Episode 40: Ground Zero (5)
“Why are you watching so long?”
“just. “My curiosity keeps getting stronger.”
“You should know that unnecessary tailing at Ground Zero can lead to a fight if misunderstood.”
“are you okay. “It’s easy to run away.”
“So has your curiosity been satisfied?”
“No, it goes deeper. Why on earth did you come here? “There aren’t many monsters here and the roads are complicated.”
As set out in the original work, Jeong Yu-ri was a curious woman.
What if Yoon Sang-mi frequently asks questions or talks to Kang-hoo in a flirtatious way?
Jeong Yu-ri seemed to be purely curious about the character Kang-hu himself.
The feeling in the eyes was different.
“You know because you saw it, right? “I just came because I needed Mad Solakium.”
“I see…”
Jeong Yu-ri stared at Kang-hu. As if I wanted to keep each face in my memory.
I also felt like I was seeing someone up close for the first time in a long time.
I am looking at you curiously.
“Anyway, I don’t want you to chase after me anymore. “Even if there is no hostility, it’s not a picture I really like.”
“Sorry. “I guess it was because I saw a hunter who came to Ground Zero for the first time in a long time for pure purposes.”
In fact, I didn’t come in with pure intentions.
Because I had also received a request to track down and kill Jo Gu-bin.
You have to fight again to find out how the fight with him will go. It could be a dog fight.
“How is the world these days? Is the purification guild still doing everything? Or did you get hit in the abyss?”
Jeong Yu-ri changed the topic.
Seeing that the Purification Guild was mentioned right away, it seemed like there was antipathy toward them, just as I remembered.
I also thought that the anticipation of the warlord abyss was similar to mine.
I decided to narrow the distance slightly.
For Kang-hoo, Jeong Yu-ri is a person of considerable strategic significance.
This is because she, who uses Ground Zero as her home, is growing faster than expected.
If you keep her close, you can use her extensively later. It is a relationship that will definitely help.
so.
Kang-hu is not someone who usually talks to her warmly, but today he actively talked to her.
“The entire Seoul is under the jurisdiction of the Jeonghwa Guild. Quite a few satellite guilds have appeared outside of Seoul.”
“…It’s serious.”
“Do you have any personal ties to the Purification Guild?”
“There are a lot. a lot. There are people who absolutely need revenge. But I have no intention of leaving here now.”
“Right.”
“But where does it hurt? Why is my face so bloodless? “Is it effective to take Mad Solarchium?”
Everyone who saw me was talking about my bloodless face, so it wasn’t a new thing anymore.
I was wondering if I should at least get a tan, but I wondered if my naturally white skin would change dramatically.
“That’s what I ate originally.”
“For an assassin, the skill set is interesting. “Did you take a lot of good skill books?”
“I took good care of it.”
Ganghu nodded.
Most of them are skills obtained through skill theft rather than skill books, but there is no need to explain them accurately.
Even after that.
Kang Hu had quite a lot of conversations with Jeong Yu-ri.
Since I had collected all the Mad Solarchiums I had planned, I also wanted to rest.
Because I wanted to build some kind of bond with her.
It could be said to be an arrangement for the future.
Of course, I didn’t make it look like I desperately wanted her or was being flirtatious with her.
I just listened to her story, kindly answered what she said, and returned her questions.
However, even with that, Jeong Yu-ri seemed to have received some comfort.
The loneliness must have been that great.
“I guess we should move now.”
“The story was unexpectedly long. “I had no idea something like this would happen at Ground Zero.”
“That’s what fate is all about. “It connects and disconnects unexpectedly.”
“Can you come here one more time later?”
“why?”
“just. You look innocent. What can I say? “Did you notice that he was only focusing on me throughout the conversation?”
“Other hunters look different, right?”
“Sometimes they only looked at my body, and sometimes they made me feel secretive…”
It’s not strange.
Because the quality of the hunters coming to Ground Zero can’t be good.
I’m glad we didn’t fight.
For that reason, it seems he received a higher score in the ‘relative evaluation’.
“And you look sad. “There’s something about this face that keeps me going.”
“Are you crying?”
“No, there are people like that. A person whose eyes are deeply immersed in sadness. A person immersed in melancholy.”
I guess you can’t beat the setting.
The character Shin Kang-hoo is always modeled as a person with deep negative emotions.
So even if you try to pretend it’s not like that, it seems to show through in your eyes, actions, or even the way you speak.
“okay. I’ll stop by again. “I don’t know when that will happen.”
Although Kang-hu did not confirm the date, he definitely promised to come back.
Jeong Yu-ri is a person worth it. It will be of great help in many ways later.
“Be sure to come again.”
“huh. “I just don’t have anything to say, so I hope you don’t overdo it.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Don’t die.”
Kang-hoo seemed indifferent and left quickly, leaving a single word of concern for Jeong Yu-ri.
Before you know it, Ganghu has disappeared and you are left alone.
“….”
Jeong Yu-ri was lost in thought for a moment, caressing the tree where Kang-hu’s warmth still remained.
It was a look in his eyes that crossed many thoughts.
* * *
Before dawn.
