Chapter 145

The Second Cataclysm (1)

2039 would be remembered as an unforgettable year for humankind.

After the Cataclysm, the world rode a rough current, preventing it from returning to its daily life of the past, but there were exceedingly many accidents that year.

And looking back, most of them were related to Seo Jin-Wook.

If to choose two of the most significant events that shook the world, one example would be the tsunami in the Indian Ocean.

And even before the aftermath was resolved, the world was exposed to another shock.

“Oh! There’s a problem! Another one!”

“What? What’s going on?”

“They said that another strange message appeared to the hunters again!”

The rumors that began to spread on the Internet at one point were confirmed to be accurate by public news.

– Breaking news! It is confirmed that the same system message has appeared to all Awakened today. A similar phenomenon occurred today again as the message about the ‘Tower of Choice’ was shared a few months ago.

All of the hunters read it with their eyes wide open.

The contents were as follows.

– The selected users have completed Clearing the Tower of Choice!

– From here on out, all the protective provisions and restrictions on tutorial quests that have been applied to your world will be removed.

– Screening quests that were previously shared cannot be processed anymore.

– Instead, all of the Awakened individuals that are registered in the current world can start the ‘Main Quest.’ There is no separate screening, and all choices are subject to the free will of the Awakened.

– You can enter the Gates as usual without proceeding with the Main Quest, but you have to take the risk of missing more opportunities.

– Will you start the Main Quest?

What that fact meant was clear.

The whole world was shocked.

“Seo Jin-Wook Cleared the Tower of Choice!”

He did so at an unbelievably quick rate.

“What? They said the Pezra’s been Clearing it for years! Didn’t they say the Tower usually takes ten years?”

“And they completed the Tower in two months? This is really… No, this is a lot scarier than it is awesome.”

The Pezra species quickly sent their congratulatory message.

– A heartfelt congratulation to our precious neighbors, the people of Earth. We could not hold back our amazement by the rapid climbing that no other world has ever experienced.

– We sincerely hope that the transaction between our two dimensions will continue as it always has been, even if your dimension’s Awakened beings proceed with the Main Quest as it will be of no problem to enter a dungeon as it was before.

The content was also released to the press. Throughout the publicization, it was once again emphasized that the Clear time made by Seo Jin-Wook was an amazing achievement even by the standards of other aliens.

“Does that imply that Seo Jin-Wook turned out to be of a class beyond Earth? Then that means that we have nothing to be shy about even if compared to other dimensions!”

“How about the Celestial Dragon’s official statement?”

“They only made a brief announcement. They informed the public that it is most definitely certain that they Cleared it. They also said they’d postpone the interview until a later date because they’re fatigued.”

Everyone was shocked and excited, but some expressed their anxiety.

“Hold on… Then what happens to our world from now on?”

The time of the Clear was a lot shorter than everybody expected, so there was also a lot of vague anxiety and uncertainty.

However, there was no noticeable change in the beginning.

It was heard from the Pezra that the appearance of Gates would gradually increase, but no statistical indicators appeared for some time.

Furthermore, there were fewer dangerous situations reported that could be called accidents because Seo Jin-Wook delayed the collapse of dungeons with the [Aurora of Stability] on his own in those hazardous areas.

After returning to Earth, the members of the exploration team relaxedly rested and prepared for the future without standing in front of the media for the time being.

“You’re saying that the tsunami is related to Mercadius, right?”

Adam explained to Seo Jin-Wook what happened while they were in the Tower.

The explosion of an underwater volcano occurred on the same day the forces of the Union attacked to catch him.

After that accident, Mercadius, as well as the allies of the Union, disappeared. The fact that his whereabouts were untraceable was a different part from the death of a former observer.

That fact could be interpreted as both good and bad.

“In all cases, it should be our priority to join the Union as soon as possible.”

Seo Jin-Wook also agreed to that sentiment. He shared some of the secrets with the government to hasten the procedure of joining the said organization.

Those secrets revolved around the story of Mercadius and the Union.

“You mean that… the world…· is going to end?”

The government started to listen even though the story would’ve raised suspicions and doubts, even calling it absurd, if they were still in the past.

Seo Jin-Wook’s status had risen that high.

