Chapter 113 - Chapter 113 (1/2)

The mass media was whipped into a frenzy.

- To eradicate the monsters that turned the island of Jeju into a barren wasteland, the nations of South Korea and Japan form a united raid team!

Where would you find another story that could stimulate the interests of the country's citizens even more than this news?

TV channels ran news segments related to this upcoming raid all day long, while every front page of newspapers was completely dominated by the topics of the united raid team.

However, it was only Korea's media that kept talking about this matter. Even though the number of Japanese Hunters participating in this operation exceeded the Koreans by three folds, no one thought it was strange that the Japanese media kept quiet over the upcoming event.

And when a handful of articles did appear online, the comments that followed said articles were negative in nature, to say the least.

└ What did you expect when the Koreans are too weak to close a Gate by themselves?

└ Why are you cleaning up the sh*t left behind by the Koreans?

└ Are they going to compensate us for the damages those ants caused here or not?

└ Useless Japanese Hunter's Association, and irresponsible Korean Hunters, why dontcha all kick the bucket together on Jeju Island? LOL

'Dong-sahng-yi-mong'. (TL note at the end)

While two parties thought of two different things regarding the same upcoming event, time continued to tick down towards the date of the operation.

In the meantime, these past few days proved to be the happiest Jin-Woo had been since his mother was admitted to the hospital.

Many things went through a change. First thing first – the Seong family returned to their home with their mom as soon as she was discharged from the hospital.

Clank....

When he opened the front entrance, the first thing saw was the messy living room of the apartment, all thanks to Jin-Ah being alone while he was kept busy inside the Demon's Castle.

"...."

Jin-Woo began pinching his sister's cheeks, and with gentle laughter, Mom tried to stop him.

The very first thing their mother had to do after returning home from four years of coma, was to clean the house. Jin-Woo tried to dissuade her, but in the end, he couldn't win against her insistence. Eventually, the whole family rolled their sleeves up to clean up their home.

Once the house was spotless, the complexions of all three brightened up considerably as well. The apartment that had always felt empty and lonely after Mom's admittance to the hospital now seemed so full of life.

For the first time in a long while, Jin-Woo got to stretch his legs and go to bed without any worries in his mind. And on the next morning, when he got to the living room....

He got to truly appreciate the fact that his mother had returned when he saw the breakfast neatly arranged on the dining table. Park Gyung-Hye stopped cutting the spring onions, turned her head towards Jin-Woo, and asked.

"Did you sleep well, son?"

With still-sleepy eyes, he replied as a smile bloomed on his face.

"....Yes, Mom."

***

The so-called expert continued to speak on the TV screen.

"The rate of evolution these ant monsters have shown is truly surprising to behold."

A guest sitting next to the expert formed an exaggerated expression of surprise and asked.

"Monsters are evolving?! Wasn't the ant found in Japan, a lone mutated creature?"

"You're correct. When the mutated specimen increase in number and gain control of the whole horde, then we call that evolution."

After that, the prepared video footage began playing. Ants, as they appeared during the first and second subjugation attempts, were displayed on the screen.

At first, they were no different from regular ants as they crawled on the ground. Just from their external appearances alone, they looked exactly like oversized super-massive ants.

But then, a short while later....

"This is the footage taken during the third subjugation attempt."

The ant monsters were now walking on two legs like humans. The once-giant heads had shrunken down in size by a great deal, they were able to move around much more nimbly, and the four limbs acted like arms.

Its appearance looked as if half an ant and half a person had been mashed together to form a new creature. In only two years, the distinct characteristics of the ant species had been completely transformed into something else.

"And this footage of the ant monster was taken recently as it wreaked havoc in Japan."

"Wow..."

The audience members in the studio all gasped out in shock at the footage being played. To their horror, the ant was now even closer in appearance to a human, and not only that, it even sported huge wings on its back.

The comedian appearing in this show as a guest flinched in great surprise and raised his voice higher.

"That thing can now fly?!"

"That's correct. And that would be the decisive factor in the formation of the Korea-Japan united raid team."

