Earth, with destruction drawing near.
For the moment, this place was merely hotter than winter had any right to be, but the situations in countries around the world that I checked online were truly growing urgent.
Riots were frequent, there were countries whose governments had collapsed, and there were places where refugees were pouring out.
Korea, too, was seeing continuous protests and demonstrations, and its stocks and economy were a mess, but compared to those countries, it was still in better shape.
In a situation like this, we couldn’t afford to move leisurely.
“I don’t think we can entrust the items to anyone else either. Tom and I will go to America ourselves. We’ll hand over the black stones and awakening agents, and depending on the situation, we’ll come back with Tom’s family.”
After contacting the intelligence agency, Magreta decided to go to America in person. To bring his family back, Tom also headed to America with her.
It seemed Magreta had no intention of bringing her parents and the rest of her family to Trappist just yet.
“They can go to Paradise, after all. They have a shelter they made with their own power, so they won’t listen to me. Besides, Paradise still has time.”
At her answer, I could only nod.
Even after Earth’s destruction, Paradise would not be isolated as long as I was there.
Magreta and Tom took a helicopter to Pyongyang in order to head to America, while the remaining members of our group, Master Sergeant Woo and Hannah, set off for Seoul with me.
Perhaps because I hadn’t contacted them, or because everyone was out of their minds with work, neither the Korean general nor the third-generation chaebol heir came to see me before I boarded the helicopter.
As I headed to Seoul with the two of them, I listened to the radio news on my phone to check the situation in Korea.
—Governments around the world are announcing that the current abnormal weather is a temporary phenomenon, and that the extreme situation everyone fears will not occur. However, ordinary citizens are currently engaging in indiscriminate panic buying…
“How strange. Even in a situation like this, no rumor has gotten out. In movies, rumors usually spread everywhere before things get to this point.”
Inside the noisy helicopter, Hannah, who had been listening to the news with me through the other earbud, tilted her head.
She hadn’t specified what she meant, but I immediately understood what she was talking about.
She was asking why Earth’s destruction had not become known in a situation like this.
Communities and the internet were full of all sorts of rumors about the end, but nowhere had officially acknowledged those rumors or revealed them to be true.
There was no helping it.
“Because the way mouths are sealed is different from the movies.”
“Ah! It was blocked with magic, right? Even if they wanted to reveal the secret, they couldn’t.”
Because I had cast magic on them, the members had to keep the secret on Earth as well.
“Even so, the secret won’t be able to stay hidden forever.”
The world was heading toward destruction. There was no way a secret could be kept forever just by using magic.
Besides, there was someone here who had not been placed under magic.
Someone who was fully prepared to reveal the truth depending on the situation.
That person was me.
For now, I still agreed that the secret had to be kept to prevent chaos in the world, but the end of that was drawing near.
If the reason those in power or politicians kept the secret was not to prevent chaos in the world, but simply to save themselves, then I would open my mouth.
“By the way, I’m seeing a lot of talk about the ruins on communities too. There are also several people saying we should flee to another planet.”
Hannah, who had been listening to the news with me while browsing the internet, showed me her phone screen.
—No, why is there so much talk about ruins these days? Is this even something we can believe?
—Honestly, we all know there’s no answer if Earth keeps going like this. The temperature rising is a problem, but farming is ruined too, and the sea is a mess. Isn’t escaping to another planet the only hope?
—How can you believe in ruins that supposedly take you to another planet? And even if something like that exists, do you think ordinary people would be able to go? High-ranking government officials and chaebols would sneak out on their own. Commoners like us will just stay here and die. Wake up.
—But even in this situation, the U.S. military is still holding out up north. Doesn’t that mean there’s something there? And the announcement about ruins connected to another planet came out at exactly the right time. The ruins escape theory… I don’t think we can ignore it.
—Then is there really hope? I really hope so… I’m tired of having nightmares every night. If I can go with my family, I’ll do anything. Please, let even that rumor be true.
Even though these were comments from an ordinary community that had nothing to do with the ruins, many of them mentioned the ruins.
Of course, most of the posts had been written by people frightened by the abnormal weather, but among them, talk of the ruins was everywhere.
People who couldn’t believe in the ruins, and people who wondered if, just maybe.
There were even people saying they had to go to the ruins.
After seeing those comments, Hannah asked,
“If people start looking for them like this… will the Baekdu Mountain ruins be all right?”
Master Sergeant Woo, who was sitting with us, answered her question.
“They haven’t opened North Korean territory yet. The Baekdu Mountain base at the far north should be fine.”
Unlike the south, where there was freedom of movement, the northern territory had required military permission for travel ever since the war.
After the war ended, there had been many calls to allow freedom of movement, but the government had not lifted the restrictions yet.
I couldn’t know whether they had anticipated a situation like this, but thanks to that, it was proving to be a great help.
Once Hannah’s question was answered, this time Master Sergeant Woo asked me a question.
“But are you really going with me?”
“Is it uncomfortable for you if I go?”
At my question in return, he shook his head.
“No, sir. If anything, I’m grateful. But you must be busy.”
I certainly was busy.
