Articles of every kind poured out from all sorts of media outlets.
There had not yet been any great response from overseas, but if what Howard Industries had announced was true, it was only a matter of time before those flames spread there as well.
Some thought the reaction excessive when only a single company had appeared, but that was merely the shortsighted view of those who did not understand the state of this industry.
-Is this for real? Then does that mean I can buy a magic tool now too?
└You probably can. It’ll be damn expensive, though.
└This fr. They said the stable supply would increase, not that the price would be cheap. No matter how much they produce, they’ll never keep up with demand.
-If I empty out my entire fortune, could I buy one?
└How much do you have?
└890,000 won... haha
└Get lost
-I want to become an Awakened too! If I can’t, I at least want a magic tool!
└This guy’s spamming this comment everywhere.
Items that could indirectly satisfy ordinary people’s yearning for supernatural abilities.
Luxury goods for the haves, and at the same time safety devices that could become lifelines in a crisis.
Miraculous equipment that could help people efficiently accomplish things impossible even with modern technology.
Weapons for Guardians that would allow them to subdue criminals more reliably through a practical increase in combat power—or, conversely, trump cards that could raise the success rate of villains’ crimes.
At the root of all of that were items that had crossed over from other worlds along with returnees, and now that they had become inseparable from everyday life, demand for them had never once fallen.
Everyone had merely known that supply was limited, so most had inwardly given up.
And yet now, had a company not openly appeared at the forefront, claiming to have solved that very problem?
Naturally, social attention had no choice but to converge on it, and among those keenly sensitive to such changes were various villain organizations as well.
—And the Beoncheonhoe, which boasted the largest scale in the world, was no exception.
“Howard Industries, is it...”
The hidden world he had painstakingly prepared in order to escape Earth’s influence.
Having awakened from a temporary hibernation, the Beoncheonhoe Lord frowned as he checked the information on a tablet containing news from outside.
“...A variable.”
And a fatal variable at that, one he could not even have predicted in advance.
One that even Oracle, who possessed the ability to foresee the future, had not anticipated.
‘Even so, I never imagined something like this would be possible.’
He had already been aware that things could not help but diverge from the future he knew.
After all, it had not been a short time since he began acting proactively; it had been over twenty years.
After moving however he pleased all that time, it would be excessive greed to expect the information from the future to still match perfectly now.
‘But I truly cannot grasp how this is possible. It’s a difficult problem even the Doctor, who can bypass Earth’s laws, has yet to solve. And the fact that Oracle failed to notice a change of this magnitude is also an issue.’
When she delivered this information to him, she too had shown no small amount of bewilderment.
If it had been minor trifles of little importance, perhaps, but missing an event of this scale was a major blunder even for her.
But when he thought about it carefully, such things had not been all that rare lately.
“This time, too, it’s Korea.”
The Republic of Korea, the center of those changes.
The variables that had begun with the appearance of Hahoe Mask had continued steadily through Heinrich, the saint of another world, and this time had even extended to Howard Industries.
Wasn’t the actual owner of that place also Phantom Heinz, one of the variables?
‘It’s still too early to step out fully... but now I can no longer remain still.’
Even without this, the world had been in an uproar and the organization unsettled because Heinrich had been brought into public discourse.
As if that were not enough, the Secretary, one of the seats on Pantheon’s operating committee, had been attacked by unidentified beings and gone missing, causing a sense of crisis toward hidden forces to swell more than ever before.
“Tsk. I had hoped to put this off at least until the Doctor woke again.”
If the Doctor, who had entered hibernation immediately after resurrection in order to modify his weakened body, opened his eyes, he might analyze Howard Industries’ technology and discover something.
However, if they kept dithering under the excuse that preparations were insufficient, they might end up in a situation that could no longer be reversed.
‘First, I need to apply a certain degree of braking and buy time.’
Having inwardly made up his mind, his gaze swiftly scanned the contents displayed on the tablet once more.
At the very end, a video file appeared.
As he indifferently played it, a beautiful woman came into view, standing atop a wide platform before outdoor stage seats packed with reporters.
-“Then we will begin the showcase. We will take questions later, so for now, please remain quiet...”
An event held shortly before the report reached him.
It was the site of Howard Industries’ grandly held showcase.
***
‘How did things end up getting this big?’
Ahead of the showcase, Jin Soran let out a deep sigh without realizing it.
