6 PM,
After the day's entire schedule had ended—including additional speeches, committee meetings, and even informal meetings—many representatives requested to have dinner together and discuss various matters, but Suho refused them all.
He was tired from having listened to too many people.
He possessed an EX-grade body, so his physical stamina was overflowing, but he was mentally exhausted.
In fact, the majority of problems were things he didn't necessarily need to get involved in, and it was all the more so because the requests pushed forward by countries and organizations were prioritizing their own vested interests.
It was to the point where he resolved not to come next time even if the UN requested him as a special envoy.
Though Suho's entourage hardly needed it, they were nevertheless on their way back to the hotel under ironclad security.
Inside the moving armored vehicle, Danbi finally brought up the subject.
"Suho, actually today..."
Since Suho had been tired from listening to and turning down all sorts of requests, Danbi had been quite cautious.
"Yes, please go ahead."
"Um, never mind. Let's talk after dinner and some rest."
"...?"
Suho, who had been quietly staring at Danbi, buried himself back into the seat and fell into a short sleep.
Sure enough, after arriving at the hotel lodging that the security team was guarding thoroughly, as he sat facing Danbi during the prepared dinner, Suho nibbled at the food and complained.
"I miss the meals at Elysium Heights..."
"There's no restaurant like it anywhere in the world."
Danbi smiled brightly with a face that showed she wholeheartedly agreed.
"If I could open my Dimensional Gate for you too, Danbi, I'd take you over to eat dinner and rest, then come back tomorrow."
"Huh? Then do that. Go even by yourself. The food here is fine for me. You can rest and come back tomorrow."
"Come on... how could I do that, so disloyal."
Danbi smiled, rolling her eyes without speaking, and her eyes gave off a feeling of 'of course,' so Suho felt relieved that he had given the right answer.
Then he remembered what had happened in the car earlier, and Suho asked.
"By the way, what was it you were going to say in the car earlier?"
"Ah, that."
Danbi wiped her mouth with a napkin and briefly summarized what had happened during the day.
"...So I was going to deliver this to you. Of course, the decision is yours, Suho, but I thought I should at least properly play the messenger's role."
"Hmm... world hunger..."
As Suho's contemplation deepened, Danbi's heart grew anxious too.
As someone who always wanted to help others whether from the suffering caused by the Tower or other reasons, she wanted Suho to accept, but she couldn't help considering his position.
It was world hunger. A problem involving billions of people that no single individual could approach and do something about.
"After all... it's too large in scale, isn't it?"
Danbi forced the corners of her mouth up, smiling bitterly as if she understood.
But Suho's answer was unexpected.
"Ah, no. It's not that the scale is large. A population of that size is... nothing much. I was thinking about what a healthy method and process would be."
"Huh...?"
"Actually, when I approached Korea's welfare issues in the past, I had already made up my mind about something."
"What is it?"
"This."
Suho opened and showed a photo he had taken with his phone—a phrase scribbled in thick marker on the page of a newspaper he had been reading.
There, the following content was written clearly:
"Let there be no one who starves to death within a hundred thousand li in every direction."
"A hundred thousand li...?"
Danbi tilted her head as she read the words in the image.
"A hundred thousand li is about forty thousand kilometers. That's roughly the distance around the Earth."
"Ah... then that means..."
"If I have this ability and let people starve on this tiny planet that doesn't even have ten billion people... if that's all I can do with my ability, I felt that I wouldn't be able to show my face anywhere."
"I see..."
"I was busy with trivial matters and had forgotten for a while, so thank you for reminding me again."
* * *
The next day, Suho, who did not attend the meeting, met separately with the WFP representative who had also been absent.
Daniel, who had arrived early at the hotel's meeting room, sprang up and bowed when he saw Suho.
His face, which looked like he hadn't slept a wink after receiving Danbi's contact, was filled with determined will.
"Dr. Daniel?"
When Suho extended his hand, Daniel grasped it firmly as if grabbing a lifeline.
"Jeong Suho-nim, thank you for meeting me, for arranging this occasion. It is truly an unparalleled honor to meet you."
