#271
Outing (3)
I leisurely drank my coffee as I checked the internet’s reaction.
“As expected, I had a feeling it’d be like this to some extent. But this is no ordinary uproar.”
The large-scale villain terrorist attack on the hospital this time was something I had been directly involved in.
So I intended to keep a close eye on how things unfolded from here on out...
‘It hasn’t even been that long yet.’
Judging by the scale of the commotion, it seemed this was going to blow up into something even bigger than I’d expected.
While I was seriously monitoring public opinion like that—
“Mm? He’s up. Faster than I thought.”
My sharp senses picked up the sound of someone stirring in the quiet room across the hall.
I rose from my seat and immediately opened the door to that room, stepping inside before tossing a casual remark at Kang Taesan, who had just raised his upper body with a sleep-drunk face.
“You’re up.”
Since things had turned out this way, I had deliberately taken measures to make him sleep deeply for more efficient recovery, but since he was basically a sturdy guy, it seemed even that hadn’t lasted very long.
“Uh... what? Did I fall asleep? More importantly, where is this...?”
The guy stared blankly up at me, then glanced around while blinking before tilting his head.
As if he were trying to remember why he was in such a familiar place he hadn’t seen in a while.
That was only natural, since this was the house I had lived in before moving.
It wasn’t as if I needed money, so I hadn’t bothered selling it and had left it as a base in Seoul, and thanks to that, I was making good use of it at just the right time.
“Wait, now that I think about it...”
But Kang Taesan’s reaction didn’t last very long.
He frowned and quietly muttered as if something had come to mind, then suddenly stopped speaking.
Then his eyes flew wide open and he sprang up from where he had been lying.
“Hold on! What the hell? That explosion back then? No, more importantly, my grandma?!”
“Over there.”
At his reaction, I slightly shifted aside and pointed to one corner of the room.
On the bedding there, his grandmother was sleeping quietly, not waking even amid all this commotion.
“Hoo—.”
Kang Taesan hurried over to her side and carefully checked her condition before letting out a sigh of relief.
Of course, he wasn’t a doctor, but seeing his grandmother breathing peacefully with a complexion even better than right before she was discharged was enough to melt away the anxiety that had been surging inside him.
After Kang Taesan regained his composure, our conversation continued once we quietly left the room.
“Come to think of it, are you okay...? Right before that explosion, I think you shielded us...”
“I’m perfectly fine. Maybe it’s because I work out every day, but I’m known for being sturdy. You should exercise too. Don’t just sit holed up in your office all day.”
“What, you punk? Hey, our department spends more days outside than in the office, okay? On top of that, I’m the youngest, so I’m stuck running every errand there is! Do you have any idea what low-ranking civil servants go through?”
After we exchanged a few lines of bickering like friends, the topic returned to the main point.
“But what really happened? For someone caught up in an accident, I feel way too refreshed, like I woke up from a great nap.”
“Well, I think they said it was some kind of terrorist attack. Watch the news for the details. They’re making a huge fuss about it right now.”
“...Ha! A terrorist attack, huh? Well, things had been a little too quiet lately. No way those terrorist bastards would keep lying low forever. As if getting caught up in terrorism during my vacation wasn’t enough, now a work hell is waiting for me when I return...”
The current youngest member of the Ability Management Bureau’s Criminal Investigation Division clutched his head and grimaced as if he already had a headache.
Saying he needed to grasp the situation, he pulled out his smartphone, only to realize it had been hit directly by the EMP and broken. After falling into despair, he soon turned on the living room TV and switched to the news.
—At around 1 p.m. today, a terrorist attack targeting patients occurred at a large hospital in Heuksang-dong, Seoul. The perpetrator first attempted to disable all electronic devices in the vicinity...
The news report that had already aired several times flowed out of the TV again.
In truth, the fact that a terrorist attack had occurred wasn’t, in itself, something worthy of such major headlines.
In this world, incidents like that happened regularly, just often enough to be forgotten before they happened again, and that perception hadn’t changed even now that the crime rate had fallen because of Hahoe Mask.
And yet, there was a special reason this terrorist attack was receiving so much attention.
