Chapter 296 – Seoul (4)
The news that the Seoul Station’s portal had begun to function was not only heard by the guild but also by the a.s.sociation and the government. All of them were focused on the Seoul Station’s portal, so information was readily available.
Despite being caught off-guard by unexpected factors, the guild sent their members to meet those who’d return from the Tutorial.
The government had prepared a contract for the returnees and dispatched investigators to Seoul Station to find out what happened in the Tutorial.
The a.s.sociation was agonizing.
“Why did this happen now…”
Park Min rubbed his hands over his face. He wished it had come out a month later, or rather a month earlier.
What bad timing. It didn’t matter who came out of Seoul Station’s Portal.
Park Min thought that there were three possibilities for what would come out of the portal: first, was the returnees who had normally cleared the 100th floor of the Tutorial.
That wasn’t very good.
One of the reasons the media and the public were encouraging Pyongyang’s attack was that no more Awakened had been produced. The idea was that the G-cla.s.s in Pyongyang should be hit when it’s weak.
If the number of Awakened were to start increasing again, giving up Seoul may be encouraged instead of planning an attack.
Besides, the media will be focused on a new topic. “A newly returned Awakened had appeared”. Just talking about problems within the Tutorial would be a big fish.
It was not good for the public’s attention to be diverted from Pyongyang. The second thing that could appear from the Seoul Station’s portal was monsters, making it like the other gates.
They knew that the guild had won the right to manage the Seoul Station’s portal from the government, and were warned of this possibility.
However, Park Min did not think that the chances of this occurring were high.
Of course, it would be wise to do so in this crazy world, but Park Min nevertheless believed that the second possibility would never happen.
The third possibility was Lee Ho-Jae. Not long ago, news of Lee Yeon-hee leaving the 60th floor made the guild restless.
The guild was closely related to the Order of Vigilance in the Tutorial. Kim Min-hyuk, the guild’s master, was the deputy head of the Order of Vigilance. The Awakened who had cleared hard difficulty had all been members of the Order of Vigilance.
And Lee Ho-jae was the one who formed such an organisation (referring to the Order of Vigilance).
Park Min was also a challenger who’d entered the Tutorial in the early days, so he was well aware of Lee Ho-jae’s presence.
At first glance, it was Lee Ho-jae’s power that kept the Order of Vigilance stable, which was so bizarre that it was doubtful whether it’d last. The driving force behind managing all the challengers in the Tutorial was his power.
Lee Ho-jae’s strong powers and the fear everyone held of him were good. If there was one challenger who had to be asked to return grandly to the Tutorial that had come to a standstill, and if one of the challengers Park Min knew was to be picked as the returnee, he would pick Lee Ho-jae without hesitation.
The problem was that this was the worst situation ever. Everything would become a mess if Lee Ho-jae came out.
“What should I do?”
Park Min was annoyed by the team leader’s question. The one who needed to give directions was only asking questions. He knew that his recent silence had caused her to lose a lot of confidence, but this shouldn’t happen.
Lee Sung-eun should rely on herself. They didn’t have that kind of relationship. They had decided to deal with that matter later and settle the issue at hand right now.
“Send guides, provide training, and offer contracts, just like we did to the usual returnees.”
When the returnees arrived, it was the a.s.sociation’s job to explain how the Earth changed and to help them adapt.
In the case of contracts, they were carried out by both the government and the a.s.sociation. The Awakened who rejected both the government and the a.s.sociation would have the status of a free contractor.
Usually, they belonged to the government of another country or Kim Min-hyuk’s guild.
“Tell the government to withdraw from the Seoul Station’s vicinity, and to start controlling the area.”
The government also had a group of Awakened, but it was way smaller than the guild’s and a.s.sociation’s.
Most of the Awakened in the government were for the management of Awakened and police, for work, and not for combat.
When danger struck Seoul, the a.s.sociation would typically be in charge of suppressing the situation. It was quite well known that the guild had warned that the Seoul Station portal could be dangerous.
Even if Park Min didn’t consider the possibility, he couldn’t completely exclude it. It was not to prepare for one minor possibility but to leave no room for mistakes.
“I’ll dispatch six teams,” Lee Sung-eun replied.
The a.s.sociation could afford it. There were no recent emergencies in Seoul or other areas, and all of its troops were gathered at the headquarters in Seoul because of the attack on Pyongyang.
“No, don’t do that.”
“What? But…”
“Team 3, Team 2, Team 6, Team 7. Let’s put Team 1 on standby.”
Lee Sung-eun complained about the smaller number of people, since that could become a problem later. Park Min was frustrated. It was pitiful for him to have such an idiot as his close a.s.sociate.
“So we’re going to send Team 2? Don’t get upset later.”
It was said that Team 2 was one step below Team 1. Chances of them being criticised were high. The criticism that the a.s.sociation would deal with half-heartedly could be avoided.
“Tell Team 2 to come up, and get Team 6 and Team 7 out right away. Oh, and the reason is, team leader, you have a nephew on Team 6, right?
“…Yes, I do.”
Lee Sung-eun’s nephew was not an Awakened. Not all members of the a.s.sociation were made up of Awakened.
Unless it was overflowing with Awakened resources like the guild, most of the organization’s members were non-awakened.
Of course, even though he was an Awakened, being a member of the a.s.sociation was a great help in society: from income to preferential treatment to social standing.
