The Ultimate Solar Panel
I swallowed dryly as I looked around. An investigation? How exactly were they planning to investigate? There were no CCTVs in sight, and the only thing capable of using electricity was this computer. So naturally, the method of investigation was...
Reveal your identity first.
Name and affiliation.
Just so you know, lying could get you killed.
I crossed my arms and closed my eyes. Answering honestly was difficult because even I didn't fully understand the situation I was in. There had been the sensation of a body being generated, but it might have simply been how possession felt. The fact that fifty years had passed since my death was also just a judgment based on the date I'd seen. For all I knew, the calendar system had changed to count from the founding of Silla, suddenly adding fifty years. In this situation, honestly revealing that I was a soldier who died fifty years ago? It was too risky. Every powerful person in the world lusted after immortality and resurrection. I'd be volunteering myself as the perfect test subject, and as a clueless fool who didn't understand the current world at that.
But lying went against my pure and upright nature. To be honest, the real problem was that making up lies sounded like too much hassle.
"Should I just ignore it?"
After all, this whole area was an uninhabited zone. On top of that, with my newly gained senses I could detect the presence of living beings all the way to the mountain ranges surrounding the city. If someone came to capture me, I'd be able to evacuate in advance. And if the person coming after me was so fast that I couldn't escape... well, that would just be unfortunate. Nothing I could do about it.
Right now, gathering information came first.
I minimized the messenger and opened multiple browser windows. News sites. Gate-specialized forums. High-traffic community websites. All of them. The messenger's notification sounds kept ringing the entire time, but I ignored every single one. I swept up information with maximum concentration.
From the ordinary daily lives of regular people to the special treatment enjoyed by nation-level awakeners. I wandered the internet world without noticing the passage of time, and before I knew it, dawn had broken.
It was a strange feeling. I'd been sitting for at least eight hours, yet instead of being tired I felt completely refreshed. The sun gradually rose and pushed its rays through the window. When the sunlight touched my skin, it felt like my energy was being charged.
"Hoo..."
I let out an admiring sound and pulled my eyes away from the monitor. After briefly looking around the room now dyed yellow, I remembered the notification sounds that had been ringing nonstop throughout the early morning hours. Only then did I open the messenger.
I only checked the four most recent messages out of hundreds and stood up. I walked to the window, stretched while taking the dawn light head-on, and let out a groan without thinking.
"Nngh— Kya!"
...What was that small animal cry? It was going to take a while to get used to this.
Anyway, I felt extremely refreshed. I'd vaguely sensed it before, but the new body I'd obtained was a non-organic life form that couldn't be categorized as human. To confirm it for sure, I opened my status window.
On the internet, people shared all kinds of tips for newbies who had just awakened and couldn't open their status windows yet—things like concentrating hard or saying "status window" out loud. My situation was different. It felt like organizing information I already knew on an instinctive level. Like verbally explaining something when showing a photo would have been enough. I generated the status window with that kind of feeling.
It was a meaningful act in its own way. At the very least, the only way to know how others would refer to me was through the status window.
I had expected the race. Strangely enough, I hadn't seen any related information about it on the internet, but... more than that, King? It wasn't a very fitting word. At least calling it a "talent" lowered the level of error. In other words, it was simply talent. Whether the person who possessed it would become a true king or nothing more than a criminal driven by a lust for domination depended entirely on how they lived their life.
A good example was the woman nicknamed Axe Princess. Through the association's official media, I'd learned that her talent was "Guardian," yet in reality she was a berserker who rampaged across battlefields wielding a massive axe. Therefore, my talent being expressed as "King" probably didn't indicate any specific role or recommended occupation.
Honestly, I didn't want it to mean that anyway. The present was simply too happy. I'd spent all night web surfing yet felt refreshed the moment morning arrived instead of tired, and I wasn't even hungry. Was this heaven?
To maintain this kind of life, I absolutely could not rise to any position with responsibilities. My ideal future was to become an enchanter, or perhaps a sustained buffer. If I could sit in a corner room and earn a generous living with the minimum amount of labor, I wouldn't ask for anything more.
And thankfully, I already possessed the ability to turn that dream into reality.
"Hehehehe."
With a sly chuckle, I headed up to the rooftop. To increase the surface area receiving light, I flopped down flat on the floor. Energy surged within me. This truly was the ultimate solar panel.
