12. The Unbridgeable Gap.

12. An Unfillable Gap.

+++

“It’s a relief. The situation was suppressed much faster and with less damage than expected.”

The branch managers gathered again via video conference.

The Supreme Commander, who was also the Association President, opened with a slightly pleased expression.

The Dungeon Association had estimated that the suppression time for the Tokyo Dungeon, a B-class dungeon, would be at least 24 hours, but it ended in just over an hour, far short of that estimate.

Some people were exclaiming with misguided admiration, “Is the Korean military that strong???” but at least there was no ignorant person like that in this room.

Because they already knew who had suppressed the Tokyo Dungeon.

“Mr. Yoo… was it? That adventurer.”

As the President called out his surname, the branch managers, especially the Korean branch manager, visibly tensed up.

“I didn’t think he’d be that strong… Judging from the acquired video, he seems to be a master with at least 100,000 attack and defense stats. No… 100,000, I’m being too modest… It must be at least four times that.”

He chuckled in the middle, then grinned.

It’s been three years since dungeons appeared, and now we’re heading towards the fourth year. The information available to the general public is very limited.

The world official rankings are the most representative part.

The ‘real masters’ have already been scouted by each country or institution, or are being watched as key figures, and their attack and defense levels are by no means comparable to those of ‘world official rankers’.

Some of them exceed 100,000, and some have low stats themselves, but have ‘enhancement-type talents’ that inflate their attack and defense stats several times.

In these cases, attack and defense stats increase exponentially,

For example, in the case of ‘Attack Power Enhancement LV.1’ talent, the final attack power is applied ‘twice’. It becomes 200% of the total attack power due to various stats and equipment stats + attack and defense stats.

Naturally, they can only become enormously stronger as they go, and in the case of ‘Attack Power Enhancement LV.5′, which has not yet been reported, it is applied as much as ’15 times’.

The reason I know this even though it hasn’t been reported is because of the European branch manager.

Agnès Isabella, the head of the European Dungeon Cooperation Organization, is an Association branch manager and also has the abilities of an adventurer herself.

Of course, most of the Association’s senior members open their stats and maintain a certain level of attack and defense to protect themselves, but she is particularly strong due to her stats.

She has as many as two ‘enhancement talents’, and is the owner of ridiculous talents called ‘Defense Power Enhancement LV.5’ and ‘Strength Enhancement LV.4′.

This means that her total defense power is applied ’15 times’, and her total strength stat is applied ‘9 times’.

To date, a total of 7 LV.5 Talents (people with at least one LV.5 talent) have been reported to the Association. Even then, 6 of them are scouts, and Kirara Satomi, who works at the Japanese branch, is one of them.

In other words, Agnès is still the only person with a level 5 talent in the enhancement category.

Anyway, through her talent, we learned that the enhancement coefficient of LV.5 is 15 times, and as a result, all the coefficients of the enhancement category itself have been reported.

Level 1 is 2 times, level 2 is 5 times, level 3 is 7 times, level 4 is 9 times, and level 5 is 15 times.

It is a type of talent that cannot be approached with effort and money ‘or anything like that’.

For reference, talents are only ‘innate’, and there is no reported way to acquire them after birth.

What is meant by ‘after birth’ here is to ‘intentionally’ manifest them through ‘effort’, ‘money’, or ‘items’.

It has only been 3 years since dungeons were born, so of course all the talents of the Talents were manifested while living ordinary lives.

However, that was just unlocking something that had been inherent since birth by releasing a certain locking condition. Even if those without the talent of talent meet the same conditions millions of times, they will never develop a talent.

It’s truly the ultimate case of the chosen one…

As a result, the strength of adventurers generally known and the strength of adventurers known to the upper echelons of the Association are on different levels.

And Yoo-Eun was added in the middle.

“Did the Korean branch know about this?”

“Of course not. I… didn’t know he was that strong either. I’ll have to contact him in earnest now.”

“Is that so.”

The Supreme Commander changed the subject without asking further.

“Since he boasts transcendent strength, those of you here should now know the detailed information. Mr. Kim, would you give us a briefing?”

“…Do we really need to know? He’s just an adventurer after all. We can find out later, can’t we?”

Agnès blocked the Supreme Commander’s proposal.

Her face was very displeased.

“Rather, shouldn’t we be more concerned about the missing branch right now? As the Association President, as the Supreme Commander.”

“Hmm… There’s certainly that aspect too. I admit it.”

He nodded.

The missing branch.

It refers to the Japanese branch.

Originally, the Japanese branch, which used the same building as the Asian branch in the heart of Tokyo, temporarily moved the building due to the appearance of this dungeon.

