Chapter 051
< Now Okinawa is Also Mine >
51
“······Ugh, my head.”
Along with the familiar smell of disinfectant, Lightning Emperor Kyle raised his sluggish body.
Pure white ceiling.
It was the temporary medical camp in Kagoshima.
“Are you awake, Hunter?”
“This much is······ ugh!”
He groaned at the muscle pain surging through his body as he tried to raise his upper body.
Wait.
“······Huh?”
Kyle showed a bewildered expression at his too-perfect body.
Just then, an agent belonging to the US Department of Defense who was waiting nearby ran over hurriedly, gave a salute, and spoke.
“Are you awake, Kyle?”
“Ah. Agent Alex? By the way, how are you here?”
“Sent by the Department of Defense. I was waiting near Okinawa just in case.”
“By any chance, was it the US that saved me······?”
“Hahaha. No. Of course not. No matter the US, there's no way that's possible. It’ll probably be faster for you to watch this video.”
Beep-
Inside the pad handed over, an unbelievable sight was unfolding.
After they collapsed, a giant Gorani fell from the sky.
And on top of it, an unidentified man wearing a mask was standing.
As the man raised his hand, a giant meteor fell from the sky and burned the residues of the disaster.
And then the appearance of him lightly harvesting the red flower blooming at the center of the disaster and leisurely vanishing.
“······Heh.”
Kyle let out a hollow laugh.
He was usually someone without much emotional expression, but in this moment, that equanimity's crack was broken and surprise surfaced all over his face.
‘Just who is this man?’
Kyle repeated the short video several times, analyzing every frame as if engraving it into his brain.
The magic calling a meteor from the sky, Meteor.
It was a strategic magic that only two people in the US could also handle.
‘But is it possible to implement Meteor magic in this way?’
The Meteor in the video didn't touch the surrounding allies or targets at all, and only accurately annihilated the two Black Gargoyles.
‘A Meteor capable of identifying targets and performing designated destruction?’
This was a great magic holding a mysterious power that didn't even exist in theory.
Because Meteor was basically a large-scale area-of-effect lethal magic.
“······.”
Kyle burst into a pfft laugh as it was so absurd.
The mysterious effect the magic possessed was one thing, but the video contained the nonsensical power that magic held as it was.
Enough to sweep away all the mana of Okinawa in an instant.
‘Has such a hunter ever existed in the world?’
Kyle stared down at his own hand, which was still vibrating minutely.
Even though the battle was over, his fingertips were trembling.
Rather than fear of the Disaster Flower······.
Fear of death.
“······.”
Kyle could not die.
He had a promise to keep.
Because of the last request of a comrade who lost her life due to his own error in judgment during a dungeon raid 5 years ago.
‘My sister······ please, make sure to protect Lily.’
Her deceased sister, Lily, was suffering from heart disease.
The treatment costs going in every year and the cost needed for a transplant surgery with a slim success probability alone were astronomical sums.
Furthermore, the surgery was only possible if he, an S-Rank, prevented the necrosis of Lily's wound with delicate mana control during the surgery.
Until he kept that promise, he could never die.
Such a self was saved by that man wearing a mask.
Kyle watched the video over and over.
Gorani, mask, and······ an old hand hoe.
‘Gorani Man······.’
He muttered that name quietly.
From deep within his heart, something hot was rising.
The vow that someday, he would surely meet that man and repay this debt of life.
* * *
After returning from Okinawa, the world was in a stir.
Precisely about the unidentified man wearing a mask who single-handedly blocked the great Rift, the media was pouring out speculations daily about the identity of that man.
[The Transcender of Okinawa, is it Muryong of the Tower? Or is it Gorani Man 12?]
Important information was controlled, but various clues spread 암암리에 (secretly), and interest in the unidentified man pierced the sky.
On the other hand, the country house was always just peaceful.
I started the day by checking the changes in the herb garden every morning.
The Ash Seedling (Heart Seedling of the Sun Bird) was still grayish, but a very faint red energy began to form at its tip.
I gently wiped the gaunt branches with a dry cloth. At my fingertips, a minute pulse of life was felt.
“How are you today?”
As I spoke, Hasuo was diligently arranging the soil around the sprout next to it.
The [Wish-imbued Fleeceflower Seed] had just sprouted a tender sprout about the size of a fingernail.
“Pwa-aeng.”
Hasuo, who was very shy, felt shy and slightly hid its body behind my back.
At that commendable appearance, a smile naturally formed.
This landscape where there's reward in seeing things that grow minutely but surely day by day.
“Oh?”
And a new change had been created in a corner of the yard.
“······A door?”
At the edge of the garden, right next to where I planted the Disaster Flower, space was faintly distorting and a small door had been created.
[Item: Disaster Door]
[Description: A dimensional door the Disaster Flower created to connect its hometown with the [Absolute's Herb Garden]. Only the Master can use it.]
“Ah, that flower made it.”
To think it connects the Disaster Flower's hometown with this garden.
Driven by curiosity, I opened the door and went inside.
Creak-
What unfolded before my eyes was the desolate landscape of Okinawa Yanbaru National Park, dying in ash color.
Due to the powerful death wave left by the Disaster Flower, this place had now become a perfectly isolated zone where no living organism, even monsters, could approach.
Crunch, crunch.
Desolate land.
Every time I stepped on the ash-powdered soil, an unpleasant sound echoed.
