The Age of Upheaval
“Sit down.”
The stern-looking middle-aged man in his late fifties, wearing gold-rimmed glasses, gestured with his chin. At once, the man in his early thirties with his hair neatly slicked back with wax settled onto the sofa on the right.
“Have you fully recovered?”
“Yes, I have.”
“That’s a relief, then.”
One month.
For a full month he had been convalescing at home, unable to properly engage in any external activities. In truth, there had been no other choice.
Going through the stages of awakening meant enduring a week of chills, fever, and severe body aches; once that passed, the vessel of an Awakener was completed over the course of a month. This could be called the process of the awakening stages.
After suffering severe body aches for a week, one naturally awakened to the energy of psychic power. Afterward came the process of filling the vessel that had formed during sleep—as if filling a vessel with water—and once a full month had passed, one emerged as a complete Awakener. Thus that one-month period could be seen as the incomplete stage of having merely entered the process of awakening.
Ordinarily, once a week had passed and the body aches subsided, one could resume activities. But this man, Im Seong-woo, had secluded himself for the full month, tending to his body until the stages of awakening were complete. And that had ended today.
The man seated before him was none other than Im Jang-han—chairman of the Cheonseong Group, one of the top ten conglomerates in the Republic of Korea. The man before him was that Im Jang-han’s eldest son, an executive director of the Cheonseong Group who oversaw the planning office.
“You asked me for a full month of time, and I granted it. Of course, there was no way of knowing how strong you would become as an Awakener. Even upon awakening, no one can know just how powerful one will turn out to be.”
They knew what happened once someone entered the stages of awakening. New Awakeners were still appearing all across the country, after all. But how strong or formidable any given Awakener would become was something no one could know. Only after the stages of awakening ended could one roughly predict one’s own strength.
“You spoke with confidence. You said you would be confident even against Jon Davis.”
“I did.”
“You know full well what kind of man Jon Davis is, don’t you?”
“I do.”
In the great chaos that followed the appearance of Awakeners, Jon Davis had founded a guild based in LA and Texas, gathering forces and laying down his foundations. Naturally the region had been thick with Awakeners, and the power struggles had been fierce, yet Jon Davis had overwhelmed those Awakeners with absolute strength and prestige, subduing them one after another. His presence had been so overwhelming it was said to resemble a heavenly god descending to rule.
In that manner Jon Davis had expanded his influence from LA and Texas all the way to New Mexico, flaunting his power. He had met with state government negotiators and then federal ones, securing clear interests and even obtaining rights over control and public order in the region—thereby beginning to spread his renown not only across America but across the world.
Just how strong Jon Davis truly was remained uncertain. And now the eldest son, Im Seong-woo, had brought that very Jon Davis into the conversation.
“Do you realize how arrogant your words sound?”
“I understand they may well sound that way to you, Father. But… even I myself do not yet know the true peak of the power I can unleash.”
“You do not know?”
“To be honest, if I draw out every ounce of the power I possess… even I am frightened of what might become of this city.”
“?!”
Im Jang-han’s expression changed in an instant. The words went beyond arrogance into sheer hubris. To speak not merely of a region but of the whole of Seoul—
“Are you saying the power you possess is that formidable? No—can an Awakener truly become that strong?”
It was impossible to believe. That a single individual could hold the fate of a city in his hands? If that were true, could such a being even still be called human?
“I understand Jon Davis has been given a certain moniker.”
“What moniker?”
“The title of Sky.”
“Sky?”
“There are those who say a heavenly god has returned. The one who stands at the absolute pinnacle of Awakeners—that is Jon Davis. Americans call him Sky.”
Sky. It meant, quite literally, a being so overwhelmingly powerful that other Awakeners could only look up to him. Americans called Jon Davis a heavenly god, or Sky. The feats he had displayed in this chaotic age had been so extraordinary they left people speechless.
Awakeners who were themselves called superhumans had stood before him and been utterly outmatched, collapsing one after another. Even allowing for differences among Awakeners, the gap had been enormous. Jon Davis had demonstrated that tremendous power in person. Videos of him had spread across social media, and Americans had begun calling him a heavenly god and Sky. Even other Awakeners who witnessed him had felt a thrill of awe. The figure he cut was nothing less than the sky itself.
“So in your view, this Jon Davis also possesses power of that magnitude.”
“What he has shown may not be the full extent of the power he can unleash. If I fully draw out the power latent within my body, it would be enough to make me worry for this city.”
“I cannot believe it… I simply cannot believe it…!”
Chairman Im Jang-han clicked his tongue. His son was speaking words so enormous they were impossible to accept.
“I was no different from you, Father.”
“You were surprised as well?”
“While I suffered severe body aches for a week and entered the stages of awakening, I could feel the energy within me. And yet… that power was not small.”
“Continue.”
“I wanted to know roughly how great this power was, so I looked into it separately.”
Even at home, one could easily have subordinates investigate such things.
“And from that, I roughly understood where I stood.”
“How far?”
“I thought I might be able to contend with those who are currently trying to form guilds and build their own forces. Of course I cannot actually measure the power they possess, so it was only a guess.”
That was fair enough. How could one know how strong someone was or how carefully they conserved their power without ever facing them?
“But the full month of the awakening stages proved important. The first week is when the vessel is formed; the remaining time is when power fills it, like water filling a vessel.”
It was a metaphor of filling a vessel with water. Combined, the period totaled a month, and through it one was transformed into an Awakener.
“Today I spent a full hour reflecting deeply on the power I possess. And then…”
“If you release all of it, it would be strong enough to sweep through downtown Seoul?”
“That seems likely. Only power of that level would make it possible to face Jon Davis, who is called Sky.”
In America, Jon Davis commanded tremendous renown. The title of Sky had spread among Americans because of him. Watching him cooperate with the federal government and rapidly bring order among Awakeners, one could well believe it. The Sky among Awakeners.
“It is frustrating that we cannot know the exact numbers.”
“I saw that announcements have come out of America saying that by utilizing the gems obtained from monsters, it should be possible to create machines that measure Awakeners’ numerical values.”
“That is true. The energy carried by those gems is said to react in a manner similar to an Awakener’s own energy.”
If measuring devices that utilized that energy were developed, it would become possible to quantify the differences among Awakeners.
“In any case, the appearance of those monsters is a tremendous matter… but those gems are true treasures of extraordinary value.”
“That is why I see this as an opportunity.”
“Speak your thoughts.”
“I intend to gather Awakeners just as Jon Davis did, form a force, and establish a measure of order in this country.”
“Then you mean…”
“I intend to found a guild.”
A guild. The eldest son, Im Seong-woo, was now declaring his ambition to found a guild right before his father’s eyes.
“As you know, Father, this is an age in which Awakeners can exert enormous influence upon the world. We have moved beyond the age of capital into the age of Awakeners.”
“Mm…”
“Jon Davis was an ordinary citizen living in LA. Yet after becoming an Awakener, he rose to become a figure of immense influence in America. He was able to do so because he possessed power of that magnitude. I do not know how many more beings like him will appear, but for now he is a landmark figure who has earned the title of Sky.”
“You have decided on your direction.”
“If our Cheonseong Group is to become the best, we must follow the changes of the times. In that sense, I wish to create the Cheonseong Guild, establish a solid system, and become a leader who guides this era.”
Cheonseong Guild. As an affiliate of the Cheonseong Group, any guild he founded would naturally be the Cheonseong Guild. Right now the eldest son, Im Seong-woo, was declaring before his father his ambition to create the Cheonseong Guild and lead the Awakeners of this nation.