#262. So That Our World Doesn't Meet the Same End.
Hunter Crime Division Hive Raid Temporary Command Post.
It had a grandiose name like "command post," but it was just a small conference room with only two people manning it.
Kang Moo-hyuk had notified Hamilton that he would receive no interference whatsoever as a condition for making this raid happen.
Since the entities he meant by "interference" included the White House and the Crime Division, it effectively excluded the government entirely.
Hamilton had accepted his proposal with surprising generosity. In reality, he didn't have the authority to do so, but by pulling in California Governor Kevin Cock, he was indirectly controlling the scene.
The White House was far away, but the state capitol was close—it was a matter of leaning on the power available right now.
This little conference room was peaceful, far removed from the raid itself, but the two inside were racking their brains just as intensely as those on the front lines.
"Fortunately, the information sharing from both guilds has gone smoothly."
Thomas displayed the hive raid data sent through the Hunter Crime Division's network on the screen mounted on the conference room wall.
The screen showed a map of the hive labyrinth sprawling beneath LA like a maze.
It was an incomplete map pieced together from the areas conquered by the two guilds and the passages confirmed by the blockade teams sealing off each entrance.
Not everything had been fully cleared, so there were plenty of blank spots, but it was enough to grasp the overall structure.
Kang Moo-hyuk added the conquest route relayed from Joo Se-ah's party to the map and said,
"Judging by how they dug the tunnels, it looks like they avoided the subway lines."
"Yes. The eastern subway lines are a bit more complex."
"In that case, the hive main body should be shifted a little west of the center."
"That means the route Guild Master Joo Se-ah took ends up being quite a detour."
Kang Moo-hyuk frowned as he checked the route Thomas pointed out.
He had hoped Joo Se-ah would not only draw the queen wasp's attention but position herself for a direct assault.
But her path took her far out of the way, and even accounting for the two guilds being tied up regrouping from the 5th-generation carnivorous wasps' counterattack, she was still much closer to the deepest part—they were likely to attempt the boss first.
He had stoked the guilds' greed himself, but Kang Moo-hyuk absolutely did not want them clashing with the queen wasp right off the bat.
He racked his brain for a way to turn the situation around.
'We could smash through the floor, but given the maze-like structure the wasps dug, one wrong break could cause a chain collapse around us.'
The wasps weren't architects, after all—their tunnels were haphazardly pierced through. Without their saliva hardening the walls, it all would have caved in ages ago. Venturing to shock such an unstable structure was out of the question.
As Kang Moo-hyuk's contemplation deepened, Thomas cautiously spoke up.
"About the operation you mentioned to me earlier, Commander. Couldn't we pull it forward a bit and execute it now?"
"That operation...?"
Kang Moo-hyuk recalled the last-resort plan he'd explained to Thomas. He seemed to ponder for a moment before shaking his head.
"We haven't pinpointed the hive's main body yet, and even if we did, it's not something we can use lightly."
"Didn't we get full authority? We have to accept some level of damage."
"My current command authority is entirely reliant on Director Hamilton. It's not direct authorization from the White House. Sure, we're leading the raid under the pretext of an emergency, but I don't have absolute command over all the guilds. If things blow up, I could end up the scapegoat."
Though Kang Moo-hyuk had shelved the plan, Thomas didn't back down easily.
"Fine. Let's set aside the authority issue and focus purely on efficiency. Commander, you're known for using any means necessary to exterminate monsters. If the hunters from those two major guilds suffer irrecoverable fatal wounds, LA won't be able to handle the current gates even without the carnivorous wasps—it'll collapse on itself. Even with support from the East Coast or elsewhere, factoring in raid prep time, we can't guarantee we'll clear all the gates in time."
Thomas pressed for the operation with eerie zeal. His gleaming eyes even carried a hint of madness.
Kang Moo-hyuk took issue not with the logic of Thomas's argument, but with his attitude.
It was odd how casually he suggested embracing the fallout from that last resort he'd been told about.
But he quickly realized what it meant.
'Mana addiction?'
Efficiency first, sociopathic tendencies, emotional numbness.
It was a symptom seen in some mana addiction patients after onset, particularly those showing anomalies in intelligence.
Kang Moo-hyuk experienced it himself.
Treating jokes as social rituals rather than humor, prioritizing relationships of interest over human bonds, becoming desensitized to emotions and learning through the head rather than the heart.
These traits stood out at levels far from normal.
Without the greater cause of monster extermination and humanity's protection, Kang Moo-hyuk would have ended up looking just like Thomas now.
'Pushing his power with drugs seems to be accelerating the personality breakdown from mana addiction. I went through something similar early in my treatment. Looks like he needs the brakes put on.'
Even if personality shattered, reason didn't fully break—so Kang Moo-hyuk firmly reined Thomas in.
"I told you, right? This operation is about ending it with as little destruction as possible. Why do you think that is? Destroying people's livelihoods to kill monsters turns the whole thing upside down. We're doing this to save people, not sacrifice them or force damage on them. Every operation I've run has fundamentally been for the people. If you can't understand that, I may have to reconsider working with you, Hunter Thomas."
"Not working with me... does that mean no more treatment?"
"I give the orders. Now that you've joined Iron Will, you follow my commands. Understood?"
