The Reason Is Revealed

After the Awakeners appeared and chaos swept the nation, the National Safety Group and Kang Jung-gil stepped in, and a measure of order was restored across the country. From then on, the Awakeners largely stopped brawling in the open and running around like street thugs — though that was only true in the broadest sense.

Just as gangsters still lived their lives carefully enough not to cross the line while the police were watching, the Awakeners did the same.

The guild founding and alliances that had already taken root among Awakeners in Europe and the United States spread through Korea just as quickly. The two organizations that built power the fastest were the Advent Guild and the Jangseung Guild.

But the Advent Guild and the Jangseung Guild turned on each other — raiding one another — and both sides took heavy losses. The result was a deep, lingering distrust among Awakeners themselves. The lesson was simple: outside your own guild, anyone could stab you in the back, so stay sharp.

Whatever the case, after that major incident, no further large-scale guild wars had yet come to light.

Still, society itself was transforming at breakneck speed under the pressure of the Awakeners' arrival. They were, quite literally, people who possessed superhuman abilities ordinary humans simply did not have.

Security firms and police agencies began specially recruiting Awakeners or creating entirely new departments to house them. The military was no different — discussions had already begun about founding special units built around Awakeners. And it was not only Korea. The same thing was happening overseas.

And there was one more development.

In the United States, across Europe, and in countless other countries, the chaos that had seemed ready to swallow everything whole began, little by little, to settle into something resembling order. That order was forged by the powerful Awakeners whose names were starting to become known.

Even among Awakeners, ranks existed. At first, people wondered whether the gap could really be that large — but as time passed after the first wave of awakenings, individuals began to appear whose power differed from the rest by several times, and in some cases by more than tenfold.

Factions formed around those figures. They began cooperating with federal and state governments, and stability slowly returned. This was not an American story alone. Europe was no different. Neither was Asia. Across the nations of Europe and in Japan as well, powerful Awakeners were centering themselves, cooperating with their governments, and reining in the chaos — because they understood that if things continued unchecked, the result would be catastrophe.

The last places to bring that chaos ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠under control were China and India, countries with populations so vast that the sheer number of people who awakened was inevitably greater. The disorder there was correspondingly enormous — large enough to require full-scale military operations. Both nations recognized the severity of the situation, declared martial law, and moved aggressively to restore social order. Control, however, was never easy.

But as powerful Awakeners worldwide — with the United States at the center — formed their own factions, opened dialogue with governments, negotiated, and began to cooperate, order took hold. China and India, following that same current, adopted conciliatory policies of their own and did everything they could to stop the chaos from consuming them. If things went wrong and civil war broke out, nothing could be more catastrophic.

In any case, Korea had the National Safety Group, centered on The Absolute, Kang Jung-gil, to stop the Awakener-driven chaos. It took time, but stability gradually returned.

And so television, the internet, and social media talked about almost nothing but Awakeners. Heroes who had once existed only in Hollywood movies had stepped into the real world. More than a few of them became celebrities through broadcasts and social media, genuine stars in their own right.

As time passed, Awakeners began to blend into society — and society, in turn, was reshaped by them. Of course, there were still thugs and criminals among them who caused trouble, but the same was true of ordinary people. There was nothing strange about that.

With things settled to that degree, the world's leading scholars gathered around a single question.

Why?

Why, exactly, had the Awakeners appeared in this world?

They had arrived out of nowhere with the turn of the new year. People now understood that the awakening process itself took roughly a month — but the deeper question of why they had appeared at all remained unanswered.

In the twenty-first century, with its advanced scientific civilization, these Awakeners wielded what could only be called superpowers and carried themselves like superhumans. They were so monstrous that it was hard to believe they belonged to the same species. And as time went on, those who awakened after the earliest wave were stronger still — more powerful — and the guilds that formed around them secured their own interests while cooperating with governments and state agencies to impose order.

Whatever the case, the question remained: why had these Awakeners appeared in the world at all?

But talking about it and debating it did not produce an answer overnight. In the end, what mattered was simply this — that Awakeners existed in the world.

While the world turned in that direction, Seong-min went about his days as usual. On A-reum's birthday he had even gotten them couple rings, drawing them still closer as lovers. And as for what had happened to Lee Do-heon and the other two — nothing further came of it. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠It passed cleanly. Their families might have been furious, might have burned with rage, but they had no way to find the man who had done it. More than that, those three had left a long trail of enemies who had been swallowing their anger for years. Pinning anything on a specific person was never going to be easy.

