Good Day, Madam.
Chomp. Chomp.
The smell of fried chicken hung rich and heavy in the hotel room.
"This is on another level from Korean chicken," Hong Yumin said, working through a pickle.
"America's the home of fried chicken. Of course it isn't the same as back home."
"I thought there would hardly be a difference, and yet even the oil is not the same."
Mi Soryeong picked up a drumstick. San-gun was gnawing on a chicken neck.
"Lord San-gun, you have to chew it properly."
"Krrrng."
San-gun tore into the chicken with obvious relish. A tiger ripping apart fried chicken—the world had certainly improved.
"Haa. I come all this way on vacation, and look at the mess." Mi Soryeong sighed, and her eyes went to the television.
An American anchor was reporting on the Hawaii incident. The rigid face and the hard, clipped delivery said everything about how the anchor felt.
The terrorist attack on Oahu. It had set America seething.
America's streets are packed with mourners for the dead of Hawaii.
The Hawaiian government has announced that a memorial will be raised so the victims will not be forgotten, and has declared it will wipe out every villain in Hawaii.
The United States government has likewise announced that the villains will not be forgiven, and that it will not leave villains alone anywhere in the country, Hawaii included.
The American Hero Association and the government have entered talks on expanding hero strength.
Some quarters claim the Eclipse Church was behind the Hawaii attack, but nothing has been confirmed.
"What do you make of it?"
"Of what?"
I drank cola through the mask. The sharp carbonation scraped all the way down my throat.
"Do you believe the Eclipse Church had a hand in it?"
"Yes. They were involved. One hundred percent."
At the flat certainty of it, Hong Yumin's eyes narrowed. Mi Soryeong covered her mouth.
"......They're in the middle of a war with Europe. Would they really go that far?"
Mi Soryeong's face was all surely not. The doubt was entirely reasonable. However formidable the Eclipse Church's power, it was nothing beside a nation. And the countries already at war with it were the foremost powers in the world. Add the United States to that list, and the Church's defeat was certain.
"Their methods are covert. If they aren't caught, that's the end of it."
Dragged into the open, America would grind the Eclipse Church to paste. But it had not been dragged into the open, and America was hesitating over whether to send heroes to Europe. Hardly the conduct of the world's policeman—but heroes were precious strength, not something to be spent lightly on a war. With the Hawaii attack piled on top, they would be even less willing to let that strength drain overseas.
"If we told them......"
"We have no proof."
"We don't......?"
Mi Soryeong looked genuinely pained.
"When I was instructing my disciple I felt a gaze upon us...... but I could not fix its place."
"Same here."
"Ah......"
Suspicion alone would not move America. Intervening in a war required a clear cause, the way the bombing of Pearl Harbor had brought the United States into the Second World War.
Looked at a certain way, it isn't so different.
Lunatics had started a war, and America's Hawaii had been reduced to a wasteland.
"But there are people who move whether any of that matters or not."
And there he was on the screen: the hero with his arms around families who had lost their own to the attack. The man who bore the Earth on his chest and fought for justice and peace.
Captain Earth.
"Captain Earth will probably go to Europe."
No—definitely. In the original, he joined the European front.
"And a great many people will follow after him."
His stature spanned the world, enough that even America had to watch his mood. Captain Earth would toss off a single line about crushing the Eclipse Church and be gone in a flash, calling it volunteer work. No coordinating with the United States. No playing the press. He would leave to save people who were suffering. A personal judgment, and a personal desire. He would have no thought at all of dragging anyone else along.
But once he moved, the heroes moved. Those who had kept silent followed the strongest hero of them all. Not even the laws of nations could stop them, because joining the European front was, on paper, volunteer service. And from the moment those countless heroes arrived, the Eclipse Church was driven back without a hope of holding.
"Those who follow a hero are to be found everywhere." Hong Yumin wiped San-gun's mouth with a tissue. "Those whelps of the Eclipse Church will meet their end before long."
She was certain. In the eyes of a woman who had lived for centuries there was something that passed beyond the ordinary.
"Unfortunately, no."
"No?"
Under ordinary circumstances she would have been right. The Eclipse Church was not an ordinary cult.
"There's a god behind the Eclipse Church."
"......A god?"
"Yes. A god who can stand comparison with Heaven itself."
Silence settled over the room. San-gun looked at me, as if asking whether the words were true.
