Finally Over
"It's really over...."
The moment Seoya boarded the helicopter, she let all the tension drain from her body and flopped back into her seat.
She had cleared the remaining three S-rank dungeons that had opened across South Korea. Fortunately, they only contained A-type Mutants, so she swept them away in one burst of mana and called it done. If there had been even a single B-type Mutant like the one before, she would've had to think her way through it and ended up pretty exhausted.
'But we barely rescued any civilians.'
The Iksan City dungeon had popped up in such a remote spot that no humans got sucked in, but the Jeonju City and Sejong Special City dungeons had pulled in several people—yet only one survivor from Jeonju and three from Sejong made it out alive. Anyone who didn't emerge from the dungeon once it was cleared was already dead inside.
"Yawn, I'm beat...."
"Baby, you can take off the cape now. Arms out."
It wasn't physical fatigue, but cramming so many events, truths, and people into a single day had worn her down mentally. At least things got better once the reporters stopped hounding her midway through. The journalists who had shoved cameras in her face and pestered her nonstop were suddenly blocked by a group of people in black suits, unable to get close.
When Seoya glanced their way, they simply bowed their heads to her in respect. She had no idea who they were, but she guessed some guild had pulled strings to make it happen.
"I need Magic Stones."
Seoya leaned her head back against the headrest and murmured.
"A ton of them. Like, a lot."
Enough to build a Magic Amplifier that would let her return to Toda.
Baek Yena jumped right in at Seoya's words.
"If my baby wants 'em, I can get as many as you need. How many we talkin'?"
"This many." Seoya traced a massive rectangle in the air with her finger. Exactly the size of a Magic Amplifier.
"What?"
Baek Yena's face twisted in confusion as she opened her mouth.
"How many Magic Stones would that even take to fill...?"
"Around twenty thousand, I'd say."
Lee Gayeon, who had checked the size of the box Seoya drew, picked up the thread.
"That many?"
It was hard for Seoya to wrap her head around it, but twenty thousand felt like overkill. Based on the Magic Stones she'd seen so far on Earth, two hundred—or even fewer—should've been plenty for a Magic Amplifier.
"Take a good look. Really?"
Seoya pulled out one of the Magic Stones she'd gotten from clearing the S-rank dungeon and dangled it in front of them.
"You need twenty thousand of these things?"
"Whoa, why's that Magic Stone so huge?"
Baek Yena gawked at the stone in Seoya's hand. Meanwhile, Lee Gayeon, who had kept a calm face while mulling it over, finally spoke.
"...Come to think of it, all the Magic Stones we got as rewards from these dungeons were abnormally large."
On Toda, stones like this were standard size, but Baek Yena and Lee Gayeon were treating the one in Seoya's hand like some freak outlier.
"So, what size are the Magic Stones you've seen up till now?"
"B-rank ones are usually thumbnail-sized, and A-rank... maybe double that?"
"Huh."
If Ibin's the one who supplied Earth with these...
'Did she smash 'em into tiny pieces before handing them out?'
Made sense—if dungeons spat out stones this size every clear, it would've wrecked Toda's supply chain.
Either way, scraping together twenty thousand thumbnail-sized stones one by one sounded impossible.
'Better to just clear every new S-rank dungeon myself and collect the rewards.'
That was probably why Ibin had set S-rank rewards to giant stones like these.
"We'll gather as many A-rank stones as we can for now. Just buy 'em up with cash."
Baek Yena said that, then made a thoughtful face before turning to Seoya and muttering.
"Hate asking other guys for help, but if we're talkin' richest hunter... gotta be Na Seonghyeon."
"Ah."
"That crazy capitalist freak's just been hoarding cash—never seen him spend it right."
"Capitalist freak?"
"Monster born from capitalism."
"Ohhh...."
"If you want it, baby, he'll pile it up at your feet, no question."
Baek Yena said it with total conviction. At first, the weird affection top rankers had for Seoya creeped her out, but now she was starting to get it.
"Is it artificial emotion or something?"
Top rankers probably had the most mana among them. It was still a grain of rice compared to Seoya, but still.
And to them, Seoya was...
'Twice the mana of every scrap on Earth combined.'
Yeah, about that much. Earthlings were splitting Ibin's mana, after all. So high-rank hunters couldn't help but be drawn to Seoya's vast power.
"Who knows, baby."
Baek Yena leaned back lazily in her seat, her voice distant like she was reminiscing.
"Everyone's got their own story. How they fell for you? That's their tale to tell...."
Baek Yena had her own story for how she'd come to love Seoya.
"More than anything, humans fall for the one who saves their life in the nick of time. It's harder not to."
The savior descending from the heavens that Baek Yena—and all of Neverending Guild—had witnessed. That was probably why Go Heejae and Na Seonghyeon had flipped their attitudes so fast. Gwak Mansu seemed to see his daughter in her or something.
The other top-10 hunters were thrown by the sudden rank 0 appearance, but they were sharp cookies.
'Dull hunters would've died to monsters ages ago.'
The fact they weren't objecting or piping up, even without knowing her identity, meant they'd figured it out. A shift in power. A new top dog had arrived.
"Yes, great news! With the Iksan City dungeon now cleared, all six S-rank dungeons that suddenly appeared in Korea have been conquered!"
A male announcer in glasses and a neat suit continued.
"We don't know exactly why six S-rank dungeons popped up in Korea all at once, but experts suspect it might be linked to the 'Rank 0' that appeared here. We're joined by dungeon expert Park Sangcheol."
"Ah, yes... This Rank 0 in Korea is... completely different from any hunter before... It's confusing enough that a 0 suddenly showed up, but with the national affiliation changeable... It's an entity unbound by any nation..."
It was the slow-talking dungeon expert Seoya had seen that morning.
"Ugh, these so-called dungeon experts."
Baek Yena scowled as she listened.
"They ain't even hunters, no fancy dungeon PhDs, and it's only been two and a half years since gates started everywhere—buncha armchair wannabes."
"Top-10 rankers are all staying silent on this, like it's coordinated... Rank 0 is absolute. Not like rank 1—something you can't even touch... And since we don't know the Rank 0's identity, caution is warranted..."
"Why's he talking in circles like that?"
"Experts do that."
The screen switched, and a familiar face Seoya recognized appeared.
"Go Heejae."
He looked a bit more cleaned up than before, still in the same clothes, standing before the reporters.
Go Heejae vanished quickly, replaced by Na Seonghyeon in a crisp suit and perfectly knotted tie.
The following clips were similar. Hunters presumed to be large guild masters stated their positions—all seemingly from within the top-10 ranks.
"That's Haejun oppa."
Instead of Lee Gayeon and Baek Yena—who were here on the chopper—Vice Guild Master Park Haejun had made the statement. The news even showed him fielding questions.
"People aren't really pushing back on this, are they?"
"Hunters hold the real power in Korea right now."
Baek Yena replied casually.
"World top rankers are kicking up a fuss, though."
"Could that be a problem later?"
"...We'll need to chat with a few."
Baek Yena's voice turned cautious.
"And it's time to negotiate with the government."
"Negotiate what?"
"Hunter privacy, forced mobilization... that kinda stuff."
"Ah."
Seoya leaned back, pondering negotiations leisurely. With this stranger now in their country, it was probably time to loop in the government too.