A Dangerous Invitation (1)
When I came out of the dungeon, I saw a missed call notification.
Calls couldn’t be received in environments where external transmission was blocked.
‘It’s the Senator.’
It seemed quite urgent, considering he left three phone calls in such a short period. I told Nate and Hibiki to wait for a while before calling him. As if he was waiting eagerly for me, his hologram appeared quickly.
“Were you roaming around dungeons?”
“Yes. Our timing must’ve been off.”
The Senator looked like he was displeased about something.
“Is there any problem?”
Instead of answering me right away, he turned his gaze to the people behind me. He must’ve been able to see Nate and Hibiki from his perspective.
“It’s alright. You don’t have to worry about them. They’re my most trusted colleagues.”
“If you say so.”
Only then did he talk about the issue.
“The American government has noticed us.”
“The embargo will commence at 3:00 tomorrow based on Korea’s timezone, and it’s later than I thought. They only learned about it a day before the official announcement would be released.”
Twelve countries, including South Korea, had completed the first deal with the aliens and were set to announce to the press that they had acquired a catalyst that didn’t exist on Earth.
“The White House contacted me today, so they must have identified what the 12 countries did yesterday, part of which was excluding the U.S.”
The U.S. and China, the world’s two most significant powers, didn’t send hunters to the Australian dungeon exploration, causing them to be left out of the deal.
However, it seemed that the situation had already been analyzed through their information channel before the official announcement revealed it.
The U.S. government then summoned the Senator and talked to him since he managed the joint investment with Celestial Dragon to run the J/V.
“Did they show their temper?”
“They looked like Earth is about to explode. They think it doesn’t make sense for the United States to miss such an important historical moment. Rather than being one of the usual key players, they’re treated as an old man in the back room.”
“I didn’t expect them to react to that extent.”
“I’m sure you already know that the people over there always want to control every major event in the world.”
He continued.
“That’s why you should have dispatched the U.S. as I suggested earlier!”
The U.S. didn’t send any hunters because of their trauma caused by the Siheung 8 Dungeon. After losing their SS-Ranked Awakened named Nicole Thompson, they became very sensitive about deploying hunters overseas. The Australian case also had active lobbying from the Senator, but the administration didn’t approve it.
“You reasoned that you didn’t hear anything from me, didn’t you? That it was an independent plan that Seo Jin-Wook pushed through.”
The Senator already knew all the recent events since he heard of it from me.
“That’s what I said, but it’s not like they believe me. I think I need to go to Korea soon.”
“To meet me?”
“Yes! They want me to meet you in person and persuade you to include the U.S. in the future when you do business with the aliens.”
Sending a person in command of lobbyists who mainly targetted U.S. senators to South Korea meant that I had become the target of lobbying that time around.
I quietly snorted.
“Thanks to you, I’m being treated too well. Still, you don’t have to follow the government’s orders necessarily, do you? It’s not like they hired you either.”
“It’s all for show. I’ll need to pretend to run the errand they assigned me to. If I aggravate my relationship with the administration, it’ll make things difficult to work in the future. It’s better to move while their tone is still in the ‘favor’ or ‘request’ stage.”
He spoke in a way that told me he would endure the brief discomfort to lubricate the relationship.
Even if we met, he didn’t expect me to be tolerant of the U.S. government. He already knew me enough to be aware of that. It would be nothing but a show.
“Should I schedule it for you, then? I’ll have some accommodations prepared over here.”
“Let the staff take care of it. That aside, there’s one more reason why I contacted you today.”
Senator’s expression darkened a bit.
“At the same time as the White House heard the news… No, perhaps even a little faster, it seems that they received the same information in Beijing.”
“I see.”
“As you know, China didn’t send a hunter to Australia, and they’re in a position where they can’t even take the crumbs.”
There was no particular reason for their refusal to dispatch a hunter, but that was their national policy.
China’s number of Awakened was estimated to be between 500,000 to 600,000. They were drafted as soon as they Awakened. Unless it was a very exceptional case, the Awakened beings weren’t sent abroad, and vice versa. It was extremely rare for them to ask for help from other countries. There were enough Awakened to cover all of their vast territories, after all.
“The U.S. is struggling with their lost pride and is still trying to use conciliatory measures. They’re using utilizing me to coax you. However, China is in a different position.”
