ch 255
Became a Swordsmanship Instructor at the Academy
Chapter 255
"Was the person who was talking about responsibility just now the Deputy Prime Minister of Economy?"
I looked at him as I spoke, and he averted his gaze.
"Ahem, it's not like I said anything wrong, did I?"
"It seems the Foreign Minister has been living in some mountain. Otherwise, your family must be quite struggling financially to not have a TV, computer, or even a cell phone?"
"What? Right now...."
"Or maybe your memory isn't good? If you have dementia, you should be in a nursing home instead of being here."
"This person really!"
Unable to bear my continued sarcasm, he shouted loudly.
His face was already red as if it would burst.
"Now, Hunter Kang! Aren't your words a bit too harsh?"
"That's right. No matter how much your opinion differs from his, to treat a person that way...."
The guys who had been displeased earlier stepped forward as if this was their chance, which was laughable.
"I was merely saying that because it seemed the Deputy Prime Minister of Economy hadn't seen the press conference I held three years ago."
"What do you mean...."
"Three years ago, I already warned about this situation and publicly declared that I would take responsibility if it wasn't true. Even if you hadn't seen the press conference, I've been consistently talking about it. But seeing that you still don't know, I can only think that you've been living in some mountain where electricity doesn't reach, right? Or you really do have dementia."
"No, Hunter Kang...."
"I haven't finished speaking yet."
In the end, the President tried to step in, but I firmly cut him off.
"This guy really, the President is speaking and you dare to interrupt!"
"That's right, where do you think you are to have such an attitude...."
The Foreign Minister and Hunter Department Minister on the President's left and right flared up in warning, but when I glared at them, they trailed off.
Oh, such loyal subjects have appeared.
"The President is not a king. Personally, I think it's a position to work for the people, but it's not the Joseon Dynasty now, and there are people who think of the President as a king."
"No, what kind of way is that to speak...!"
"The President is the people's representative, so I'm just asking for some respect, who said he was a king...."
They made pathetic excuses, but it wasn't even funny.
"If you want to be respected by others, you first need to prove that you're worthy of respect. At the very least, you should show respect first for the other person to feel like respecting you, right? But no matter how I look at it, the people here don't seem to respect me...."
Everyone became mute as if they had eaten honey.
I thought that after saying this much, someone would step forward and apologize.
Beyond irritation, I was disappointed.
"Guild Master Kim."
"Yes!"
"Let's go."
"What? Ah, yes."
Se-jin also had a slightly flustered expression, as if she didn't expect me to suggest leaving like this.
But she immediately stood up without asking questions, as expected of Se-jin.
"No, Hunter Kang Shin-hyeok? You're leaving... No matter how upset you are, leaving like this isn't right, is it?"
"The reason I came here was to save as many people as possible as a citizen of the Republic of Korea, not to engage in armchair theorizing about economic damage."
"Hunter Kang Shin-hyeok, calm down and...."
"It's unnecessary, and now I understand well that the current government has no interest whatsoever in saving people's lives, so we'll be leaving now."
"No interest in people's lives, don't make assumptions as you please."
The President had an unpleasant expression.
"That's right. As I said before, if we make such a decision based only on your words and suffer enormous losses...!"
The Deputy Prime Minister of Economy also chimed in, and while the President is one thing, that bastard still hasn't come to his senses.
"What good is money if you're dead? Would any of you here commit suicide if someone offered you 10 billion won?"
When I spoke while glaring at them, they immediately lowered their eyes and fell silent.
How did they get to that position when they can't even read the atmosphere? Tsk tsk.
Thinking that I shouldn't waste any more time, I grabbed Se-jin's hand and used teleportation magic to return to the office.
"Um...."
"It's okay."
"Will it really be okay? If the government doesn't cooperate, evacuation will be delayed...."
"We'll make them have no choice but to cooperate. Let's go to a broadcasting station."
"Ah, then we'll negotiate again.... Which broadcasting station should we go to?"
"Anywhere is fine. Anyway, if I appear and talk about it, other places will also report it as breaking news. And let's negotiate when we get there. There's no time."
The monsters could burst out at any moment, and we had wasted too much time at the Blue House.
Thinking that if worst comes to worst, I'd have to interrupt the news, I grabbed Se-jin's hand and moved to KBJ Broadcasting Station, which I had visited several times for interviews.
When Se-jin and I suddenly appeared, people were flustered, but we were able to meet the person in charge right away.
Since it was late at night, it wasn't the president but some director, and persuasion required only one sentence.
'The Republic of Korea will soon become like Guam, so we need to inform people'.
I was prepared to interrupt even if they refused, but fortunately, they readily agreed.
If I had known it would be like this, I should have come to the broadcasting station instead of the Blue House from the beginning.
Se-jin and I were guided by the person in charge to the studio where the midnight news was being broadcast.
The anchor who was presenting the news looked slightly flustered when she saw us approaching, but soon nodded slightly as if she had received word.
"We've just received breaking news from the production team, and Hunter Kang Shin-hyeok has come to this studio."
I sat in the designated seat and Se-jin stood beside me.
"Hello. I'm Kang Shin-hyeok. I came to the broadcasting station asking for their understanding because there's something I need to urgently inform our Republic of Korea citizens about. Monsters will soon pour out in the Republic of Korea just like in Guam."
"The warning that Kang Shin-hyeok Hunter has been giving for three years...."
