"Ah...... I can't move anymore."
"You've done well. Leave the rest to us."
"......Right."
Was there even a "rest" left?
The number of beastmen Kang-hyeok had cut down alone topped a million.
Add the high-ranking officers, the nuclear weapons, and all the military hardware.
The beastmen in North Korea had lost most of their fighting strength.
The Ryuhan army hunted down the remnants and monsters, expanding its territory at a rapid pace.
'How many of ours were lost?'
Thanks to the Legion and Division Commanders holding off the air units' attacks, the damage had been greatly reduced.
Still, over 100,000 soldiers had surely lost their lives.
Kang-hyeok let out a small sigh and sank into thought.
"Have we secured the beastmen's weapons?"
"Yes, we've secured enough weapons and armor to equip 100,000 men. Beyond that, we're plundering as the war goes on. We're moving all the weapons and armor toward Kaesong on the freight trucks Korea supplied."
"......"
Kang-hyeok nodded and summoned 100,000 Homunculi in the mountains near Kaesong.
They received two days of simple training, were issued rifles and armor, and committed to the front.
Each time more weapons and armor were secured, fresh forces were thrown in, and thanks to that the Ryuhan army succeeded in seizing Pyongyang in just five days.
The commotion at the border had left Koreans trembling in fear, but at the news that the Ryuhan army had seized Pyongyang, the fear turned to cheers.
"They say the Ryuhan Emperor wiped out the Beastman Grand Generals and Generals!"
"Th-Then isn't he stronger than even Park Kang-hyeok?"
"No, Park Kang-hyeok wiped out the Generals aboard the warships too."
"There was only one Grand General, though, they say. The other Grand Generals crossed over to China......"
"Well, that's true, but......"
Koreans began to think the Ryuhan Emperor might just be a powerhouse who surpassed Park Kang-hyeok.
Meanwhile, Kang-hyeok pushed north with the Ryuhan army and reached Sinuiju.
Kiak, the Beastman Grand General stationed at Sinuiju, gritted his teeth at the Ryuhan army's assault.
CRASH! Ka-ka-krash!
The city was ablaze.
Not even the reinforcements sent from Manchuria could hold off the Ryuhan army.
The more enemies the Ryuhan army cut down, the stronger it grew.
The same held true even when they used rifles.
The imperial troops raised their vitality each time their status level rose.
So they could keep moving that much longer.
Rat-tat-tat! Tat!
"Fire!"
"Hraah!"
Shwaaa—! Kaboom!
Countless slashes flew into the city.
Grand General Kiak gripped his straight sword and mounted a counterattack, but—
Shwaaa—!
"......?!"
The moment Kang-hyeok's slash bore down, he had no choice but to hastily fall back.
"R-Retreat!"
Kiak piled into a vehicle, crossed the Yalu River, and fled into Manchuria.
Having razed Sinuiju to the ground, the Ryuhan army then crossed east and began gnawing away at North Korean territory one region at a time.
Thanks to summoning Homunculi at a steady pace, the Ryuhan army's numbers swelled to 2.6 million.
Of course, the fallen numbered over 900,000.
And the wounded reached some 300,000 as well.
And so, two full months passed in the occupation of North Korea alone.
Hearing of the Ryuhan Empire's victory, Korea hastily committed its military into North Korea.
The people of Korea marveled at the reunification of the peninsula.
"Never in my life did I think we'd reunify with North Korea......"
"They say no one lives in North Korea now. Still, it's fairly rich in resources, and the beastmen were already mining them. We're told we can just carry on the beastmen's mining."
"So Kaesong, Pyongyang, and Sinuiju all go to the Ryuhan Empire?"
"Yes. Most of Korea's share is mountainous terrain, they say. Still, Baekdusan became South Korean territory, so if the chance comes up someday, it'd be nice to go see it."
The Ryuhan Empire came to hold more than half of Seohae Province and Pyeongan Province, and decided to found its capital where Pyongyang had stood.
After that, having recovered by-products from the monsters they'd slain, the Ryuhan Empire received a 1 billion dollar loan from the Korean government and placed massive orders for construction materials, daily necessities, food, and the like.
They also signed contracts with Korea's three major construction firms, and decided to lease skeletons from GH Guild.
Of course, leasing all thirty thousand skeletons wasn't feasible.
Korea, too, had to restore the damage from the war with the spirit race.
And the reclaimed Jeolla and Gyeongsang had to begin restoration as well.
As peninsular reunification got underway, the U.S., China, Japan, and Russia lodged fresh, strong protests with the Korean government.
Even raising the prospect of economic sanctions.
[The North Korean regime persists to this day on Chinese soil. Korea and the Ryuhan Empire must immediately return the territory to the North Korean government. We, the People's Republic of China, strongly condemn the Ryuhan Empire's and Korea's act of unlawfully occupying North Korean territory.]
China signaled that the territory should be ceded to the surviving North Korean regime, while the U.S. argued that North Korean territory should be managed by UN forces and the United States.
Russia and Japan quietly angled in as well, expressing their intent to manage some portion of North Korean territory themselves.
