The Question Was Wrong from the Start
"Th-that's the one thing I can't!"
Somehow, he'd caught Aris's surprise proposal. The Minister of National Defense, gasping for breath, hurled himself forward with desperate vigor. It was the kind of overexertion that shocked onlookers—an elderly man pushing himself to the brink. Pitifully, desperately, he collapsed at my feet with a thud, then assumed a position: prostrating himself flat on the floor, forehead to the ground.
"This is… dogeza?!"
Aris, a pure-blooded Japanese, gasped at her own country's traditional culture. But dogeza… was surprisingly wrong. Slowly, keeping his forehead pressed to the floor, the minister's prostrated form began to rise. His legs, which had been crawling on the ground, stretched straight toward the sky.
"Please reconsider that one thing!"
No, it was a grand prostration. This old man had been going full performance mode since earlier. Even when I wanted to pick a fight, seeing this made me lose the will. It reminded me of the agent who superchatted McDam on my stream and went wild. Was this the expertise of a 21st-century government? Worlds apart from the nobles of that other world.
"Phew. Get up first. No thoughts, head empty."
Thinking that, I helped the minister to his feet. The sudden antics were drawing stares from around us, and it was getting awkward…
Aris's proposal—I'd already shot it down once. No intention of accepting now. Even though I lived in Korea, my affiliation felt… different. Never been officially part of it, so transferring? Yeah, no.
Aris probably didn't expect me to agree on the spot anyway. Whoosh—oh. Over there, the Japanese Prime Minister, who'd been hiding and watching, smacked his lips and slipped away.
…Was he watching?
"Thank you. Truly thankful."
Anyway, the Minister of National Defense stood calmly, offering a dapper bow. His deep, steady tone made you forget the freakout seconds ago. Unlike the relatively young Japanese PM, this felt genuinely sincere. People could change in an instant. If not for the dust on his clothes, you'd never believe he'd done a grand prostration.
"Still… you get it, right?"
"I'll take responsibility to ensure nothing like this happens again."
The minister glared murderously at the properly downed Prime Minister, declaring it uncharacteristically firmly. Hm. But isn't the PM higher up? Back in that other world I was forced into, I knew power structures inside out. On Earth, I wasn't that interested, so I'm fuzzy on anything beyond the surface.
As I tilted my head, the old man explained.
"As long as the VIP doesn't cover for him, no issue. The PM's position is like that anyway."
"Aha."
Well, he seemed full of confidence. If a minister says it like that, he must have his backing.
"And my guess is, today's announcement means the VIP can't protect him anymore. With someone of Calamity's caliber involved, it can't be ordinary, right?"
Wait, his backing was me? So the reason they came this far wasn't just to block foreign love calls aimed at me.
I nodded roughly and saw off the minister, who was faithfully performing to the end. Dragging the collapsed PM by the collar? He stole all the attention—I almost missed prepping for the research presentation.
"But seriously, why stream an academic conference?"
"I wasn't planning to originally."
In the private room of the special presentation hall, with the stream on, I addressed the chat like an excuse. For real, guys? Aris just talked to the conference organizers and set up the stream.
"Aris was collaborating with their research team, how could we do it in Korea?"
"I do wanna bring the juniors for a trip sometime."
As the chat buzzed, various researchers' presentations rolled on.
"When aggregating results from the above samples, the efficiency of skills provided by the Tower is…"
The latest trends booming from the speakers were, as expected, the common thread of gates, awakeners, and the Tower: supernatural abilities. I might not get the academic jargon, but supernatural powers? I'm an expert. The papers were decent enough. No groundbreaking results, though…
Inevitable. The concept had only been around for about three months. Too short for solid breakthroughs.
"Among awakening abilities, those called 'magic' are often lumped together, but recent Tower influences have allowed separation and analysis of differences…"
"Oh, I remember that. Differences in mana waveforms—actually, witch magic and magical girl magic are classified separately, right?"
Some research jogged memories from Prism lessons.
"What grandma, you punk."
More juniors in chat too. Pattern says it's real.
Chatting away filled the time until our main event arrived. Paper title: 'Proof of the Soul Concept and Its Dynamic Relationship with Gates.' Aris and her collaborators' presentation.
