Chapter 229
Chapter 229
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 229
Chapter Title: Hungary (4)
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Clang! Claaang!
In the city of the still-forming Murim DoWon, with about a thousand structures under construction.
I sat on the rooftop of the tallest temporary building.
“Whew.”
I let out a long breath.
The weather was cool, and my white breath wove patterns in the air before vanishing.
The information I’d heard from Arin, the Constellations.
The more I mulled it over, the more my curiosity grew.
Just what was this world?
What was this universe made of?
Who was the essence within my Godslayer-grade weapon?
And what about the system messages and unique abilities that had suddenly appeared?
- I don’t know about that either, Professor. But if you keep reading the books, the answers will come, right? There are still so many books left, and they say the Magic Tower’s library holds the truths of this universe.
The Magic Tower’s library.
Arin said she hadn’t even read 1% of that vast collection yet.
- It could be that some enormous being beyond our imagination is controlling the universe. Or maybe the universe’s secrets, which we were too low-level to uncover, are slowly being revealed. Honestly, your world seems even more amazing to me? A world where hunks of scrap metal fly through the sky. I’ve read about places like that in books, but... reading and experiencing it firsthand are totally different.
In the end, Arin didn’t know either.
Neither did I.
The rankers didn’t know.
Even Dellaイル didn’t know.
Perhaps, as some astronomers claim, this world is just a simulation, and we’re lab ants.
Or, like in some novels,
This entire world might just be the dream of some great being.
‘Anyway.’
Arin’s advice on the Constellations had been helpful.
Truth be told,
Right after arriving, I’d asked Kim Jin-ah and the Association to look into something.
Information on the ‘Fragment of the Battle God’ (SS Grade).
But as always,
There was no word.
Even though this Hunter world seemed to have active info sharing,
It was actually quite closed off.
Take Romania this time, for example.
They’d gotten their hands on the SS-grade item, 「Raphael’s Book」, and designated it a national secret.
Especially with higher grades, people treat it as a ‘fortuitous encounter’ and try to ‘monopolize’ the info.
I understood that.
That’s why
‘I guess I have to go check it out myself?’
That thought crossed my mind.
Whether that gray monster was the ‘Fragment of the Battle God’ (SS Grade) or not,
If it was a Constellation fragment, I could monopolize the info on it.
Truth be told,
There was only one thing bothering me.
Kim Jin-ah.
How to coax her into it?
Ahem, ahem.
I’d just said I wasn’t going a little while ago.
* * *
“Yeeees?!”
Kim Jin-ah’s mouth fell open in shock.
“Wait a second, Guild Master? What kind of nonsense is that?! Just a few hours ago, you said, ‘Hey, who do you think I am?!’ or something like that, right? How can a person flip like that so easily? That’s a switch-up that’s way too fast!”
“Ahahaha....”
I scratched the back of my head, sweat dripping down.
As expected, a fierce reaction.
“No way! No! Absolutely not! And do you know? The bordering countries just sent a delegation a little while ago. And I cleanly rejected them. Completely, totally, haughtily sent them packing, and now you’re saying you’re going right away? Oh man, my head’s getting hot....”
But I knew.
That was all just her way of showing worry for me.
It definitely wasn’t because she was embarrassed about how she’d acted toward the delegation.
“Oh deaaar. Guild Master. Why are you doing this to me?”
Kim Jin-ah kept repeating [Oh dear, my head] while tapping her temples.
I smiled.
“There are circumstances. Didn’t I mention it before? The Fragment of the Battle God. I asked you to find it.”
“...Yeah, you did. I was just looking into it again.”
As expected of Kim Jin-ah.
Even in the middle of all her busyness,
She always prioritized what this guild master asked.
“Maybe,”
Slurp!
I took a sip of the iced tea on the conference table and continued.
“Those monsters in Budapest might be that fragment.”
“...?”
“I absolutely need it. I can only get stronger with it.”
“No way.”
Kim Jin-ah furrowed her brow.
“You’re not just making this up because you want to help Hungary, are you?”
“Hey, do I look like some saintly gentleman?”
“No, not even that—you had me thinking you were the protagonist of some hero movie.”
Kim Jin-ah shook her head and soon stood up from her seat.
“Whew, jeez. I can’t stop you if you’re set on going.... Fine.”
Kim Jin-ah nodded.
She seemed to instinctively realize this wasn’t me asking permission, but more like notifying her.
Which was exactly right.
I was the guild master, and she was the vice.
“About personnel support?”
“No need for others. I’ll go alone.”
“You sure that’s okay?”
“There’s a saying for this: Don’t worry about high rankers.”
“What can I do if I’m worried? Sigh.”
Kim Jin-ah let out another sigh and scribbled something on a piece of paper.
And soon,
“But.”
“Yeah.”
“I’ll renegotiate the compensation from the bordering countries and squeeze out the maximum. You acknowledge that, right?”
“I just need to go check if that monster really is the fragment. Handle the rest however you see fit, Vice Guild Master.”
I go to dungeons and hunt.
I leave everything else to Kim Jin-ah completely.
Did that sentiment get through?
“Got it.”
The furrow between Kim Jin-ah’s brows seemed to soften a bit.
