The lords of Man Nation and Haewon Kingdom departed with thoroughly satisfied expressions after signing the Vertenum export agreement.

In contrast, Ak Jinsan of Jing Nation wore a noticeably gloomy air.

The reason was obvious enough.

Jung-woo had personally shadowed him the entire time.

Ak Jinsan’s schedule in Korea had him accompanied by Jung-woo at every turn.

“Supreme Leader! Your next schedule is…”

I want to return to Jing Nation already.

I want to flee.

These were the thoughts that dominated Ak Jinsan’s mind until the very moment of his departure.

His wish, having withered day by day as though his life force had been drained from him, was finally granted on the last day of February.

“Have a safe trip. Oh, and I trust you’ll throw your weight behind my side.”

“…See you at the Council.”

On the day his schedule concluded, Ak Jinsan fled Korea as though someone might snatch him back.

Only Jung-woo likely knew that tears of rapture welled in the man’s eyes as he boarded his private jet.

Ak Jinsan took to the skies.

Even in that moment, the media busied themselves broadcasting the developments far and wide.

[The distinguished guests from the Central Plains have completed their departures. We are now entering the final countdown for the subjugation, and…]

[Hunter Shin Jung-woo is displaying great confidence. The Association…]

[Meanwhile, this is the site of the first completed construction in Pyongyang.]

The scheduled date for the subjugation was March 7th.

That date was now three days away.

Around that time, Jung-woo had cleared all his external obligations.

It was to bring his condition to its absolute peak before the subjugation.

How?

If one were to ask, the answer was obvious enough, wasn’t it?

“Ta-da!”

“Wow, what’s this?”

“I drew it in art class! This is Daddy, and this is Se-gi, and this is Gomdol—and Hae-dal is, you know~ he’s secretly hiding treasure inside the house over there~ and Shark is cooking~ and Rabbit is, you know~”

Jung-woo’s healing was Se-gi.

What reaffirmed Jung-woo’s resolve was also Se-gi.

Se-gi was, after all, the ultimate in condition management. Jung-woo watched her charming little performance in the warmly heated living room.

The child busied herself with one thing after another, and each time, the stuffed animals clapped with ppok ppok sounds or wiggled their bottoms in a bouncy dance to keep the mood lively.

It was the very picture of a peaceful holiday.

This was the tone of everyday life that Jung-woo had to protect at all costs.

He had been watching the scene with simple contentment when—

Ttiring!

His smartphone rang.

It was a message from Edmond.

[Persuasion complete. It looks like we can convene the Council in April.]

Impeccable timing. Having already relayed the information about persuading Ak Jinsan, the Council vote would now stand at six in favor and three opposed.

Even accounting for contingencies, it was a decisive majority.

‘The momentum is good.’

If he could complete the solo subjugation of the Qilin here and prove his military might, then Zero Gate exploration would no longer be a distant prospect.

He also had material persuasive enough to win over the remaining three votes.

Jung-woo scanned the documents displayed on his tablet.

‘This might just do it.’

It was his own treatise on Zero Gates and the otherworld beyond them.

Having been compiled from the intelligence he obtained from Jun-ho, its structure was airtight.

Even a fool would understand if shown this: that standing idle meant extinction.

‘If they have any sense, they’ll at least deliberate.’

Jung-woo wanted to believe in that possibility.

‘They need to help, not just stand by. I need to bring them in at maximum capacity.’

The current Council members represented the most elite fighting force humanity could muster.

Too valuable to waste.

Bringing Ak Jinsan under his command was, ultimately, an extension of that same reasoning.

Of course, one could not paint only optimistic futures.

Jung-woo’s disposition forbade such naivety, so he considered the alternative.

His eyes darkened at the thought.

Methods that were far from pleasant.

The best outcome would be for them to never be executed.

It was the moment to shake off those thoughts.

Ttiring!

Another message arrived.

‘It’s from Ms. Ichijomodori.’

She must have received the Council convocation schedule.

Opening the message with a welcoming feeling, he found a quite lengthy text.

[This is Ichijomodori Hikaru, who had the honor of joining you in subjugation previously. I hope you have been well. I have been following the news since the start of the year. Let me first offer my congratulations on your auspicious occasions…]

Jung-woo chuckled.

