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Chapter 109: White Tiger Clan

“Regarding the mana contract… Regardless of the content, there’s one fundamental tenant, ultimately,” Yeo Seong-Gu said in a somber tone.

“They are loyal and submissive to you… Although the contents of the contract can be different, in the end, according to the mana contract, they have no choice but to follow its rules.”

“...”

“That means that this very gold mine is being held tightly in your hand, and no one can take it away from you,” Yeo Seong-Gu said.

He stretched a little and continued.

“Public opinion is going crazy because you rescued survivors from China, where no one else has gone, and because they are all hunters, the national strength is also rising, so…you’ve become Korea’s darling Hero, and all of those Hunters are even your men…”

His eyes narrowed.

“Your enemies will become more numerous too.”

Strength.

He who had strength always fell victim to envy or jealousy, and people would try to speak ill of him and bring him down just because he had power.

"All of the forces will begin to keep you in check, as the relationship between a mana contract and guild membership are fundamentally different,” Yeo Seong-Gu concluded.

Although those under a guild were counted as a single power, that was different from a power built from a mana contract. Unlike guild contracts, which weren’t compulsory because they were general contracts, mana contracts were.

Lee Jun-Kyeong shrugged and said insincerely, “I’ll just have to endure it, then. Either way, aren’t I a member of Asgard, too?”

Yeo Seong-Gu laughed.

"How quaint. Well, anyway…”

He rose from his seat and approached Lee Jun-Kyeong with a bright face.

Squish!

Yeo Seong-Gu pulled him into his embrace. Lee Jun-Kyeong could hear his warm voice in his ear.

"Congratulations on your safe return."

***

Yeo Seong-Gu quickly finished his work after coming to the front lines. He did it so quickly, in fact, that it was to the point where some felt as though they couldn’t understand why they had to have waited in this place for so long.

The people soon got ready to leave once more, and Lee Jun-Kyeong tried to deliver words of encouragement to the residents of Heaven Lake Village, who were likely to be tired of continually moving.

“This will be the last time we have to move.”

However, the residents responded contentedly with their current situation.

“If it's a trip like this, I don’t think it would be an issue to do it hundreds of times, right?”

“Eat! Sleep! Shit! That's all we’ve done, so it’s not like it was a problem.”

“It’s fine, it’s fine.”

However, even this would have been a short break as well. Soon, they would be busy.

Also, it wasn’t as if they wanted to stay put, either.

"Oh, but my body is still so stiff."

"I want to do something.”

While life on Mt. Baekdu was said to be comfortable, it wasn’t to the degree as to where they were currently. They had always lived so fiercely, so they couldn’t bear with the current complacency.

"You'll be busy soon," Lee Jun-Kyeong said, speaking to them again.

“Therefore, try to rest when you can."

"Okay!"

"I'll put my trust in you, son!”

Lee Jun-Kyeong had only helped and helped the residents of Heaven Lake Village repeatedly during their continued relationship. Even without the mana contract, the residents had trust in him.

“How great,” Yeo Seong-Gu said, watching the scene from the side.

Then, he quietly approached Lee Jun-Kyeong and whispered in his ear.

“However…” he started, whispering cautiously. "What the hell is she?"

‘Ungnyeo.’

She seemed to be shining as she continued to take care of the residents of Heaven Lake Village. Although there was the fact that she was beautiful beyond comparison, everything that she did seemed dignified and trustworthy. It was so much so that it commanded everyone’s attention and showed how much people trusted and followed her.

The Hunters of the front lines even had something they called her.

‘Wasn’t it ‘goddess’ or something like that?’

It wasn’t common to see women on the front lines. In addition, she was such a beautiful woman, so it was obvious that she would be talked about.

"Is she the reason you went to China?" Yeo Seong-Gu asked mischievously.

Lee Jun-Kyeong answered with a straight face, "You’re not wrong."

However, he quickly backtracked after seeing Yeo Seong-Gu’s frozen expression. He grinned widely.

“I’m just joking,” he quipped.

