“Ow, my whole body is sore.”
Sinhyeok lay still, waiting for his depleted mental strength to recover.
“My mana is fine, but my head is throbbing.”
‘The whole world is spinning.’
Blue approached and placed his front paw right on his face.
*Smack.*
A cold sensation stuck to his face.
“Alright. You’re all I’ve got, Blue.”
Blue smiled and sat down on his chest.
“A-Are you a little heavy?”
He reached out, pulled out a blue potion, and put it in his mouth, gaining at least enough strength to move.
“Ah, this is tough.”
He got up while holding Blue.
He looked around the chamber and checked on Arin and Ichan.
“Are there many left?”
“Nope, Mister~ There are a few goblins over there, so I’ll go take care of them and come back!”
“Yeah.”
Ichan also waved his hand and shouted.
“Hyung, there are a few orcs here!”
“Got it.”
Sinhyeok left the remaining cleanup to the two of them and approached the boss mob.
“Whew. You really got it bad.”
Its body was split open here and there.
“But you’re really sturdy. Your four limbs are intact.”
So sturdy that its four limbs were intact, with only traces of being crushed.
‘If it weren’t for holy power, I wouldn’t have dealt much damage at all.’
What he had pulled out at the end had been incredibly effective.
*Wriggle wriggle.*
While he was looking at the boss mob’s remains for a moment, Blue wriggled and jumped down.
“Why?”
Blue inflated his body and decomposed the warlord’s remains.
“Blue. That’s gross.”
Sinhyeok crouched down and watched Blue’s dissolution.
“Is it tasty?”
Blue smiled brightly and nodded.
“As long as you like it.”
[Pet: Blue Jjamppong Tiger has broken through Level 5.]
[A portion of the player’s skills are shared.]
[You have mastered Internal Synthesis.]
[Blue Jjamppong Tiger internally synthesizes a portion of the traits of the dissolved Orc Warlord and Troll.]
“Oh?”
Blue, who had been devouring the Orc Warlord for a while, was engulfed in intense mana.
Shortly after the light subsided, Blue stood there calmly.
“What did you do?”
There were no significant external changes.
“System. Show me his status window.”
[Status Window] Name: Blue Jjamppong Tiger (Lv.5)
Strength: 67
Agility: 78
Stamina: 89
Mana: 150
Traits: Dissolution, Predation
[Acquired Skills]
=========================
Dissolution (Lv.5)
Internal Synthesis (Lv.1)
Regeneration (Lv.1)
==========================
“Oh, Regeneration?”
‘Well, it’s not like he’s a creature that can’t die at all.’
He hadn’t worried too much because Blue didn’t get seriously injured often, but a pretty decent skill had appeared for Blue.
“Nice~ Our Blue might end up stronger than Ichan at this rate~?”
Blue hopped up to hug him.
“Urk.”
‘He’s gotten slightly heavier.’
Ichan and Arin, finished with the cleanup, slowly approached the core.
“Hyung, done.”
“Mister, we cleaned everything up. Please do a final check.”
“Yeah.”
[Initiating Mapping.]
A probe popped out and scanned the surroundings.
Sinhyeok looked over everything one last time and said,
“That’s good. We can head out now.”
Sinhyeok looked at the core before him and thought of Obsireu floating above his head.
“If only I had a technique to compress the gate whole, I could use it.”
‘Are you referring to the core, a permanent power source?’
Obsireu approached and settled on top of his head.
“That’s a shame.”
“Hyung, hurry up and break it. Let’s get out of here.”
“Yeah.”
He reached out and activated Transmutation.
[Partial Transmutation - Dissolution has begun.]
The core dripped down with a sloshing sound.
‘Hmm... should I be a bit greedy?’
He had been about to destroy it as-is but decided to try being greedy.
He decided to focus and salvage as much as possible.
[Partial Transmutation - Extraction is in progress.]
As he began reading the tangled strands of mana, the intertwined origin peeked through.
‘This is really strange. It’s as if someone artificially synthesized it.’
It felt much more like something made by someone rather than a world born purely naturally.
*Twitch.*
As his concentration broke for a moment, the extraction failed.
“Ah.”
[Partial Transmutation - Extraction failed.]
The core flowed down onto the floor.
“Tsk.”
He melted the remaining two cores with Transmutation as well.
Then the world began to flow down in streams.
“Let’s get out.”
“Yeah.”
“Yeah.”
As they exited the portal, the three overlapping Gates began to vanish.
“Farewell.”
[You have closed the Gate.]
[A large amount of experience is provided.]
[Level up.]
