Sick of Just Watching
One day.
All of it had happened in a single day since Heavenly Punishment arrived.
In a single day, they had stormed Korea's Hero Association and left its president wounded. In a single day, they had reduced one of the world's airports to something that could not be rebuilt. In a single day, they had killed hundreds. In a single day, they had driven the Republic of Korea into terror.
And their movements could not be pinned down. Foreseeing the worst was not difficult.
"……We'll have no choice but to go to Japan and take a ship."
Dan Miryu hurriedly booked a flight to Japan.
"Will there even be a ship bound for Korea?"
"……There won't. Even the ones already underway will be turning back."
With Heavenly Punishment's appearance, Korea had become the most dangerous place in the world after Europe. No—measured by potential danger alone, it was worse than that.
"……We'll have to leave before Japan seals the route completely. They won't shut it within a day. Too many interests are tangled up in it."
However dangerous Heavenly Punishment might be, locking Korea out until the crisis was resolved would mean catastrophic losses. But that assumed Heavenly Punishment stayed still. If they sowed terror and massacred people wherever they went, Japan would cut the connection without hesitation. No country leaves its own citizens a road into a killing ground.
In the end, it was a race against time.
"If it comes to that, we'll have to smuggle ourselves in."
"Then we'd have the absurd spectacle of Koreans illegally entering Korea."
I hoped it would end as a joke. At least then we'd have something to drink over.
Green light wrapped Dan Miryu's body.
"The plane departs in one hour. I'll pack the luggage roughly and ask the hotel to ship it. If we send only the bags on to Japan, our people there can handle the rest."
"Understood. I'll go to the airport and wait."
I had come with nothing but the clothes on my back, and Hong Yumin was tucked into Mi Soryeong's luggage. If we could somehow sort out only the Dan family's bags, we could buy back time.
"Please tell Pele I'm sorry."
"I will. I'll be qui—"
Rrriiing.
"Uh, Dad?"
Dan Chuyeon sounded flustered.
"What's wrong?"
"……This person called."
He held out his smartphone. A video call was coming in on the screen, and at the face on the display Dan Miryu faltered.
"Why would that person……?"
I was surprised too.
Setting aside how they even had Dan Chuyeon's number—why now, of all times?
"Answer it."
I had my suspicions, but we couldn't ignore the call. When I pressed him, Dan Chuyeon glanced at Dan Miryu and tapped the button.
"Thank you for taking my call."
"What is this about?"
Dan Miryu's voice had gone hard.
Captain Kid.
The strongest hero's right hand inclined his head, just slightly.
"The situation is poor, so I had no choice but to call. If you found it unpleasant, I apologize."
"Spare me the courtesies. What do you want."
The skin above Dan Miryu's lip tightened. Contact at a moment like this meant they had been watching us. Reaching us through Dan Chuyeon's phone meant the background checks were already finished. And a video call meant they had arranged it so we had no choice but to answer.
Captain Kid opened his mouth, his eyes subdued.
"Yes. We haven't time, so I'll be brief. Mr. Dan Miryu. We can help all of you."
"……Earth Company, you mean?"
The words carried tremendous weight. Enough to crack Dan Miryu's poker face.
Earth Company.
A hero group and a corporation, gathered—so the world assumed—around Captain Earth. A dream team of none but the greatest heroes alive. Their influence was beyond comparison. Belong to Earth Company, and even immigration procedures were hardly an obstacle.
And those heroes were offering to help us?
"Not Earth Company. At present, the heroes affiliated with Earth Company are each occupied with the duties assigned to them. It would be difficult for them to aid Korea."
"……Then who is this 'we'?"
"I'll tell you that if you accept the help."
Captain Kid shifted his head aside. Behind him, an aircraft came into view.
No—for a plane, the fuselage was small and slender, and it sat low to the ground. It was shaped like a stingray, a triangle, with two boosters mounted at the tail.
That thing—!
"What you see behind me can deliver you to Korea in three hours at the outside. A monster that breaks the sound barrier without effort."
The flight from Incheon to Hawaii took eight or nine hours. The return took eleven.
The return ran long because of Earth's rotation and the shift in time. That craft meant it could ignore all of that and arrive within three hours.
An ordinary plane flew at about 900 kilometers an hour. Hawaii lay roughly 7,600 kilometers from the Republic of Korea. Cover that distance in under three hours, and the figure came out to 2,500 kilometers an hour.
Mach 2.
A speed that left the sound barrier in second place.
The supersonic Concorde had flown in that class, and the king of the sky, the F-22, topped out around 2,400 kilometers an hour. But Mach 2 was not this thing's true speed. Its maximum was Mach 3, and it could hold that for a long time.
Not three hours—a runner of the sky fast enough to arrive in under two. Who could refuse a machine like that?
"Captain Kid. Is this Captain Earth's will?"
I cut in beside Dan Miryu. Captain Kid nodded.
"Yes. Captain Earth has approved every part of it."
"All right."
Then the discussion was over.
I leaned toward Dan Miryu and whispered.
"I don't know what they intend, but we have to take this."
It was a monster that had shrunk the distance between Korea and Hawaii down to the distance between Seoul and Busan. Refuse it, and we would be walking into a Japan packed with variables—with a wasted day thrown in for free.
"……It seems we have no other choice."
Dan Miryu gave a bitter smile.
"We can only hope there are no special conditions."
"It's fine. Whoever Captain Kid means by 'we,' they won't set absurd terms."
"Understood. Captain Kid. We'll accept your help."
"A wise choice. Please come to the coordinates I've sent. We'll speak in detail inside."
Captain Kid ended the call.
"I hope this kindness is a kindness we can bear."
Dan Miryu dragged a hand up over his face. His thoughts looked heavy.
"Let's pack and leave at once. And explain things to Pele, quickly."
Hong Yumin looked up at the sky. Worry rippled across her brow.
The rock stirred, and Pele's face pushed out of it.
"Nngh……"
A groan escaped Dan Miryu.
The rock's lips pouted.
Dan Miryu waved it off.
"That isn't it. I didn't know how to explain it to you, Pele. I was at a loss."
The rock's lips opened and closed. It looked like a sigh.
"……I'm sorry."
When Pele scowled, pebbles broke loose and fell.
"What do you mean?"
Pele closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them.
In that brief span, she showed a god's majesty.
"But……"
Pele's face split left and right, and a path opened between.
"What does that……?"
I couldn't read her intent. I could feel that she didn't want to send us away, and yet she wasn't forcing us to stay.
Dan Chuyeon startled.
"Didn't you say you needed more time?"
What she said next made everyone hold their breath.
"I just have to spend my life."
It was carving away her own flesh and bone to untie a rope.
"You can't!"
Dan Miryu tried to stop her, but Pele was immovable.
Dan Miryu fell silent.
The god would not permit anything more.
"I am Pele, goddess of Hawaii and goddess of fire. I'll say this as one god, and as your ally."
A god was asking.
Who could refuse a resolve to sacrifice herself?
Dan Miryu opened his mouth, his face dark.
"……We'll go in."
Feeling the weight of a solemn duty, we went inside.
For the resurrection of a god.