Chapter 296 – Seoul (4)
The news that the Seoul Station’s portal had begun to function was not only heard by the guild but also by the association and the governnt. All of them were focused on the Seoul Station’s portal, so information was readily available.
Despite being caught off-guard by unexpected factors, the guild sent their mbers to et those who’d return from the Tutorial.
The governnt had prepared a contract for the returnees and dispatched investigators to Seoul Station to find out what happened in the Tutorial.
The association was agonizing.
“Why did this happen now...”
Park Min rubbed his hands over his face. He wished it had co out a month later, or rather a month earlier.
What bad timing. It didn’t matter who ca out of Seoul Station’s Portal.
Park Min thought that there were three possibilities for what would co out of the portal: first, was the returnees who had normally cleared the 100th floor of the Tutorial.
That wasn’t very good.
One of the reasons the dia and the public were encouraging Pyongyang’s attack was that no more Awakened had been produced. The idea was that the G-class in Pyongyang should be hit when it’s weak.
If the number of Awakened were to start increasing again, giving up Seoul may be encouraged instead of planning an attack.
Besides, the dia will be focused on a new topic. “A newly returned Awakened had appeared”. Just talking about problems within the Tutorial would be a big fish.
It was not good for the public’s attention to be diverted from Pyongyang. The second thing that could appear from the Seoul Station’s portal was monsters, making it like the other gates.
They knew that the guild had won the right to manage the Seoul Station’s portal from the governnt, and were warned of this possibility.
However, Park Min did not think that the chances of this occurring were high.
Of course, it would be wise to do so in this crazy world, but Park Min nevertheless believed that the second possibility would never happen.
The third possibility was Lee Ho-Jae. Not long ago, news of Lee Yeon-hee leaving the 60th floor made the guild restless.
The guild was closely related to the Order of Vigilance in the Tutorial. Kim Min-hyuk, the guild’s master, was the deputy head of the Order of Vigilance. The Awakened who had cleared hard difficulty had all been mbers of the Order of Vigilance.
And Lee Ho-jae was the one who ford such an organisation (referring to the Order of Vigilance).
Park Min was also a challenger who’d entered the Tutorial in the early days, so he was well aware of Lee Ho-jae’s presence.
At first glance, it was Lee Ho-jae’s power that kept the Order of Vigilance stable, which was so bizarre that it was doubtful whether it’d last. The driving force behind managing all the challengers in the Tutorial was his power.
Lee Ho-jae’s strong powers and the fear everyone held of him were good. If there was one challenger who had to be asked to return grandly to the Tutorial that had co to a standstill, and if one of the challengers Park Min knew was to be picked as the returnee, he would pick Lee Ho-jae without hesitation.
The problem was that this was the worst situation ever. Everything would beco a ss if Lee Ho-jae ca out.
“What should I do?”
Park Min was annoyed by the team leader’s question. The one who needed to give directions was only asking questions. He knew that his recent silence had caused her to lose a lot of confidence, but this shouldn’t happen.
Lee Sung-eun should rely on herself. They didn’t have that kind of relationship. They had decided to deal with that matter later and settle the issue at hand right now.
“Send guides, provide training, and offer contracts, just like we did to the usual returnees.”
When the returnees arrived, it was the association’s job to explain how the Earth changed and to help them adapt.
In the case of contracts, they were carried out by both the governnt and the association. The Awakened who rejected both the governnt and the association would have the status of a free contractor.
Usually, they belonged to the governnt of another country or Kim Min-hyuk’s guild.
“Tell the governnt to withdraw from the Seoul Station’s vicinity, and to start controlling the area.”
The governnt also had a group of Awakened, but it was way smaller than the guild’s and association’s.
Most of the Awakened in the governnt were for the managent of Awakened and police, for work, and not for combat.
When danger struck Seoul, the association would typically be in charge of suppressing the situation. It was quite well known that the guild had warned that the Seoul Station portal could be dangerous.
Even if Park Min didn’t consider the possibility, he couldn’t completely exclude it. It was not to prepare for one minor possibility but to leave no room for mistakes.
“I’ll dispatch six teams,” Lee Sung-eun replied.
The association could afford it. There were no recent ergencies in Seoul or other areas, and all of its troops were gathered at the headquarters in Seoul because of the attack on Pyongyang.
“No, don’t do that.”
“What? But...”
“Team 3, Team 2, Team 6, Team 7. Let’s put Team 1 on standby.”
Lee Sung-eun complained about the smaller number of people, since that could beco a problem later. Park Min was frustrated. It was pitiful for him to have such an idiot as his close associate.
“So we’re going to send Team 2? Don’t get upset later.”
It was said that Team 2 was one step below Team 1. Chances of them being criticised were high. The criticism that the association would deal with half-heartedly could be avoided.
“Tell Team 2 to co up, and get Team 6 and Team 7 out right away. Oh, and the reason is, team leader, you have a nephew on Team 6, right?
“...Yes, I do.”
Lee Sung-eun’s nephew was not an Awakened. Not all mbers of the association were made up of Awakened.
Unless it was overflowing with Awakened resources like the guild, most of the organization’s mbers were non-awakened.
Of course, even though he was an Awakened, being a mber of the association was a great help in society: from inco to preferential treatnt to social standing.
