Around the time when the whole world was feeling threatened by the dungeon break in Saudi Arabia.
“Head to the presidential residence!”
“Yes.”
Despite the late hour, Jeon Young-joo, the head of the Awakening Bureau of South Korea, rushed to the presidential residence upon the urgent summons.
He had just woken up after receiving a report about a Level 8 dungeon break occurring in Saudi Arabia.
Since it was late at night and the roads were clear, he arrived quickly.
The parking lot was already packed with vehicles.
“I’m late. My apologies.”
“No, it’s fine. Please, come in.”
Inside the president’s office, not only Kim Geon-woong but also several others had gathered.
Among them were high-ranking ministers from various departments and Awakeners.
Among the notable figures were Baek Tae-seop, the head of the Iron Blood Group, Johann from the Terror Guild, and Han Seok-jun from Ara Hongryeon.
“Apologies for contacting you at such a late hour.”
“Hmm, I was already awake due to the news of the Level 8 dungeon break. It’s fine.”
Baek Tae-seop spoke on behalf of the group.
“As you may have heard on your way here, the Level 8 dungeon break in Saudi Arabia has already been resolved.”
“Hmm…”
“A Level 8 break was resolved in just a few hours?”
“Isn’t Saudi Arabia up to something? That doesn’t make any sense.”
While everyone was sharing their opinions, Kim Geon-woong slowly opened his mouth.
“The Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia personally contacted me, expressing gratitude for resolving this crisis.”
“??”
Everyone looked at Kim Geon-woong in confusion, unable to comprehend his words.
“Mr. President, what do you mean by ‘resolving’ this crisis?”
“One of our country’s Awakeners reportedly handled the dungeon break. The Prime Minister directly expressed his gratitude and conveyed that Saudi Arabia wishes to become an ally of South Korea, not just as a friendly nation but also as a supporting and allied country for Awakeners.”
“W-What…?”
“One of our Awakeners resolved the break? What does that even mean…”
The room buzzed with murmurs.
At this point, the situation felt so surreal that it bordered on cognitive dissonance.
“There’s no Awakener in our country capable of stopping a Level 8 dungeon break.”
“Was it really a Level 8 break? I already thought it was odd for such an incident to happen at King Fahd International Airport, but resolving a Level 8 break in just a couple of hours is absurd.”
“Saudi Arabia must be hiding something.”
Most people were skeptical of the unbelievable story.
However, one person—Han Seok-jun—remained silent and observed.
At first, he also found the news absurd, but he suddenly flinched as he recalled an Awakener who had recently gone to Saudi Arabia.
‘Kyu-seong?’
Kyu-seong always reported to the guild before entering or exiting a dungeon, even when traveling abroad.
He had recently informed them about his trip to Saudi Arabia, and Han Seok-jun had been worried about him just as this incident unfolded.
Gulp.
No matter how he thought about it, it seemed that Kyu-seong was the one who had resolved the situation.
‘…So, he finally revealed himself.’
Han Seok-jun, who was aware of some of Kyu-seong’s hidden abilities, sighed quietly as he observed the reactions of those around him.
The room was filled with heated debates.
But eventually, it all came down to one question.
“Who exactly is this Awakener?”
“There’s no way someone in our country could have stopped a Level 8 dungeon break alone. In the first place, do we even have someone strong enough?”
“We don’t even have a Level 9 Awakener in our country. How could we have helped?”
Even Kim Geon-woong, who had personally spoken with the Saudi Prime Minister, shook his head.
“The Saudi side has chosen to keep the identity of the Awakener confidential. We’ll have to figure it out ourselves.”
“We can check the list of Awakeners who recently left for Saudi Arabia.”
At that moment, Baek Tae-seop, who had been listening quietly, spoke.
“We can confirm it, but we must not interfere.”
“What do you mean by that, Mr. Baek?”
One of the ministers asked.
Baek Tae-seop responded as if it were obvious.
“If Saudi Arabia is keeping it a secret, it means the Awakener requested it. There’s no need to stir up trouble. What if we provoke them and they decide to defect to Saudi Arabia?”
“Hmm…”
“I agree with checking, but we must not interfere.”
Everyone nodded at Baek Tae-seop’s words.
Except for Han Seok-jun.
However, he wasn’t worried.
After all, only he knew that Lee Kyu-seong had traveled to Saudi Arabia.
Due to his numerous activities, Kyu-seong had a simplified immigration process with confidentiality guarantees, meaning no one would know about his departure unless he revealed it himself.
Not even the president.
Furthermore, he had used Hassan’s private jet, making his trip even harder to trace.
It was a privilege that only Kyu-seong, among South Korean citizens, possessed.
And now, it was proving invaluable.
After some time, the chief secretary returned after checking the list of Awakeners who had traveled to Saudi Arabia.
“There has been no one in the past month.”
“Huh?”
“There have been no Awakeners traveling to Saudi Arabia recently. Many civilians have, but no awakened ones were found.”
“Hmm, then it could have been someone who left over a month ago.”
“Or maybe one of the civilians awakened while in Saudi Arabia?”
“That’s a possibility we can’t rule out.”
While the presidential residence was chasing a false lead—
News of the dungeon break’s resolution in Saudi Arabia was spreading to countries worldwide.
***
The mermaid kingdom was larger than expected.
