From the moment he first observed the Three-legged Crow’s southward migration, two possibilities had crossed his mind.

One was greed—hunger for the humans who had entered its territory. The other was defeat in a territorial dispute.

He had naturally assumed the former.

After all, S-Rank Champions had no reason to engage in territorial disputes.

Their domains were resonance zones where a dozen or more gates simultaneously triggered Gate Shock, generating massive waves of magical energy.

With their own territory already providing sufficient nourishment, why would they fight one another for new ground?

It was a reasonable deduction.

Yet the result draped before him was this mess.

It was enough to give anyone pause.

“Feels like a physical impact, doesn’t it?”

“It does. Like taking a solid hit.”

“The remaining North Korean S-Rank Champions—what were they again?”

“Who knows. The Three-legged Crow’s record is spectacular enough that we know it well, but the rest… they only appeared after North Korea’s fall. Nobody really bothered to observe them.”

The identity of the monster that had left the spiral-shaped scar on its abdomen remained unknown.

Information on North Korea’s S-Rank Champions was scarce.

The Three-legged Crow was well-documented as the culprit behind Pyongyang’s destruction, but the rest were latecomers that emerged after the Erosion Zone’s contamination had worsened—it was only natural.

Jung-woo, armed with knowledge of the future, was no different.

He knew more than most, which was precisely why he found it stranger.

‘The Three-legged Crow being driven out is clearly unrelated to this operation’s history. But the Flame Heat Zone never extinguished even ten years later.’

What did that mean?

It meant the victor who had chased the Three-legged Crow out of Pyongyang never pursued it afterward.

Even though it could have devoured the creature at any time, it simply left it alone.

If the existing Champions had truly invaded its territory, would they have gone that far?

‘No—they would have tried to eat the Three-legged Crow.’

It didn’t add up.

If they had seized the territory out of greater ambition, there was no reason not to consume the defeated rival.

In the end, it came down to ecology.

There were always rules governing such systems, and phenomena always had causes.

They needed a scenario that could make sense of this reality.

‘The Three-legged Crow, driven from Pyongyang at some point, continued living in Hwanghae Province. In the original timeline, that would still hold true ten years later.’

And so the Flame Heat Zone had never disappeared from observation feeds until then.

The South Korean side must have been operating under a persistent misunderstanding.

‘Our arrival disrupted that history. The Three-legged Crow must have seen hope. Hope that by devouring us and growing stronger, it could reclaim Pyongyang.’

Having fought it directly, he could say with even greater certainty now: it was a catastrophe that had pushed through countless environmental hazards to unleash output that sent chills down one’s spine.

Even in the moment of its subjugation, the creature had never let go of its killing intent.

It displayed a tenacious, prideful nature.

A magical beast like that, fleeing? Could it have humbly accepted such a fact?

‘It must have sought revenge.’

And that result was the reality they now faced.

So, the conclusion:

“…I don’t think it was one of the existing ones.”

This was not one of the known entities.

It meant there was a fourth S-Rank Champion they had no knowledge of—and it was a more formidable specimen than the Three-legged Crow, which had grown for twenty years in Pyongyang.

Jung-woo explained his reasoning.

Even without invoking knowledge of the future, there was enough evidence to make them understand the current landscape of North Korea.

And so a question came.

“Then what happens to the Pyongyang advance?”

The public expectation, and the subjugation team’s observation, had been that subjugating the Three-legged Crow would clear a straight path to Pyongyang.

This was the moment that prediction unraveled.

However, it wasn’t entirely without hope.

“It won’t leave Pyongyang. Even with an easy meal right in front of it—the Three-legged Crow—it won’t even do that much.”

“…True, that is strange. The Flame Heat Zone was right there, yet it never showed itself.”

“There must be a reason. A reason it can’t leave Pyongyang.”

Whether it was a battle wound or something else entirely didn’t matter.

Pyongyang’s new master would remain in that land for the next ten years.

There was no reason for it to come down now, and it showed no sign of doing so.

Jung-woo summarized the situation.

“Regardless, our objective doesn’t change. The first phase of reclamation must end at Pyongyang.”

It wasn’t merely symbolic.

Pyongyang’s Gate Resonance continuously generated the threat of Erosion Zone expansion on its own.

“We’ve confirmed our staying power. More than that, this corpse itself is a joker card.”

Jung-woo placed his hand on the coffin.

“The remains of an S-Rank Champion. A reliable means of increasing our combat power.”

“…We’ve gathered quite a bit of combat data, too.”

“Yes. If the enemy is waiting for us there, we can devise a far better strategy than before.”

So, let’s take a slight detour to our destination.

