Japan (1)
"Are you sure this is okay?" Kim Jeonghyeon asked, looking worried as he watched the TV after buying up all the Japanese stocks.
"What could possibly be not okay about it?" Yu-shin replied, stuffing a mouthful of jajangmyeon into his mouth.
"No, I mean, they rejected our country's help. So..."
"Whether they rejected it or not, they wouldn't have been able to handle a B-class monster anyway."
Yu-shin was confident. Was he looking down on Japanese hunters? Yes. He was absolutely looking down on them. Yu-shin didn't know every single Japanese hunter, but there was one he knew for sure: Seiko. If guys like Seiko were A-class hunters, he could easily guess the level of the rest. Besides, Japan was the country that couldn't even take down the Apocalyptor that was eating up Dokdo, eventually resorting to nuking it and changing its path. In short, they didn't even have a hunter capable of dealing with an Apocalyptor.
"If anything, it's a good thing."
"Pardon? You mean it's a good thing?"
"Even if they somehow manage to clear the B-class gate by some stroke of bad luck, it’s not a loss for me at all. You’ve bought up all the stocks, right?"
Kim Jeonghyeon nodded.
"Then, if the main culprit behind the current stock market crash disappears, the stock prices will naturally return to their original value, won't they?"
"Ah!"
"So, it doesn't matter whether they manage to clear it on their own or not. Or, who knows? After the situation properly blows up, they might come crawling back, begging, 'We were wrong! Please save us!'"
If anything, Japan was laying out the perfect board for him. It was better this way.
"Let's just sit back, watch the show, and enjoy the snacks."
Yu-shin grinned.
Cries of rage against Korea echoed throughout Japan.
"We don't need Korea's help!"
"We cannot forgive Korea for trampling on our pride!"
"Ungrateful Joseonjins! We will definitely crush that arrogance someday!"
"Let's show them our power! Our hunters will conquer the gate!"
People gathered Korean goods imported into the country and burned them in piles. The crowds cheered as they watched the spectacle. Some even cut up the South Korean flag, scribbling on it and mocking it. It was as if all of Japan had been swept up in madness. The government, which should have been calming that madness, made no move. They didn't even dispatch the police.
Just as Japan was going insane, an emergency broadcast interrupted the TV schedule. Along with an "Emergency Breaking News" ticker, the announcer's voice echoed across the country.
As the screen switched, the interior of a dark cave appeared. Hunters, led by intense floodlights, were seen cautiously entering with tense expressions. The hunter holding the camera whispered.
[It is very quiet here. You can even hear us breathing. And it is extremely peculiar.]
As the camera illuminated the inside of the cave, a bizarre sight unfolded. The cave walls were covered in countless holes, like a honeycomb. The diameter of the holes was around 20cm. They were slightly larger than a human head. That was when it happened.
[There’s movement!]
One hunter pointed at a hole. Sure enough, a black object popped out of one of the holes. A monster the size of three soccer balls tied together had emerged. And its identity was...
[Wait, is that an ant?]
It was clearly an ant, as everyone knew them. But it was on a completely different level from the ants they knew. Its glossy black exoskeleton looked as hard as the surface of an armored vehicle. Its large eyes glowed with an ominous red light. The most threatening part was the sharp something attached to the ant's mandibles. Curving sharply like a sickle, it looked dangerous at a single glance.
Just as everyone was holding their breath at the presence of the monster that had appeared so suddenly, the antennae sprouting from the ant's body twitched, as if searching the surrounding air. That was when it happened.
A hunter stepped forward. Red flames gathered in his hand and flew toward the ant like a living snake.
Kreeeeeee!
The ant, engulfed in flames, shrieked in pain, thrashed about, and collapsed to the floor.
[Shrieking, for an ant? Still, it’s nothing special.]
The magic hunter who had attacked with fire said with a sneer. He thought that if it died in a single fire attack, this gate wasn't as difficult as he had expected. He wasn't the only one. The tension on the faces of most of the hunters who had entered the gate began to fade. They had been forced to enter by the government's mandatory mobilization order, pushed by the expectations of the public, so everyone had looked like they were attending a funeral. But seeing the ant collapse from a single attack, confidence began to bloom in their faces.
[This is doable, right?]
One hunter muttered. Another responded in kind.
[Ants? I’ll wipe them all out with my area-of-effect magic.]
Hunters wielding swords swung their blades into the air and stepped forward confidently.
[Why were we so scared for nothing? At this rate, we might even be able to go out for lunch.]
But that was only for a moment. Suddenly, the entire cave began to vibrate. A horrific sound echoed from every hole in the walls.
[What is this? It’s not an earthquake, is it?]
[W-what?!]
[And what is that sound?]
The next moment, the color drained from the hunters' faces. From the countless holes, the ants they had just killed began to pour out like a tidal wave. An endless procession of ants. All of their red eyes were fixed on the hunters.
[There are too many!]
[R-retreat!]
[We need to form a formation!]
[Everyone with area-of-effect skills, use them now!]
The hunters here didn't come from a single guild. They were the best hunters gathered from all over Japan. Naturally, since hunters who lived by their own pride were gathered in one place, there was no way command would function properly. In the meantime, the ants filled the cave at an astonishing speed, and before they knew it, they had surrounded the hunters.
[Y-you saw it just a moment ago! It’s nothing! There are just a lot of them!]
[That’s right! Ranged dealers, step up first! And tanks, block their advance!]
Attacks from magic hunters with fire, ice, lightning, and poison-type area-of-effect magic began.
Kreeeeeee! Kreeeeeee!
