Seoul (3)

“The worst,” Park Jong-sik muttered.

No one in the conference room refuted that remark. During the break, the conference room fell into silence.

“Let’s get things organized first.” Kim Min-hyuk, desperately attempting to brighten the mood, clapped his hands.

It was the first meeting since the situation had been revealed. Kim Min-hyuk knew that the situation was that serious, but he had to lead the meeting somehow and gather opinions.

“The first problem is that the Tutorial is closed. I don’t know what’s going on, but since last month, no one has been invited to complete the Tutorial, and no one from before has returned.”

No one was being called to the Tutorial. It was difficult to accurately count those summoned to the Tutorial since they disappeared on the spot in just a few moments. They received reports of missing relatives or neighbours, but it was only a rough count.

However, last month, there had been two reports of missing people due to a summoning by the Tutorial. And both of those cases proved to be simple disappearances.

No new Awakened came out, and no humans were forced to enter the Tutorial. At this point, a discussion was needed to solve the problem, excluding the Tutorial itself.

It was a severe problem, but the cause was undiscovered, and a resolution didn’t seem to be apparent.

“The second problem is that a G-class was detected near Pyongyang.” Unavoidable sighs erupted from every corner of the conference room.

After the cataclysm, they had only succeeded once, and since then, all attempts at G-class eradication had failed.

It was a colossal loss. It had already been years since the steady rise in the Awakened’s power allowed the city to defend itself from the monsters’ offense. But still, the G-class remained an inextricable and intangible existence.

“From what we’ve learnt, I don’t believe the existing G-class has moved into a nest.”

The G-class’s domain was spread throughout the world. That meant that signs of a G-class appearing in Pyongyang meant that it was a newly born G-class, which had never been seen before.

“That is the third problem. It’s a new one because I’m not sure if it’s going to act the same as the others.”

All of the existing G-class had one common feature. They set up their territory outside the country and didn’t leave it. But was this one the same as them? If it were someone ready to go outside of its area, the situation would spiral downhill.

“It’s a problem, even if it’s no different from the others,” Lee Jun-seok said while solitarily munching on shrimp snacks.

Kim Min-hyuk had no choice but to ask, “Why?”

“Its territory reaches Seoul.”

Kim Min-hyuk shut his mouth in response to Lee’s answer. He had nothing else to say. Neither Kim Min-hyuk nor the others in the conference room were able to speak for a while.

Only the sound of Lee Jun-seok grinding on shrimp snacks echoed quietly throughout the conference room.

* * *

“Are you alright?” Lee Sung-eun asked the team leader.

Park Min merely shrugged. Then, he put down the newspaper in his hand.

As expected, the government failed to give up on Seoul. Seoul was too essential to give up on, even though it was dangerous.

The same was true of the people. Seoul’s population had been steadily increasing since the cataclysm. Instead, more people started living in Seoul than before the cataclysm.

The reason was simple. Seoul was the safest place. The largest number of Awakened stayed there, and the most significant amount of military units surrounded Seoul. But this was before the G-class appeared.

After reports of the G-class in Pyongyang, people searched for countermeasures. Instantly, convenience store items went out of stock, and problems broke out.

Housing prices plummeted, and loans in local cities soared. A thought came to mind among those who were confused. Can’t we just get rid of the G-class?

It seemed like a less risky option than abandoning their homes and the largest city where the nation’s resources were concentrated.

It was the Awakened and the soldiers who launched the attack. They thought it was worth a try even if the success rate dropped. It was something the U.S. had already succeeded in more than a decade ago.

There were many skeptical thoughts. Talks about the differences in defense capabilities between the U.S. and South Korea and their international political positions broke out.

The U.S. had mobilized all of its naval and air forces to combat the G-class and gathered Awakened from all over the world. South Korea could not emulate them. Thus, it had been repeatedly said that the attacks were theoretically impossible.

However, talks of eradicating G-class did not subside. People’s fears soon transformed into madness.

In sympathy for the panicking, the media talked about Korea’s unprecedentedly powerful Awakened group. They assured that the group of Awakened gathered under Kim Min-hyuk’s guild were like that of the U.S.

Citing South Korea’s previous record of sending troops overseas, they said other countries would also support the awakening as if it were natural and logical. Overseas aid was reported as if it had been scheduled.

Finally, the fact that the G-class was a newborn was taken advantage of. They said that it would still be young and weak compared to the existing G-class. And people believed the loose-lipped media.

The demonstration took place at Gwanghwamun Square(Seoul), in front of the Guild and association building. They had been urging them to prepare for the G-class’s attack.

Every day, whenever the association and the guild’s silence continued, voices of criticism poured out, calling them cowards. The Awakened had become shameless for not fulfilling their duties.

The association and guild building began to smell like the fishy scent of raw eggs. The Awakened, who had a high social status and lived like celebrities, had their reputation quickly spiral into the abyss.

Their SNS’ were spammed with abusive tests and had to be shut down. Kim Min-hyuk’s guild members were bewildered when they heard people’s voices telling them to pay the price if they lived well off their tax dollars.

They were not part of the government. Some of them had already given up their Korean nationality and never paid taxes. Most of them were freelancers from overseas, not from Korea. They had already left their country for better terms.

