The president was shocked, but in the end he agreed with me.
-……Well, I suppose the time has come to let them know. Because of the relic, my mouth was sealed, so I never even considered it, but if there is a way to inform them, then it is only right that we do so now.
After agreeing with me in a gloomy tone, the president said something meaningful.
-Then does that mean you can ignore the relic’s restrictions? It seems you are special even on Earth.
I gave no answer to his words.
It seemed the president had realized that I could use abilities or magic on Earth.
Before, that would have been a problem, but now it did not matter if he noticed.
Even if everyone learned that I could use magic on Earth, with the fire already at their feet, they had no way to impose sanctions on me.
Even if they inferred that I was the one who had set off the nuclear bomb, nothing would change.
-Once this news becomes known to the people, the governments of many nations will collapse. China, where warlords are already fighting localized battles, will likely see this news become the spark for civil war.
Even China, which should have been furious about the nuclear bomb going off, was not in a position to worry about me, just as the president had said.
-How do you plan to make the announcement? If you need a venue, I will try to arrange one.
“It’s all right. Just make sure that, after the announcement goes out, the articles aren’t blocked.”
Even if it was for the sake of the people, the president was still a politician and a man of power.
Rather than rely on the president, it was better to trust the reporter and the National Intelligence Service agent in front of me.
At my request, the president readily answered.
-That much will be no problem.
With that, I ended the call with the president and parted ways with the reporter and the NIS agent as well.
After that, I traveled with Hanna.
It was a journey where we visited places with good scenery, and went around department stores and large discount stores to acquire the things we needed.
The world was in an uproar, and buying daily necessities had become more difficult than before, but the trip itself was not hard.
Any dangers during the trip could be sufficiently blocked with magic, and purchase limits only meant that we needed more money.
The reason I traveled with Hanna at a time like this was because of her awakening.
Since we had no idea where, under what circumstances, or how she would awaken, we had no choice but to keep wandering.
According to Hanna, there was no need to leave Korea.
Thanks to that, we rented a car and traveled all over the country.
And so three days passed.
On the morning of the fourth day, the article we had been waiting for finally came out.
It came out later than I had expected.
There were probably many reasons for that, but perhaps because it had taken time, the article was thorough.
The story I had told them, the evidence supporting those stories, and the statements of witnesses filled the long article from beginning to end.
The article covered the entire front page of the newspaper, and perhaps because the president had provided support, it also appeared on the main page of internet portals.
People were shocked, and the article spread in every direction.
As I had sensed when speaking with the president, the security created through the relic had one weakness.
That magic was an extraordinary spell that prevented secrets from being spread not only by words, but through other means as well, but it could not stop a secret that had already begun to spread.
Stopping the article from spreading was not a matter of magic, but of each individual’s decision.
However, among those whose mouths had been sealed by magic, there were many who, like the president, did not like it.
Those people did not stop the article from spreading. Rather, they helped it along.
Those in power trying to block the article, and those trying to protect it.
The commotion taking place across the internet and the media drew people’s attention, and the shocking article, which nonetheless appeared to be true, spread not only throughout Korea but across the entire world.
Half a day after the article went out.
The world was engulfed in extreme chaos.
People trying to confirm the truth rushed to government agencies and the homes of those in power, and those who learned that many people had disappeared posted that fact again to the media and the internet.
In that way, the article was gradually revealed to be true, and people began picking up weapons instead of staging demonstrations.
Death and destruction were approaching. There was no one who would hold a peaceful protest.
Gunfights broke out all over the world, and casualties mounted one after another.
Korea, too, almost fell into extreme chaos, but because the government had prepared in advance, it was able to prevent that level of disorder.
-Due to the shocking article, the entire world has fallen into chaos.
As of this moment, I am invoking an emergency presidential order under Article 76 of the Constitution, and in order to mobilize all domestic resources and maintain order, I am temporarily prohibiting all citizens from leaving the country. At the same time, in order to bring social disorder under control and protect the lives of the people, I hereby declare emergency martial law under Article 77 of the Constitution. The travel ban is a measure in preparation for the article being confirmed as true, and will take effect immediately.
