Part 1, Chapter 1 (5)

Branch Manager Ryu Yoho crushed the burning cigarette into the ashtray.

“Hoo.”

He knew better than anyone that cigarettes were harmful to the body, but the person he was about to call was difficult to deal with sober, without the help of a cigarette.

Ring-ring-ring-

The phone rang several times. With a click, the other party’s voice was heard.

[You’ve worked hard. Comrade Ryu.]

“Not at all, Director-nim.”

He involuntarily swallowed. His entire body stiffened with tension.

[The Chairman is also quite satisfied with this result.]

“Is that so?”

The Branch Manager sighed in relief inwardly.

[Indeed. When I told the Chairman about your brilliant plan to send the unidentified monster towards Joseon, he was greatly impressed. As for the specific implementation method, well, we took care of that on our end.]

The Branch Manager was continuously bothered by that solution. He fully understood that the other party harbored ill feelings towards Korea and even called it by a different name, but this time, it was too much.

“Yes. You… fired a missile, didn’t you?”

[Of course, that alone can’t harm an S-class monster. But isn’t it possible to send the monster flying?]

“…An S-class monster?”

[Huhu. Now, no one knows if it’s a Villain or a monster.]

A low laugh was heard from beyond the receiver.

[The news will report that Unjang was active. The monster, having taken a severe blow from Unjang’s secret technique, fled towards Joseon. What can be done? The monster has already crossed into Joseon’s airspace. We cannot violate international law, can we?]

“Yes. That’s right.”

As monsters began to appear all over the world, and their carcasses and cores were utilized as new resources, the world made a promise.

‘The subjugation of monsters shall be handled by the sovereign nation of the territory.’

An international agreement that granted sovereign nations the right to subjugate monsters within their own territories while excluding interference from other nations. The Hero Association, a transnational organization, naturally protested, but they had no choice but to comply with the agreement due to the continuous problems of processing monster byproducts.

The Branch Manager abused that agreement to push the monster from China’s territorial waters into Korea. Now, the primary duty of subjugating that blue girl Villain, no, S-class monster, had fallen to Korea.

“It’s been a long time since an S-class monster appeared. Korea is truly blessed.”

[If they can hunt it, that is. Kuk-kuk.]

The Branch Manager smiled along with the Director’s sneer. Eight years ago-in 2012-Korea’s standing in the Hero world had significantly declined after the ‘Pyongyang Incident’ that shook the world.

[Anyway, our Party currently cannot rashly move our Heroes. As you know-]

“Yes. Didn’t the offspring of the Black Scorpion appear in the desert?”

[Right. Most of our forces are inland. Fortunately, thanks to our God of War taking charge of the entire coast, we were able to ‘drive the monster away’ without any problems.]

The conversation paused for a moment. The Branch Manager, still bothered by something, deliberately spoke up.

“But tell me. What if Korea hunts that Phoenix?”

[Don’t speak such ill-omened words. Wasn’t it you who devised the strategy to send an unmanageable monster towards Joseon, making them hope for our aid?]

“Yes. That’s right. But….”

The Branch Manager recalled the two S-class Heroes registered in the Hero Association’s database.

But what if the two of them joined forces and succeeded in capturing that girl-

[Stop talking nonsense. You just need to quietly manage the branch. Isn’t it about time you came to the central office?]

“Ah, yes! Yes! That’s right!”

[Good. Continue to work hard for the Party.]

Click. With the sound of the phone disconnecting, the Branch Manager’s entire body relaxed, and he leaned back in his chair.

“What a headache.”

As the existence of monsters emerged and became a threat to the world, the status of the Hero Association, the headquarters for countermeasures against them, also rose.

If China differed from other countries, it was that the power of the Party, referred to as the central authority, and especially the ‘Monster Management Bureau’ within it, held greater sway than the Association.

‘The Association has many Heroes, but the headquarters has a God of War.’

Unjang is but one person, yet he is currently China’s strongest and the Hero of all its people.

