Approximately one year before the joint Korean-Japanese team visited the island, the Queen had been thinking.
—We must abandon the island.
The creatures that were supposed to serve as prey had vanished, and now it had become commonplace for the children to devour one another. This land did not have enough food to sustain the kingdom's residents, whose numbers had swelled into the thousands.
—This cannot go on.
Abandon the existing kingdom and find a place teeming with creatures, then build a new one. If the first task had been to seize the island, this was the second task bestowed upon the kingdom. But. The Queen recalled the powerful intruders who had set foot on the island time and again. Though they had barely been driven off, the kingdom had suffered enormous damage. Countless children had perished in battle. Would they be able to defeat such enemies on foreign soil as well?
—Stronger soldiers.
She needed the mightiest soldiers to lead the kingdom's residents. And so the Queen decided on the direction of evolution. For the next half year, she gathered every last drop of mana she possessed along with the nutrients she had stockpiled over time and gave birth to a single life. The ultimate combat weapon, born solely to deal with powerful humans. The Queen's unwavering resolve to create stronger soldiers combined with the primordial command to annihilate all humans, producing a horrific monster that defied all reason. The monster's innate skill: Devour. By consuming its target alone, the monster could absorb a portion of the target's mana and knowledge and make them its own.
—I want to become stronger.
Having realized its own abilities, the monster began consuming even its own kind, but the Queen turned a blind eye. What the monster desired and what the Queen desired were one and the same. The Queen delighted in watching "him" grow stronger by the day. The new soldiers "he" would lead were also progressing smoothly.
—Just a little longer now...
Then. A large number of intruders set foot on this land once again. Small in number, but far more powerful than those before. However, the Queen smiled. Before waging war against humans on other lands, here was a chance to test "his" strength first. The Queen sent "him" out alongside every soldier guarding the royal castle. "him" fulfilled the first mission given, just as the Queen had hoped. But when "he" returned, the Queen had already drawn her last breath. "He" was consumed by rage. And fortunately, there were still plenty of strong humans on this island to serve as the object of that rage. The humans' king first. Then the king's retainers were disposed of neatly as well. One of those retainers had screamed through tears just before dying. What the hell are you? Having consumed enough humans with the skill Devour to acquire the capacity for thought, "he" pondered.
'What am I?'
Up until now, "he" had been the Queen's soldier. But now, having lost the Queen to the humans, what should "he" call himself? The only being who could lead the kingdom's soldiers. "He" knew only a single word for such a being.
'...King.'
Having already slain the enemy king, "he" had more than enough qualification to claim the title. Crunch. The ant king bit down on the last remaining human's head. But then. Suddenly the ant king's head snapped toward the royal castle. A colossal aura surging out like a storm from where the Queen had been. It was not power that mere soldiers could perceive.
'...King?'
Intuitively sensing that a threatening enemy had appeared, the ant king slowly rose to its full height and turned toward the royal castle.
***
What a bolt from the blue. The broadcast station's situation room, which moments ago had been buzzing with celebration, now resembled a house of mourning. Viewers' complaints and inquiry calls flooded in after the broadcast suddenly cut out following the appearance of the winged ant. Ring-ring! Ring-ring! An employee approached the director and reported cautiously.
"Director, the phone lines are being overwhelmed with viewer calls to the point of paralysis."
The director looked up.
"So what? Are you saying we should broadcast live to the entire country the scene of our Hunters being torn apart by a single ant?" "N-no, sir."
The broadcast had cut off right at the moment the Hunters were being helpless against the ant creatures. Viewers' curiosity was bound to skyrocket. But they could not air footage of Hunter Ma Dong-Woo being tortured and Hunter Min Byung-Gu being devoured. The director buried his face in both hands and groaned.
"It's over... It's all over."
The once-in-a-lifetime gamble, staked on the broadcast station's very fate, had crumbled absurdly because of a single ant.
"It's over..."
A heavy silence filled the situation room. No one dared to speak. Then, the only one.
"Hm?"
The PD, whose face had gone pale, had been silently monitoring the raw footage when he spoke.
"D-Director!" "What?" "Someone has just appeared at the scene."
Without even lifting his face from his hands, the director said.
"Unless it's Jesus himself, there's no need to report every little thing." "But...!" "It's over."
Sensing that words alone wouldn't get through, the PD cranked the volume all the way up. SKREEEE! SKREEEE! The entire situation room was filled with the screams of ants. The director's head shot up. As if it were just him—every employee in the situation room rushed over to the monitoring screens. Gasps erupted from every direction.