Status Window.

That day, as always, Seong-min finished his workout and opened the Status Window to allocate his stats.

His Martial Power had broken past five hundred, and the other stats had climbed steadily as well. Spending points to stock five charges of the Escape Skill had been the obvious priority — something he simply had to do — so it was no problem for him at all.

How much stronger am I now?

With Martial Power over five hundred, Seong-min could not help but wonder about the true extent of what he possessed. He had pushed past the three hundreds, then the four hundreds, and now the five hundreds. He still intended to keep raising Martial Power without pause. In an age like this, growing stronger was not optional — it was mandatory.

So he poured himself into leveling up, through gombang work and through the Gym, day after day. Once Physicality had crossed three hundred, he no longer felt any pressing need there, so that stat rose more slowly. Appearance and Vigor, though, he had pushed all the way to two hundred. As a result, the length and ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠girth of his cock had grown a little further, and his height had reached 180.7 cm. A few more points into Appearance and he would hit 181 cm.

How much taller am I going to get?

That was interesting enough — but the most important thing was still Martial Power.

Shhhh...

He stepped into the shower, washed off, came back out to the locker room, and dried his hair with a blow dryer, quietly content with the peaceful stretch of ordinary days. Every so often some idiot would flash Awakener credentials or a rich family name and start acting like a thug, and Seong-min would put them in their place — but after that, right up to today, his life had been calm.

The money from gombang work was stacking up nicely. Life was comfortable. Affluent, even.

I hope I can keep living like this.

If things stayed the way they were, Seong-min was satisfied. The chaos that had hit when the Awakeners first appeared was settling into a kind of stability. Whether the Awakeners tore into each other or did whatever else they pleased had nothing to do with him — as long as they left him and the people around him alone.

He finished dressing, locked his locker, and was heading out to return the key at the front desk when the noise hit him.

"What the hell?!"

"What's going on?!"

"Is that real?!"

"Oh my god!"

"No way!"

He had just handed over the key, said a quick thanks, and was about to leave when the commotion stopped him.

"Why are they all like that?"

"I—I don't know? Something must have happened."

Even the trainer working the register looked rattled. Seong-min walked over to the wall-mounted television where people were crowding in. A special news broadcast was running live.

A field reporter was shouting the news in a frantic rush. People were screaming. Behind him, the scene was pure urgency, unfolding in real time.

"Wh-what the hell is that?!"

"Monsters?!"

"Where did those things come from?!"

The broadcast was coming from a small city in Gangwon Province. Behind the reporter, caught on camera, monstrous creatures were running wild — and the local Awakeners were standing in for ordinary civilians, fighting them head-on. Even so, their faces made it clear they were rattled.

At the anchor's cue, the cameraman zoomed in and showed the scene beyond once more.

KREEEEEEE!

A monster shrieked and tore through the street. Green-skinned creatures brandishing rusted axes charged about, squealing like pigs as they rampaged.

What the hell is that...?

Seong-min was just as stunned as everyone else.

In the end, every last monster was put down. More than ten of the creatures had turned Gangneung into a wreck, caused a massive uproar, and injured the Awakeners who had stood ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠against them to protect the citizens. But once Awakeners from the National Safety Group arrived, the creatures were finally suppressed. It was not the National Safety Group alone, either — Awakener guilds based in Gangneung and Awakeners from the surrounding regions had all joined the fight. That was what made it possible.

And so the monster incident in Gangneung, Gangwon Province, came to a close.

But it was only the beginning.

The same kind of chaos was not limited to Korea. Within days of each other, across country after country around the world, the same monsters appeared. Every one of them arrived in an instant. Witnesses testified that the air itself had seemed to crack and shudder, as if the atmosphere had split open — and the creatures had poured out through the gap.

Social media exploded with it, the same way it had when the Awakeners first appeared in the world. Monsters had shown themselves. The fact that creatures never before seen on Earth had arrived was problem enough — but what truly set social media on fire was what they looked like.

The pig-squealing monsters that had appeared in Korea, in particular, drew a flood of comments.

The monsters' appearances were uncannily close to the kinds of creatures you only ever saw in fantasy myths.

And there was one more thing.

Something like gemstones had been recovered from the monsters' bodies. After a full week of investigation, the findings were staggering. The gems the creatures had been carrying were no ordinary stones — they were special jewels saturated with an extraordinary power.