He greeted Suho, and then bowed his head to Danbi as well.
"Not at all. It is I who am honored to meet someone doing such admirable work. Please, sit."
The three of them sat facing each other with coffee and refreshments between them.
It was a reserved private meeting space so it shouldn't happen, but just in case, Suho had posted Minsu and Minji at the entrance to guard the meeting room.
At Suho's chin gesture to say what he had to say, Daniel took a deep breath with a nervous face and spoke.
"According to the 'World Food Security and Nutrition Report' published by the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization), IFAD (International Fund for Agricultural Development), UNICEF, WHO (World Health Organization), WFP (World Food Programme), and others, currently more than 1.3 billion people are suffering from chronic hunger. That corresponds to 14% of the world's 9.3 billion population. This number is not merely statistics. And every day, 32,000 children lose their lives to starvation. But ironically... the food produced worldwide is sufficient for no one to go hungry."
"Then the problem is distribution."
Suho spoke calmly. His expression was composed, but his eyes showed motivation.
"That's correct."
Daniel nodded.
"But behind the problem of distribution lies the monopoly of multinational corporations, markets distorted by speculation, and political indifference. Climate and environmental issues and conflicts like civil wars also constitute major factors."
Suho quietly nodded at words he had heard somewhere before.
"Hunger is not simply a humanitarian problem. It is a tragedy created by unfair structures and systems. A monster created by humanity's endless greed and selfishness."
"Yes... you are right, but what can an individual like me do? Shouldn't governments and international organizations step forward?"
At those words, Daniel's pupils shook violently behind his glasses.
"Th-that... is correct... but it's impossible... The UN and various organizations are striving for this... but because so many diverse factors interact in this problem, it is truly like hitting a rock with an egg. There is no hope visible. At this rate, it will be impossible to reach 'low hunger levels' even by 2160..."
Daniel, who had been trailing off, pulled out a massive stack of documents from a thick bag.
Hundreds of documents stained with handprints, showing how much he had read and carried them around.
"Here, there is a lot of detailed data. If you look here...!"
In response, Suho quietly raised his hand to stop him.
"Dr. Daniel, I fully understand what you are saying. I will think a bit more about what I can do. And I was wondering if it would be alright to request your help again when needed?"
At those words, Daniel's face brightened.
"Y-yes! Anytime! Please say anything! Just say the word!!"
Suho smirked at the excited Daniel.
He was indeed exactly as Danbi had described.
A person who threw away his life for the unspecified masses starving on the other side of the world, people whose names he didn't even know.
Someone who considered it his mission, his own work, his own family's work. Daniel was precisely that kind of person.
Perhaps infected by his sense of mission and passion, feeling a hot energy pounding in his chest, Suho extended his hand to him again.
"My attendance at the UN ends as of now. Let me spend the remaining time of this US trip with you. If it's alright, how about moving your lodging to this hotel? Where are you staying now?"
"Ah... I, I..."
Hearing where Daniel was staying, it wasn't a top-class hotel like Suho's but a relatively cheap place.
The fact that the Executive Director of the WFP was staying in such a place...!
Perhaps out of personal conviction, to emphasize his sincerity regarding the hunger problem through a frugal life and to symbolically demonstrate his role.
Or perhaps, since the WFP often experienced financial shortages, he made a frugal choice with that in mind.
In any case, the environment suitable for work—security, privacy, business meeting spaces, etc.—was well-equipped in various ways at the hotel where Suho was staying, so it was decided to move Daniel's lodging there.
The next day,
Daniel, who had met again after thinking sufficiently about various matters, was waiting for Suho with even more plans.
Suho burst out laughing at the piles of documents that looked draining just to see.
"Come on, Doctor, what era do you think this is that you're carrying all those documents around one by one?"
"Ah... it's become a habit... Actually, I once put all the data on a tablet and relied solely on it, only to lose it all..."
"Oh my, that must be an unpleasant memory. I suppose you lost the tablet?"
"No... it was hacked. A multinational corporation that was displeased with the WFP's developing country aid business did it..."