Thanks to that, so of the non-Awakened mbers of the association often asked for favors. Such was the case with the team leader’s nephew.
The position of the head of the association was enough to put so of her relatives into the association.
Park Min also knew but he pretended to be unaware. In so cases, he stayed silent and hired them. But in tis like this, he had to use them without hesitation.
“There’s one thing that the team leader’s nephew should know. 21 years old. He’s young, so of course he knows social dia well, right?”
Team leader Lee Sung-eun was forced to answer with a gentle nod. Park Min had even ntioned her nephew’s age accurately.
Park Min ordered the team leader Lee Sung-eun to relay what her nephew had to do and scrolled through contacts on his cell phone.
He called the number located at the top of the category of ‘dia’.
* * *
“How do you feel?” asked Hochi with a tense look.
“I told you, it’s nothing much.”
How did I feel about coming back to Earth? I couldn’t really feel anything. So things I thought were worse, so were better.
“What’s good, what’s bad?”
“It’s good that we got teleported indoors. I heard that usually they teleported to the middle of the square, but if it was noisy from the start, it would have been annoying.”
“And what’s bad?”
“The air is more polluted than I thought.”
It didn’t have the environnt of the 60th floor that I worked hard to create. It wasn’t even the size of the 61st floor of the Great Volcano or Snow Mountain.
The air I breathed in when I ca back to Earth was really bad. I couldn’t help but wonder how I used to live in such a place.
“It’s cramped.”
“It’s cramped.”
The old woman and old man said in unison. They were resting in a small space, but they were peeking outside as if they wanted to see this new world.
Their giant figures weren’t fit for this place, so they had to crouch to keep the ceiling of the building from collapsing.
“If it’s cramped, you can just make yourself shrink.”
“I’m already small.”
“Reduce more.”
The old man shrank his body while grumbling. He shrank a little, checked his body, and then repeated it again.
I think he wanted to reduce it as little as possible. On the contrary, the old lady shrank coolly.
“Hmm! I feel young!”
“Too short, Grandma,” I advised her, now that she was about the sa height as Yong-yong.
“Isn’t it alright?”
“No, it’s not okay. The old man would be treated like a criminal, so you’d better make your body a little taller.”
After a brief argunt, I adjusted her height to that of an average adult’s. She looked very unhappy, but she didn’t know much about Earth, so she quietly followed my opinion.
While doing that, Hochi wandered around the interior of the building and found a large wardrobe.
“Can I wear this?”
“You can.”
I didn’t know who it belonged to, but I guessed that he could wear it.
“Change your clothes. Don’t wear that weird outfit.”
“Why, isn’t it fine?”
Hochi’s outfit now looked like he was going out on an adventure. It resembled the characters from a dieval fantasy novel.
“It’s not fine. Change.”
“Can I wear one, too?”” Seregia, who had been quiet, asked.
“Sure.”
It kept bothering that I still didn’t know who the owner of the closet was, but for now, I told them it was fine.
“Daddy, what about ? Can I change too?”
“Well, if there’s anything that fits you, then yes.”
Yong-yong had a lot of clothes and a good fashion sense, so I didn’t think he needed it. Still, he seed to be interested in new clothes made by others.
Finally, I told the old lady to pick out her clothes. While we were examining the clothes inside the wardrobe, the door opened from behind.
Soone ca in through the open door. It was a man who had been hanging around the building for a while. A face that I couldn’t recognise. There was a weak scent of Korean food on his body. He was not an ordinary person.
But he wasn’t strong either.
“Who are you?”
“Hey, I’m Cheol-min.”
It was the first na I heard.
* * *
The man who’d opened the door and ca in was an Awakened nad Lee Cheol-min.
I had been a mber of the Order of Vigilance before, but honestly, I didn’t rember seeing him anywhere.
Not that my mory had gotten poor, I just don’t think I cared about him even if I did ever et him, given that I didn’t rember. Hochi, who shared the sa mory as which served as evidence, also failed to recognize Lee Cheol-min.
“Kim Min-hyuk is gonna co soon?”
“Yes.”
This felt strange. Like I just got out of prison, and I heard that my friend was coming to et .
Lee Cheol-min said, “Kim Min-hyuk will be here soon, and by then, I will explain anything that you’re curious about.”
Lee Cheol-min began to tell us things.
“This is the Seoul Station’s Portal? I don’t think I’ve ever heard of it.”
“Yes, it was recently built. Since there were many people who were confused after they returned, we built it so that they had a place to prepare their minds.”
That’s nice. I liked this, no matter whose idea it was.
“Haha, cute.”
Yong-yong patted Lee Cheol-min on the side and giggled. His innocent smile made it seem like he really did think that Lee Cheol-min was cute.
Once again, I was worried about Yong-yong’s aesthetic sense. Lee Cheol-min looked at Yong-yong, who was approaching him without hesitation and turned his eyes towards .
“Is this Yong-yong?”
“Oh, you know him?”
“Of course. I participated in his naming contest before.”
He was closer to than I’d thought.
“The na I gave back then was Nafplion.”
It was even one of the elected nas.
“Oh, that’s my na!”
“That na was perfect,” Yong-yong and Hochi said one after the other.
I felt that they were a better fit than I’d initially thought. At that mont, the door opened again. This ti, it was an acquaintance.
He was none other than Kim Min-hyuk.
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