Chapter 41: Asymmetric Force (2)

Japan immediately set its hopeful circuits alight.

Some YouTubers and TV current affairs programs were already claiming that Korea’s Hamsu had illegally intruded into Japan’s Magic Tower and were raising the issue, but.

When Choi Junseok cleared the second floor, the situation changed drastically.

Even YouTubers and TV programs familiar with player society and geopolitics began reporting in unison that there was a possibility Hamsu might be a Japanese domestic player.

‘Could it really be us?’

‘Could it be… not that Hamsu came from Korea, but that we too actually have an F-rank irregular?!’

Those hopeful fantasies flared up, and at the same time.

Matsumoto Hirobumi, realizing it had been Hamsu’s doing, immediately clenched his fist.

‘No way! He couldn’t have escaped that easily.’

“Identify every single ant and investigate them!”

Police stormed into all hotels, motels, and lodging facilities and tracked all reservation records.

After a massive excavation-style search they even started using excavators.

Japan’s Self-Defense Forces were dispatched and slowly tightened the encirclement from the outskirts into central Tokyo.

Vehicles, ships, and aircraft were all searched down to their cargo holds.

They were pouring enormous time and money into catching Hamsu.

For Choi Junseok, who was safely in Korea, that meant little.

“How should I sell this… hm.”

There was only one reason to climb the Tower.

To satisfy a petty civic desire.

No matter how he tried, it wouldn’t show up on player auctions.

“It’d be best to tell the Player Management Office and sell it there… but.”

Choi Junseok felt uneasy.

Risk an overseas auction?

Sell through a few middlemen?

He shook his head.

‘Too risky.’

“What are you worrying about? Is it the 20th floor run?”

Lee Nayeon, who could always steal someone’s breath away just by appearing, asked.

“Twenty floors. Right. The 20th floor is a boss floor too.”

“It must be something else you’re worrying about. If you were worried about the difficulty around the 20th floor, I’d be more disappointed.”

Because strong enemies appeared every ten floors.

Because he had SS-rank and S-rank summons, there was simply no sense of crisis.

“By the way… what happened to that modeling contract?”

“Oh, that one. Haven’t they contacted you separately, Ms. Lee Nayeon?”

It seemed to have been delayed given the circumstances.

“Hmm… once I get rid of this Special Entry Ticket I got this time, I’ll buy you a phone.”

“A phone. You mean an electronic communication device manufactured as a telephone.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Truly. I would be grateful if you did that.”

A peculiar smile spread across her lips.

“Ah. The 20th floor. I have one more gift before we climb. I can’t give it yet, though.”

Song Hana pulled Gamdol-yi’s cheek to the side with a look of envy and looked at the two of them from the bed.

When the two stepped into the red portal Choi Junseok had summoned, Song Hana murmured while stroking Gamdol-yi.

“Jealous, aren’t you, Gamdol-yi? Oh dear, I’ll make a present for you, sister will.”

“Uwaa…”

With thud-thud hammering sounds, the voice of the Immortal King was heard.

“Haetaesik! Is there anything else you need?”

At Choi Junseok’s voice, the Immortal King—who had been lying around as if a water bucket for quenching—jumped up in surprise.

“My lord—”

“Where do you think you’re getting up to!”

Wham!!

The subdued body of the Immortal was shoved back into the water bucket in an instant.

From knocking down a level-64 Immortal King with a single punch, Haetaesik was evidently quite strong.

“Temperature is important, I’ve told you that many times.”

“Ugh…”

When he had climbed to the 15th floor as a porter before, he understood why the E- and D-rank gatekeepers were called what they were.

Seeing them now, they seemed rather trivial and cute.

“You came at a good time! It’s almost finished!”

“…Almost finished?”

Hadn’t it been said it would take a month? Even if he had obtained high-quality cooling water from the Immortal King.

“I’m enjoying working again after a long time, so I sped things up. Craftsmen usually give conservative timelines.”

“Is that so? Well, thanks then.”

Haetaesik, as if on cue, showed the sword he had completed.

The huge two-handed sword of a gargantuan Balrog had been reshaped into a long, thin blade with only one cutting edge.

Yet everything from the blade to the tip and the handle was black as if carved from a single piece of obsidian.

Along the blade ran a faint, reddish wave pattern.

From Choi Junseok’s chest, Yoo Junhyuk let out a short exclamation.

“Magnificent, Haetaesik. Is there still finishing work left?”

“You recognized it right away. It just needs the final forging—a soul infusion into the blade for the swordsman.”

He used an appraisal skill.

Item Name: Caliburn (Mythic).

Type: Equipment — Weapon.

Description: A sword forged by the supreme blacksmith Hephaestus using the great demon Balrog’s sword as the main material.

Equip Level Requirement: Lv.155.

It was even a suitable length for Lee Nayeon to wield.

The only snag was the equip-level requirement of 155.

When Haetaesik handed the sword to Choi Junseok, the binding prompt immediately popped up.

[This item will bind to you upon pickup. Do you want to pick it up? (Y/N)]

“I pick it up.”

