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Chapter 113




SMH 113
Chapter 38 – To North Korea (2)
TL: Boko
Editor: Frost
“His Hunter’s License is forged as well.”
Shin Chul checked the spy’s body for his Hunter’s License just to be sure, but it was likewise a fake just like his identification.
“For starters, I’ve called the Hunter Bureau. An Investigator from the Security Division is coming over here right now,” Shin Chul said. The Bureau’s Security Division handled criminal matters regarding Hunters. Since  the spy’s identification and Hunter’s License were both forgeries, it was highly likely that he was connected to a criminal.
“He could attempt to kill himself again, so please keep a close eye on him,” Sung Joon said.
“You can count on me,” Jang Hoon replied in an overwhelmingly confident voice. And just a little while later, the Investigator arrived.
He was with two Armed Policemen, who looked to be D-rank Hunters.
“I’m the Hunter Bureau’s Security Division Chief, Lee Jin Chul.”
The sharp eyed man, who looked to be in his mid thirties, passed his business card to Sung Joon, and introduced himself.
“It’s nice to meet you. My name is Kang Sung Joon.”
“I’ve always wanted to meet you… It’s an honor.”
Sung Joon held out his hand and Jin Chul gripped it tightly, expressing his delight. Then, he realized that he hadn’t explained why, so he laughed awkwardly, and opened his mouth.
“You see, my parents are living in Paju right now. When the Winter Sovereign appeared in Paju, if it weren’t for you, Mr. Kang Sung Joon, it could’ve been a disaster,” Jin Chul said genuinely. Sung Joon just smiled.
“Security Division Chief?”
It was only after the Armed Policemen behind him reminded him of his responsibility did he remember his duty.
“Oh my! I’m truly sorry. I was just so happy to meet you, Mr. Kang Sung Joon… First, we’ll take the suspect into custody.”
He gave out a detailed order, and the Armed Policemen acted. The two took the suspect into the van while the suspect struggled, but the Armed Policemen that accompanied Jin Chul were both D-rank Hunters, so they were barely able to push him into the car.
“You took care of the situation well. There are traces of blood; did the suspect attempt to commit suicide?”
Jin Chul, who had remembered his duty, immediately returned to his businesslike attitude and looked at Sung Joon, Shin Chul, and Jang Chul and asked.
Sung Joon nodded his head and opened his mouth.
“He did attempt to commit suicide. He severed his tongue off, but I restored it.”
Because a Hunter’s physical abilities were superb, if they also possessed the willpower and the decision-making, they could easily sever their own tongue.
“But it doesn’t seem like you reattached the tongue…” Jin Chul said. There was a small piece of the spy’s tongue that rolled on the ground.
“I caused another one to grow in its place,” Sung Joon said.
“As expected of an  S-rank Healer. You’re amazing.” Jin Chul was in awe. Normally it didn’t sound possible to grow back a body part that had been severed, but it wasn’t an impossible matter for an S-rank Healer.
“Could you come with us to write a statement, please? Or if you’re busy, you could just give me a simple explanation here.”
“I’ll explain it simply right here.”
As soon as Sung Joon politely rejected to accompany them, Shin Chul took out a notebook as if he was used to this.
“You can give me your statement now.”
Sung Joon began his statement. Jin Chul wrote busily with his pen and recorded the contents of Sung Joon’s statement. It didn’t even take ten minutes to record his statement, but because they didn’t feel like drinking anymore, Sung Joon, Shin Chul, and Jang Hoon just talked a little bit more and parted ways.
And a few days later, after he had soloed a B-rank dungeon and raised his synchronization rate to 45%, he received a message from Jin Chul.
[This is the Hunter Bureau’s Security Division Chief, Lee Jin Chul. I would like to talk to you about the suspect we brought with us that had fake identification and a fake license. Could you briefly visit the Hunter Bureau?]
Because Sung Joon was an S-rank Hunter, the message asked him cautiously.
“What do you plan to do?” Rishubalt asked.
“Since I have to go to the Dungeon Bureau to sell my magic stones anyway, I feel like I should just go right now,” Sung Joon replied. The Hunter Bureau was right next to the Dungeon Bureau. It was close enough that he could just walk to it.
If he were another Hunter, they would’ve used their exhaustion from their dungeon run as an excuse to push back the appointment a few days, but because of Sung Joon’s ‘Absorption’, his fatigue was lessened, so he planned to go to the Hunter Bureau as well.
“That seems like a wise decision.”
“I’m always like that.”
Sung Joon and Rishubalt exchanged light jokes with each other and he began to walk towards his parked Hunter sedan. Eventually, he got into the driver’s seat and left.
He went to the Dungeon Bureau first. Contrary to the past, where he had to get a waiting number ticket, he now had an exclusive counter set up for him, so he didn’t have to wait.
“Welcome, Hunter Kang Sung Joon.”
As soon as he got to his exclusive counter, a beautiful female clerk smiled at him and greeted him. She was an employee that was hired to attend only to Sung Joon.
“It’s good to see you, Ms. Han So Eun.”
Sung Joon also greeted her pleasantly. So Eun’s smile was enough to make him feel refreshed.
“Considering how many magic stones you have, did you solo a B-rank dungeon today?’
“Yes, you’re right. Please take care of them.”
“Please wait just a minute.”
After So Eun received his instructions, she went through the process of selling the magic stones.
“You waited a long time, right? It comes out to $420,000.”
In terms of a B-rank dungeon, a sum of $420,000 was on the higher side, but it wasn’t a huge sum to Sung Joon. However, he couldn’t stop assaulting dungeons, if for no other reason than to become stronger.
“Thank you. You worked hard.”
Sung Joon said his goodbyes to So Eun and left. And as he walked towards the Hunter Bureau, he called Jin Chul.
