Episode 105
The Korean battleship soon docked at a Dokdo pier. A helicopter was there, waiting to take Yang Chang-guk and Yoo-seong back to the city.
Yang Chang-guk looked troubled. His expression was a mix of shock, hurt, and regret.
“You don’t have to worry,” Yoo-seong reassured him. “It won’t be a big deal.”
“Not a big deal?” Yang Chang-guk scoffed.
He lost count of how many reports the Special Defense Agency sent him as they sat in the helicopter.
It had only been an hour, and yet the whole of cyberspace was on fire.
The controversy over whether Oh Yoo-seong’s return was real or not had long disappeared. Now, everyone was talking about the Dokdo operation and what Yoo-seong’s post meant.
“How can you say that it won’t be a big deal? It’s already a big deal… you let yourself get caught by Lee Jae-hak’s words…”
It was clear to Yang Chang-guk why Yoo-seong was doing it. There was no doubt that he was now trying to regain their Ki and Tech after Lee Jae-hak’s wild hypothesis.
“Give it a month,” Yoo-seong said.
“Yes?”
“If I have achieved nothing after a month, I will take responsibility for the fuss I made.”
“How…”
“Well, couldn’t I just go on a Japanese TV station?” Yoo-seong said calmly. “I can just kneel and bow and apologize to everyone. ‘Sorry, Japanese citizens. I did something rash and arrogant. This is solely my mistake and has nothing to do with our state. I apologize with all my heart.’”
“Ah, no, you definitely won’t be doing that.” Yang Chang-guk was convinced.
“No. I will surely do it.” Yoo-seong raised his voice at this point. “Actions come with responsibilities. If I can’t fix it, I have to apologize.”
To this, Yang Chang-guk did not respond.
“I cannot promise you this won’t happen again. But I’m not going to mention the Defense Agency or our country. It will all be blamed on me.”
At this point, it was difficult for Yang Chang-guk to say anything.
“I’m not saying… No, actually, I’m not trying to make you take all the blame, Yoo-seong. I was just worried that…”
“Rather than worry, you need to start making plans,” Yoo-seong cut him off.
“Plans?”
“Let’s say I do manage to achieve results in a month. If we prove that Lee Jae-hak’s hypothesis was true and we get the Ki and Tech back, what would you do?”
Yang Chang-guk’s mouth dropped. It was something he had never considered.
“What do you do?” Yoo-seong prodded him. “If Lee Jae-hak is right, then this country has severely neglected the victims. A foreign company has taken all our traditions, and even though one of the victims continued to speak out, the government ignored him.”
Yang Chang-guk had now begun to feel suffocated.
“Director.”
“Yes, I’m listening.”
“Did I say anything wrong? You know I’m not asking you to be responsible for anything.”
“No.”
“I trust you, Director. It’s up to you to make the right decisions and choices.”
That was true. That was why Yoo-seong acted boldly.
“I will bring them back… and when that time comes, you should also be ready to act.”
Yang Chang-guk merely nodded in reply. Meanwhile, Yoo-seong looked tired now that the important part of their discussion was over and done with.
“Why don’t we have another cup of coffee when we arrive?” Yang Chang-guk offered, feeling worried.
Instead of answering, Yoo-seong picked up his cell phone. On the screen, he had just received a distress signal. This meant that a crack had appeared nearby.
Yoo-seong politely bowed his head to Yang Chang-guk. Then, to the Director’s surprise, he jumped out of the helicopter.
It seemed that Yoo-seong was going to miss dinner.
…
Pahaaang-!
A siren was currently indicating that a crack was due to appear in four hours. However, despite the early warning, the streets were still crowded.
According to the manual, all citizens in the crack area must be evacuated four hours before the crack opened. However, the frequency of crack appearances had now turned out to be a problem.
Citizens were experiencing considerable inconveniences due to the crack frequency. They were very tired of the situation.
“Damn, it’s so loud,” an annoyed bus driver murmured. Meanwhile, at the back seat of the bus…
“Oh my God…” a high school student staring at his phone said. His hair was dyed bright yellow.
His classmate, another student with equally neat hair, moved closer. “What is it?”
“This… it’s really annoying. This stupid fool.”
“Who is that?” The neat-haired kid leaned closer. “And lower your voice. We’re not the only ones here.”
The blond boy looked surprised that his classmate didn’t know who the man in the picture was.
“Aren’t you on Twitter?”
“No.”
The blond boy rolled his eyes and moved the screen closer to his classmate’s face.
“Look, you old-fashioned child.”
An SNS screen was on the cell phone the boy handed over.
@SexyHunterUsung
It was Yoo-seong’s account. The number of followers had already reached fifty-one million.
“Can you believe it? Less than forty-eight hours after the account was created, it has already reached fifty-one million!” the blond boy exclaimed.
His classmate shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“He only posted once, but the number of retweets has already exceeded 120,000. It’s a whole new record.”
“Hmm.”
“Where did this crazy guy come from? I really hate to look at him. I wish he’d just died.”
“Hey!” The neat-haired kid stopped him. “Be quiet. It’s not just us here.”
“What? What does it matter?” The blond boy complained.
Suddenly, the man in front of their seat turned to look at them.
“Hey, uncle. What are you looking at…?”