I had to meet people like the president and chaebol chairmen, and there were others I needed to meet as well.
However, the reason I was going to Seoul this time was to meet Master Sergeant Woo’s family.
My brother had already arrived in Seoul, so I could bring Master Sergeant Woo’s family back to the Baekdu Mountain base with him.
Lastly, if we met Tom’s family at the Baekdu Mountain base and all crossed over to Trappist together, then the first stage would have been carried out properly.
My original plan had been to help myself and those around me, and then, if I had capacity left afterward, to help more people.
This would be taking that first step properly.
“If they’re the families of my team members, then they’re my family too.”
Hearing my words, Master Sergeant Woo seemed moved.
In truth, there was also a calculating thought in my heart that since they were people I would be bringing into my city, I needed to check them personally, but there was no need to say that out loud.
And so the helicopter carrying us flew for about two hours and arrived in Seoul.
This time as well, the helicopter landed in a parking lot by the Han River, close to the warehouse in Namyangju.
In that parking lot, someone I knew had parked a car and was waiting for us.
“Welcome, Commander Hyun.”
The person waving beside the car was Jeong Il-su, a Korean CIA agent.
It had only been three hours since we arrived on Earth, and Magreta had contacted him around the same time, but he was already here.
“I thought we’d have to wait, but you were already out here.”
When I approached him and held out my hand, Jeong Il-su took it and shook it vigorously.
“I’m in charge of you, Commander Hyun, after all. And I just arrived myself.”
He loaded us into the massive jeep he had brought.
“Given the situation, I brought a jeep that’s half military vehicle. The ride comfort is crap, but there’s nothing sturdier than this.”
Hannah and Master Sergeant Woo got in the back, and when I climbed into the passenger seat, he started driving.
“In fact, almost everything the CIA’s Korea branch is doing right now is support work for the Baekdu Mountain ruins. Once Commander Hyun comes to Earth, our branch’s first priority becomes supporting you.”
As we left the parking lot, he chattered away enthusiastically, just as before.
The world was changing rapidly, but this man had not changed.
“The first place we’re going is where Master Sergeant Woo’s family is, correct?”
When I nodded, he entered the destination into the navigation system and said,
“Then we’ll head to Dunchon-dong, where the Veterans Hospital is.”
After the car entered the riverside road, it immediately crossed a bridge and headed south.
There were not many cars on the road.
But the expressions of the people driving them looked full of worry and exhaustion.
Unlike them, Jeong Il-su kept talking energetically the entire time he drove.
“According to the agents guarding the family, both Master Sergeant Woo’s wife and mother seem to be fine.”
Whether it was protection or surveillance, I couldn’t tell, but at a time like this, I was simply grateful that someone had watched over them.
“That’s a relief.”
Master Sergeant Woo also expressed his gratitude at his words, and Jeong Il-su began chattering even more enthusiastically.
“Other hospitals are in chaos, but hardly anyone touches the Veterans Hospital. It really was a good decision to have your wife admitted there.”
This time, Master Sergeant Woo shook his head.
“Back then, there was simply no other option.”
“Ah, I’m sorry.”
While chattering away, Jeong Il-su had made a mistake.
Master Sergeant Woo’s wife had always been frail, but the reason she had been hospitalized was because she had miscarried the child she had been carrying.
Having suffered a great shock both mentally and physically, she had to be hospitalized, and Master Sergeant Woo had come to Trappist in exchange for having his wife admitted to the Veterans Hospital.
His circumstances were different from mine, as I had been forcibly conscripted during the war, but his situation had not been good either.
[Was the reason he became rough when he saw the young humanoid monsters because of the child they lost?]
I couldn’t know whether that was really the reason, but in any case, the family he would be taking to Trappist was his wife, who was hospitalized at the Veterans Hospital, and his mother, who was nursing her.
As we entered the city south of the Han River, the number of cars increased.
While the jeep slowed down and moved along the road, the sound of something breaking came from the roadside.
Crash!
It was the sound of a glass window shattering.
When I looked toward where the sound had come from, a store’s window had been smashed to pieces, and people were rushing out through it.
People carrying armfuls of goods.
What they held were not electronics or jewelry, but daily necessities and food.
The people who had looted the closed store got into cars parked on the sidewalk and began to flee, while a police car chased after them with its siren wailing.
Woooooo!
A chase broke out in broad daylight, but people showed no interest in it.
Rather, passersby stood in front of the store with the broken window, sizing one another up as if wondering whether they could go in and bring out more goods.
The jeep passed beside them, and through the rearview mirror, we saw people rushing into the store.
We looked at one another with bewildered expressions.
“My God. A store getting looted in broad daylight. Is this really Korea?”
When Hannah asked, Jeong Il-su answered with a bitter expression.
“This isn’t only happening here. A nighttime curfew has already been imposed, and while martial law hasn’t been declared, the situation is no different from martial law.”
Now I understood what he had meant when he said he had deliberately brought a jeep.
Woooooo!
Once again, the sound of a siren came from far away.
This was the sound of another police car.
Even amid the commotion, the cars kept moving.
In the distance, the Veterans Hospital began to come into view.
Family (1)