“It was something we had to do anyway. We should begin full reclamation of Hwanghae Province first. Until then, we gather as much data on the Erosion Zone as possible, explore means of increasing our strength, and then aim for Pyongyang.”

Things rarely went according to plan—that was simply the nature of human endeavor.

And when it came to magical beasts, that was doubly true.

An anomaly had occurred, but humans were creatures who could leverage better tools after finishing one hunt.

The Hunter System encouraged precisely that form of growth.

Morale was soaring right now.

Rather than shrinking back over needless worries, they should ride this momentum, pursue growth, and prepare for the next hunt.

“For the public announcement, we’ll frame it as prioritizing Hwanghae Province reclamation. That’s all. And…”

For now, it was a day with results worth celebrating.

“Shall we head out? Everyone’s been waiting on us.”

Let’s enjoy it. Just for today.

The subjugation of the Three-legged Crow was a national celebration.

The news spread far and wide, and the cheers showed no sign of dying down for days—not even after the day itself had passed.

Even now, with the Association’s future reclamation plans having shifted, the mood remained the same.

There was no need to release negative information.

The fact that the Three-legged Crow had been defeated in a territorial dispute was never made public.

[Ah, looks like they’re gonna sweep Hwanghae Province first before pushing up.]

└ Isn’t that too dangerous? What if a new S-Rank Champion spawns in the meantime?

└ They don’t spawn that easily. Even the Three-legged Crow only came into being after Pyongyang’s density hit the limit, and normally it takes years of absorbing nutrients from erosion to reach that point. The other two were born that way too, yeah.

└ Still, wouldn’t it be better to hit Pyongyang first?

└ Doesn’t really matter. As long as Pyongyang is empty, they can cleanly sweep from below, or even come back down after taking Pyongyang.

Opinions online were divided on the choice, but only to that degree.

Since the reclamation order itself was largely a matter of preference, there was no real pushback.

Instead, there were quite a few comments speculating on the reason for prioritizing Hwanghae Province.

[Probably trying to allocate Gates to the participating companies first.]

└ That’s my guess too. If they go straight up, there’s basically no compensation until the Pyongyang Gate Resonance is resolved.

└ Are there decent gates in Hwanghae Province?

└ Of course. It’s a huge area—plenty of gates. Pyongyang just has an unusually high concentration, but if you flip the whole province, you’d easily get over a dozen.

└ Ah… makes sense. With the Association mobilizing almost all of Korea’s top guilds, they can’t exactly tell them to just sit tight until then…

└ Yeah, the Association and the Management Bureau have always had different priorities.

Sometimes, when the truth was obscured, reasonable speculation served in its place.

In reality, it wasn’t as if prioritizing guild gate allocation was absent from the Hwanghae Province strategy—so it wasn’t entirely wrong either.

Regardless, good news was good news.

[Construction stocks are mooning right now LMAOOO we’re eating good~]

└ My dad works in construction and he’s losing his mind over the boom hahaha. The Association’s already submitting a ton of small-city construction plans for the Hwanghae direction.

└ It’s a government-sponsored national project. Expected revenue is in the tens of trillions of won, so foreign capital is pouring in like crazy.

└ Sounds good for our side too? They’re building a whole new city in South Hwanghae Province, north of the 38th Parallel—not near Pyongyang—and setting up top guild branches there with all the related infrastructure and jobs.

└ I already submitted my resume to all the job postings there.

They weren’t simply reclaiming land.

Reclaimed land returned to humanity’s domain.

Which meant the relocation of personnel and infrastructure for gate management would give rise to entirely new cities.

The economy, still reeling from the Millennium Shock, had not yet fully recovered.

Imagine cities sprouting with major corporations flocking in en masse under these circumstances.

These were cities built for hunters with high spending power.

From simple construction jobs to consumer businesses—there were countless opportunities to expand the capital market.

This was no longer a vain hope.

It was a future made reality by the subjugation of the Three-legged Crow.

[The Association is way better than the Management Bureau LMAOOO O guardian of jobs…]

[Jung-woo is so damn cool]

[I worship you…]

[I behold the true Hunter acknowledged by the Savior, master of the Teddy Bear, slaughterer of magical beasts, guardian of clocking out on time…]

In the end, the conversation always returned to the hunters’ achievements.

Jung-woo, at the center of it all, saw his popularity soaring to unprecedented heights.

It was on one such day.

“Se-gi, let’s go.”

“Okay!”

Jung-woo had been granted leave.

Not just him—all S-ranks had been given time off.

The Hwanghae Province reclamation was essentially cleanup work in the absence of any major threat.

Whether to prepare for Pyongyang or to recover from the aftermath of this battle, a breather was necessary.

As for Jung-woo specifically:

‘I haven’t been able to play with her enough during the North Korea operation.’

