Chapter 220
I Became the Successor of the Martial God
Chapter 220.
A lava cave area on Jeju Island.
It was open to the public as a tourist site, but Yoo Baek-jun was exploring one of them.
"Damn, there are so many bats."
Swish—thud!
Yoo Baek-jun swatted away the bats flying at him and continued forward.
"Young master, should I go ahead...?"
"You don’t know the way either."
"Well, that’s... true."
Han Seong-ah offered to lead, but since she didn’t know the path, it was pointless.
Yoo Baek-jun walked deeper into the cave, descending rapidly.
"Are you heading to the lower levels?"
"Yeah, there’s a path most people don’t know about. We’ll take that one."
"I’m curious how you know about it, but I won’t pry."
Choi Gun-woo made a cryptic remark.
Yoo Baek-jun pushed aside a warning sign blocking the way and kept walking.
Their destination was even deeper underground than this, so it would take quite some time.
"Young master, what about Baek Jang-hyeon? He’ll keep bothering you from now on."
"Probably. Sigh..."
Baek Jang-hyeon was a highly capable individual.
The previous association chairman had been utterly incompetent, but Baek Jang-hyeon, the new chairman, was completely different.
"He was a retired hunter, right?"
"Yes, he never made it to the ranker level... but he was quite a famous hunter."
His background as a retired hunter was significant.
The previous chairman had been an ordinary person with no experience as a hunter.
Because of that, all sorts of bureaucratic inefficiencies had repeated, and hunters had despised him.
"This time will be different. I heard he’s implementing systems hunters actually wanted and even planning welfare programs."
"Trying to win the hunters’ support?"
"Probably. Considering his ultimate goal, he’d need their support one way or another."
And he had the ability to achieve it.
In fact, in other routes, he had succeeded in weakening the power of prestigious families and major guilds.
Even the Sword Saint’s family.
'Though that was largely because Yoo Tae-rang became the family head.'
After becoming the family head, Yoo Tae-rang had gone on a rampage like a truck with broken brakes.
As a result, talented members left the Sword Saint’s family, and its public image was ruined.
'In that situation, it wouldn’t have been too hard to mess with the Sword Saint’s family.'
The pressure would’ve been minimal.
But now was different. Unlike Yoo Tae-rang, Yoo Baek-jun was properly leading the family.
On top of that, he had already prevented two calamities under his leadership, greatly boosting his reputation.
"Even Baek Jang-hyeon would think twice about messing with me now."
"Yes, the family head hasn’t done anything that could be criticized."
"That’s right! If anything, he’s only done praiseworthy things... Now that I think about it, it’s frustrating."
Han Seong-ah growled.
Seol-yeong, nestled in her arms, also let out a low growl.
"So he’ll target something else instead."
"Something else...?"
"You know. The troublemaker of our family."
Yoo Baek-jun smiled bitterly.
"Yoo Kang-ho."
"Ah..."
The family’s troublemaker.
While Yoo Baek-jun had never caused any incidents, Yoo Kang-ho had been involved in numerous scandals, big and small.
Like a true troublemaker, he’d stirred up trouble everywhere.
And that wasn’t all.
"There’s also Yoo Tae-rang. He caused plenty of trouble too."
The fact that the Sword Saint’s family heir had colluded with villains was a fatal flaw.
Thanks to this, they had avoided punishment for executing rankers, but it had created another problem.
"They’ll pressure us. Through the media, or whatever means necessary."
"What should we do? We have influence comparable to the Hunter Association. If they pressure us, we can push back."
"That would work if the Hunter Association were acting alone."
The problem was the government’s involvement.
Baek Jang-hyeon’s actions weren’t unilateral. He had strong backing—the government itself.
"So we need to prevent them from shaping public opinion. Instead, we’ll turn the backlash against the Hunter Association."
There was a good way to do it.
"And that method is...?"
"Right there. Let’s go."
They finally reached the lower levels.
There, a Gate awaited them. A swollen Gate, as if it would burst open any moment.
"This is... a Gate. But the color is strange. Almost blood-red..."
The Gate’s color was eerily unusual.
A sinister crimson-black hue.
"It’s an Entry-type Gate. Left unchecked, it’ll soon turn into an Emission-type Gate."
"Given its size, it must’ve been neglected for a long time. At least a year."
"Probably several years."
The Jeju branch of the Hunter Association didn’t even know this Gate existed.
To be precise, they had identified it when it first appeared, but its difficulty was too high, so they postponed subduing it.
And then forgot about it entirely.
"This Gate... could be useful."
Choi Gun-woo grinned.
A thoroughly wicked smile.
"See, we understand each other."
Yoo Baek-jun also smiled.
A smile just as wicked as Choi Gun-woo’s.
"...Why are they like this?"
—Meeew.
Han Seong-ah and Seol-yeong tilted their heads at each other in confusion.
Yoo Baek-jun looked up at the Gate.
[Blood Cult’s Hideout]
A hideout where the Blood Cult is secretly raising their monstrous weapons.
Inside, numerous enemies, including the Blood Cult’s martial artists, await. In the deepest part lies a monster beyond imagination.
Eliminating this deranged creature will likely require... sacrifice.
―Difficulty: S-rank
―Entry Limit: 5 people
―Objective: Destroy the Blood Cult’s secret weapons and their hideout.