"..."
The director, who had been sitting with a blank expression, finally lifted himself out of his chair. As he approached, the employees parted to make way. The monitoring screen's glow reflected in the director's eyes.
"Oh, God... My God."
The director, a man who didn't even believe in God, invoked His name, then barked at his employees.
"What are you all standing around for?! Get ready to resume the broadcast right now! If the viewers miss this, are you going to take responsibility?!"
The PD hurriedly restrained the director, who could no longer hide his excitement.
"Director! If we restart the broadcast now, it'll be completely live. There'll be no transmission delay—it'll be real-time broadcasting. If anything goes wrong, there's no way to contain it!"
The ten-minute broadcast delay was over. Now it was either real-time or total shutdown.
"...Sink or swim." "Sir?" "We've already cut the broadcast once, so it can't get any worse from here." "W-well, that's true."
A Hunter suddenly caught on camera. Whether he was Korean or Japanese, or even a Hunter at all, they couldn't tell—but the gamble they thought was over had presented them with one more chance. The director issued his order with a solemn face.
"Put it on. Put it on, no matter what."
He pulled out a chair and sat down next to the PD.
"From now on, our station's fate goes with that man."
***
"Ugh!"
Even backed to the cliff's edge, the cameraman did not regret it. Hadn't everyone dreamed of it at least once when they were young? Of becoming a hero. And if that was impossible, then at least becoming a hero's right-hand person. Even while doing menial work at the broadcast station to build up experience, he had never thought an opportunity would come his way. But then he had become an A-rank Hunter, built a track record worthy of his rank, and finally made it here. Thanks to that, he had been able to capture on camera the vivid footage of South Korea's representative Hunters hunting down an S-rank Gate boss.
'I was the one who filmed it.'
With this footage, many would learn of the sacrifices the S-rank Hunters had made to eradicate the ants. That was enough. All those years of studying cameras and working as a Hunter—it all felt rewarded at last. There was only one lingering regret.
'Father...'
His mother, wasted away by cancer, and his father, who had raised him alone. The thought that he would never see his father again made his chest ache. Crunch! An ant had bitten into his shoulder, but he felt nothing. His arm had stopped working a long time ago. Being a tank-class Hunter, he had held out for a while, but now he had truly reached his limit. Thud. He dropped to his knees. Even so, his mind was consumed with thoughts of his father.
'The last conversation we had was "Have you eaten?"... Of all things.'
If he had known it would come to this, he should have talked more. That day, when his father had come up to Seoul, he should have just cancelled the appointment. But time always moves fast, and regret always comes late. The cameraman raised his head. The ant creature's horrifying mandibles were closing in on his face. With his mana completely drained from using the Reinforce skill, he had no way left to withstand the creatures' attacks. Tears welled in his eyes.
'Dad, I'm sorry.'
Then. Crunch! With the sound of a shell shattering, ant fluid splattered across the cameraman's face.
"Huh?"
A cold, silver blade had pierced clean through the ant's head. Following the sword upward with his gaze, he saw an ant standing there, adorned with a long red plume atop its head.
'Why would an ant...'
No—it wasn't an ant. It had just been too similar in color for him to tell. An unidentified soldier, clad head to toe in black armor, pulled the sword free. Thud. The ant whose head had been impowered slumped lifelessly to the ground.
"How is this even...?"
When the black soldier stepped aside, a man with a strikingly familiar face walked up and shouted.
"Open your mouth." "What?"
The man didn't even give him time to process the words. He seized the cameraman's jaw, forced it open, and poured in an unidentifiable liquid.
"Kgh, kgh!"
Coughing and sputtering, the cameraman swallowed every last drop of the liquid. Wiping his mouth with his hand, he asked.
"Wh-who are you?"
But the man didn't answer and turned toward the ants.
'Wh-what's going on?'
Bewildered, the cameraman scrambled to his feet.
'Wait...'
His legs were moving. Not just that—only now did he realize that his arm had healed completely ever since he'd drunk the liquid.
'How is this possible?'
What had the man just done to him? There was no other explanation he could think of. At that moment. It hit him—the cameraman suddenly remembered where he had seen the man's face.
'Could it be... that person?'*
***
Jin-Woo calmly surveyed his surroundings.
'...'