From the Association’s perspective, they desperately wanted to register Unjang’s affiliation with them, but the Party, on the other hand, was trying to seize control of the Association by leveraging Unjang’s prestige.

‘The Association’s ties still seem stronger, but….’

For now, he was affiliated with the Association, but he had made preparations to switch to the headquarters at any time. That’s why he was currently using his authority as Branch Manager to delete Unjang’s combat data from today.

[Data deletion in progress…90%.]

The black box installed in Red Hare’s horse armor. The video, which contained the battle with the girl, was being erased by the Branch Manager’s hand before anyone could see it.

“But….”

The Branch Manager held a new cigarette and lit it. The end of the combat video he had played once out of curiosity.

Unjang’s final action, with a swarm of fireballs adorning the sky before his eyes, was closer to ‘fleeing’ than ‘retreating’.

“…No way.”

The idea that Unjang got scared and turned his horse around was the kind of talk that would get him dragged to public security. The Branch Manager inhaled from his cigarette and deleted the video.

* * *

Yeongjongdo, Eulwangri Beach.

Old Man Park used to walk along the coast every day, which had now become a desolate sandy beach, completely deserted.

Since it was a dangerous area where monsters appeared, all the villagers had evacuated and even the military had withdrawn, but the old man still couldn’t leave this neighborhood.

“Damn these monstrous bastards.”

The old man shivered in the chilly sea breeze and turned on the radio.

The telecommunication companies, who had been eerily siphoning off fees, eerily cut off their signals once Incheon was occupied by monsters, and his perfectly functional smartphone suddenly became a brick.

In the end, Old Man Park took out the radio that had been sleeping in the storage room. Fortunately, the radio’s frequency reached this place without any problems.

[…At this point, we will return after listening to the Ministry of National Defense spokesperson’s announcement again.]

As soon as the announcer, whose voice was thick with fatigue, finished speaking, a man with a solemn voice began to speak.

[The Ministry of National Defense has confirmed that China fired a missile into the West Sea, and…]

[…That’s what the government said. Professor Do, what are your thoughts?]

[No, didn’t the Chinese government say it wasn’t them? Logically, what country fires missiles at monsters?]

[We clearly confirmed that China fired the missile. This is something even the US side has acknowledged! They definitely fired it!]

[So where did that missile explode? If a missile exploded in the middle of the West Sea, where’s the evidence?]

Professor Do, full of sarcasm, continued with a sneer.

[If a missile really was fired, there would have been an explosion somewhere. But there’s no such place anywhere on Earth. Did the surrounding monsters at least get agitated by the missile and rampage? As for this issue, I believe our Ministry of National Defense made a big mistake-]

[There was an explosion! Didn’t Hero Unjang fight a monster on the West Coast at that time!]

The person representing the Ministry of National Defense cut him off and shouted. He was a former professional soldier and currently a Hero dispatched from the Association.

[Although Unjang is affiliated with China, he is clearly one of the 12 Heroes, so he must have managed to deal with the missile fired within their own country-]

[You know yourself that’s an absurd claim, don’t you? Why don’t you just say the monster ate the missile instead?]

“What a load of crap.”

Old Man Park turned off the radio as the debate between the two panelists grew increasingly heated.

“What’s the point of the military or anything else when the world is in such a mess?”

While the south might be peaceful, the areas that used to border North Korea were nothing short of a demonic realm.

“When I was young, they made a fuss about reds coming down, but now they’re all dead, and only those monster bastards are swarming down like dogs. What’s the point?”

2012. Since the tragedy that occurred in Pyongyang, this country had changed so much. Old Man Park recalled the memory of what happened in the sea that day-

Kugugugugu—!

“Wha- what is it?!”

The ground vibrated. Old Man Park collapsed onto the ground from the intense shaking, strong enough to make him wonder if it was an earthquake.

“A mo- monster?!”

Paaaat—!

