Tick!
“From the time the first unidentified creature was detected in Hwasung, Gyeonggi-do, our military has engaged in eight skirmishes across the country over the past week. Reporter Lee Dae-Sung has summarized the situation with videos captured by traffic surveillance cameras, military-provided recordings, and clips sent in by citizens.
On March 17th at 9:34 PM, cracks formed in the air one meter above the ground near the tollgate in Hwasung, Gyeonggi-do. Unidentified creatures appeared inside the cracks, avoided fast-paced vehicles, and moved along hills outside the highway. After twenty-three minutes, our military engaged them in a skirmish after quickly searching for them. Fighter jets from the ROK Air Force including the F15K turned back to Seoul after they came to the conclusion that the threat had worn down.
On March 19th at 9:11 AM, unidentified creatures were witnessed moving down the hill in Jincheon-gun, Chungcheongbuk-do. The informant thought they were moving toward the villages likely because they saw lights there, so he reported this to emergency services in a fearful manner.
On the same day at 9:29 AM, a transport vehicle carrying our soldiers arrived at Jincheon-gun, and the skirmish began…”
Tock!
“The global stock market is stabilizing as the New York market is showing strong support despite the overall downward trend. Overnight, the New York Stock Exchange successfully rebounded due to a steady selling trend with buyers snapping them up. Today, the KOSPI index closed at 801.30, which has increased by 0.51% and has reached the 800s again…”
I opened my eyes as I heard the sound from the television.
When did I fall asleep?
I saw Jamie’s back, and she was sitting at the end of the bed staring at the television. Then, she turned her head toward me as she sensed me moving. I checked the date and time on the television. I also noticed that there was no longer any fear in Jamie’s eyes when she looked at me. Instead, they were filled with an indescribable emotion, and then tears welled up in them.
“Without Odin… What would the world have been like?”
The tears began streaming down her cheeks. As I looked over her shoulder at the news, I felt touched as well.
It hadn’t been like this in the past. The world had been a chaotic mess ever since the Day of Advent occurred. Being able to watch a calm briefing on the stock market and the skirmishes of the past week could never happen back then. On that day, the television was full of propaganda. The reserve forces had been deployed to prevent the public from panic selling and not to confront the monsters. In the past, these soldiers had camped in banks, hypermarkets, and department stores, then treated citizens like they were the real monsters.
My theories had been proven to be a hundred percent correct. If the world governments and financial conglomerates hadn’t panicked back then… If they hadn’t been obsessively selfish… We could have maintained the order back then as we did today. It could have been like this!
However, it was too early for me to be relieved. Monsters that couldn’t be defeated by human firepower or weapons would start appearing tonight. Right now, I felt dizzy as I was sleep-deprived. I put a stimulant in my mouth and stretched out my hand.
Jamie said while handing me bottled water from the mini refrigerator, “I explained it well to the President of Jeon-il Bank.”
“About what?” I asked.
“Why you hadn’t been drafted into the military.”
“And?”
Her eyes flickered. “He thinks that you are a member of Jonathan Group and is at the heart of this operation.”
I commented, “He must have been surprised.”
“And he was proud of you.”
Jamie’s voice shook with emotion. She obviously didn’t know the whole truth regarding our current situation as she clearly believed that no matter how many times aliens attacked us, they would be repelled by the stable system of our civilization.
As I had mentioned multiple times before, human civilization in my past life had collapsed because of two major reasons. One was the complete destruction of our financial system, and the other was the indiscriminate use of nuclear weapons. In the past, Japan[1] the U.S., Russia and China had launched nuclear bombs on their territories when they discovered they could no longer handle the reckless monsters with gunfire alone. They had been filled with madness to protect their capital city, so they began dropping nuclear bombs. The U.S. was the first to start.
However, the monsters that would emerge tonight couldn’t be suppressed by nuclear bombs. We needed to tolerate them for a bit. If we evacuated the citizens to safe areas and delayed the use of nuclear weapons, the Awakened who survived the Stage of Advent would be able to maintain the world as it was now.
“How about the preparation for the press conference?” I asked, changing the subject.
She responded, “It’s almost done. By the way, the name of the host group is ‘The World Awakened Association,’ right?”
It was natural for Jamie to wonder about this as she had never heard of the name before.
***
Joshua was well aware that Odin had been preparing for this day himself, and that all of his unpredictably large capital would be used for this. At the same time, he was half in doubt because he couldn’t understand how one guy could embrace the tremendous weight of defending the world against an alien civilization attack.
However, he ended up witnessing first hand just how Odin managed to accomplish the sublime and great achievement in maintaining modern human civilization. For the past week, Joshua was a living witness to the nerve-wracking days. The fierce battle between global forces and the general public, who sold all their assets at once, and Odin, who bought them at a breakneck pace, continued endlessly. It was the largest monetary war ever in history.
The war progressed with numbers on the market graphs and percentages. Even those with financial knowledge would have just believed that the world’s capital forces had divided their sides into ‘selling’ and ‘buying.’