Right now, she was personally present at the event venue.
And not merely as a related party, but as the host in charge of proceeding with the showcase.
‘I did hope we’d be able to come out proudly into the light someday... But this is too sudden, Lord.’
In truth, she had been sufficiently satisfied with the situation up until now.
Perception among ordinary people had not changed much yet, but among those in this industry, the number of cases where they were blindly kept at a distance as demons had greatly decreased, hadn’t it?
Recently, the vampires of the Blood Alliance had been tacitly acknowledged as vigilantes who protected the streets, so it was only natural that the morale of their members had risen greatly.
They had only become vampires while trying to survive; originally, they too had been ordinary humans, and thus they desperately craved such recognition from society.
“It’s time! Please go up now!”
“...Yes, understood.”
At the sound calling her, Jin Soran took another deep breath and slowly climbed onto the platform.
For this moment, not as the spokesperson of Heterosis, nor as the first earthly servant of the vampire of divine blood, an eighth-level vampire.
But as “Orchid,” the internet broadcaster who had lately been growing rapidly, to host the event.
“Then we will begin the showcase. We will take questions later, so for now, please remain quiet...”
Orchid, the English name for the flower nanchao, taken from the ran character in her own name.
Her personal broadcast, which she had somehow made time to continue without giving up despite her busy schedule, was her only hobby and a window of communication with the world from which she had inevitably been cut off after becoming a vampire.
‘Even so, I’m still not on the level to appear in a place like this.’
Jin Soran was also the person in charge of this event, but she had never intended to cast herself here.
And yet the reason such a situation had come to pass was... entirely because of an order from her Lord, Heinz.
“...Next, we will introduce the products.”
“These are the lineup our Howard Industries is focusing on. Starting with subspace magic tools, there are various types, including strength enhancement, defense, acceleration, and their specifications are...”
He had happened to be planning influencer marketing, recalled her hobby, and abruptly inserted Jin Soran into that position.
Since it was an important occasion, he also had the purpose of dispatching the person in charge directly to the site, but fundamentally, it was an order rooted in goodwill.
With the world’s attention gathered, merely appearing as the host would make her name known, and then her broadcast would naturally grow further.
“Next are the potions. These potions have already completed safety certification from the Returnee Association and the Otherworld Industry Resources Division of the Ability Management Bureau, and depending on their grade...”
She was truly grateful for his desire to look after her like that, but in truth, it was unbearably burdensome for her.
She had been doing personal broadcasts for quite a long time, but in the end, that was only sitting in front of a computer, looking at a screen, and talking by herself, wasn’t it?
To begin with, it was merely a hobby, so she had no particular intention of expanding its scale.
Click— click—
Murmur, murmur—
No matter that she had recently grown into the only eighth-level vampire in the Republic of Korea, before the barrage of camera flashes she was experiencing for the first time in her life and the sharp, gleaming gazes of the reporters, she could not help but be quite nervous.
If anything, she would have felt much more at ease on a battlefield where blood sprayed in every direction.
“Then we will move on to the next order of events. Everyone, please remain quiet. The question period is scheduled after all presentations have concluded, so...”
“These are the highest-grade magic tools produced by Howard Industries! The items here are a kind of sample, and if the conditions are met, it is entirely possible to custom-order items with specifications equivalent to these...”
Still, perhaps thanks to the experience she had accumulated from broadcasting and governing the vampires under her as the Lord’s proxy, she was able to finish the showcase safely without any major problems, unlike what she had worried about.
No, perhaps it was slightly inaccurate to end it by simply saying she finished it safely.
Because the response that erupted after that day’s showcase—
was effective far beyond her expectations.
***
Immediately after the showcase, the activities of the newly launched Howard Industries began in earnest.
The offline stores had not all been fully prepared yet, but in a world as developed as the present in terms of the internet, online alone was enough to begin operating immediately.
After all, the actual payment involving money would only be finalized after a direct transaction and receipt of the item following an order, wouldn’t it?
Accordingly, related stocks in the stock market repeatedly fluctuated.
Of course, Howard Industries was an unlisted corporation, but the influence of this industry was so deeply rooted throughout society that there were more than a few fields indirectly affected.
And there was one other place that began boiling over alongside that reaction.
It was none other than internet communities where people from all walks of life gathered and chattered away.
