#069.
At the very moment Hero overcame his fear of Minseok, Yunchan, as if by coincidence, had also gone up to the rooftop and was gazing at the night sky.
The night was pitch-black, as if coated in ink.
Shwoosh!
Suddenly, a change occurred there.
"What?"
I rubbed my eyes and looked again.
But it wasn't an illusion.
What was falling through the pitch-black night sky, leaving trails of light, was a meteor shower.
'No way, no way… it can't be?'
Eh, probably just meteors.
But it took only a moment for a sliver of doubt to turn into certainty.
Shwooooo—
The meteor shower was descending.
"Fuck!"
Before I knew it, I had spat out a curse.
A meteor shower itself wasn't a commonly seen phenomenon, but what was unfolding before my eyes right now was far too different.
As if it were a fireworks festival, thousands, tens of thousands were falling simultaneously.
There was only one thing this phenomenon indicated.
It was the beginning of the third omen, following the first and second omens.
'It's coming this fast?'
Of course, the first and second omens had also started early.
But the third omen was a bit special, unlike those.
It couldn't be helped, because exactly one month after the third omen, the apocalypse would occur.
Only a month.
And another thing that could be predicted from this.
'All the omens started earlier than before the regression. If so, after the third omen, the apocalypse is highly likely to arrive much sooner as well.'
To say that it wasn't merely a high probability, but that it would certainly happen, wouldn't be an idle prediction.
"…."
With a serious expression, I gazed at the unfolding meteor shower.
What was important started now.
The trails of light that should have vanished into the atmosphere continued to persist.
Countless meteors fell just like that.
Something falling from space, no matter how small the fragment, would normally be accompanied by tremendous roars and explosions due to its speed, but this meteor shower was not like that.
Though they were clearly falling here and there across Korean soil, everything was filled with silence.
And the next moment.
The trail of light that had clearly been falling far away just moments ago connected to me.
Flash!
A tremendous light brightly illuminated the rooftop.
After recovering my vision, which had momentarily faded.
Hummmm.
Right before my eyes, I could see something emitting a small resonant hum.
"…It really came out?"
A small fragment that had broken off from something enormous.
It was something extremely familiar to me.
『Ancient Fragment』
It was a piece containing mysterious power, called the Ancient Fragment.
'This is what starts the distrust.'
The first and second omens, all those phenomena served to incite excessive competition in humanity, which had been steeped in peace.
But they could not be compared to this, the third omen.
'The beginning of full-scale war.'
Ancient Fragments operated on the same principle as a qi wall, requiring a specific combination to be completed for their power to manifest.
A method of completing a combination and strengthening one's own power.
Of course, it was only natural that looting, murder, and the like would occur in the process of obtaining them.
"…."
The characters engraved on the fragment were important.
That was why I stared at the piece before my eyes, at the writing engraved on that fragment.
『Heaven』
The clearly visible inscription.
"…Heaven?"
I couldn't help but be startled.
Obtaining an Ancient Fragment was something that could happen easily enough.
Since there was quite a high probability of them ending up in the hands of Awakeners.
But Heaven?
To my knowledge, Heaven was one that fell in quantities of five or fewer worldwide, with the highest acquisition difficulty.
To think that such a precious fragment would fall into my hands.
"It seems my rest is over, after all."
The third omen had begun.
I had told my companions to rest comfortably, but it seemed that sweet rest would end here.
*
Taewang Group's conference room.
Seats filled that place, where not even the group's executives could enter, but only a select few.
"…."
The venue was enveloped in silence.
Those keeping their seats there were Chairman Kang, Hero, William, Yeil, Jeong Dohwan, and the newly joined Liu Yan, including Yunchan.
"You pulled off something yesterday, didn't you?"
Before the full-fledged meeting, I spoke toward Hero.
"What do you mean, pulled off something? It was way too late even now."
Hero answered, scratching his head.
He spoke lightly out of bashfulness, but it was by no means a light matter.
'Not only did his trait evolve by one stage, but even the Berserker trait.'
Jeong Minseok, whom we had dealt with previously.
He had captured a guy who had awakened the powerful Berserker trait.
That trait had been absorbed entirely by Chairman Kang, and moreover, through the duel with that guy, his trait had evolved by one stage.
'The most remarkable thing was overcoming his fear.'
But what was more noteworthy than the visible achievement was that the guy had overcome his fear.
After going through hellish training, he had even defeated Jeong Minseok, who had tormented him all this time, in sparring. But that alone couldn't shake off the fear that had been festering in his personality for a long time.
I had been well aware of such a problem, but I hadn't stepped in.
Overcoming fear.
Because it was something that had to be accomplished solely by one's own strength.
If I had artificially glossed over it with unnecessary help, it would have exploded again someday.
That was why I had trusted and waited for him to overcome it alone.
And yesterday, I received the reward for that trust.
Through the fight with Jeong Minseok, he had defeated the beast called fear that had been accumulating for a long time.
That could be seen just from the relaxed smile he wore gently.
The guy who had always looked tense and impatient somewhere had regained the same composure as before the regression.