His eyes deepened.
“The Communist Party has managed to overcome the rebellion with internal propaganda and politics of fear, which they claim to be coping best after the Cataclysm. In this situation, it would be a terrible nightmare for the leadership if there is an objective indicator that China has been excluded from the mainstream. They’re already in a state where they had taken a blow because of J/V’s mass-produced artifacts.”
That deal was a revolutionary opportunity to turn the world’s industries upside down once again, and it would be hard to hide the fact that they missed it. There had to be limits to controlling the country’s media, and rumors would eventually spread among the people.
I nodded in agreement.
“They’d be more desperate to join the trade than the United States.”
“But then it seems like those crazy bastards don’t plan on lobbying or negotiating.”
I roughly understood what he meant.
“The real key to the deal is an Awakened, right? I’m talking about you, you.”
“They would think it’s simpler and easier to snatch a single person and put them under their disposal than to work hard to please and negotiate with others.”
The Senator contacted me to warn me about that.
“Yes, you better be careful. They might do something more than what you’re expecting.”
*
China, Beijing.
In one conference room, intelligence agencies and commanders of the People’s Liberation Army Special Brigade put their heads together.
The hologram in the center showed a picture of a young man.
The Guild Master of Celestial Dragon, Seo Jin-Wook.
“The leadership is in a terrible mood.”
A groan spread among the participants. The official who presided over the meeting made eye contact with them one by one as he spoke.
“The order has already been made.”
He pointed at Seo Jin-Wook in the hologram.
“There’s also information that the mass-produced artifacts that started deliveries to the UN are deeply related to that Awakened.”
The party leadership’s biggest concern was that the gap would become so vast that they wouldn’t be able to catch up.
Although many industrial spies were dispatched to the U.S. and South Korea, they couldn’t extract critical technologies. As a desperate measure, they stole the actual supplies from the U.N. military and handed them over to their laboratory. Still, Chinese scientists couldn’t even comprehend the operating principles of essential parts, let alone the effect’s reproduction.
“That man is also deeply involved in the unprecedented success of trade with the aliens.”
The information was leaked out by a hunter from another country that was involved in the Australian dungeon exploration.
From the leadership’s perspective, they must’ve felt like they were being punched consecutively.
“One more thing.”
The screen changed.
It showed a Gate 30km away from central Beijing.
Occupied by the Botarch species and wholly locked in with barricades before, it was devastated by giant worms, and the restoration work was already in progress.
“The survivors from that place had strange testimonials.”
The general, a member of a unit composed of Awakened, raised a question.
“You mean the ones who fell over the barricade?”
Everyone remembered that event in their heads.
Due to the power gap against the Botarch, the Chinese army couldn’t recover the land the aliens had been occupying for a long time, and thousands of hostages held inside couldn’t be rescued. Even when they dispatched special forces composed of Awakened beings to infiltrate one after another, only grim news of annihilation returned.
There were a sudden uproar and earthquake beyond the barricade, and an incident occurred that made everyone surrounding the area question their visions.
People poured down from the sky like rain.
“They said they were in a gym, and suddenly, thousands of giant tentacle-like things appeared and wrapped around them to throw them out.”
At that time, Adam took over instead of Seo Jin-Wook, who went to the Botarch dimension.
He turned a part of his body into a giant octopus-like creature then threw the picked-up hostages over the wall. The soldiers, who saw them pouring down from the sky, expected a devastating fall that wouldn’t even leave their bodies intact, much less their lives.
However, the scene that immediately took place afterward was also unexpected. Adam, who had to avoid allegations of non-Awakened Genocide and had to cooperate with Seo Jin-Wook, made them land slowly as if wearing parachutes by making the octopus suckers on their bodies swell up one by one.
Due to heart attacks and other reasons, a bit of casualty was sustained, but it wasn’t enough to destroy a good outcome.
However, there was a strange testimony among the escapees who testified that they had seen the octopus monster.
“A story that a Western man was standing at the center of it all, and whose height was more than three meters, came from multiple hostages.”
There was only one hunter on Earth that matched that physical description.
“Adam Abrams!”
“Yes, he also belongs to the Celestial Dragon– the very guild that Seo Jin-Wook worked at as its Guild Master.”
