After finishing the conversation with Yoo Junseo, instead of going back to my usual hotel room, I headed towards the Tower of Yeokcheon.
Once a day, or at least every other day.
It was to keep my promise with Mirien.
“Ah, Actor!”
Mirien, who had been casting tracking magic in a seated position, smiled brightly and rushed towards me as soon as I arrived at the top floor.
“Is everything going smoothly?”
“Yeah! At this rate, I think I can find it within three days!”
“I see.”
I nodded, and Mirien stuck her head out.
Wondering what gesture this was, I quickly realized that it was a gesture asking to be petted, like a puppy.
“Hmmm….”
I subtly rolled my eyes and observed Mirien’s face.
She looked like a child waiting for a compliment, her expression full of excitement.
Although she was small in stature, it felt like I was dealing with a niece, but I quickly corrected myself.
This small woman in front of me was the great mage of Yeokcheon, capable of causing a storm across the entire Korean Peninsula with just a gesture.
While she was cooperating with me and acting friendly, as Celene had warned, she could turn into a disaster at any moment.
Here, I had to make sure to keep Mirien in a good mood.
“Uh, right. Good job.”
Pat-pat.
As I brushed her black and blue two-toned hair, Mirien smiled so widely that her eyes almost disappeared.
What should I say? It felt like I was handling a pet dog.
Who would ever think that this heavenly girl was the great disaster that everyone feared?
“Hmm, anyway,”
I cleared my throat and brought up the main issue.
“Mirien, there’s something I need you to do. Thunderstorm. Is it hard to use it simultaneously with the tracking skill?”
Mirien’s unique skill, Thunderstorm, is classified as a concentration skill.
When casting, it puts her into a concentration status, so she can only maintain one concentration skill at a time.
On the other hand, her tracking skill is not concentration-based.
If the knowledge from the game is the same, then it should be possible for Mirien to use both spells at the same time.
As expected, Mirien nodded.
“If my mana is enough, I can do it.”
“How can you replenish mana?”
“By eating people…”
At her words, I involuntarily swallowed.
Fortunately, she didn’t notice my brief unease and continued speaking.
“Or by absorbing disasters.”
“Catastrophe?”
“If it’s around five 1-star disasters, I can maintain the storm for about a day.”
Now that I think about it, in the game, I used to melt useless disasters and turn them into recovery potions for high-grade disasters.
Maybe this was related.
Anyway, five 1-star disasters seemed like a miraculous cost-effective deal.
However, I asked just in case.
“Just for reference, how many people would you need to eat to maintain the magic for a day?”
“Hmmm… three hundred? If they’re awakened, about one hundred.”
“….”
This was another kind of miraculous cost-effectiveness.
I was reminded once again that to disasters, humans were just insignificant creatures.
“Alright, Mirien. Then, can you use the tracking magic while also spreading the Thunderstorm only in Seoul? I’ll send up some disasters for mana recovery. And one more thing.”
I pointed towards the floor below.
“Can you knock out Joondook for a while? About one or two hours, and make sure he doesn’t wake up?”
“…That shouldn’t be too hard, but what exactly are you planning to do?”
“The debut of the Dominator Actor.”
“Debut?”
Mirien tilted her head, as she seemed unfamiliar with the term.
“There’s that.”
I responded with a bitter smile.
*
[S-Class Awakened Nam Joo-yeon, Director of Management Yoo Junseo, Recipient of the Presidential Citation]
=
– I’ve been seeing these two in the news a lot recently, so they must be working well together haha. Anyway, thanks to them, life is easier for us.
– We should really spend more tax money on people like them—real heroes who protect the country.
– This is the country! S-Class Awakened and the Director of Management working together and receiving the Presidential Citation, it’s really tear-jerking ㅠㅠ Thanks to people like them, we’re able to live safely. We need to give them all the support they deserve! National prestige is on the rise, so awesome! Let’s go!
– How can you smell ginseng candy in every word?
– But aren’t the S-Class and A-Class too plain-looking to be called the strongest?
– Do you watch celebrities? They’re more like soldiers.
=
“Ugh.”
Director of Management Yoo Junseo lifted the corners of his mouth while reading the comments on the news article.
He couldn’t help but tremble with pleasure when he read the comments praising him.
Yoo Jun-seo kept scrolling down.
Then his expression hardened.
=
– If an S-Class Awakened is receiving the Presidential Citation, how messed up is the country? Haha. If they can’t manage things and an accident happens, the citizens suffer, but they still get awarded?
– Why is the position of Director of Management treated like a hero? They’re just doing their jobs haha.
– What did they do to deserve a citation? The country is falling apart.
– If it weren’t for them, Seoul would’ve been in the same situation as Beijing a long time ago.
– Send those guys to the provinces too. Don’t you know the situation down south? Recently, there was a sudden heavy rain, and all the levees collapsed.
=
“Who cares.”
Yoo Junseo frowned and clicked the thumbs-down button on the comments.
Seriously, people who don’t have any ability have filthy mouths.
Do they think being the Director of Management is something anyone can do?
Yoo Jun-seo grumbled and threw his phone onto the desk.
“Fucking bastards.”
“Did you see more hateful comments again?”
Looking at Yoo Junseo, his secretary Kang Sena let out a deep sigh and scolded him.
“If you have time to look at news comments, I wish you would do some actual work.”
“I’m public service. You know I can’t do anything.”
Yoo Junseo had no abilities.
What he had was the reputation of being the King of Hell, a personal relationship with the S-Class Awakened Nam Jooyeon, and the position of Director of Management.
