Spoils of Victory
A parliamentary hearing was convened at the Yeouido National Assembly Building.
The agenda was singular and urgent: mitigating the damage and establishing countermeasures in the wake of China's abrupt closure of its Legendary-grade ruin. High-ranking public officials and cabinet members overseeing hunter and ruin affairs, including Commissioner Yoo Jeongtae of the Korean Hunter Administration and Minister Lee Cheolsoo of the Ministry of Disaster Administration, packed the hall in droves.
The moment the session commenced, the lawmakers unleashed a relentless barrage of inquiries. Was there any possibility of reclaiming access to the Legendary-grade ruin shut down by China? What plans were in place to secure the magic crystals that domestic industries desperately required starting the very next day? The grueling debate dragged on for more than twelve exhausting hours before the gavel finally fell, bringing the day's proceedings to an end.
Of course, this was merely the close of day one. The hearings were slated to drag on for days to come.
Leaving the assembly hall alongside Minister Lee Cheolsoo, Commissioner Yoo Jeongtae offered him an uncapped bottle of water. "You worked hard today, Minister."
"Mmh." Lee Cheolsoo's voice trembled with sheer fatigue. Ever since his face-to-face meeting with Jeon Jaewoo, anxiety had gnawed relentlessly at the minister's gut. "Commissioner Yoo."
"Yes, Minister. Go ahead."
"Can Hunter Jeon Jaewoo truly clear the Underground Labyrinth all on his own?"
As a non-awakened career bureaucrat, Lee Cheolsoo possessed no personal understanding of hunter capabilities. Naturally, doubts festered in his mind. Could a single hunter genuinely conquer an unyielding ruin that major superpowers had coveted for three years, only to abandon in defeat?
The thought had crossed Yoo Jeongtae's mind as well. He knew full well that Jeon Jaewoo was an anomaly, but the parameters for conquering the Underground Labyrinth had little to do with raw combat prowess. There was a reason even hunter superpowers that had felled Ancient-grade ruins had failed to conquer that particular Legendary-grade labyrinth. Even so, Jaewoo's track record was so overwhelmingly unprecedented that leaving him to his devices had seemed like the only sensible choice.
"Please, do not worry yourself too much, Minister," Yoo Jeongtae consoled him smoothly. "There is no limit on the number of attempts one can make. Furthermore, he assured us that if his solo assault failed, he would gladly join forces with our national raid team."
"Hmm..."
Truth be told, Lee Cheolsoo was almost equally apprehensive about the prospect of Jaewoo succeeding. At this very moment, Jeon Jaewoo held sole ownership of two Legendary-grade ruins and one Ancient-grade ruin. Had any private individual in history ever possessed such an astronomical hoard of strategic territory? At this rate, the entire nation risked being dragged around by the whims of a single hunter.
Just then, Yoo Jeongtae's phone buzzed in his pocket.
He pulled it out, glanced at the caller ID, and his eyes flew wide. "Oh."
"What is it? What happened?"
"It's... Hunter Jeon Jaewoo."
Lee Cheolsoo's eyes widened in tandem, his voice spiking with urgency. "Q-Quick, answer it! Put it on speaker so I can hear!"
Taking a deep, steadying breath, Yoo Jeongtae swiped to answer.
"Ah, Hunter Jeon Jaewoo. Yes, yes! It's perfectly fine to talk. Please, go ahead."
Within seconds, a radiant, stunned smile broke across the commissioner's weary features. "Ah... you completed the conquest of the Underground Labyrinth?"
He cleared it!
Listening intently from inches away, Minister Lee Cheolsoo clenched both fists so tight his knuckles whitened.
"Congratulations! Truly, you have outdone yourself! Yes, of course. Ah... you will grant us exclusive trading rights? Thank you so very much! Thank you, Hunter Jeon!" Yoo Jeongtae bobbed his head in repeated bows, behaving as though the young man were standing directly in front of him.
Yet the surprises were far from over.
