Against the Clock: The Team Leader’s Pursuit of Glory

Before heading out on a hunt, Seo Suji and her party visited the Hunter village's shopping district to restock their supplies.

Each store was merely a modular building with factory-made containers, but they were finished with modern exterior materials giving a sophisticated impression.

The businesses that opened there were mostly medium and small enterprises.

They took advantage of the opportunity presented by the temporary restriction on large corporations entering the area until the completion of the shopping mall at the site of the old dried up Sanjeong Lake, by launching proactive marketing campaigns.

They also meticulously decorated the interiors to appeal to young Hunters and thoroughly trained their store staff. Massive discount events were a bonus.

Perhaps it was thanks to providing a shopping space as pleasant as famous outlets, the Hunter village's shopping district was bustling with Hunters from the first day of opening.

<Iron Armored Lizard Scale Dagger -- 7.5 million won>

"Are they really selling it this cheap? Wow~ Even though it's a grand opening event... Isn't this almost a giveaway? Should I take out a loan to fill my backpack with these?"

Although the price set for the dagger, which might not be recoverable if thrown, could be seen as expensive by the standards of ordinary people, for Hunters, even if it was disposable, it wouldn't be too much even for 100 million won if it could save their lives.

Lee Cheoljin caught Seo Suji, whose eyes were sparkling at the equipment.

"Hey, our budget right now is..."

"Oh my, f*ck. A Grade 3 Stamina Booster at this price? I have to buy this!"

Ignoring Lee Cheoljin's dissuasion, Seo Suji dashed into the potion shop. Lee Cheoljin sighed into the air.

"Right. As if you have ever listened to me. Do whatever you want. All we'll have left is debt."

"Don't act like that. These seem like pretty good items, and it might be good to pick up a few. And the prices are great too."

Yu Taejin burst into laughter and patted Lee Cheoljin on the shoulder before following Seo Suji.

As Yu Taejin also let loose on shopping, Lee Cheoljin could no longer hold back. He was a tank too, more desperate than anyone to prepare his equipment. Although he couldn't afford as expensive equipment as members of large guilds or regular raid teams, at least minimal preparation was essential. And the items in this shopping district were clearly cheaper compared to other places. The quality was also good, as guaranteed by the Iron Will Guild.

"Ah, f*ck it. What's one more loan going to do?"

The store was bustling with customers. At a glance, you could see the shelves looked sparse. It seemed like there wasn't much stock left. They had to secure whatever items they could see first.

Seo Suji swiftly lunged towards the display shelf, reaching out her hand.

The moment she picked up a potion from the display, a hand slipped through a tiny gap. That hand quickly snatched away the few remaining bottles. The movements were so quick that while Seo Suji was flustered, the other party had already taken all the remaining stock.

"Wh-what? Who cut in line..."

"Sorry, but this isn't cutting in line. It's fair competition."

"Again?"

As Seo Suji suddenly spoke without a tone of respect, Lee Sookyoung's expression changed.

"How dare you? Sounds like that's how South Korean mammies(moms) teach their kids to talk. I apologized yesterday for my mistake, but not this time."

"What, mammy? What about my mom? Did you just curse at me?"

"Curse at you? What are you talking about? I just can't understand this Seoul dialect of you people."

"Well, the North dialect is no different."

"Since we can't understand each other, let's just go our separate ways. It's tiring ust talking to you."

As Lee Sookyoung turned away, Seo Suji grabbed her shoulder.

"You can leave, but have some conscience, and leave half the potions."

"Did you leave your potions with me?"

"I grabbed them first."

"Whether you grabbed them or made soup with them, keep that to yourself. I'm going to take these potions."

"Hey!"

Lee Sookyoung shook off Seo Suji's hand roughly and headed to the counter.

"Oh, look at her! You're just ignoring me now?"

Seo Suji strode after her. At that moment, Lee Cheoljin blocked her.

"Hey, don't."

"Let go! Okay, fine. I won't fight. I'm just going to talk..."

"Have you ever not started a fight after picking one with someone? Just don't do it."

"That depends on her answer."

"Look outside before you talk."

Lee Cheoljin pointed outside the window where a Hunter in a black coat was passing by.

The Hunter was wearing an armor coat with the Iron Will Guild emblem and a band marked 'Patrol' on his forearm.

Unlike other Iron Will Guild members who usually patrolled in pairs, this one was alone and had a youthful, almost student-like face. But in this business, you couldn't underestimate anyone based on their face alone. Underestimating women or children could lead to big trouble.

"If you cause trouble in the Hunter village, you'll get kicked out, remember? Don't forget you signed the clause prohibiting entry during the reservation."