Before he could even think of escaping, a giant shadow surged from the sea. The shadow of a massive water snake leaped out from the surface of the water. Old Man Park screamed when he saw the true identity of that shadow.

“Seohaemugi?!”

Kwooong!

Why had an A-class monster living deep in the West Sea appeared here? Before Old Man Park could even think of escaping, Seohaemugi slammed its wide-open maw into the sandy beach.

“…Huh?”

Having worked on boats for decades, he could tell at a glance whether a fish was dead or alive. The same applied to monsters that were originally fish, so he instinctively knew the state of that giant sea dragon-like monster the moment he saw it.

“It’s dead?”

No way. It was such a cunning creature that it never came out of the sea, making it virtually impossible to conquer. Yet, such a creature was now lying on the sandy beach with its tongue sticking out.

Moreover, from the middle of its body, it was tattered as if a bomb had exploded inside, revealing all its gruesome flesh.

“Is it my time to die now…?”

The radio had been talking about missiles disappearing and whatnot, and now a dead sea monster appeared before his eyes. Old Man Park clutched his throbbing head, got up, and cautiously approached what was presumed to be Seohaemugi’s corpse.

“Gulp.”

Swallowing dryly, he clutched a broken soju bottle he found on the sandy beach and walked step by step towards its maw.

When he was about ten steps away.

Jjeo-eok

“Ugh, goddammit!”

Startled by Seohaemugi’s suddenly lifted maw, Old Man Park instinctively threw the broken soju bottle.

The green-glowing weapon spun several times and struck the head of the blue-haired girl who emerged from the maw.

Thwack.

“Uh, uh?”

Her build was similar to his granddaughter, who was about to enter high school. However, the mana shield that appeared above her hair where the soju bottle hit quickly revealed the girl’s true identity.

“A He- Hero?”

In response to Old Man Park’s question, the girl crawled out of Seohaemugi’s mouth without a word. The body revealed beneath the light green veil clinging to her entire form was so provocative that it would have tempted the old man’s dark desires if he were ten years younger.

The girl, with vacant eyes, alternated glances between Old Man Park and Seohaemugi before opening her mouth.

“…Kkeueu.”

The girl’s vision swayed. Old Man Park hurried over and sat down next to her.

“Are you alright? Did you get swallowed while doing some raid or something?”

“Oop.”

The girl suddenly covered her mouth. Old Man Park, based on his accumulated experience, dodged away.

“Uwaaaaaaak!!!”

The girl violently vomited seawater from her mouth. Old Man Park took another step back at the pungent, sour smell.

“Mo….”

The girl, her focus returned, reached out a hand towards Old Man Park and spoke.

“Mao Zeping, you fu….”

The girl hurled profanities at the current Director of China’s Monster Management Bureau, then buried her face in her own vomit and collapsed.

“……Who’s Mao Zeping?”

Old Man Park tilted his head, yet still pulled the unconscious girl out of Seohaemugi’s maw.

Jjigeok, jjigeok.

“Ugh?!”

Old Man Park slipped while pulling the girl’s arm and let go. The girl remained face down in the seawater she had vomited, still unconscious.

“Eueu….”

Should he carry her on his back? What if he touched her and got into big trouble later? Even as the old man’s worries deepened by the minute, the girl remained unconscious, seawater still dribbling from her mouth.

“……How did she end up like this?”

Feeling pity, the old man lifted the girl’s body. The girl, a head shorter than the old man who was of average height, was much smaller and more petite than his own granddaughter.

“Poor thing.”

He didn’t know the full circumstances. She might not even be a Hero. But his conscience wouldn’t allow him to leave an unconscious girl on the sandy beach to be eaten by a monster.

Even if the world was being ruined by monsters, shouldn’t people still help each other and live?

“So don’t die, live. I don’t want to deal with another corpse.”

The old man carried the girl on his back and laboriously walked home. Perhaps because her body was jostled, the girl began to regain consciousness, groaning.

“Heeu, eueueu….”

“Ah, are you coming to?”

“Uwaaaak—-“

“…….”