From what I heard, it had a population of over 2,000, making it more of a fortress than a nation.
‘It’s too small to be considered a country.’
We followed the guidance of the mermaid king, Red Scale, and made our way to the palace.
The palace, which must have once been beautiful, had been corroded by polluted water, its colors faded, making it look dilapidated.
Shhh.
Leviathan crept up beside me, glancing at me cautiously.
Finding the sight adorable—like a small dog—I smiled and waved my hand.
Startled, Leviathan quickly fled to Ara’s side.
As we entered the palace, we saw hallways and corridors that must have once been beautifully decorated.
However, now they looked worn and aged, as if they had taken the full brunt of time.
Once we sat down, Red Scale spoke.
“I’d like to hear about the negotiations. Since this is your first visit, I’m quite curious.”
“Before that, I have a question. Was this place always this polluted?”
“Hmm, so even outsiders can sense the contamination here. Well, with water this murky, it would be strange not to notice.”
After a brief moment of thought, Red Scale pointed at Leviathan.
“Our guardian dragon, Leviathan, is purifying the contamination around this sacred fortress. Thanks to that, we are able to survive.”
“Oh.”
So Leviathan was doing such an important task.
Despite its adorable sea dragon appearance.
“If we step outside the fortress, even we cannot handle the contamination in the water. It wasn’t always like this. To be precise, it started after we became isolated.”
“Isolated?”
“The world we originally lived in was much larger. But at some point, our world fragmented, and the spaces were separated.”
Ah, it seemed like they were referring to the world becoming a dungeon.
This aligned with the scholars’ hypothesis that dungeons were originally parts of a vast world.
“Hmm.”
Suddenly, I recalled the tiny beings of Chiyon.
Could it be that their world was also undergoing dungeonization?
A world swallowed by a dungeon becomes a dungeon itself.
Perhaps the monsters in Chiyon had escaped through a dungeon break, and once the world could no longer handle the monsters, it was fragmented into yet another dungeon.
‘That actually makes sense.’
But this wasn’t the time to dwell on that.
“Is there no way to stop the water pollution from worsening?”
“We can barely maintain the current state. But even that is uncertain. Leviathan’s purification ability is impressive, but his power is focused elsewhere.”
I see.
I was curious about Leviathan’s exact abilities, but I decided to look into that later and focus on the matter at hand.
I took out an oyster once again.
Immediately, the mermaid royalty showed interest.
The mermaid prince, who had already tasted one earlier, looked at it with sparkling eyes, nearly drooling.
Or rather—was he already drooling?
It was hard to tell underwater.
Anyway, I handed some oysters to the royal family.
“What is this?”
“It’s a type of seafood called an oyster, harvested from my homeland. Please, try it.”
The mermaid prince eagerly took it and shared it with his family.
“Wow!”
“Ooh!”
The younger mermaid, seemingly too young to converse properly, simply made delighted noises.
They were such adorable mermaid siblings.
“Oh my, what is this…?”
“This freshness! This texture and taste! It must be divine food, Your Majesty!”
The queen, along with another mermaid, reacted in amazement.
Red Scale also took a bite and widened his eyes in shock.
“Delicious! You mean to say this seafood comes from your land?”
“Yes. It’s abundant there.”
“Hah. How envious. Do you have more?”
“I do.”
“Oh! Then you intend to negotiate with that!”
Bartering, huh?
“No.”
“Hmm?”
As I handed an oyster to Leviathan, who had sneaked closer again, I spoke.
“I’m not here to sell oysters. My proposal is for everyone here to relocate.”
“Relocate? You mean for us to move?”
“That’s right.”
The mermaid royal family fell into silence at the sudden proposal.
After a brief pause, Red Scale spoke again.
“Where would we relocate to? And why should we?”
“You would move to the sea where I live—a place overflowing with fresh seafood like this.”
“Is that even possible?”
At that moment, Ara, who had been listening nearby, shouted.
“It is possible! We can move through a gate!”
“Huh?”
Seeing Red Scale’s confusion, I explained in more detail.
“I have the ability to move between spaces. More precisely, I can travel to my homeland from anywhere. Using this, we can relocate everyone.”
“……”
“In fact, the reason I came here was to take Leviathan with me. But now that I’ve met all of you, I figured it would be best to bring everyone along.”
“Hmm, that’s a very sudden proposal.”
“I understand.”
Only my familiars could travel using Gluttony’s Domain.
So for this relocation to work, they would all have to become my familiars.
I couldn’t force them, nor could I let them experience it beforehand.
It would be easiest to show them, but that wasn’t an option.
However, at that moment—
[Envy Leviathan has been registered as a subordinate familiar.]
“…Huh?”
A notification appeared out of nowhere.
Confused, I turned my gaze to see Leviathan wagging its tail, looking at me with adoring eyes.
Wait…
Did it really become my familiar just because I gave an oyster?
What an innocent creature.
It didn’t suit the title of Envy Leviathan at all.
“Um, Your Majesty.”
“Hmm, I’m still considering it.”
“Actually, that’s not it… Leviathan has just become my familiar.”
“What do you mean?”
“Uh, in other words… he’s now my subordinate.”
“…?”
Well, it’s unfortunate that you don’t have more time to think, Your Majesty.
Looks like you’ll have to come along, too.
Cliche Novel 
Thanks for the update!
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