Chapter 56
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 56
Chapter Title: Dimensional Barrier (3)
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Kim Hyun arrived in the skies over Pyongyang and surveyed her surroundings.
"I killed so many back then, but look at all these spiders crawling in."
Sure enough, spiders were wandering around the Pyongyang area. It seemed the ones from outside had wandered in and settled down.
'Well, yeah, with all the spider corpses I left behind.'
Cannibalism among monsters wasn't exactly rare.
With piles of edible meat just sitting there, it was only natural for spiders to show up.
"Tch."
Kim Hyun clicked her tongue lightly.
In that instant, her shadow spread out in all directions, sweeping away every last spider left in Pyongyang.
"While I'm at it, should I clean up the ground a bit?"
Looking down at the debris-filled ruins of Pyongyang, Kim Hyun soon shook her head.
'Nah, why bother?'
Too much hassle. What was there to clean?
The government would handle the mess later anyway.
'More importantly...'
Where in Pyongyang should she punch through the passage?
Of course, with her power, she could make a hole anywhere.
But finding a spot where the dimensional wall was thin would let her do it with minimal effort.
Not wanting to waste any strength, Kim Hyun scanned the area for a weak point in the dimensional barrier.
"Oh, that looks perfect."
Kim Hyun flew toward a massive building.
It was the structure once known as the Ryugyong Hotel.
"Setting it up right on this spot would be ideal."
Of course, the Ryugyong Hotel was currently blocking that exact location.
But so what?
Kim Hyun slowly approached the airspace above the Ryugyong Hotel.
Then she muttered lightly.
"Crush it."
In that instant.
The Ryugyong Hotel began to collapse.
As if a giant hand had smashed down from above, the hotel shattered into pieces. The debris flying everywhere was devoured entirely by Kim Hyun's shadow.
And just like that, the Ryugyong Hotel vanished from the world.
Only then did Kim Hyun descend to the ground.
"Good."
She drew back her fist casually.
Punching a hole to cross dimensions was simple.
All you had to do was destroy the dimensional coordinates for the target and every barrier in the straight line between.
That created the hole.
How do you destroy a dimensional wall?
Simple.
You just had to be strong enough.
"Hmph!"
The next moment, Kim Hyun swung her fist through empty air.
KWANG! KWANG! KWANG! KWANG!!!
In that instant, the air shattered into fragments, forming a hole.
"Hole's open."
Kim Hyun strode right into it.
Peering through to the other side, she flashed a satisfied smile.
"Perfect. Monsters are there."
It was the moment Earth connected to the place commonly called the otherworld.
Kim Hyun sent a text to Team Leader Lee Min-hyuk: She'd punched a dimensional hole in Pyongyang.
Naturally, an exploration team was dispatched immediately.
The team scouted the otherworld through the hole.
[A world in a completely different dimension. Even the constellations are different.]
[Not sealed off like inside a gate.]
[Natural environment on par with Earth. Numerous monsters observed.]
That intel shot straight to the top of South Korea's leadership.
"We've opened a passage to the otherworld...?"
"Yes, Mr. President."
President Han Sung-ho wasn't even surprised anymore.
Kim Hyun was Kim Hyun—what was the problem?
That wasn't the important part.
'This is an enormous opportunity!'
They'd secured a passage to an entirely different planet.
And right in Korean territory!
North Korea wasn't officially Korean land yet, but that didn't matter.
They'd just reclaim it.
Worried about territorial disputes with China or Russia?
Far East Russia was an unrecognized state not treated as a country by the world. Not a nation, so ignore them.
What if real Russia complained? What claim could they make after losing Siberia?
China or America were the only real concerns left, but...
'We've got Kim Hyun.'
What was there to fear with a walking nuke on their side?
The most powerful one in the world, at that.
Though controlling that nuke was nearly impossible... Best to set that aside for now.
The key fact was the connection to the otherworld.
A world brimming with monsters, otherworldly plants, ores, new materials, and all sorts of resources.
'Pioneering the otherworld alone would trigger a massive boom.'
Unlike gates, they could send in the military to develop it. Unlike gates, the Korean government could claim stake in the otherworld.
President Han Sung-ho's face lit up with a broad smile.
His mind was already painting pictures of the Korean economy rocketing to the stars through otherworld development.
And the president riding that era would be him.
'No post-term backlash for me.'
Shrugging his shoulders, President Han Sung-ho turned to his chief of staff.