―Reward: S-rank treasure chest, S-rank or higher skill books and items.
"Hmm..."
Yoo Baek-jun called the intelligence agents shadowing him.
"Yes, Family Head."
"I’ll tell you what we need. Get it as quickly as possible. Price doesn’t matter."
Yoo Baek-jun listed the required items, and the agent nodded.
"What about the appointment with the Jeju governor?"
"You said to arrange it as soon as possible, so it’s set for tonight. What should we do?"
"We’ll go right away."
Yoo Baek-jun turned around.
To use this Gate in the fight against the association, certain steps were necessary.
The others followed him.
"But, Family Head."
"What?"
Han Seong-ah suddenly asked.
"What kind of monster is in that S-rank Gate...?"
Yoo Baek-jun walked slowly.
"Blood Demon."
A monster that would be of great use to him.
* * *
That evening.
Yoo Baek-jun met the governor of Jeju.
An upscale restaurant with guaranteed privacy. In a luxurious private room, the two had their first meeting.
"It’s an honor to meet the new head of the Sword Saint’s family... or should I say that?"
Jo Dae-hoon.
A middle-aged man with tanned skin and a sturdy build.
He seemed jovial at first glance.
'Jovial, my ass.'
Outwardly, he appeared that way, but inside lurked a cunning fox.
Not that he was a bad person, but talking to him was exhausting.
"Hmm, the tea is good."
Jo Dae-hoon sipped the tea appreciatively.
Yoo Baek-jun watched him silently before speaking.
"There’s an S-rank Gate in the lava caves beneath Jeju Island. Does that not concern you?"
"Pfft—!"
Jo Dae-hoon choked on his tea in shock, spraying it noisily.
Yoo Baek-jun turned his head to avoid it.
"Cough, hack! What? A Gate? S-rank?"
Jo Dae-hoon exclaimed in disbelief.
An S-rank Gate in a lava cave open to tourists? That was absurd.
But there was more.
Yoo Baek-jun continued explaining.
"And it’s about to break open?!"
"Yes, it’s on the verge of erupting, so subduing it now would be difficult."
"That’s... insane..."
Jo Dae-hoon clutched his forehead.
"Wait, is this for real? You’re not pulling some belated April Fool’s joke, are you?"
"Do I look that bored? And it’s not April Fool’s Day."
"R-right. Then we need to assess the situation—I need to make some calls."
Jo Dae-hoon frantically reached for his phone, but Yoo Baek-jun stopped him.
"How about we handle the Gate for you?"
"'We’ meaning... the Sword Saint’s family?"
"Yes. The local Hunter Association doesn’t have the strength to handle an S-rank Gate. It’s too late to call guilds, and there’s no guarantee they’d come."
Jo Dae-hoon set his phone down.
He narrowed his eyes, scrutinizing Yoo Baek-jun.
The earlier confusion on his face had vanished without a trace.
"That’d be great for us. Too good, actually. Suspiciously so. You must have a reason."
"Of course I do. I’m not digging holes for fun. Why would I help with an S-rank Gate for free?"
"Hah!"
Jo Dae-hoon burst out laughing at Yoo Baek-jun’s bluntness.
But his smile carried a hint of satisfaction.
"What do you want?"
"Soon, the association will come after us using public opinion. I want to suppress that."
"I see."
Jo Dae-hoon thought for a moment, then nodded knowingly.
"Because of Baek Jang-hyeon. That guy’s always hated prestigious families and major guilds."
"You know him well."
Yoo Baek-jun smirked.
"You want to use this S-rank Gate to shake the association."
"Exactly. Highlight the Jeju branch’s incompetence and redirect the blame to the entire Hunter Association."
"Hah! Not bad. Honestly, I’d love that myself."
Jo Dae-hoon, the Jeju governor, and the local Hunter Association branch had a strained relationship.
They were constantly at odds.
To be precise, Jo Dae-hoon was fed up with the association’s incompetence.
"A region like Jeju should be manageable by the local branch alone. They used that to block other branches from being established."
"Yeah, no major incidents have happened yet, so I couldn’t call them out. But their incompetence is infuriating."
They were utterly incompetent, but luckily, no disasters had occurred yet.
"But what if a disaster happens now?"
"And if it’s caused by the Hunter Association’s negligence, heh."
Jo Dae-hoon chuckled darkly.
"Things will get interesting."
"The key is ensuring there’s damage. Evacuate the people, but property damage must be significant. We’ll cover the recovery costs."
"Pay for the damages and win the locals’ favor at the same time?"
Yoo Baek-jun smiled quietly.
"And we’ll establish a Sword Saint’s family branch in Jeju. A win-win, don’t you think?"
"Ha, now this!"
Jo Dae-hoon slammed the table and leaned back in his chair.
"This is an offer I can’t refuse."
He could crush the annoying Hunter Association’s influence and have reliable Gate experts stationed locally.
Both were appealing to him.
"Of course, you’ll need to support the branch’s establishment. Funding, land, buildings, and such."
"That’s no issue. I’ve had land set aside for this purpose for a while."
Yoo Baek-jun and Jo Dae-hoon locked eyes. Then, as if on cue, they extended their hands simultaneously.
A firm handshake.
"We understand each other."
"Yes, we both..."
Yoo Baek-jun smiled.
"Let’s hope this turns into a good opportunity for what we want."