44 History

Friday, August 15, 2025.

It was National Liberation Day, which was also the beginning of Golden Week. But the streets of Seoul were quieter than usual.

Was it because of the summer heat? Well, maybe it was a factor, but there was a more fundamental reason for the silence.

The Monster Wave incident took place eight days ago, on August 7th. The impact of that shock had not yet worn away on the citizens. There was still intense tension in many countries, including Korea, and a secret meeting was held in a top security facility that the public did not know about and could not access even if they did.

It was such a serious matter that the president were all convened.

Lee Yong-soo, director of the National Intelligence Service, personally took the podium and briefed the participants on the details of the incident.

“Yesterday, August 14, at around 19:27, the first movement was detected in Eorang-gun, North Hamgyeong Province. This is a picture of the scene from the satellite.”

A picture appeared on the screen behind Lee Yong-soo. Dark spots were engraved at the foot of a mountain that had become a barren field.

“You mean all those black things are hordes of monsters?”

“That’s right.”

President Park Tae-seok asked in a tone that did not contain any emotion.

“What is the estimated scale?”

“We’ve got around a thousand.”

“What is their behavior?”

“At this time, we have not captured any particular movement. The monsters are roaming around a radius of two to three kilometers from where they originated.”

“That’s not what happened last time. Why don’t they move north or south?”

“That’s…”

Lee Yong-soo, the head of the intelligence agency, murmured.

“I’m sorry, I’ll figure it out as soon as I can.”

“Are there any additional monsters that escaped the cracks?”

“So far, it has not been observed.”

“Hmm… Is something like this happening only in Korea?”

“It’s under investigation, but so far, Korea is the only country.”

President Park Tae-seok closed his eyes. Silence hovered in the meeting room until he opened his eyes again.

“This must not be leaked to the private sector. I’m sure everyone knows what I mean.”

He declared after a moment, and the gathered audience gulped.

The president continued in a dry tone.

“How are we going to deal with the current situation? Everyone, tell me what you think.”

The meeting went on for a long time. This was the second Monster Wave incident on the Korean Peninsula. To solve it, the gray-haired elders put their heads together.

A minister raised the idea that the area should be destroyed by carpet bombing. Another said that the government should cooperate with neighboring countries to carry out massive punitive operations by ordering hunters to publicize the current situation and declare a state of martial law to prepare for an all-out war.

Several other opinions emerged.

“President Lee Chi-gon. Does the president of the association have any opinions?”

The president suddenly asked. The target of the question was Lee Chi-gon, who headed the Hunter Association.

All eyes in the meeting room focused on him.

“As the president of the association, I’m sure you have something to say.”

“Ah, that…”

When Lee Chi-gon couldn’t answer easily, the president sighed.

“That’s it. Did you get in touch with him?”

When ‘he’ was mentioned, the ministers looked at each other.

Lee Chi-gon answered after a short pause.

“I’m still trying to contact him.”

“You’re trying? You mean you still haven’t been able to reach him?”

“We’re trying a lot of ways to reach him.”

“To solve the current situation, we need his strength. We will definitely have to recruit him.”

There was no high or low tone in the president’s statement, but it was intimidating to everyone there.

“The association can’t even do that? Tsk tsk.”

“The president of the association has no idea what he’s doing? Ah…”

“You don’t have anything to do, and you can’t even control your people. I wonder…”

A series of murmurs were heard one after another from the corner of the room. Their voices were so small that even the person next to them could not hear them, but Lee Chi-gon could hear them clear as day because he was the only awakener there.

He clenched his fists involuntarily.

‘Go Geon-ryong, Seo Si-hee…’

He recited to himself the names of the two SS-class hunters who were also the most unpredictable human beings.

Seo Si-hee had gone missing thirteen years ago, and her being alive or dead was unknown. There were a lot of people who thought she was dead, but Lee Chi-gon, who had already been in the association for twenty years now, was confident. Seo Si-hee was never the type of person to die.

