The Chairman's Request
The car carrying Dan Gayeon and the Chairman arrived at the walking trail below the mountain. The Chairman leisurely surveyed the surrounding area.
“Originally, I planned to organize this district later. But after analyzing the gathered information, it seemed to have high utility value. Oh, look at this.”
The Chairman dug into the dirt and pulled out a plant with flowers attached. “Isn’t it remarkable?”
Comet blinked. “It is pretty amazing that a plant I only saw in the game is already blooming…?”
“Not that. The flower.”
Comet stared intently at the flower. It had pink petals with a slightly unusual shape. That alone suggested it wasn’t part of the original local flora, but beyond that, she couldn’t tell anything. After all, Comet was a Necromancer.
“Is it valuable?”
“It’s famous for being one of the most useless flowers.”
A small flame flickered in the Chairman’s hand and burned the flower. A bitter floral scent rose.
“In other words, it’s a flowering weed. However, when you consider the vegetation, it’s worth paying attention to. It’s a weed that grows in places where other medicinal herbs could thrive.”
The Chairman gestured roughly toward the mountain with his hand. “Your equipment will come from here.”
“I wondered why you were giving it to me when resources are so tight. So you had a reason to believe in.”
“Hey, don’t say things like that and make the giver feel bad. I’m offering goodwill even though we’re stretched thin.”
The Chairman shook his head and started up the walking trail. Comet followed, and the aides trailed behind them. The Chairman stopped here and there to dig up medicinal herbs. Each time, he explained to Comet what the newly harvested herb was. Comet had no real interest and only pretended to listen.
“Look at this. As expected, someone who learned alchemy should be the one in politics to manage resources properly. Don’t you think?”
The aides, who had only been acting as porters, naturally began to flatter him. The subtle jab at another National Assembly member suggested that one of the surviving politicians had probably picked a fight with the Chairman.
Comet followed the Chairman while admiring the scenery, then felt a sense of déjà vu and thought carefully. Retracing the route they had taken, a familiar path emerged. It was the route Dan Gayeon had used during her operation. If they kept going like this and deviated from the walking trail midway, that would be it.
The Chairman stopped exactly at the point where Dan Gayeon had left the trail, looked at the view for a moment, then passed by without comment. Comet blinked.
They left the walking trail midway and moved onto a hiking path, and the summit came quickly. The Chairman harvested every herb he spotted as if he couldn’t bear to leave any behind, but Awakened individuals walked fast enough to make up for it. Some of the non-Awakened aides, however, grew exhausted and fell behind.
The mountaintop offered a managed view, with part of the city visible from an appropriate vantage point. It was daytime now so they couldn’t see it, but if they came at night, they would see the city’s nightscape created by moonlight. Even if it was a faint one, like the dying embers of civilization.
The Chairman took out his phone and held it up toward the city as if to take a picture. On the screen, the cityscape appeared alongside a flickering “no signal” icon. The shutter sound clicked, and the Chairman stared quietly at the captured photo.
“Isn’t it funny? That phones still don’t work.” His voice was bitter.
Comet turned her gaze toward the city without answering.
“The National Institute of Science and Technology defined the communication blackout as communication jamming and researched it. The results are roughly out. They say they can’t solve it. It’s magic-related technology, so our current capabilities can’t handle it. Ha! Are they telling us to bring in a magic scholar Ranker from England or something?”
The Chairman seemed to simply need someone to listen to him talk.
“I asked the local governments to organize and send their current status, and only a few sent half-hearted reports. Well, with increased autonomy, it makes sense that they’d feel it’s a waste to mobilize personnel for faraway Seoul. Is this the government of the Korean Peninsula? It’s the Seoul Republic.”
A kicked pebble flew down the mountainside.
“Comet. Do you know that the current atmospheric mana density is abnormally thick?”
“Is it?” Comet looked up at the sky for no particular reason. “I don’t feel it at all.”
“You wouldn’t. I checked whether Earth was originally like this, but it isn’t. It’s abnormal. It’s as if we’re near a great magic source. And it might not even be a metaphor.”
“Isn’t it the magic that maintains the status window?”
“The magic scholars calculated it. It’s too excessive.”
The Chairman said no more and put a cigarette in his mouth. He took out a lighter, looked around, realized there was no trash can, and put both away again.
“Since we’re here, want to take a picture?”
“I don’t carry a phone.”
“You don’t play the game?”
“I don’t.”
“Then what on earth do you do with your time?”
The Chairman seemed genuinely curious now, setting aside his darker intentions. It was the look one gave a young person in their prime who was just idling around.
“Do you have a problem with my unemployed lifestyle?”
The Chairman shrugged.
They shared bread from a bag an aide handed over, drank coffee, and descended from the summit. The Chairman seemed to be following the same path they had taken up, but at some point he stepped off the trail into unmarked terrain.
