On the day aerogel was sprayed into the sky and iron compounds were dropped into the sea, the expedition members and I were at the Baekdu Mountain base.
Before returning to Trappist, we gathered in Magreta’s barracks and watched the news on TV.
The news was broadcasting a statement from the President of the United States.
—My fellow citizens, and citizens of the world. We are now facing an unprecedented environmental emergency.
The American president’s speech, being broadcast simultaneously around the world, stunned everyone from the very beginning.
—According to research, it has been confirmed that, due to rapid changes linked to global warming, an enormous amount of greenhouse gases is being released from Antarctica at an unexpected rate. This is a sudden and grave crisis unlike any humanity has ever experienced.
Everyone at this base was watching or listening to the broadcast as well.
The base was silent.
—Because environmental regulations alone could not stop a threat of this scale and speed, we have been preparing on another level. After countless studies, our government has completed geoengineering technology capable of lowering Earth’s temperature and absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
The planes and ships that left airports and ports today were carrying the products needed to implement that very technology.
Aerosols and iron compounds.
The team members gathered in the barracks watching the broadcast knew what kind of geoengineering technology the American president was talking about.
—Of course, this technology has side effects. The sky may change, and the sea may look different. But for the goal of humanity’s survival, we are in a desperate situation where we have no choice but to accept those side effects.
The American president’s words were both truth and lies.
It was true that the situation was desperate enough to accept the side effects, but that technology would not stop Earth’s rising temperatures.
It would merely buy time.
—At the same time, we are not ceasing our multifaceted efforts for humanity’s future. From space exploration, including Mars and Venus, to the development of ruins connected to extraterrestrial worlds, we continue to explore the possibility of humanity living beyond Earth.
On top of that, the most important ruins had been quietly slipped in among the future plans.
It couldn’t be helped. If attention gathered on the ruins and people flocked to this base, it would be a disaster.
[Even this much exposure seems like it could become a problem……]
Soph still couldn’t stop worrying even over a statement of this level, but people already knew about the ruins. This was the best we could do.
—Now is the time for all of humanity to join forces. All of our efforts will be focused on overcoming this crisis and securing the future. We ask for your understanding and cooperation.
With those words, the president’s statement came to an end.
The barrage of cameras and the voices of reporters calling for the president followed, but the president immediately left the podium.
After that, the Secretary of Commerce and the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency appeared and held a press conference, but we no longer paid any attention to the TV.
Like the president’s words, the press conference was also a packaged mixture of truth and lies, and it was all information I already knew.
The same was true for the team members.
Yesterday, I had returned to the Baekdu Mountain base with Katherine and Magreta, and the team members had arrived at the base at the same time.
Yesterday, when everyone had gathered, I told them everything I had been unable to say until then.
The fact that I could use my abilities on Earth, things about Soph, the “Magician’s Flower,” and even the situation in Paradise.
Perhaps because there was so much they had heard, the team members did not find it strange that Katherine had joined our side.
When I asked because I found it odd, Hannah answered right away.
“We thought it would turn out like this from before.”
All the team members agreed with her.
“There probably isn’t anyone in Trappist who wouldn’t come over if Captain Hyun tried to win them over.”
“Wouldn’t there be? What about that person?”
“I don’t think so. I heard that person saying they wished they’d been given a gun too.”
At Sergeant Woo’s words, Tom named someone, but Magreta immediately erased that name.
Even as the team members continued chatting, the news kept playing on the TV.
There was news that the Korean government agreed with the U.S. government’s announcement, followed by the stock market where circuit breakers had been triggered to prevent a crash, and then reports on the situations in various countries.
Watching the broadcast, Hannah let out a sigh.
“There’s going to be chaos for a while.”
“Not for a while. This is only the beginning.”
Magreta corrected Hannah’s words.
Everyone’s expressions darkened.
“If I’d known it would be like this, I should have gone to see my family in America.”
Tom grumbled regretfully, and Sergeant Woo spoke with a serious face as well.
“Would it be better to send my family to that planet called Paradise in advance too?”
Unlike the two men, the women did not worry about their families.
Katherine, who only had foster parents, and Hannah, who had no family, had no reason to worry about family.
The same was true for Magreta; she had no need to worry about her family.
Seeing Sergeant Woo and Tom worry, I made one suggestion to the team members.
“If you wish, we can bring your families to Trappist as well.”
Everyone looked at me with puzzled faces.
“What? But our families are all ordinary people.”
“I heard that awakening drug only has a one-in-a-hundred chance of success.”
Following Tom and Sergeant Woo’s questions, Magreta glared at me with narrowed eyes.
“Don’t tell me this is possible with yet another of Hyun’s abilities.”
I shrugged.
“That’s exactly it. It isn’t certain, but I think I can manage about two people at once even now.”
If I held one person’s hand in each hand, like carrying bags in both hands, I felt as though I could move ordinary people to Trappist.