While a panicked Yeo Seong-Gu weakly smiled, someone else spoke from afar.

“It’s true. Mr. Lee didn’t go to China because of Ungnyeo,” Jeong In-Chang approached and responded. Apparently, he had been listening from somewhere hidden.

Lee Jun-Kyeong and Yeo Seong-Gu's eyes turned to Jeong In-Chang due to his sudden appearance.

"Because..."

Jeong In-Chang, who approached, carefully opened his mouth.

“Mr. Lee has a lot of hidden women. If even someone like Ungnyeo was one of those hidden women, then I’d just crawl into a hole and die from how unfair it would be.

“…”

“…”

For a moment, Lee Jun-Kyeong sincerely pondered, ‘Should I just hit him in the back of the head just once?’

The princess in Jeong In-Chang's arms shook its head in agreement.

***

They didn’t have to walk or ride on deer as they had on the way to this place from Mt. Baekdu. Beyond the veil was a land of destruction where civilization had been destroyed, while on this side, everything was still a civilized society.

Rumble.

Several buses were carrying the residents of Heaven Lake Village. The residents found themselves busy looking out the window, and some of the children acted as if this was their first time seeing a car.

In the midst of the noisy activity, the bus stopped.

Clank.

"We've arrived."

As their destination wasn’t far away, their ride didn’t take long.

Two hours.

That was all it took for them to get to Seoul from the front lines.

A vastly different world was only two hours away.

"Wow..."

Things were so different as the residents looked around and admired their surroundings as they got off the bus.

They were amazed, appalled, and frightened by the sight of Seoul, where everything had not yet been broken. It was normal, as unfamiliar things were always frightening.

“Ungnyeo. You have to take good care…”

Lee Jun-Kyeong was about to ask Ungnyeo to take care of the residents of Heaven Lake Village but soon stopped himself.

"Wow..."

Ungnyeo stood, her eyes wide open as she looked at everything around her, seeming as though everything around her was the most amazing thing she had ever seen.

Her eyes continued to get wider and wider as her jaw dropped as she looked around at the buildings surrounding her. They were all bigger than she could have even imagined.

–This is…

Even Sangun was looking at everything curiously.

‘That’s right.’

Lee Jun-Kyeong recalled something while looking at her.

Sangun had never left Mt. Baekdu, and Ungnyeo had been abandoned when she was young and had grown up with Sangun on Mt. Baekdu as well.

It would have been their first time seeing such a civilized society.

Having finally understood their reactions, Lee Jun-Kyeong couldn’t help but to smile as they looked so pure.

In the end, he decided to leave them in their wonder.

He looked over and said, “Mr. Jeong, please lead the residents of Heaven Lake Village. You can follow the person from the Association."

Lee Jun-Kyeong had realized that there was someone else he needed to talk to. He turned and was about to speak to Won-Hwa, but then closed his mouth again.

“...”

Won-Hwa was looking around and crying.

‘He was like this when we drank coffee last time too…’

He was clearly a very emotional person.

In the end, Jeong In-Chang had to lead the group, including Won-Hwa as well.

Of course, he didn’t have to do it alone.

“Fenrir, you have to make sure you listen to Mr. Jeong properly, okay?” Lee Jun-Kyeong instructed.

He was to take them alongside Fenrir.

Lee Jun-Kyeong stood, expecting Fenrir to respond to him, but was surprised by the way the wolf eventually replied.

Fenrir had been looking around with indifferent eyes as if he wasn’t interested in the sights, but when others looked at the impressive building in front of them, the boy responded with hostility.

“Growl…”

He stood, growling at the Association building.

Lee Jun-Kyeong stroked his head and said to the boy, “So you can feel it too, then.”

Although it seemed as though the rest hadn’t noticed because they were either admiring a new place, or just because they had all come back to the homeland for the first time, the party had all arrived at the Association where the Korean Hunters were all gathered.

‘Then, are those the Asgardian Heroes?’

Within that Association building, there were auras lurking that could never be underestimated.

In particular, Lee Jun-Kyeong’s sensitivity to mana had increased to an extreme in China.

