First floor of the Seoul Awakeners Association building.
In the largest grand auditorium, a bizarre black magic circle had been drawn.
At its center, the Association President was looking around, inspecting it.
“The preparations are perfect. What about the other branches?”
The Association President asked the secretary waiting at his side.
The secretary immediately answered.
“They are complete. We can operate right away.”
“Good. The demons said they would cooperate smoothly as well, so there are no obstacles.”
At the perfect preparations, the timing, and the overly smooth situation, a smile spread across the Association President’s lips.
“Before long, we will seize this land.”
Thinking of someone, he smiled broadly.
“I Gang-yeol~ must be sick to his stomach. Kekeuk.”
Smiling, he exited the grand auditorium.
The secretary chased after him but stopped.
“What time is the President’s schedule today?”
The Association President, who had been walking ahead, turned around with an annoyed face at the lack of a response.
“Hey.”
The female secretary showed him her phone screen with a stiff expression.
“What?”
With a puzzled face, he approached and focused on the screen.
“It’s Hanha Group. They say they are implementing a holy power subscription service. I believe the content seems to target us.”
Watching the screen, he trembled.
“Call the President immediately! Tell him to implement the National Awakening right now!”
On the screen the Association President had seen, the priest was making shocking remarks.
“We are implementing a subscription service where anyone can possess the divine power of Auzar.”
* * *
Hanha Group Headquarters Media Room.
There, Chairman Gim Cheol-jung and the priest who was now Auzar sat side by side.
The interior was blindingly bright from the barrage of camera shutters.
Even the chairman furrowed his brows, but the priest was perfectly composed.
At the shocking first remark, everyone was taking photos and shouting; the chaos was slightly disorienting.
When the chairman raised his hand, bodyguards and headquarters staff stepped forward to calm things down.
Tap, tap.
He tapped the microphone, and only then did the reporters settle their excitement.
“There is still much you need to hear.”
At the chairman’s words, everyone asked questions with excited faces.
“You are starting one day ahead of the government’s National Awakening. Is this intentional!?”
The chairman looked to the side.
Eizar, impeccably dressed in a suit that cut a bright figure, grabbed the microphone.
“It is intentional.”
Fluent Korean flowed out.
The reporters focused their attention on him, a Westerner speaking fluent Korean.
Eizar introduced himself to the bewildered reporters.
“My name is Eizar. I am the CEO of the subscription service, Auzar.”
After fierce discussions between Arin, the Chairman, and Sin-hyeok, it was decided that he would take charge as the representative of this subscription service.
He looked around the venue and read the atmosphere.
“Shouldn’t the people of the Republic of Korea also have the right to choose? And if you are going to choose, a god is better than a demon, is he not?”
Everyone nodded at those words.
“But is this service even possible?”
This was what they were most curious about. Whether this made any sense.
Everyone nodded and wondered about the truth of this service.
“Isn’t this just mimicking the real thing with artifacts at best?”
Other reporters agreed with this.
They saw it as little more than clickbait.
“Seeing it with your own eyes would be quicker, would it not?”
He grabbed the potion contained in an antiquated glass vessel on the table and stood up.
“I will take just one person.”
At these words, everyone rose like a swarm of bees.
“The man who arrived here first, please help us.”
He approached a male reporter in his early twenties who had run over while preparing in advance.
Everyone stared intently.
“What should I do?”
Eizar opened the potion’s lid and held it out to him.
“You simply drink it, but there is something most important.”
“Yes?”
The reporter holding the potion looked at him with a bewildered expression.
“Half of what you possess. That is the fee for this subscription service.”
Everyone murmured at those words.
“Isn’t that too expensive?”
“No, putting it bluntly, isn’t he asking for half your assets?”
The reporter asked cautiously, conscious of those words.
“In cash? Or can I use a card?”
Eizar smiled and added an explanation.
“It does not have to be money. If there is something more precious to you than money, that will suffice. Or it can truly be half of what you possess.”