I closed my eyes and scanned the energy remaining in this land with Internal Energy.
The power of destruction left by the Disaster Flower and the remnants of the pure power of the Meteor I had shot were mixed, becoming a land full of very unique and mysterious energy.
“Hmm.”
In my eyes, resources hidden here and there in the ground were visible.
[Mana-imbued Charcoal], [Ore imbued with the energy of chaos], [Herbs seeped with the remnants of stars]······.
“I can take these home.”
I began to pack usable resources with a joyful heart.
A land of disaster that everyone fears.
But to me, it was a very excellent resource gathering site.
“Exactly this.”
I cut down several trees that had turned dark red after receiving the Disaster Flower's energy.
And that evening.
In the back yard, I lit a fire with the logs brought from Okinawa.
Pop, pop-pop!
As the logs burned, a mysterious blue-tinted faint flame rose.
And a deep smoke scent, pungent yet deep, wafted from that smoke.
Over that fire, I placed a grill with thick pork belly on top.
Swoosh-sh-sh-!
Due to the powerful heat, the surface of the meat cooked crisply in an instant, trapping the juices.
The deep smoke scent seeped into the inside of the meat instantly.
I placed a piece of well-cooked meat on lettuce freshly picked from the garden and ate a mouthful along with green onion salad made with [Green Onion Embodying Fairy Honey].
“······Crazy.”
A taste that couldn't be compared with any BBQ I had eaten until now.
“Kking, kking······.”
-HMYOOOOOOOOO-T!
Before I knew it, complaints were loud next to me.
The Gorani, possessed by the savory smell, was tapping the veranda with its tail and urging, and Muryong was clinging to my arm and whining for a bite as well.
“I’m grilling it, so wait.”
I grilled the mushrooms I gathered along with the wood and gave them to the Gorani.
“······!”
The Gorani showed an ecstatic expression at the taste it was having for the first time in its life.
And I put unseasoned meat pieces into the mouths of Hasuo and Muryong.
-Mu-nyo-o-ng!
“Pwa-aeng!”
The two fellows happily munched on the meat pieces with their small mouths.
“You guys like it too, right?”
A dinner meal eating crops from the miracle garden along with logs brought from the land of disaster.
Would there be another meal more perfectly fulfilling than this.
I enjoyed the night deepening with a satisfied smile.
* * *
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of South Korea, Northeast Asia Division 1 office.
From early morning, the phone on Secretary Park Seo-jun’s desk rang loudly.
“Hmm?”
Judging by the calling number, it was the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
‘Trying to pick another fight······.’
Park Seo-jun held his throbbing head and picked up the receiver.
The Japanese desk, considered the roughest even within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Dokdo issues breaking out daily, historical issues, and recently even semiconductor export regulation issues.
Park Seo-jun’s day started by fighting with Japan and ended by fighting with Japan.
“Yes, this is Secretary Park Seo-jun of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.”
-Ah, Secretary Park! Hello! I am Tanaka, a counselor from the Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs!
What?
Out of puzzlement, I pulled the receiver from my ear then put it back.
‘Tanaka, was this human's tone originally like this?’
The voice heard was 180 degrees different from the usual high-handed attitude.
Back then, he used to ignore me or even treat me like a subordinate.
Now it was a voice like honey had been applied, sweet and kind.
“Yes, Counselor. What business brings you?”
-Nothing else, but as a result of our internal review, we have decided to······ completely lift every trade regulation that recently caused friction between the two nations.
“······Pardon?”
Park Seo-jun doubted his ears.
Those who had been holding out so stubbornly for months, suddenly?
-And there was a word the Prime Minister wanted me to surely deliver to you, Secretary.
“Yes, yes. Please go ahead.”
Right, things couldn't go this easily.
There must surely be some scheme.
There was no way those cunning people would make such a proposal without any conditions.
-Please······ make sure that our Japanese people's sincere gratitude is well delivered to Gorani Man 12-nim.
“······Gorani Man, 12?”
-Yes! It is our firm policy that there should be no more friction with the great nation where Gorani Man 12-nim resides. Well then, we look forward to working with you in the future!
Click.
The call was cut in an instant.
Park Seo-jun stared blankly into empty air while holding the receiver.
‘Gorani Man 12? Does he mean the person who sells vegetables on Dang-geun-tap?’
Japan changed its national policy because of a mere internet seller?
‘Ma-makes no sense!’
Park Seo-jun held his confused head and looked at his desk.
The pile of reports stacked high, empty energy drink cans showing traces of staying up all night, and the dark circles under his eyes reflected in the mirror.
Over the last few months, just how much had he struggled to lift that single trade regulation.
All the diplomatic strategies prepared while staying up all night, and the weapons he prepared to negotiate with Japan while visiting people in the US and even China.
In the end, every one of them was useless.
“······.”
Park Seo-jun showed a hollow expression and leaned against the chair as if collapsing.
The words Tanaka of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs had said just a moment ago kept circling in his head.
His words that Japan did not want to cause friction with Gorani Man 12-nim.
“I-it's probably a good thing, right? I don't know who he is or where he is, but······ thank you so much.”
Park Seo-jun was flustered, but he tried to think positively.
As a diplomat.
And as a citizen of South Korea.
Even though he didn't know the face, he definitely wanted to express his gratitude to the person named Gorani Man 12.
< Now Okinawa is Also Mine > END