“...”

He could feel it.

There was a man looking at them through the windows of the vast Association building.

‘Odin.’

For a moment, the two of them made eye contact.

Odin observed Lee Jun-Kyeong and the residents of Heaven Lake Village, and his expression remained unchanged even though he had finally seen Lee Jun-Kyeong again.

A smile then slowly appeared around his mouth.

Lee Jun-Kyeong knew that it wasn’t because the Association President was welcoming him.

New beings.

Beings who had finally arrived.

Odin was smiling out of enjoyment at the curiosity about the Hunters, who had survived for a long time within the barren land of North Korea, and Ungnyeo and Sangun who had led them.

“Grr.”

Lee Jun-Kyeong looked at Odin and stroked the head of the growling Fenrir.

"Fenrir,” Lee Jun-Kyeong said quietly. "There's something you need to keep in mind from now on.”

Lee Jun-Kyeong's voice was low and intense.

Fenrir raised his ears and looked at Lee Jun-Kyeong.

"Don't show your teeth,” Lee Jun-Kyeong said as he looked into Fenrir's eyes.

“Learn when to hide your teeth if you want to be able to use them when you need them, Fenrir.”

The boy nodded and responded, "Okay. Jun-Kyeong."

For some reason, it was accurate and clear.

Fenrir laughed, and his teeth were no longer revealed.

***

Flash, flash, flash, flash!

It was another baptism of camera flashes, bursting countless times.

Now, Lee Jun-Kyeong was enjoying as much popularity as a superstar in Korea.

Fortunately, the residents of Heaven Lake Village had moved to another place in advance, so only Lee Jun-Kyeong and Yeo Seong-Gu were subjected to the overwhelming camera flashes.

"Underdog!"

"Mr. Lee! What is the current situation in China and North Korea?"

"Are those all the survivors?!"

"Mr. Lee! Underdog!"

Reporters shouted his name continuously, but Lee Jun-Kyeong walked forward without stopping alongside Yeo Seong-Gu.

"Mr. Lee! Are they dangerous?"

"Is there any chance that they’re communists or terrorists?"

As he walked forward, all of a sudden, Lee Jun-Kyeong paused.

Thud.

The camera flashes exploded faster as he stopped, and Lee Jun-Kyeong opened his eyes straight into the midst of a baptism of flashes, a baptism that was so severe that it could have triggered an epileptic seizure.

"They are…"

Yeo Seong-Gu waited for Lee Jun-Kyeong.

"...People who have suffered for a long time."

Lee Jun-Kyeong, who had originally planned on not answering anything, had opened his mouth.

“During the time that there was a country, they suffered under the government, and once the country fell, no one cared enough to rescue them.”

The reporters listened to Lee Jun-Kyeong's voice with bated breath, staring at him with clear eyes as if they refused to miss a single word.

"Their suffering lasted even longer than we could ever fathom.” Lee Jun-Kyeong stood firm, addressing the crowd of reporters, “I will vouch for them. They will not bring any harm to you. Therefore, I’ll request…”

His voice was strong and intense, as the Hunter had used mana stream to bolster his voice and make it clear, striking it into the minds of the reporters so that they wouldn’t be able to think of anything else.

"and hope that you don't harm them either."

“…”

“…”

There was a moment of silence, and after a while.

FLASH, FLASH, FLASH, FLASH, FLASH!

A flash baptism erupted, stronger than before. The reporters no longer asked him any questions. Rather, they called out his name and nickname, cheering him on.

"Lee Jun-Kyeong!"

"Underdog!"

"Congratulations on your safe return!"

Hero.

The birth of a Hero who had not yet a title was sprouting at this very moment.

1. Korea has a tendency to nickname their stars and idols. For example, there are some idols called the nation’s darling, while others are known as the nation’s child, the visual of an era etc.

2. Timeline-wise, Sangun had existed before the advent of gates, and she was abandoned before North Korea fell.

3. The author used a play on words, as by changing a single vowel, the word New becomes Newcomer.