Chapter 118. Mega Content
Chapter 118. Mega Content
They verified it all night long.
How much, you ask?
They kept at it from dawn straight through the morning and into the afternoon.
"...Haaah."
I looked absolutely wrecked.
I looked exactly like a scene out of those h-doujins.
was this what the heroine looked like after being subjected to those things...?
"Hey! Halfway through, you were the one getting all worked up, Hero...!"
When I stared at Laila with cold eyes, she covered her cheeks with her hands and turned her head away, as if embarrassed.
"..."
Laila wasn't lying.
Really, from the midway point on, I was the one burning with passion.
'Should I really seal away that holy power...?'
But I soon shook my head.
The idea that I couldn't handle my own girlfriend and had to resort to tricks...
'No, wait... isn't Laila the one using tricks?'
Suddenly, I felt wronged.
Next time, I'd really have to seal her holy power and teach her a lesson.
"Anyway, what are we going to do about our content?"
"Huh? What do you mean?"
Laila tilted her head as if she truly had no idea.
"Didn't you already have something in mind, Hero?"
"No... it was just the usual WWE we always do with the viewers..."
I had talked big to the viewers, but we hadn't actually prepared any content.
Nothing at all.
"Look at this."
I handed my phone to Laila.
On it, the viewers were buzzing with opinions about what our next content should be.
[ Author: Anonymous ]
[ Title: So where are you going? Are you really going to space? ]
[ Content: Chae-hyun, you bastard, shouldn't the manager be announcing this kind of thing promptly? ]
↳ Is everyone using Chae-hyun as a punching bag? lololol
↳ But it was kind of infuriating that Chae-hyun was so quiet.
↳ Saintess's Foot Wiper: Even I didn’t know, f***
↳ If you don't know, who did?
↳ But Hero had always just done whatever the hell he wanted lolol
As I paced the room in an anxious mood, Laila hugged me tightly from the front.
"Let's think of the content together~"
─ Squish...
"..."
I just buried my face in Laila's holy power pouch and enjoyed the present moment.
And then, at that moment.
My phone, which Laila was holding, began to ring.
"Hero, it's a call from the Blue House."
"Yeah...?"
I immediately took the phone and pressed the call button.
"Yes, what is the matter?"
The voice coming through the phone was composed yet somehow urgent.
- My apologies. An urgent request has come in from overseas regarding a gate. Would you be available to speak?
I briefly exchanged glances with Laila and then nodded.
"I don't have any particular schedule."
- If it wouldn't be too much trouble... may we come to your residence in person and explain? The matter is quite time-sensitive, you see...
I paused for a moment.
Just how urgent was it for them to come to my house?
"Yes, that's fine."
As soon as I finished speaking, the person on the other end answered frantically.
"We will be right there. Thank you!"
- Click.
"...?"
"Hero, didn't something else blow up again?"
"They definitely said an urgent request came from overseas, right?"
"Yes, they did."
"Hmm... what's blown up this time?"
While I was muttering to myself, Laila had already started preparing.
Holding a teapot that spread a subtle fragrance, she turned her head gracefully.
"Since we have guests coming to our home, I should tidy up the place a bit."
---
About 30 minutes after the call ended.
They really did arrive.
Blue House officials, a high-ranking Singaporean diplomat, a representative dispatched from the International Maritime Organization, and even military personnel from major Southeast Asian coastal states.
Even in such a frantic situation, they came carrying this and that in their hands.
'There were a lot of foreigners too...?'
It was practically a gathering of national-level figures crammed into a private home.
Their attire was neat, but the tension and exhaustion on their faces were apparent.
"You've come a long way, thank you for your efforts."
Laila, who greeted them, calmly served tea.
Her tone was composed, her actions were demure, and her demeanor was dignified.
After guiding them to their seats, she spoke.
"So, what business brings you here?"
At those words, the Singaporean representative immediately leaned forward and got to the point.
"An 'underwater gate' has appeared in the Strait of Malacca. To be precise, at the center of the strait..."
'Gates appear underwater too...?'
This was genuinely the first time I'd heard of it.
But in response to my puzzled look, the quick-witted Blue House official immediately chimed in.
