We decided to go to Trappist the following morning.
There were a few other reasons, but the main reason we didn't leave that day was the military supplies stacked in the base's field depot.
I had no intention of hiding them away as carefully as before, but there was no need to put all those supplies into the box in broad daylight in front of people.
It would be close to burying one's head in the sand, but if the supplies disappeared at night, people wouldn't grow too suspicious.
As expected, most people who saw the empty field depot in the morning merely tilted their heads with puzzled expressions.
Questions from a few diligent soldiers reached Magreta through several channels, but everyone backed down at her word that she had sorted it out herself.
She was an intelligence agent whom soldiers shunned, but even so, there was no one at this Baekdusan Base who would question or act rashly toward her.
It wasn't just this base. Right now, she was the heavyweight of the intelligence agency who spoke directly with the President of the United States.
As if noticing that I was looking at her with that thought in mind, Magreta put down the satellite phone and glared at me.
"You dumped all the work on me, so what heavyweight are you talking about?"
I averted my gaze from her.
"It looks like things have gotten complicated, just as I thought."
"The Aaron issue is exactly what I expected."
Magreta had said she would dump all the work on the people on Earth, but it seemed she couldn't pretend to know nothing at all.
She had subtly relayed the situation to Samuel yesterday.
She informed him that the CIA and Aaron had tried to stir up something in Korea, but people died due to internal conflict, and Aaron's private jet had exploded.
It was a sloppy explanation and a story worthy of suspicion, but Samuel didn't raise the slightest objection to her account.
Aaron's death must have been more urgent.
"That's not it. It's because he doesn't believe me at all. Through this incident, he must have become convinced that Hyeon can use magic on Earth."
Samuel had every reason to.
Leaving aside Magreta, he was the Earthling who had met me the most and witnessed the most things happening around me.
If so, he would have been suspicious since long ago.
Or perhaps he had been convinced all along.
After all, blowing up the plane with a bomb hadn't been to deceive Samuel.
Seeing me nod, Magreta let out a sigh.
"Even if Samuel lets it go, Aaron was a far greater man than you think, Hyeon. He was the one who first discovered the ruins on Mars, went to Venus and found the destroyed civilization, and even reactivated the spatial transfer ruins. It was his company that accomplished those things, but he was the one who pushed them all forward."
Aaron was a more outstanding person than I had thought.
However, I didn't feel that killing him had been wrong.
Magreta didn't take issue with that either.
"For that reason, until recently his power was immense. The powers in Paradise were the same, and the faction aligned with him occupied more than half of the project."
If what Magreta said was true, things must have proceeded with Aaron in charge of Earth and the other power holders in charge of Paradise.
"But after you, Hyeon, cleaned up Paradise and Trappist broke away, and with the government's power growing even stronger, Aaron lost much of his influence. That's probably why he came all the way to Japan himself."
"Then isn't that a good thing?"
After the leader of the Paradise faction died, his faction had completely disbanded. Likewise, now that Aaron was dead, those who followed him would scatter as well.
"It is a good thing. However, his followers have been driven too far into a corner. Since yesterday, those people have been causing a frenzy through broadcasts and online newspapers."
Even if they had lost power, they were world-class tycoons and politicians.
Making noise was easily within their capabilities.
"Can't you stop that much by force? I understand the US is under something like martial law."
The world was already engulfed in a far greater uproar.
In a situation where they had to stop that great uproar, a little additional commotion was nothing.
The US government also knew we were going to Trappist today.
It was in that situation that the President of the United States called.
There should be no reason for the US President to call in this situation...
"The President called because of Aaron, but ultimately because of the great uproar. Rumors that Earth is going to be destroyed have spread, and the US seems to be in tremendous chaos."
Korea, where I had been traveling for several days, had been safer than expected.
Occasionally shops were looted and doomsday cultists ran rampant, but public order was being maintained to some extent.
Other countries, especially the US, had apparently been different.
"It seems like what you'd see in an apocalypse movie is actually happening. Mobs are roaming around, people are committing suicide, it's a complete mess. There are even shootouts with martial law troops... Anyway, it seems the government is having difficulty maintaining order."
It was a heartbreaking story.
But I couldn't see what it had to do with us.
"Because of the articles, people have learned that black stone is needed to escape to another planet. It seems black stone is needed to reassure the people. Much more than before."
Contrary to my thoughts, it had a lot to do with us.
I had brought far more black stone than originally planned, but this was only to save a small number of people.
With the black stone brought so far, it was difficult to send large-scale personnel to another planet.
As Magreta said, more black stone was needed.
If one were to formally request black stone from the dispatch team, it would be right to call Magreta.
Because Magreta was a US government official, and the head of the dispatch team was Catherine.
However, the dispatch team and Catherine were no longer under the thumb of the US government or the Paradise powers as before.
"What did they give in return?"
In the past, they would have simply followed orders, but the dispatch team was now an independent group separated from the US government.
If they wanted something from Earth, they had to give something in return.
It was a matter of saving people, but I had no intention of doing volunteer work.
At my words, Magreta made an embarrassed expression.
"Well. What more can the US give? The President said he could give anything we want, but what can we even take from this Earth now..."
Dollars, real estate, stocks—none were needed now.
We could get help procuring necessary items, but that couldn't compare to the additional black stone.
