Chasing the Echoes of a Dream (3)
As a sort of world boss turf war broke out, heated debates naturally swept through every corner of society.
Once it made the news, panelists throwing in their two cents became the baseline.
“Summon it right now and kill it immediately! We don’t even know what level of boss will appear! Haven’t you seen the damage our country suffered just from the goblins showing up? Damage greater than that! Are you saying we should endure it for the sake of the Awakened? Who’s going to take responsibility for this!?”
This panel spoke for the non-Awakened.
The majority of the current population consisted of non-Awakened, and every last one of them was trembling with fear.
Public opinion boiled over with the demand to kill it while they still could.
There was no clear answer, but the sense of crisis had skyrocketed to the point that normal judgment had become impossible.
Even in a situation like this, there were people who opened their mouths for no other reason than to ride the wave of public sentiment.
They did so even though they knew that killing the world boss now would make Chapter 3 impossible to guarantee.
This panel was exactly that type.
“How are citizens supposed to sleep at night when they’re this anxious!? On top of that, aren’t these things mainly targeting the high-grade districts that serve as the commercial heart of our country? Just picture a world boss appearing in Gangnam during rush hour! Chapter 3? The country will be finished before we even get there!”
Focus only on the future and the present dies.
That was the logic.
It was a valid argument.
In truth, this issue had no correct answer.
Only outcomes existed.
So the opposing side naturally had plenty to say.
“Yes, I understand the anxiety. However, this is effectively a state of war. Overcoming this crisis without the slightest sacrifice? That’s the same as saying you’ll win a war without taking a single shell—”
The non-Awakened side raised their voices.
“No! So you’re saying you’ll win the war by using citizens as shields!? Who do you think you are!? With what right do you hold the people’s lives as collateral!?”
“Don’t interrupt me. Even the mighty Britain in World War II was reduced to rubble by German shells. Yet even while enduring that, the Allies eventually developed nuclear weapons and ended the war. The existence of the Awakened is our nuclear deterrent. Are you telling us to abandon nuclear development out of immediate fear?”
“If we grind the blood and flesh of the people to create nuclear weapons, how is that any different from North Korea!?”
“Without nukes, North Korea would have collapsed long ago.”
“Can you take responsibility for those words!? What citizen would trust and follow a country like that!?”
“Responsibility? What kind of childish nonsense is that? Is this a fairy tale? Who takes responsibility in war? There are only victors and losers. We must delay the summoning and secure as many Awakened as possible.”
“Ha. You speak exactly like a government spokesperson.”
“What? When did I become a spokesperson? Don’t you realize people on your own side are making the same argument!?”
“What the—? Who do you think you’re talking down to!? Hey! If you’re going to grind people up to protect the Awakened, then you die first! You do it!”
“Did you buy an apartment in Gangnam? Huh? You’ve got one in Banpo and another in Apgujeong, right? That’s why you want to kill the world boss, isn’t it? No chance in hell, dumbass!”
“W-what!?”
“Everyone! This is the true face of the people who always pretend to care about the working class! The enemies are only targeting high-grade districts anyway! The rest of you ordinary citizens can relax!”
The debate grew endlessly overheated.
It was inevitable; the situation itself was all-or-nothing.
Even the normally dignified news panelists had grown this heated.
The communities were on another level entirely.
In particular, EachSalBeop—the forum centered on Awakened discourse—saw record traffic. The servers crashed several times.
The top posts were all flooded with criticism of Sagosul.
1st) Sa GOAT Sul
2nd) Anyone who supports Sagosul must be executed
3rd) Why Sagosul looks like a loser when he takes off his mask
The reason was simple. Kang Hae-il was trying to delay the summoning, while Sagosul was pushing to force it through.
Criticism of Sagosul’s ruthlessness and inhumanity poured in as well.
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He’s just insane.
They criticized Sagosul for lacking humanity, but the real reason they were attacking him was something else.
The reason was simple.
He was forcing the world boss summoning.
To the Awakened, that looked like kicking the ladder out from under them, and it made them furious.
The top post made it perfectly clear.
Even that thick-headed justice freak Kang Hae-il wouldn’t do this?? lol
My head’s still ringing from the betrayal
In the end, because Sagosul was trying to kill the world boss, everything he did looked twisted.
They even began claiming that Sagosul had killed Kim Ri-el.
* * *
A massive hand, veins bulging, crushed what it had seized.
CRACK!
Everything inside turned into a bloody pulp and fell onto the altar of the demonic portal.
“N-nooooooo!!”
Kang Hae-il forgot the pain of the whip and roared.