And Go Geon-ryong…

He was South Korea’s second SS-class hunter that appeared like a comet in 2011. At the time, he was considered to have overwhelming power among the 68 SS hunters around the world. He could wage an all-out war with the United States alone, but his current location is also unclear.

Unlike Seo Si-hee, however, he continued to send his regards through his agent, and there were sightings of him from all over the world.

But when they need him most, he always goes missing.

“For now, order the S-class hunters who are abroad to return home immediately. We’ll have to summon all 450 S-class hunters. Do you understand?”

“I will try.”

“President of the Association.”

“Yes, sir.”

“I asked if you understood.”

The president’s voice was cold. Lee Chi-gon chewed on his lower lip.

“…Okay. I will make sure to do that.”

“That’s the end of today’s meeting.”

President Park Tae-seok announced the end of the meeting.

The ministers left the conference room one by one. Lee Chi-gon quickly got out of the conference room, holding back his nausea.

He smoked a cigarette as soon as he got into the waiting car. Then, he began to swear randomly.

“What bullshit… They’re old bastards who don’t want to be fried to death. What am I supposed to do? They want all the S-class hunters back home? Try saying that to the guild. Why, fuck me! How am I supposed to bring in the kids who paid for those expeditions!”

He burst into anger.

As a matter of fact, the president of the association was just a title. That meant that he didn’t have great power or authority. His job consisted only of stamping documents when they came in. Although he had served as the president of the association for five years now, he would have given up if it were not for political pressure.

“How the hell am I supposed to control the hunters? Are they soldiers? Are they civil servants? Why are you fucking leaving me without decent guilds? And is it because of me that that Monster Wave happened? What did I do wrong? Don’t come to me and tell me to come up with a solution. You snake-like old people don’t usually even look at us. Either way, you have to wipe it out to make the country work.”

Woo!

He was chain-smoking a series of high-quality handmade cigarettes when he suddenly got a call. It was on his personal cell phone, not for work. He hadn’t heard this phone ringing in a while.

‘I don’t know who this is…’

The caller ID was suspicious, so Lee Chi-gon hesitated for a while before pressing the answer button.

“…Who are you?”

— It’s been a long time, President of the Association.

The answer came right away. Lee Chi-gon was not familiar with the other person’s voice, so he asked again.

“Who are you? How do you know my number?”

— It’s me.

“Huh, you? How am I supposed to—”

— It’s me, Go Geon-ryong.

“Huh?”

Lee Chi-gon swallowed his breath quickly. His hands shook unconsciously.

Go Geon-ryong spoke as the president’s head grew confused about what to say.

— I’d like to meet you. I have something urgent to tell you.

***

[You have fully acquired the ‘Ancient Swordsmanship Textbook – Low-grade’.]

[You have fully acquired the ‘Ancient Physical Training Textbook – Low-grade”.]

‘Finally.’

Byeong-gap looked at the hologram with a satisfied smile. The travails of the past… It was worthwhile to beat random monsters and compete with the Goblins every day with a wooden sword.

He thrust his sword into the ground and announced.

“Take a break.”

“Yep!”

The six-man attack squad responded in unison.

For reference, Doran did not make it into the attack squad, and there were many reasons for that.

First of all, she was not able to take any potion nor textbook. The reason could not be determined in the end. Secondly, the attack squad was strong enough for now. In other words, there was no need to add another member. In addition, it was better not to raise her power more than necessary for the growth of Byeong-gap and the rest of the crowd.

Therefore, the mission given to Doran by Byeong-gap was to train the Goblins. She trained the other Goblins while Byeong-gap and the attack squad went on missions.

Doran herself was interested and satisfied with the job. Thanks to her relentless teaching, the skills of the Goblins improved day by day.

“I’ll be right back.”

Byeong-gap crossed the door and entered Ashvilam.

In the spacious Ashvilam, everyone was working diligently, focused on their tasks. Byeong-gap did not want to disturb them, so he moved quietly.

After arriving in his private tent, he brought out two textbooks. He had bought them before.

Ancient Swordsmanship Textbook – Intermediate.

