Chapter 208 - Chapter 208 (2/2)
Jin-Woo briefly nodded his head. That ominous sensation that brushed past his backside – Thomas Andre must've felt something quite similar to that.
It came from the sky. As if they had a prior agreement, both men shot up from their seats and quickly stood next to the window.
"...."
Jin-Woo spat out a gasp. Thomas Andre discovered the same thing and his eyes visibly quaked. Just how could a thing like that appear in the middle of the sky?!
The American Hunter stared at the massive Gate floating up high in the sky and muttered loudly.
"I can hardly believe this. I've never seen a Gate that huge before."
Even the Gate that spat out Kamish wasn't as big as that b*stard up there. The thing was, though, Jin-Woo had seen a Gate with similar dimensions before – within the 'data' the stone angel statue played for him back then.
He saw winged soldiers pour out in their droves from a Gate high up in the sky.
The massive size of the Gate covering the heavens above the city of Seoul was almost an exact match to the Gate he saw within the data. Just from recalling the sight of all those soldiers painting the sky silver, Jin-Woo felt this shudder, a jolt, buzzing from the back of his neck.
'Hang on. Could it be that the identity of the massive amount of magisphere pooling in Seoul's sky is that thing?'
Jin-Woo became utterly speechless. Even Thomas Andre, even Laura, and even their bodyguards, all of them failed to close their slack jaws.
And as a heavy, powerful silence descended on everyone in the room, the gigantic Gate that suddenly manifested itself in the sky continued to gently ripple about, as if to swallow everything that was down below.
***
Right below the airborne Gate.
The residents of the city formed a literal sea of people below it, knowing that there was no danger of a dungeon break as the Gate had been generated not too long ago. They raised their smartphones and busily snapped shots of the portal dyeing the heavens black.
It was the first-ever Gate to form in the middle of the sky. And its gigantic size was unprecedented, too.
Although no one knew what would come out from there and should all be terrified as a result, people still couldn't rein in their curiosity.
There were quite a few members of foreign press mixed among the crowd. Their cameras were working at full capacity to capture the scenes of this packed gathering of people
[Yes, I'm currently standing right below the giant Gate that has covered the entirety of Seoul's skies, and....]
[The Gate you see before you is the biggest one ever recorded since monsters began appearing....]
[As you can see behind me, the crowd spectating on the Gate itself are carrying bright expressions, but....]
[….This is Nick Powell from BBN News.]
Reporters from various nations carried serious, even grave, expressions and spoke their mother tongue towards the camera lenses.
Japanese people had been interested in the ongoings of South Korea for a while now, so a certain TV station even scheduled a special program to report extensively on the 'Gate above Seoul's skies'.
As for the expert invited to share his insight on the program, it was none other than Doctor Norman Belzer who had been studying the irregular phenomenon in the sky for a long time.
After the brief introduction by the emcee, Doctor Belzer grasped his microphone.
"I have been warning the relevant authorities about the unknown mass of energy gathering in the various spots in the atmosphere for a while now. The giant Gate appearing in the skies of Seoul is merely the beginning, I fear. We will be seeing Gates just as horrifying as that one over the skies of many other countries in the future."
The emcee's shoulders flinched greatly.
"Ehhh?! What you're implying there is, Doctor, there are more than one or two places with such ominous phenomena in the world?"
"That's what I'd like to emphasize today."
The scientist then went on to explain again what he told the Hunters participating in the International Guild Conference. He had a duty to inform the public of the dangers, now that his subject of research had bared its fangs for real.
Indeed, Seoul was just the beginning.
The magisphere was still being amassed above the skies of the remaining eight spots even now.
The scientist proceeded to reveal the nine locations with the help of the satellite images, leading to many gasps of shock and pained moans to leak out from the audience seats.
Some felt relieved by the fact that Japan was not among the list, while some were left deeply shocked by the imminent threat the neighbouring nations had to face.
The emcee listened to Doctor Belzer's explanations with a gloomy, heavy expression, before asking the scientist.
"Doctor, you have been researching the Gates and monsters for a very long time, am I correct?"
"You're correct."
"In that case, can you tell us your opinion on what would be the smartest response we can come up with in this situation?"
Not just the audience members present, but even all the viewers at home watching their TV sets, leaned forward to pay closer attention to the good scientist's next words.
Unfortunately for them, what he said was something everyone could say, too.
"We can only pray."
He shifted his gaze over to the audience members and continued on.
"We can only pray that this unprecedented event doesn't end in tragedy."
Even as the expressions of the audience members became graver, the scientist carried on with his explanation.
"However, there is this one thing. One piece of news that can't be considered bad."
Doctor Belzer's words, coming in just before the broadcast was about to end, managed to change the emcee's expression. Hoping to brighten the sorrowful, gloomy mood of the studio even by a little bit, the emcee quickly asked the scientist with an expectant face.
"What could that news be, doctor?"
"It's rather fortunate that the location of the Gate just so happens to be South Korea."
Did this doctor hold some sort of personal grudge against Korea or something?
Noisy, noisy...
Doctor Belzer's shocking declaration left the audience members in noisy confusion.
The expression of the Chief Producer of this program hardened in an instant, fearful that one wrong move now and he might end up with a broadcasting accident big enough to cause a serious diplomatic incident.
Fortunately enough, the feared event didn't materialise. The scientist quickly added more explanation before the misunderstanding could get any deeper.
"South Korea is the home of one of the greatest Hunters, someone who has already stopped a couple of world-ending calamities all by himself."
Everyone present here definitely knew who that Hunter was.
"Yes, I'm talking about Hunter Seong Jin-Woo, who has removed every single ant monster from Jeju Island, and then killed all the Giants in Japan."
The spot where the most amount of magisphere concentration could be found also happened to be where the world's best Hunter lived. Doctor Belzer felt that this was no simple coincidence.
"If he can't stop that Gate, then no Hunter alive will be able to do so, either. And that is why, when viewed from the world's perspective, we should be thankful that the first Gate to open up is in South Korea."
Should they feel glad, or console their neighbours, instead?
As the Japanese audience members couldn't decide what to feel, the scientist emphasized his point once more.
"What I'm saying might come across as cold-hearted ans callous, especially when Korea is facing a grave crisis, but the truth is, the world doesn't need to feel pity for the Korean people."
Ah, so the broadcasting accident had finally happened!
The Chief Producer began tearing his hair out, but then, as if to mock the poor man, Doctor Norman Belzer formed a deeply meaningful expression and ended his explanations.
"If we ever come to the situation where we must pity the Koreans, then that means there will be no humans left on this planet to console each other anymore."
< Chapter 208 > Fin.