"Pardon? You cleared the newly emerged Legendary-grade ruin as well? The Silver Mine... Isn't that the mining ruin China's vanguard was actively raiding right now?"
Both the commissioner and the minister stared blankly into space, their minds grinding to a halt. What on earth did he just say?
"Ah. You had stamina to spare... so you decided to take care of it while you were at it... Ah, I see. Yes, yes. Remarkable work. Thank you so much, Hunter Jeon. I will come pay you a visit in person very soon. Yes, goodbye."
The call disconnected. Yoo Jeongtae and Lee Cheolsoo stood frozen in the hallway, staring dumbfoundedly at each other.
Word of Jeon Jaewoo's conquest of the Underground Labyrinth spread like wildfire across the globe.
Upon receiving the intelligence, the Chinese government tasted pure ash.
The Underground Labyrinth, a strategic prize they had salivated over for years, had been snatched from right under their noses in the blink of an eye. Worse still, the brand-new magic crystal mining ruin, which their elite forces had mobilized all their might to conquer the second it spawned, had been poached out from under them mid-raid.
With this, any prospect of China securing an additional Legendary-grade ruin this cycle was effectively dead in the water. They had already lost this month's Ancient-grade ruin and the premier mineral mine to South Korea. Meanwhile, the other Legendary-grade ruins had long since entered contested clear races among rival superpowers, making a late intervention practically impossible.
China, a nation that routinely flaunted its supreme status as a hunter superpower to strong-arm its neighbors, was now reduced to fretting over whether it could salvage even a single Legendary ruin before the month ran out.
Yoo Jeongtae visited Jeon Jaewoo personally, bowing in profound gratitude again and again.
The international hunter community was reeling in absolute shock. To claim a Legendary-grade ruin that had defied the world's most powerful raiding nations for three solid years—and to accomplish it in mere hours—defied all conventional logic.
In truth, the lion's share of the credit belonged to Jaewoo's newest artificial spirit, Novum.
Not only did Novum possess peerless sensory detection capable of rooting out every shadow beast lurking within the labyrinth's twisted depths, but its regenerative support proved indispensable. Novum had swiftly stabilized Myeolgeop's core, which had overheated during the brutal clash against the World Tree root, and fully replenished the golem's drained mana reserves.
Myeolgeop possessed the Transcendent trait Self-Repair, allowing him to mend structural trauma and shrug off severe internal overloads during battle. However, that autonomous restoration came at the cost of immense mana expenditure. Novum had stepped in with its natural affinity traits, channeling fresh, boundless mana straight into the exhausted vanguard.
It was thanks to that immediate recharge that Jaewoo had been able to steamroll the freshly spawned Legendary ruin right after the labyrinth. Unlike the intricate subterranean maze, the Silver Mine featured straightforward topography; the fully recharged Myeolgeop had bulldozed the entire ruin in five flat minutes, precisely as he always did.
Back in the comfort of his living room, Jaewoo pulled Novum into his chest, gently stroking its soft, squishy form. Delighting in its master's touch, the opaque white slime wriggled contentedly, burrowing deeper into his embrace.
Our little slime is an absolute lucky charm.
Not only was it absurdly capable, but it was also remarkably adorable.
A few days after the double conquest shook the globe, the Korean Hunter Administration officially announced the signing of a strategic partnership contract with Hunter Jeon Jaewoo. Under the agreement, all magic crystals harvested from the newly conquered ruins would be supplied exclusively to the South Korean government.
As Jaewoo opened access to the ruin for resource extraction, logistical corps from the Hunter Administration began marching into the Underground Labyrinth in orderly shifts.
The moment foreign governments confirmed that the Underground Labyrinth had fallen into South Korean hands, they scrambled to curry favor. Diplomatic delegations lined up to sing praises, eager to secure even a trickle of the ultra-dense magic crystals harvested from the site.
Most surreal of all was Japan's sudden turnabout. Coveting the labyrinth's pristine resources, Tokyo dispatched urgent diplomatic dispatches offering to purchase crystals at astronomical premiums.