[Status Window]
Name: Bu Sinhyeok (Lv.16)
Class: Alchemist
Strength: 106
Agility: 124
Stamina: 104
Mental Strength: 12
Mana: 217
Traits: Mana Solidification, Protection of the Ancient Dragon, Insight
“Oh, finally 16.”
When Sinhyeok’s level came up, Ichan and Arin laughed simultaneously.
“Hyung, is that really your level?”
“Mister. You’re managing somehow with that level?”
“Hey, stop laughing. I fight just fine even at a low level.”
“I’ll give you that.”
Sinhyeok confirmed that the Gate had completely disappeared and spoke to the two of them.
“Let’s go. But seriously, isn’t anyone coming to pick us up?”
“Hyung, there’s no one at the unit.”
Everyone is busy right now.
“Tsk. I’ll have to take the bus.”
He looked around to find a bus, but a vehicle remained perfectly intact.
“I can just take that.”
When he opened the driver’s door, a phone remained perfectly on the passenger seat.
When he checked the screen, a text message from her had arrived.
“- No one can come pick you up. Return to the unit in this car. And the information you gathered today is classified. Understood?”
After checking her message, he slid the phone aside.
“Let’s go.”
“Yeah.”
“But Mister, what did you do with this car? There’s a military uniform here too.”
“There are circumstances.”
He didn’t elaborate.
“Suspicious.”
“Right. Hyung is weird. What were you doing coming out alone? And why were you with someone from the NIS?”
“It’s classified, you brats.”
* * *
Hong Juyeon, who had left first, waited for someone at the safe house.
“Chief. I almost died.”
Cha Gicheol appeared with a smile.
“Die, my ass. You’re alive and kicking.”
At those words, Hong Juyeon felt a surge of emotion and reached into her jacket to draw her gun.
“Hey, hey, are you going to kill your one and only superior?”
“Ugh. Damn…….”
She trembled and held back.
“I could kill you, you jerk.”
*Chuckle.*
Cha Gicheol sat on the sofa, stretching, and asked.
“Did you find anything out?”
“It seems the Gates are being spread by the Association, just as we suspected. If Sergeant Bu Sinhyeok saw correctly, the Novasis Guild scattered something and a Gate appeared.”
“As expected. Those bastards are the problem. I’d like to use this as leverage to make a deal with the VIP.”
Hong Juyeon saw Cha Gicheol making a strange expression and asked.
“Why? Isn’t this checkmate? It’s perfect evidence of terrorism.”
“Exactly. But that Association Chairman bastard is going in and out of the Blue House trying to seduce the VIP right now.”
“What? With what confidence? After leaving behind so many obvious traces.”
Cha Gicheol scratched his chin and said.
“He has some other move. It’s ominous, but I can’t guess what it is.”
He got up and gave Hong Juyeon an order.
“You go back to Hongik and stick close to that priest.”
“Yes.”
Before leaving the safe house, Cha Gicheol asked her one last time.
“Any other unusual matters?”
“Hmm.”
She thought for a moment and spoke.
“Sergeant Bu Sinhyeok encountered an unknown demon claiming to be ‘Paimon’.”
“Damn it.”
“And there were attempts at coercion and threats using his family.”
“Damn it all. Keep a close eye on him. If he goes AWOL again, it’s over this time.”
“Yes~”
Cha Gicheol grumbled as he left the safe house.
“That damn demon isn’t even a stalker, why is it so obsessed with him!”
Voicing his complaints, he got in the car and headed to Seoul.
He immediately called someone.
“Hey, Gangyeol. Come to Seoul right now. It’s time to cut off the Association Chairman’s head.”
“I’m on my way.”
Cha Gicheol continued to feel an inexplicable sense of unease.
“We should just strike right away.”
He headed straight to Seoul and secretly delivered the information to I Gangyeol.
“I think we have to strike immediately. They definitely have more schemes brewing.”
“Got it.”
I Gangyeol grasped the information and immediately found a superior who could help him gain access to the Blue House.
“Sir.”
The Chief of Staff of the Army glared at him with an annoyed face.
“Don’t ‘sir’ me, you crazy bastard. By the look on your face, you’re about to cause a huge~ mess. What’s the matter?”
“It’s the Association. It’s time to purge them. Please read this.”
He handed the documents to him.
He sighed and read the materials.
“Haa, what kind of crazy bastard does something like this!”
He trembled as he fixed his gaze on I Gangyeol.
“My blood is boiling. But this isn’t enough. You know there are plenty of loopholes for them to squirm out of, right?”
I Gangyeol nodded.
“But we can’t delay any longer. This is the best we have right now.”
At those words, the Chief of Staff pondered, then nodded with difficulty.
“Ha... Wait, I’ll report to the VIP right away.”