I had a good feeling about it. It was hard to be certain, but I didn’t think I was wrong either.
After hearing my words, the team members’ expressions became complicated.
Sergeant Woo seemed to have made his decision right away, but Tom, as if he found it difficult to decide, clutched his head with both hands.
“Wait, that changes things……”
Magreta’s expression also turned troubled.
“By Trappist, do you mean the underground city on the ice planet?”
“Yes. After Trappist’s main planet is stabilized, they could live there, but for now, they’d have to stay in the underground city on the ice planet.”
After hearing my words, Magreta sank into thought with a grave expression.
Of course she would be conflicted.
Her family was a powerful clan promised a place even in Paradise.
Since she seemed deeply troubled, I spoke again.
“I’m not telling you to decide right now. I’m just letting you know that such an option exists.”
It was not yet time to worry about such things. Things had become far more urgent than before, but there was still time.
As I was reassuring them like that, Katherine suddenly cut in.
“Considering that you’re telling them to move their families to Trappist…… Does Paradise have some other problem besides the limit on the number of people?”
As expected, she was a frightening person.
To think she grasped the truth even in a conversation like this.
I had not yet told anyone that the terraforming ruins in Paradise had little life left.
I had thought about it many times, but it was difficult to say.
I couldn’t tell people that the one remaining refuge had only a few years left.
“It isn’t certain yet. Once it becomes certain, I’ll tell you.”
Even to Katherine, that was all I could say for now.
The news was still continuing on the TV.
Now panelists had appeared and were talking about the coming food shortages and decreases in fish catches.
Amid all that, they were even denouncing the United States and various governments for keeping this matter secret.
As Hannah and Magreta said, it was clear that great chaos would arise on Earth from now on.
The major countries had reached an agreement, but there were still many countries that did not know about the end of the Earth and the ruins, and among them were nuclear powers.
Depending on the situation, war could break out.
A war incomparable to the one that had taken place in the Middle East.
On top of that, from now on, we had to move people to Paradise.
The number of people who had gone to Paradise had not yet reached ten thousand, and since I had expanded my domain, several million more could now go.
Filling that number would not be easy either.
We were short on black stones right away. Because the Stone faction had wasted black stones on something pointless, we had to obtain more.
[This feels a little overwhelming.]
[Start with what you can do. No matter how great a hero may be, he cannot save everyone.]
[I’m not a hero.]
[Did I say you were?]
While I was chatting with Soph, it grew noisy outside.
“Don’t tell me Earth is really going to end?”
“See? I told you. There’s something in these ruins.”
“Can’t we go?”
“They said only people who passed the blood test can. Besides, it’s incredibly dangerous there too. If you went, you’d die right away.”
“Die this way or die that way. I have to find some kind of method.”
It was the sound of people who had watched the broadcast talking.
The soldiers at the base, and even the people who had come in from outside.
With my enhanced hearing, I could hear everything they said.
Everyone was conversing in grave voices.
For the people at the base, the American president’s announcement could not help but sound different.
To people outside the base, ruins connected to another planet were no more than a vague, far-fetched story, but the people at the base were different.
To them, it was reality itself.
The people at the base knew how much effort America had poured into the ruins all this time.
How many people they had sent in, and how many had died.
For people who knew that, the president’s statement could only sound different.
“The rumors will spread quickly.”
At my words, all the team members agreed.
It would not take long for all of humanity to learn of Earth’s destruction.
“Until then, we’ll have to do what we need to do. And what we need to do right now is gather black stones.”
The team members nodded again.
We needed more of the “Magician’s Flower” as well, but that was something I had to discuss with the spirit.
“For that reason, our expedition will be heading beyond the mountain range, to the west of the continent.”
I intended to leave the Akzar monsters in the city ruins east of the mountain range to others.
[You must be careful. If you make a wrong move, you may wake the Demon King.]
Soph was worried, but even if the Demon King awakened, there was nothing we could do about it.
Instead of Paradise, which had a time limit, I was considering Trappist as humanity’s new refuge.
If we were going to use Trappist as a refuge, we could not simply leave the Demon King alone.
If the Demon King awakened after everyone had crossed over and swept away the refugees, humanity would be finished.
We had to reach a conclusion before that happened.
Leaving the blaring TV behind, we rose from our seats.
“Let’s go now.”
All preparations for spatial movement had already been made.
We, the expedition team now including Katherine, left the barracks.
As soon as we stepped outside, people’s gazes gathered on us.
They were different gazes from before.
Before, they had looked at us like people voluntarily setting off for hardship in a distant place, but now their expressions were those of people watching others flee by themselves.
Expressions mixed with jealousy and envy.
Passing through those expressions, we headed to Trappist.
Together with white light, we crossed space, and while we were gone, Earth’s chaos deepened even further.
The Tomb (1)