Assault on the Tower (1)
It was obvious from the very first greeting that Kang Se-na was deeply shaken. Normally she would have said something like, “Well, if it isn’t Seoul’s guardian deity, Dragon Lord and Maestro Nam Juyeon himself?” Instead, she merely dipped her head slightly once she confirmed it was me. Her face had gone deathly pale. Seo Ye-rin’s disappearance must have hit her harder than I thought.
“This is where she vanished?”
“Yes. Ye-rin’s radio and the belongings of the other missing Awakened were all found here. Something clearly happened around this spot.”
Kang Se-na bit her lip and scanned the surroundings. Aside from a few traces of battle, the area was unnaturally clean.
“I doubt we’ll find any useful clues. Especially without CCTV footage.”
The park saw little foot traffic to begin with, and the disappearances had occurred during a Rift Eruption while civilians were sheltering in air-raid bunkers. Expecting Kang Se-na to uncover anything meaningful was asking the impossible. The same went for the Association investigators.
“What was Seo Ye-rin even doing here?”
“Hard to say. This Seoul Forest falls under Team 7’s jurisdiction, the one she led, but there was no real reason for the team leader herself to come.”
“…Hmm.”
“According to the other team members, the Awakened stationed here stopped responding, so she came to check personally. Whatever happened, it happened right here. Mr. Nam Juyeon, do you have any disasters with investigation skills?”
“I’ve got Lucyben.”
I nodded and summoned the 3★ disaster, the Faded Wraith Lucyben, to search the area. Before long, it found something a few meters away.
“…Lightning?”
Lightning-shaped scorch marks spread across the nearby vegetation. The blackened trails looked deliberate.
“This… looks like the work of a disaster.”
Kang Se-na’s expression darkened. She was probably imagining the worst-case scenario for Seo Ye-rin. She wasn’t far off. I hadn’t told her yet, but the truth was that the 5★ Storm of the North Sea, Mirien, had taken her.
“…I should head back. I need to report this to the Association…”
Kang Se-na looked at me, her words tumbling out in a rush.
“Mr. Nam Juyeon.”
“Yeah. I’ll help. Like you said, I’m an S-class Awakened, right?”
I tried to lighten the mood with a joke, but she only managed a strained smile.
“…Thank you. I’m glad you’re here, at least.”
I hadn’t been fishing for gratitude.
“Mm.”
Her reaction wasn’t what I’d expected.
After Kang Se-na returned to the Association, I stayed behind at the scene. I moved to a nearby public restroom, made sure no one was watching, and summoned Selene.
The stench wafting from the men’s restroom made Selene’s brow furrow slightly. I ignored it and asked,
“Selene, what exactly did Mirien do? You said you were at the same location.”
“…I am not a mage, so I cannot fully grasp the magic Mirien wields. However, it is certain that the lightning she unleashed struck that woman.”
“She didn’t kill her, did she?”
“No. Had Mirien truly intended to kill her, the woman would have been reduced to nothing the moment the lightning struck. Instead, Mirien carried her away personally.”
“…To recruit her into the Ascension Sect?”
“It would seem so.”
Either way, things had become complicated. Mirien was gathering Awakened from all over, her goal being to seize their disasters and build an army. A disaster already extremely dangerous on her own was now amassing forces. No matter how you looked at it, this was bad.
“What do you think will happen if Mirien finishes gathering her army?”
“She will conquer the world. And then she will offer that world to you, my lord.”
“…”
She was right. Disasters acted according to their master’s will. Every master’s ultimate goal was to become the Absolute Ruler who commanded the world. Mirien was simply following her own standards to achieve that end. I, however, still hadn’t decided on a direction in this changed world. And I wasn’t crazy enough to go along with my subordinate’s plan to destroy the world. Not yet, anyway.
“Selene, can you track Mirien?”
“My apologies, my lord. I possess stealth skills, but no tracking skills.”
At those words, I recalled my memories from the game. Selene was a disaster specialized in combat even among the 5★s. Skills for synthesis, daily life, tracking, or investigation were her weak points.
“Then how did you find Mirien last time?”
“I received assistance from the Hellfire Watchdog.”
Come to think of it, the Hellfire Watchdog did have tracking-related skills. In Disaster Order, tracking skills had been practically useless and ignored, but now that the game had become reality, they were proving quite handy. So that was why Selene had asked if she could bring the Hellfire Watchdog along last time.
“Then can’t we just have the Hellfire Watchdog track Mirien?”
“Mirien is no fool. The moment she realized I had discerned her intentions, she would have thoroughly erased her tracks. I am not defending that magic-obsessed girl, but if Mirien decides to hide, no one in this world will be able to find her. Unless it were someone like Karne, who specializes in tracking and assassination…”
“…Then what about going straight to the tower?”
If Mirien’s whereabouts were uncertain, why not just head to her base directly?
“It is dangerous, my lord.”
“Dangerous or not, according to you, Mirien won’t harm me directly.”
“That is true, but…”
“And you wouldn’t lie to me. Or have you been lying to me all this time?”
“N-no, of course not.”
I felt like I was starting to get a handle on how to handle Selene. I shrugged and turned my gaze toward Mirien’s tower. Seoul Forest to Yeouido was quite a distance, but the twenty-first-century Tower of Babel rising as if to touch the sky stood clearly in view.