1. Both magic tools and potions received certification from the Association and the Ability Management Bureau.
2. They’re only a new company in name; apparently, they’ve been distributing small quantities for quite a while and verifying stability.
3. Especially the ones with the “highest-grade” label have such insane performance that every invited Awakened was practically drooling over them.
4. NoonAAAA!
(Photo from the showcase site)
-That’s four lines, though?
└That’s not what’s important right now, is it?
└Agreed. Honestly, you could say the last line is the most important.
-By the way, who is this? She’s insanely pretty.
└Orchid
As many people had been interested, the communities heated up with talk about the showcase.
The content itself was enough to draw interest, but photographs of a particular person taken by reporters from various angles also contributed firmly to that momentum.
-Wow... So her usual appearance on broadcast was actually nerfed? I thought she was using makeup, lighting, and filters all at once, but it was the opposite!
-It’s not like the reporters separately edited them, so how does every single photo look like a pictorial?
Such reactions spread beyond Korea to various parts of the world through the internet.
Just as expected when she had been put forward as the face of the event... no, creating an even greater response than that, the showcase became a hot topic.
That was how captivating her appearance before the public was, enough to bewitch not only men but even women.
-Look at this unnie’s charisma. I’m a woman, but I think I’m falling for her.
└I just end up staring blankly somehow. I feel like I’m about to awaken to a new world...
-Kyaa!! Unnie! Take me!!!
In truth, the cause of such reactions was not simply her beauty, but also the new power she had obtained this time.
After Heinz II ascended to divine blood, he had additionally bestowed upon Jin Soran a “Refined Blood Crystal” for smooth organizational management.
It drew out her potential to the extreme, and at the same time, as if passing down bloodline abilities, caused a part of Heinz’s traits to sprout within her.
Thanks to that, the power of “Concealment,” the bloodline ability she had already possessed, had grown even stronger, and beyond that, a new ability called “Bewitchment” had awakened, causing this commotion.
“Ugh... I thought I was controlling it properly. I think my control slipped a little because I was nervous.”
“Hmm. Still, this much shouldn’t become a problem. The reaction at the venue doesn’t seem to have been that excessive either.”
As Jin Soran saw the internet reaction and buried her face in both hands with a groan, Heinz II, seated in the office chair and checking the showcase video, slowly nodded and replied.
“Bewitchment” was unmistakably a mental-type ability.
If it had been indiscriminately manifested against ordinary people, complaints would inevitably arise.
However, because her already outstanding beauty had been upgraded once again after she grew into an eighth-level vampire, even the Awakened present at the venue failed to sense anything particularly strange and let it pass.
‘Not bad. No, looking only at the result, it’s excellent.’
Praising his own eye for talent, he looked at the screen in satisfaction.
Before long, the video had moved on to the latter half of the showcase, the demonstration of the highest-grade magic tools.
Crackle—!
Blue sparks flew across the screen.
It was a phenomenon that occurred the moment the Awakened in charge of the demonstration gripped a hammer with a short handle.
It exuded an intensity so powerful that it could be felt even through the screen.
If a special barrier had not been installed at the site, ordinary people would probably have fainted from the indirect aftermath alone.
Rumble—!
Afterward, lightning fell onto the hammer.
Fired like a flash of lightning, it completely reduced not only the distant target but also the surrounding area to ash before returning to the user’s hand.
It looked like a scene from a certain movie... no, as if a scene from Norse mythology had been recreated.
For this, they had deliberately held the showcase on a wide outdoor stage.
‘The design was also deliberately altered a little, so there should be no concern about copyright.’
That hammer was a piece that could be called a masterpiece even among the items Howard had painstakingly made while shut inside his workshop.
In truth, even if it had been made completely identical, who would dare say anything? Still, there was no need to invite unnecessary trouble.
‘Of course, that’s a bait product, so we put as much care into it as possible. As for the grade of the reward, we’ll have to differentiate it according to the level of the elixir the other party offers. I wonder how many people possess elixirs with that much value.’
Even so, it would have to be at least enough to receive an upper-grade item to be of help.
With that thought, as he quietly watched the showcase coming to an end—
“...Um, Lord? I just received a call from Branch Manager Yun of the Association...”
One of the top three transcendents in Korea, the Thunder Emperor, Yun Jiyun.
A big fish had bitten from the very start.