However, that wasn’t true. Up until the last moment, Odin was the only one who was on the ‘buying’ side. He was the only one who fought against all the global capital forces and won. As a result, the market now kept a steady phase without needing his intervention.
“Ah…”
Joshua couldn’t think of a word better than ‘shudder’ to describe how his body felt. If there was a term that could express emotion beyond that, it would be ‘absolute, abject fear.’ It was difficult for him to tell whether he was delighted or trembling in the face of extreme terror. Anyway, it was obvious that it had affected him as his entire body was shaking like a quivering metronome.
Around that time, Jamie came over to Joshua and asked out of concern when she saw his deathly pale face, “Are you sick?”
He shook his head weakly. “No, I’m fine.”
Jamie pointed out, “You are sweating a lot too. There’s not much time left until the press conference, so you need to recover some stability. Did you hear that from Odin? You are going to be at the forefront of the press conference.”
“Wasn’t Odin going to do it himself?” he asked.
She shook her head. “No, it’s you, Joshua.”
Jamie gave Joshua a quizzical look as she clearly wanted a bit more explanation from him.
Starting from the first day monsters appeared in the world, the Korean military had guarded the outskirts of the resort, and Joshua’s people and the private company that Odin had hired called Tomorrow had protected the resort’s interior. Their protectors differed in race, age, and gender, but they all had one thing in common: everyone had been armed with unique weapons that had all been handed based on Odin’s unique directions. Some of these weapons emitted light strong enough to be seen under direct sunlight, and some of these weapons were bows and shields that looked outdated in modern civilization.
Jamie’s gaze shifted from Joshua’s face to the long sword beside him. The weapon was sheathed, leaning against the desk where Joshua sat.
She continued, “Odin instructed you to prepare for the conference as a board member of the World Awakened Association.”
Joshua nodded. He didn’t know why, but he hadn’t met Odin yet, even though they were both in the same place. The man had delivered his orders through Jamie, again.
“But what kind of organization is the Awakened Association?” Jamie asked.
He grimaced slightly. “…You will find out soon.”
Joshua picked up his phone after replying to her.
<Joshua: Hi, I’m calling to confirm. Am I going to the press conference?>
<Seon-Hu: Do it with your main team and Tomorrow’s Team One. We have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that we can control the situation.>
<Joshua: Are you sure that I’m the best choice to do that?>
Joshua was careful as it was the first time they were announcing the emergence of Awakened to the world. Since Odin had worked hard to maintain capitalism, the core orders of the world would continue to be created by capital forces. But when he thought more about it, he realized that the Awakened also would have tremendous power in the world. The kicker was that Odin had commanded Joshua to present himself as a representative of that force.
Gulp.
Joshua swallowed the saliva pooling in his mouth as he had become nervous. He had been waiting for the Day of Advent, for this moment, but on the other hand, he felt like Odin was testing him.
<Joshua: What do you mean? How can I do it when you and Mary are here… Please reconsider.>
<Seon-Hu: The Stage of Advent.>
<Joshua: Pardon me?>
<Seon-Hu: You will be able to use this opportunity at the Stage of Advent. There are only a few hours left.>
<Joshua: …Thank you, Odin.>
Joshua hung up the phone and clenched his fist. He had thought about it when he decided to have Odin as his master, and today seemed to be the day to achieve that goal. He was going to be catapulted from an ordinary nobleman to be a part of the royal family of the Empire!
While Joshua was savoring this opportunity, Jamie suddenly asked, “Who is Mary?”
He replied, “You will have to get used to the order of the New World quickly, so never forget that name and always keep it in your heart. How are the preparations going for the press conference?”
Jamie immediately responded, “The foreign journalists who couldn’t leave the country are all here.”
Joshua nodded. “Let’s start at 3 PM sharp then, which is in about an hour. I need to get ready, so I’ll talk to you later.”
Jamie couldn’t ask any more questions after hearing the determination in Joshua’s voice. She went out into the hallway.
From then, Joshua called his main team led by Michael and Tomorrow’s Team One led by Yuria to gather together to prepare for the press conference. He ended up deciding to take off any equipment that looked outdated from modern civilization and only carry a sword. Then, he changed into the black full-dress uniform of the association that Odin had prepared for today and headed towards the conference hall.
The entire space was filled with foreign journalists who had come to cover the scene. Dozens of microphones were tied to the table, and ENG cameras[2] lit their lamps as soon as Joshua appeared.
People began making a commotion. The foreign journalists were here either because they were forced by the Jeon-il Group or they had wanted to rely on the resort’s security system. By all means, none of them had expected that the head of the German Karjan Group would show up as the presenter of a bizarre group called the World Awakened Association. Moreover, Joshua von Karjan sat down while equipped with a conventional sword that looked dangerous in his hand.
Joshua waited until the hall quieted down before he finally began, “A week ago, our civilization was attacked.”
1. The translator is aware that Japan no longer possesses nuclear weapons, but it seems like the author omitted that historical fact. The U.S. had a secret pact with Japan to house some their nuclear weapons in Japan (specifically Okinawa) in the aftermath of WWII, but in the 1970s, they retreived them from Japan. ☜
2. Professional video cameras. ☜