"Underwater gates do appear from time to time. However, the reality is we've been leaving them alone as they haven't caused major friction."
"But this time is different. The Strait of Malacca is a critical route through which roughly 30 to 40 percent of the world's maritime cargo passes. Oil, grain, medicine, raw materials... the entire global supply chain depends on this strait."
"...Is that so?"
As I tilted my head slightly, the IMO representative sighed and continued.
"If we abandon the strait and detour, logistics costs will rise more than fourfold, and supply times will be delayed by up to 20 days. This isn't a simple inconvenience. A crisis in medicine, food, and energy could become a reality all around the world..."
The Singaporean representative showed me the tablet in his hand.
On it were hundreds of ships unable to proceed, anchored in the strait.
And then footage of a ship being destroyed by 'something' appeared.
"Of course, we were extremely fortunate that no one has died."
"Then, by any chance... is there a precedent for clearing an underwater gate?"
At my question, the air in the room chilled slightly.
The working-level staff glanced at each other for a moment.
And then, the Deputy Minister of Singapore's Maritime and Port Authority cautiously spoke up.
"No. It has never happened, not even once..."
"Excuse me?"
"As I mentioned earlier, gates have been discovered in the ocean several times, but clearing them was impossible due to practical issues."
"..."
There were probably many reasons.
The biggest issue among them was the fact that they had to fight at sea, not on land.
And on top of that, they faced the huge handicap of having to go deep into the ocean itself.
"How many times have underwater gates occurred so far?"
"There are no exact statistics. Considering unreported cases, at least dozens of times. Even among the reported ones, the locations were on the deep seabed, outside the radius of human activity, or beneath enclosed lakes and glaciers... because access itself was impossible, we are only conducting periodic surveillance."
"Hmm..."
I slowly leaned back, resting against the back of the chair.
This wasn't an issue to be taken lightly.
"...So there are no records, no precedents, no reference materials, and I have to create everything myself?"
At my question that hit the nail on the head, all of them froze.
And yet, even while bowing their heads, they requested.
"We are truly sorry for this difficult request... somehow, Unknown..."
"That sounds fun."
"...Pardon?"
The officials had been expecting a scolding.
And so, at my answer that missed their expectations, they all wore dumbfounded expressions.
"If we succeed, I'll be the first one to achieve it."
"..."
The meaning of 'first.'
Strictly speaking, I wasn't the first for gates classified as unclearable either.
Because the very first had been the 'Grand Canyon' incident.
"...We will do our utmost to assist you."
At my positive answer, a mix of vague relief and deep anxiety clashed within them.
"We will mobilize all technical and strategic alternatives to clear the underwater gate."
They said that and left.
A national-level budget, private technology, submarine utilization, special equipment.
And even underwater artifacts for exclusive hunter use...
They boasted that they would review every possible measure they could implement immediately and then departed.
But.
Not even a week after they left, the worries slowly began to become reality.
---
Reports emerged that several cargo ships passing near the Strait of Malacca had gone missing.
And multinational shipping companies announced 'temporary detour measures' for routes passing through the Strait of Malacca.
But the detour routes were longer in distance and took more time.
Transportation costs increased by over 30%, and containers that couldn't depart began to pile up at logistics warehouses and ports.
"It's definitely too much to hide this completely."
Also, international food corporations began urgently securing alternative supply lines for some raw materials they had been sourcing from Southeast Asia.
[ Author: Anonymous ]
[ Title: What's up? Did something like an apocalypse break out somewhere? ]
[ Content: (Global container freight index graph) Why the hell did it go up 11% in less than a week??? ]
↳ That's just crazy lololol
↳ Did a kraken or something appear under the sea?
↳ Did World War 3 break out?
Ordinary citizens didn't know the exact details of this situation yet.
Why the price of coffee beans was rising,
Why deliveries were being delayed by a week,
Why fuel prices were stealthily creeping up,
I was watching those global reactions.
They still hadn't managed to come up with a proper solution.
"Sigh... this is really dumbfounding."
At my sigh-filled mutter, Laila tilted her head.
"...?"
"I wanted content, but... I didn't really want it to this extent..."
They say the whole universe helps if you earnestly wish for it...
The Earth had just handed me some mega content.