The Government (1)

Minwoo boarded the government vehicle. As it headed toward the Blue House, he wondered,

'What on earth is going on?'

The System occasionally sent messages to nations. Their contents varied, but...

'It never sends them over anything trivial.'

Usually, a message meant something was happening.

'And I might be involved in it?'

Was it holding some sort of competition? As far as he remembered, the System had never organized anything around this time...

'But this is Stage Six.'

It wouldn't be all that strange if things had changed from before. He would have to meet the President to learn the details.

Before long, he arrived at the Blue House.

"A pleasure to meet you. I'm President Lee Kanghoon."

"I'm Kim Minwoo. It's an honor to meet you."

"Haha, not at all. The honor is mine. Now, let's sit down."

President Lee Kanghoon looked to be in his fifties, but he was actually nearly seventy. He only looked young because he was an awakener.

'From what I know, he's just a quiet, unassuming man.'

If Minwoo had to describe him, "unremarkable" would probably fit best.

In any case, once seated, the President spoke with a solemn expression.

"Mr. Kim, I believe you've heard the general situation."

"Yes. I heard that a message came from the System..."

"That's correct. Its premise is simple. A Super Rookie Selection Tournament."

"... A Super Rookie Selection Tournament?"

The President nodded and handed him a sheet of paper.

"Please read it."

[A Super Rookie Selection Tournament will be held.]

[Organizer: System]

[Date: One month from now]

[Eligibility Requirements]

[1. Participants must be between levels 151 and 499.]

[2. Participation is limited to a total of 50 countries.]

[3. Each country may send a total of three participants.]

[4. Each country will select and designate its participants.]

[5. Participants may die during the trial and bear personal responsibility for their deaths.]

[6. Those placing first through third will receive special rewards.]

'A Super Rookie Selection Tournament?'

He'd never seen an event like this before. He looked at the President.

"This is the message our government received recently. In accordance with it, we intend to designate three participants for Korea."

"Did you call me here to ask whether I'd participate?"

"That's right," Lee Kanghoon said with a nod.

"For a competition of this scale, the rewards are bound to be impressive. However... there is an element of danger. It explicitly states that participants may die during the trial."

"And the level range is broad."

"Yes. It spans D-rank through A-rank... though at level 499, one is effectively S-rank."

The President's gaze grew serious.

"At first, I considered sending another awakener instead of you. If anything were to go wrong..."

Minwoo nodded. He was Ilseong Group's eldest son, and an awakener beginning to make a name for himself not just in Korea, but around the world.

Was his level at least high? No.

It was understandable that the President would feel uneasy about sending him. Other nations would generally send awakeners over level 400.

If things went wrong, the government could take all the blame. People would accuse it of sending a promising young talent to his death, call it armchair administration, and so on.

"I understand."

"Yes. Had I not seen the video of that Duel, I wouldn't have changed my mind."

"You watched it too, Mr. President?"

"Haha. I'm human too. Of course I'm drawn to the news everyone's talking about. In any case, seeing you handle an awakener of that caliber so easily changed my thinking. No, to be honest, you could say I got ambitious. Sending an ordinary A-rank awakener wouldn't get us anywhere near the top."

Jo Piluk was proving useful yet again.

To participate or not? Naturally, Minwoo's answer was already decided.

'Of course I'm entering.'

This was no small-scale event. It involved no fewer than fifty nations, and all their most outstanding rookies would be participating.

'Naturally, the rewards should be good.'

He had never seen this event before, so he couldn't know what they would be, but they certainly wouldn't be anything trivial.

"I'd like to participate. I'll take full responsibility. I'll even write a will before I go."

"Haha. There's no need for that. Didn't I tell you? I got ambitious too. That means I must share the responsibility."

Lee Kanghoon shook his head, then spoke with a gleam in his eyes.

"Even now, I think back to my youth. Back then, Korea truly was an awakener powerhouse. I sincerely hope you'll restore that glory, Mr. Kim. To that end, the government will spare no support."

Lee Kanghoon's gaze was resolute as he spoke. He seemed dependable.

'He wants to bet on me.'

Minwoo had contributed fifty percent toward clearing an A+-rank gate and toyed with a level-300 awakener. He had proved he could hold his own not merely among the lower ranks, but among the upper ranks as well.

His potential was off the charts. It wasn't strange for the President to say such things. This was a world where a single successful awakener could transform a nation's image.

"Have the other two participants already been selected?"

"Not yet. However, we intend to give your opinion the utmost consideration. Is there anyone you have in mind?"

The President was making it abundantly clear that he intended to back Minwoo fully. Ideally, teammates representing the same nation should work well together. That seemed to be why he was even offering Minwoo a say in selecting them.

"Just a moment. Oh, may I take a picture? I'd like to show my guild members."

"Yes. As long as you don't leak it to the public, that's fine."

"Thank you."

He opened his phone and entered the guild group chat.

[Kim Minwoo]

—I'm at the Blue House right now. They've made me an offer.

[Park Siwoo]

—Whoa, seriously? The Blue House... Did you actually meet the President, Minwoo?

