Chapter 113
Chapter 113
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 113
Chapter Title: Cheorwon Frontlines
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We were on our way to Cheorwon by car.
After taking out the monsters in the foreigners' residential district, my little speech to the camera had some effect, but it wasn't perfect by any means.
A lot of people were chiming in with their own opinions on whether what I said was right or wrong.
There were complaints that it wasn't right for a hunter like me to be wandering around outside when things were this serious, and just as many arguments on the other side.
Overall, about 45% of people seemed to agree with what I was doing. The rest were either opposed or just indifferent.
"This is more than enough."
At the very least, I'd made it so the people who hated me couldn't openly tear into me for staying active.
"But this means we can't afford to fail."
That was Han Sang-ah's take, riding in the car with me.
"Obviously. We've been walking this tightrope where one slip means game over from the start."
That's exactly why we'd gotten so famous and loud. You can't score big wins without taking risks.
"The hunters, the association, and the government have already formed a complete ecosystem."
And on top of that, the descendants of Dangun. In a fully formed ecosystem like this, the only way to act freely without getting crushed by the pressure is to make bold choices like these.
"We're almost there."
Cheorwon. One of Korea's fiercest battlegrounds. Monsters pouring in, Erosion Zones spreading out, and hunters holding the line against them.
We'd arrived at Zanabi LLC's branch in Cheorwon.
"They say it used to be a golf course."
No one's crazy enough to golf in Cheorwon these days. Zanabi had gutted the whole place and turned it into their base of operations.
"The air stinks, too."
In the gusting wind, I caught the faint rot of decaying corpses. And from far off to the north, the grudge of the undead.
"Their numbers are insane."
Perfect was the word for it. This place would make for some ideal training grounds for Han Sang-ah and Jeong Oh-hoon—I was sure of it.
"Hunter Yoo Chan-seok."
I greeted the man approaching with a group of other hunters. I knew who he was without an introduction.
This was Kang Hoon, Zanabi's 1st Team Leader.
"Nice to meet you. Yoo Chan-seok."
"Kang Hoon."
He had a massive warhammer slung across his back. His forearms were covered in scars, and his face looked hardened by years of weathering the storm head-on.
"I watched your showdown. That prideful Choi Yeoreum must be pretty pissed right now."
She'd kept her rank, hadn't technically lost, but it might as well have been a loss.
"We'll provide plenty of lodging and supplies, so stay as long as you need without worry."
"Thanks for the support."
Kang Hoon crossed his arms as he spoke.
"We'll assign three Zanabi hunter teams—five members each."
Less support than I'd expected. But I hadn't been hoping for much anyway. The government had made protecting the homeland their top priority, and after seeing foreigners turn into monsters, the public was on board.
Zanabi probably couldn't ignore that mood outright. Either way, fifteen Zanabi hunters were worth way more than sixty average ones.
"Oh, and operating will be handled by our in-house team here at the branch."
I nodded with a smile after hearing that.
"Appreciate the operating team support. But we won't need your hunters stepping up."
Kang Hoon let out a short "Ha."
"You've got some guts. And your skills back it up."
He thought for a moment, then nodded.
"Fine, have it your way. You've got freedom of movement, so go where you need. Call the operating team if you need them. Let's grab lunch sometime later."
"You two are in for hell here."
Jeong Oh-hoon groaned at my words.
"Already building up the hype."
Hype? With a laugh as clear as morning dew on grass blades, I pulled out a massive box and set it on the ground.
It hit with a heavy thud.
"Spare me."
Jeong Oh-hoon realized the box's weight wasn't joking and immediately regretted it, pleading with me.
"Who's dying?"
Han Sang-ah peeked inside and gave her quick verdict.
"I figured since you said you prepared something, it'd be impressive."
"Nothing impressive here. Training doesn't have shortcuts."
The sweat you shed now could spare you blood later. Simple principle. Jeong Oh-hoon looked wronged at my words.
"Hey, then it's no different from the training you, me, and Han Sang-ah have been doing."
"What are you talking about? The intensity's on a whole other level."
It's incredibly hard for people to push themselves right to their limits. You need someone else to help.
Even if Han Sang-ah and Jeong Oh-hoon trained each other, once one got exhausted, they couldn't properly push the other.
Plus, neither could regulate their own training properly. They'd either slack off and see no gains or overdo it and wreck themselves.
"I'll open the gates of hell for you myself."
And if they walked through it all, they'd be reborn.
If they failed... well, that was it.
"If you can't hack it, get ready to hear 'We can't continue with you' like on those audition shows and cry your way home."