"Chief of Staff."
"Yes, Mr. President."
"Prepare a national address immediately. We have to share this great news."
"Understood!"
The chief of staff hurried off right away.
Left alone, President Han Sung-ho hummed a tune in his office as he polished the speech.
[...The Korean Peninsula is forever free from the threat of gates... By developing Pyongyang and the otherworld, Korea will leap into a new era beyond the Fourth Industrial Revolution...]
"Kim Hyun."
Chae Seol-ah, watching TV, turned to look at Kim Hyun.
"Can we really use the otherworld like a colony?"
At the question, Kim Hyun—who'd just dumped a handful of popcorn into her mouth—mumbled incoherently.
"Ah-oo-ah-ah?"
"Pardon?"
Kim Hyun swallowed the mouthful of popcorn and shrugged.
"I dunno?"
"Huh? Why not?"
"'Cause I really don't."
Kim Hyun glanced at the TV. The screen showed the otherworld passage in Pyongyang.
"I haven't been to that world. I just punched a hole to some planet with monsters."
With that answer, she shot Chae Seol-ah a sullen look.
"And how would I know about colonizing or whatever?"
Chae Seol-ah gave an awkward laugh.
"Haha, fair point."
At that moment, Bartoli emerged from the kitchen with a tray of peeled apples and headed for the sofa. After setting the apples on the table, she reported to Kim Hyun.
"Demon Lord. Seosung has made contact with Kim Hyun Corporation."
"Can't we, like, change the name?"
"No."
Bartoli shook her head firmly and continued.
"The Seosung Vice President reached out personally."
"What'd she say?"
"They're considering bidding on the otherworld development project and asked if you'd be open to a preferential contract."
Kim Hyun snorted derisively.
"Should I reject?"
"Why ask me? Isn't that for the Korean government?"
"Well, depending on how we interpret the treaty you signed with the Korean government, ownership of this new otherworld passage—and the otherworld itself—could shift. Since it's a product of your creation, we could argue you hold the rights."
At those words, the apple Chae Seol-ah was eating slipped from her hand and fell.
Kim Hyun looked utterly uninterested.
"I don't get that stuff. Don't wanna know. Handle it, Bartoli. That's why we made the company, right?"
Bartoli bowed her head deeply.
"Thank you for entrusting it to me, Demon Lord! I'll work hard to live up to your faith."
"Yeah, yeah."
Only then did Chae Seol-ah snap out of it. Her brain had frozen from the sheer absurdity.
"...Well, at least that's a relief now."
"What is?"
"Because of you, no one will die from gate breaks anymore?"
Thanks to Kim Hyun's dimensional barrier over the peninsula, no more gates would spawn in Korea. Monster breaks were a thing of the past.
Chae Seol-ah beamed at Kim Hyun.
"Oh, right. What about the passage you opened?"
"What about it?"
"The monsters. They won't come through to Earth, right?"
"Eh, they might."
"...Pardon?"
Chae Seol-ah yelped in alarm.
"Th-that's a huge problem! It's basically a permanent gate!"
Bartoli gave Chae Seol-ah a pitying look and chided her briefly.
"No need to worry. Monsters aren't malicious—they have zero reason to enter some suspicious otherworld passage. Besides, the Korean military and hunters will cross over, build outposts, and develop it, so no monsters will reach Earth."
"I-is that so?"
"The scenario you're imagining is extremely unlikely."
"...Then that's good."
Chae Seol-ah finally let out a sigh of relief.
"But monsters are overflowing anyway, right?"
Kim Hyun muttered.
"Pardon?"
"There are still monsters in Gangwon, aren't there? Same with the North Korean spiders."
"W-well, we can just deal with them!"
"Hmm. I'm not so sure. Why would hunters crawl into the mountains for wild monsters when they can safely farm them in the otherworld with army support and supplies?"
Bartoli shrugged as she spoke.
"Th-that makes sense."
"Don't sweat it."
Kim Hyun dumped more popcorn into her mouth.
"I'll clean them all up later anyway. Can't have my front yard looking messy."
Chae Seol-ah's face finally brightened.
"Th-then that's great. Hehe."
Watching her giggle happily, Kim Hyun smacked her lips.
'Now, I wonder what they'll do.'
The outer gods were surely watching Earth.
They'd know exactly what she'd done.
'They must be pissed.'
Whatever they tried, it didn't matter.
She'd just smash them all.