‘Interesting.’
Choi Yeonseung looked at the hunters from other countries in wonder. It looked like they were Americans, and they seemed to be in great condition.
So far, Choi Yeonseung had navigated with ease through this dungeon, so it was easy for him to forget, but in reality, this dungeon was extremely dangerous, and, starting from the very first floor, it depleted the hunters of their strength.
This complex dungeon had various tasks that caused conflicts within the hunter groups. Because of that, the hunters constantly fought amongst themselves, and as a result, most of them were exhausted.
After going through all those hardships and finally reaching the second underground floor, it was natural that every hunter collapsed out of exhaustion.
“Can I ask you a question?”
“Ah, Hunter Choi Yeonseung!”
The American hunters were very pleased, not because they were huge fans of Choi Yeonseung, but because they saw the Chinese hunters.
There were two sides: the Chinese hunters and the American hunters. It was evident which side Choi Yeonseung would take…
“It’s a pleasure to meet you! I was using an artifact from Dragon Artifact the other day. All I could think about was how wonderful your design was!”As expected of hunters who had survived in a ruthless capitalist society, they were experts at flattery.
The hunters from the Mount Hua Sect were impressed by how effortlessly they flattered Choi Yeonseung by praising the products of his company.
When they thought about it, flattery was indeed most effective when praising someone indirectly, like these hunters were doing with the artifact, and then slowly becoming more direct with the compliments.
These American hunters clearly knew what they were doing.
“What are you talking about? I’m not the one who came up with the design.”
“But you’re the CEO! Other employees might’ve helped with the production, but honestly, you deserve all the credit. What do the technicians there know? After all, only a hunter can correctly assess an artifact and launch it on the market…”
The Chinese hunters, who had been watching this exchange with blank expressions, finally realized what was going on. These American bastards were openly trying to win Choi Yeonseung over.
“Shouldn’t we stop them?” asked one of the Chinese hunters.
In response, Wei Chang stared at him in disbelief and asked, “...Stop them and say what??”
“...It’ll be a disaster for us if hunters from other countries join forces with him. There might be only one party now, but if more groups side with Choi Yeonseung…”
“...”
Wei Chang flinched. What this hunter said was true.
So far, it had only been them and Choi Yeonseung’s squad, and yet there had been many conflicts. Thus, how bad would it get if other foreign hunters entered the scene one after another?
If that happened, it would be them against the world!
They had to stop this!
“...Hey, Choi Yeonseung, let’s cooperate.”
“Have you forgotten who I am? What are you talking about?”
Choi Yeonseung was dumbfounded by Wei Chang’s proposal. It was ridiculous for this crazy asshole to propose an alliance minutes after he had barged in here and yelled, “Give us back the supplies you stole from us!”
Had the explosion constellation already ruined his brains?
Wei Chang shouted, “Look at the situation! What if more foreign hunters come down to the second floor? It would be utter chaos and everything would be ten times worse! It’s better to join forces, at least while we’re on this floor…”
“Don’t wanna…”
“...Ugh, why can’t you understand?!”
“I said no. Stop whining about it. I’m not interested at all.’
“...”
Wei Chang realized why his perfect persuasion method didn’t work: Choi Yeonseung might not be completely sane. Persuasion wouldn’t work on dumb and irrational people!
“Wei Chang, just get out of the way already. Freaking idiot…” said Luo Guanglong, the other A-grade hunter who had come with Wei Chang. He found this whole negotiation absurd.
Luo Guanglong was rumored to have a bad personality, but he was better than Wei Chang.
In his opinion, Wei Chang’s persuasive skills were lackluster. He had stormed in here and furiously shouted at Choi Yeonseung to return the so-called “stolen” supplies. Even if Choi Yeonseung had in fact stolen their supplies, that hadn’t been the right course of action.
Even if they were two A-grade hunters, Choi Yeonseung was in a completely different league. Moreover, given that most of the Chinese hunters were exhausted, it was evident that instead of an aggressive approach, a more calm, calculated one was needed.
“Hunter Choi Yeonseung.”
“?”
“I believe you’re smart enough not to be deceived by the blatant flattery of the American hunters over there.”
“What? I enjoy their praise. Are you saying that Dragon Artifact doesn’t deserve any praise?”
“...”
Luo Guanglong was slightly taken aback. His opponent was greater than he had expected. However, an A-grade hunter was an A-grade hunter at the end of the day.
Luo Guanglong maintained his composure and tried a different approach.
“I’m not saying it doesn’t deserve praise. I’m merely suggesting that they’re praising the company with a hidden agenda, Hunter Choi Yeonseung. Think carefully. American hunters often appear good on the outside, but they’re rotten on the inside.”
“W-wha… You bastard!”
“We’re better than you!”
The American hunters were dumbfounded and furious. Of course, there had been some accidents involving American hunter clans around the world.
Some American hunters had joined forces with warlords in order to rule the African continent; others had destroyed a lot of property during clashes because they wanted to be the ones to kill the monster; some nut jobs had gotten arrested for partying at a cultural heritage site in another country.
On that note, how many good-natured American hunters had publicly urged those delinquents to reflect on their actions?
In any case, the American hunters didn’t want to hear this from the Chinese hunters. Regardless of whether they reflected on themselves, it was painful to hear the Chinese, out of all people, rebuke them for being “rotten.”
“How can you say something like that? Do you have no conscience? You’re nothing but a bunch of charlatans controlled by the Chinese government!”
“You’re the ones who went bankrupt last time because of a shell company!”
The Chinese hunters ignored the loud protests of the Americans. They had been thoroughly trained within the party to deal with situations like this. They wouldn’t be affected by such baseless slander.
Luo Guanglong continued with a confident expression.