This alone was enough to make me happy, but the vines that crept over dropped a brilliant water droplet right above my forehead. As if a shaaala sound effect were playing, the droplet scattered sparkling powder as it soaked in. Immediately afterward, an incredibly clear energy purified my already clean body even further.
But I couldn't simply be grateful.
"Hey. If you keep doing this..."
There was no need to finish the question about whether it would die faster. My feelings had already been conveyed, and the vine had given its answer. Even so, I spat the words out loud.
"Yeah."
I clicked my tongue bitterly.
Kwon Hye-in, the seventh S-class awakener in the country. Her office was located in the most bustling part of Gangnam, the area known as the 'frontline of Seoul.' Given that it sat on particularly expensive land even within Gangnam—where all the top awakeners gathered—the previous owner had spared no expense on the interior. It resembled the office inside the Presidential Palace.
In the office decorated with white marble and red mahogany, Hye-in faced two guests. One was a sharp-featured man wearing special forces attire.
"Infiltration is impossible. The Divine Tree has reduced its protection radius to two kilometers."
The person adding an explanation to his words was a woman with long straight hair dressed in a suit.
"The nearby monsters have begun forming groups. Just the ones we've confirmed number five battalion-sized clusters. If the Divine Tree dies, there will be at least two waves."
Waves. The phenomenon where grouped monsters swarmed toward a specific area. Among the disasters that had appeared after the Gates, waves were the one humanity feared most.
Whether it was fortunate or not, that very fear had led humanity to discover countermeasures against waves earlier than anything else.
"Everyone's been evacuated, right?"
Hye-in asked while tapping at the keyboard with one hand. Her red eyes remained fixed on the monitor. The man and woman who received the question briefly wore puzzled expressions. The man answered first.
"Yes. It was already a region destroyed by a Gate from the start, so even scavengers avoided it."
The woman stroked her chin in thought before replying somewhat ambiguously.
"The evacuation guidance ended three years ago. If anyone entered after that, we have no way of knowing."
Hye-in swept back her flowing red bob. Then she muttered,
"Got it. Get out."
Her attitude must have seemed unfamiliar; the pair looked flustered. But Hye-in's current state was far too terrifying for them to dawdle. Sunken eyes. Dark circles. The occasional grinding of her molars. Fatigue and rage were clearly on display. The longer they stayed, the higher the chance sparks would fly. Their decision was swift.
"Yes."
"Understood."
The moment the door slammed shut, Hye-in frowned deeply and rubbed her forehead. The reason for her anger was the internet usage log of a certain someone displayed on her monitor.
She simply couldn't understand it. As she scrolled down, she muttered to herself without realizing.
"What the hell is this guy? He goes all the way there and this is what he does...?"
No matter how she looked at it, it was just ordinary web surfing. Trending street food. Hobbies of successful people. International affairs. Market prices of items from Gates. Reading web novels in between. It was such a stereotypical pattern of an internet wanderer that no sense of purpose could be found no matter how hard she looked.
The problem was that the location where these activities were taking place was a first-class danger zone designated by the state.
Yangmok City. The ruined city destroyed by a Gate. The mountain ranges surrounding it had been nesting grounds for monsters for a long time now. At this point it was on the verge of being designated as 'Lost Territory.' Entering the city itself was already a major challenge. Hye-in knew this better than anyone.
Two years ago, under her superior's orders, she had entered Yangmok City to install a computer near the Divine Tree. The level of danger she faced back then was not something the current her—now promoted to S-class—could take lightly. Moreover, there had been nothing to gain. The materials from the aged Divine Tree were too poor in quality to even use as ingredients for magic scrolls. Once the Divine Tree died, the barrier would vanish and waves would begin, making wood collection impossible anyway.
A venture with nothing but risk and no return. On top of that, internet usage logs that could only be viewed as wasteful. Faced with behavior from the other party that she couldn't comprehend at all, Hye-in fell into despair.
Even so, she didn't give up. She continued pondering and reasoning. And finally, she hit upon it.
"I see it. Your thoughts."
Hye-in, who had at some point spread open and been reading a psychology book, slammed it shut with a smack and stood from her seat. Then she sent a message to confirm the answer.