And coincidentally, South Korea was a country where, even if the head was incompetent, as long as the components were good, things somehow kept running.
Even now, while the world was literally falling apart in real-time.
“Anyway, the experts are everywhere. Even if I try to help, I’ll just get in the way, right? Have you ever seen a commander in the army charge with a rifle?”
Of course, Yoo Junseo had never once held a rifle because he was a non-combatant.
“Your self-awareness is reassuring, but also worrying.”
Kang Sena sighed deeply as she picked up the phone Yoo Junseo had thrown and checked it.
“Overall, though, the reaction seems positive. The people in the provinces can’t be helped, but…”
“That area is outside of our jurisdiction. I heard they formed their own Awakened community and are governing themselves well.”
“…Well, that’s the government’s responsibility, I suppose.”
The militarization of Awakened people in the provinces and the loss of control by local governments.
The central government was keeping an eye on this, but it was already overwhelmed trying to deal with the catastrophic disasters and the refugees crying out in Seoul.
Even the capital region, which still maintained a functioning national system, was in a bad enough situation, so the provinces were even worse off.
South Korea was steadily heading into anarchy.
Some countries had already gone through this process.
A society may soon emerge where awakened individuals, wielding immense power like a disaster, become the ruling class, and the non-awakened are reduced to their subordinates.
This has become the greatest dilemma for both domestic and foreign awakened individuals.
Kang Sena sighed and placed her hands on her hips.
“Is it really okay for the director to be so relaxed when one of your investigators has gone missing?”
“Jeon Do-wook? Don’t worry. Nam Jooyeon said he’ll find him.”
“…Aren’t you exploiting the S-class awakened too much?”
“You told me to use them as much as possible, so why are you suddenly defending him?”
Kang Sena frowned and looked away.
Yoo Junseo, oblivious to her behavior, failed to pick up on any clues from her actions.
“I’ve already done everything I can for Nam Jooyeon. I even offered him the position of director, but he refused it.”
“….”
‘Well, only someone from your side would want that position.’
Kang Sena swallowed the words that almost escaped her throat.
Anyway, if an S-class awakened was on the case, she felt reassured.She picked up the remote control and turned on the TV.
[Breaking News: 5-Star Disaster Emerges in Dongdaemun]
“…What?”
Kang Sena blinked several times.
But the bright red text was not an illusion.
“Director?”
“….”
Yoo Junseo, too, was glued to his phone screen.
*
“Move aside! Coming through!”
By the time Yoo Junseo and the other awakened rushed to the scene, crowds were already swarming the area.
The narrow alley was chaotic, with awakened individuals and civilians jostling each other in confusion.
“Damn it! Get out of the way! You should know the value of your lives!”
As some police officers struggled, Yoo Jun-seo shouted.
Only then did the citizens, recognizing his face, quickly make way.
Fame was truly important in moments like these.
Taking a deep breath, Yoo Junseo walked through the alley.
At the center of the plaza, the disaster had descended.
“The Scorched Saint…”
It was the 5-star disaster she had seen before at the tower.
The servant of the ruler of the abyss, Actor.
If there was any being that all the people of Seoul, no, of the entire Korean Peninsula, feared, it would undoubtedly be that woman with the ashen hair.
The Scorched Saint, Selene, had appeared in the heart of the city.
If that was all, people might have just trembled in fear, but this time, she was holding a man with all his limbs bound.
It was a familiar face.
“Jeon Dongwook…”
The Scorched Saint, Selene, was holding the awakened Jeon Do-wook hostage.
Jeon Dongwook appeared to be unconscious. Even if he were conscious, he wouldn’t have been able to speak, as there was a cruel spiked gag in his mouth.
“I have come today to deliver my master’s message to these uncivilized beings.”
While Yoo Junseo and the other awakened hesitated, Selene spoke.
“My master, the ruler of the abyss, the true dominator of dimensions, Actor, believes that this world is designed in a terribly narrow way.”
“….”
“Thus, my master wishes to spread the end of the world. But how blasphemous it is, there are those who refuse my master’s blessing, who do not wish to see the holy flame of the abyss.”
Selene raised her hand and grabbed Jeon Dongwook by his hair, pulling him.
“This man failed to recognize my master’s enlightenment and stubbornly pursued his path. You all must know this.”
“…What do you plan to do with Jeon Dongwook?”
“Those who oppose shall never survive…”
“I will willingly carry out the execution in front of them. This is a kind of warning. Anyone who resists the ruler of the abyss will face…”
A horrific declaration made someone scream.
Still, there was no escape.
The moment they turned their backs, no one knew what kind of havoc the great disaster would bring.
At that moment, Selene drew the wedge-shaped sword she had at her waist.
No one could stop her.
The last time she encountered such a disaster, Selene alone harvested nearly a hundred calamities.
Who could stand against such a great disaster?
Hoowung.
There was someone.
Only one awakened.
[4★ Storm Dragon Tempestra is casting the skill “Roar of the Sky.”]
“Ugh!”
For the first time, a crack appeared in the scorched Saintess Selene’s expression.
She raised her sword and deflected the light swirling down from the sky.
The flames embedded in her breath split into several strands and scattered toward the sky.
Swoooosh-.
Perhaps this was the turning point.
Suddenly, the pouring rain blurred the vision.
Through it, someone descended.
The man who lightly landed from the massive storm dragon was someone Yoo Junseo knew well.
“Nam Jooyeon….”
An S-class awakened had arrived.