The reporter understood to some extent at those words.
“Ah, do you mean something I cherish?”
“Yes.”
The reporter pondered for a moment, then with a sincere determination to try it, briefly rolled up his shirt sleeve.
“This is my late father’s keepsake. Will this work?”
Eizar received the precious old watch from him.
Everyone murmured again at that scene.
“It’s really not money?”
Eizar gripped the watch tightly and preciously in his hand and prayed with his palms together for him.
“Auzar will answer according to the depth of your heart.”
At the considerably sacred remark, the reporter grabbed the potion and downed it at once.
Gulp, gulp.
As he downed it in one go, everyone watched only the young reporter’s Adam’s apple.
“K-eup. It’s a little sweet.”
Eizar spoke with a smile.
“Everyone hates it when it’s bitter.”
The reporter smiled at those words and looked down at himself.
“But it just feels norm……al.”
Ooo-ooong.
He stopped mid-sentence.
A faint aura was flowing from his entire body.
Golden sunlight began to fill the surroundings.
The reporter stared into the air with a bewildered face.
“He, he Awakened!!!”
He touched the air and was checking Yggdrasil’s message.
At this mysterious scene, forgetting even to take photos, the others sprang up and rushed to the priest.
“I, impossible……!!”
“M, me too!”
“CEO! Is it possible for me too!?”
In an instant, the scene descended into chaotic confusion.
Eizar smiled leisurely and spoke to everyone.
“As many as you wish. Auzar is generous.”
After quite some time, the press conference concluded.
Eizar returned to the waiting room with a tired face.
Sin-hyeok, Arin, and I Chan were waiting there.
“Priest-nim, you have worked hard.”
Sin-hyeok welcomed him upon his return.
Arin and I Chan looked at the priest who was the very image of a perfect businessman and praised him.
“Now you are a CEO.”
“Hehe. Does it suit me? I only feel awkward.”
I Chan praised him with a smile.
“You speak so well and fit the role perfectly!”
Eizar snickered at those words.
“Then now we just have to wait.”
I Chan and Arin looked at Sin-hyeok and said.
“That’s right. Of course, Uncle has to keep making them.”
“Hyung has to go back to the factory.”
Sin-hyeok shook his head vigorously at the tiresome talk.
“There is still a lot left.”
Thinking of the ample stock, Sin-hyeok stretched.
“I can take it easy for at least a week.”
His bold claim was cut off by Chairman Gim Cheol-jung, who entered right after.
“The reaction to this is no joke. Online reservations have surpassed three million.”
Sin-hyeok checked how long it had been since the press conference at those words.
“Hasn’t it only been a little over thirty minutes?”
“That’s right.”
At the unusual speed, the chairman guessed the reason.
“I think showing the live demonstration earlier is the biggest reason. With this level of response, it seems interviews can be postponed.”
At those words, I Chan cheered loudly.
“Nice!”
Sin-hyeok was discouraged instead.
“Damn. Back to the factory again.”
He buried his face in the table.
“We’ll have to send Uncle back to the factory.”
Arin giggled and teased Sin-hyeok, who had buried his face.
“Give me freedom too.”
While everyone was laughing, someone came running urgently into the waiting room.
“Chairman. An emergency administrative order has just been issued from the Ministry of the Interior and Safety under the President’s orders.”
Everyone focused on him.
“They want us to stop immediately.”
The chairman asked him with a stiff face.
“On what grounds? Don’t they lack the authority to enforce this?”
“They took issue with the potion. They ordered a stop, categorizing it as a procedure performed on the human body.”
The chairman snorted at those words.
“What! If they are going to be like that, they should ban all the potions circulating on the market! There aren’t even related laws to begin with, and they haven’t officially verified it either!”
This was pure sophistry.
It was the caliber of logic fabricated by force to block them.
Chairman Gim Cheol-jung fumed and turned to look at Baek Arin.