A reason that set it apart from other cases, one that made it impossible not to draw attention in many ways.
—At that moment, a bright light suddenly wrapped around me and flared up! Wow, I’d never seen anything like it in my life!
—That was truly a sight I’ll never forget for the rest of my life. I happened to look out the window, and suddenly one side lit up, so I turned my head, and this light was burning like flames...
The footage that followed vividly captured the situation at the time.
All electronic devices near the hospital had been destroyed by the villain’s EMP, but footage taken from outside that range remained intact.
“...What the hell is that? We were in the middle of that?”
“Mm.”
Kang Taesan, who had been silently watching the TV, unknowingly muttered in a daze.
Of course, I could fully understand his reaction.
Seeing it from a third party’s perspective like this, even I had to admit it was an incredible sight.
Wooooo—
A brilliant radiance that seemed to mix gold and silver.
A tornado of light, shaped like a funnel with a pointed top, violently whirled around a certain area, dynamically flickering like flames that would burn everything away—
It was a rare spectacle that felt overwhelming just to watch.
And the news footage didn’t stop there; all sorts of materials continued to pour out.
Videos from people who had barely been outside the EMP range, making a fuss while filming the inside of the area, an interview with a Guardian who had been about to enter after hearing news of the incident, and...
—Hospital inpatient: I really thought I was dead. I’m not joking, the impact came up from below and made me vomit blood, and the moment I thought this was the end...
—Hospital lobby visitor: When the terrorist attack first happened, I was slammed into a wall and lost consciousness. I think my eardrums burst then, because even after I woke up later, I couldn’t hear anything, but then suddenly...
—Hospital security guard: ...At the moment I thought I was going to die like that, he appeared.
Even vivid testimonies from those who had been at the scene at the time.
Their following claims were all more or less the same.
When that flame-like, brilliant divine power burned through their bodies, bodies that had reached the very brink of death began to recover rapidly.
Their depleted stamina was replenished, serious injuries regenerated, and the illnesses gnawing away at their bodies lost their strength.
On top of that, it wasn’t as if only one or two people had experienced that phenomenon firsthand.
It was a miracle on a level no priest known until now could accomplish.
It was salvation from God, bestowed upon those who had been trapped in despair before death.
“...No way. Divine power of that level has never been reported before... No, but there’s evidence. More than anything, Grandma and I experienced it ourselves... He’s my benefactor, isn’t he?”
Whether Kang Taesan, who knew about related matters due to the nature of his job, fell into confusion or not, the news naturally shifted its focus to the “paladin in white armor” who had caused that miracle.
A hero who appeared in a moment of absolute crisis, defeated the villain, and saved many who were dying.
Just what was his identity?
Where did the limits of his ability lie?
And where had he gone now that he had suddenly disappeared?
Of course, the damage left by the terrorist attack was not small.
No matter how great divine power was, it couldn’t bring back those who were already dead.
However, stopping a disaster that could have led to even greater damage, and the tremendous divine power scattered to save the patients and others, was more than enough to leave a deep impression on the citizens.
The news ended with someone said to be affiliated with the Korean branch of Pantheon praising God, but the topic did not fade and continued in full force onto the internet.
I casually raised my smartphone and checked the community that was in an uproar.
—I smell it... The smell of one hell of a big shot returning to Earth! And to Korea, no less!
—Wow; so an Earthling can reach that level with divine power too. I heard growth in that field is seriously hellish.
—I am an active priest. If he is at that level on Earth, I believe he would be considered pope-class in his original world. What truly admirable faith. I, too, will devote myself even further. In that sense, I would like to share with you all the words of Lord Tarakmin...
The mainstream flow was expectation toward the unidentified paladin who had appeared this time.
There were as many gods with different dispositions as there were dimensions in the world, so not every priest who used divine power had a good nature.
In a situation where it was not rare for priests of evil gods to be active as villains, someone with immeasurable divine power had appeared while saving many people from a terrorist attack, so this enthusiasm was understandable.
From the perspective of ordinary citizens who always had to live in anxiety, the more good people with powerful strength there were, the better.
