"Really?"

"Y-Yeah."

"Really, really, really?"

"Yes. For real."

"You have to! You absolutely have to!" The look in her eyes suggested that if I didn't, she'd kill me instead of the cockroaches.

I nodded again, repeating my promise to set up the barrier until she was finally reassured. Only then did she drag her suitcase over and start unpacking.

"By any chance, you two…" Karim began, having watched our exchange with a curious expression. I had a pretty good idea what was coming next. "Could just share a room—"

"I must decline!" I snapped. Whoops. Was my voice too loud? Hong Yeon, still unpacking, was now glaring at me with an unreadable expression.

I quickly turned to Karim to explain. "In Korea, there's a tradition of men and women keeping a respectful distance."

"It's fine by me. I wouldn't want to either," Yeon shot back.

'It was a mistake.' I had been too firm because there was a very good reason I couldn't share a room with her: I planned on drawing a magic circle in my room to warp back to Korea. With that, I could sleep in the comfort of my own Magic Tower. I could eat real Korean food. I could see my family. For Hong Yeon, this was a deployment. For me, it was just a commute.

'Ah, I can't wait to eat some Korean food.'

Honestly, a part of me wanted to bring her along, but if she learned about the Magic Tower, the Association President would find out. And if the Association President found out, so would countless others. The tower's existence was top secret; the fewer people who knew, the better. I felt bad for Yeon, but the time wasn't right.

'Ea. You there?'

-Yes, Tower Master.

'I'm thinking kimchi jjigae for dinner.'

-Did you not request pajeon and makgeolli?

'We can have that, too!'

-I will instruct the librarian to purchase the ingredients.

The Magic Tower was the best. I loved being the Tower Master.

It was at that moment that the door to a nearby room burst open. A man who looked to be in his mid-thirties appeared, scratching his messy hair. "Why is it so noisy this morning, Karim?"

I quickly scanned his clothes and rank insignia. Another hunter. He was Asian, likely dispatched to Tanzania like us.

Karim saluted. "These are Hunter Kim Yusin and Hunter Hong Yeon from Korea."

"Oh, really?" The man approached us. "Name's Zhang Wei. So you're the rank-3 hunters from Korea I've been hearing about."

"I'm Kim Yusin."

Hong Yeon emerged, gave a slight bow, and then, seemingly losing interest, returned to her room to finish unpacking. Zhang Wei's eyes widened for a second as he watched her go before returning to normal.

"You're young, with a bright future ahead of you," he said, his voice tinged with despair. "How did you end up in a place like this?"

"I volunteered."

"Volunteered? For Tanzania?" He let out a hollow laugh. "Did you come here to die?"

"I heard the situation was dire, so I came to help."

"What the…? Jeez. There's a limit to how naive one person can be." Zhang Wei sighed heavily. "This is where they send the hunters who've been blacklisted, the ones who've lost the competition, the ones they've thrown away like trash. It's a place of exile, you understand?"

He continued, "I've managed to stay alive this long, but that's about to end. Legion Commander Selegma's offensive is relentless. If Mtwara falls, there's nowhere left to run. We'll all die like dogs."

I subtly shifted my gaze to Karim. Her face had gone completely pale.

"See you at the meeting, Hunter Kim," Zhang Wei said, patting Karim's shoulder as he walked past. She staggered from the force, but he didn't offer a single word of apology.

"Why the hell do I have to die in a shithole like this!" His irritated voice echoed from down the stairs.

"Hunter Karim, are you okay?" I asked.

She just nodded silently.

"He seems… unpleasant."

"…What he said isn't entirely wrong," she mumbled dejectedly before lifting her head. "In fact, it's closer to the truth. But, Hunter Kim, why… why did you volunteer to come to a country like this?"

I gave her a bright smile. "I came here to win. Seriously."

* * *

After a two-hour break, Karim led us to the meeting hall. The soldiers we passed on the way stared at us with dead eyes, showing no reaction whatsoever—a stark contrast to the soldiers at the Alliance naval base. They all looked mentally and physically broken, as if they were simply waiting for death.

'The situation must be really grim.'

We entered the command building. It was an improvement over our lodging, but it was still an old, shabby structure that had been converted for military use. Every step on the stairs echoed with a loud creak. In the hallway, we saw people of various ethnicities chatting. Karim exchanged greetings with them as we passed.

"Hey, it's the hunters from Korea!" a man holding a cup of coffee called out with a wide smile. He had greasy blond hair and sunglasses, and the arm holding the coffee turned out to be a prosthetic. "I'm Wayne Jones, certified rank-4!"

"Nice to meet you. I'm Kim Yusin."

"I'm Hong Yeon."