'The Korea-Japan united raid team.'

When that term came out of the TV's speakers, Jin-Woo wordlessly switched the TV off. In all honesty, he also didn't want to miss out on this operation. His heart began racing so fast after he thought of all the experience points he'd get to earn when Association President Goh Gun-Hui requested for his participation in the raid.

However, his excitement cooled down in no time at all. And he was able to objectively and coldly analyse the situation.

'It hadn't even been one day since Mom woke up.'

More than that, his mom didn't know that her son was a Hunter yet. He also recalled the sight of his mother staying up all night for several months after she heard the news of his father going missing inside the Gate all those years ago, too.

He couldn't bring himself to tell mom that he was going to Jeju Island when she was already carrying around such a painful memory, to begin with.

His lips didn't want to part and provide an answer. He wanted to spend some time with his family for a few days, at the least. And he definitely didn't want to delay the moment he'd been fighting for so long for some other matter.

"....I will...."

Jin-Woo barely made up his mind and spoke with great difficulty.

"....Not take part in the operation."

The one thing far more precious than experience points, the reason why he gritted his teeth and endured everything in order to become stronger. He did not regret making this choice.

Except that, now....

└ BTW, why is Seong Jin-Woo not on the Korean list?

└ Your disposition won't change just because you've become a rank S, you know. Once a rank E, forever a rank E, dude. Prolly ran off to hide, nearly wetting his pants in the process. Kek.

└ 21 Jap rank S Hunters + even the retired Hunter is gonna represent for Korea, yet.... where is Seong Jin-Woo?

└ Why does he want to do that when he's a rank S? It's so embarrassing;;

Except that, all these anonymous pointing fingers who didn't even know of his situation were really getting on his nerves now. Or, to be more specific, it was his sister's stress level that got on his nerves, actually.

'I don't really give a d*mn about what others think of me, and mom doesn't really go online, so it's fine on that front, but....'

….But, Jin-Ah liked to search for stuff like this in her spare time.

'Tsk'.

Jin-Woo clicked his tongue and put his phone down. There was no helping it, what with the poor timing and all.

Mom had retired early for the day, and it was also still too early for Jin-Ah to come back from her studies. He was thinking of taking a stroll to get some fresh air and change his spoiled mood, but like a devil, his phone began ringing just then.

Jin-Woo checked the caller ID and a grin formed on his face.

Click.

- "Hyung-nim!! It's me, Yu Jin-Ho!"

"Hey, Jin-Ho."

Now that Jin-Woo thought about it, was this kid still staying in that local motel even now?

"Where are you staying now? Is it the same motel?"

- "Oh, no, hyung-nim. I started renting a room not too long ago. Thankfully, my mom came to my rescue...."

Hearing his giggling voice, Jin-Woo felt happy inwardly as well.

Yu Jin-Ho briefly updated Jin-Woo regarding the status of his life, before hurriedly continuing on after remembering the reason for the call in the first place.

- "Ah, right! Hyung-nim, I found some office space for us, so would you like to come over and take a look?"

What office space was he even talking about?

"What office?"

When Jin-Woo asked with a confused voice, Yu Jin-Ho confidently declared.

- "Of course, it's the office space for our Guild, hyung-nim! If you want to establish a Guild, then you'll need an office, at the very least."

'Yu Jin-Ho, this kid.....'

It seemed more than likely that this kid was under the grand delusion of developing the Guild he'd preside over as its Vice Master, and make it as big as the Hunters or the White Tiger in the near future. Jin-Woo slowly scratched his chin.

'If I tell him that the raid team will consist of only me and no one else, he might flip out in shock here....'

He only invited the kid to join him in passing, but now that it was time to explain to Yu Jin-Ho the future of the Guild, Jin-Woo didn't even know how he should go about it.

***

"What do you think, hyung-nim?"

Now that he was here, Jin-Woo could understand why Yu Jin-Ho sounded so confident on the phone. He scanned the empty office space and nodded his head.

Its location was pretty good.

"I specifically chose a place not too far from your place, hyung-nim."