Even a Nuke Is Nothing
The world’s attention was fixed on North Korea—specifically, Pyongyang. At that very moment, an unidentified live broadcast quietly began on Tube. The title was simple, consisting of just two characters: “Pyongyang.” But the moment people clicked on the stream, they couldn't help but hold their breath. What unfolded before their eyes was the real-time reality of Pyongyang.
The screen was split into four segments. Three of them were filled with chaos. People were running in every direction, paralyzed by terror. Children who had lost their parents sat on the roadside, sobbing. Others were desperately searching for shelters. And in the final screen, in stark contrast to the panic, one could see a group of people approaching a destination. It was Cheon Yooshin and the members of the Hunter Management Department.
The news that a live feed of Pyongyang was being broadcast on Tube spread in an instant. The number of viewers grew exponentially.
It wasn't just Koreans. People from all over the world were watching the broadcast.
Then, the screen switched. Except for the feed showing Cheon Yooshin, the other three screens changed simultaneously. The chaotic street scenes vanished, replaced by an unpolluted, clear, and bright sky. The viewers were momentarily confused. Why the sudden change? Had the camera turned?
And then. A black dot appeared far off in the sky. Instantly, the comment section, which had been scrolling endlessly, froze. The viewers had realized it. The identity of that dot.
Cutting through the blue sky on the screen, growing larger by the second, was humanity’s worst weapon: a nuclear missile. That missile was flying straight toward the screen. Even though they weren't there in person, the hearts of everyone watching the video froze. From the White House in the US, the Chairman’s Palace in China, and the Blue House in South Korea, down to the ordinary people sitting in their living rooms—the whole world held its breath, as if time itself had stopped.
***
Yooshin and his group were moving toward the bunker where Kim Jeong-yoon was hiding. Then, suddenly, Yooshin stopped in his tracks. The others looked at him with puzzled expressions.
“What’s wrong?” Park Hae-soo asked.
“Brother, we have to hurry. The nuke is going to drop soon. We need to catch that guy before then,” Joo Jowoon added, sounding anxious.
“If you want to take a dump, do it after you catch that pig, Kim Jeong-yoon,” Yoon Hye-won chimed in.
But Yooshin remained silent, staring up at the sky. Why? That was the thought in everyone’s mind. A nuclear bomb was set to drop here in an hour and a half. Nothing could survive a nuke. If they couldn't find Kim Jeong-yoon—no, if they couldn't catch him within that hour and a half, everyone would die. In other words, this was no time to be leisurely staring at the sky.
“Shh!” Baek Woohyun signaled everyone to be quiet. He then looked at Yooshin, who was still gazing upward. Cheon Yooshin, a man in whom you couldn't find a shred of sentimentality, was looking at the sky.
*He’s seeing something we haven't noticed.*
As proof, Cheon Yooshin’s face was deeply furrowed. And then.
“This pig-headed bastard, he lied?”
Lied? What lie? Just as doubt began to cloud the minds of the people watching Yooshin, who had muttered something incomprehensible—
“……!”
Baek Woohyun hurriedly looked up at the sky. After a brief delay, Yoon Hye-won and Joo Jowoon also looked up with grave expressions. They felt it. The thing Cheon Yooshin had been sensing for a while.
*Whoooooosh!*
Something with immense weight was tearing through the air, flying toward them. And that thing was—
“Holy sh*t, is that a nuke?” Yoon Hye-won muttered, as if she couldn't believe it.
“I-is it really? I’m not the only one feeling this, right?” Joo Jowoon’s voice trembled.
There was clearly an hour and a half left. Why was it falling now? Now, even Park Hae-soo, a non-awakened civilian, could feel his ears ringing, knowing something was tearing the air and flying toward them.
“W-what do we do, Yooshin?” Park Hae-soo’s expression grew desperate. No one is calm in the face of death. And the only thing he could rely on was the Cheon Yooshin before his eyes. Baek Woohyun, Joo Jowoon, Yoon Hye-won, and the other hunters and agents were all effectively useless right now. The others’ gazes were no different. The only difference was that Baek Woohyun, Joo Jowoon, Yoon Hye-won, and a few other hunters had drawn their weapons, glaring at the incoming nuclear weapon.
Then, Yooshin took his eyes off the sky and opened his mouth.
“What are you doing? Trying to wrestle with a nuke? Why are you pulling out your weapons?”
“We have to do something…” Baek Woohyun said, gripping his shield.
“Forget it, you people. What are you going to fight with, looking like that?”
At Yooshin’s clicking tongue, he took in their appearances. Faces turned white in the face of death. Good grief. There was even a hunter whose legs were shaking. I didn't train them to act like that. I’m remembering their faces. But that wasn't the urgent matter.
“Get as far away from here as possible.”
“Are you telling us to run away?” Baek Woohyun’s expression hardened at Yooshin’s words.
“I’d rather die than do that! Why do you think we followed you all the way here? You’re telling us to run away just because it’s time to die?” Yoon Hye-won’s face turned beet red.
“You’re telling us to run away so at least you can live? Absolutely not! If it was going to be like this, you should have stopped us from following you in the first place! It’s already too late!”
At Yoon Hye-won’s words, Yooshin smirked.
“When did I tell you to run away? I told you to get some distance.”
“W-what does that mean?”
“Get some distance, because you’re in the way. That thing flying in is indeed a nuke. So, get away from here, don't get sucked in for no reason.”
“…Sucked in? Where?”
As the sound of the air being torn grew closer, Yooshin’s expression twisted violently. Oh, for heaven’s sake, this is frustrating! Irritation surged within him. This wasn't the time for explanations. Reading his inner thoughts, Park Hae-soo grabbed the people by their arms.