"The Eclipse God exists."
A god was really there. That was why they could wage war on Europe.
"......Then their aim—don't tell me—"
"What else would a cult like that be after?"
In the original, the Eclipse Church erased Hawaii from the map. And what would come of that?
"A god's descent. That's what the Eclipse Church wants."
"So that is why you bade us come to Hawaii......"
Hong Yumin let out a low, swallowed sound. San-gun bared his teeth.
"......Mr. Phantom, you have a gift for making things difficult for people."
Mi Soryeong's look was pure reproach.
"I'm sorry. I didn't know the Eclipse Church would move like this."
On this timeline it was still Part One, and back then there had been no information on them at all.
"We'll have to stop them, won't we?" Her voice trembled.
"I'll handle it alone. Please enjoy the vacation."
"What? B-but—"
"I've already talked it over with Mr. Dan Miryu."
Mi Soryeong shot a glare.
"That man, honestly......"
He was going to get his ears scorched.
"The mask has said his piece, so we need only enjoy what remains of the holiday." Hong Yumin scooped San-gun up and flopped flat on her back.
"And how are we supposed to relax......?"
"What else is there to be done? This is a foreign land, and we have a child in tow. Our faces are already known. Keeping quiet will serve us best."
It was a practical thing to say. Thanks to the commotion they had kicked up at the hotel, those faces had been sold to the world. The videos were already making the rounds on social media and YouTube.
"Look. The children of Korea are already in an uproar."
Hong Yumin held out her smartphone.
My head spun. Was this what nationalist brain-rot looked like?
"Have these wretches anything at all inside their skulls?"
Even Hong Yumin reeled, at a loss for an answer.
"......I'll have to tell Miryu."
Mi Soryeong managed a bitter smile.
Well. If public feeling toward Korean heroes turned friendly, it would only help when it came time to found the Hero Association.
"Haa......"
Dan Miryu came in then. Whatever had been hounding him, his face had gone gaunt.
"Miryu, are you all right?"
"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine......" He dropped onto the sofa. "Haa. Reporters are the same no matter where in the world you find them."
"Is it over?"
"No. Only the reporters are finished. Now I have to go meet people again." He raked a hand back through his hair. "The hotel manager, the American Hero Association, the Hawaiian government, people from other countries besides. It's a mountain."
"Can't you put them off?"
"Impossible. This is America. I can't brush them off, and when I said we were on vacation they told me that if I would only make the time, they would cover every travel expense."
They weren't playing around.
"I'll manage somehow. We'll keep our identities as quiet as we can and play up the fact that we're Korean heroes." Dan Miryu rose again. "It's time. I'll head down."
"Miryu. Be careful."
"Yeah. I'll be back."
He paused at the door to add one more warning.
"Oh! If you happen to run into anyone, avoid them if you can. Anyone on the same floor as us, especially."
"All right."
Dan Miryu went down.
"I should call Chuyeon and tell him to come back."
Mi Soryeong tapped at her phone. The ring went on.
"Mom?"
"Chuyeon, where are you?"
"Uh...... the hotel restaurant."
"I told you to stay away from crowds."
"I was hanging out quietly in the game room. I came down because I got hungry."
"Aigoo. Eat quickly and come up. People might recognize you and come over. Every Korean in the place is a target."
"Uh...... well......"
Dan Chuyeon let the words trail off.
"Did something happen?"
Mi Soryeong shot to her feet, looking ready to run there that instant.
"What? You want me to hand it over? O-okay......"
"Chuyeon?"
Mi Soryeong's voice dropped. Another person's voice came through the phone. Fluent Korean—and yet, somehow, awkward.
"Good day, madam."
"Who are you, and what are you doing beside my son?"
"My apologies. Allow me to introduce myself first."
What the man said next was a shock.
"......What?"
Mi Soryeong went rigid. This was a far bigger figure than anyone had expected.
"I apologize for making contact in this manner."
Mi Soryeong recovered her composure at once.
"Even if you are Captain Kid, this isn't right, is it?"
"I apologize. But there was something I had to convey."
Captain Kid was scrupulously courteous. Mi Soryeong bit her lip.
"And what is that?"
What he said next froze every one of them.
"......What?"
Uh......
This wasn't part of the plan.
Earth's strongest hero had just been added to a perfectly ordinary vacation.