Chapter 41
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 41
Chapter Title: Stalemate
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Citizens and hunters who had lost their minds upon learning they had ingested such deadly poison swarmed in like clouds.
"You murderers! Come out right now!"
Public opinion was boiling over uncontrollably, and the government and Hunter Association could no longer ignore the situation. Reluctantly, they dispatched police special forces and Association-affiliated hunters to the scene.
They were heavily armed. But fear was already etched on their faces. Especially on the Association hunters, a sense of defeat was visible.
"Breaching!"
The hunters channeled their mana, and the special forces aimed their guns. Tension reached its peak.
Screeeeech—
The massive iron gate, firmly shut until now, began to slowly open.
"It's coming! Scatter!"
Everyone expected elite White Tiger forces in full gear to pour out.
But what emerged from behind the heavy iron gate was a single person.
Step. Step.
Dressed in loose training clothes, walking lightly as if out for a neighborhood stroll. A man with a spear much longer than his height slung diagonally over his back scanned the gathered forces with an annoyed expression.
One of the only six S-rank hunters in South Korea. Hwang Min-hyuk.
His mere appearance shifted the flow of the air.
"Yawn..."
Hwang Min-hyuk stretched his mouth wide in a yawn, then looked around the crowd with a pitying expression.
"You guys have it rough, huh."
And then, he simply released his mana as casually as exhaling a sigh.
Not an attack or a threat—just a natural act like breathing.
But.
"Gahk...!"
"Urk...!"
That alone was enough.
An intangible, colossal pressure crashed over the plaza like a tsunami. The air grew heavy in an instant, creating the illusion that the atmosphere itself was compressing. A horrific oppression, as if gravity had multiplied dozens of times, crushed everyone.
"Urghhh...!"
The police collapsed first. Unable to even resist properly, they clutched their chests and toppled over. The pain felt like an invisible giant hand squeezing their hearts; they writhed on the ground, gasping and choking, unable to breathe.
The hunters fared no better. Overwhelmed by chilling fear and suffocating pressure, they too knelt one by one. The plaza filled with roars of anger had turned into a chorus of pained groans and screams.
Only a handful comparable to A-rank managed to stay on their feet. But even they were drenched in cold sweat pouring like rain, their trembling legs barely holding them up like quaking aspen trees. They couldn't move a step. Their eyes were filled with primal terror at the overwhelming gap.
That was the power of an S-rank.
Hwang Min-hyuk glanced over the fallen crowd once, then plopped down on the steps at the headquarters entrance.
"Yawn..."
He hadn't even drawn the spear on his back.
The situation plunged into stalemate in an instant.
The news screen switched from the chaotic scene to a panel of composed experts.
[This situation can be seen as a foreseeable disaster.]
The man's voice carried a note of melancholy.
[The problem is that White Tiger handles over 40% of the nation's total gate clearances.]
He got straight to the point.
[The White Tiger Group was already a massive conglomerate in Korea before the gates appeared. In the early chaos when the national system collapsed, they monopolized hunters with their vast capital. By the time the government restored order, they had become an untouchable power.]
The host asked cautiously.
[So, is that why the government finds it hard to forcibly disband White Tiger Guild or respond aggressively like now? Because national security would have a gap if they disappeared?]
[Exactly. Even if other major guilds split White Tiger's gates, there'd be at least a few weeks' vacuum. Who knows what could happen in that time? But there's an even more fundamental issue.]
The man paused to choose his words, then concluded firmly.
[The South Korean government currently has no means to safely subdue an S-rank hunter.]
He glanced at Hwang Min-hyuk's image on the screen.
[To suppress them, you'd need an equal S-rank or mobilize the entire military at the cost of massive casualties. But if that happened in the heart of the city... I don't even want to imagine it. Who bears the damage from that? And even then, success isn't guaranteed.]
The experts were spot on.
The moment White Tiger stepped back, mid- and high-rank gate clearances began delaying nationwide.
[Breaking News] A-rank Gate on Gyeonggi Outskirts Abandoned for 3 Hours... Nearby Residents Under Mandatory Evacuation.
