Gillian was en route to Seoul before returning from Beijing to London. A message arrived on his phone while he was traveling by car.
「Jessica: The baby is healthy.」
It was a social media message, but it felt like he could hear his wife’s cheerful voice saying that. What motivated her to stay alive was the child in her womb. Without the baby, she would not have been able to forgive herself for the mistake she made.
Gillian zoomed in on his wife’s profile picture. Seeing that the woman who valued her privacy so much had actually chosen a sonogram of her child as her profile picture, her mental change seemed to have been immense. Although she was aware of how the world worked, she still chose that specific picture for her profile.
「Gillian: I think I will be able to return by tomorrow.」
In fact, Gillian felt precarious every day. That was the burden one had to bear when they knew the truth.
Outside the car window, he saw the peaceful daily life of the citizens of Seoul. Although it was a scene created by Him, there was an inevitable sense of incongruity. The apocalypse was in full swing on an alien planet. A planet larger than Earth was facing all sorts of disasters that could not be scientifically explained.
Entities named Doom Kaos and the Old One… It was all due to the god-like beings beyond their imagination.
At that moment, the private screen separating the front and rear seats came down. The man sitting in the passenger seat turned his head to Gillian and spoke.
“An incident has occurred at headquarters.”
Although the evaluation of the Awakened had completely changed since the King of Hell released a video, it was undeniable that all of the Awakened were people who had crawled out of hell even if they were citizens of the Savior’s City.
Gillian felt that again from the man’s gaze.
“It is the Maruka clan I mentioned before…”
However, what happened next was sudden. It was not just the man’s voice that scattered. The man who had been sitting there evaporated. It was not only Gillian who was surprised, but also the driver sitting next to him.
The car swerved briefly but found its way back. Gillian immediately lowered his body, conscious of an attack by an unregistered Awakened. Considering that the guy in charge of security had suddenly disappeared, it was the first thing that came to his mind.
The driver, a former special forces member, quickly checked the situation.
“The same must have happened with other cars. The Awakened have vanished. I will escort you to a safe area until the exact cause is identified.”
As the car turned sharply, Gillian’s body tilted to the side. He was already well aware of the circumstances that a minority of unregistered Awakened were still causing problems without being caught.
When he saw the blood vessels in the eyes of the driver reflected in the rearview mirror, Gillian also took out a small pillbox from his pocket. Then, he did not hesitate. He swallowed the pills without drinking water.
Then, Gillian finally understood why the awakening drug was named ‘Spiderweb.’ He could feel every single blood vessel within him distinctly. The rapid circulation of blood throughout them was what resembled a spiderweb. It was an incredible vitality that made everything seem possible.
Upon entering the world of the bronze Awakened, Gillian was more shocked than he had anticipated. The Awakened could not leap over their designated gaps. For instance, a Bronze could not surpass a Silver, and a Silver could not surpass a Gold.
Therefore, the world of a Gold Awakened would have been more amazing than what he was experiencing. Moreover, Gold would be considered a lower class among the Awakened. He heard that He was the unique being in the world where such superhumans lived, so he could not even imagine what kind of beings were above Him. He also wondered how He was protecting this world from such entities.
Soon.
“There was not an attack by unregistered Awakened. The news is that all the remaining Awakened have vanished at the same time.”
Gillian received a phone call from the driver. The same answer was confirmed when he checked himself. Originally, he had planned to meet a Korean named Park Choong-Sik, who was behind the scenes in this country.
“Go to the headquarters. Notify this country’s government that we have arrived.”
Then, Gillian tried to contact the King of Hell. Finally, the dial tone ended and the King of Hell’s heavy voice came through. It was a voice full of threats, which sounded like grinding teeth.
<The Final Stage has begun. I have made it clear to the members that you are the new successor to the throne. Remember what Sun entrusted to you. I will keep an eye on you.>
The call ended before Gillian could ask anything else. He had never imagined himself sitting on the throne of the club because just like he could not comprehend the King of Hell sitting there. It was a seat for only one person.