"Yikes... that's terrible."
Suho furrowed his brow at the devastating outcome beyond imagination.
Sitting side by side with Danbi, Suho peered at the documents Daniel had prepared for a while and pressed his fingers firmly between his brows.
"What is this... roughly speaking, these are realistic methods. I can see traces of long deliberation."
"Y-yes!"
"But didn't you say that with this kind of approach, there is no hope in sight?"
"Of course, that is why in every blank space I left, I need your financial assist—"
Suho shook his head.
"No. The method I'm thinking of is not this kind of common-sense, realistic approach."
"...Th-then...?"
"It's a much more radical and innovative method."
"How on earth..."
Daniel could only blink at Suho's groundless words.
"There are many methods. Actually, I've been thinking about it for a while. Let's do this one by one. Which continent has the most serious hunger problem right now?"
"Africa. Whether 20 years ago or now, Africa still has the highest proportion of the world's hungry population. In Africa, figures recorded are more than twice the global average hunger rate. More than 20% of Africa's total population is struggling with hunger. If you include 'moderate or severe food insecurity' where people cannot access food in daily life, it easily exceeds half."
"Then what about regions outside Africa?"
"There are many countries with serious hunger problems outside of it as well... but several countries like Haiti and Afghanistan disappeared from the map before they could receive proper aid or get a chance to recover."
"Ah..."
Suho also knew from watching the news.
In places where prolonged civil wars had led to de facto anarchic states, systematic management and deployment of Admittees had not been carried out. In such places, not only were Tower climbs and raids not conducted properly, but when Tower Breaks erupted everywhere, the countries were ultimately swallowed whole by monsters.
No refugees or starving people remained in those countries anymore. Because no living humans existed at all.
Suho fell into thought for a moment, then steeled his resolve and spoke.
"Alright, then let's start with Africa as you said. Which African country is the most serious?"
"It would differ depending on what criteria define hardship... but overall, the most difficult place is Somalia. Due to the absence of a central government, an anarchic state has persisted for 50 years; prolonged droughts have collapsed agriculture, and the economic foundation is virtually nonexistent. Moreover, security issues make it difficult to approach with aid and development projects... In many ways, other nations are in better condition compared to Somalia."
"Somalia... it's still a difficult place. Now, let me explain my plan. There are four stages in total..."
Suho scribbled a table with a pen on his tablet and wrote words into it.
"First, resolve the civil war. Reconcile everyone very smoothly. Just tell them to stop fighting."
"Second, discover a leader with vision, install him anew, and protect him effectively in a special manner."
"And third, as urgent aid right away, supply water and food without limit."
"Fourth, for long-term support, supply energy resources, other resources, and money without limit to raise industry. What do you think?"
Daniel stared blankly at Suho.
Because he couldn't tell at all whether this person was mocking him or speaking in earnest.
Smoothly reconcile the decades-long war between Al-Shabaab and the government forces, and clashes between warlords? Just tell them to stop fighting??
Supply water and food without limit? How on earth would distribution work?
And resources and money again without limit? But it was a place where aid itself wasn't easy...
All four were absurd words.
The thought that these were words mocking his conviction for running after impossible things caused a faint sense of displeasure to rise from his rational judgment, but—
on the other side of his mind, he recalled the achievements and miracles Suho had accomplished thus far.
Had he been an ordinary person? Hadn't he shown things no human could dare approach, or even imagine?
Wasn't it Jeong Suho who supplied Etherium to the entire world and blocked meteors falling from space?
The more rational thought that 'applying ordinary standards and common-sense criteria to him is absurd in itself' suppressed the rising displeasure.
Focus returned to Daniel's vacant eyes, and he spoke in a clear voice.
"Actually... I don't know your abilities one by one... I can't imagine any of it."
Suho only shrugged his shoulders without answering.
"But I believe. In what you will do. Your ability, wealth, and influence will change the fate of the world."
Then Suho also smiled at Daniel.
"If it can come to that, Dr. Daniel, you too will have played a major role in bringing it about."