Thanks to that, some of the non-Awakened members of the a.s.sociation often asked for favors. Such was the case with the team leader’s nephew.
The position of the head of the a.s.sociation was enough to put some of her relatives into the a.s.sociation.
Park Min also knew but he pretended to be unaware. In some cases, he stayed silent and hired them. But in times like this, he had to use them without hesitation.
“There’s one thing that the team leader’s nephew should know. 21 years old. He’s young, so of course he knows social media well, right?”
Team leader Lee Sung-eun was forced to answer with a gentle nod. Park Min had even mentioned her nephew’s age accurately.
Park Min ordered the team leader Lee Sung-eun to relay what her nephew had to do and scrolled through contacts on his cell phone.
He called the number located at the top of the category of ‘Media’.
* * *
“How do you feel?” asked Hochi with a tense look.
“I told you, it’s nothing much.”
How did I feel about coming back to Earth? I couldn’t really feel anything. Some things I thought were worse, some were better.
“What’s good, what’s bad?”
“It’s good that we got teleported indoors. I heard that usually they teleported to the middle of the square, but if it was noisy from the start, it would have been annoying.”
“And what’s bad?”
“The air is more polluted than I thought.”
It didn’t have the environment of the 60th floor that I worked hard to create. It wasn’t even the size of the 61st floor of the Great Volcano or Snow Mountain.
The air I breathed in when I came back to Earth was really bad. I couldn’t help but wonder how I used to live in such a place.
“It’s cramped.”
“It’s cramped.”
The old woman and old man said in unison. They were resting in a small s.p.a.ce, but they were peeking outside as if they wanted to see this new world.
Their giant figures weren’t fit for this place, so they had to crouch to keep the ceiling of the building from collapsing.
“If it’s cramped, you can just make yourself shrink.”
“I’m already small.”
“Reduce more.”
The old man shrank his body while grumbling. He shrank a little, checked his body, and then repeated it again.
I think he wanted to reduce it as little as possible. On the contrary, the old lady shrank coolly.
“Hmm! I feel young!”
“Too short, Grandma,” I advised her, now that she was about the same height as Yong-yong.
“Isn’t it alright?”
“No, it’s not okay. The old man would be treated like a criminal, so you’d better make your body a little taller.”
After a brief argument, I adjusted her height to that of an average adult’s. She looked very unhappy, but she didn’t know much about Earth, so she quietly followed my opinion.
While doing that, Hochi wandered around the interior of the building and found a large wardrobe.
“Can I wear this?”
“You can.”
I didn’t know who it belonged to, but I guessed that he could wear it.
“Change your clothes. Don’t wear that weird outfit.”
“Why, isn’t it fine?”
Hochi’s outfit now looked like he was going out on an adventure. It resembled the characters from a medieval fantasy novel.
“It’s not fine. Change.”
“Can I wear one, too?”” Seregia, who had been quiet, asked.
“Sure.”
It kept bothering me that I still didn’t know who the owner of the closet was, but for now, I told them it was fine.
“Daddy, what about me? Can I change too?”
“Well, if there’s anything that fits you, then yes.”
Yong-yong had a lot of clothes and a good fashion sense, so I didn’t think he needed it. Still, he seemed to be interested in new clothes made by others.
Finally, I told the old lady to pick out her clothes. While we were examining the clothes inside the wardrobe, the door opened from behind.
Someone came in through the open door. It was a man who had been hanging around the building for a while. A face that I couldn’t recognise. There was a weak scent of Korean food on his body. He was not an ordinary person.
But he wasn’t strong either.
“Who are you?”
“Hey, I’m Cheol-min.”
It was the first name I heard.
* * *
The man who’d opened the door and came in was an Awakened named Lee Cheol-min.
I had been a member of the Order of Vigilance before, but honestly, I didn’t remember seeing him anywhere.
Not that my memory had gotten poor, I just don’t think I cared about him even if I did ever meet him, given that I didn’t remember. Hochi, who shared the same memory as me which served as evidence, also failed to recognize Lee Cheol-min.
“Kim Min-hyuk is gonna come soon?”
“Yes.”
This felt strange. Like I just got out of prison, and I heard that my friend was coming to meet me.
Lee Cheol-min said, “Kim Min-hyuk will be here soon, and by then, I will explain anything that you’re curious about.”
Lee Cheol-min began to tell us things.
“This is the Seoul Station’s Portal? I don’t think I’ve ever heard of it.”
“Yes, it was recently built. Since there were many people who were confused after they returned, we built it so that they had a place to prepare their minds.”
That’s nice. I liked this, no matter whose idea it was.
“Haha, cute.”
Yong-yong patted Lee Cheol-min on the side and giggled. His innocent smile made it seem like he really did think that Lee Cheol-min was cute.
Once again, I was worried about Yong-yong’s aesthetic sense. Lee Cheol-min looked at Yong-yong, who was approaching him without hesitation and turned his eyes towards me.
“Is this Yong-yong?”
“Oh, you know him?”
“Of course. I partic.i.p.ated in his naming contest before.”
He was closer to me than I’d thought.
“The name I gave back then was Nafplion.”
It was even one of the elected names.
“Oh, that’s my name!”
“That name was perfect,” Yong-yong and Hochi said one after the other.
I felt that they were a better fit than I’d initially thought. At that moment, the door opened again. This time, it was an acquaintance.
He was none other than Kim Min-hyuk.