[News Bulletin] Major Guilds Struggle to Coordinate Schedules... "No Spare Capacity."
Nearby areas ground to a halt. Roads clogged with evacuees, shops shuttered. Fear of monsters bursting out any moment gripped the cities.
As citizens' anxiety and inconvenience mounted, cracks formed in the boiling public opinion. Amid cries for justice, pragmatic fears began to emerge.
But seriously, without White Tiger, things are already fucked
Frankly, separate from White Tiger being bastards, other major guilds have no manpower left handling their own gates. What now?
Mid/small guilds teaming up is just mass suicide.
If a gate breaks like this, who's taking responsibility?
White Tiger being bastards aside, they did their job well
For real
Haven't seen a gate blow up in forever
Justice this, justice that—shouldn't we just plug it first?
'We still need White Tiger' pragmatism.
The uncomfortable truth facing South Korea.
I curled up on the sofa, staring blankly at the news.
The screen endlessly looped the standoff at White Tiger Guild headquarters and the experts' grim analysis.
Then, CEO Seo I-hyun entered the office after finishing a serious call. Exhaustion was plain on his face.
"Um, CEO..."
"Yes, Rabbitfoot. What is it?"
CEO Seo caught his breath and looked at me. I pointed at the news with the remote.
"No way to fix that?"
The CEO gave a wry smile and sat across from me on the sofa. He loosened his tie slightly and let out a long sigh.
"Realistically... it's tough."
"Wh-why? Can't another S-rank just take them down?"
"It's not that simple."
His voice was heavy.
"S-ranks are mostly evenly matched. Going all-out against each other is a massive loss for them. Victory brings only wounds as glory; defeat means losing everything. It's a fight where lives are on the line."
He paused, rubbing his dry face.
"That's why S-ranks tend to avoid direct clashes. It's an unspoken rule and mutual deterrence."
That was why Grandpa Yoon Hyun had hesitated to fight White Tiger's S-rank. It made sense, but it was frustrating too.
Noticing my expression, the CEO paused, then added bitterly.
"Truth is... there was a plan early on. To raise awakeners to counter other awakeners for situations like this."
I leaned in at the unfamiliar story.
"ACD. Awakener Crime Dedicated Team. An elite Association unit planned to suppress hunter rampages or rebellions. We succeeded in gathering talented, motivated awakeners... but."
"But?"
"It disbanded quickly. The plan got scrapped."
"...Why on earth?"
"Politics and fear of gates."
He laughed hollowly.
"With gates popping everywhere, accusations flew that the government was already checking hunters. How could civilians in government withstand superhuman pressure? Even citizens sided with hunters. People desperately needed power to stop monsters right then."
We raised bigger monsters to fight the monsters.
"Could the government function properly like that? The Hunter Association became a puppet for major guilds right at founding, and ACD was shelved. The hard-gathered awakeners soon grew disillusioned and scattered."
So this crisis was the result of choices made back then.
System failure.
"......"
I turned back to the TV. That S-rank hunter was still just sitting on the steps.
After talking with CEO Seo, I headed straight back to the workshop.
I crossed my arms and pondered.
'Complicated.'
Politics, society, systems, S-rank balance. I didn't get such messy stuff. My head throbbed.
"Ugh."
I tried simplifying as much as possible. Boil complex problems down to basics.
The issue was clear.
'White Tiger is too strong.'
And.
'Our side is too weak.'
That was the core. White Tiger deserved to die, but they were too strong for anyone to touch.
So the solution was simple too.
'Weaken the strong. Strengthen the weak.'
Yes. Dose adjustment. The basics of being an alchemist.
I immediately pulled up the Alchemy Gallery.
No need for complicated thoughts. I needed two things.
A decisive blow to shatter S-rank balance. And power to fill White Tiger's void.
After a long search, I found two posts.
[Info/Research] ★ How to Fuck Up Your Opponent's Mana Circuits [42]
[Info/Research] ★ Buff Potion Recipe Collection [93]
The gallery always had answers, just like always. My cluttered mind cleared in an instant.
"...If I make these and distribute...?"
Time to change the game.