Chapter 158

Chapter 158 – Seoul Restoration (9)

Kim Myunghwan accessed his personal storage space and retrieved a container of instant noodles.

He had poured the boiling water and waited the precise three minutes earlier before storing it, meaning it was perfectly prepared and only needed to be eaten.

Peeling back the lid with care, the steaming, fully cooked noodles were revealed.

“Hoo… slurp!”

As he was enjoying his hot meal inside the tent, a woman stepped inside and called out to him.

“Senior, does it taste good?”

“Hye-na.”

Kim Hye-na was the leader of the squad Kim Myunghwan belonged to.

She addressed him as “Senior” because of their long history together.

They had originally met during the early days when instant dungeons did not exist, back when hunters had to travel long distances to track down goblins, and they had continued to hunt as partners ever since.

During that period, Kim Hye-na awakened her latent abilities and grew powerful enough to lead her own hunting team.

Meanwhile, Kim Myunghwan had hit a wall and ceased to progress.

‘I am a non-awakened.’

In the beginning, the distinction between an awakened and a non-awakened didn’t make a huge difference when dealing with goblins or orcs.

Back then, most hunters relied on firearms.

However, once the concept of dungeons emerged, the world shifted into one where even non-awakened individuals could quickly catch up to a certain level.

In fact, among those who hadn’t awakened, individuals with exceptional marksmanship tended to level up even faster.

But once they reached a certain threshold, the dynamic changed completely.

The divide between the awakened and the non-awakened only grew wider the higher one climbed.

‘To shatter this barrier, I eventually have to awaken.’

Unfortunately, Kim Myunghwan had never been granted that chance.

Although the awakening rate among active hunters was higher than that of ordinary civilians, it was still far from guaranteed.

‘If I never awaken, I might be stuck at this level forever.’

He refused to accept that fate.

Yet, short of a stroke of pure luck triggering an awakening, there was no other path forward.

“Senior! What are you thinking about so deeply?”

“…It’s nothing.”

Fortunately, even after rising to the position of party leader, Kim Hye-na still treated Kim Myunghwan with the same respect as a senior.

“Ah, right. Do you want another one?”

“Oh! You have an extra?”

“Yeah.”

“Thank you so much.”

Kim Myunghwan retrieved another cup of instant noodles and a set of chopsticks from his inventory, handing them over to Kim Hye-na.

“Here you go.”

“I’ll enjoy the food.”

Sitting down next to him, Kim Hye-na took a bite and smiled happily.

Watching her eat, Kim Myunghwan asked a question.

“What about the mouse?”

“The hamster?”

Kim Hye-na carefully retrieved a hamster from her inner pocket to show him.

The tiny creature poked its snout out of the pocket, twitching its nose curiously.

Kim Myunghwan spoke as he watched the hamster.

“It’s truly remarkable. I had no idea this tiny creature possessed such a power.”

When they were first assigned a hamster during the campaign to reclaim Seoul, the idea had seemed completely ridiculous.

They had been told it functioned like a walkie-talkie, but he hadn’t anticipated its actual performance.

Yet, with the hamster nearby, he could clearly hear Kim Jaehyun’s voice echoing inside his mind.

Furthermore, when the weather abruptly shifted to a freezing winter and they found themselves trapped in the building’s basement, they were able to receive critical supplies like sleeping bags and tents entirely because of the hamster’s presence.

On top of that…

‘Was it called a fire spirit?’

A tiny ember that warded off the freezing air creeping in from outside the building.

According to Kim Jaehyun, this was also something that could be summoned through the hamster.

‘Without that, things could have turned incredibly dangerous.’

To keep out the freezing cold, they had to seal the space completely, which made lighting a normal fire highly risky.

One wrong move and everyone could have suffocated from carbon monoxide.

Yet, surviving the freezing temperatures with only sleeping bags and hand warmers was impossible, making a heat source absolutely necessary.

The fire spirit had resolved all of these life-threatening issues at once.

“Senior, have you heard the latest rumors?”

“What rumors?”

“You don’t know? Well, this is highly classified gossip that only a few high-ranking members are aware of.”

Kim Hye-na’s eyes sparkled as she began to share the whispers.

“You know Ye-jin, right?”

“Yeah. The one who manages the mice, right?”

In a world where entertainment was scarce, the personal lives of the high-ranking figures were always the most popular topic of conversation.