It was then, however…
Beep-!
All the cellphones on the bus rang at once. This was a new disaster alert.
“What is this?!” someone yelled out.
The notification was about a change in the timeframe. It said that the crack would appear earlier than the previously reported measurements.
“Fifteen minutes? How?!”
“Mad bastards!”
“Why are they only telling us now?!”
The road outside the bus was already filled with chaos. People were screaming; cars were making illegal U-turns.
“Hey, we’re in trouble!”
Terrified, the blond student was now near tears. The road had clogged up in an instant. If they got off here, could they run out of the operation area? What about the subway?
“Mr. Driver! Open the door!”
The students rushed out along with the other passengers.
They were young high school students with good physiques, so they were able to hit the road quickly without getting caught by the rush of people. However…
“Ugh!”
Someone groaned behind them, causing the people nearby to look toward the source.
In the rush, an old woman had been pushed around and fallen to the ground. In a short moment of silence…
Everyone’s thoughts were full of conflict. Only one person acted without thinking.
“Are you okay?”
It was the neat-haired student.
He immediately ran to the old woman and supported her, and the old woman could only groan. She couldn’t tell if her leg or hip had been broken.
People looking at her were relieved. This meant that someone would be in charge of the old woman, and they wouldn’t have to deal with her.
“Because of that child…”
“She doesn’t need me…”
Before long, everyone had rationalized and freed themselves from any guilt in their heads. They began to turn and continue their escape, which made the young student panic.
“What are you doing?! Come and help us!”
His blond-haired classmate looked confused. “What? My, I…”
“Hey!” The neat-haired student yelled at him, trying to bring him to his senses.
However…
“If you want to die, you die alone!”
After screaming that, his blond-haired classmate ran.
The student’s face crumpled terribly. He had never felt more helpless in his life.
“Somebody, help! A person is hurt!”
The streets around them were swamped with people, but no one stopped to listen to him.
He bit his lip. He, too, was only a boy. How could he not be scared? However…
‘I, I will be a hunter…’
Besides, he had also been raised by his grandmother. He couldn’t just leave this old woman, who was so hurt that she couldn’t speak, alone in the chaos.
“Grandmother! Are you okay? Can you walk?”
“Uh… uh…”
The neat-haired student calmed his breath. He thought back on what he had read in the manual to help him keep his composure.
‘Even if there is an open crack, so long as you move away from the center, the probability of survival increases,’ he thought. ‘The chances of being rescued by hunters also rise significantly.’
As he looked around, he saw a medium-sized mart across the street.
Fortunately, the old woman was not that big, so if he could take a cart and place her on it…
“Wait a minute!” A firm hand grasped his shoulder just as he began to move across the street.
“What….”
The student looked back. A man had appeared behind him. The man silently pointed to the old woman with his finger.
“Are you going to help us? Thank you very…”
The next moment, he felt himself being carried and placed next to the old woman.
“Do you want to help? Thank…”
Woosh! It appeared that the uncle was harboring enormous power under his belt.
“Ah, uncle? What are you doing?!”
The man put his hand on his mouth before he shook his head.
‘Is he unable to speak?’
Even so, the young man could roughly understand his gestures.
‘He’s going away for a little bit, so he must be asking me to stay with the old woman.’
“Yes. Okay.” The boy nodded his head vigorously.
The man also nodded. Then he kicked the ground.
Bang-!
However, his direction was not toward the mart. It was toward the sky.
The student’s eyes widened.
“That uncle… now… flying…”
He was sailing right toward the crack.
…
‘He’s a good kid.’ Yoo-seong smiled as he took out the Sky Needle.
Jii-
The rift was just about to open. ‘It’s fortunate that this rift is a little smaller than the Thunder-class.’
With its size, it would not cause a major catastrophe, even if Yoo-seong weren’t to appear.
However, because it was a sudden rift and because of its location, it could lead to a big disaster.
Paang-!
Stepping on his footholds, quickly moving his arms in and out, Yoo-seong skillfully closed the crack.
Finally…
“All done.”
He returned to where the boy and the old woman were. The streets were almost stationary at this point. Everyone’s eyes were now on him.
Kew-
A pale pink leaf appeared in his hands, which he crushed into tiny pieces. Auto-Hunt had taken it from inside the crack before he could sew it closed.
‘Lucky this was there,’ he thought as he applied the extract to the old woman’s body.
The Uubella leaf extract produced immediate pain relief with no side-effects.
Soon, the pain disappeared from the old woman’s face. The calming effect it provided was so strong that she fell asleep.
Yoo-seong sighed and lifted her body. Somewhere, someone had begun clapping.
The young man, the one who had stayed by the old woman’s side until the end, stared at Yoo-seong with a mixed expression of surprise and awe.
“Who the hell are you…?” was all he could say.
Yoo-seong looked at the kid. Unfortunately, he couldn’t speak their language.
‘I think I should say something, but…’
“Do you speak Korean?” he asked the kid, just in case.
The boy’s eyes were blank.
Meanwhile, the whole crowd was now applauding. If they had known who they were clapping for, not everyone would have done so.
Yoo-seong sighed.
“It’s just the first day of my visit, but it’s already…”
He shook his head as he watched the people of Tokyo clap for him.
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