The Rose with Thorns
Kim Jeong-yoon’s face twisted like a demon’s. Through the screen hanging on the wall, he was witnessing something beyond comprehension. "Those bastards! What are they doing right now?!"
Despite his orders to attack Cheon Yooshin, they were clearing a path for him instead. Thanks to that, he could see it clearly: that little bastard Cheon Yooshin was strolling through the area as if he were out for a leisurely walk.
"I told you to kill that bastard! Why is no one firing their guns?!"
At Kim Jeong-yoon’s furious shout, Park Cheol-woo, the commander of the 5th Corps standing nearby, spoke up cautiously. "It’s dangerous to stay like this. Comrade Chairman, shouldn't you move to the bunker?"
Kim Jeong-yoon glared at Park Cheol-woo with eyes full of rage, but he had no choice but to admit the man was right. Even rocket launchers couldn't kill him. Even the hunters who were considered the best in their glorious Republic had been slaughtered mercilessly. He couldn't stay here, where there was no defense whatsoever. He had no choice but to move to a bunker that could even withstand a nuclear strike.
Kim Jeong-yoon stood up from his seat. He opened his mouth, his face still etched with lingering fury.
"Gather all the hunters at the entrance leading to the bunker! Shouldn't we punish that bastard who dared to invade our glorious motherland? Tell all our warriors, armed with our great Juche ideology, that the moment they see him, they are to focus all fire and kill him immediately. Do you understand me?!"
"Understood!" Park Cheol-woo bowed his head.
Kim Jeong-yoon looked at the man next to him. It was Ri Jeong-tae, the Director of the General Political Bureau.
"Hey, Ri Jeong-tae. Aren't the Chinese hunters here?"
The Chinese hunters were on standby at all times to support the North Korean gates, much like the US Forces in Korea.
Ri Jeong-tae nodded. "They are in Pyongyang, Comrade Chairman."
"What did you say their rank was?"
"It is an attack team composed entirely of 15 B-class hunters."
"Tell them. Tell them that whoever brings me Cheon Yooshin’s head will be given anything they desire."
"Understood, Comrade Chairman."
Having finished his orders, Kim Jeong-yoon hurried out. Watching his back, Ri Jeong-tae quickly made a phone call to somewhere. It was to the Chinese hunters. And while Kim Jeong-yoon headed for the bunker, hunters from each unit began to gather at the bunker via radio communication.
"Do they not know who Cheon Yooshin is, or has that pig finally lost his mind?"
He was a hunter who had single-handedly cleared a C-class gate. And he was asking for help to kill such a hunter? When he should have been trying to recruit him instead?
"What shall we do?"
"What do you mean, what shall we do? Refuse immediately."
The aide nodded. "Understood. I will convey that."
It was just as the aide was opening the door to leave after finishing his report.
"Wait, did you say Kim Jeong-yoon is hiding in a bunker right now?"
"Yes, that is correct. It has been confirmed that he is hiding in Bunker No. 6."
Bunker No. 6. It was a bunker hidden deep beneath Ryongak Mountain, near the Taedong River on the eastern outskirts of Pyongyang. It consisted of a total of seven floors, 1km underground, and was a facility that perfectly blocked external detection with an independent power system disconnected from the outside and state-of-the-art electromagnetic shielding technology.
However, there were more than one or two high-ranking North Korean officials secretly connected to China. Naturally, there was no way China wouldn't know its location.
Chairman Zhang Weichang, who had been lost in thought for a moment, opened his mouth.
"Tell our hunters to inform Cheon Yooshin of that location."
The aide’s eyes widened. Zhang Weichang’s choice right now could completely shatter their relationship with North Korea.
"Are you serious?"
"No, don't just inform him. Guide him there entirely."
"...Guide him?"
"Yes, guide him. Tell them to be kind. And tell them to create an opportunity to get close to Cheon Yooshin. Who is the hunter currently out there as the leader?"
"Xiao Min is currently the leader."
"That works out well."
Hunter Xiao Min was famous. She was an A-class hunter, but she also possessed beauty that would put most celebrities to shame. However.
The aide said with a sour expression, "Her personality is a bit..."
"Beautiful roses always have thorns."
The aide nodded. "Understood. I will convey it immediately."
They did not know at all until then. Just how sharp the thorns on a beautiful rose could be.
When Cheon Yooshin’s party arrived at the Workers' Party Central Committee Headquarters in Pyongyang, they were met with a strange silence. The massive building, capable of accommodating countless people, was as empty as a haunted house.
"What is this, these bastards? Where did they go?"
Cheon Yooshin spread his Magi to scan every nook and cranny of the surroundings, but he couldn't feel a single ant. Captain Baek Woo-hyun, who had finished the search, spoke with a serious expression.
"There is no one here."
Yooshin tilted his head. At Yooshin’s question, Park Hae-soo nodded.
"Yes, there are several bunkers in North Korea that wouldn't budge even if hit by a nuclear bomb."
"The pig is doing something interesting. He wants to play hide-and-seek with me now?"
"...It won't be an easy game of hide-and-seek." Park Hae-soo said heavily. Even the US couldn't find all the locations of the North Korean bunkers using state-of-the-art technology. Finding them themselves in such a situation? It might be a waste of time. In that case, since Kim Jeong-yoon had hidden himself away,
"How about we just go back to our country?"
Returning as quickly and safely as possible could be one way. However, Cheon Yooshin chuckled.