Seo Suji bit her lip tightly as she glared at Lee Sookyoung's back. Lee Sookyoung was packing potions into a shopping bag and leaving the store.

"Ugh, if we met outside, I would have given her a piece of my mind."

Despite the clear murderous aura, Lee Sookyoung did not look back. She was completely ignoring her.

'She looks like she has a similar rank yet she's ignoring me till the end? Just you wait. Next time, I won't hold back.'

After purchasing supplies in the shopping district, Seo Suji's party received a map of monster distribution at the community center and then went out hunting.

Freelancers who entered with their individual qualifications had to arrange party members through the center, but Hunters like Seo Suji's group who already had a formed party only gathered minimal information and moved out immediately.

Unfortunately, as the North Pocheon hunting grounds had only opened the day before, there was hardly any substantial information to note at the center. While they obtained information on the hunting grounds, frequent spatial distortions and changes in vegetation causing monster spawns made it risky to blindly trust that data. So, they needed to do some exploration as well.

Interestingly, the information gathered from such exploration turned out to be quite valuable.

High-quality information was handed over to the center with an information fee attached. From the center's perspective, it was beneficial as they could easily obtain updated regional information, and for Hunters, it was convenient because they could profit without spending time selling the information themselves.

Though there were fees for the information brokerage service, considering the value grade of the information and the limits on the number of sellers, the costs were reasonable and trustworthy. Essentially, it was a deal where neither buyers or sellers had to worry about being cheated.

When the quality of information was a bit lower, another tactic was to release it for free under one's own name. Just having Hunters remember the name of the information provider was a good way to build recognition.

Recognition could lead to networking, and networking was advantageous for joining parties. It was a networking method worth considering for novice Hunters.

"We better move fast if we want to snatch anything up. But let's warm up our bodies first."

Yu Taejin, the party leader, led the group to a nearby hunting ground close to the site of Sanjeong Lake. It was a place where low-level monsters were mingling together. It was a choice made to revive their dulled senses from the extended break and to synchronize their movements.

Seo Suji plucked her bowstring, speaking with anticipation.

"Ugh, if we just find one wild herb site during this hunt, it'd be a jackpot. Look at this guide. Iron Will has put up a substantial reward. Of course, we'd need to pick and sell everything before reporting it. The commission here was 10%, right?"

"That's for by-products. For herbs, it's 15%, and for ores, it's 20%."

"What? Why is it so expensive?"

"Because processing the collected materials is tough. If you sell it outside, the tax alone takes 30%. Selling here definitely makes more business sense."

"Yeah, better to handle it here than carrying it around wrapped up. Wait, why are there so many people?"

When they finally reached the hunting grounds, there were quite a lot of Hunters already there. There were almost more Hunters than monsters.

"Looks like everyone had the same idea."

Yu Taejin frowned.

After squeezing in a few kills, Seo Suji's group decided to move locations.

"My body's still not fully warmed up, but we have no choice. Let's go further out."

"Yeah, there's so many people here it's annoying."

Yu Taejin unfolded the map.

"Which way? West? East?"

To the east was Idong-myeon, centered around Sanjeong Lake. '

Baekun Valley in Idong-myeon generally had higher-level monsters. Particularly threatening were the creatures known as 'Clapping Gorillas.' These creatures could flatten their prey with a clap using their human-body-sized palms. They also lived in groups. Attacking one meant engaging the whole group, so people typically avoided them unless necessary.

"The hide from these gorillas is lucrative... but it's too much for the three of us."

"What about the south?"

"There's a lot of stuff there. But mostly it's fast creatures like 'Three-striped Raptors' or 'Saw-beak Ostriches.' We'd just suffer if we're not quick enough."

"But there's a lot to harvest from them, right? Feathers, claws. We could manage it with bow pulling, couldn't we?"

"Why bother tracking them only to get exhausted?"

Lee Cheoljin pointed out Seo Suji's suggestion. Yu Taejin agreed.

"We're a half party, aren't we? Even full parties struggle in open areas like this. Unless we're all fast dealers."

"So, west?"

"Well, they say there's a mix of orc and goblin remnants out west. The southwest has too many tough ones for us. Maybe the north is better. We've caught Flying Squirrels and Razor Frogs before."

"Ugh, I don't wanna climb any mountains."

"Stop whining."

The north of North Pocheon was mountainous.

Originally, the terrain of North Pocheon was gentle, but after the creation of the special zone, the landscape changed over the years. It became terrain difficult for ordinary people to navigate.

The problem was that it was just as tough for Hunters. More precisely, it was inconvenient. The rough and complex terrain limited visibility.