“Besides, aren’t South Korea and China like brothers in East Asia?”
“...Umm?”
“Ummmm...?”
The Mount Hua Sect hunters behind Choi Yeonseung also cocked their heads. Was… was that the case?
“Think back to the history between the two countries. The history of helping against the United States!”
“...Did you just mistake North Korea for South Korea...? Just… Forget it.”
Choi Yeonseung was dumbfounded. He decided not to waste his breath on this lunatic.
Trying to persuade a madman was like bashing your head against a wall!
“Everyone, shut up! I will no longer pay attention to those who interrupt me while I’m asking questions,” warned Choi Yeonseung. His expression became more stern; he was no longer dazed by the nonsense of the hunters.
Wei Chang, who was losing his temper, flinched.
‘He’s so difficult to deal with!’
‘I thought I could win if we fought...’
Every hunter who reached A-grade had this mentality at first.
-Even if I’m not the strongest hunter, I won’t lose against anyone, right?
As such, most A-grade hunters were overconfident. After all, they had awakened all sorts of magic and skills. Moreover, society held them on a pedestal, and they received special treatment everywhere they went.
Every country on Earth treated A-grade hunters like that.
Their egos were so inflated, both by themselves and by society, that they couldn’t even fathom the idea of losing against someone.
...However, Choi Yeonseung had overwhelmed both Wei Chang and Luo Guanglong. All three of them had the same rank, so this was a truly unbelievable phenomenon.
After overwhelming them with his sharp gaze, Choi Yeonseung finally looked away and said, “Alright, now tell me how you managed to go through the first underground floor. Do you have any special skills?”
“Huh? No, we… just went through…? It was easy.”
“...!”
Choi Yeonseung realized it. The explosion constellation had deliberately made the first floor easier so hunters from different countries would gather quicker and start fighting!
‘Wow. This guy really...’
They weren’t even impressed anymore.
“...As far as I know, the only people interested in this dungeon were those from the Chinese government. Why did you come forward? Did the clan give you an order?”
“Uh, you haven’t heard yet? There’s a lot of fuss out there right now...”
Choi Yeonseung’s gut feeling was always right.
The explosion constellation had a deep understanding of humans, so there was no way a constellation like him would simply allow the Chinese hunters to advance like that.
The explosion constellation had quickly spread rumors throughout the world.
-There are many artifacts in the Second Realm dungeon!
-The Chinese government wants to acquire those artifacts and take over the world!
-The resources there...
-The Abyssal races...
-In any case, it seems like a big jackpot?
Hunters were greedy. Once such rumors spread, every clan would want to make some profit.
As a result, these people had swiftly passed through the First Realm and jumped into the dungeon of the Second Realm.
‘This is crazy.’
Choi Yeonseung was getting a headache. Initially, he had planned to quickly find a way to send down all the hunters he could mobilize…
The explosion constellation was fighting in a disgusting way. That was the only word he could use to describe the scheming of the explosion constellation: disgusting.
‘As more hunters from different countries gather together, there will be more fights, making it almost impossible to advance.’
-The power of the explosion constellation will only grow.
“...Wait.”
Choi Yeonseung suddenly had an idea.
“Can’t we just block off this place and stop other hunters from entering?”
-??
“???”
The Mount Hua Sect hunters next to him were flustered.
“N-no… We can’t do that, can we? Didn’t you want to attack the dungeon?”
“I did.” Choi Yeonseung nodded. However, now that he thought about it, he didn’t really need to attack this Second Realm right away.
Choi Yeonseung could do it ten or twenty years later, but what about the explosion constellation? No matter how much power of existence he would pour into the dungeon, it was meaningless to remodel the dungeon to play with humans if no humans entered.
-You’ve worked so hard to start your game!
-But we won’t play it!
“We can attack some other time. As of now, I think it’s better to just shut it down.”
“Will the other hunters agree?”
“Um… That’s a good point actually.” Choi Yeonseung nodded. His plan was good, but the real question was whether the greedy hunters would go along with it.
“Isn’t that impossible?”
“No. We just have to do it on our own.”
“Huh?”
“Aish. Everyone, listen to me. I was the first one to come to this floor, so I have the authority. You can only pass through this place with my permission. If I don’t give you permission, you’re not allowed to pass.”
“...”
“...”
Choi Yeonseung’s declaration stunned everyone in the room. It was absurd…
“This authority...”
“I’m the one who set up camp here, so I’m in charge.
“...Aren’t you afraid of possible repercussions...?”
“Repercussions, you say? If you have a problem, come at me! If you live your life without caring about the law, I will also handle you without caring about the law.”
“...”
“...”
The American hunters thought hard before saying anything.
“Can we just go up? We don’t want to upset you...”
“What did you say? Just go up and leave. I’ll praise you.”
“There’s no need for that. We’ll just be on our way.”
The American hunters quickly gave up. They hadn’t invested much into this operation, so they could just back out.
Choi Yeonseung shifted his gaze toward the Chinese hunters. He told them to shut up and go up as well.
However, they refused.
“We... We can’t back down!”
Choi Yeonseung nodded. “Alright. Then I won’t stop you guys.”
“...?!”
The Chinese hunters were stunned by Choi Yeonseung’s calm answer.
What the hell was this?
“Feel free to go further down and try your hardest. But don’t even think about getting supplies.”
“...”
“...”
The Chinese hunters gritted their teeth at the blatant and despicable threat, which was worse than blackmail.
This bastard...!
***
In less than a month, all the hunters retreated from the dungeon like an ebbing tide.
[’Endless Linked Explosions’ is shocked!]
It was only natural that the explosion constellation was flabbergasted. The dungeon that he had painstakingly created using a large amount of power of existence was now deserted.
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