(Nervous emoji)

[Seo Yerim]

—What kind of offer?

(Head-tilting rabbit emoji)

[Kim Minwoo]

—Yeah, I met the President. They received a message from the System...

(Photo attached)

Apparently there's a tournament like this. Are you two interested?

[Park Siwoo]

—Oh. Count me in!

(Emoji raising a hand eagerly with sparkling eyes)

[Seo Yerim]

—Siwoo, have you reached level 151?

[Park Siwoo]

—I'm 143 right now, but with a month left, I think I can make it. You're entering too, right, Yerim? You're level 420.

[Seo Yerim]

—Okay. I'll enter too.

There was no need to warn them to be careful because it would be dangerous. The photograph already included that information, and being an awakener was a profession that meant risking one's life in the first place.

"Both remaining slots will be filled by members of our guild."

Lee Kanghoon nodded.

Sword Phoenix Seo Yerim was more than qualified to participate. The same went for the other two, Kim Minwoo and Park Siwoo.

Their levels were low, but they were already known as Super Rookies who had earned S-rank achievements. These two might be stronger than most A-rank awakeners. S-rank achievements were no joke.

"Very well. I'll put the three members of your guild on the final candidate list. There will be one round of verification later."

"Verification...?"

"We'll narrow down the awakeners through preliminary rounds. Then the three selected candidates can spar against the three of you."

Oh, so he was saying they could skip all the preliminaries and go straight to the finals.

'Sounds good.'

Selecting the participants in complete secrecy was impossible anyway. Fifty nations were participating. Surely some of them would select their representatives publicly, and explain why they were doing so.

If Korea skipped everything and simply named the Money-Blowing Guild as its final candidates, it could lead to all sorts of gossip. Accusations of collusion between politics and business, for instance. Rather than leave with that nonsense ringing in their ears, it would be better to demonstrate their skill and prove themselves.

Fortunately, they could skip all the bothersome preliminary rounds.

"Sounds good. Oh, there's a gate I'd like to visit."

"Which gate do you mean?"

"The demon gate near Incheon."

"Ah, you mean that B-rank gate?"

Minwoo nodded. Its official name was the Demon's Castle, but people usually just called it the demon gate for convenience. There were only a handful of gates in Korea where demons appeared.

"That one... shouldn't take long to clear."

"I'll probably be back around the time the preliminaries end."

The Demon's Castle wasn't very large. It simply had a dense concentration of monsters inside. Basically, it wasn't a gate that took much time.

Of course...

'That's assuming you don't activate the hidden piece.'

Activating that hidden feature did change the setting inside the gate somewhat.

'Still, it's short.'

Either way, it wouldn't take very long.

Then Lee Kanghoon's expression grew serious.

"The international situation has been troubling lately. Not the United States yet, but Japan and China will be watching you closely, Mr. Kim."

Minwoo nodded. Both nations were geographically close to Korea, and their relations were those of bitter rivals, forever snarling at each other even if they hadn't drawn their swords.

There had actually been several attempts to poach him already. Offers of tens of trillions of won in exchange for changing his nationality, that sort of thing.

He was ignoring all of them for now. He wasn't even interested in moving to America, let alone anywhere else.

"Assassins may come after you. If you wish, our government can offer assistance."

"No, I'm fine."

Minwoo shook his head. It wasn't that government assistance would be useless. Plenty of skilled awakeners were stationed throughout its ranks. The pay was generous, and civil-service positions offered considerable stability.

They could also operate detection equipment when he entered a gate to prevent intruders from following him.

But...

'That would be a bit inconvenient right now.'

The Demon's Castle. As befitted a demon gate, the conditions for activating its hidden piece were rather evil.

It required sacrifices. Quite a lot of them, at that.

He had discovered this when playing as Kim Minwoo in the past, because so many damned assassins kept barging in. Killing every last one of those bastards had led him to discover the hidden piece.

But if the government helped? It would become harder for his sacrifices to get inside.

That wouldn't do.

"... Will you really be all right?"

"Yes. I'll be fine."

Awakeners gave several times the experience of monsters at an equivalent level. Every corpse was worth money, too. Better yet, these bastards would have come to kill him in the first place, so he could sacrifice them without a shred of guilt.

'And there happen to be some likely candidates.'

Shadow. The people who had said they would return in a month.

That deadline was drawing near. What would happen if he firmly refused them when they met again?

Would they leave him alone to grow stronger in peace? In Minwoo's opinion, absolutely not. If they had any brains, they would start moving to dispose of him somehow.

After all, not only was his growth rate phenomenal...

'They've already aired their dirty underwear.'

They had already advertised just how shady their organization was. The stronger he grew, the more it would eat at them. There was no way they would let him run gates in peace.

'I'll kill them all here.'

His fighting strength now was worlds apart from what it had been when he first met Han Baekgil. Not only had the Death Spirit Sword grown, he had also acquired a second legion commander.

'I'll get Achievement Points too. Perfect.'

S-rank assassins? Let them come. He would devour them instead.

An antlion's pit.

It was time to set the trap.