Someone who had been so sensitive about people dying had just watched his own comrade die in front of him. It was only natural his eyes would roll with rage.
BOOM!
Flames erupted across Kang Hae-il’s entire body as he rose once more.
“You son of a bitch! Killing a child! Are you even human!?”
Before his comrade’s death, the compromise he had reached with his beliefs burned away again.
His hostility toward Sagosul flared back to life.
Even though a person had just died, the masked man was striking a pose.
“It is I! Sagosul!”
Even Kang Hae-il’s Constellations had switched to pure entertainment mode.
They had been beaten down so many times they had achieved transcendence.
But Sagosul had not struck that pose because he truly lacked humanity, as they believed.
Kang Hae-il glared at him, then froze.
‘Huh?’
Yu Jihun’s party noticed it too.
“The kid’s right there?”
“What?”
Kim Ri-el was still alive.
He was lying on the ground beside Sagosul, bound by the whip.
The sequence had happened so fast that no one had noticed.
Even most of the Constellations were only realizing it now.
Both the Constellations and Kang Hae-il were stunned.
‘This is… exactly…’
The image of a hero rescuing a child from disaster.
It was the very picture of the hero Kang Hae-il admired.
Yet that man was definitely not supposed to be a hero.
He absolutely could not be acknowledged as one…
‘Why?’
Why would he do something like that?
Perhaps the answer to that question was not for Kang Hae-il to provide.
Because the scene had been broadcast live across every news channel.
The caster grew excited.
“Wait! Sagosul just saved Awakened Kim Ri-el! When did he do that!?”
“Even though the child tried to push him away, he still chose to save his life.”
Viewer chats exploded.
This channel was firmly in praise mode for Sagosul.
Of course they would be; he had saved a person.
But the story was completely different on personal channels with high Awakened viewership.
All sorts of curses flew across the screen.
In other words, whether Kim Ri-el lived or died had nothing to do with current public opinion.
They simply needed an excuse.
The real issue was what would happen to the world boss.
That was all.
And then—
BEEEEEEEEEEEP!!!
Along with the red warning text, sirens blared loudly.
WORLD BOSS IMMINENT
.
.
.
THUD—
A giant hand soaked in blood pressed down on the rooftop.
A palm print like a red handprint was stamped onto the surface.
‘It’s coming.’
RUMBLE…!
Veins bulged on the palm as it pulled its upper body upward.
The upper body rose without end.
It was the size of three or four stories.
Too massive to take in at a glance.
“Grrrr…”
It possessed a completely different aura from every monster that had come before.
The towering horns clearly revealed its identity.
It was a demon.
The wild demon, Grozya.
“Krrrrrrr… Aaaaaaaaah!!”
Grozya roared toward the sky.
An enormous wave of magi swept over the surroundings.
‘Grozya…’
This was also a demon Junil knew.
Though it was not from his first round.
‘I saw him in the seventh round.’
A relatively recent connection.
* * *
“This…”
Yu Jihun wore a troubled expression.
It was not that he was overwhelmed by the level 40.
The summoning itself was the problem for him.
The dilemma that would follow was already clear in his mind.
‘So cooperation ends here.’
Kang Hae-il had only come because he agreed to delay the summoning.
From the beginning, he had belonged to the faction that insisted the world boss must be killed the moment it was summoned.
Now that the boss had finally appeared, he would try to kill it.
As expected, he spoke.
“Yu Jihun. You heard what I said earlier, so you should understand.”
“……”
Since it appeared, they would kill it.
It was the simple thinking typical of Kang Hae-il.
“Yeah, I know you said you’d kill it if it appeared. But can you actually kill that thing?”
“Of course. Its level came out lower than expected.”
Yu Jihun’s eyes twitched.
‘Just how high is his level?’
After level 30, levels rose only with great difficulty.
Yet from the way he spoke, it seemed he was in the mid-30s at least.
Of course, Kang Hae-il’s confidence did not come from level alone.
“Sagosul will cooperate too.”
“Ha.”
That was right.
Sagosul had also been in favor of killing the world boss.
Yu Jihun felt there was nothing more he could do here.
“Fine. We can think about the Chapter 3 situation when we get there—”
It was then.
“Nobody move!”
Shing—
Sagosul pressed a blade to Kim Ri-el’s throat.
“……What?”
Both Yu Jihun and Kang Hae-il looked bewildered.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
“If you touch the boss, this brat dies too.”
“……?”
Wasn’t he also trying to kill the world boss?
Everyone was confused.
This scene too was broadcast on every channel.
The viewers were stunned.
Meanwhile, the popularity ranking on EachSalBeop immediately underwent another seismic shift.
1st) Sa GOAT Sul
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