Sub-Stream (1)
At this moment, Sagosul in the World Boss raid resembled an orchestra conductor.
With a single black whip, he played every major character like an instrument while bending the situation itself to his will.
The biggest reason this was possible was thanks to Isilen’s cooperation.
With no risk of civilian casualties, he could act freely.
“D-damn it!”
Bang!
Ram slammed her desk.
“Did we summon that pointy-eared brat just to pull stunts like this!?”
Ram was furious to the point of explosion.
Yet there was nothing she could do.
Almost every Constellation was focused here right now. This was a major event where no intervention was possible.
Besides, elves inherently possessed resistance to Story Fairy power, making them even more troublesome.
“Aaaaaagh!”
Ram screamed, unable to contain her rage.
“W-what’s wrong, Ram-nim…… Nothing’s happened yet!”
Sam tried to calm her.
The World Boss had appeared, and once Kang Hae-il and his friends defeated it, Sagosul would be finished. So why was she acting like this?
“People need to die in droves for that guy to get torn apart by public opinion! There are no people here right now!”
Her “Sagosul Public Opinion Destruction Project” had completely failed.
Ram’s plan had many objectives.
First was Sagosul’s awakening disqualification, and second was destroying his public image.
Since Sagosul could never defeat the World Boss, he would interfere with its defeat.
Meanwhile, the World Boss would massacre civilians en masse, after which no one would call him a hero and Kang Hae-il would become the hero instead.
That had been her plan.
But the World Boss had been summoned to a place with zero civilians.
“It’s over! Damn it! It’s ruined!”
“Ah, we still have our more important plan intact!”
Sam soothed her.
She was right. That had only been a side effect.
“We’ve finally obtained the chance to disqualify Sagosul!”
The World Boss had been summoned in a weakened state.
Because Isilen had evacuated all the civilians, it had been summoned even weaker.
A mere level 40 Grozya.
Shouldn’t a World Boss be at least level 50?
After all, countless Awakeners were supposed to join forces to defeat it.
“This…… This is actually an opportunity, Ram-nim! A boss that even Kang Hae-il and his friends can defeat has appeared!”
“……”
Ram panted for a moment before nodding.
“Haa. Yeah. I know that too. But can Kang Hae-il actually defeat it?”
“Huh? W-what do you mean! Kang Hae-il is already level 40! He power-leveled like crazy! He might even be able to do it alone!”
“No. Grozya isn’t the problem.”
Ram pointed at Sagosul on the screen.
He was holding Kim Ri-el hostage.
“Ah……”
“I’m asking whether Kang Hae-il can bring himself to kill it.”
Sam nodded.
“Hae-il will do it. And Julian really won’t be able to stab Kim Ri-el either.”
“What? How do you know that?”
“……Still, Julian was a hero too, wasn’t he?”
“……”
She was right.
Julian had spent over twenty years as a hero in name.
Even if he took hostages and made threats, he wouldn’t actually kill a child like that.
“Kang Hae-il is a hero too. A hero no less than any of Julian’s series…… So as long as he doesn’t waver! He’ll definitely succeed!
In the end, Kang Hae-il’s heart was what mattered.
* * *
The rooftop of the ten-story academy building.
A monster roughly half the size of the building stood tall.
The sight was so unrealistic that viewers thought it had to be edited.
Some still refused to accept reality.
Soon everyone realized this wasn’t a hologram or augmented reality.
“Krrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!”
The moment Grozya’s roar shot forward—
Kwa-kwang!
The outer wall of the building across from them collapsed.
Chunks of concrete fell away, exposing rebar, and when they hit the ground the sidewalk blocks flipped over with a thunderous crash.
Kuuuung!
Thick dust billowed in every direction.
The scene looked like a battlefield.
Of course, all the humans had disappeared so there were no casualties, but it still felt unreal, like a movie set collapsing.
“Increase altitude. Repeating. Increase altitude.”
“Roger!”
Tududududu……!
The helicopters began flying much higher than before.
The casters’ voices grew urgent.
“Ah…… A monster has appeared. It’s a completely different type from anything we’ve seen before! This is…… It could even be called a demonic form……!”
Sweat ran down their backs at the thought that if Grozya had roared at the helicopters, they would already be dead.
At this point, they could only hope the Awakeners would do something.
“But right now the Awakeners aren’t taking any action! Sagosul suddenly took Awakener Kim Ri-el hostage and is threatening everyone! What the hell is going on!? Shouldn’t they capture it right away!?”
Even the caster who had previously insisted that summoning the World Boss should be delayed to give Awakeners time to level up was now saying this.
Facing the World Boss in person made them feel it had to be defeated.
Thanks to that, the news chat was flooded with attacks from Awakeners.
Of course, civilians who disagreed also joined in, turning it into a battlefield.
* * *
“Kaaaaah!”
Grozya began roaring at anything and everything, as if trying to adapt to this world.
“Kaaaaah!”
Kwa-kwa-kwang!
Buildings along the main road collapsed one after another.
‘This has to stop.’
Deciding he could no longer allow this, Kang Hae-il’s feet twitched.
“Hey? I told you not to move. You think I can’t stab him?”
A drop of blood formed on Kim Ri-el’s pale nape and fell.
Kang Hae-il growled.
“What are you trying to do?”
“Trying to let everyone live. What are we supposed to do about the Awakeners who can’t reach level 30?”
Junil spoke casually.
“You’re the one who forced the summoning, aren’t you? And now you’re saying not to kill it!?”