“Ye-jin and Jaehyun are… incredibly close.”

“What?”

“Right now, Jaehyun is channeling his skills through the hamster, correct?”

“That’s right.”

“Well, word is that physical touch is required to make that happen. So, whenever they are conducting an operation, they have to hold hands. Plus, she’s the only one among the high ranks who talks to Jaehyun informally!”

Gossip always grew more dramatic as it passed from person to person, and active imaginations often turned simple facts into elaborate fiction, but that was precisely what made it so entertaining to discuss.

“Senior, have you really not heard anything?”

Kim Hye-na asked because Kim Myunghwan’s sister, Kim Gayoung, was known to be one of Kim Jaehyun’s closest and most trusted associates.

“Hmmm… not particularly.”

However, Kim Gayoung was constantly overwhelmed with work, and Kim Myunghwan was occupied with his own hunting duties, so he rarely heard any rumors.

He had only managed to share a meal with his sister a few times recently.

“If you get a chance, you should ask your sister about it later!”

“That’s… well, we’ll see.”

Kim Hye-na leaned in closer, pleading with him.

“Please, just ask her once. Pretty please?”

“…I’ll consider it.”

The physical distance between them was very close.

They were completely alone inside the small tent.

A subtle, awkward tension filled the quiet air as Kim Myunghwan remained silent.

At that exact moment, a clear voice resonated directly within their minds.

[In one hour, we will open the North Gate. Team 31, please begin your preparations.]

It was Kim Jaehyun’s voice.

“S-should we start getting ready?”

“Y-yeah, I suppose so. Thanks for the food, Senior!”

Kim Hye-na hurriedly rushed out of the tent. Once she left, Kim Myunghwan let out a long sigh and began cleaning up the space.

‘Who on earth is spreading these rumors?’

Even though Kim Hye-na had referred to it as top-secret information, the rumors regarding Jaehyun and Ye-jin being “close” had already spread far and wide.

‘Is it because we talk to each other informally?’

It was true that Seo Ye-jin was the only person among the upper echelon who spoke to him without using formal language, but that did not mean there was a romantic connection between them.

“The age gap isn’t exactly small, either.”

The age difference between Seo Ye-jin and me was a full seven years.

No matter how one looked at it, that was a significant gap for a romantic relationship.

“And holding her hand to activate skills?”

That was a completely fabricated rumor with no basis in reality.

At that moment, Seo Ye-jin opened her eyes and spoke to me.

“Oppa, is this really the last one?”

She wore a bright smile, looking incredibly relieved.

“Yes, it’s the final one. You’ve done an amazing job.”

“Hehe.”

Seventeen hours had passed since the Ice Dragon first appeared in the skies above Seoul.

The massive beast had swept across the city in a mere ten minutes before vanishing in the direction of Chungcheongdo.

To be precise, the Ice Dragon had been visible in Seoul’s sky for barely ten minutes, perhaps even less.

Yet, the destruction it left in its wake was staggering.

“The entire city of Seoul has frozen over.”

Every single area outside of the protective domain was completely encased in thick ice.

The entire urban landscape had been painted pure white by the heavy accumulation of snow, and the Han River had transformed into a solid sheet of ice.

Even the transparent barrier itself was covered in small, hanging ice formations, creating a frozen ceiling overhead.

Even though seventeen hours had already gone by since the Ice Dragon departed, the city remained locked in the depths of a brutal winter.

“It will take several days for all this snow and ice to melt away from the city.”

Fortunately, because of the hamsters Seo Ye-jin had domesticated beforehand, the hunting squads did not suffer a single casualty. Even the teams that had failed to evacuate in time were able to utilize the power of the North Gate to safely return to the domain.

“However…”

The absolute freezing cold brought by the Ice Dragon had wiped out the vast majority of the monsters roaming Seoul.

With just a single pass, it had frozen everything within the city limits.

That terrifying power, resembling the wrath of nature itself, made no distinction between friend and foe.

Furthermore, the scattered survivors who had been hiding in various corners of the city were not spared either.

They were likely already struggling to survive, and the sudden arrival of the Ice Dragon served as the final, fatal blow.

“The devastation out there must be absolute.”

At the very least, Seoul was incredibly lucky.

The larger communities of survivors had already been successfully relocated inside the domain.

The timing of the evacuation had been exceptionally fortunate.