“This is the Security Division Chief Jin Chul.”
“This is Kang Sung Joon. I’m going over to the Hunter Bureau now.”
“Where are you right now?”
“I’m coming over from the Dungeon Bureau.”
“Oh my. I’ll come down immediately.”
Jin Chul quickly ended the call. Eventually, Sung Joon arrived in front of the Hunter Bureau building. Shin Chul and Hyun Sung were waiting for him at the first floor entrance.
“You’re here too, Team Leader Kim?”
“Yes. I have some things I need to tell you, so I came down as soon as I was contacted by the Chief,” Hyun Sung replied. Jin Chul, who was watching them exchange greetings, opened his mouth with a calm expression.
“Let’s go up to the office.”
“Alright,” Sung Joon replied, and the three immediately went up to Jin Chul’s personal office.
“Please, sit down.”
Jin Chul suggested that Sung Joon sit down; Sung Joon sat down on the sofa and Jin Chul took the seat in front of him. And Hyun Sung served three cups of mixed coffee.
Hyun Sung sat next to Jin Chul and Jin Chul opened his mouth with a calm expression.
“We have discovered that the Hunter who followed you around is a spy from North Korea’s Reconnaissance General Bureau.”
“North Korea’s Reconnaissance General Bureau? Why are those guys following me around?”
“When the Winter Sovereign appeared in Paju, another Winter Sovereign appeared in North Korea as well. They assembled all of their forces, but Pyongyang is apparently in ruins right now.”
“I feel like I saw that on the news.”
Sung Joon watched the news frequently in order to educate Rishubalt. Therefore, he at least knew that North Korea was in chaos right now. However, he didn’t know what that had to do with the situation at hand.
“North Korea has formally requested Hunters’ aid. It seems like the Reconnaissance General Bureau moved in order to gather information. Aside from you, Mr. Kang Sung Joon, there were four other S-rank Hunters who were followed,” Hyun Sung said.
“So, what happened?” Sung Joon asked, and Hyun Sung smirked.
“We obviously subdued them. There were however some agents who committed suicide.”
“I see.”
Sung Joon nodded his head. After listening to Hyun Sung’s explanation, he could understand why the Reconnaissance General Bureau had acted.
“My work here is done. Please speak with Team Leader Kim for the rest. Excuse me.”
Because this concluded the case, the Security Division’s work was done. Jin Chul briefly excused himself and Hyun Sung surveyed his surroundings; then, he looked at Sung Joon and opened his mouth.
“I just told you that North Korea requested aid, correct?” Hyun Sung asked, and Sung Joon nodded his head.
“Even if they request aid from the Hunters, we cannot do anything more than to ask the Hunters to cooperate. As you well know, Hunters don’t belong to the country.”
The only Hunter that was actually affiliated to the nation was Na Joon Yeol, but he didn’t really like North Korea very much. Even if the government ordered him to help them, he most likely would’ve denied their request.
Even if he belonged to South Korea, if Joon Yeol vehemently denied them, they had no way of sending him to North Korea.
“Is this a request for cooperation?”
“Yes, that’s correct. We’re recruiting S-rank Hunters to go to North Korea and intercept the Winter Sovereign.”
“What will my payment be?”
“North Korea has given up all the rights to the magic stones that comes out from killing the Winter Sovereign. And it hasn’t exactly been disclosed, but there’s also a separate payment as well,” Hyun Sung replied. South Korea’s Hunter Bureau hadn’t been able to see through Kim Jang Woon’s black intentions it seems.
“It’s not bad. How many are going?”
“That’s… There aren’t any S-rank Hunters going. All of them have some sort of prejudice against North Korea.”
“That’s only natural. It’s not like they did anything nice, after all,” Sung Joon sighed and replied. Hyun Sung couldn’t help but agree with him.
“It seems there aren’t many Hunters that agreed, huh?” Sung Joon asked.
“Hahaha…” Hyun Sung weakly laughed.
“Please, don’t even think about lying to me,” Sung Joon said exactly.
“Yes, there aren’t many that have agreed to go,” Hyun Sung replied. Sung Joon smiled faintly and opened his mouth.
“Then if I go, I can pretty much monopolize all the magic stones, right?”
“Because you’re an S-rank Hunter, Mr. Kang Sung Joon, your percentage cut is high, and you also have the additional reward as well… so if you successfully defeat the Winter Sovereign, your payment should be quite high,” Hyun Sung said honestly. Sung Joon reclined  on the sofa and was lost in thought. Eventually, he finished organizing his thoughts, looked Hyun Sung, and opened his mouth.
“There’ll be support troops in North Korea as well, right?”
“If an S-rank Hunter were to go, North Korea promised that all the Hunters in the Supreme Guard Command as well as the army would follow their orders.”
“So are you saying that the Ministry of the People’s Armed Forces aren’t going to help?” Sung Joon asked. He knew from perusing the internet that the Ministry of the People’s Armed Forces possessed the Lee Neung Hwa Corps, which had the largest concentration of Hunters in North Korea.
“The Ministry of the People’s Armed Forces’ Lee Neung Hwa Corps sustained heavy casualties, almost to the point of annihilation, and retreated. The only Hunters left in Pyongyang are a part of the Supreme Guard Command. However, you don’t have to worry about that. Although The Supreme Guard Command has less Hunters than the Ministry, they’re more skilled,” Hyun Sung replied. Sung Joon nodded his head with a satisfied expression. He had gathered all the necessary information. Now it was time for him to make a decision.
“Alright. I’ll go to North Korea. Please prepare a plane.”
“We’ll assemble a team for you soon.”
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“I’ll go alone,” Sung Joon replied.
“I’m sorry?” Hyun Sung couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
“I’ll take all the magic stones.”
This was confidence that came from his 45% synchronization rate.