Lack of visibility made it difficult to handle sudden encounters with monsters. They could potentially run into monsters that were beyond the capabilities of their party.

In such situations, rangers specialized in scouting were extremely effective. Rangers are classified as dealers in a broad sense, but among Hunters, classes are further subdivided. This classification arose from the need to accurately understand skills and hunting styles.

Seo Suji was a Hunter specialized in the ranger class. Although she was just a fourth-year freelancer, she demonstrated skills comparable to those affiliated with guilds.

However, knowing Seo Suji's impulsive nature, Lee Cheoljin was worried.

"Are you sure this is the right path?"

"Of course, it is. Have you lived your life being fooled by everyone?"

"If I had a dime for every time you tricked me, I wouldn't be able to count them all even if I bent my fingers several times. Let's focus this time, for god's sake."

"Oh, come on, I'm being serious now. I'm totally serious right now."

"I'm even more worried when you say you're serious."

"Don't worry. According to my 'geomancy' skill, there's movement over there. It's definitely Razor Frogs. About five or six of them, that sounds good?"

"Just make sure you pull them properly. The rest of us will handle it, just focus on supporting."

"You always underestimate me. I'll use this chance to really show what I can do. Look, we're almost there. Just around this rock---what the?"

As Seo Suji rounded a rock, she was confronted by a familiar face.

The problem? That person, to be exact the North Korean Hunter, Lee Sookyoung, was surrounded by other Hunters and appeared to have been stabbed in the abdomen.

The familiar person, Lee Sookyoung, cheerfully shouted towards Seo Suji's group.

"Comrade, team members! Why did you only come now? Please, save me quickly."

"What is she talking about..."

As Lee Sookyoung waved her hand, begging for help, the Hunters turned their heads towards Seo Suji's group.

The intense glare made Seo Suji break into a cold sweat.

"...There's been a misunderstanding, guys."

The tips of their blades then turned towards Seo Suji and her group.

Kang Mu-hyuk received a call from Russia.

"It's been a while, Guild Leader Anton. I didn't expect you to call personally."

-I heard you requested information from our side while I was away.

"If you're contacting me directly, it must be no small matter," said Kang Mu-hyuk.

Anton let out a sigh before speaking.

-No news from the Demon Realm is ever trivial, but this time it's particularly nasty.

"How bad is it?"

-Do you know about the Blagoveshchensk incident?

Kang Mu-hyuk swallowed hard, aware of the incident.

Blagoveshchensk.

The city was originally the capital of the Russian province of Amur. It was adjacent to Heilongjiang Castle in the three northeastern provinces, but after the creation of the Demonic Realm, it fell within its boundaries and was no longer habitable.

Seven years ago.

A Gate containing vast resources was discovered here. It held treasures of such value that the Russian government mobilized even the Tier guilds from Moscow.

The value was such that it amounted to 3% of Russia's GDP at the time. A staggering 48 billion dollars, which is approximately 60 trillion won in Korean currency.

This was just the value of the resources themselves; when considering the added value from processing and selling these resources, it was indescribable. Russia soon decided to initiate an Outbreaking of this Gate, choosing only to eliminate the boss and guardians while leaving the core intact.

However, at this point, China intervened.

Initially, China tried to take control of the Gate, but since it was close to the Russian border, it was difficult for China to intervene.

After several bouts, China gave up on the Gate. Of course, they didn't back down quietly. They were driven by a spiteful intention: if they couldn't have it, they would make sure that others couldn't either.

"So you are referring to the incident where China blew up the Gate."

-Yes, that's correct. Depending on the rank of the Gate, it's a method that could revert a vast area back to the prehistoric era. This method is unusable in cities, but in the Demonic Realm, they would have had no reservations. I knew the Chinese were capable of crazy actions, but I didn't expect them to go that far. That incident only escalated the conflicts afterward.

There was a time when the clash was almost akin to war, and despite the governments of both countries controlling the information, the Blagoveshchensk incident eventually became known worldwide.

Kang Mu-hyuk was not pleased with the possibility of such a massive event occurring again.

Lately, Korean Tier guilds had begun showing increased interest in the Demonic Realm, which was different from before. Should Korea venture northward into the Demonic Realm, they could become entangled in these disputes.

"How does this time compare to back then?"

-3 Russian Tier guilds, 8 A-rank, 13 medium-sized guilds. Just the total number of known affiliated guilds ranks up to 24. Including smaller guilds that have piggybacked with them, it's too many to fully account for.

"All that force for just one Gate?"

-Not just one.

"Excuse me?"

-This time, from what we know, there are five Gates.

"!!"