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Jinseong was headed straight for that border.

It was the India-China border, which had been the site of ongoing tension for decades.

‘Actually, I could go to Vietnam instead.’

Of course, the India-China border wasn’t the only way to cross. There was also access through the Vietnam border.

Particularly, the Vietnam-China border was a hellish jungle that had seen no development whatsoever, filled with booby traps and tunnels all set up to prevent infiltration by Special Forces made up of capable individuals.

Considering that Jinseong primarily dealt with magic involving primitive sorcery, microorganisms, and insects, it might even be easier for him to venture there.

However… the problem was that he would have to navigate quite the troublesome gateway to get through.

For a long time, Vietnam and China hadn’t been on good terms.

Well, that’s only natural, isn’t it?

Historically, China had long coveted the Indochina Peninsula where Vietnam is located, always plotting and referring to the area as ‘Nanman’ (southern barbarians), looking down on the people living there.

And Vietnam had been struggling for a long time to avoid being swallowed by China.

So if they were on good terms, that would indeed be strange.

This situation continued into modern times.

No, it would be more accurate to say that it has worsened compared to the past.

They had started to act even more overtly than before.

In the past, China did not rush to devour the region, content instead to receive tributes while firmly establishing the hierarchy. Their traditional diplomatic policy of ‘Yi Yi Je Yi’ (using barbarians to control barbarians) had been merely utilitarian.

Moreover, due to a culture centered around maintaining face, they did not act like ravenous wolves openly. Well… “openly,” that is.

But now, such concerns were thrown out the window.

It was basic to use all sorts of tricks to subjugate economically and diplomatically.

They even attempted to take over Vietnam’s entire nation by leveraging the Chinese community established there and were caught trying to control the Vietnamese media to create a pro-China atmosphere.

They even distorted Vietnam’s history just like they did with Korea, consistently attempting to assimilate it into their own narrative.

Claiming that Nam Viet, which existed in Northern Vietnam, was a Chinese regional regime, insisting that the Vietnamese were a minority of China, and transforming historical Vietnamese heroes into Chinese figures, all while cleverly twisting the wars between Vietnam and China into a “fight between the local government of Vietnam and the central government of China” to frame it as a civil war couldn’t have been bolder in their ambitions.

They truly portrayed themselves like wolves with no intention of hiding their greedy desires.

Moreover, in military terms, they continuously engaged in provocations.

It was basic for them to send soldiers along the border openly.

There had been numerous instances where they disguised capable people as ordinary soldiers to injure or kill Vietnamese soldiers at the border. They also trained provocations like crossing the border under the guise of training or courage tests… They seemed to breathe provocations.

They even took control of Vietnamese military manufacturers to supply inferior products or installed backdoors in electronics to spy on confidential information. There were multiple times they were caught setting up eavesdropping devices in military facilities.

They even attempted to entice budding soldiers into defecting to China, threatening assassination if they refused.

At one point, a war between China and Vietnam almost broke out.

China was startled by Vietnam’s aggressive actions and,

to restrain them, they negotiated to avoid war with the urging of the U.S., which was trying to check China.

Well, it’s not like those habits just disappear.

After a while, China came to the judgment that they could directly confront the U.S. and began provoking Vietnam again, even sailing aircraft carriers into Vietnamese waters as part of their provocations.

Of course, Vietnam did not ignore such provocations from China, frequently inviting the U.S. Navy to Da Nang in central Vietnam to send the message, “We’ll side with the U.S. if things go south,” warning China time and again.

Yeah.

That’s how it was….

“The U.S. has gone insane.”

It was supposed to work out, even with a few bumps in the road. But suddenly, the U.S. changed.

As neocons infiltrated one by one, seizing control of government organizations, they began to proclaim neo-conservatism and isolationism, causing the situation to shift in peculiar ways.

They stopped calling themselves the world’s police and ceased their proactive diplomatic interventions.

Not only that, but their already poor understanding of foreign countries plummeted to catastrophic levels, leading to extreme selfishness where they only cared about their own well-being. Patriotism suddenly surged while anti-intellectualism combined with it… A truly horrific situation unfolded.

And this “horrific situation” was the emergence of an individual who should never have become a diplomat in the first place.

“I don’t know the details, but… according to a mercenary from Vietnam, there was a white supremacist who came over and made a statement like ‘the burden of whites,’ right?”

Not to mention, spouting phrases like civilization and barbarism, attempting to connect with criminal organizations in Vietnam to procure drugs, and even getting caught trying to smuggle high-purity cocaine in a diplomatic pouch, causing complete disgrace. When exposed, he reacted vehemently, shamelessly stating to reporters that he would return to his country to face punishment—

Truly a disaster of a human being, in every sense.

A shocking fact was that this druggie was not selected for his abilities.

He got there through ‘ideological scrutiny.’

Ideological scrutiny.

Right.

He qualified to be a diplomat because he perfectly aligned with the ideology that the neocons favored.

Well, it may have also played a role that he didn’t consider Vietnam to be important.

…It’s puzzling from a common-sense perspective how someone could regard a country—needed to establish good diplomatic relations to counter China and expand influence in Asia—as ‘unimportant’, but—if they were acting with common sense, they wouldn’t be neocons, so perhaps this was more common sense than anything else.

Naturally, Vietnam, having tasted the bitter fruit of America’s madness, had no choice but to take action.

Just recently, didn’t Korea and Japan almost go to war, only to realize America had gone mad and move into a reconciliation atmosphere?

Vietnam felt just as massive a shock as Korea and Japan did.

They recognized that the Americans had gone insane and that it had become difficult to leverage America to check China.

Thus, Vietnam deployed capable individuals across border areas and key facilities.

With all sorts of privileges in place.

So the Vietnam border area had transformed into a truly impenetrable fortress.

In the cities near the border, they built villas for those capable individuals known as Dragons or Immortals, allowing them to stay there and guard the border, while summoners were deployed to patrol the jungle periodically. They also dug tunnels to insert special forces, preparing to fend off invading Chinese troops and even fortified several locations underground to station soldiers.

Not only that, but after training various animals, they installed surveillance devices to have them patrol, and laid out biological weapons throughout the border area. If the Chinese army invaded, they intended to detonate them to annihilate the enemy.

Thus, the Vietnam border area had become a minefield of traps, extensive monitoring, and capable warriors. Coupled with the harsh jungle environment, which was difficult for humans to endure, dubbed the ‘Green Desert’ or ‘Green Hell.’

This is precisely why Jinseong chose India instead of Vietnam.

It would be a more sensible decision.

“Ho ho ho. I never expected to be welcomed by anyone here.”

“Musa jaein, seongsa jaecheon.”

Even if plans are laid, their success depends on cause and effect.

Sometimes foolish choices lead to good outcomes, while wise ones result in the opposite.

Unfortunately, Park Jinseong could not easily pass through the Indian border.

Because there were those waiting for him.

“Welcome, Seeker, Park. Jin. Seong.”

“The sage is awaiting you.”

 

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