After finding a cave where he could get some sleep and sleeping for about two hours, Kang-hu started moving feeling refreshed.
If you look at the sleep time alone, it is ridiculously shorter than normal, but my condition has improved more than I expected.
The abundant mana and energy of Mother Nature, unique to the entire Ground Zero, seemed to give strength without knowing it.
Kang-hoo had already specified a location where Jo Gu-bin might be.
If you are a hunter with no prior knowledge of Ground Zero, the first problem you will face is securing food.
Digging up or cooking something to eat is difficult, so you need to find monsters in the wild that you can catch and eat.
However, the places where edible monsters are distributed are limited. So it becomes specific.
For example, the sunflower that spewed out strongly acidic liquid to Kang-hu is a plant that should never be eaten.
The moment you eat.
Paralysis starts from the esophagus and death occurs instantly. There is no room to decipher it.
It was clear that he would eventually end up in a restricted area where edible monsters were located, and that place was around here.
Jo Gu-bin said that the last confirmed location was Imjingang Station.
Kang-hu was confident that he would definitely be where he expected.
You won’t have the courage to wander around here and there in this unpredictable wilderness.
Even Kang-hoo, who knows Ground Zero well, feels uncomfortable, but there’s no way a guy like Jo Gu-bin is walking around with his head blank.
While moving, Ganghu consciously moved along rough terrain or slopes.
This is because, of course, the solarium that grows on the ‘safe route’ that hunters usually take has disappeared long ago.
However, there was a high probability that wild solarium was growing in places untouched by hunters.
Thanks to this, I was able to replenish a few more Solarchiums and make a total of 10 spares. This was enough.
“….”
Kang-hoo looked once again at the data on Jo Gu-bin handed over from Lee Ye-rin.
A collection of data written by a father who lost his daughter to Jo Gu-bin.
The content written by hand contained feelings of resentment, anger, and sadness in each letter.
The despair of a father who lost his daughter to a murderer was also felt through the occasional traces of tears.
I can’t die until I see my daughter’s revenge with my own eyes, so it feels like I can’t die.
Estimated level 150.
Main magic ability is Freeze.
It is not an easy configuration to deal with.
This is because the ability to freeze can be a very threatening option depending on how it is used.
at that time.
A text message came from Yerin Lee.
【A designation request has been received from Seongyu. The client is the person who was entrusted with the Gong Tae-soo case.】
【The client’s trust in Seon-gyu is very great. I really want to entrust it to you. Would you accept it?】
Designated request.
It’s a request that doesn’t come in often.
This is because you have to trust the client’s skills. There are also requests that I don’t do if I’m not sure.
But on the other hand, it was also a request that promised quite a lot of compensation.
Since the request is usually of a higher concept than before, it is also possible to expect it to be at least 2.5 billion won.
【I think it would be a priority to know the brief request information and amount. I’m busy right now, so I’ll see you later.】
I responded right away.
There is no need to rush anyway. If Lee Ye-rin had a sweet body, she would have liked it. Kang-hoo had nothing to regret.
It seemed like there would be nothing to worry about in the future.
Once the number of designated request customers begins to accumulate, it is possible to select only the types of requests you want.
【From 300m north of the current point, it will no longer be under the jurisdiction of the Republic of Korea.】
【As there is virtually no management entity at Ground Zero in North Korean territory, please be aware of all incidents and accidents.】 A
warning sign was also seen.
North Korean land is also a land of high value in the long term.
Dungeons located in North Korea are not conquered systematically and regularly.
This is because there are more unknown dungeons unknown to hunters than you can imagine.
The number of dungeons now known as dungeons in North Korea was less than half of the actual number.
However, you cannot go to North Korean territory other than Ground Zero at will, and approval from the Hunter Security Office is required.
‘There was too much content in the original that was sprinkled on North Korean soil as a piece of cake. Now that I think about it, I barely recovered it.’
Kang Hu smiled bitterly as he recalled the life he lived as the author of the original work.
Because the rice cakes were spread so aggressively, less than half of the rice cakes were recovered until the end.
So, in fact, along with the ending of a minor character, the poor recovery of rice cakes was also criticized and I got my fill of criticism.
‘If you think about it as a novel, even if you only try to collect the rice cakes, it feels like a very long novel. ‘If my possessed life were to become a novel, it would be really difficult to complete it.’
Kang-hu chuckled, recalling the impossible imagination.
I thought I could write several volumes just by writing a dungeon story set in North Korea.
Right then.
I could feel mana flickering not far away, albeit in a very small amount.
It was a clue obtained by combining not only the senses maximized by mana hypersensitivity but also the mana tracking ability.
We don’t know who it is, but from this point on, we have to assume that it could be Jo Gu-bin.
So, Ganghu targeted the tree in front of him and hid himself by moving laterally.
Nowadays, quick movement or camouflage are not important, but reliable hiding is important.
How far did it travel?
By the time I had narrowed the distance enough to be able to see the other person’s face and appearance.
“Giggles. We should have come to ground zero right away. Even if you run over and kill him, you won’t even know who it is. “Clark!”
The evil voice of the world rang out darkly against the background of a sky covered with dark clouds.
‘found.’
It was Jo Gu-bin.