It was running normally until the dungeon was completely subjugated, but suddenly, dozens of minutes later, the entire building collapsed.

“Certainly, as the Supreme Commander, it is very important to deal with the collapse of the branch. But…”

“?”

“That’s why I’m saying that you all need to know about him even more.”

“What… do you mean?”

“The most likely suspect in the collapse of the Asian branch and the Japanese branch… is him.”

“Supreme Commander-nim! What are you…!”

Everyone was surprised, and the Korean branch manager immediately jumped up from his seat.

Of course, it’s just a video conference anyway.

“Ah, ah. It’s just circumstantial. Think about it. Would Mr. Ishida miss an adventurer who is worthy of being discussed first after an emergency meeting of each branch manager is called?”

“Th-that’s…”

“He must have rushed to make an offer of recruitment first. If he went to the Japanese branch and did such a thing himself, the timing matches exactly. Well, the details will only be known when the on-site report comes up. But for now, that’s how we’re seeing it. So you all… need to know about him in detail.”

“….”

There were no further objections.

A strongman who can instantly defeat the boss monster of a B-class dungeon. If he is an adventurer suspected of collapsing an entire branch, all branch managers should know about him.

“Okay. Then, Mr. Kim, the briefing.”

“…Yes.”

+++

“I already wrote it.”

“….”

I answered, sneering.

This kind of mocking expression is a masterpiece.

The pleasure is no joke, you know?

“Isn’t that… too irresponsible of an action?”

“No, it’s not.”

The female soldier in front of me frowns.

Perhaps thinking that as a man, she couldn’t have a proper conversation with me, the 7th Mobile Corps sent a female soldier and a few guards to my side.

Well… when I say my side, it’s only about 10 meters away.

It’s really like facing off at Panmunjom. It’s quite a funny situation.

“Sigh… Aren’t you a citizen of our country too?”

“That’s right.”

“Then there’s no harm in our country’s military benefiting, right?”

“There’s nothing good about it either.”

“If there is no national defense, there is no country, and if there is no country, it is difficult for the people to live.”

“Is that so? Then I can handle it. I’ll just build a country.”

“….”

Ah. She’s pissed.

“…Look. Putting everything else aside, how much do you think our military invested this time? We paid that huge cost, struck the dungeon for the longest time, and effectively repelled it. I won’t say that we have ownership, but shouldn’t we have at least consulted with you?”

“Well, whether you would have effectively repelled it without me… Hehe.”

“That’s what you think. Anyway, over 90% of the monsters in this dungeon were annihilated by the ROK Army’s shelling, and we could have handled the boss monster just fine. You just swooped in and took all the rewards. Don’t you feel any guilt?”

“What do you think?”

“Ha… That’s why those who haven’t served in the military are really…”

“I haven’t served in the military, but did I contribute anything?”

“N-no. Now that I think about it, you probably would have been discharged for mental illness anyway, so it doesn’t seem to matter whether you’ve served in the military or not. I’m very grateful that you remained unfulfilled. If someone like you had come to the training camp… No, that’s right. People with mental illness don’t come to the training camp. Anyway, thank you.”

She’s trying hard to ridicule me… but sorry, it has no impact at all.

“You should know you’re lucky. If it weren’t for the President’s orders, you would have been riddled with bullets right here.”

“Oh? Did the President do something?”

“Hmph. I don’t know what happened, but he said that attacks on you guys are unconditionally prohibited. You became an honorary police superintendent, so did you meet him and give him a treat or something?”

“A treat… Do you want to receive one? I’m pretty good at treating people, you know.”

Have you ever heard of a dick treat?

“I don’t need it.”

She stood up abruptly, glared at me once, and then turned away.

Come to think of it, her rank is Major… the same as that Major Han Sarang. Her personality is also subtly similar… Are they classmates?

“Why? I can treat you very well if you’re a Major-nim.”

“That’s enough. Don’t do anything weird anymore.”

“Hey. Don’t be so stiff. Or do you want to come over later? The mess hall food is terrible, right? We’re going to eat meat. Meat.”

“…Say something that makes sense. Do I look like I’m going to desert? And I ate plenty of meat in Korea.”

She seemed to hesitate very slightly, but she turned her head.

Hehe.

This seems to have some potential?

Honestly, deserting is out of the question since it’s less than 10 meters away… If you’re a Major, you can eat a meal a little further away, right? Besides, she’s qualified to negotiate with me… I can use that as an excuse to call her to the tent later. Hehehe. I’ve already eaten a female police officer, so let’s try eating a female soldier too.