"Yes, that's right. Guam is the beginning, and now not only in our Republic of Korea but also in portals around the world, safe zones will disappear and monsters will pour out. I ask viewers watching this broadcast to quickly prepare and evacuate to nearby shelters, and please spread the word to your family and relatives."
After repeating the same words several more times and getting up from my seat, all the production staff were busy making phone calls.
Well, these people also need to inform their families.
I was about to just leave when I approached the person in charge who had guided us.
"Thank you for accepting our request."
"Not at all. It's not just any matter, and if it's something like this, we must cooperate unconditionally."
Completely different from somewhere else.
"Then could I ask for one more favor?"
"Of course."
"If any problems arise, I'll take all responsibility, so please contact other broadcasting stations and ask for their coverage."
"We've already contacted not only terrestrial broadcasters but also cable broadcasting companies. No matter how much our industry values exclusivity, this isn't a situation to consider such things."
I thought he had naturally called his family.... The more I see this person, the better he seems.
"Thank you. Thanks to you, Director, more people will save their lives."
"What did I do? Um... But Kang Hunter, since this is such a serious matter, informing people is important, but shouldn't you go to the Blue House? The government should also cooperate...."
"We actually just came from there."
"I spoke unnecessarily then. You're indeed amazing."
"Well. Unfortunately, the government seemed not to trust me. They talked about economic damage and asked me if I could take responsibility, so cooperation seems like it will be delayed."
"What? No, how could that be...!"
"I couldn't waste any more time, so I came here. Director, are you planning to evacuate right away?"
"Since I joined the company, I've thought about dying while broadcasting. I'm planning to select volunteers and continue broadcasting."
"That's admirable. Then let me give you a gift."
I took out two crystal orbs from subspace and transferred the videos stored in my necklace to them.
"Um, Kang Hunter? Are these video storage crystal orbs?"
"That's right. One contains footage from Guam, which also shows the new monsters I've been continuously warning about. The other contains footage of the Blue House bunker meeting."
I didn't hesitate about the Guam video since it was good evidence to add credibility to my words, but I pondered slightly about the bunker meeting.
Because if such a video is released at this time when evacuating people is most important, attention might be diverted.
But thinking about the high-ranking officials who hesitated for the ridiculous reason of economic damage when people's lives were in danger, I couldn't help but release it.
Although impeachment would be difficult since we don't know when monsters will pour out, once this video is released, they'll cooperate properly if only to avoid more criticism.
***
It's already been 6 days since monsters poured out of Guam.
Exactly 24 hours after monsters first poured out of Guam, portals in countries around the world, including our Republic of Korea, were liberated.
The death toll from this incident, dubbed 'Black Sunday' after the date, approaches a staggering 4 billion according to UN estimates.
Despite most countries, including our Republic of Korea, having received my warning and evacuated citizens while mobilizing hunters, such massive casualties occurred.
I didn't have optimistic expectations that there would be no casualties from the beginning.
Even in the original work, one-third of humanity died, so 4 billion is actually a relatively good outcome, but honestly, the shock was too great.
The original work was a novel, but the current situation is reality.
What was most regrettable was that civilian casualties were much higher than expected.
There were quite a few shelters that collapsed due to shoddy construction in various countries.
Moreover, even shelters that weren't shoddily constructed were often destroyed by monsters like Great Sand Worms that move underground, since most shelters are located underground.
Still, our Republic of Korea has the least damage and fastest recovery.
Initially, I was very worried because the government was uncooperative, but their attitude changed 180 degrees when the bunker meeting video was released by the media.
The high-ranking officials who had opposed me, including the Deputy Prime Minister of Economy, all submitted resignation letters and stepped down from their positions, but the public's anger was so severe that the President appeared on television and even knelt while apologizing to the nation.
If it weren't for the chaotic situation of monsters pouring out requiring evacuation, there might have been protests and perhaps even impeachment.
With government cooperation and hunters' activities, most monsters inside major cities like Seoul, Gyeonggi Province, and metropolitan cities in our Republic of Korea have been eliminated.
But there's a problem.
It's the Demon Race that newly appeared starting with this Black Sunday.
Knowing that the Demon Race was strong, I shared Internal Energy cultivation methods with the world.
I thought I had balanced things to some extent by raising hunters' levels by one stage with Internal Energy cultivation methods, but I seem to have been mistaken.
High-ranking demons like the Sprout I first dealt with require at least four S-rank hunters to barely handle, and if there aren't enough hunters or even if S-rank hunters are insufficient in number, the fight is not even possible.
They just get massacred.
I heard that there were casualties even among the Ten Stars, who are said to be the world's strongest hunters.
After hearing that news, the four of us—Se-jin, Do-hyun, Lee Ji-sung, and I—have been traveling around the world, focusing on dealing with high-ranking demons only.
—Damn lackeys of the Heavenly Realm. Our Demon King will avenge me. Wait for me in hell.
I completely cut off the breath of the vampire who was dying while cursing and burned the corpse.
The demon bastards always have the same repertoire.
I sent a telepathic message to Luciel, who was hiding with invisibility magic, asking where we should go next.
Due to this incident, communication networks between countries are not smooth, so the search for high-ranking demons mostly depends on Luciel.
—There are no demons. But from New York, something tremendous....
New York?
New York is where the Demon King first appeared in the original work.
Could it be that the Demon King is already descending?
No, but why is she stopping mid-sentence?
—Luciel? Luciel!
I called several times but got no answer, and just as I was about to deploy Absolute Domain, the world began to be dyed gray.