CHAPTER 128
128 The Greatest Swordsman
He returned to Seoul. After getting off the plane and going through immigration, there was someone waiting to meet him.
"Jinwoo! It's been a while."
"Chartia."
He had told her he was returning today, and she had come all the way to see him. She said there were things she wanted to say and things she needed to say.
"How was New Delhi?"
"It was a good city. There were many historical buildings."
He had only peacefully toured New Delhi on the first day, but he remembered the various things he had seen. There were many tall buildings befitting a city center, but various cultural assets were also preserved as much as possible. Many were also being restored at the city level.
"I heard you were invited by Mahiri. When did you two get so close?"
"Actually, I'm closer to Kalesian than Mahiri. I received this invitation because I had business with Kalesian."
"Oh my, is that so?"
Chartia hummed and took out her car keys. She pressed a button, and the locks disengaged, the doors opening. Jinwoo got into the passenger seat next to her. The car he had driven was fine, as he had put it in his inventory before going to New Delhi.
The car started with a smooth vibration. As it entered the road, the airport grew more distant. After they had driven for a while, Jinwoo spoke first.
"I heard the Erosion has stopped."
"That's right. I don't know if it's truly stopped, but they say it hasn't appeared at all recently."
"Could you tell me the details? I was in a place where it was difficult to get news."
"Of course. Not much has been revealed, but I'll tell you what I know."
Chartia explained the process of how the Erosion had disappeared. In fact, it was more about the process of realizing it had disappeared.
The astonishment at the time and the process of the world's expectations swelling. Information coming in from the field guilds that primarily handled the Erosion. She still had several informants in her hometown of New York, so a lot of information was coming from there as well.
He didn't learn anything new, but he could gauge the world's reaction to the disappearing Erosion. Overall, they were 'hopeful.'
"Unlike Gates, the Erosion is a disaster that comes suddenly... Everyone is hoping it won't appear ever again."
"What about the guilds specializing in Erosion? Haven't those people lost their jobs?"
"That's true, but they're Hunters too. They can enter Gates, and depending on their abilities, they could get good treatment even if they transfer to a regular company, don't you think?"
Still, a few might be disappointed. Usually, joining an Erosion-specializing guild meant you wanted a job that was safer than Gates but paid more than a regular company, filling a demand somewhere in between.
But such people were a minority, and most were happy that the Erosion was gone. No, even that minority was mostly happy for the sake of their families and relatives. There were very few people who were genuinely disappointed that the Erosion, a disaster, had disappeared.
"I see..."
The Erosion blocked the world's circulation and sucked away the planet's essence. Earth was a ruined planet with not a single drop of essence left, but Jerakson had tried to take away even that little bit remaining.
It was fortunate that he had protected it. But the situation wouldn't improve just because the Erosion stopped appearing. The status quo would just continue.
To restore the damaged planetary essence, the land and water that had already died and turned black had to be restored. That was a completely separate matter from the Erosion disappearing.
"I heard the Black Land has recovered."
That separate matter had begun to happen almost simultaneously. It was certainly a good thing, but he had an even stronger bad feeling about it.
"That's right! It's in the southwest of Hong Kong, near the Huabei Plain. Do you think it's related to the Erosion disappearing?"
Chartia said cheerfully and stepped on the accelerator. The car, which had been stopped at a signal, started moving again.
"It could be a coincidence, but given the timing, it's probably not entirely unrelated."
"You think so? Well, the experts will figure that out. But I'm very interested in the recovered land."
Chartia had always been one to travel around the world trying to make plants grow. So it was natural that she would be the first to jump at the news that the land was recovering.
According to her, researchers, dignitaries, and Hunters from all over the world were gathering in Hong Kong. The scale was even larger than the time thirty S-class Hunters had gathered for the island incident.
If they could determine the reason and cause for the recovery of the Black Land, they could reclaim humanity's land. Under that banner, experts from numerous fields were converging.
"Is Hong Kong the only place where recovered land has been found? What about other places?"
"They're looking, but not yet. It's possible someone found some and is hiding it... but the chances are low. In the current climate, hiding something like that would draw international condemnation."
For now, only the Huabei Plain has been identified. Since it was close to Hong Kong, that area was being investigated with particular vigor.
"It's a relief it's not in some remote wilderness."
"It makes research easier, and even if a place like the North Pole recovered, it wouldn't be of much use."
If it was a remote area where people couldn't live even if it wasn't Black Land, its recovery wouldn't mean much. The resources from that land could be mined, but resources could also be obtained from Gates. What humanity needed now was land where people could live.
"I heard from Mayor Ma Doo-sik. You've decided to join the investigation team, right?"
"Yes. Is our departure the day after tomorrow?"
Chartia was also included in the official investigation team sent from Seoul. Not only was it a perfect job for her abilities, but she had also strongly wished for it.