“I’ll talk to the Association side. Say Byul Cheonji is providing support. Sigh.”
* * *
[World Rank 69, Skeleton Emperor, Declares Trip to Hungary!]
[Modern-Day Spiderman! Does the Hero’s Blood Truly Flow in His Veins? Hungarian Citizens Cheer.]
[Korean Hunter Association, ‘We Respect the High Ranker’s Judgment’.]
[EU Launches Fundraising Campaign for ‘Hungary Disaster’.]
....
The high ranker’s first support declaration rocked the world.
▶ Ugh, as expected!
▶ Whoa, going for a dungeon break with no reward? And cleaning up nation-destroying level monsters?
▶ This is noblesse oblige! The generosity of the powerful!
▶ I heard he did get compensated.
▶ Compensation? What kind?
▶ No idea. It’s top secret. Apparently the bordering countries pooled together?
All sorts of chatter flew around the communities.
“Uhehehehe! He’s coming after all!”
The bordering countries’ conference room was in festival mode too.
“What did I say? If we match the compensation, he’d come right away, didn’t I? The Skeleton Emperor’s a hot ranker these days, so he’ll resolve this quickly.”
Bucic grinned broadly.
Even though Byul Cheonji’s demands meant paying five times the original amount.
With seven countries splitting it, it wasn’t a big burden.
“Alright, let’s enjoy the festivities. Things have been too grim around here lately, right?”
Snap!
Serbia’s leader, Bucic, snapped his fingers.
Rumble!
The door opened,
And prepared wines and various snacks began being set up in the conference room.
Was it the magic of food and booze?
The stiffened faces of the leaders began to relax.
But one among them,
Romania’s President Klaus, had a bad expression.
Like he’d just chewed shit.
Someone next to him asked.
“Klaus, something wrong? You don’t look so good.”
“Haha, it’s nothing.”
Klaus laughed it off.
“Come on, don’t mind it, dig in. Looks delicious, ahem.”
Klaus’s hand trembled faintly as he picked up his wine glass, clearing his throat.
But with the mood lightening,
No one at the table noticed.
* * *
After the long festivities ended.
Back in his room, Klaus hurled an ashtray at the wall with all his might.
“You fucking bastard!”
Crash!
With the sound of shattering glass, the piled ash scattered into the air.
“Bucic, that son of a bitch....”
Grit.
Klaus ground his teeth.
Did he hear the noise inside?
“Mr. President! Are you alright?”
The Defense Minister, staying next door in the hotel, came rushing in.
“...Minister.”
“What happened? Don’t tell me... the nuke proposal didn’t go through?”
Nuke.
Shockingly, the word from the Defense Minister’s mouth was ‘nuke’.
“Well, yeah. With a high ranker coming to help, there’s no justification to launch one.”
“That’s how it went.”
Klaus sat on the sofa with a displeased look.
“Here you go, Mr. President.”
The Defense Minister grabbed a bottle of fine liquor from the decorative shelf,
Pour, pour, pour.
And poured a shot into the prepared glass.
Klaus snatched it and downed it irritably in one go.
“Keugh. Fuck. If that illegal experiment gets exposed like this....”
Truth be told,
There was a reason Klaus had pushed for tactical nukes.
The Hungarian president was dead now, but
They’d conspired to run illegal experiments in the Budapest security zone.
‘No choice.’
After the world changed, national power meant Hunters.
The stronger a country’s state Hunters, the more sway in diplomacy.
The rich got richer, the poor poorer.
Those with strong Hunters went abroad for support gigs, bringing back rewards that made up most of GDP.
With booming economies and more money, they could recruit even stronger Hunters.
‘We can’t just sit around sucking our thumbs.’
The secret project to grow stronger.
On Klaus’s orders, countless adult Hunters were dragged into Hungary’s labs.
And all sorts of horrors went down there.
How brutal and horrific? Comparable to Russia’s old 「Gotham」.
It was definitely an experiment that would earn humanity’s condemnation.
Roughly, it involved dissecting people to understand correlations with unique abilities.
“Don’t worry too much, Mr. President. Skeleton Emperor, right? That guy’ll just hunt the monster and leave. He’s not gonna scour all of Hungary.”
“No, that’s not the issue.”
“Pardon?”
“As long as that lab exists in the Hungarian security zone, it could get exposed someday?”
Whether tomorrow,
Or a year from now,
Or ten years.
No one knew,
But until then, they had to live in anxiety.
Klaus hated that.
“If we’d just nuked it under the pretext of this incident, it would’ve been cleanly over.”
Evidence destruction.
Klaus’s perfect crime had been foiled by one high ranker’s involvement.
“Fuck.”
The bordering presidents.
The mood had been great when those senile old fools were pulling their ridiculous stunts.
Even when they offered stingy compensation without knowing the world.
Even when they sent delegations to high rankers without a plan.
Never thought it’d actually work.
“He’s a Korean Hunter. A high ranker at that. The moment we nuke, the World Association moves, and we’re at war with the whole planet. Especially the Hunter superpowers....”
For now, nukes were absolutely off the table.
“Mr. President.”
Pour, pour!
The minister refilled the empty glass and spoke.
“Have another shot first and wait it out. Think on it, and a way will appear.”