He knew she was proper to a fault, but even accounting for that, the preamble was quite long.

[I have safely completed my final semester and am now preparing for the new one…]

There was a status update on her life.

She seemed to want to share what had happened in the time they hadn’t seen each other.

Then again, she probably didn’t have many people around her to confide in.

Not when her surrounding environment was so hostile.

The main point came only at the very end.

[I have received the schedule for the Council convocation. This must be what you mentioned about the two of us meeting separately. I look forward to it with great anticipation. Sincerely, Ichijomodori Hikaru.]

Fortunately, she had managed to recall and understand what he had said in that urgent situation.

Jung-woo breathed a sigh of relief and sent a brief reply.

[Yes, thank you. See you at the Council!]

A short, curt reply.

After that, he put Hikaru out of his mind.

A role had just opened up in Se-gi’s pretend play.

“Daddy has to lie down here! You’re the patient!”

“Pfft, got it.”

He lay down on the living room floor and closed his eyes.

He savored the sensation of Se-gi tapping his chest with a plastic stethoscope.

So there was no way he could have known.

That before sending this message, Hikaru had agonized over and revised it countless times, and that all through the past winter she had been giddy with anticipation wondering what ‘meeting separately, just the two of us’ might mean.

That when she finally realized the matter was official business, she had kicked her blankets off in profound embarrassment.

Shin Jung-woo, age twenty-four.

A man somewhat oblivious, and burdened with no shortage of guilt.

On March 7th, every major Korean broadcaster, regardless of network, rearranged their programming to deliver a single piece of news.

It was a day for an event of that magnitude.

[Today, the future of Korea will be determined by the outcome of Hunter Shin Jung-woo’s solo subjugation.]

It had been a full year since the hunter regime known as the Management Bureau came to an end.

The day marked the final chapter of the North Korean reclamation, the top-priority initiative that the Association—the new standard of the hunter world—had championed.

The moment the Qilin’s solo subjugation concluded, Pyongan Province—the last bastion—would become clear ground.

The curtain was finally falling on a long endeavor.

There was no need to distinguish between before and after the Millennium Shock.

From children to the elderly, anyone living in this nation understood what it meant to reclaim the entire Korean peninsula.

Reporters talked at a rapid pace.

[Less than two hours remain until the subjugation begins. The live channel is currently tracking Hunter Shin Jung-woo’s vehicle…]

[This is the final stage of the North Korean reclamation. The moment the Qilin is subjugated, Korean Hunters will begin marching north, while Man Nation Hunters plan to advance south to tighten the front line.]

[The key factor is the time required for the subjugation…]

The online chat rooms were electric with excitement.

[Never thought I’d live to see the Korean peninsula reclaimed…]

└ Technically not done yet lol

└ It’s basically confirmed though. With Shin Jung-woo’s specs, no way the Qilin doesn’t go down, and even if something goes wrong, every Korean S-Rank would immediately deploy as backup lmaooo

[So if Shin Jung-woo pulls off this solo subjugation, does that put him at Edmond’s tier?]

└ Honestly, might as well treat them as equals?

└ Having high-rank hunters is basically national prestige. The country’s standing goes way up too.

└ Just think about all the crazy stuff that happened from the moment Shin Jung-woo started activities and Edmond came to Korea lmaooo

Every conversation revolved around Jung-woo and Pyongan Province.

An ordinary person would have felt the pressure or shown concern for public perception.

There was nothing wrong with that.

It was a perfectly natural response for any human being.

That was what PD Nam Sang-geun thought.

Which was why Jung-woo fascinated him.

He was simply inspecting his stuffed animals, as if no external factor mattered in the slightest.

Sang-geun approached Jung-woo and spoke.

“Aren’t you nervous?”

“Ah, Mr. PD.”

“You look remarkably composed.”

“That camera…”

“As always, it’s for recording purposes.”

Only then did Jung-woo smile, looking somewhat relieved.

And he said.

“Yes, I’m quite comfortable. If anything, I think I shouldn’t be nervous right now.”

“Why is that?”

“Because feeling worried means your preparation was insufficient.”

“That’s very much like you, Mr. Shin.”