“There’s no sheath. You can just put it into your pocket dimension and pull it out whenever.”

“That’s right.”

Then a warning window appeared.

It warned that forcibly equipping an item for which one did not meet the requirements could destroy the item.

At least it wasn’t a death sentence, which was something to be thankful for.

He could still lift it, after all.

Apart from his arms tingling and the fact that it was insanely heavy.

“Wow… you can lift this?”

Haetaesik’s outright teasing tone was obvious, but.

Choi Junseok shrugged off his numb arms and immediately handed the item to Lee Nayeon.

She was already wearing the War God Lionheart King’s Gauntlet on her arm.

“Then. I’ll accept it gratefully.”

She grasped it lightly, but her brow twitched.

Pain followed.

“How is it? Still a bit much?”

“It’s heavy, and my arm tingles a bit, but—”

It felt very different from the holy sword Excalibur, which stabbed in as if bursting through the body the moment it touched.

‘This is bearable.’

Ascending to SS-rank had helped.

She lightly bit her lip, then turned her body and the sword sideways.

Whoosh! She sliced horizontally.

Swoosh—

A great wind blew, stirring lava as it passed.

“Until you reach the required level, the item’s true performance will remain sealed.”

There was about a 100-level difference, so it was perhaps natural.

A systemic limitation that couldn’t be helped.

In fact, it was absurd that a Mythic item could offset the repulsion of another Mythic item to reduce equip restrictions by a full hundred levels.

“This is truly a fine sword.”

Lee Nayeon’s favor toward Choi Junseok rose by another degree.

***

At a similar time.

Having been contacted by China, North Korea decided to withdraw plans for a second and third wave of terror at this juncture.

This was all because they had learned that Korea might attempt a 100th floor challenge of the Kaesong Magic Tower.

The most dangerous moment for a spy is, of course, while carrying out a mission.

But being contacted to receive new orders, meeting for handoffs, changing place or identity is equally risky.

There had been some secret communication from China to North Korea, and the news that North Korea planned to propagate that to Korean agents reached the ears of Korea’s National Intelligence Service counterintelligence team.

Kang Team Leader also heard the relevant news.

He was currently being subjected to a brief investigation after being picked up by counterintelligence.

It looked like an investigation on the surface, but it was more like a temporary reassignment until the case was closed.

Counterintelligence’s work involved gathering information on player-related counterintelligence activities, assessing the situation, and planning operations.

To Kang Team Leader, worn down by heavy workload, that news was like welcome rain in a drought.

“It seems China reported that Hamsu cleared the Japanese Magic Tower.”

“Do you know what came out from the Japanese tower’s first floor?”

He just shrugged.

“There’s no reason to tell you that, and besides, I don’t know.”

“You don’t know? Why aren’t you doing your duty properly? Aren’t you supposed to find out everything about who Hamsu is and report it?”

Facing an unnamed counterintelligence interrogator, Kang Team Leader leaned back in his chair.

“This is why Korea is getting hit from both North Korea and Japan.”

“What did you say?”

“Look, if you both handle information, basic things like this should be common sense.”

“What are you trying to say?”

“Do you know the best way to protect information and key figures?”

“To eliminate everyone who knows. So no one in the world knows. How could leaked information escape if it had never been spoken of?”

“So you didn’t ask?”

“There’s no reason to cut the goose that lays golden eggs for us, who will climb the Tower for us anyway. You people think too much. That’s why you fail every time.”

“I strictly distinguish between what I need to know and what I don’t.”

“So you had an agent brainwashed at Hamsu’s home and they stormed in and opened fire.”

He raised both hands, as if admitting that was clearly his mistake.

“You didn’t know that all Player Management Office vehicles had tracking devices. Paradoxically, it means you didn’t trace Hamsu’s location… well, half a success, I suppose.”

Indeed.

If North Korea had known Hamsu’s location and carried out the terror, they wouldn’t have attacked on such a small scale.

If their goal had been to kill Hamsu, they would have bombed the whole building and then sifted through the wreckage to make sure.

But they had only gone after one person.

That meant Hamsu had been an unlucky target in a terror attack aimed at players.

In short, North Korea still didn’t know who Hamsu was.

Part of that ignorance stemmed from the fact that in Korea, only a handful of people knew Hamsu’s real name.

“Then, returning to the matter: will you let those players—be they North Korean players, brainwashed summons, or some other unknown beings—casually slip out of Korea?”

“It’s already time for them to have slipped away, isn’t it?”

You really don’t know at all. For a country that deals with North Korea, this is shameful.

Despite Kang Team Leader’s blatant provocation, the counterintelligence agent only slightly furrowed his brow.

“Unable to properly protest to North Korea and ending up retaliating with petty provocation toward Japan? North Korea will just laugh it off. They’ll gladly come at us.”

“They’ll still be in Korea. Whether they’re belatedly withdrawing because they’re watching China’s reaction, I don’t know. Are you thinking of letting them go?”

“Of course not.”

Kang Team Leader stroked his coarse stubble and said.

“I think I know a way. A way to catch them.”