There was no way they’d sympathize with citizens’ protests that forced patriotism, responsibility, and duty.

On the contrary, the opposition only increased. When the decision that it would be better just to leave Korea began to circulate quietly within the guild, the association moved first.

“The association will do its best to fight the G-class.”

“We’ll use all the available power.”

That was how the situation changed.

“What’s wrong with you?” Park Min asked relaxedly, lifting a cup of coffee to his lips.

Lee Sung-eun could not understand his composure.

“Isn’t it just us?”

The association had begun preparations for the G-class attack. They had formally asked the Associations of Other Countries for assistance and issued a call-up order for the Awakened members.

Of course, the number of Awakened gathered was small. The foreign associations all asked whether guilds, not governments or associations, would participate.

This meant that the guild’s Awakened was superior. It seemed like the association could force the guild’s Awakened to participate in the current situation, but it was actually impossible.

The association didn’t have the authority, nor the power. They could only ask them not to participate in the attack. And the guild had the option of resisting. Then, they could very well forget about the support from other countries’ associations.

The association may have to go after them only with its strength. But maybe the association’s power would only further weaken.

“Anxious?”

“Yes.”

Park Min smiled at the team leader and pointed to the middle of the map. The place that had been indicated was Pyongyang. Team leader Lee Sung-eun felt a sense of déjà vu.

“What if there’s no G-class here?”

Park Min’s words contradicted what had been said in the past.

“…yes?”

“Think. What if there’s not actually a G-class here, and people are all being fooled?”

“…yes?”

Lee Sung-eun repeated the same word, so Park Min continued to explain as if he were talking to himself.

“There’s no harm if the guild doesn’t participate. That alone will raise the position of the association in people’s eyes. We will have people’s support.”

Lee Sung-eun felt like it’d indeed be better if the guild didn’t participate at all.

“If they don’t participate, the guild’s reputation will be stuck in sh*t. They’re already halfway through, but they’ll probably relocate their base overseas.”

And then, the association, alone, would try to attack. Their reputation would rise, and there would be several defectors within the association. But let’s not talk about it.

All they had to do was bravely move to Pyongyang. It would push out the guilds in the country and raise the political standing of the association.

The Tutorials had already been shut down, and it was expected that the value of the remaining Awakened would soar soon.

“Great.”

It was the best situation. There was no better news.

* * *

“What are you going to do?”

“Well…”

Kim Min-hyuk had yet to make a decision. He was unsure what was right and didn’t want to send guild members to their deaths with his hasty judgment.

He thought the best way would just be to give up Seoul. But neither the citizens of Seoul nor the government would tolerate it.

“How are the guild members feeling?”

Park Jong-sik smiled on being asked this.

“They’re a mess. If you leave them alone, there’ll be a truck-load of people leaving right away.”

Was that so?

But it was hard to blame them. They weren’t precisely shameless and immoral people. They were well aware of responsibilities and duties, and also had an attachment to their hometown.

Perhaps when they first heard the news, some were determined to participate in the G-class’s attack. As people said, to risk their lives at times like this, they had lived a happy and wealthy life.

But would they try to stand up while enduring the public’s sudden outburst of contempt and ridicule? He didn’t think so.

Kim Min-hyuk trusted his guild members, but he was sure that no adult would be that generous.

“How is Japan?”

“It’s about to collapse. The kids there were begging to join us, but Japan might lose the miniscule amount of support it has left if they did come here.”

Japan was the country that could be said to be at the front lines. Every day, the battle to stop monsters crawling up from the Pacific Ocean, which had been entirely hoarded by underwater monsters, continued.

Japan would suffer indirect damage if it tried and failed to target Pyongyang, destroying Japan’s Awakened.

“That’s why the offer came from Japan.”

“To the association?”

“No, to the government. They say we’re always welcome to move to Japan. There’s a lot of perks.”

No, you’ve already pushed the contract in. It was both ridiculous and funny.

“Well, that’s a good offer for us. What about China?”

“Refused to cooperate.”

It was a little surprising. The G-class territory in Pyongyang would also invade China’s territory, so Kim Min-hyuk had thought China would cooperate with the attack.

“The situation is terrible.”

As he continued to think about it, he concluded that it wouldn’t be enough to attack G-class with just the guild’s power. Kim Min-hyuk wondered if he should really give up on Korea and go abroad. The guild and its members would lose their prestige, but it was better than risking their lives on unwarranted attacks.

“I wish this had happened after Lee Ho-jae had arrived,” Park Jong-sik grumbled.

Kim Min-hyuk replied to Park Jong-sik, “Hey, that would have been a serious problem too.”

“Hahaha, that’s right.”

The two laughed as if they found it funny for a moment.

Lee Ho-jae could have been an all-around key to solve all problems at once, but on the contrary, he would have become a bigger problem than the G-class.

As a member of the Order of Vigilance in the Tutorial, they laughed with Lee Ho-jae because they shared the memory of trying to avoid problems and making sure that he didn’t get caught up in other issues.

Just then, the cell phone on the table vibrated. Text messages popped up on the cell phone’s screen: ‘Seoul Station’s Portal Launching.’

Seoul (3) Finished

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