It turned out that Jinwoo was squeezing into a pre-arranged list, but no one on the team had objected. Since they didn't know what might happen in a foreign land, the addition of a strong Hunter was always welcome.
"The Huabei Plain is already famous for having a lot of monsters."
"Did they say it wasn't being managed properly?"
"It's such a vast plain, so some of it is unavoidable, but there are also rumors that they just don't manage it well in the first place."

Because of that, strong military power was essential for the investigation. Just to scoop up a handful of recovered soil, they would have to break through countless monster fields.
The Hong Kong authorities had permitted investigations from other countries but said they could not lend their own Hunters. They couldn't risk the lives of their country's Hunters for another country's investigation.
Therefore, the dispatched investigation teams included many Hunters for security, and Jinwoo was one of them. Chartia was listed on the research side rather than security, but in a pinch, her combat power would also be helpful.
"I'll be in your care."
"Likewise, I'll be in your care."
He had been with Chartia during the Grisella incident, and they were together again this time. It was a strange fate that they ended up together whenever he went outside the city.

The Seoul investigation team arrived in Hong Kong and settled into a pre-booked hotel.
Currently, so many people were visiting Hong Kong that it wasn't easy to make a group reservation, but since it was a matter between nations, it seemed to have worked out somehow. Mayor Ma Doo-sik had also paid close attention to this matter.
"It's already late today, so let's depart tomorrow morning."
The person in charge, the investigation team leader, was a researcher with a friendly impression and small glasses. Following his words, the team members dispersed to spend their time on their own. Some rested to manage their condition, while others gathered in small groups to discuss the upcoming investigation.
Jinwoo was alone on a terrace set up on one side of the hotel lobby, fiddling with a tablet.
"So this is a video from the site."
The tablet contained pre-loaded data. The investigation was already underway, so there was some information available.
However, he didn't understand the specialized geological terms, graphs, and figures. What Jinwoo was focused on were the photos and videos of the site taken by drones.
'There are certainly a lot of monsters.'
The words that it wasn't managed properly seemed to be true, as the place was teeming with monsters. The area around Seoul didn't have this many monsters. This was because specialized guilds went out to exterminate them.
But Hong Kong wasn't like that, and there were many monsters even around the city. It seemed they didn't feel the need for extermination unless the monsters were about to touch the barrier.
'That's one way to do it.'
It was the city's policy, so it wasn't Jinwoo's place to interfere. He thought it was safer to clean up in advance, but that also cost money.
He focused on watching the video instead. Most of the videos were cut off abruptly, as if they had been attacked and the drones destroyed.
Still, they had kept sending them out to film, so there was no problem in examining the site.
'I can definitely see a place that isn't black.'
In the densely covered black plain, there was a place that seemed to be left all alone. It was isolated like a circular mystery circle. That was the place where the Black Land was said to have recovered.
'I won't know for sure until I see it in person, but it's definitely different from the surroundings.'
From the video alone, he couldn't tell if the land had truly recovered. Chartia might know, but Jinwoo didn't have that kind of knowledge about land.
However, he could clearly feel that it was different from its surroundings. And there, monsters were fighting, spilling blood.
'It looks like they're fighting over territory.'
In the surrounding Black Land, there were relatively few battles. It wasn't that there were no conflicts, but nothing was actively aggressive.
But in the place called the recovered land, a brawl was taking place as if a war had broken out. As if clinging to a single rope lowered into hell, they all struggled to claim that land.
A bird with large feathers, a reptile that looked like a wingless dragon, a beast with tusks larger than an elephant's—all were shedding blood and fighting.
Jinwoo had seen such a sight somewhere before.
'...It reminds me of the castle on the 3rd Floor.'
The place where Jinwoo had temporarily taken refuge with the elves when Rondar took control of the 3rd Floor.
The shadow castle, said to be the castle of the God of Twilight, had been like this. All sorts of monsters had crowded together to claim the only moonlight shining within the castle.
"...I'll know when I get there."
He would find out if that was really the case when he went there tomorrow. Jinwoo turned off the video and closed his eyes.
"#@$@%@!"
Just then, he heard murmuring voices looking in his direction. It was Chinese, so he couldn't understand it, but three people were causing the disturbance. All three had swords at their waists.
Many Hunters in Hong Kong used swords. There were many ability users related to swords, and even if they didn't have a sword ability, Hunters were basically taught swordsmanship.
He thought there was no need to learn the sword if you didn't have a sword ability, but that was the city's culture. Those three were probably such Hunters.
"!@#!$@$"
They strode up to Jinwoo and spoke to him. When Jinwoo shrugged to indicate he didn't understand, the three people looked at each other. The one on the right spoke in a halting tone.
"Kang Jinwoo, Seoul's greatest swordsman, correct?"
Swordsman was another old-fashioned expression.