Analyzing skills Aris got from the Tower to establish the soul concept. Then using it to propose a new angle on 'gate appearance conditions' by inputting samples.
Even a layman could see it wasn't highly polished. Like stumbling on the answer by chance. Process full of missing links. Makes sense—too little time. Aris got the skill late, and joined my boot camp once it was on track.
Counterarguments flew hard.
"Proving it with one skill—that's too subjective, isn't it?"
"Formalization I get. But the formula formation has excessive leaps, especially…"
"Right?"
I'm more gut-feel than theory anyway. Point is to get answers. I could kinda sense the flow.
Normally, it'd get hammered more, shrinking until polished. But not now.
"We haven't filled all gaps yet. But we can present evidence strong enough to overlook them."
Aris had grabbed the mic, thinking something else entirely.
"The magical girl, Elice Calamity, is the living proof."
"Hm. Now's the time. Be right back."
"You'll see."
Honestly, even I was a bit shocked. Leaving the exploding chat, I slipped out of the private room onto the stage.
Up close, tons of diverse attendees. Scholars per the theme, plus Korean-Japanese politicians and foreign delegates.
Reason's simple. After Aris—who collabed on the research—even unrelated me showed up. Power of her fame as Japan's hero and my strength's influence.
"Pausing questions for a new discovery."
Her low voice shifted the mood. From here, Aris's solo act—separate from the team. Surprisingly approved?
"When the theory solidified, as the skill's owner, one person came to mind. Sen—er… Elice Calamity."
Using proper titles here, good.
"Undoubtedly the greatest Soul Rank on Earth. I felt that unimaginably vast soul, and thus realized the truth of humanity's greatest riddle."
"Hold up."
"What did you just say…?"
Guessing what came next? Despite pausing questions, murmurs rippled.
"It was a riddle. Why only one country, South Korea, had no gates in living areas? …The phrasing was wrong. That's why it was a dilemma."
Quiet voice declaring the question flawed. Simultaneously, Aris cast magic. A parlor trick sprinkling sparkling wind to form letters in the air. But the impact was real.
This was the right question.
"This was the right question."
"Wait, wait, wait. So you're saying all that was…"
No one stopped the outburst. Such a shocking claim. If not from Aris, backed by me, it'd be dismissed. And the shouter was South Korea's Minister of National Defense.
"Yes. Elice Calamity's vast, lofty Soul Rank drew in all soul-hungry gates, leaving none elsewhere."
Aris listed 'evidence' in a clear voice. Why did gates appear in some Korean areas like Gwangju or islands? How could Elice Calamity invest unbelievable Gate Coins into Tower upgrades?
Not directly proving soul-gate links—off-topic for the paper. But it backed that I was sweeping Korea's gates.
"About 220km radius. From her residence at Sobaeksan, covering most of South Korea. The 'influence zone' of Elice Calamity's Soul Rank as I gauged it."
"Such a thing possible?!"
"Impossible. One human worth millions?!"
"Can you prove it? Could be other reasons!"
No one remembered pausing questions. Paper validation faded. All aggro on proving the shocking 'riddle.'
Effective proof in a way? But does it prove it? Circumstantial, sure, but intellectuals here won't conclude on that.
"One or two circumstantial? Unclear. Many overlapping? Different story. Senpai. And if there's a clincher…"
"Clincher?"
"Yes. Senpai's here right now."
What? As I tilted my head—
BAM! Desk slam echoed.
"E-everyone. My god. This! This!"
All eyes on the reporter who'd slammed his desk, now holding his laptop. Screens showed breaking news from various countries. One Korean headline zoomed in.
"…!"
"No casualties. Small world still there."
Aris smiled seductively. My oversight, I guess. Yeah… Left morning, conference evening. Half day passed. Losing suppression, a gate spawned in the 'sole safe zone' city center.
Thinking back, first time away this long since gates started. Even abroad, cleaned up in minutes.
"My, my god."
"For real?"
"Right after Elice Calamity left? Unbelievable… but?!"
No one here missed the causation. As Aris said, perfect clincher.
More presentations left, but the conference—engulfed in flames—ignored them, burning wild.
…Maybe not just the conference. The stream I'd left running? Definitely chaos.