In fact, even now, public safety had stabilized considerably thanks to the outstanding returnee known as Hahoe Mask, hadn’t it?
Moreover, this paladin didn’t use ominous dark magic like Hahoe Mask, so people had no choice but to go even wilder.
—If he’s at that level with divine power, wouldn’t he be in the domestic top 3 by realm alone? Maybe he could even take down Hahoe Mask, since he’s a dark mage?
└Nah, no. I admit he’s amazing, but there’s still a limit. His output’s obviously lacking, so he’ll burn out after barely using it.
└Are you blind? You watched that video and you’re still talking about output, lol
└Were you living abroad or something? With Hahoe Mask’s achievements, what kind of bullshit are you spouting; how are you comparing some newbie who just came back to Hahoe Mask?
└Yeah, so what’s your precious Hahoe Mask doing right now? Didn’t he already die somewhere with no people around? LOL
└You don’t live in Korea, do you, you bastard? I knew something was off. Fucking bait.
└[Deleted comment.]
It had even reached the point where fervent fans of Hahoe Mask and those who found him ominous were arguing with each other.
‘Good grief, they’ll fight over anything.’
Of course, since both of them were me, it just looked like they were wasting their energy for no reason.
I looked through the community again to roughly gauge public opinion, then stroked my chin.
—I drew a composite sketch of the hospital paladin based on witness accounts. Just the armor, though.
└Oh, damn cool. Recommended.
└Seeing it like this, it’s got style. But how does someone wearing this suddenly appear and disappear? That must be an insanely expensive magic tool too.
—Sir Paladin, please. My mother is very ill. I’ll be sure to compensate you...
—I’m a writer from MBS Broadcasting Station. If anyone has seen him anywhere else, please contact us...
Maybe because it had been such a flashy debut, it felt strange to see his popularity soaring like this when there wasn’t even a single proper photograph.
And that probably wasn’t limited to public opinion alone.
Several organizations at home and abroad had likely already begun taking action to find Heinrich.
‘Not that they’ll be able to find me. I deliberately scorched as wide an area as possible with divine power.’
No matter how many different abilities existed in the world, there was no way they could read anything within spiritual energy waves of that purity.
When I moved between the bathroom and the scene, I used 「Blessing: Leap」, so finding a physical connection would be difficult too.
‘Summoning Heinrich would have been the surest way... but the situation wasn’t serious enough to go that far.’
The battle with the Revolutionary had only just happened.
Naturally, 「Summon Otherworld Transfer Circle」 had already been used to send Hans, who had been at the boundary of the Abyss, back to Auterica, so if I had summoned him then, a gap of several days would have formed.
‘And this is when the pope’s funeral period has just ended and they’re going through the final procedures.’
Besides, once things over there were somewhat settled, it would be easy enough to summon him from time to time and create an alibi, so it wasn’t a major problem.
I closed the community site I had been looking at and lightly shrugged.
“Ah...! Come to think of it, my department team members know my grandma was hospitalized there. They already know why I took leave today too.”
At that moment, Kang Taesan muttered blankly while staring at his dead smartphone.
As if it was obvious what situation would have unfolded if that thing had still been alive.
The youngest member who had been at the scene on the day of the incident.
Even if he said he had been unconscious from the beginning and knew nothing, the future in which his seniors hounded him for even the smallest clue was clear.
“...I’ll put off getting a new phone until right before my vacation ends.”
Of course, given the nature of his department, that was out of the question.
And so, forced to do what he had to do, he hurriedly opened a new smartphone line and was hit by the expected barrage of messages and calls, falling into a groggy state.
If there was one fortunate thing, it was that his vacation wasn’t cut short thanks to his team members understanding that he had to care for his grandmother.
“Aaaagh—! Don’t tell me he’s someone we have to find too, right? Please report your return, righteous paladin! Laws exist to be obeyed...! If even you go down the Hahoe Mask route...!”
Kang Taesan shuddered as he sensed the ominous road ahead.
‘Sorry.’
Leaving my friend behind like that, I ended the outing that had felt unusually long and headed home.
Thinking that, since he had already debuted, it might not be a bad idea to make use of Heinrich from time to time in the future.