In an instant, the cave was filled with a nauseating stench. Almost all of Japan's top-tier hunters had entered this place to clear the B-class gate. Therefore, the firepower they concentrated was by no means weak. As a result, a mountain of ant corpses, burned by fire and scorched by lightning, piled up.
[Wow! Why were we so scared? There are just a lot of them.]
[See! It works! If we just do this a little more...]
BOOM!
That was when it happened. A chilling, unrecognizable sound that made the hunters shut their mouths. Thump, thump, thump, thump! At first, it was just one, but soon, overlapping noises echoed one after another.
[W-what is that?]
Just as a sense of unknown anxiety brought the look of tension back to the hunters' faces, something emerged slowly from the holes with a chilling sound like metal being scraped. It was an ant. But it wasn't the kind of ant they had just defeated. These monsters, the size of standard shipping containers, overwhelmed the common ants in every way.
[...W-what is that?]
One hunter barely managed to speak. There was no time to hear an answer. Swoosh! As the giant ants spewed something out, an unknown odor filled the cave. It was the smell of highly acidic pheromones. The eyes of the hunters who smelled it stung instantly, and their breathing became labored. The first victim was a hunter in his mid-20s on the front line. The giant ant's mandibles sliced through his waist smoothly. Without even being able to react, he was cut in two and collapsed.
[Retreat! Retreat!]
Someone shouted, but it was already too late. The giant ants had begun to move in earnest. As dozens of legs moved, they swarmed toward the hunters at an incredible speed. One hunter reached out his hand and spewed flames like a flamethrower, but the giant ant's hard exoskeleton didn't even show a scorch mark. Instead, the flames spread to the surrounding hunters, only increasing the screams of their allies.
The screams weren't limited to that spot. Everywhere, hunters attacked by giant ants writhed in pain with their limbs severed. Human flesh was torn apart helplessly by the giant ants' sharp attacks. A hellscape had unfolded.
"They failed."
Kim Jeonghyeon swallowed hard as he watched the breaking news. The ticker read: 'All 5,000 Japanese hunters who entered to clear the B-class gate have died.'
5,000 hunters... What an incredible number. And yet, that number had all died without even being able to put up a proper fight.
"5,000 is quite a lot of deaths."
Kim Jeonghyeon turned his gaze to the voice that held no emotion whatsoever. He saw Cheon Yu-shin, who was snacking on chips while watching the news as if he were watching an interesting movie.
"Um, Boss. They say 5,000 people, not monsters, have died..."
"Yeah. They died."
There was definitely someone who could have stopped that situation. It was the hunter right in front of him, Cheon Yu-shin. If he had gone to Japan, and if he had entered that B-class gate instead of them, Japan might not have had to experience that horrific tragedy.
Perhaps feeling that gaze, Cheon Yu-shin stopped eating his chips and turned his eyes to Kim Jeonghyeon.
"You don't think it's my fault, do you?"
Kim Jeonghyeon shook his head and strongly denied it.
"Of course not. But if you had gone..."
"It was Japan that rejected the help. Not me. That’s a fact that both Japan and our country know. So, am I responsible?"
"That’s not it, but..."
Cheon Yu-shin's gaze turned back to the TV.
"Listen carefully. Things like this will happen a lot in the future. You have to adapt. You don't think I can stop every single gate that opens around the world, do you? And you shouldn't try to pin the responsibility for the resulting sacrifices on me. Right?"
"Of course, Boss."
"So, don't associate their deaths and failures with me. From the moment they rejected the help, they had to bear the responsibility for their own choices."
Not feeling any guilt for their deaths. That was the reason.
"O-okay. I understand."
"Now, shall we move on to the next step?"
"Pardon? What do you mean?"
Yu-shin pointed at the TV with his chin. The video on the TV was now broadcasting the exterior of the ominously rippling gate. Yu-shin grinned.
"It means the showtime is starting."
No sooner had he finished speaking than an endless number of ants began pouring out of the gate. There were the common ants the Japanese hunters had initially wiped out, and there were the giant ants that had slaughtered them. But besides those, various other types of ants were also revealing themselves.
Giant fire ants that looked like they were wearing red armor, ants with wings that emitted a brilliant silver light, ants with translucent bodies that made their internal organs clearly visible, and ants with flashy, colorful patterns like poisonous mushrooms. As all sorts of ants poured out, the area around the gate instantly turned into a literal ant hell.
"Holy sh*t!"
Kim Jeonghyeon cursed without realizing it, then covered his mouth with his hand and looked back at Cheon Yu-shin. But as if he hadn't heard the curse, Yu-shin was staring at the TV with an intrigued smile.
The wave of ants pouring out endlessly finally began to subside.
"H-have they all come out?"
Yu-shin shook his head.
"If it's called B-class with just that much, then it wouldn't be B-class."
No sooner had Yu-shin finished speaking than the gate began to shake like crazy. The ground caused a minute vibration. The movements of the ant army around the gate stopped. Their antennae all pointed toward the sky at once, as if worshipping a god. And at that moment, something massive began to slowly emerge from the gate.
Endless legs, a massive abdomen, and finally, a head of enormous size cleared the gate.
Gulp.
"W-what is that?"
Kim Jeonghyeon's jaw dropped. And rightly so, because the size of the creature that had just revealed itself was beyond imagination. The apartment building standing next to it looked pathetic in comparison. As the Queen Ant moved, all the ants bowed their heads low. As if paying their respects. The aura it emitted was truly overwhelming. It felt like a living mountain was walking around. There was only one name that suited it best at this moment.
Giant Queen Ant.
While Kim Jeonghyeon was being overwhelmed by the existence on the TV, Yu-shin just chuckled.
"A Queen Ant, huh... Japan is going to have a hard time getting rid of that one."