“The Union will soon come into contact with the Earth. If you wait a little bit, you’ll be able to check the evidence yourself. What I want is to start a discussion behind the scenes in advance so that I can gather opinions quickly without being baffled between the Earthlings.”

As Seo Jin-Wook intended, the Korean government secretly shared the information with other governments and began to coordinate their opinions in advance.

In the meantime, Seo Jin-Wook barely revealed himself in public.

The requests for interviews blew up, but apart from the discussion with the government, he didn’t entertain any other people.

After a few days, a request for a meeting came from an opponent that he couldn’t just turn a blind eye to.

“Guild Master? It’s a bit difficult to say no. Please check this one out.”

Seo Jin-Wook, who confirmed the request delivered by e-mail, gave an unexpected expression.

The letter was in the name of the Guild Master of the Gate Keepers.

*

Back then, there were influential groups of people in South Korea called the Four Major Guilds.

The Gate Keepers were also responsible as one of the pillars, but they often showed a different behavior compared to how the others competed and fiercely fought each other.

It was a public-interest guild that focused on not Clearing the dungeon but checking the conditions of the Gates periodically and surveying the dungeons inside. That became their primary business.

They protected the Gates left unbid by guilds blinded by greed and filled up space where the government’s touches couldn’t reach.

‘Grand Croix and the Destruction Blade have fallen to almost the level of destruction, but the Gate Keepers are still thriving.’

The reason was simple. They had no business clashing with the Celestial Dragon.

Another peculiarity that they had was that the guild’s head had little information known about him by the public other than his name and age.

That remained to be the situation even at that age.

Of course, I knew the reason behind it. Hunter, officially known as the Guild Master, was only a puppet boss with only his name hanging on. The Vice Guild Master acted on behalf of most of the work, knowing that their tail would eventually get stepped on if they were active in outside activities.

Then who was the real owner of their guild?

‘It’s not the Vice Guild Master as well as a lot presumes.’

The Gate Keepers was a colossal guild that couldn’t be operated with only the cheap gate fees they charged.

Therefore, what was inevitable for survival was the separate mobilization of funds, but there was no such thing for the Vice Guild Master.

After all, there was only one conclusion. There was a wealthy person behind the Gate Keepers, moving vast amounts of money and supporting their activities revolving around the public interest.

I sent my greeting to the secret owner first. It was a courtesy to the elderly.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you like this, Mr. Chairman.”

He was an old man with chapped hair but had glistening eyes.

Additionally, he was also an ordinary non-Awakened without a Mana Core.

He talked to me with respect in his voice. He was not an Awakened himself, but I could see how he managed to bring a guild to climb up to Korea’s top 2.

“You’re not surprised. Have you known all this time? I asked for it, so I don’t think that the government would have leaked it first even to you, Guild Master.”

I was much younger than him, but he spoke in a polite manner. I answered with proper courtesy in return.

“Looking at the circumstances, I simply had an accurate guess.”

It was a fact that was eventually revealed as Korea got devastated in my past life.

He was the kind of person who could move such massive amounts of wealth while making the government think that they could trust him.

The owner of the Gate Keepers, the old man in front of me, was the Yujin Group chairman, Korea’s No. 1 Financial Group.

“Seeing that the media didn’t find you, you must have made a substitute appear at the guild.”

“Yes, I did.”

About 20 years after the Cataclysm, society became relatively stable, and hunters began to gain strength.

As a result, they focused only on Clears that they could gain money and items. Meanwhile, the government was in charge of monitoring the Gate, but their abilities were limited due to finite resources.

The chairman, who learned about the fact early on, wanted to contribute to the country by creating a guild as well.

The reason why he didn’t put the name of his company in front was simple. He didn’t want to set a precedent for large companies to run such large guilds.

They were wary of the organizations that existed solely for profit joining in the market that was already running centered around private profits more than it needed to be.

‘It was a wise choice, seeing that after Han-Seol passed, other large companies lurked around, desiring the Celestial Dragon’s share.’

I asked him a question.

“Then, the reason you came to see me today is…”

“Wouldn’t you already have an idea of that as well?”

He continued in a low voice.