Comet wondered how much herb gathering would satisfy this Alchemist, but the place they finally arrived at showed that wasn’t the purpose. A familiar scene unfolded. Traces of the rampaging bear monster were visible.
The Chairman looked around casually and whispered with his aides. Comet pretended to be occupied with something else, and when the Chairman didn’t speak to her, she examined the monster corpse and its surroundings.
While Comet had gone down to turn people into corpses, Dan Gayeon appeared to have fought a muddy battle here. The trace of her longsword piercing the monster’s eye and through its brain remained. The sword itself was gone—probably recovered by the rescue team.
Comet wrinkled her nose at the smell for a moment before stepping away from the corpse.
“Happy smelling death?”
“What are you talking about? I’m a soul specialist.”
The Chairman laughed, then moved while examining the ground and following the bloodstains. He seemed determined to find the exact spot where Dan Gayeon had collapsed.
Before long, they reached a place with blood-stained tree roots and the bloodstains Dan Gayeon had left. The scene from that moment seemed to flicker before Comet’s eyes. She silently cursed the healer for a moment. What kind of person without any sense of romance would interrupt a heroic death while simply doing their duty?
The Chairman examined the tree roots and let out a dry laugh.
“It broke recently. If it hadn’t broken, even if she collapsed here she would have been fine.”
“Divine punishment, I guess.”
The Chairman glanced at her. “Do you believe in God?”
“Even if there isn’t one, couldn’t we make an evil god or something?”
“I’ll take that as a joke.”
“Of course it’s a joke.”
Comet smiled awkwardly. The Chairman took out a cigarette from his pocket, then put it back. He had tried to smoke out of habit but stopped because they were in the mountains.
“The atmospheric mana density is too thick. One of the predictable outcomes is a rift. If another rift occurs in the multiverse, what do you think will happen?”
“Who knows. High-risk monsters will pop out again and the military will be dispatched.”
“Factories aren’t running well anymore, so we have to conserve advanced weapons. At least we have plenty of bullets, so we can shoot as much as we want for now. That’s fortunate. The military will wage an unsustainable war, and we won’t have many options left.”
Comet twirled a strand of hair by her temple. The wind shook the branches and the leaves rustled.
The Chairman slowly lowered his head.
“I’m asking you. If we run out of means to rely on, please protect the citizens.”
“……You’re saying this while keeping in mind what the source of my spiritual energy is, right?”
“Yes.”
A heavy answer came.
Comet watched the Chairman with his head bowed, then looked around. Bloodstains and blood droplets. How could anyone refuse a bowed head in a place like this? This was why he was a politician.
“Don’t expect an immediate response.”
“Who would expect that from a Necromancer?”
The Chairman lifted his head and laughed heartily. Comet scratched her cheek. Good was good enough.
The next morning, Comet ran into Dan Gayeon at the cafeteria, apparently discharged as the doctor had instructed. Comet filled her tray with side dishes and headed to the seat beside her. When she pulled out the chair and sat down, Dan Gayeon noticed her and flinched in surprise. It was quite a suspicious reaction.
“Is your soul alright?”
“Yes! Of course.”
“Since you received leave, you’ll be resting for a while, right?”
“Yeees, that’s right.”
It was a very suspicious answer. Comet ate as if she hadn’t noticed anything, drank coffee together with her, and then they parted ways. And then she secretly followed her.
Dan Gayeon packed a comfortable bag, left Yeouido, and arrived at the convenience store that had been the scene of the incident. It was exactly the path Comet had expected.
The convenience store no longer had access control, apparently because the investigation had been concluded per the Chairman’s orders. Dan Gayeon moved away from the store, carefully scanning every corner of the street, then stopped at one spot. She stood in front of that house.
When Comet checked what she was looking at, she saw a perfectly intact surveillance camera. As Dan Gayeon reached out to press the doorbell, Comet approached her.
“Chief Administrator Dan.”
“Hwaak!”
“What are you doing?”
“W-well… I was just about to head back. It feels good to move around after eating. Haha.”
After listening to the excuse, Comet firmly pressed the doorbell.
“It looks like you’re disappointed the investigation ended. Let’s do it together. I’ll help.”
Comet smiled brightly.
“Huh? Huh?!”
Dan Gayeon still hadn’t regained her composure even when the homeowner’s voice came from inside. Comet asked the homeowner in her place whether they could check the surveillance camera footage. The owner was reluctant at first, but once Dan Gayeon roughly regained her senses and proved her identity with the Committee, he obediently showed it.
Comet watched blankly as the video was copied. Dan Gayeon put the finished storage device into her bag and glanced at Comet. She looked confused about what kind of situation this was.
“It’s a good start.”
When their eyes met, Comet smiled at her again for no reason. Dan Gayeon looked even more bewildered.