There had been obstacles to spending time with Se-gi.

Of course, he always picked her up on time at daycare and made sure to be with her in the evenings, but there was such a thing as the absolute quality of playtime.

Evenings at home were one thing, but they hadn’t even gone on a single outing this month.

How had he managed to care for Se-gi during all this?

If asked, there was something that once again inspired gratitude.

‘Thank you, Biniping.’

Se-gi stared at the TV screen with her mouth hanging open.

It was a rerun of Biniping, the show that was supposedly all the rage among little girls.

Kids were fascinating at times like this.

As far as Jung-woo knew, Se-gi must have watched that particular episode over ten times, yet whenever Biniping came on TV, she still reacted as if encountering the anime for the first time—reeling in shock and watching it all day long.

But since they were on leave, today that ended here.

“Se-gi. We really have to go.”

“Okay…!”

She answered, but her gaze remained fixed on the animation.

It looked like it would wrap up in five minutes—should he wait?

Thinking that, Jung-woo sat down on the sofa as well.

It was after the broadcast episode had ended.

A commercial came on.

It was a familiar face.

[The art of comfort, Garden Terrarium.]

‘That’s Hae-seo.’

True to her influencer status, she filmed that many TV commercials.

He’d heard that after this subjugation operation, advertising offers had doubled.

For someone on vacation, the prospect of spending it entirely in front of cameras was painfully clear—brief condolences were in order.

Jung-woo scooped Se-gi up into his arms.

“Are we going on a picnic?”

“Yes, we’re going to see Grandma.”

“Fairy Grandma!”

“That’s right. Fairy Grandma.”

It was autumn.

The season when maple leaves turned crimson, and there was something they had arranged around this time.

A meeting between Se-gi and Soon-ae.

‘It’ll be good for Se-gi to have more dependable adults in her life.’

Besides, there was a certain charm to autumn leaf-viewing.

And so he planned a two-day, one-night trip to Seolyang Village.

Geun-ho would be joining as a guest. He’d heard that Hae-seo would drop by if she had time, too.

It was a perfectly reasonable excuse.

‘The S-Rank Champion’s magic stone is still in the processing stage.’

It was Korea’s first attempt with their own technology, so it required collaboration with foreign experts—he’d heard it would take at least a month.

What would happen when the Sea Otter used the Three-legged Crow’s magic stone would need to be verified later, but it was clearly going to be qualitatively different from the A-Rank Champion magic stones they’d used so far. He had high expectations.

‘Until then, well—this is my growth.’

He looked at the quest window.

【Quest】

▶【[Great Caregiver] Always putting the child first is what a true caregiver does! Parenting never ends! Keep collecting those Praise Stickers! (3/10)】

▶【[Se-gi’s World] Show more of the world to your little treasure, who can only discover it through you! Let her imagination bloom in ever more vibrant colors! (1/?)】

The general quest had somehow accumulated two more stacks since then.

Below that was the special quest, Se-gi’s World.

A quest with unknown rewards that gained stacks the moment Se-gi learned something she hadn’t known before.

Would it fill up before the Pyongyang campaign?

It was a small question, but he didn’t agonize over it.

‘It probably will.’

If it didn’t, he’d figure something out.

He didn’t want to force Se-gi into anything for the sake of growth, after all.

“Bu-reung-bu-reung!”

“Yeah, let’s get in the car.”

First stop: Seolyang Village.

Jung-woo got in the car and headed for the mart. He needed to buy groceries and other supplies for the trip.

It was the moment he stepped into the large supermarket.

Jung-woo witnessed the maelstrom of consumer society.

“Buy it for meeee!!! Buy it for meee!!!”

“Waaaaaah!!!”

It was in front of the toy corner.

A plush doll booth with [SOLD OUT] signs plastered across nearly every shelf.

Young children lay on the floor wailing, while parents tried to coax or console them with expressions of utter devastation.

What on earth had happened?

Had a new Biniping character been released?

The thought lasted only a moment.

“Gasp! Daddy! Teddy Bear!”

Only then did Jung-woo notice the lettering on the display.

[Hunter Shin Jung-woo’s Trustworthy Companions!]

Below it, plush dolls of the Teddy Bear, Sea Otter, and Shark were displayed in various sizes.

“It’s our kids!”

The instant Se-gi said it, every gaze in the vicinity converged on Jung-woo.

Among them were the children’s parents.

The hero who had subjugated the Three-legged Crow. South Korea’s first born S-Rank. The man who had rooted out the Management Bureau’s corruption.

He had countless titles, but right now, none of them were of any use.

“Ah.”

Shin Jung-woo, the household slaughterer who had succeeded Biniping.

He now faced the consequences of documents he had signed without a second thought.