Just weeks prior, Japan had been eagerly coordinating with China, preparing to exert collective pressure against South Korea after being beaten to a Legendary-grade ruin the previous month. While their irritation had not burned quite as fiercely as China's, they had nonetheless been bristling with hostility. Yet the instant Korea proved it could conquer the labyrinth single-handedly without bending to Beijing's embargo, the geopolitical winds shifted overnight. Japan, alongside dozens of other nations, launched an aggressive charm offensive.
In a span of mere days, Minister Lee Cheolsoo found himself walking on air. With the administration's single greatest industrial crisis cleanly resolved, his burdens had evaporated. Beside him at the cabinet table, the Minister of Foreign Affairs beamed with uncharacteristic satisfaction. Knowing that every grain of the labyrinth's wealth flowed exclusively through the Korean government, foreign ambassadors had adopted an exceptionally humble posture.
Humming a cheerful tune under his breath, Lee Cheolsoo strolled into Yoo Jeongtae's office.
"Commissioner! The crystal extraction operations are proceeding without a hitch, I trust? The conglomerates are kicking up an ungodly racket, begging to be placed first in line for allocations."
"Yes, Minister. Operations are progressing smoothly. Within a few days, all major semiconductor and defense production lines will be spinning at full capacity once more."
Securing the full yield of two Legendary-grade ruins had done far more than grant them a brief respite; it had effectively propelled the entirety of South Korea's heavy industries into an unprecedented boom.
As his smile subsided, Lee Cheolsoo adopted a somber expression and leaned forward across the mahogany desk. "That being said, Commissioner... does the Hunter Administration truly intend to leave Hunter Jeon Jaewoo entirely unattended like this?"
"......"
Through this series of events, Lee Cheolsoo and the senior leadership of the Blue House had arrived at a chillingly clear realization: Jeon Jaewoo was not merely an indispensable talent that the nation could ill afford to lose. He was quite possibly the most powerful hunter alive on the planet.
In fact, Lee Cheolsoo's visit today had been directly prompted by an executive directive from the President: bring Jeon Jaewoo into the official fold of the Hunter Administration at all costs.
"Should an awakener wielding such catastrophic power not be placed under strict state supervision?" Lee Cheolsoo pressed.
Yoo Jeongtae held the minister's gaze in silence for several beats before asking quietly, "And how, exactly, would you propose we do that?"
The minister's mouth clamped shut.
Jeon Jaewoo was an awakened being of unfathomable might. Bringing him on board as a registered officer of the Hunter Administration would undoubtedly be ideal. But how was an administrative agency supposed to enforce control over a man who wielded enough firepower to casually crush an Ancient-grade raid boss?
Jaewoo had already turned down every privilege, salary tier, and official accolade the state could muster, preferring to operate solely according to his own whims.
"I understand your perspective, Minister," Yoo Jeongtae continued, his voice heavy with hard-earned experience. "However, attempting to clamp down on hunters beyond reasonable bounds will only breed deep-seated resentment. Even without state control, is Hunter Jeon Jaewoo not contributing more than enough to the nation?"
A sudden chill crept down Lee Cheolsoo's spine.
At present, they enjoyed an amicable, mutually beneficial partnership. But what if heavy-handed bureaucratic interference provoked his ire? If Jaewoo soured on the Korean government, they would lose everything they had gained through him in an instant. History had already recorded far too many tragedies where excessive state interference drove top-tier awakened talent to emigrate overseas.
Rendered speechless, Lee Cheolsoo cleared his throat awkwardly and shifted the conversational angle. "Ahem... Then, at the very least, should we not focus on capturing his goodwill so that he never contemplates leaving the country? By showering him with the absolute finest benefits the state can offer?"
"On that point, I completely agree," Yoo Jeongtae nodded solemnly.
Though Jaewoo had politely declined all previous government overtures, something had to be done to tie him inextricably to home soil. If there was truly nothing the transcendent hunter desired, the Hunter Administration would simply have to invent something irresistible.