“Young lady, what will you do?”
Arin pondered for a moment and asked the chairman.
“It is just words. An administrative order closer to a threat.”
The chairman nodded.
“They cannot stop us from proceeding, as there are no related laws. However, they can apply stronger pressure on the grounds that we are not following the administrative order.”
Arin looked at Sin-hyeok at the difficult choice.
“Uncle.”
“Sigh.”
Sin-hyeok pondered for a moment and looked at her.
“How far can you go?”
Arin pondered and barely spat out.
“Just once. I can ignore it and proceed once. But after that, it is hard. A corporation cannot beat the government.”
Sin-hyeok pondered and tried to open his mouth with difficulty.
Just then, a waiting staff member showed a live screen as if dumbfounded.
“Excuse me while you are speaking. You need to see this.”
On the screen he showed, the Association President was standing at the forefront.
— We cannot acknowledge Hanha Group’s absurd actions! They must be stopped immediately. With the government’s Awakening ahead, such actions lead Korea’s future into chaos! Until it is stopped, all Awakeners under the Association will cease Gate raids!
The Association President had issued a threat using the people’s lives as leverage.
“The Association has stepped in too.”
Everyone lost their words at this scene.
“That crazy bastard is saying that!?”
Sin-hyeok was the angriest at that insane remark.
“Going around calling himself an Awakener, and he threatens us with citizens’ lives?!”
He trembled.
Knock, knock, knock.
Just then, someone knocked on the door.
Appearing and knocking on the already open door was Hong Ju-yeon.
An agent of the National Intelligence Service, she checked the room and asked casually.
“The atmosphere is fierce. Should I come back later? I have brought a gift.”
Everyone focused at her cryptic words.
Sin-hyeok asked with a puzzled face.
“What is it?”
She smiled and looked back at someone approaching.
“He is coming just now. I believe he came to see the CEO’s face.”
All eyes followed her gaze.
Soon, an elderly bald man entered.
“Hello. May I come in?”
Chairman Gim Cheol-jung recognized him first.
“You may enter anytime. But what brings the leader of the People Power Party here?”
He spoke with a smile.
“I heard you were exerting yourselves for the people, so I came to visit. I thought you would be in a difficult spot about now. Am I right?”
Everyone nodded.
The ruling party leader looked at Eizar, the CEO, and smiled.
“Push forward as you have been. The rest, we National Assembly members will take responsibility and block. After all, the current administrative order lacks legal grounds, does it not?”
The chairman nodded with a bewildered face.
He looked around briefly and then fixed his eyes on Sin-hyeok beside the CEO.
“You look familiar. Perhaps your name.”
Sin-hyeok subtly stood up and answered.
“Sergeant Bu Sin-hyeok.”
“Ah. Your surname is different from before? Back then…… I believe it was ‘Yu.’”
Sin-hyeok, realizing when they had met, explained to him.
“At that time, I was on a classified operation, so I was active under my mother’s surname.”
“Ah. No wonder.”
He smiled benevolently and left the waiting room.
“You have worked hard. Please keep doing as you are now. We cannot hand over our nation’s people to demons, can we!”
Sin-hyeok came out into the hallway and urgently asked him.
“Why are you helping us?”
“Hahaha. Who do you think it is for, Sergeant?”
He asked back. Hong Ju-yeon answered subtly from the side.
“Brigadier General I Gang-yeol has been persuading the lawmakers since we went on leave.”
Sin-hyeok looked at her dumbfounded.
“That worked?”
“Half of them were convinced, but that gentleman was the only one who wouldn’t come around in the end.”
“How did he come around?”
She gestured with her eyes toward Eizar and Sin-hyeok.
“The moment we finished filling the stock and were ready, he brought this up and made a deal, apparently.”
Sin-hyeok looked at her dumbfounded.
“It’s absurd.”
She spoke with a smile.
“And I think he’ll be dealing with those Association bastards about now too.”