“Yeah.”
The ridiculously simple answer was clearly meant to provoke.
“That’s my strategy. You’re too stupid to understand.”
Kang Hae-il was used to dealing with Sagosul.
The others were not.
Lee Suyeon flared up from behind.
“Hey! Masked pervert! Is summoning it here and letting it destroy buildings also part of your strategy!? What are you going to do when it starts attacking us!?”
It was a valid point.
This standoff couldn’t last forever.
Right now Grozya was just destroying random things nearby while adapting, but soon it would turn its attention to the Awakeners.
Yet Junil had a perfect answer to that problem.
“I’ll subdue it.”
“……What?”
“Can’t hear me? This body will……!”
Since Sagosul was holding a hostage, he couldn’t strike a pose, so Gosul Girl struck one instead.
Thud!
“I shall subdue it!”
Everyone stared in disbelief.
After all, killing an opponent and subduing it were completely different matters.
“You’re going to subdue that monster? Are you planning to tie it up somewhere?”
“Of course.”
Just then, Kim Ri-el, held in Sagosul’s arms, opened his eyes.
And immediately shouted.
“Just attack! I can get out on my own!”
When his teammates didn’t react, Kim Ri-el struggled and shouted louder.
“Attack already! I’ll figure out how to escape myself!”
But his teammates didn’t move an inch.
“Kid. That won’t work.”
Instead, Junil tightened his grip on Kim Ri-el’s neck and whispered.
“Even without you as a hostage, it’s hard for them to decide.”
In truth, the hostage had never been that important to begin with.
Because from the start, they couldn’t even make a value judgment about whether to kill the World Boss or not.
‘You guys still don’t have a scale.’
This was the difference between a pro and amateurs.
The difference between the other cars on Line 4 and the car Junil had been in.
The difference in how precise a scale you had in your head.
A hero had to be able to place anything on that scale.
They were beings who always had to weigh hundreds of lives, even the lives of those they cherished.
Junil had already done this hundreds of times.
Meanwhile, these people?
“Why is everyone…… just standing there?”
No matter how much Kim Ri-el urged them, they couldn’t decide.
Even if they had a scale, they lacked the courage to place anything on it.
Yu Jihun shrugged.
“Because, Kim Ri-el. If we kill that thing, what happens in the next chapter?”
“So you’re saying we should just let that bastard do whatever he wants!?”
As expected, the kid was still a kid.
He seemed to need an outlet for his anger right now.
But Yu Jihun remained calm.
“Then are you saying you want to ruin everything just because you don’t like that bastard doing whatever he wants?”
“!”
“We originally gathered with the goal of delaying the summoning. That’s as far as the support we received went. The mission is a failure. After the summoning, it’s up to each person’s own will.”
“Each person’s…… own will……”
Kim Ri-el’s eyes wavered.
“Th-then…… Kang Hae-il…… What about you, Kang Hae-il!?”
His anxious gaze turned to Kang Hae-il.
The one person who never wavered.
Even he had to attack.
“Kang Hae-il! From the very beginning you said the World Boss had to be eliminated as quickly as possible!”
Yet even Kang Hae-il couldn’t move easily.
Partly because Sagosul’s blade was pressed against Kim Ri-el’s neck as if it would slice it at any moment.
‘What…… is the right thing?’
Because Kang Hae-il himself was in a state of confusion.
‘Is it really right to kill the World Boss even if Kim Ri-el dies?
Is this worth that much?
There haven’t been any casualties yet.’
Just then—
Kuooo……!
A massive shadow fell over them.
Grozya had bent at the waist and finally looked down.
“It’s…… coming……”
“Damn it.”
All the Awakeners tensed.
Grozya tilted his head.
“Hmm?”
A brief silence.
“So, are you all done talking?”
He had been listening to their entire conversation from the start.
When no one answered, Grozya straightened his back and stretched.
“Hmmmm……! My body’s finally loosening up a bit.”
Crack crack crack!
A chilling sound of bones echoed.
“Then I suppose it’s time for me to fight you all. From what I’ve heard, my enemy is……”
Grozya looked at someone and lowered his head.
Then pointed with his finger.
The place his massive finger pointed was—Kang Hae-il.
“You alone?”
“……”
Though singled out, Kang Hae-il couldn’t answer.
‘What should I do?’
He continued to waver.
Demon race members were extremely skilled at reading human emotions.
Grin—
“You too…… are hesitating?”
Grozya’s mouth split wide in a smile.
The demon race preferred to toy with humans using their three-inch tongues rather than brute force.
Kang Hae-il was no exception.
“Are you my enemy? Answer me. I will only fight those who oppose me.”
Kang Hae-il was bewildered.
‘It’s not just going to attack anyone?’
This was completely different from the World Boss he had imagined.
It would only kill those who opposed it.
What did that mean?
With this, he couldn’t find any justification to act.
Killing Grozya here would have no meaning other than rushing into the next chapter.
However—
‘No.’
Kang Hae-il shook his head.
He had to uphold his original conviction.
Protect the powerless.
Guard the innocent.
The World Boss was a potential threat.
“Yeah. I am your—”
He was about to say he was its enemy.
But then—
“Get back!!!”
Suddenly, shouts erupted from below.
‘Huh?’
They were the voices of Awakeners.
“Awakeners who kick away the ladder! Get back!”
“Get back!!!”
A large group of Awakeners had appeared at the base of the building and begun protesting.
A smile spread across Sagosul’s lips behind his mask.
‘They’re here. Reinforcements.’