"Go back?"
"Yes, maybe he'll just let us go..."
"Are you crazy?"
"Pardon?"
"I have to make him pay for touching me. Get attacked and just go back like this? No, run away? Do I look like a pushover to you?"
Cheon Yooshin’s eyes turned cold.
"If we try to go back, he’ll probably take it as a sign to attack us again. He might even launch a nuke."
Park Hae-soo looked horrified. "A-as crazy as Kim Jeong-yoon is, he wouldn't drop a nuke on his own country..."
"Team Leader Park Hae-soo, you still don't know the ways of the world. Where are we right now?"
"W-we are in North Korea."
"No, no, you're wrong. It's not North Korea, it's his kingdom. We're running around here like it's our own home, in a place where he reigns as an absolute power. How much do you think he wants to catch us? He would never want to see us leave unscathed like this. What's important isn't his territory or his people. He'll want to regain his bruised pride no matter what. So it wouldn't be strange if he did anything."
"...Then what are you going to do?"
"I have to catch him. Let's take the head of North Korea while we're at it."
No, a person's head isn't a bean sprout head. You can't just take it off so easily. And it's not just anyone, it's Kim Jeong-yoon!
At that moment, Captain Baek Woo-hyun, who had been listening quietly, said, "Then how will you find him? No one knows the location of the bunkers."
That was when it happened.
"Hmm... that is a problem, but... wait a second?"
Cheon Yooshin’s eyes turned toward one spot. Hunters began to appear in that place where there had been no one.
"@##@#$"
"What are these bastards saying?"
Does North Korea speak Chinese these days? Baek Woo-hyun said from the side.
"They say they are Chinese hunters."
"...What, Captain, you speak Chinese too?"
"Yes, I can speak a little."
That’s not just a "little." He’s handsome, and he can speak Chinese? Surely not. "You don't happen to speak other languages too, do you?"
"I speak about six languages. Why do you ask?"
In any case, there isn't a single thing about this bastard I like. 'I'm a bilingual speaker too.' Korean and the Demon language. But does the Demon language count as a language?
Meanwhile, Baek Woo-hyun’s interpretation continued.
"They say they know the location of the bunker where Chairman Kim Jeong-yoon is hiding."
"Huh? Really?"
"They say they will even guide us there directly."
"Eh? Why? Aren't those bastards on the side of the North Koreans?"
Even Cheon Yooshin, who didn't know history well, knew the relationship between China and North Korea. But they were telling him the location of the bunker. Why on earth?
That was when it happened. A few hunters arrived late. Among them, the appearance of a woman so pretty that celebrities would be put to shame made the Hunter Management Department hunters and agents alike mutter.
"Whoa, it's Xiao Min."
"Xiao Min?! Whoa, damn, is she human? She's incredibly pretty."
"She could be a celebrity."
"Whoa, I'm a fan."
Xiao Min? Is she a fairly famous hunter? At that moment, Xiao Min, the woman who had focused everyone’s attention, pointed her finger at Yooshin while talking to the man standing next to her. Was she pointing at me?
Meanwhile, Xiao Min frowned as she pointed at the dopey-looking Cheon Yooshin.
"Why on earth do we have to look good to him? More than that, we have to guide them to the bunker ourselves?"
Then the hunter next to her, Chao Long, watched Cheon Yooshin and said, "They say that man is the hunter who closed the C-class gate alone."
"That was him?"
Xiao Min had also heard rumors about him. But she thought it was just something blown out of proportion in Korea. She thought it was impossible for such a powerful hunter to come from a small country like Korea. Was it even logical that a hunter capable of clearing a C-class gate alone could exist in that tiny little country? So she had lightly dismissed it.
But the order had come down directly. Guide Cheon Yooshin, who is currently in North Korea, to the bunker where Kim Jeong-yoon is hiding. 'If that's the case, it might be true...'
Furthermore, being told to look good to him by her home country had another hidden meaning. It was to use a honey trap to get close to Cheon Yooshin right in front of them. But she couldn't admit it. Hunters don't just suddenly pop out of nowhere. They level up and gradually become stronger. That was what a hunter was.
Xiao Min, who had focused the attention of all the men, walked straight toward Cheon Yooshin. Her movements were so pretty that exclamations flowed from the mouths of the men. And then.
"Are you Cheon Yooshin?"
"Huh? You speak Korean?"
"Just answer what I'm asking. Are you Cheon Yooshin or not?"
"..."
Then Cheon Yooshin’s eyebrows twitched. He had a look that didn't like something.
"Hey, do you know me? When did we meet for you to speak informally?"
"Hey? You? Ha... I'm probably five years older than you?"
Only five years? Damn, if I include my time in the Abyss, I'm over 400 years old! But he couldn't say that honestly. If he said that, he'd be called a crazy bastard. Instead.
Cheon Yooshin smiled, pouting his lips.
"Yes, yes. I didn't recognize you because you're older? My, it must be nice to be old."
This time, Xiao Min’s eyebrows twitched.
"...What? I'm old?"
"You said you were older than me? Then you're old, what on earth do you want me to do about it?"
Yooshin shook his head from side to side. And the moment he tried to turn his gaze to Team Leader Park Hae-soo, Xiao Min’s expression changed rapidly. At that moment, Xiao Min’s hand moved like lightning. The destination was none other than Cheon Yooshin’s face!