The atmosphere in the office was no different from an actual battlefield. The war was over, but extreme tension still lingered in the area as the soldiers on Wall Street were lying in their chairs.
Jonathan covered his face with one hand while feeling the salty taste of his snot and tears. However, he was shaking out of joy. The battle of the past week had been his holy mission, regardless of whether it ended in victory or defeat, but he had ended up holding the greatest honor by clenching the victory. He wouldn’t be sad if he died like this. In fact, he actually thought that ending his life like this was the perfect way to die and was convinced that he would never again feel this kind of satisfaction for the rest of his life. He stayed in that position for a long time, savoring it all.
Jonathan rose to his feet after he finished crying. When he came out to the office, all the employees on the safe floor stood up as if they had been waiting for him. They resembled a bunch of people rising from death all at once. An ebullient scream arose from them.
“Jon-a-than!”
“Jon-a-than!”
Then, Jonathan suddenly realized that no one would ever cheer for Seon-Hu. His partner had always lived in the shadows, and he was still there even on the day the world was forced out of the hellish swamp of disasters. Seon-Hu had been selflessly working hard only for this day and the future.
After that thought, Jonathan felt a shiver run down his spine. The people didn’t know the true hero who had saved the world and what he had done for them… Well, they shouldn’t have known.
If people found out the truth, would they cheer for Seon-Hu?
On the contrary, they would be terrified of what he possessed and try to steal everything.
“Brian.”
Jonathan hurriedly called Kim Cheong-Soo over as he was a member of the Jeon-il Club, who was the closest to the truth among the executives of their group. Also, he was one of the knights who had been chosen by Seon-Hu in the early days of the founding of the empire.
“You have something to do from now on.”
Then, Jonathan opened the safe and took out the ledger of paper companies. This reminded him of the old days when Seon-Hu had stacked those firms into these layers a long time ago.
“You need to help me,” Jonathan said while handing Kim Cheong-Soo the ledger. Kim Cheong-Soo had so many things he wanted to say, but he began checking them first. Then, all the emotions on his face slowly disappeared.
Jonathan remarked, “You must be well aware of the public’s psychology. Will they feel gratitude toward us? Or will they plan a revolution after feeling threatened by the capital group that dominated the world?”
The group’s stock situation would soon be announced to the public. When Kim Cheong-Soo looked at Jonathan, Jonathan nodded.
Jonathan continued, “If we leave things like this, there will be people who criticize us. They will point their fingers at us for taking advantage of the crisis that mankind was in. That’s ungrateful of them, but they will for sure do that. That’s what humans are like. Keuk.”
Kim Cheong-Soo naturally frowned when he thought of such a future.
It was the same during the subprime crisis.
Kim Cheong-Soo couldn’t refute any of this. He realized why he had been given a list of ghost companies. Jonathan was telling him to distribute the shares of the global companies under their group to these paper companies. He didn’t know the exact details, but he had an inkling that the Gillian Group was also preparing for the same operation.
He nodded at the older man. “Okay, I will have to distribute shares properly.”
They had secured the stake in the New York Stock Exchange earlier, and there were also in the over-the-counter sales they had acquired lately. The majority of the public believed that the New York Stock Exchange was a national institution like the Federal Reserve Bank, but the truth was completely different.
Therefore, the steps they needed to take were easy. They had to first distribute all their shares to paper companies through cross trading[1], then blow up the record of it on the New York Stock Exchange. Then, to the public, the official groups who raked in shares wouldn’t be just two capital forces like the Jonathan and Gillian Group. Instead, people would think that more than a thousand paper companies had jumped in to grab as much as they could.
Jonathan added, “We don’t really need to erase the trading record as I’m sure some people know that Odin is the owner of the entire capital. We just have to hide the truth from the public.”
Kim Cheong-Soo agreed with Jonathan’s assessment.
The older man continued, “There is another story that the public is not yet aware of. After a few hours, the degree of the monster invasion will become more intense.”
“To what degree?” Kim Cheong-Soo asked somewhat nervously.
Jonathan grimaced slightly. “He said that even the best weapons of our civilization won’t be able to defeat them. We’d better wait for that moment and distribute the shares then.”
“What… what did you just say?” Kim Cheong-Soo felt goosebumps rising as he now thought the world would end with everyone being consumed by the uncontrollable violent creatures.
He stuttered, “Th…then… we… umm… it’s not the time to move our stakes… Shouldn’t we run away now?”
His eyes shook, and he recalled every single way he could be protected inside the Jeon-il resort and how he could return to his home using the group’s private jet.
Jonathan was about to explain the situation to reassure the younger man when breaking news was announced from a monitor on one side of the office.
「The World Awakened Association. Director: Joshua von Karjan.」
Jonathan turned up the volume and pointed his chin toward the monitor.
“A week ago, our civilization was attacked. However, the world authorities and the great soldiers of our civilization were able to control the situation without much damage. Naturally, we all wish this could continue, but we, the World Awakened Association, are certain that our enemies will soon begin more intelligent and destructive attacks. We will fight this alien invasion in order to protect… ”
Jonathan looked at Brian. “The soldiers will not be able to handle these upper class monsters. Instead, it will be the World Awakened Association’s responsibility. Let’s prepare for the final battle.”
***
I was watching the press conference with my parents.
“The assault that will soon begin cannot be contained with our modern weapons, including our strongest nuclear warheads. The only way to suppress this invasion will be the fervor of the Awakened who have been given supernatural powers.”