The Chief of Staff took the documents and secretly reported to the Blue House.
“I’ve just reported. Come out and wait, then let’s enter the Blue House immediately.”
“Yes.”
* * *
The Chungmu Room on the first floor of the Blue House main building.
There, the President, the Minister of National Defense, and the Association Chairman were gathered.
“Chairman. It is very difficult when you barge in like this.”
The President looked at the Association Chairman, who had forced his way into the Blue House, with a displeased expression.
“I deeply apologize for forcing my way in. However, is the current situation not extremely serious? I believe we must discuss this urgently.”
“Ahem. If this is about the closure authority, that matter is already concluded.”
The Association Chairman looked back and forth between the Minister and the President as he spoke.
“Still, would you not reconsider the matter? Has the military not already reached its limits? Would it not help to have even one more team closing Gates?”
It was quite a sweet proposal. Both coughed and made ambiguous expressions.
“Even at this moment, hundreds of Gates are appearing. Do you have a response plan?”
“Ahe-hem.”
The Association Chairman smiled slyly and looked at the two of them.
“I do. A way to put an end to all of this.”
“Oh?”
The President looked at the Association Chairman with a displeased gaze.
“The government still has the ability to resolve this situation.”
“Hahahaha. Well, you still do, for now. For now.”
The Minister of National Defense sought to end this unpleasant conversation.
“Mr. President. Let’s stop. This is a meaningless conversation. No matter how much the ruling party leader asked us, we don’t need to hear any more.”
“Yes. Let’s stop this talk.”
The moment they were about to rise, the Association Chairman’s eyes suddenly changed.
*Vrrm.*
The Minister of National Defense’s phone rang, and he sneakily checked it.
His expression changed instantly upon seeing the contents.
He quietly stood up, went to the President’s side, and whispered.
“Please leave immediately. It’s an emergency.”
The Minister tried to end the conversation while gauging the Association Chairman’s reaction.
“This conversation ends here. Chairman, please return home.”
The Association Chairman smirked and spoke.
“Well, a report saying that the Association is scattering Gates. Have you perhaps received such a report?”
The Minister of National Defense immediately shouted.
“Guards!”
The Association Chairman simply smiled and watched.
Several guards immediately appeared and pressed in on him.
“Arrest him at once!”
“Mr. President. The talk isn’t over. Are you sure you want to end it like this? You will regret it.”
The Awakened guards each drew their weapons and pointed them at the Association Chairman’s neck.
The President glanced and turned his gaze.
“It’s about the future. I wish to show you the future of Korea that has met its end.”
The President turned his head at those words.
“What on earth do you mean?”
The Minister of National Defense hurriedly stopped him.
“Mr. President!”
The Association Chairman raised both hands to show he surrendered and continued.
“Don’t you all already know? That eventually, you will have to fight over this cramped, primordial world against gods, demons, and equally colossal beings.”
The President brushed off the Minister’s restraint and approached.
“Continue.”
“It is not far off, Mr. President.”
“If you are only going to speak empty words and obvious delusions, you will not leave here alive.”
The President pressed in on the Association Chairman unarmed.
The Association Chairman simply smiled and nodded.
“I shall pass this talk on to my superior, so to speak.”
The Association Chairman opened his clenched hand and dropped something.
Dark red crystals fell with a clatter.
Immediately after, a Gate formed in the Chungmu Room.
“The Great Demon Paimon, with whom I am cooperating.”
The Gate’s portal shattered and compressed.
Soon, it tore a crack in the air and connected to somewhere.
‘You are... the king of this land?’
The President faced a bizarre being with silvery-white skin and a golden crown.
“That is correct.”
‘Having heard the explanation from both sides, I shall show you the same fate in multiple branches, so that you may choose quickly.’
*Rip.*
A silvery-white arm broke through the crack.
As Paimon’s finger touched the President’s forehead, he trembled and his eyes rolled back.
“Mr. President!”
Soon the President came to his senses and asked Paimon with a gasp and an anxious expression.
“Is this true?”
‘You will soon know. Whether you believe or not is your choice.’
Leaving only those words, Paimon disappeared along with the crack.
The President stared at the Association Chairman with a bewildered expression.
“What is the Association’s proposal?”
“Mr. President!”
The Association Chairman proposed to the President with a smile.
“We will awaken all citizens. Of course, not through the System, but through the great power of Paimon.”
Seeing the President’s wavering eyes, he offered a bonus.
“If everyone becomes a contractor of Paimon, the Gates appearing now will no longer be threats, but—”
The President guessed the rest of his words.
“—they will become allies.”
The Association Chairman nodded with a satisfied smile.
“Mr. President. Think of the future. Must not Korea survive even in the new world?”