Chapter 30: 5★ Storm of the North Sea Mirien – (3)

The fierce rain and wind struck my face.

A floating sensation took over, but gravity still pulled my legs toward the ground.

A dizzying sense of weightlessness, and the sinking feeling in my heart.

Fortunately, my body never crashed into the ground. 

At some point, something seemed to grab me, gently slowing my descent.

Wooong.

An exhilarating sensation, as if soaring through the sky.

On the ground, Mirien was hurriedly casting magic with both hands raised.

This was exactly why I chose free fall. 

There was no way someone as powerful as her—practically a walking catastrophe—would fail to catch a mere falling human.

Well, even if Mirien had left me to my fate, the worst that could happen from this height would be a broken leg or two.

“A-Aktor!”

“Thanks.”

The moment I landed, my legs wobbled, and I had to lean against a nearby guardrail for support.

Mirien’s eyes darted around, scanning my body anxiously as if checking for injuries.

Seeing her reaction, I was certain.

Despite Selene’s concerns, Mirien would never harm me.

Rather, she seemed terrified at the thought of causing me any injury.

“A-Aktor… W-What were you thinking? You could’ve—”

“But I didn’t, in the end.”

I dismissed my summoned storm dragon, Tempestra, and continued.

“Besides, you were down here. If anything had gone wrong, you would have caught me, right?”

Mirien’s eyes wavered at my words.

“…Aktor, why… Why did you come all the way here? W-What about Selene?”

“Selene is outside, drawing attention. No one’s coming here for a while.”

A flicker of hope passed through Mirien’s eyes.

Having watched her wrestle with guilt just moments ago, I knew I had to understand her deeply.

What she had now was a kind of dependency.

Or perhaps, a desperate need for validation.

“We have some time. Let’s talk, shall we?”

I already had a grasp on how to handle The Scorched Saint, Selene.

To Selene, Aktor the Overlord was her sovereign—a commanding, cold strategist who issued orders with precision. 

When I pushed my will forward with firm resolve, Selene found inspiration in that.

Then, what was I to Mirien?

The answer was in my past actions in the game.

I, Aktor the Overlord, had given Mirien an artificial heart, extending her short life.

“We’re not exactly strangers, are we?”

To Mirien, I was her savior.

Someone she felt compelled to repay.

She hesitated, glancing at me nervously.

“B-But… I… I’m just… a burden…”

“I already told you, that’s a misunderstanding.”

“…”

“I came to the tower just to talk to you. Like this.”

There was no need to fear Mirien losing control.

There were no overwhelming disasters near her pushing her to the edge, and Thunderstorm required focused casting—she couldn’t use it alongside Lightning’s Blessing.

This was my one chance to meet her as herself.

“In the rift, we never even got to see each other properly. This is a rare opportunity, so let’s talk face-to-face, as people. That’d be better for you too, wouldn’t it?”

“Aktor…”

“You sent Tempestra to save me, you took care of the trackers tailing me, you built the Ascension Cult—I heard it was all you.”

Her actions may have raised ethical concerns, but they were all done for my sake.

She only lost control because she believed I had abandoned her.

Selene likely felt the same, but Mirien had an even deeper case of paranoia.

A monster who had awakened human emotions, they called her.

But to me, she was just a child with too much strength.

‘Took me long enough.’

It had only been two months since the world shifted under Disaster Order.

And in those two months of trial and error, I had finally figured out my role.

Rule as an Overlord and command the disasters. 

The world was still full of them. 

I had to bring them under my control to become the strongest existence.

That was what the system defined as the Absolute One.

I was the only one still maintaining the bonds from the game.

If others tamed these disasters, the world would be doomed.

Of course, I wasn’t that different.

I wasn’t naive enough to think otherwise.

But at least I knew my own limits.

“Mirien, listen carefully. I mean every word I’m about to say.”

“…”

Mirien nodded blankly, still processing everything.

She was so small compared to Selene—I had to bend my knees halfway just to meet her gaze.

“Mirien, I need you.”

“…Ah.”

“And we need Selene too. It’s not about needing one person more than the other—everyone is equally important. That’s how it was for me. You remember too, don’t you? The memories from the Rift. We were equals.”

“…og.”

Even now, I feel burdened by the emotions that Selene and Mirien hold for me.

But dismissing it as merely a connection made in a game would be an understatement. Selene and Mirien’s obsession with Actor is truly immense.