"I think we could obtain experts, cultural assets, rare earth elements that aren't on Trappist, books, and such, but that wouldn't be enough, would it?"
Of course it wasn't enough.
"Then what should we do? We can't just ignore it either..."
It was about saving people. Magreta would have tried to bring black stone even without compensation.
She was worrying like that only because she was thinking of me.
I spoke to her as she worried.
"There is one thing I need."
Magreta's face brightened at my words.
"What is it? I'll tell them!"
I told her what I wanted.
"I need a lot of very powerful bombs."
"Don't tell me..."
Magreta immediately realized what I meant.
Magreta's expression hardened stiffly, but she soon nodded in agreement.
"Indeed, it seemed like we needed a lot. I'll tell the President."
Two North Korean nuclear bombs didn't seem to be enough.
To slay the Demon Lord, stronger and more numerous nuclear bombs were needed.
Finishing the conversation, the entire group headed for the underground ruins.
The squad members' families boarded the elevator, slightly frightened.
But my older brother seemed more curious than afraid.
"We're going down a lot farther than I thought... How did they build ruins down here?"
Unlike the other families, my brother had arrived at the base late last night.
The reason he, who had arrived in Seoul first, reached the base last was because he had gone to the countryside.
A remote mountain village where the old man we call Father lives.
Long ago, when we brothers came up to Seoul, my brother had said he would never see him again, but he went down to the countryside to persuade him one last time.
Seeing him return alone, the old man hadn't listened to my brother, as expected.
My brother wore a calm expression, as if he had expected it, and after that, we didn't bring up the matter at all.
I answered my brother's question.
"They say dark energy remained on Earth back then, so they must have used magic."
Or they might have used artifacts or magic circles that use black stone, like I do.
"Amazing. Ruins made by magic tens or hundreds of thousands of years ago... But are these the only ruins of this kind on Earth?"
"Ruins of this kind?"
"I mean spatial transfer ruins. Aren't there other ruins? Like accommodation ruins or office ruins."
I shook my head at my brother's words.
"Well. I haven't heard of anyone finding ruins like that?"
I asked Magreta if she knew of such ruins, but she shook her head too.
"Only spatial transfer ruins have been found on Earth. I've heard there are other types of ruins on Mars... but they certainly haven't been discovered on Earth."
It might seem strange, but it wasn't strange that only spatial transfer ruins had been discovered on Earth.
The ruins had all been found using spatial transfer ruins.
There might be other ruins, but since the spatial coordinates couldn't be determined, finding them was impossible.
"There might be other ruins, but there would have been no way to find them."
"Then that means there are more."
My brother's eyes sparkled at my words.
I had known he became a programmer because he liked science fiction, but my brother liked this field more than I had thought.
However, my brother's expectations could no longer be fulfilled.
"Even if they exist, we won't be able to find them now."
"Ah... So that's how it is."
Soon Earth would become a place where humans couldn't live, like Venus.
Searching for ruins on such a planet was impossible.
The people who had been listening to my brother's and my conversation darkened their expressions at the gloomy conclusion.
It was because they were reminded of Earth's destruction, which everyone was forcibly turning away from.
The quiet elevator descended for a while and arrived at the underground ruins.
There weren't many people in the underground ruins.
Perhaps because they had come early, the people going to Trappist weren't visible.
There were only security soldiers and a few technicians on duty.
As we approached, an American technician came up to us.
Checking the documents in his hand, he asked Magreta,
"Is this everyone?"
"Yes."
After Magreta answered, the technician nodded and then spoke to me.
"It seems there's nothing separate for you to take this time..."
Previously, we had taken items prepared by the Korean or US governments from here, but this time nothing had been prepared.
"I prepared them above in advance."
Now that I could use the box, I had prepared all necessary items outside.
Weapons, equipment, food, various electronic products, and daily necessities.
In case things ran out, I had packed several times the necessary amount into the box.
"Then let's go right away."
The technician gave a signal, and the technicians by the altar activated the machines attached to it.
Energy drained from the black stone installed in the machine and flowed into the altar.
The spatial transfer device awakened once more, and a circular hologram—a portal—formed above the altar.
The technician guiding us glanced at our group.
Looking at the squad members' families, he tilted his head.
"They look like family members, but are they all User candidates? You're lucky. Even with the awakening drug, it's not easy to become a candidate, or so I hear."
Contrary to his words, among the squad members' families, the only User candidates were my older brother and Sergeant U's wife, who had regained the ability to walk through healing magic.
The rest were all ordinary people.
But I had no intention of telling him that.
I had made the families keep it a secret as well.
For now, this couldn't be revealed to others.
There was nothing good that would come from others knowing.
Revealing it to people would come later, when moving the families of other dispatch teams or experts.
When we didn't answer, the technician also shut his mouth.
We climbed onto the altar, and everyone held hands as I instructed.
People standing in a circle, holding both hands.
The people below looked puzzled, but no one pointed it out.
"Departing. Please be aware that you may experience severe motion sickness upon arrival."
Instead, the technicians gave warnings, and I poured dark energy into the people whose hands I held.
As the energy spread, I could feel all their bodies.
Holding their hands, I plunged my body into the hologram.
The world was covered in light.
Spatial transfer had begun.
I could feel all the people connected to both my hands.
Companions (2)