「Jessica: Where is it?」
Then, his wife’s urgent message came in. Gillian was about to reply that he was on his way to headquarters, but stopped halfway. In this situation, his wife would not be wondering about his whereabouts. She was asking about the location of the emergency club meeting.
「Gillian: The place where the club was born.」
The club’s identity had remained unknown to the world because it was an organization composed of a minority. However, the fact that the Final Stage had begun, meaning all Awakened left in the world had disappeared at once, meant that things were different.
The news was too exposed to many people. Even if the mainstream media was controlled, it was only a temporary solution. It was like sand slipping through their fingers.
It would not take long for the public to figure out about the situation. Considering the worst possibilities that could begin from the Final Stage, maintaining society as much as possible had become his duty. Gillian felt overwhelmed by the weight of the throne, but that was the reality.
He looked at the driver in the rearview mirror and said, “From now on, please pay special attention to my safety.”
***
One side of the highway was being cleared. Vehicles with the South Korean Police Agency logo were leading civilian cars to the remaining roads, blaring their loudspeakers.
Gillian wished he could take the awakening drug consecutively and increase his strength, even if it meant suffering from side effects. He wanted to abandon the car and run away. Even though he had strongly requested the Korean government, the speed of importing and creating them was not up to par.
By the time he received the news that a helicopter was ready, the influence of the pill had disappeared.
Screeeech-!
Suddenly, the car stopped. Gillian checked outside the window first rather than scolding the driver. Most of the cars parked on the side of the highway had people coming out of them.
There were no moving cars. All Koreans on the road were looking up at the sky. Their faces were filled with terror. The noise from a few was so loud that it made the soundproofing of the car seem useless.
The driver’s face in the rearview mirror was the same. His pupils, which had dilated due to the stimulant, were shaking noticeably. He must have forgotten what his duty was.
Gillian hurriedly glanced at the sky. He first thought that something was wrong with the sun. However, when he lowered the heavily tinted window and closely looked at it, Gillian’s mind went blank. A chill went up his spine.
There was no doubt. It was the eye of a deity lingering in the macroscopic world. It was an eyeball, not the sun! One of the things that had brought the outer space to an end had arrived!
Gillian started trembling in fear. That eyeball was located in the sky where anyone could have mistaken it as the sun. At this moment, everyone throughout the world was looking at what he was seeing.
The eyeball was just watching without showing any power for some reason, but that alone was more intimidating than the threat of nuclear forces. The sounds of serial collisions coming from the far rear sounded like a flare to Gillian, signaling the collapse of social order.
Then, he came to his senses. Gillian quickly sent a text to Brian Kim and grabbed the driver’s shoulder.
“Can you drive? If it is hard, then I will do it. No, there is no ‘if.’ You don’t seem to be in the right state to drive.”
His words worked like a prophecy. People who were on the road went back into their cars like mad and started honking. Among them, many cars broke the lane to make way for Gillian. Gillian sent the coordinates marked on the navigation to the association and got out of the car with the driver.
The staff who should have protected him poured out from the security vehicles in front and behind. They moved their positions over the roadside to avoid accidents.
Then suddenly, Gillian realized that the deity’s eyeball had disappeared from the sky. Nonetheless, that did not comfort him at all. The memory of the eye that had been in the sky was now embedded in his brain.
Since the physical manifestation of the evil god had been witnessed all over the world, chaos was inevitable. All that was left was how much they could minimize it. Gillian could not wait until he faced the club members. The faster, the better.
「Gillian: Declare martial law in all countries where our influence reaches.」
Gillian sent a message to the club members. The tremor of his fingertips did not stop even when he sent a personal message to his wife.
「Gillian: Please come as soon as possible. I need you.」
Gillian settled down in his seat. He opened the laptop he had taken out when he got out of the car and made the security personnel stand around like a wall. There was a clear task to do before the helicopter arrived. He needed to cooperate under the financial empire with Brian Kim and thousands of employees around the world. It was something that he would not have been able to think about if it were not for the achievements that He had made.
「Breaking News: A mysterious supernatural phenomenon witnessed around the world.」
「Breaking News: World Awakened Association “The Final Stage has begun.”」