Ch.242242. Guild (3)

North Ulsan.

After the war with the Cult of Immortality ended, martial law was lifted in North Ulsan as well. A settlement support campaign was underway to select citizens who wished to return from among those who had evacuated to Gyeongju.

However, this area happened to be right at the frontline against the Cult of Immortality, and across the river was a high-risk zone with magical storms caused by the Dragon God Bahamut during the Ulsan disaster.

For ordinary people, it took considerable courage to leave Gyeongju—which had become essentially a safe zone under the Dragon God’s protection—and resettle in North Ulsan. Upon hearing this news, many Ulsan residents preferred to remain in Gyeongju rather than return to their hometown.

“Still, we can’t leave reclaimed territory empty. I’ll have North Ulsan converted into military barracks.”

“Very well. The cabinet will look into settlement support methods.”

This left Seorabeol with the option of converting it into a military city for soldiers.

Unlike completely devastated South Ulsan, North Ulsan’s infrastructure remained intact. Though some buildings were destroyed in the war, the area near Ulsan Airport definitely maintained modern facilities.

There was even Ulsan Port that could be used as a harbor, so there was sufficient urban infrastructure for military settlement. The military and cabinet estimated that if the old facilities were repaired, they would soon be fully functional, but…

“General Jeong Dong-geon. Wouldn’t it be more comfortable to station in Gyeongju instead?”

“Hmm.”

Few soldiers wanted to be stationed in North Ulsan, with the frontline nearby and magical storms that could tear even Awakened to shreds.

No matter how much support the cabinet and military offered, the policy would quickly fail if the troops had no will to settle there.

Most military personnel preferred to be stationed in Gyeongju with the Dragon God’s protection rather than Ulsan. With the dangerous Cult of Immortality and the natural buffer zone of South Ulsan, it was impossible to suppress the strong public opinion among soldiers who wanted to return to Gyeongju.

Since they knew the magical storms raging throughout South Ulsan wouldn’t disappear overnight, no one wanted to remain in this hell any longer.

“I’ll leave only some troops to protect North Ulsan and withdraw the rest to Gyeongju.”

In the end, Jeong Dong-geon chose withdrawal. Now North Ulsan was left with only a handful of Ulsan citizens who chose to relocate, some troops to protect them, Hwarang scouts to explore South Ulsan, and magicians dispatched from the Seorabeol Mage’s Association.

Currently, North Ulsan had become virtually a ghost town, with its once large population gone. While they had completed all the minimum necessary measures, these measures alone couldn’t prevent unwanted guests from gradually gathering.

“There’s a disgusting number of them. Are they all villains?”

“Seems that way.”

With so many soldiers leaving at once and Ulsan becoming a ghost town, hyenas were bound to exploit the gap. North Ulsan was gradually transforming into a sanctuary for villains who came to escape from overseas or smuggle Bahamut currency.

“Their dominance ends today… though it might be too much. But it’s time to clean house once and for all.”

Unfortunately for the villain organizations that had settled in North Ulsan by exerting influence or cooperating with the Seorabeol Guild, Jin A-yeon had already identified all their hideouts through what was essentially betrayal by the Seorabeol Guild.

Based on this information, Jin A-yeon and her squad members arrived at the North Ulsan port area, hiding at the military station and monitoring the organization’s movements.

“Captain. Look there. A ship is coming.”

“It’s a civilian transport ship from the Yamato Alliance. Seems they have civilian collaborators too. Hey, take pictures.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Before long, a civilian merchant vessel from the Yamato Alliance began docking at North Ulsan port, cutting through the darkness.

While it was now common for allied Yamato ships to dock in Seorabeol, the problem was that they were docking in Ulsan rather than Pohang, the main port.

Considering that Ulsan was nearly deserted except for Hwarang scouts exploring South Ulsan and members of the Seorabeol Mage’s Association, there was no reason for a civilian merchant ship to dock at North Ulsan port to sell goods.

This suggested that even civilians from the Yamato Alliance might be involved in this gambling operation and smuggling.

“Captain. It doesn’t seem to be a Yamato Alliance ship after all. There are fugitives from elsewhere on board.”

“From where?”

“Judging by the crew’s appearance, it seems to be a multinational organization. There are Americans, people from the Yamato Alliance, and Southeast Asians too.”

The villains disguised as merchants were unloading goods at the port, and their scale was multinational with numbers exceeding several thousand.

Dozens of illegal merchant ships were attempting to dock at the port overnight, and among them were villains whose names appeared on international wanted lists.

Unlike in Seorabeol, not all of these thousands were Awakened—rather, Awakened were hiding among ordinary people.

“I can see several magical tools used for monster hunting. They appear to be items obtained from Seorabeol.”

“That’s evidence of smuggling. Their armament status isn’t bad either. If we’re not careful, we might end up being the ones in trouble.”

“You getting in trouble, Captain? That’s quite the joke.”

Their armament status was impressive—not just light blades like common thugs, but military-grade firearms and bulletproof vests like a warlord faction.

Faced with forces stronger than expected, Jin A-yeon jokingly said they might end up in trouble, but her squad member took it seriously, telling her not to joke about such things.

However…

“If we don’t enter properly, they might escape on the merchant ships.”

“Should we get help from the navy?”

“We should. But first, let’s gather more information.”