“And there’s nothing to worry about. I plan to bring you along. Worst case, you can just protect me.”
“…Yes. I will protect you with my life, my lord.”
“Still… the real problem here is people’s eyes.”
The area around Mirien’s tower was already under police and military control. It was a forbidden zone no one could—or should—enter. But then again, I had the power to push through them. The label of S-class Awakened, which carried more authority in emergencies than any congressman or even the president. I pulled out my phone and dialed a number from my contacts.
The call connected after fewer than three rings.
[…Nam Juyeon?]
Yu Junseo, Director of the Awakened Association, answered with clear suspicion. This was the first time I had called him directly. That alone was enough to put tension in his voice. He was probably wondering what this unpredictable S-class Awakened wanted now. Yu Junseo sounded afraid. And that fear was about to be justified.
“Yeah, it’s Nam Juyeon. I’ve got an urgent favor to ask.”
[…Uh, sure. If it’s a request from an S-class, I’ll listen. But next time, maybe follow proper procedure and…]
“Starting now, I’m going to assault the tower in Yeouido. Clear out the police forces.”
A choking sound came from the other end of the line.
More than fifty percent of all Awakened in South Korea were concentrated in Seoul. Including the metropolitan area, nearly seventy percent of them were gathered in a single region. In contrast, the provinces were severely lacking in Awakened. Every time a Rift Eruption occurred, massive casualties followed, but the media kept a tight lid on the facts.
“Those bastards. Now they’re going on about the ‘Miracle of the Han River’ and patting themselves on the back while everything goes to hell.”
The Awakened in Daejeon felt the same. Exhausted, they wanted to migrate to Seoul, and dozens had already left. The number of Awakened left to guard the vast metropolitan area barely reached two hundred. Even among them, those who could actually be useful were maybe thirty percent at best.
Meanwhile, the authorities were only interested in keeping the Awakened under control. Signs of division had already appeared, and it was inevitable that the Awakened would take action. They wanted to establish a new nation for themselves. Worn down by fatigue, the Awakened formed new communities and occupied an empty city near Daejeon.
“At this rate, they’ll start talking about the ‘Seoul Republic.’ We might as well make our own Daejeon Republic.”
What had started as a joke among the Awakened was becoming reality. Just as warlords had emerged in history, the Awakened had become the de facto ruling power in Daejeon. The forces they had gathered were now strong enough to defend an entire district.
Jeon Tae-min was one such Awakened. He wasn’t affiliated with the Association, much less a government lapdog, yet he was a powerful Awakened who possessed two 3★ disasters. Thanks to his efforts, Daejeon had smoothly handled the third Rift Eruption, and the new republic nominated him as its leader. He was the type who didn’t mind wearing a rotten crown.
“Honestly, isn’t Director Jeon Tae-min greater than Seoul’s Dragon Lord? That guy gets all kinds of support while we built everything from the ground up.”
“True.”
“Seoul already has two 4★ disasters. They’ll collapse before long. When the Association bastards come crawling to us then, we won’t even listen.”
“That’s right too.”
“Why don’t we take our kids and invade Seoul during the fourth or fifth eruption? By then our kids will have plenty of 3★ disasters too. We could even take on the military, don’t you think?”
“Watch your mouth. It’s not time yet.”
Listening to his subordinate’s clumsy flattery, Jeon Tae-min chuckled. He glanced at an article on his phone—an S-class Awakened video of Nam Juyeon commanding the Storm Dragon. It was certainly an impressive sight, but Jeon Tae-min felt no particular excitement.
“Hey, are 4★ disasters really that scary? If we gather enough people, it shouldn’t be impossible to fight them, right?”
Jeon Tae-min brought it up as a joke. Just then, he refreshed the page and a new headline appeared.
“Huh?”
Jeon Tae-min clicked his tongue inwardly. The Yeouido Tower. He had seen the footage of soldiers being slaughtered trying to approach it. And yet this guy was declaring he would assault it anyway. He needed to get his head checked.
“Hey, this S-class bastard must be trying to commit suicide. Did you see this?”
Jeon Tae-min turned to his subordinate for agreement, but no answer came. A flicker of irritation crossed his face. Wasn’t this the same guy who had been buttering him up just moments ago? Why the sudden silence?
He finally sensed something was wrong and turned around.
His subordinate’s head was twisted at an unnatural angle. The man’s mouth hung open, tongue lolling out.
“…”
They said people couldn’t speak when they were truly shocked. Behind the dazed Jeon Tae-min, someone approached.
“Ghk!”
Jeon Tae-min couldn’t even resist before he was slammed down. No—he was grabbed by the wrist and left dangling over the desk, unable to fall properly. A moment later, he felt an icy sensation on his wrist.
A slender, pale hand reached for the phone he had been holding.
“…Y-you!”
But Jeon Tae-min’s eyes widened. The intruder—a woman—looked even more shaken than he did. Her gaze was fixed on the phone screen he had been looking at just moments ago.
The woman—the Storm of the North Sea, Mirien—stared at the article for a long moment. Then her soft pink lips parted, and a trembling voice slipped out.
“A-Actor… is coming… for me?”
The owner of that beautiful voice was clearly more shaken than Jeon Tae-min, who was currently facing death.