Ancient Physical Training Textbook – Intermediate.

He immediately engraved the textbooks.

[Do you want to engrave ‘Ancient Swordsmanship Textbook – Intermediate?’]

[Do you want to engrave ‘Ancient Physical Training Manual – Intermediate?’]

‘Of course.’

It did not take long for the engraving to begin.

Repeating the same process as imprinting the low-grade textbooks, a vast amount of information seeped into his brain, causing dizziness.

‘I’ll never get used to this feeling.’

Byeong-gap sat down on the sofa until the dizziness went away. In doing so, he savored the knowledge of the textbook.

‘Wow, what’s that? Is that possible?’

There were many wonderful things in the intermediate textbooks that were not in the low-grade textbooks. He wanted to test them right away.

About three minutes later, he moved back out.

“Hmm? You’re here already?”

“What? I’ve been here for a while. Are you almost done moving all the meat?”

“Yes.”

The Goblins were busy moving the monster corpses. Their work was almost finished.

“Lord, all done!”

“Well done. Take the meat and go to Ashvilam. I’ll call you back later, so please be on standby.”

“Yes, got it.”

All the worker Goblins headed back.

“Let’s do it again.”

“Yes, it’s time for the boss to come out.”

Byeong-gap pulled up the sword that he had left stuck on the ground and proceeded without hesitation.

How many were there? The monsters appeared, and he looked at their disgusting figures. As Dorma expected, the boss monster was with them.

“Kurk! Kurk!”

“Boooow!”

There were about thirty D-class Orc Warriors escorting a Gigant Orc.

‘Gigant Orc. I expected this.’

It was a huge Orc that reached up to eight feet in height. It was characterized by an oversized upper body, and its arm circumference was four or five times that of an adult male’s. It was also armed with a combat ax that seemed too heavy to lift.

“I’m in charge of the boss. You deal with the pawns.”

“Yes, sir.”

Byeong-gap briefly took a deep breath and recalled the newly imprinted textbooks.

He concentrated his mind, and soon, his body heated up and a light haze rose.

‘Is this my aura?’

Aura. According to the knowledge in the textbook, aura was the energy of an extremely disciplined body. It could be used in many ways, and there were many similarities to Karma when it came to using it.

‘It’s my first time, so I can’t do it, but!’

Byeong-gap stepped on his feet, emitting his aura. He ran at an unbelievable pace.

“Uh-huh!”

The Gigant Orc, who reacted late, slashed his ax in a wide arc. In Byeong-gap’s eyes, it looked like a slug slowly approaching him.

After a quick and easy dodge, he stretched out his sword.

Boom!

He had struck the right arm of the Gigant Orc, and it exploded.

Not only the Orc, who had lost his arm in an instant, but also Byeong-gap, was surprised with the intensity of the attack. He opened his mouth wide.

‘Crazy! What is this?’

He did not expect to exert such a destructive force. In comparison, it felt like slicing tofu on a cutting board.

The Gigant Orc took advantage of Byeong-gap’s brief faltering and clenched its other fist. It had a very persistent determination, but its opponent was ruthless.

Byeong-gap reached out his hand and easily blocked its fist. The fist of the Gigant Orc was unable to move even a millimeter forward; it was as if a sturdy wall had blocked it.

“This is too much power for me to handle.”

Byeong-gap muttered as he calmly drew his sword.

Crack, crack!

“Gruuuh!”

The chest of the Gigant Orc exploded, its blood and flesh spreading out like grenade shards.

Who in the world would look at that wound and think that a sword had done it? It was as if a huge hoe had skimmed through the Orc.

“Woah, groan—!”

The Gigant Orc collapsed helplessly. Of course, Byeong-gap didn’t care about such a trivial thing. His attention was focused solely on the power of ‘Aura’.

‘This is too dangerous. If I don’t get used to it soon, I could cut off my own legs.’

It was a really dangerous force, simply an untamed weapon.

He suddenly became curious. Will this power ever work in the higher world?

The corners of his lips rose slowly.