“The tutorial quest has been announced to be over, hasn’t it? The Dimensional Bird is awake, and there will be more dungeons appearing across the world in the future.”

After pointing out the overall change, he talked about the Gate Keepers’ reality and the Celestial Dragons’ status.

“No matter how hard I think about it, I thought that our guild’s capabilities couldn’t keep up with the changes. The guild consisting of many middle and lower rank hunters has managed to play its role so far, however…”

He was paying close attention to the flow of time.

“I thought there would be a need for more force than that in the future. So I thought about it. Who has the ability and motivation to take over my role now? There was only one person.”

His words were also within the scope of my expectations. However, the direction had changed a lot from my past life.

“Are you leaving it to me?”

“Yes, I hope it turns out to be so.”

The chairman came to propose a merger wherein the Gate Keepers would be absorbed by the Celestial Dragon.

The old man continued, praising me and my abilities lightly.

“And as I’ve checked, I think you’ve got a lot more money now than I have. I don’t think it’s going to be too much of a burden to manage it.”

He had even searched deep enough to find such private information.

I didn’t need a lot of time to think about it. In the future, we shouldn’t compete within Earth but with other dimensions anyway. Internally, it was better to unite forces as fast as possible, and the starting point was Korea.

Although the Celestial Dragon had already taken an overwhelming position, it was planning to absorb or make the other guilds its subordinates at a faster pace in the future.

Naturally, Dungeon Gate management would be much easier if the Gate Keepers were managed directly by my supervision than in the current situation, in which operations were divided.

“Of course, I’m going to hand over all my shares, and I don’t dream of management rights. However, since I’m afraid that you’ll think it’s a bit of a heavy burden…”

Since he was already expecting a situation where I would decline his proposition, the price the chairman suggested was reasonable.

However, it was an unnecessary concern. I was already ready to accept it anyway.

“Yes, I will proceed that way. Thank you.”

I then expressed my gratitude to the elderly who had contributed to the country without anyone knowing.

“You’ve done a great job.”

The old man laughed silently.

At that moment, the four ancient guilds of Korea were absorbed entirely by and integrated into the Celestial Dragon.

*

A few days after the meeting with the chairman, the Union’s ‘affiliation proposal’ that the governments had been waiting for was finally delivered.

Since the era of interacting with more diverse dimensions approached, being included in a large organization that would achieve the mainstream was essentially the same as having strong support.

Also, the Union’s rules on the affiliate dimension felt slightly strict, but in return, the federation also had to do its best to ensure Earth’s safety.

Of course, the countries that had already spoken in sync shared their opinions. Polls from each country showed similar trends.

But there were exceptions everywhere.

Almost naturally, it was the same country again that rejected the notion.

– The People’s Republic of China cannot trust that unidentified group of aliens who call themselves the ‘Union’ and insists that all exchanges be suspended until they have been proven safe and harmless!

The paradigm was already changing, and the balance of power was not the same as before.

However, some government leaders considered such change a terrible nightmare and did not want to immerse themselves in the axis’s slow movement. The result was a farfetched resistance.

Eventually, a month after the Union proposed, Earth’s opinions couldn’t come together.

There was only one option for the remaining countries.

“It would be better to gather the will of as many countries as possible, but…”

“If this happens, the only way for the negotiating group to join the Union is to exclude China and a few other countries.”

There was a reason to fiddle with the plan that had been put off as a last resort.

Adam once warned me through the following words:

‘If you get an offer, you’d better accept it as soon as possible. Among those that didn’t join the Union, there are vicious species that only aim for dimensions which just started the main quest.’

The fact was even stated in the Union’s proposal.

However, China threw a monkey wrench, saying they couldn’t trust anything they were saying.

Then one day, the situation that the Union and Adam were worried about occurred.

– Breaking news!

An unexpected incident occurred in Taipei City, Taiwan.

An opaque dome surrounding a 10-kilometer radius from the center of the city suddenly appeared.

All physical movements were interrupted, and even communication was blocked.

People soon learned that it had nothing to do with the Taiwanese government’s intentions.

At the Gate opened in the barrier, hundreds of species began to cross almost all at once.

It was the emergence of invaders that the advisor warned me about.