“You’re saying that the Celestial Dragon was involved in the events of that day? But how can they solve something that our special forces couldn’t?!”
“He couldn’t have won by fighting with pure force. He must have had a trick. The problem is, we don’t even know what the trick is.”
As if to organize the murmur in the conference room, a high-ranking official who convened them spoke.
“I’m sure everyone feels the same way. There is some kind of secret Seo Jin-Wook and the Celestial Dragon are hiding. Technology that no one knew, trading methods, and how to deal with invading aliens came out of one person’s head? It’s not a level that could be interpreted as simply being a genius or having good luck.”
The party leadership has already ordered Seo Jin-Wook to be recruited. Since the Head had issued a command, the roles of the hands and feet that would carry it out belonged to the people gathered here.
“But kidnapping an SS-Class hunter will be very difficult. There is also an unconfirmed intelligence that the British side has already tried once and failed. If that’s true, he must be on high alert.”
“With the hunter’s recommendation that explored the Australian Dungeon together, the World Hunter Association is already preparing for the SSS-Rank certification of Seo Jin-Wook. By the level of force observed, he should already be considered an SSS-Rank.”
“How about the usual method? We will take a hostage.”
“The father, his only immediate family member, is also S-Rank, and we can’t find his track record at the moment.”
“Hmm, if the hostage option is also unavailable…”
The intelligence agent contemplated for a while before continuing.
“No matter how you think about it, it’s impossible to capture a target as big as Seo Jin-Wook in a foreign country without leaving a trace.”
“Then why don’t we turn the stage into our own country?”
“That would be much more advantageous. An even better environment than that would be inside the open Gates in our territory.”
As he nodded-
“Then we have an answer. We’ll have to lure him into Chinese territory somehow.”
“But are you sure he would willingly come in?”
“When it comes to baiting the Awakened, there’s a way that works almost without fail.”
The screen changed with the man’s words, and all the participants who looked at it nodded in agreement.
*
“Guild Master! You need to look at the news!”
When Secretary Kim suddenly opened the door and came in, I was on the phone with the minister of the Hunter Management Department. After showing a gesture that covered my lips with a finger, I concluded the call.
Meanwhile, Secretary Kim kept looking at me with a restless expression.
“…!”
His eyes were trembling profusely.
“Yes, thank you. I will contact you soon.”
As soon as I hung up the phone…
“Here, look at the news!”
He put up a huge hologram on the screen. It was a breaking news report. There were subtitles with provocative keywords, and my name was mentioned.
“An SS-Class dungeon has been found in China!”
“I know. I was just talking about it on the phone.”
The Chinese government broke their precedent behavior and made a surprise announcement. They claimed that an SS-Class dungeon was found within their territory and that its status was identified as ‘slightly unstable.’
It was strange that those who hadn’t leaked any information on how many Gates existed in their own country, how many hunters were in each grade, and the dungeon Clears’ statuses suddenly acted like that.
And there was one more unconventional action.
“To increase the success rate of dungeon exploration, they would like to invite other SSS-Class hunters and their equivalent to China. It’s like the Siheung 8 Dungeon or the Australian dungeon! And they said they had prepared tremendous rewards for those who participate.”
It wasn’t an action that China, which had been snobbish, would take.
That meant that the government was that desperate… Or that they were aiming for the equally great opposition pay wherein they could lower their opponents’ self-esteem a bit.
Their intention was obvious.
‘They’re very bold.’
A Chinese government official who appeared on TV was reading the statement with a confident look.
-… To that, the People’s Republic of China asks the world’s leading hunters for cooperation based on humanity. China’s Foreign Ministry has already sent separate invitations via governments….
The Internet was flipped. The overall response was that they were brazen to suddenly ask for help when they never cared about whether the situation in other countries had been chaotic or messy.
Another news that provoked the people was that China handpicked elite hunters from each country and sent invitations.
“And my name was mentioned among them.”
While the hologram floated in front of Secretary Kim, a diplomatic document from China was received and delivered by the Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“Are you… going to accept it? You know how notorious they are!”
“Yes, I’m thinking of going.”
I could vividly see the Senator running wild, but I didn’t want to hide and avoid them just because they pushed in so blatantly.
“Should I say, it’s like killing two birds with one stone? It’s great.”
“What?”
Secretary Kim, who didn’t understand my words, looked puzzled.
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