Nine Failures and One Decision
After a staggering nine failures, Dohyun finally reached his conclusion.
'It can't be done in the Republic of Korea. No matter how hard I struggle, I cannot stop the apocalypse from here.'
The Cataclysm had upended humanity's way of life from its very foundations. There had been chaos at first, but with the emergence of Awakeners, mankind adapted — and rode the flood of byproducts from the spilling monsters into a new golden age.
But no one had suspected the truth: that all of this was nothing more than Phase Zero — a tutorial. Five years from now, Phase One would begin with dimensional interference, and the true apocalypse would dawn. Twenty years from now, when the fourth and final Phase ended, humanity would meet its absolute extinction.
Dohyun had lived through it all, regressing nine times over, witnessing the end of the world again and again. And in the process, he had learned something.
'No matter how strong I become alone, it's useless. Humanity itself has to grow stronger.'
That resolve had come somewhere around his fifth regression. From then on, Dohyun seized control of the Republic of Korea's government.
And yet... he failed to stop the apocalypse anyway. Four more times.
The reason, sadly, was Korea's inherent limitation. It was a remarkable country, to be sure — under Dohyun's command it had faced the end of the world more capably than any other nation on Earth. But the country's sheer scale was far too small.
So at last, the final conclusion: 'I need to commandeer the power of a superpower — one with the capacity to unite all of humanity.'
Only two countries on the planet could fit that bill. The United States and China.
Dohyun's face twisted.
'If it weren't for those two damned countries, humanity wouldn't have been slaughtered so helplessly every single time.'
More than half the blame for mankind's hollow, repeated annihilation rested squarely on America and China. Each, in its own way, had trolled the entire species.
China's number-one seat of state power — its President — had become an apostle of the Outer Gods and sold his own country down the river. From that point on, China sowed chaos across the world by every conceivable means, accelerating humanity's march toward extinction.
'It wasn't until after my fourth regression that I learned the Chinese President was the Outer Gods' running dog.'
After that, he had assassinated the man as quickly as possible each cycle. What galled him, though, was that no matter how many times the President died, whoever climbed into the seat afterward sold the country to the Outer Gods all over again.
'Riding China is impossible. The country is hopelessly closed — a foreigner gets treated as a disposable pawn, never given a real chance.'
That left only America.
But recalling the sorry state America was in after the apocalypse dragged an involuntary sigh out of him.
'Who would have thought America would collapse that quickly?'
America hadn't committed any great sin, per se. It had simply fallen apart faster than anyone else once the end times arrived. It couldn't even survive Phase One.
'The real problem is that when America crumbles so ignominiously, more than half of humanity's Awakener forces go up in smoke with it.'
The current point in time was Phase Zero — the tutorial. Humanity, still unable to imagine the catastrophe ahead, was drunk on its new renaissance. And the country that had flourished most spectacularly in the age of the Cataclysm was none other than the United States, because it had thrown open its doors to the world's top hunters.
'More than half of our own S-rank hunters have naturalized to America, too.'
Every S-rank and A-rank hunter on the globe had flocked to American soil. The problem was that America's doom meant all of humanity's precious Awakener strength would be annihilated along with it. The fact that the world's entire Awakener infrastructure was concentrated in America only compounded the disaster.
'If you were going to be wiped out that easily, you shouldn't have been so greedy. Or... wait. Was it the greed that destroyed you in the first place?'
America's fall had come neither from the apocalypse nor from any external attack. It had collapsed from within, under its own weight. The greedily absorbed Awakener immigrants were the problem, and the warning signs were already visible even now.
A paradise for villains. That was the dark underside of America's new golden age. Having taken in so many Awakeners, it now boasted the highest Awakener crime rate on the planet. Battles between heroes and villains — the kind you'd only expect to see in the superhero movies Americans loved so much — erupted in city after city practically every other day.
'If America hadn't gathered the whole world's Awakener forces only to pointlessly blow itself up, humanity would have had a far easier time weathering the apocalypse.'
Dohyun's thoughts pressed onward.
'But what if America didn't collapse so pathetically — what if it used that colossal power to unite humanity instead?'
"Welcome to the ranks of heroes, Mr. Kim. Kim's power can be put to precious use for the sake of humanity."
This was the Awakener scout who always showed up after Dohyun received his first awakening assessment.
'I've met her ten times now, and I still don't remember her name.'
They exchanged introductions every single time, and every single time the name failed to stick — because these meetings had never left much of an impression. Dohyun's initial assessment was B-rank. Under US Awakener Immigration Bureau policy, a scout offer was extended to every awakener as a matter of course, but it was hardly a grade worth getting excited over.
If Dohyun's first awakening skill hadn't been somewhat special, the scout would never have bothered coming in person — she'd have just fired off a text message and been done with it.
That didn't mean America was taking his recruitment particularly seriously, of course. Sending a scout in person was the full extent of their interest. Nothing more, nothing less.
"For America — not for humanity, isn't it?"
At Dohyun's retort, the middle-aged Hispanic woman's eyes flickered with mild interest. Ah — now he remembered her name. Colombian, if he recalled correctly. Camila, he thought it was.
"Working for America is working for humanity, Mr. Kim. Humanity must unite its strength under a single banner. Only Pax Americana offers mankind a path to survival."
Dohyun almost laughed out loud. In the past, America had trumpeted Pax Americana until, at some point, the phrase quietly vanished from the vocabulary — replaced by America First. And now here they were, chanting Pax Americana all over again.
America's goal was to become the world's sole superpower once more, leveraging the Awakener forces it had siphoned from every corner of the globe. And, like a dog, it failed every time.
'Makes it all the easier for me to use.'
Dohyun gave the answer he had never once given in any of his previous lives.
"Very well. I will immigrate to the United States."
"...Are you serious?"
"Why do you ask?"
"Forgive me, I simply expected you to refuse. I assumed you were the patriotic type."
Dohyun was nothing of the sort. America and Korea were both rotten to the bone — it was simply that, as a Korean, Korea happened to be where he was comfortable.
'Besides, once you're in America, it's hard to get your hands on things like stir-fried pork or kimchi stew.'
"However, I do have conditions."
"And those would be?"
Dohyun picked up the paperwork Camila had brought, and tore it to shreds. It was a contract calibrated for a B-rank awakener.
"Wh-what are you—?"
"Match the terms to A-rank at minimum. Better yet, make it S-rank."
Dohyun had spent part of his school years in America in the past. They were not fond memories — in fact, it was because of what had happened back then that he'd never given emigrating to the US a second thought until now.
But it had taught him one thing, at least: with Americans, it paid to come out of the gate swinging. That said, you needed the strength to back it up.
"In exchange, I will submit to another rank assessment upon entry into the United States — not under standard international criteria, but under America's reinforced AAA test. If I fall short of S-rank at that time, you may consider the naturalization offer null and void."