However…

“What about the people who lay directly in the path of the Ice Dragon?”

Given the trajectory the monster took…

Cities like Gwangmyeong, Siheung, Ansan, Hwaseong, and parts of Chungcheongnam-do must have been frozen solid as well.

The loss of life in those areas likely reached tens or even hundreds of thousands of casualties.

“…”

Should I have forced a confrontation with it, even if it meant taking a massive risk?

“No.”

Even if I had deployed every single resource at my disposal, successfully defeating that creature was highly unlikely.

The only real option would have been sending a loyal vassal to descend directly onto its back from above.

But considering the creature’s ability to freeze anything instantly with a mere glance, it was highly doubtful whether the vassal would have even survived the drop, let alone managed to slay the beast.

The risk involved was simply too immense.

“This was the most optimal choice.”

It wasn’t entirely a story of loss, however.

Despite the brief passage of the Ice Dragon, there were several notable gains:

[Civilian Yoo Han-gil’s loyalty has reached 100.]

[Civilian Park Sae-rom’s loyalty has reached 100.]

[Civilian Kim Min-ho’s loyalty has reached 100.]

…

…

The loyalty of most of the vassals had reached the maximum value of 100, which significantly raised the upper limit for registering new vassals.

And…

[Civilian Yoo Han-gil’s trust has reached 100.]

[You have acquired ‘Third Eye’.]

[Civilian Jang Seong-jun’s trust has reached 100.]

[You have acquired ‘Telekinesis’.]

[Civilian Lee Jun-hyuk’s trust has reached 100.]

[You have acquired ‘Control Water’.]

The trust levels of several key individuals had reached 100, granting them access to powerful new abilities.

All three of these newly unlocked skills were incredibly practical.

Yoo Han-gil’s Third Eye allowed him to observe locations that lay entirely beyond the reach of the Absolute’s Eye.

By leveraging his exceptionally high mental fortitude, he could now gather precise intelligence from distant locations if he focused his mind.

“It is a bit of a shame that it doesn’t allow for direct physical intervention.”

The Third Eye was strictly limited to visual observation; it did not allow me to project my own skills across the distance.

To actually exert my influence, the physical presence of my vassals was still required.

“However, Telekinesis and Control Water are absolute game-changers.”

In contrast, these two new abilities allowed me to project physical force within the boundaries of my influence, using my vassals as the central focus.

“Their area of effect is far greater than simple utility functions like the storage warehouse.”

Furthermore, the general trust and loyalty of the populace had risen dramatically.

In particular, the powerful awakened individuals like Cha Hyun-seung and Yang Ha-young experienced a massive surge in their trust and loyalty, likely because they had felt the terrifying aura of the Ice Dragon even from a distance.

It was undoubtedly due to the overwhelming pressure the monster emitted, contrasted against the transparent barrier that had perfectly defended them from it.

I gazed up at the sky above Seoul Station.

Looking at the colossal block of ice that still dominated the sky, I suddenly remembered the direction from which the creature had originally approached.

“The North.”

If the beast had continued along its path without deviating, North Korea must have suffered a devastating blow.

More than half of the region would have been transformed into a frozen wasteland.

“…Truly terrifying.”

How many more monsters of that caliber were roaming the rest of the world?

Just pondering the thought sent a cold shiver down my spine.

And yet…

“I am glad.”

I felt incredibly relieved that we had arrived when we did.

“Prioritizing the rescue of survivors over hunting down monsters was absolutely the right call.”

The sudden arrival of the monster had brought an abrupt end to the operation to reclaim Seoul.

The Ice Dragon’s overwhelming power had put a sudden end to the intense conflict within the city in an instant—a display of force that still left me in awe.

“But…”

My protective barrier had successfully shielded the people from its freezing breath.

“I can do this.”

My personal confidence had actually grown stronger.

If I could successfully block the attack of such a legendary calamity, what else was there left to fear?

It was a feeling very similar to the confidence I had gained after successfully withstanding the fist of the Cyclops.

“With this power, I can truly protect the people.”

The future was entirely possible.

“Seoul and Busan.”

I had only just managed to secure Seoul and Busan.

“Now, the true battle begins.”

Starting from Seoul, I would push forward through Gyeonggi-do, Incheon, and Gwangju.

I would keep fighting until the entire nation was completely restored.