“Let’s go, quickly! He said not to run away. He’s acting like that because he has a plan. Don't you know Yooshin? Get some distance, quickly! Quickly!”
Only then did the people start to move away from Yooshin, one by one. Even then, they kept glancing back at him as they moved. Once he confirmed they had moved a sufficient distance, Yooshin looked back up at the sky.
*Not much time left.*
It was close now. Yooshin clenched and unclenched his fist several times. In 30 seconds, it would collide with the earth. What if he couldn't handle the impact that would occur in 30 seconds?
*I’d die.*
But he wasn't afraid of death. In the Abyss, every single day had been a life-or-death struggle. With a sharp crack of his neck, Yooshin’s body slowly lifted off the ground. A human bound by the laws of gravity could never lift their body into the air. Perhaps for a moment, but to defy the laws of gravity so perfectly was impossible. Yet, Cheon Yooshin was literally flying.
The mouths of the Hunter Management Department members watching the scene fell wide open.
“Is he doing everything now—is he even flying?”
“Is that the *Void Step*?”
“Is it a *Fly* spell?”
There were no skills yet that allowed for flight. Seeing Cheon Yooshin flying, they watched him with wonder. At the same time, their eyes were filled with expectation. He was flying. That meant if he wanted to save only himself, he could easily escape. But Cheon Yooshin wasn't running away. No, he was slowly floating in the direction the nuclear missile was coming from. Why? There wasn't a single person here who didn't know. It meant he had a plan. And they could see it—Cheon Yooshin’s body, which had started to float into the sky, coming to a halt in mid-air. And him reaching out his hand toward the approaching missile.
***
The announcer’s trembling voice echoed across the nation through the news.
[The unbelievable footage you are seeing right now is taking place in Pyongyang.]
As the nuclear missile drew closer, people screamed and ran in all directions. For those in a panic, order no longer existed. The screen showed them, then focused on the sky. A man was floating there. Now, there was no one who didn't know that man. It was Cheon Yooshin. His expression was calm, even though a nuclear missile capable of causing a horrific outcome was approaching. Then, he slowly reached out his hand.
[This is a truly unbelievable sight. A human is floating in the sky. And what is he trying to do? Is he trying to stop a nuclear missile with his bare hands?]
Viewers across the nation, no, people all over the world watching the news and the Tube stream, held their breath. Everyone gathered in living rooms, offices, and in front of large screens on the streets couldn't keep their mouths shut.
“What is he trying to do without running away?”
“It’s a nuclear weapon! Run away quickly!”
“Get out of the way!”
People cried out desperately. Run away. Cheon Yooshin, the hunter who now represented South Korea. They just didn't want to see him die so pointlessly in a foreign land.
***
Cutting through the sky, the nuclear missile charged with fierce momentum. The air screamed as if it were being torn apart, and the earth trembled, shivering in fear. However, Cheon Yooshin’s gaze was calm. His hand slowly opened.
In an instant, the surrounding air began to vibrate and distort. Before Yooshin’s palm, space twisted, and a deep darkness revealed itself.
A spatial void that swallows all matter.
It was like a miniature black hole. At first, it was a dot as small as a grain of rice, but it expanded in an instant, growing large enough to cover Yooshin’s entire body. Meanwhile, the missile had reached Yooshin’s proximity. His ears began to ring, and the skin on his face vibrated. But Yooshin opened his eyes wide.
The nuclear missile rushed toward Yooshin, but the gravitational field of the abyss had already enveloped it. The power of infinite gravity began to suck the missile in, like a glutton.
*Screeeeeech!*
With a sound that seemed to tear the ears, the moment the warhead of the missile touched the abyss, it vanished in an instant, as if it had been erased by magic. He had succeeded. He had inserted the nuclear weapon into the *Abyss of Dark Magic* according to his plan. And Yooshin could feel it—a massive explosion occurring inside the abyss, which had been opened by his *Magi*.
4,237,645 Magi consumed to absorb the attack.
At the same time, an immense amount of *Magi* was consumed in an instant. But Yooshin didn't care. To him, *Magi* was effectively infinite. Even now, it was filling up at a rapid pace, as if to replenish what had been spent.
Yooshin, having perfectly eliminated the nuclear missile, slowly lowered his hand. The *Abyss of Dark Magic* had already vanished without a trace. A faint smile played on Yooshin’s lips.
*Even a nuke is nothing.*
*Drip.*
Hm? Is it a cold in midsummer? A hot liquid flowed down his nose. When he instinctively wiped his nose with the back of his hand, bright red blood stained it. Haha. Have I not been sleeping lately? It was true that he had pushed himself. Stopping a nuclear weapon with human strength was near-impossible, yet Yooshin had forced it to stop. The aftermath had affected Yooshin’s body, whether he realized it or not.
Well, anyway, the fact was that he had stopped it. Brushing off such facts, Yooshin wiped away the nosebleed and turned his gaze to the earth. A countless crowd was looking up at him, mouths agape.
“Long live Cheon Yooshin!”
“Long live Cheon Yooshin!”
Both South and North Korea were cheering, thrusting their hands high into the sky. It was truly a national unification. Their shouts rang in Yooshin’s ears. Being revered as a hero who stopped a nuclear weapon. It was a feeling quite different from the one in the Abyss. There, even if he killed countless demons, it was dismissed by other humans as a battle between demons, and he was met with fear rather than awe. Perhaps that was why. Even though they were the same race, flowing with the same red blood, they could never get close to one another.
A deep smile hung on the lips of Yooshin, who watched them silently.
“Then, shall I go see that pig’s face now?”
At that moment, a thick, red stream of blood flowed from Yooshin’s nose once again, running down his philtrum.