arrived yet? Kang Jun-chi can't just leave on his own—did the government approve it?
We're fucked lololol
I refreshed to see more real-time comments, but the video was gone. The government must have deleted it to prevent panic.
Beyond just scrubbing the internet video, the government's response to the situation was swift.
By the time we arrived in Gyeyang District, the scene already matched a state of emergency.
Was it the manual and contingency plans the nation had prepared since Behemoth reached Korea being put into action?
The government was evacuating people from danger zones. Roads packed with cars moved in one direction under police guidance, while tanks and soldiers marched in orderly fashion along routes that wouldn't block civilian evacuations.
The whir of propellers echoed constantly from the sky. Helicopters and transport planes flying in formation. They were evacuating citizens while deploying air force and army units without distinction.
And civilian Hunters weren't exempt either.
My phone buzzed, and there was a message on the Hunter app.
"I've got a mobilization order too. Says to head to Seoul? I'm an Incheon Hunter—what authority do they have calling me to Seoul?"
Baek Dam-bi chimed in.
"I got one too. From the looks of the order, it seems they're calling up all Hunters in the capital region, not just us."
It appeared the government had been preparing for the worst since confirming Kang Jun-chi's absence.
In other words, Behemoth popping up in Seoul.
The monster that hadn't shown itself in Seoul out of fear of Kang Jun-chi would now sense its mighty foe was gone.
We had to brace for the full-scale war that had unfolded in Australia—with that four-hundred-meter colossal beast and its horde of accompanying monsters.
"From here on, we'll teleport. Dam-bi? Grab my hand."
I took Baek Dam-bi's hand and teleported repeatedly.
Until we reached Kang Jun-chi's temporary hideout. That eight-hundred-meter-deep underground bunker.
Waiting at the entrance were the National Security Minister, various officials, and a bloodied Director Seok with his clothes torn in places.
I asked.
"Who opened the Gate for Kang Jun-chi? Did the monsters enter a Gate they opened themselves?"
"I... I opened it for him."
It was Director Seok's answer. I asked.
"Didn't you say last time you couldn't?"
"I can, but I hid it. I was afraid if word got out, Jun-chi hyung would get drunk and nag me to open a Gate to Sword World..."
But even if Director Seok claimed he couldn't open one, Kang Jun-chi wouldn't have just nodded. No matter what Director Seok said, Kang Jun-chi had probably ripped out his nails and threatened his life, demanding why a Spirit user couldn't open it.
Unable to withstand the threats, Director Seok had opened the Gate, leading to this mess.
Tears fell from Director Seok's eyes. Seeing his state, my anger faded.
"I really..."
I sighed.
"What can we do? It's done."
Still, we had time. Last time, Behemoth hadn't burst out the moment Kang Jun-chi left Seoul—it opened its Gate quite a while after.
If we fetched Kang Jun-chi before then, the crisis would vanish.
Maybe he was dawdling inside the Gate right now. Or perhaps he'd arrived in Sword World but hadn't gone far, lingering near the exit.
In that case, I could just go get him.
Soon, Baek Dam-bi opened a Gate for us.
Not the usual astral realm we frequented, but one leading to Sword World's astral realm.
Entering that purple-tinged world, monster silhouettes were scarce. Sword World's monsters must have already fled to Earth, overflowing with prey.
But the problem was we saw neither monsters nor the man we sought.
"This is Sword World territory, right?"
Baek Dam-bi answered my question.
"Yes. It is, but... he's not here!"
"Fuck."
As I cursed, Baek Dam-bi cried out in a voice thick with despair.
"Kang Jun-chi's not here!"
Even from Incheon, I'd seen Kang Jun-chi's soul in Busan, blazing huge like the sun.
Yet now his soul was invisible, meaning he was farther away than Incheon to Busan.
Though moving his own body with Force Field was tough, he could relocate whatever he rode. He'd probably done that again this time.
Clinging to the work lift he'd prepped for going up and down between the bunker and surface, he'd flown off into the distance. Covering dozens of kilometers in an instant, then even farther.
"We need to head back."
Baek Dam-bi questioned my words.
"Not searching for Kang Jun-chi more?"
"If he's gone this far, even my Teleportation can't track him! I need him within a few kilometers to search. We don't even know the direction... We can't think about bringing him back anymore. We have to prepare for the worst."
With that, we exited the Gate.
We briefed the waiting group, and they all sighed but got to their tasks.
"This is Ryu Ji-seon. Couldn't find Kang Jun-chi. Continue current measures and..."
Everyone gathered there trembled at that exact moment.
During the bus protest, Behemoth had opened a Gate then too.
Back then, surrounded by other Awakeners, I'd felt secure psychologically and hadn't flinched. But not this time.
The alien sensation in my head felt much the same as before, but this time I startled.
Not because it was unbearable, but because I could imagine what came next. The scene in my imagination was too much to bear, so I gritted my teeth.
"Over there!"
I turned to where an official pointed. I closed my eyes, then opened them.
In the city's darkness, a faint purple glow shimmered...
A Gate was beginning to open.
End