When the article was published and chaos began, the president announced martial law.
Before, even the ruling party leader had opposed it, so the National Assembly would have canceled the declaration of martial law, but now things were different.
If the National Assembly rejected this, the people would undoubtedly burn it down.
The president’s following announcement also included content meant to appease the people as much as possible.
-If the contents of the article are confirmed to be true, we will ensure that the so-called “tickets,” which had been given only to certain individuals, are distributed fairly. In addition, we will use the ruins in North Korea so that as many people as possible can escape.
Please understand that this painful control we are imposing now is an unavoidable choice in order to save more people. I ask the citizens to place a little more trust in me and in our government, who won the Korean War. We overcame it then, and this time as well, we will find a path together.
The reason the president had become able to speak of the secret he had been hiding was because the contract with the relic had ended.
Once the secret of Earth’s destruction was released throughout the world, all contracts whose secrets had disappeared were canceled.
That alone would not be enough to reassure all the citizens, but thanks to the martial law being announced before it was too late, Korea was at least able to maintain a minimal level of public order.
After the article went out, many calls came to me as well.
From the ruling party leader, from chaebol chairmen, and from overseas too.
Calls came from all sorts of places, but I did not answer them.
There was no reason to answer, and I was not in a situation where I could.
After traveling with Hanna for several days, I had arrived at Udo, at the edge of Jeju Island.
Just as she had done in other places, Hanna had been standing on the coastal cliff of Udo since morning, and I was watching her from behind.
For several days, we had traveled to many places for Hanna’s awakening.
Jirisan, the eastern coast, the western beach, even the sea off Busan.
In the end, we had come all the way to Udo, at the southern edge, but Hanna still had not awakened.
The article had gone out, and martial law had been declared, so if Hanna could not awaken here either, we would have to return to Trappist with the family waiting for us.
In truth, even if Hanna did not awaken this time, it would be fine.
There was still time left until Earth’s destruction, and until the Demon King broke his seal.
However, the problem was not that her awakening was late, but that she might not be able to awaken at all.
Earth was a place where dark energy had vanished long ago.
Though Hanna was an Earthling and had said she had felt her own power since she was on Earth, it was not easy to believe she would awaken on an Earth where energy had disappeared.
Moreover, if she failed to awaken in Korea this time, I had no idea where we should go next.
Now was not a situation where I could take her on a trip around the world.
With a somewhat troubled expression, I looked around.
The world was in complete turmoil, but this island was quiet and comfortable.
Thanks to the gray clouds, even the hazy sky did not look strange, and because of the sea breeze, the heat was not severe either.
It was funny to worry about heat in winter, but in any case, this place was very peaceful right now.
Dududududu.
At that moment, the sound of rotors came from the sky.
The sound of a helicopter’s rotors flying in from the north.
It seemed to be the helicopter that would take us.
With a regretful expression, I turned my head.
As expected, a helicopter was flying toward us.
It was the military helicopter that had brought us to Seoul this time.
Without any need for me to send a separate signal, the helicopter flew straight to where I was and landed in the field behind the cliff.
Dudududu.
The helicopter landed, and while the rotors were still spinning, the helicopter door opened.
Inside the open door was Jeong Il-su.
Holding the door, Jeong Il-su shouted to me.
“I’m here!”
His words pierced through the sound of the rotors, and I turned my head to look at Hanna.
Hanna, who had been standing there looking at the sea until now, was coming this way.
She, too, knew it was time to return.
Jeong Il-su got down from the helicopter and approached me, and Hanna also came to my side.
The rotor noise diminished, and Jeong Il-su had come close enough that I could hear his voice clearly.
“Let’s go. Everyone is waiting.”
At the words that people were waiting, Hanna looked at him with a puzzled expression.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
Seeing Hanna’s expression, Jeong Il-su asked.
“Because behind your face, which has turned black, I can see someone else’s face. I can see the man I saw on the internet, the one they said was the richest person in the world.”