I unpacked everything. Jeong Oh-hoon's reaction?
"This a gym?"
Dumbbells, barbells, plates, kettlebells—they poured out, one after another. All custom-made.
"Will just building physical strength be enough? Sure, you'll need mana to lift these weights, but still."
I shook my head at Han Sang-ah's question.
"Of course not."
I used my spear to carve massive diagrams into the hard ground.
"Talisman Drawing Method?"
"Yeah, but this one's different."
This was a version refined purely for training. Far more intricate than the one I'd used before—several times more precise. It took me nearly five hours to finish the talisman.
"When you use mana, it applies pressure proportional to the amount you use."
To lift heavy weights, you need mana. Use mana, and your body gets heavier. It scales perfectly with mana consumption.
Lift 10kg with mana? It adds about 9.5kg more.
A perfect chain reaction.
"Won't that kill you?"
It was made for training, so it had safeguards. If the person under its effect was truly in danger, they'd slip out of range automatically.
This was the talisman etched only in the training halls of that world's royal guard—the knights who protected the king up close.
Memories of nearly getting branded a traitor for figuring it out came flooding back.
"You won't die. It'll just feel like you might."
"How do you even come up with something like this?"
I smiled at Han Sang-ah's question.
"Understand mana, analyze it, apply it my way."
No need to spill the full truth. Just say I developed it. Han Sang-ah gripped a dumbbell marked 150kg.
Her usually stoic face went pale in an instant.
"This is..."
Her hands trembled as she slowly lifted the dumbbell.
"Insane, right?"
"Feels... like dying!"
She barely managed to hoist it up, then dropped it with a gasp, panting hard.
She doesn't joke or exaggerate. "Like dying" means exactly that.
I handed them each a notebook.
"What's this?"
"Morning schedule."
Theirs were different. I'd tailored them precisely to their current limits.
"What about you?"
"I'll clear out Erosion Zones and smash Erosion Cores."
I'd never planned to leave core removal to them anyway. That was my job.
"Mornings for that, then afternoons?"
"Lunch, recharge mana, then spar with me."
A sigh escaped Jeong Oh-hoon at my words.
"Too happy."
"Seeing you excited warms my heart. Good luck, then."
I stood and headed to the operators' office inside the building.
"Hunter Yoo Chan-seok?"
One of the operators jumped up from their desk.
"Hi. Yoo Chan-seok."
"Ah, yes! Hello. I'm Ha Tae-hyun, operating team leader for Zanabi Cheorwon Branch."
Team leader, huh. After greetings, I got to it.
"How many confirmed Erosion Cores?"
"Fifteen, including Hoe-yang, Pyeonggang, Imnam Reservoir, and so on."
Fifteen? I looked a bit surprised.
"More than I thought."
"Excluding Grade 3 and ungraded. No Grade 1s is the silver lining."
I clicked my tongue. Fifteen Grade 2s?
"Six new ones in the last eight months, bringing it to fifteen. The monsters from Grade 2 Erosion Zones are trouble, but the ones spilling over from Jaurim Valley and Samhyeol Cave were worse."
Monsters from Grade 1 cores migrating through other Erosion Zones down here. But we'd handled Jaurim Valley.
"So now it's the Samhyeol Cave monsters causing issues."
And that Samhyeol Cave core was probably churning out undead under Gonzalok's influence.
Somehow, I had a feeling I knew what the next Grade 1 core Sa Seung-hee would point us to was.
"Jaurim Valley had ghosts—powerful individuals. But Samhyeol Cave's are different, trickier to block."
Samhyeol undead weren't individually Grade 1 strength. They built special structures to buff other undead.
Like a buff field. Plus, they reconstructed and revived utterly destroyed undead.
That explained why the front line was holding but not advancing. Buffs and revives? They'd packed it with annoyances.
"We've spotted about three hundred Samhyeol monsters in our sector."
Still, things had improved a lot.
"We could barely hold before, but if Hunter Lee Se-eun were still here, we'd have pushed back to Gosan-gun by now at least."
Well, I'd fill her spot.
"Got it. Looking forward to your operating support."
After wrapping up and getting the data on my phone, I grabbed my weapons.
"I'm not like other hunters."
Grade 1 cores need a team. But Grade 2s? I could smash them solo no problem.
"Head to the core, light it up, and wait. Done."
Grade 2 gimmicks weren't a big deal for me. Ignore them, torch the core, wait it out.
After that, Han Sang-ah and Jeong Oh-hoon followed the morning schedules I'd given them, then sparred with me in the afternoons.
I spent my mornings roaming Erosion Zones, smashing any cores and monsters in sight.