It had been a stroke of good fortune that, back when the members of the Korean team had met at the Hunter's Association gymnasium, he had hidden soldiers within Baek Yoon-Ho's shadow as a precaution. Not being a live broadcast, the situation was actually worse than it had looked on TV. He had rescued the weakest person—the cameraman—first, but the S-rank Hunters were still surrounded by the ants.
'What do I do?'
Summoning the Rulers and wiping out the ants in one sweep with a pillar of flame would be the fastest approach. But he couldn't guarantee the safety of the S-rank Hunters that way. He needed another method. Having reached a swift conclusion, Jin-Woo turned to Iron.
"Iron!"
Iron thumped his own chest, as if to say: Leave it to me. Striding forward with his massive body swaying, he puffed out his chest and let loose a thunderous roar. WOOOAAAAAHHH! Ding.
[Iron has used 'skill: War Cry'.]
The effect was spectacular. The ants that had been attacking the Hunters all snapped their heads toward Iron at once. They charged immediately.
"Good job."
Jin-Woo clapped Iron on the back and summoned the two daggers he had obtained from defeating the demon king.
'Demon King's daggers.'
The blue-tinged daggers caught the light of the illumination magic and glinted brightly. SKREEEE! SKREEEE! As hundreds of ants shrieked and rushed in all at once, his entire field of vision went black. Tight. Jin-Woo's grip on the daggers tightened. In an instant, his figure vanished. SKREEEE! Moments later, ants and soldiers alike plunged into a frenzied melee. In the midst of it all, Baek Yoon-Ho, who was still relatively unscathed, hurriedly moved the fallen Hunters to the corner. Mercifully, they were all still breathing. The cameraman joined him shortly after to help. Thanks to Jin-Wo—or rather, his summoned soldiers—drawing all the aggro from the ants, they were able to finish without further incident.
"Haaah... haaah... haaah..."
Ma Dong-Woo leaned his back against the wall, gasping for breath, then grabbed the arm of Baek Yoon-Ho, who had carried him here, and asked.
"Wh-what's happening right now? Who's fighting out there?"
There was no focus in Ma Dong-Woo's eyes. It seemed his eyes had been injured and he couldn't see clearly. Baek Yoon-Ho placed his hand over Ma Dong-Wo's.
"Master Ma, it's going to be all right now. It'll be all right." "..."
Then he looked toward Jin-Woo. While others might not have known, Baek Yoon-Ho had some idea. He knew roughly how much power Sung Jin-Woo possessed. When the black-armored soldier had suddenly vanished and Sung Jin-Woo himself had appeared before him, he had been badly shaken. But before long, he had shouted out without even realizing it—begging him for help. And when he saw Sung Jin-Woo move toward the ants alongside his summoned black soldiers, he was so relieved his legs nearly gave out. Sure enough. Sung Jin-Woo smashed through the ants that had been tormenting them like they were toy figurines, at a terrifying speed. SKREEEE! The screams of ants erupting from every direction were dizzying. Baek Yoon-Ho let out a sigh of relief.
'We're going to be okay now.'
He wasn't saying it for Ma Dong-Wo's sake. He was saying it to himself. The hope of survival had been rekindled. The help of just one person—Sung Jin-Woo—felt more reassuring than all twenty-plus Japanese S-rank Hunters combined.
'...There's no place for me out there.'
With a smile, Baek Yoon-Ho sat down beside Ma Dong-Woo. All he could do right now was sit still and watch Hunter Sung Jin-Woo's hunt unfold. He then pointed Jin-Woo out to the cameraman.
"Keep your camera on him properly. You're about to see something incredible."
The Red Gate incident. The raid at Hunters. It was a chance to witness with his own eyes what he had only ever heard about in stories.
"Got it!"
The cameraman kept his distance so as not to interfere with the fight, while also striving not to lose Jin-Woo in his frame. The combat Hunters' job might have been over, but his own was not. Gulping hard, he swallowed with difficulty. SKREE! Just then, an ant was sliced cleanly in half—top to bottom—by Jin-Woo's hand. Jin-Woo looked around. The number of ants had been drastically reduced—just over half remained now. Though he had cut down so many ants he had lost count, Jin-Woo's breathing remained perfectly steady. In truth, compared to the uppermost floor of the Demon Castle, this was comparatively easy.
'Should I pick up the pace a little here?'
Jin-Woo briefly glanced downward, then issued a command to the ant corpses that were emitting black smoke.
"Rise."
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