Korea pushed back hard.
[The territory of the Republic of Korea comprises the Korean Peninsula and its adjacent islands. This is stipulated in the Constitution, and the fall of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea was confirmed two years ago; the northern territory is therefore to be administered as territory of the Republic of Korea.]
Korea carved out parts of Seohae Province and Pyeongan Province, the northern part of Gangwon Province, and Jagang, Ryanggang, South Hamgyong, and North Hamgyong Provinces into new administrative districts.
It committed some 100,000 soldiers and, through swift contracts with construction firms, launched city-development projects in the new administrative districts.
At this, the surrounding nations grew furious and moved to impose economic sanctions, including raising tariffs.
"Fuck, at this rate isn't our country's economy going to get wrecked?"
"A dollar's already over 2,000 won. If this keeps up, Korea's economy might collapse!"
"We might get a second IMF crisis. Foreigners are dumping all their shares of Korean companies right now."
"No, why is the U.S. throwing a fit?! If they were that unhappy, they should've harshly criticized Korea's Constitution ages ago! And the Ryuhan Empire is the one that occupied North Korea! They protected Korea from the spirit race and the beastmen!"
"Even so, with prices climbing this fast......"
Korea's economy began crumbling at a rapid pace.
Businesses were just as anxious.
Then, from the Ryuhan Empire, a flood of orders poured in.
[Ryuhan Empire purchases 100,000 K2 rifles from Korea......!]
[Ryuhan Empire orders 5 million swords from Korea?]
[Ryuhan army secured Mana Stones worth some 200 billion won in the course of occupying North Korea......]
[Ryuhan army captures the beastmen's weapons and warships.]
The Ryuhan army secured everything that could be turned to money, sold it to Korea, and in return ordered equipment like rifles and swords.
An endless stream of freight trucks and construction equipment poured into Ryuhan territory.
"First, demolish all the buildings......"
Apartments and commercial buildings would all be built by modular construction.
Factories and warehouses would be built using panels.
The construction firms were puzzled.
'The number of factories seems...... awfully high for the population, doesn't it?'
The Ryuhan Empire planned to import all its raw materials from Korea.
And Korea, of course, imported raw materials from China.
Though China had raised tariffs on Korea by tens of percent......
"That issue is expected to resolve itself to some degree over time."
GH Guild Vice Master Arbon drew up a report and submitted it.
"China currently has two State-Power-Class Hunters. But even those two are struggling to hold off the ongoing attacks."
"I hear a lot of the spirit race from Jeju crossed over to China."
"Yes. It seems they're planning to dominate the Asian continent. There are currently three dimensions attacking China: the spirit race's dimension, Aronion; and the beastman dimensions, Rokna and Horben. Aronion has seized China's east, and Rokna has seized the Manchuria region, threatening even Beijing, the Chinese capital."
"And Horben...... is running wild in the center and south?"
"Yes, that's right. The number of demihumans active in China is estimated at over ten million, and they too possess all sorts of weapons made with advanced technology."
Of course, even those weapons couldn't withstand a Grandmaster's slash.
"China has currently lost over 20% of its territory to the demihumans. Since the recent war in Korea, demihuman activity has grown livelier in China and Japan as well."
"Doesn't China have a cooperating dimension?"
"Yes, that's right. They too are sending forces to China to hold off Rokna's beastmen."
Driving the beastmen out of Manchuria was impossible.
They were merely holding them off.
"Recently, they say the beastmen broke through as far as Chengde, about a hundred kilometers from Beijing. And I've heard even the capital, Beijing, has been attacked by Rokna's air units."
"In other words......"
"Yes, they'll request help from the Ryuhan Empire and Korea."
Asking them to jointly attack the beastmen in Manchuria.
"That's why China, unlike Japan, hasn't imposed export restrictions on us."
"More to the point, so the demihumans really possess weapons on par with nuclear arms......"
"It appears to be true. Because of it, the U.S. and China can't recklessly use nuclear weapons, apparently."
Likewise, the demihumans wary of nuclear powers like the U.S. and China refrained from using nukes as well.
Use a nuke carelessly, and the dimension called Earth might be driven to ruin.
If the relay dimension connecting one world to another were destroyed, dominating other dimensions would become impossible too.
"Why do they want to dominate other dimensions?"
"......I suspect it's environmental problems and resource depletion. Each dimension has apparently waged nuclear war several times. Because of nuclear use, the dimensions are suffering all kinds of environmental crises. Some dimensions reportedly have problems with food supply. And with resources depleting, they're apparently short on resources to pass down to the next generation."
"And that information......"
"They say it was obtained from demihumans captured alive by various nations."
Kang-hyeok checked the report and nodded.
"Earth is a space that relays other dimensions. There's a chance still more dimensions will be connected. And Earth is far too small to share with other dimensions. I suspect that only by seizing the whole of Earth can they feed a single dimension."
"Hmm......"
"Of course, there may be other issues tangled up in it too, like a security dilemma. Or it may simply be a desire to dominate all dimensions. In fact, the Dragon race and Dragonkin active in Russia are said to want every race beneath their feet."