Kang Moo-hyuk made him recognize the loss first, before persuasion. It was the method that worked best on Thomas—because he was the same.
"Understood. That was just my opinion. I'll follow your orders absolutely, Commander."
The man who had seemed more radical than any terrorist moments ago turned meek in an instant.
Kang Moo-hyuk swallowed a sigh as he looked at Thomas.
'The core of that last-resort operation relies on Hunter Thomas's magic. I'll have to give him the drugs again. But with his personality shifting this fast from mana addiction, injecting him feels burdensome.'
Still, he couldn't scrap the plan. It was the lifeline he'd prepared in case the raid failed.
All Kang Moo-hyuk could do was hope he wouldn't have to use that final measure.
"This is the path from behind the moonshine factory to the underpass. The other guilds haven't confirmed it yet. I found and scouted this place myself. I know the route up to the middle, so it'll be smooth going."
Ithaca Guild Vice Guild Master Powel guided Master Dolores to the site where the carnivorous wasp incident had begun.
They had incited the hive and turned LA into a wasteland, but now it was a blessing in disguise—they'd secured a hive entrance unknown to the other guilds.
"Vice Guild Master, you always turn everything into success. Even your anger brought luck back around."
"I'm famous for my gate luck. No better hole to aim for Steel."
"Good. Everyone ready?"
"Yes!"
A group followed behind Dolores. Ithaca Guild's expedition team hunters.
Dozens of hunters, fully geared as if for a red gate conquest.
Dolores shouted with utter confidence.
"Alright, let's make a huge score this time! And prove we're the best! Let's go!"
Once reports confirmed the existence of 5th-generation carnivorous wasps, Hamilton informed California Governor Kevin Cock.
Kevin issued his pre-prepared address, declaring an evacuation order for LA.
But with LA City Hall in ruins, coordination with police and fire stations stalled.
The Hunter Crime Division stepped in. They requested O.C.'s help in the Division's name.
O.C. Los Angeles Branch Chief Ulvert—who had prior dealings with Kang Moo-hyuk—mobilized all available members and affiliated freelance hunters to aid civilian evacuations.
It was exaggerated compared to the actual situation, but a fitting speech for a politician eyeing the presidency.
The structure—despair, hunters' all-out sacrifice, state efforts, future hope—could fool anyone unfamiliar with politics into thinking it was the president speaking.
But the elf, more attuned to human politics than most humans, could only frown at the TV address.
"Aaron's going to foam at the mouth if he sees this."
"Aaron? You mean US President Aaron Arthur?"
Robert Owen, the World Hunter Federation's LA representative, responded to Aila's mutter.
Aila countered with another question instead of answering.
"Director Hamilton went to Sacramento, right?"
"Yes."
"He's not the type to hobby in political maneuvering. Someone else must have orchestrated this. Feels like something Commander Kang would pull."
"Commander Kang Moo-hyuk? Isn't the scale too big? For someone running a mere C-rank guild from a small Eastern country, it's overwhelming."
"That 'mere' C-rank guild commander made Russia's Tyrant look like a fool."
"That was thanks to Guild Master Joo Se-ah, wasn't it? She's S-rank."
"China's S-rank Sim Wol fell to Commander Kang Moo-hyuk's schemes too."
"Wasn't that Nikolai Kamenisky who killed her? Russia's famed Desert of Ice Reaper."
"More precisely, it was borrowing a knife to kill."
"Borrowing a knife to kill?"
"An Eastern idiom for using another's hand to eliminate an enemy."
"So you're saying... Commander Kang Moo-hyuk killed Sim Wol?"
"An S-rank died on a stage set by a non-hunter like Commander Kang. That's enough to infer the current situation. No evidence, but I'm almost certain it's his doing."
Robert found it hard to breathe.
'Is it possible to take down an S-rank like that?'
Even with the Federation's backing, "impossible" was the only word that came to mind.
"Definitely someone to watch. No wonder the Federation's taking interest. With a guy like that rampaging on US soil, who knows what massive events are coming."
"Massive events have already happened."
"Pardon?"
"Things got messy in many ways, but he's already wielded enough influence to shake America. He passed the test. Might even be the first non-hunter commander in Federation history."
Robert choked again at the word "commander."
Certification as a Federation commander carried special weight.
It granted the qualification to command the Federation's top hunters, allied guilds, and key hunters from various nations.
Of course, it was honorary in peacetime. Commanders only emerged in continental extinction-level crises, which were exceedingly rare.
Even so, adding a fourth to the Federation's three commanders was monumental.
'A non-hunter as commander? The other three won't sit idly by... The Federation's about to get noisy.'
Regardless of Robert's worries, Aila fretted over something else.
She recalled the prophecy from 'Thousand Eyes' Nikola Tarabik that had drawn her to LA personally.
'Light of death... That phrase keeps nagging at me. A 5th-generation queen wasp that toppled a nation is monstrous, sure, but not enough for Tarabik to prophesy.'
That was why Aila was fixated on the hive raid.
She didn't know what would happen, but if grave danger threatened Kang Moo-hyuk, she planned to intervene at any moment.
'No day here has been without peril. So that Earth doesn't meet the same end as our world. I'll protect it with everything I've got.'