Chapter 413

‘...I hope it’s a mistake.’

Choi Yeonseung tried to deny it, but it was unlikely that both he and the cat constellation were mistaken.

A future where hunters launched nuclear missiles... He couldn’t imagine what had to go wrong for the future to turn out like that.

***

“Have we gone a hundred years back in time...? How is this possible...?”

Aine was taken aback by Choi Yeonseung’s question.

-Is there a possibility of a nuclear launch from Russia?

...She almost couldn’t believe that he was asking her something like that. She was naturally bewildered.

They weren’t in the Soviet era...

“You wouldn’t have asked such a question for no reason. Where did you get the information from?”

“A constellation foresaw that this might be the case.”

Hearing that, Aine’s expression turned somber. If a constellation had predicted that, they couldn’t take it lightly.

“But... it can’t be... It happened once when you weren’t here. You know about that? The hunters from the Knights of the Holy Temple once kidnapped the US president and tried to launch a nuclear weapon.”

The Knights of the Holy Temple—a group of radical exiled hunters from the UK.

The faction mainly consisted of hunters who had lost their country to an evil god constellation, so it was no surprise that their actions were quite radical. Given that they had tried to kidnap the president of another country and launch nuclear weapons, there was no need to explain how extreme these hunters were...

“The situation was extremely tense at that time. If the Queen of England hadn’t issued an apology, the government in exile would’ve been completely erased.”

“Well, given that it happened once, isn’t it possible for it to happen again?”

“If you say so... Yeah, you have a point.” After a brief pause, Aine continued cautiously, “Do you really think it might happen again?”

“At this point, I’m not sure... I don’t know much about Russia to begin with. I’ve only met a few hunters from there.”

Choi Yeonseung had only learned about Russia from the first-generation hunters he had met in raids. Given where South Korea was located on the globe, there were quite a few hunters from Russia who visited cities like Busan.

Hearing this, Aine suddenly became curious and asked, “How were the hunters on the Russian side? I heard there used to be many conflicts.”

“The Russian hunters... They really liked gukbap.”

“...No, not like that.”

“That’s all I remember about them.”

Aine was flustered, but Choi Yeonseung really didn’t have anything else to tell her. Korean hunters would often meet Chinese and Japanese hunters, but they rarely came across Russian hunters, Choi Yeonseung being no exception.

They would cross paths in dungeons every once in a while and greet each other. Then, when eating out together, Hwang Gyeongryong would be surprised that they also liked gukbap.

“...Umm. I see.” Aine nodded slightly to the unhelpful information.

“In any case, this information came from a constellation, so you better be careful. Even if it’s a white dungeon, it can become a nuisance if things go wrong.”

“Yeah, I appreciate your concern. By the way, what will happen to the stock prices if something goes wrong with the nuclear missiles? You should also be careful,” advised Choi Yeonseung.

“...”

Aine was worried about world peace, whereas Choi Yeonseung was worried about her stocks... She felt terrible for tainting an innocent person with capitalism.

***

Some of Dragon Industry’s most talented Russian experts were present to assist Choi Yeonseung. It started out as a simple mission of raiding a dungeon in another country, but it would inevitably get more complicated as more hunters joined.

Since many A-grade hunters were targeting unexplored dungeons, they would pay attention to everything, including the Russian government and the Russian clans.

They would have to attend the government’s welcome dinner, visit the large Russian clans and have a light exchange with them, and manage other events in order to be able to enter the dungeon.

It was rather bothersome, but this was the price they had to pay in order to clear a precious dungeon in a foreign country.

‘This is my chance!’ Alexander Darren nervously reminded himself.

The secretary office of Dragon Industry didn’t consist only of secretaries. It was a type of planning and coordination department that gathered only talented people who could calmly analyze the status of the group and make accurate predictions.

The people in this office were the brightest minds when it came to planning, analysis, and investment in new businesses.

Thus, the talents in the secretary office had all been determined when Choi Yeonseung had taken over as chairman on behalf of the fallen Hwang Gyeongryong.

To be precise, it was quite easy to navigate through the beginning and middle sections of the Chort dungeon. Instead of rushing to attack this unexplored dungeon, the Russian government had only cleared those easy sections.

However, even that had its limits.

As the dungeon was reaching its time limit, with less than two years remaining, the Russian clans started attacking the deeper parts of the dungeon.

Given that a lot of information had been collected over the past few decades, the hunters thought that they could clear the whole dungeon if they put their minds to it.

...However, it turned out to be way more difficult than they had predicted.

The first attempt failed...

And the second one...

And the third one...

As for the fourth attempt, the worst case scenario occurred and an entire clan was wiped out.

Now, the dungeon only had six months left, so the Russian government had a sense of urgency to do something with the dungeon. But suddenly, the Six-Winged Angel Who Hunts Dragons contacted them.

The angel constellation had heard about this dungeon a long time ago and saw it as an opportunity to have his human subordinates grow stronger.

After some fierce disagreements regarding the contract, they finally reached an agreement and the overseas hunters were allowed access into the dungeon.

The Russian hunters understood the situation, but evidently, that didn’t mean that they weren’t bitter about it.

“You’re right.”

“Senior Boris!”

All the Russian hunters in the room stood up.

Boris, a retired first-generation A-grade hunter of the Shilka clan, joined them. Even though he was retired, his presence was still great thanks to his reputation.

He was old and walked with a cane, but everyone stepped aside in a reverent manner.

“The most important thing... is pride. In that sense, we are sacrificing our pride with this dungeon.”

“That’s right!” Pudovkin shouted emotionally while the other hunters looked troubled.

This deal would be highly profitable for the Russian clans, which was why the hunters who were against it couldn’t really voice their discontent. However, now that a senior like Boris told them about pride...

“It’s already been decided. There’s no turning back, but don’t forget today’s humiliation. In addition, don’t cooperate with those people more than you have to. Understood?”

“Yes!”

“...”

Pudovkin nodded at Boris’ soft voice.

“Senior, I will take you there.”

“Yes.”

Boris walked away after Pudovkin voiced his support for him. Seeing this, the clan hunters looked worried.

‘Things might get ugly...’

‘That guy Pudovkin... He doesn’t understand what’s going on...’

***

“So who’s coming?” asked Boris

“Firstly, there’s an A-grade hunter from the UK.”

“Why are there pirates who don’t even have a country coming here?”

“There are many hunters from the US as well.”

“Bah! It’s always them or the British.”

“It’s said that A-grade hunters from South Korea are also participating.”

“Eh, the Koreans are relatively alright.”

“?”

Pudovkin paused. Boris passionately slandered all those overseas hunters, so why just South Korea...?