At that point, Joshua summoned a bunch of flame balls, which had popped out of his ring and were now floating in the air. He had mastered handling that low-level item, as if he had considered using it as his main item. When he stood up, the flame balls also moved along with him and began to hover around his entire body. More flame balls also gushed out from the sword he was holding, and he looked like a disciple of the fire god.
These low-class skills and items were more than enough to catch the public’s attention. At the same time, the Awakened behind him also activated their main skills and shocked all the journalists in the hall.
“Oh… my… gosh…” they gasped.
The journalists’ mouths dropped open and their eyes were bugging out in awe.
“What the heck is this?” my mother asked my father and me. My father hushed her and didn’t take his eyes off the television.
Joshua’s proclamation continued. He urged the world to wait calmly by explaining the Stage of Advent and giving them stories of the Awakened who would be given supernatural powers there.
“The Stage of Advent will open exactly one hour after the monsters start to invade again. They will be chosen at random from the general public, and they will enter the stage with us. However, time passes differently in there compared to our world. Even if lots of time goes by in there, the time here doesn’t. Therefore, it might seem bizarre for you to see us all suddenly emerge at once with greater, stronger powers,charging towards our new enemies to protect Earth. Do you understand what I’m talking about?”
Joshua said while staring straight at one of the cameras, “If we, humanity, can’t endure that one hour and end up using our nuclear weapons, we will destroy our own civilization with our own hands. Therefore, I’m now sternly warning all top military leaders who have the authority to use nuclear weapons: If you ignore this order, our association will never tolerate it!”
Joshua used his chin to gesture at one of the Revolucion members. That member suddenly disappeared from where he was standing, and since the scene was just the result of data being sent to the monitor, it looked like he had vanished from the world. Joshua didn’t add an explanation to the public that there were hidden Awakened staring at the back of the heads of the world’s military leaders.
He continued solemnly, “Never use nuclear weapons. Please wait for the Awakened to return from the Stage of Advent. And for those of you who are about to take the test on the stage, please remember this: Together, we can eliminate this new world’s dangers.”
Joshua’s tone and facial expressions were perfect as the speaker for our new association. The press conference swiftly ended, and I called my father over when the question-and-answer session started. My father slowly approached me looking quite antsy.
He said in a shaky voice, “That was Joshua von Karjan, and I think you must know him. He has no reason to lie in this situation, and you saw what he can do. We should trust him. There’s nothing else we can do. Seon-Hu… The Stage of Advent… I guess it’s about to begin.”
My father blinked his worried eyes and alternately looked between my mother and me. Then, he moved to Mother’s side and wrapped his hand around her shoulder.
“I should get ready. Anyone can enter the stage,” I said.
He nodded. “Yes, you should… Let’s get ready…”
“There’s a survival backpack that the Jeon-il Group has prepared. I will bring that. Since we don’t know what the stage is like, we have to keep the backpack with us at all times for now.”
Father nodded. I couldn’t tell him, but I was the one who had prepared the survival backpacks. If there were Awakened among the people who were protected in the resort, I hoped many of them could come out alive.
I ran into Jamie in the hallway, who was rushing towards me. She must have sprinted from the press conference to here without a pause as she was short of breath. However, I could tell what she wanted to ask by simply looking into her eyes.
I immediately answered her unspoken question, “Only a random few will enter the Stage of Advent. If you are one of those who are unfortunate enough or lucky enough, then, yes, I hope to see you again, alive. Follow me.”
We headed down to the underground air-raid shelter, and there were enough backpacks there for the number of people in the resort.
I ordered, “Evacuate everyone here and hand out a backpack to each.”
“What about you and your parents?” she asked anxiously.
“Don’t worry about us.”
***
The entire world was becoming cognizant of the new reality. Everything that the World Awakened Association had announced was confirmed to be true when the creatures that couldn’t be handled by mankind’s current technology appeared at the time they had mentioned. The zoomed-in video clips showed flames soaring in cities and smoke covering the sky. Screams that made people shudder rang like an undying echo. The monsters broke through gunfire and tore armored vehicles apart, and the broadcasting helicopters that were filming the scene fell down as the hapless reporters shrieked.
My mother cried herself to sleep after watching that while leaning against my father. Meanwhile, my father was patting my mother on her shoulder while checking the time.
「17:50」
It was going to start. I clenched my teeth and pressed a hand against my heart that felt like it was about to burst through my chest.
「17:55」
My memories had all been correct. In the past, I had been waiting for the reorganization of my position at the community service center, so I had been watching the breaking news around this time. The nuclear attacks had begun in the U.S. around this time in my past life, and the videos shown in the news at that time were from Japan.
「17:58」
Did the association’s warning work? Did Woo Yeon-Hee end up using her skill on the military leaders?
The breaking news was still broadcasting stories about the cities that had been exposed to the new monster raids, but there was no scene of planes carrying nuclear missiles. In the past, I had suppressed my anger and burst into tears with another reservist at exactly 18:00. Then, everyone else in the community center began to wail.
However, I no longer needed to cry in despair. Instead, I could be happy. I could almost burst into cheers!
I did it. I finally did it!
「17:59」
I tightened my backpack straps and bowed to my father.
“I will be back, Father.”
He stretched out his arms to me with his eyes wide open.
Tick, tock.
But my father’s arms couldn’t reach me in time.
「18:00」
I wasn’t quite there yet. At that moment, I saw the bold letters clearly embedded in the notification message.
[You will enter the Stage of Advent.]
1. Trading a large number of shares after pre-reporting to the Stock Exchange. ☜