'He'll grow rapidly from now on.'
Even before the regression, he had grown quickly after overcoming his fear.
Ah, of course, due to the qi wall called Daegimanseong, his growth rate hadn't been explosive.
'Because I can help with that.'
Daegimanseong, which had the extreme demerit of slow growth in the beginning.
But through this third omen, I would be able to obtain a method to compensate for that drawback.
"Anyway, let's move past that and start the full-fledged meeting."
We entered the main meeting, starting with celebrating Hero's growth.
"…Did anyone see the phenomenon yesterday?"
Swish.
The ones who raised their hands were Hero and Yeil, two people.
"Just in case, I'm asking—did you obtain a piece like this?"
I showed everyone the Ancient Fragment obtained from the rooftop.
"No."
"No."
Unfortunately, it seemed the two hadn't obtained Ancient Fragments.
Well, the probability wasn't exactly high.
"What is that?"
When William asked.
"An object signaling the start of the third omen."
"The third?"
"Hm…."
Third omen.
They, who had already heard about the omens from me, let out groans.
Because they realized the severity of the situation at once.
"As I said before, I suppose we should consider the omens to have started much earlier."
Chairman Kang grasped the core of my words.
"Yes. And the apocalypse as well."
"…."
Silence swirled around.
Though they hadn't experienced it directly, they had indirectly experienced what the apocalypse—that hell—was like through sufficient explanations.
The topic of the approaching apocalypse was inevitably heavier than anything else.
"Well, it's not like the apocalypse has started right now, so there's no need to be so grave."
But it wasn't happening right this moment.
The reason I had called this meeting now wasn't to talk about the apocalypse, but to prepare for the reality immediately before our eyes—the third omen.
"Enormous chaos will come due to the Ancient Fragments that have fallen worldwide."
Everyone was still just watching cautiously because they didn't know the use of the Ancient Fragments yet, but it would soon begin.
'The fiercest competition since ancient times.'
This gathering was to explain that and discuss how to prepare for it.
"Since the Ancient Fragments have fallen, now soon…."
When I tried to return to the meeting topic and explain it.
"Aah! Can you hear me?"
A voice echoing in my ears came before that.
"Hm?"
"What is this?"
"A voice suddenly…?"
"Where…?"
The flustered people looked left and right.
But there was no way to find the source of the voice.
Because this voice heard in the ears was not from nearby, but from somewhere very far away.
"Tch."
I clicked my tongue.
'I was trying to somehow gain an advantage, but this blocks that.'
I had planned to move in earnest after the meeting and gain as much advantage as possible.
But what do you know?
The voice of the "Moderator" that should have come out only days later was piercing my ears.
Though it took some wind out of my sails, it couldn't be helped.
Quietly, I pricked my ears to the incoming voice.
"No matter how much you turn your heads, you cannot find me. I am in a very, very distant place from you all."
Calming the people fallen into confusion, the voice continued.
"Then, you must be curious. Why on earth? What is this guy doing, suddenly delivering words like this? Yes. So to briefly introduce myself, I am the Moderator in charge of proceeding with this competition."
The reason the third omen was special was the appearance of the being called the Moderator.
Of course, it wasn't because he directly intervened, but because it was the first case where the world's changes known as the apocalypse began to directly affect humanity.
"To cut to the chase, everyone, you must have seen the change that occurred in the world just now. The meteor shower decorating the night sky. It is not a normal natural phenomenon that you all knew. It is a very important moment when fragments called Ancient Fragments, containing mysterious power, have manifested in this world."
Hm?
Listening, something was a bit strange.
To my memory (though most of it was information passed down by the Sage), words with the same content as now had not existed.
He hadn't explained in detail about Ancient Fragments and mysterious power.
Before the regression, the content he had delivered mainly concerned the competition that would begin from now on.
'Since it started without giving time to spare, is he planning to explain the Ancient Fragments in detail before moving on?'
It seemed he had prepared time for them to adapt, as the schedule had been moved up.
Well, how kind.
If you're going to be that nice, you should make the apocalypse a bit easier and kinder too.
Making a show out of something so trivial.
"But these so-called Ancient Fragments are quite mischievous things. Some obtained them without any effort, while others couldn't even see them."
Literally.
The places where Ancient Fragments fell were random.
That I obtained the Heaven fragment was purely due to extreme luck; it wasn't something you could normally see this easily.
"To participate in the competition I am moderating, these Ancient Fragments are essential. Then, does that mean only those who obtained fragments now can participate in the proceeding competition? How could that be? Ancient Fragments are scattered across the world. Please find those fragments hiding somewhere even now."
The lucky Awakeners obtained fragments.
But the remaining fragments were scattered somewhere in the world, including Korea.
To participate in the competition starting now, in that important stream, one absolutely had to obtain Ancient Fragments.
"But obtaining fragments will not be so easy. Powerful monsters contaminated by the fragments' energy, forgotten beings, will be guarding them."
Except for the lucky few, one had to exert effort to obtain them.
"It starts now."
"The damn Fragment War."
The Fragment War, which would see the most blood flow before the apocalypse, began now.