“Please edit that nicely for the broadcast.”

If the public knew he had enough composure to crack jokes, they would feel even more at ease.

He thought this but kept it to himself.

Sang-geun never forgot that his role was to observe and record.

Throughout the North Korean reclamation, that principle had carried him this far.

“I’ll be rooting for you. As always.”

“Quite a few drones will be flying, right?”

“You have no idea how generously the networks backed this. We pulled out all the stops this time—deployed at least a hundred special drones alone.”

As befitted a finale, the intent was to capture the spectacle as sharply as possible from every angle.

Beyond domestic buzz, the world’s media was watching.

The man himself might feign modesty, but there was a fact no one could deny.

‘The divine presence who halted Edmond Richmond’s solo reign.’

The irregular who ensured that “the pinnacle of humanity” could no longer be Edmond’s title alone.

That was how the world referred to him.

He wanted to show everyone that someone so extraordinary was protecting this nation.

He was itching to brag about the equipment right then, but held his tongue, sensing that letting the results speak for themselves later would be far more dramatic.

As Sang-geun gazed at Jung-woo with a quiet, admiring look—

“I’m afraid I’ll be doing you a disservice.”

“Pardon?”

“The equipment—half of it probably won’t serve its purpose.”

The smile that spread across his face was laden with meaning.

Sang-geun didn’t immediately grasp what he meant.

Nor could he ask further.

“I’ll be back. It won’t take long.”

Having finished gearing up, Jung-woo mounted the Retona.

Nearby, the live cam was rolling while Association hunters bustled about, coordinating their support.

All preparations were complete.

“Depart.”

Jung-woo spoke into the radio.

“Qilin subjugation, commencing.”

Compared to his usual style, it was a remarkably brief report.

Jung-woo pierced through Pyongan Province.

Not for a single moment did he stop thinking.

It was not a matter of how to defeat the enemy.

For Jung-woo, subjugating the Qilin was little more than a rite of passage.

From the moment he resolved on a solo subjugation, from the moment he compared his weapon’s firepower against the enemy’s strength, it had always been this way.

Jung-woo was thinking about what came after victory in battle.

‘I wonder what the atmosphere at the Council will be like.’

Everything was ultimately for what would happen there.

Power was persuasion itself.

It was a bitter truth he felt at every moment while living in the society of superhumans, navigating the storms at its very center.

That was why this solo subjugation served to strengthen his voice at the table where the pinnacle of humanity gathered to deliberate agendas.

So among the countless eyes watching this moment, the ones Jung-woo cared about were eight.

With the convocation next month, every member of the Council would be watching his solo subjugation.

It was an act of self-verification.

Simultaneously, it was a demonstration for them.

Jung-woo had planned with that in mind.

“Entering the point!”

At the driver’s words, Jung-woo’s gaze shifted forward.

Ppyobyobyobyong!

The Shark Avatar had already reached the area ahead, which meant the Qilin had been transformed into a stuffed doll under the influence of the [All-Ages Filter].

A plump deer’s body, a dragon’s head, a lightning-bolt tail, and a unicorn’s horn.

A monster plushie combining elements that should never have blended, yet meshed together in exquisite harmony, stood there.

“Hunter Shin Jung-woo, I’ll reduce speed!”

Jung-woo responded.

“No, you can keep your foot on the gas.”

“Pardon?”

“You can keep going.”

The driver swallowed dryly and pressed the accelerator.

Jung-woo spoke to the driver, who was breathing heavily.

“Don’t worry.”

His voice was gentle.

“It’ll all be over before that thing can do anything.”

This was a demonstration.

So he intended to make it spectacular.

Overwhelming power was persuasion.

If they were the kind of people who could raise objections to his opinions—

‘I need to make sure raising objections isn’t easy.’

At the very least, he had to ensure they wouldn’t hear his words with one ear and let them out the other.

Ppok! Ppokppok!

Stuffed animals were summoned and ran alongside, escorting the Retona.

Jung-woo spoke.

“Begin.”

Immediately, the stuffed animals launched forward.

There was nothing more to add.

Paaaaang—!

Kkirururuk!!!

The time it took to subjugate the Qilin that day was a mere ten seconds.

A record that would not be insufficient even if etched into history.