There was indeed a high possibility they might not be completely subdued and could escape.

Jin A-yeon’s police special forces were outnumbered, while the enemy maintained large numbers.

To successfully attack them, they needed to block the sea—the villains’ escape route—which required Baek Seol-hwa’s navy.

They also needed information about the enemy to catch them all at once, but fortunately, there was someone they could use for this purpose.

“They call themselves the Hayabusagumi. They’re a criminal organization mainly involved in ship smuggling, illegal trading of magic stones and currency, and brokering illegal Awakened mercenaries.”

“More troublesome than I thought.”

Why should Jin A-yeon do the legwork when there were guilds specializing in information gathering?

Guilds that could collect information instead of Jin A-yeon existed throughout Seorabeol. In particular, Yu Won-ryeong, the guild master of the Cheongi Bang Guild, which was heavily involved in the black market and underworld, would provide information when Jin A-yeon summoned him and demanded it.

Today again, Jin A-yeon summoned Yu Won-ryeong and learned the name of the organization stationed in Ulsan, and their purpose…

“Yes. The boss of Hayabusagumi is a former Japan Self-Defense Forces admiral. All his crew members are also former JSDF personnel. They’ve declared that they don’t recognize the Yamato Alliance as the legitimate Japanese government.”

Learning about the boss’s background immediately made the situation more serious.

If he was a former JSDF admiral, the army he led was essentially the pre-apocalypse Japanese military. This military had taken advantage of losing civilian government control to become independent and turn into pirates.

A regular army had suddenly transformed into pirates, and their blades were now encroaching on North Ulsan. Jin A-yeon closed her eyes briefly to organize this situation, which was more dangerous than she had thought.

“So when the Japanese government lost control of the Self-Defense Forces after the apocalypse, they took advantage of that gap to desert? And they’re now in opposition to the current regime?”

“Yes. They’ve seized control of the South China Sea, making it their base as international pirates.”

“Insane.”

Yu Won-ryeong, the Cheongi Bang Guild master, knew how far Hayabusagumi’s influence extended, and when he said it covered the South China Sea, Jin A-yeon was momentarily speechless.

This made them pirates among pirates—a force so formidable they could rightfully be called Pirate Kings. And now these Pirate Kings were establishing a base in North Ulsan.

“They’re more widespread than I thought. Well, they must have warships too. That would make it possible to expand their influence.”

They were stronger than Jin A-yeon had imagined—a proper warlord faction and essentially a pirate nation.

From Seorabeol’s perspective, they were a more dangerous warlord than Gyeon Gwan-im, who had just established himself in Daegu. Moreover, since they were formerly affiliated with the JSDF, they likely still possessed the war machines the JSDF had owned.

Even now, the patrol ships and vessels left by the former Republic of Korea were tremendously helpful in protecting Seorabeol’s seas. If they could preserve powerful naval forces, no one in this post-apocalyptic world could fight those who had established themselves at sea.

They had already declared the South China Sea as their own, so even Seorabeol couldn’t be confident in completely eradicating them.

‘To begin with, Seorabeol’s naval forces aren’t that strong; they’re only effective against undead.’

Unfortunately, Seorabeol’s naval forces were specialized only against undead ghost fleets. If asked whether they could launch an expedition all the way to the South China Sea with those forces, one would have to firmly shake their head—their naval power was that inadequate.

In cases where Seorabeol couldn’t solve a problem, Dragon God Bahamut could directly intervene, but after the Ulsan disaster, relying on the Dragon God’s power again was burdensome for both the Seorabeol cabinet and Jin A-yeon, who was working in the field.

“I’ll handle the organization in North Ulsan myself. The rest seems like something the cabinet should deal with.”

“Since they’re such a powerful international criminal organization, we’ve received intelligence about them.”

“That’s quite the honor.”

This was why they could exert influence even over Seorabeol’s three major guilds.

With the emergence of such powerful invaders, Jin A-yeon decided to handle the North Ulsan problem herself and leave the rest to the Seorabeol cabinet’s judgment.

“So what do you plan to do?”

“I don’t want to borrow your hands, but I have no choice. Boys, call everyone in. Let’s go beat up some international criminals.”

“We’ve been waiting for those words, sis.”

Her method was to cooperate with Seorabeol’s three major guilds and drive out those who had settled in North Ulsan.

Jin A-yeon had essentially admitted that her police special forces and she alone were insufficient, and acknowledged the power and existence of the three major guilds. For the three guilds, this was a golden opportunity to restore their severely damaged prestige.

Not long after Jin A-yeon’s declaration, all guild members including the guild masters of the three major guilds responded to her call and assembled before her. Jin A-yeon had just one simple thing to say to them:

“If you do well this time, I’ll turn a blind eye to minor incidents in the black market.”

“Will you keep that promise?”

“I’ll write up a Geass Scroll for you.”

This essentially meant she would recognize the black market interests held by the three major guilds. The Seorabeol three major guilds smiled brightly, thinking that now they were finally speaking the same language, and unhesitatingly placed themselves under Jin A-yeon’s command.

The rest depended on whether Jin A-yeon would keep her word, but that wasn’t a problem. Seorabeol had an appropriate covenant document called a Geass Scroll.

“That’s trustworthy enough.”

With this, Jin A-yeon could also proceed with the Hayabusagumi subjugation operation with peace of mind.