Chapter 18
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Translator: Wjin
Chapter: 018
Chapter Title: You Can't Block a Tsunami with Your Hands (4)
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How intoxicating is the temptation of power?
To describe its intensity, nothing fits quite like saying it erases the very concept of common sense from the human mind and fills the void with raw greed.
Thus, when power is threatened, the actions of a fallen wielder often transcend the bounds of sanity.
Thousands of years of history bear vivid witness to this human flaw.
However—
Humans are creatures all too easily swayed by inertia.
Those living in peaceful times unwittingly convince themselves:
Surely not.
They think that people in the modern world, with any sense at all, wouldn't dare start something like that.
That no one would scheme to cross lines so blatantly obvious.
Even though history is a litany of such complacency betrayed by madness, the era rarely heeds the warning.
That's why, despite the daily exposés blasting across the news, the public erupts in outrage before anxiety.
Because their punitive zeal overlooks the desperation of the cornered.
This terror struck the citizens all the harder for it.
Had events unfolded as in the original timeline, it would have crippled the nation.
Right after it happened, people across the provinces despaired under a shadow of death they never saw coming.
That's precisely why the salvation that descended felt all the more dramatic.
"Korea’s hunters showed their true mettle! Zero casualties reported so far—this proves our on-site response systems are rock solid..."
"In Seoul’s Yeouido right now, the remaining major guilds are tightening their encirclement! The ringleader of this terror, Patriot Party Leader Han Dae-hyeong, remains unaccounted for..."
It would be a lie to say there wasn't directorial intent in framing the scene this way.
But even accounting for that, with guild hunters bursting onto the scene amid crisis and setting every media outlet ablaze, the public had already cleaved heroes from villains.
The objects of adoration were set in stone.
I was at the Daejeon shock site and Jeong-woo was insanely cool. The second that animation domain went up, I didn't even feel scared lololol
Forget the dolls—that domain is straight GOAT.
No cap, someone uploaded a YouTube breakdown of the domain and it even has aggro control.
OMG I saw that too lmao. The dino dolls were staring only at Jeong-woo even with all those people around.
Kids especially love Jeong-woo lmao. My friend's a kindergarten teacher and that's all she talks about lolol
Merch drops and I'm bankrupt—my ultimate rival lmao
Thought my hometown was done for, spammed calls to Mom like crazy. But she just rambled about seeing Heavenly Fire Guild's Heo Kwon-seung in person for 30 straight minutes...
lmaoooooooo
Uuuh... his eyes so coooool Jeonwoo...
And Baek Geun-ho's a madman, right? Snatched a reporter's mic and started whacking the magic beast with it—standing ovation from me lmaoooo
Thank God... I was worried the hunter world was done for after that exposé...
Facts. We've actually been the weird ones holding out this long... Half the world's countries collapsed when superhumans rose up. Maintaining the status quo was a miracle.
Same, when the shock hit I flashed back to those countries regressing to caste systems and freaked out that we'd go the same way;;
The internet was abuzz.
Not with the old rage, but dyed in hues of hope and admiration.
The world craves heroes.
In this era, the pinnacle figures proving they stood with us above all? Such a reaction was inevitable.
And so, eyes turned to the era's apex.
Jeong-woo's kick was insane. Wasn't it his Anomalous Disaster Response Agency gig that started this snowball?
Korea's strongest. End of story.