"I heard the news from Kisowa! Pulled off something big on your first day, eh? Hahahaha! I have no doubt you'll be a great asset to our front!"

So there were normal people here after all. No sooner had the thought crossed my mind than Wayne's prosthetic hand flipped the coffee cup upside down. Hot coffee spilled everywhere, soaking his pants and the floor.

"Oops, my apologies!" he exclaimed, turning his prosthetic hand back over. The arm rotated with a grating, creaking sound. It was so rusty and damaged it was hard to believe it was one of the high-tech hunting devices provided to modern hunters.

"…This damn arm won't listen to me! This damn arm! This damn 'arm'!" he snarled. 'Creek! Creek!' He dropped into a squat, frantically twisting the prosthetic. The whites of his eyes were showing as he panted, his breath coming in ragged gasps. This was not the behavior of a sane man.

As we stood there awkwardly, Karim whispered, "Let's go."

We nodded and followed her, leaving Wayne to his struggle. He seemed to have forgotten we were even there, still furiously twisting his prosthetic arm. I didn't ask what was wrong with him, but I suspected drugs might be involved. They say you won't find any sane hunters on the front lines.

On our way to the meeting, we met several others like Wayne Jones.

"Call me Scorpion," said a rank-4 hunter with an eyepatch over a missing eye, drinking in the middle of the day.

"The name's Charlie! Welcome to this hellish paradise!" A hunter with an unsettling number of silver piercings on his face and tongue patted my shoulder, offering to take me to a "good place" tonight. I felt a sharp glare from my side and politely declined.

"It's a pity to see such young kids come all this way," a heavily made-up woman in her forties with a white snake coiled around her neck said, waving us over warmly. "I'm Marta. If there's anything you don't know, just ask." The snake was so still I briefly thought it was a fashion accessory, but as if reading my mind, it flicked its tongue threateningly. It only calmed down when Marta stroked its head.

"The command meeting begins in five minutes! All hunters, please proceed to the meeting room!" a military adjutant shouted as he ran down the hall. The hunters, however, paid him no mind, completely absorbed in their own worlds.

"Let's go," I said to Hong Yeon.

"Alright."

We were the first to enter the meeting room. A man with white hair and a deeply wrinkled face sat at the head of the conference table. He smiled brightly when he saw us.

"You must be the young hunters from Korea! Welcome."

This was Julian Caballero, commander of the Tanzania hunter team and a certified rank-3 hunter. I'd heard he was in his early fifties, but he looked much older. According to Karim, he was a legend from Argentina who had been hunting monsters since the early days of the Overlay. That made him a great senior to us.

'To be on a frontline like this at retirement age…'

Julian was a warm man. He welcomed us more enthusiastically than anyone and offered advice steeped in years of experience.

"I'm sorry to have to tell you this," he began, "but the situation is not good."

"I've heard the gist of it."

Legion Commander Selegma was positioned in northern Tanzania. His forces had pushed relentlessly south, capturing the capital, Dodoma, and the largest city, Dar es Salaam, with the clear ambition of converting the entire country into a living field. The Tanzanian army and refugees had been pushed back to the southernmost city of Mtwara. Though the Tanzanian military and the Global Hunter Alliance were fighting to defend the territory, it was a one-sided war of attrition against the endless stream of monsters pouring from the plants. Food and supplies were dangerously low.

"And our Tanzanian front is facing one more enemy besides Selegma's monsters," Julian continued.

"Excuse me? What is it?"

"The rebel army."

I was momentarily stunned. "They're on the verge of being wiped out by monsters, and they're in the middle of a civil war? The regular army is fighting rebels?"

"It's shameful, but yes. The rebels are based in Tanbahimba, not far from Mtwara. They are poised to attack us at any moment."

The situation was beyond frustrating. As if monsters weren't enough, now there were rebels to deal with.

"Commander, I have a question," Hong Yeon said, her eyes fixed on the map. "According to this, there's a taves garrison right next to the rebel base in Tanbahimba. Why are the rebels still standing? And it's strange that they're preparing to attack Mtwara. If they abandon their base, the monsters would surely take the opportunity to attack it…"

"A sharp question," Julian said, his expression pained. "The truth is, the rebels have never once been attacked by the monsters."

"…What?"

"We don't know why. But it's a fact that while we are tied down by monsters, the rebels, who are much closer to the monster garrisons, are free to attack us."

Yeon pressed her fingers to her forehead, deep in thought. "So, Legion Commander Selegma is intentionally leaving the rebels alone. The monsters are using them to keep us in check. Is that a correct interpretation?"

"That is what we believe as well," Julian confirmed.

"Or," I interjected, pointing to the rebel base at Tanbahimba. "There's a demonkin among the rebels."

* * *

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