Just as the game became reality, I too am the same person as Actor in this world.

From Mirien’s perspective, the divine being she once served as Actor and the mere human Nam Jooyeon might not be so different.

Even now, she flinches when I approach, revealing a girlish side to her.

“Mirien.”

As Selene said, Mirien’s feelings toward me were not mere loyalty.

She doesn’t want to be ignored. She doesn’t want to be hated. She doesn’t want to be a burden, but she still craves attention. She wants to be of more help to Actor.

Considering all this, the answer is simple, isn’t it?

It’s love.

“Will you be my comrade again?”

But saying this outright to her face would be unbearably embarrassing.

So, I chose to phrase it differently.

If Selene sought the role of a loyal vassal.

Mirien, without a doubt, desired to be my companion in a grand scheme.

I decided to fully play along with her game of make-believe.

“…”

Mirien’s shoulders twitched. 

Then, she turned her gaze to meet mine. 

Her deep blue eyes lingered on my lips.

“…You won’t abandon me?”

“I won’t.”

“You won’t kill me?”

“Why would I? Besides, who in the world could possibly kill someone like you?”

Even Selene had to consider mutual destruction to take her down.

What human could possibly kill Mirien?

“T-then…”

Mirien swallowed hard before asking one last question.

“…You don’t hate me?”

“I don’t hate you.”

At those words, Mirien gasped and slowly spoke.

“Actor, I… I need you.”

“I know. I need you too. So, let’s start again.”

Perhaps due to the magic she was using, Mirien’s star-shaped pupils quivered like an earthquake.

Then, with her lips pressed together, she lowered her head.

Understanding this as silent agreement, I raised my hand and placed it on top of her head. 

A slight static shock tingled my fingers. 

For the most fearsome mage who wielded the power of lightning, this level of resistance was rather cute.

“…Anyway, can you stop using that skill now? Someone’s going to catch a cold.”

Probably me.

Startled, Mirien frantically waved her hand, and just like that, the rain ceased.

[5★ North Sea Storm Mirien has canceled the skill “Thunderstorm Focus.”]

As I watched sunlight seep through the dissipating storm clouds, I let out a sigh of relief.

Now that things were more or less settled, I should take Mirien to the Abyss…

“Nam Jooyeon!”

At that moment, someone burst onto the scene.

Short-cropped hair, a leather coat.

“Jeon Dongwook?”

It was Jeon Dongwook, an Awakened from the Bureau of Management.

I wondered how he had managed to track me here, but then I saw who stood beside him—3-star Calamity Albert and 2-star Moss Hunter.

I recalled my memories from the game.

Right, those two had tracking skills.

Now that I thought about it, neither Mirien nor I had been particularly discreet. 

Mirien hadn’t blocked tracking, and I hadn’t gone out of my way to stay hidden.

With a 5-star Calamity running rampant in Jung-gu, Seoul, there weren’t many who would choose to hunt me down amidst all the chaos.

But I had underestimated Jeon Dongwook’s persistence. 

Even in this unprecedented situation, he had chosen to track me down, and now, he had found his answer.

The beast beside me

Standing right next to me was my Hellfire Guard Dog, draped in a raincoat.

In the public’s eyes, that beast was seen as the pet of Actor, the ruler of the Abyss.

That alone was enough to solidify Jeon Dongwook’s suspicions into certainty.

Click.

He pulled out a gun.

A standard-issue revolver used by the police.

“Hands up! You bastard! You’ve been deceiving us all this time?!”

“…”

I raised my hands.

However, that was not to express an intention to surrender to Dongwook.

“Mirien, stop for now.”

It was to stop the great calamity, Mirien, who stood behind me.

Dongwook had his gun pointed at me, but due to the darkness obscuring his vision, he failed to perceive Mirien lurking in the shadows.

To begin with, Mirien had already concealed herself using magic. 

The stealth skill of a 5-star calamity was too refined for a mere 3-star named entity to see through.

“Mirien, don’t you want to be useful to me?”

“…Yes.”

“Then, this will be your first command in this dimension.”

Instead of replying, Mirien raised a finger.

“Hey! What are you muttering about? Get on your knees first!”

“That man—capture him and lock him away.”

Crackle!

Before I even finished speaking, a long streak of black lightning shot forth.

It was the true debut of the ruler, Actor, on Earth.