Contrary to Hanna’s words, Jeong Il-su’s face was not black.
He was not Black, and his face was as pale as a white person’s.
And she said she could see the face of Aaron Jetson, whom we had met before.
Seeing his face as pitch-black might have been possible before, but there was only one reason she would see someone else.
“Have you awakened?”
“I’m not sure. I think I heard Earth’s voice, but…… maybe because there’s no energy, I couldn’t hear it well. I think I’ll have to go to Trappist to confirm it.”
As expected, the fact that there was no energy on Earth had become a problem, but Hanna’s ability was not something she needed to use on Earth.
As long as she had awakened, that was enough.
At Hanna’s words, I looked at Jeong Il-su again.
If Hanna had awakened, then Jeong Il-su’s face appearing black was the future Hanna would face if she followed him, and the face she saw must belong to someone connected to him.
I asked Jeong Il-su.
“That helicopter is going to Baekdusan, correct?”
He had frowned at Hanna’s words, but upon hearing my question, he nodded vigorously.
“Of course. Where else would we go?”
It was a lie.
“It seems there are people who came with you besides the pilot?”
“What? Ah, there were people going to the Baekdusan base, so they came along.”
This, too, was a lie.
Putting other people on the helicopter meant to carry us made no sense in itself, but his words themselves were also a lie.
From what I had confirmed with my senses, the people inside the helicopter were heavily armed, like people about to head into battle.
“That’s unfortunate. Since when were you recruited by Aaron?”
Whenever I had spoken with him before, I had constantly checked for lies.
Up until the last time we met, he had not told any lies that would cause problems.
So I had let down my guard, and now he had betrayed me like this.
Unfortunately, I could only detect lies. I could not know the other person’s disposition itself.
Until he acted, I could not know what he was thinking.
“From now on, I’ll have to ask the people who travel with me questions more often.”
At my words, Jeong Il-su scowled and drew a gun from inside his clothes.
“I didn’t think I’d be found out like this. It seems there are people at headquarters who think you might be able to use abilities on Earth, but the one who can actually use them was someone else.”
He aimed the gun at Hanna.
“This is my mistake. I shouldn’t have watched only you. I should have checked your surroundings as well.”
With his other hand, he gave a hand signal toward the helicopter.
Men holding guns rushed out from inside the helicopter.
They, too, aimed their guns at Hanna.
When people pointed guns at her, Hanna looked at me with a bewildered expression.
“So in the end, after confirming that I have no power on Earth, you decided to side with Aaron?”
At my words, Jeong Il-su shook his head.
“I have not sided with Aaron. I only work for my country, the United States. You should not be tied down to a small country like this. Now that people must be moved to Paradise, America needs your spatial movement ability.”
In the end, he was saying he would use me as a porter to transport people to Paradise.
It was absurd, but if he did not know me properly, it was a thought he could have.
[It seems you hid it better than I expected.]
“You’re right. All that effort I put into hiding it paid off.”
Answering Soph’s words, I took out the spear strapped to my back.
Energy flowed, and the spear revealed itself.
At the sight of the spear that appeared, people’s eyes widened.
“You really can use magic on Earth?”
The moment Jeong Il-su stared at me with a dazed expression, one of the soldiers who had gotten off the helicopter shouted to his comrades.
“The target can use magic! Switch to Operation B. Eliminate the target!”
With his words, the guns spat fire.
Tutatatatatata.
Bullets poured toward Hanna and me.
But all of those bullets stopped in front of the translucent barrier that stood before us.
The American soldiers’ faces turned pale as they looked at the bullets hanging in the air.
Looking at them, I clicked my tongue.
“You don’t know much about mages.”
At my words, Hanna shook her head.
“They just don’t know much about you, Oppa.”
True enough, if it were Catherine or another mage, enduring a hail of bullets would likely have been difficult.
But that had nothing to do with me.
I aimed the spear forward.
After I targeted the soldiers standing in front and Jeong Il-su, Soph chanted the spell.
[Lightning.]
Flash!
A bolt of lightning fell from the dark clouds.
Aaron (1)