Chapter 255 - Chapter 255 (1/2)

Side Story 12

6. Decision

'That' suddenly appeared without any warning.

On a certain day in April, only a stone's throw away from May's doorstep, an American emergency call centre was blessed with a strange phone call.

- "Hello. I'm a tourist currently travelling through the desert."

It was not uncommon to hear about tourists getting lost. Since that was the case, the call centre operator figured that this call was from yet another poor stranded soul searching for a way out from the middle of the vast desert.

"Did you run into an accident, sir?"

- "No, it's not actually that."

"In that case, did something else happen to you, sir?"

- "No, no. I'm not calling you because I ran into a problem, but I'm calling to report something that I'm seeing right now."

The call centre agent got ready to connect the call to the emergency dispatch service while replying in a calm voice to make sure that the caller wouldn't start panicking over the phone.

"Is it something urgent? Should I dispatch the emergency personnel to your location?"

- "Urgent... is it? Honestly, I also don't know how to explain the current situation to you."

The caller's voice indicated that he was feeling really hesitant over something here, so just in case, the agent decided to confirm the caller's identity first.

As it turned out, the caller was actually a college professor, and judging from his family circumstances, or the past records of lodging emergency calls, he didn't seem to be the sort to make prank calls for fun.

"Sir, you need to describe the situation so we can dispatch the right kind of response personnel to the scene."

- "..."

"Can you explain to me in detail what you see?"

It was at that point that the agent heard the caller take deep breaths over the phone's speaker.

- "Something is about to shatter. There are lots of cracks."

There was a building in a desert about to topple over? The agent tilted his head this way and that before asking again.

"Where are these cracks exactly, sir?"

- "Well, that's the darnedest thing...."

The voice of the caller hesitated for a long time again as if he still couldn't believe what he saw, but eventually it did come out of the phone.

- "The sky... the sky is breaking up!"

***

April.

This was the time when pretty much all students would find themselves with barely any free time, but for Jin-Woo facing mid-term exams and the track competition literally around the corner, it proved to be a great deal more hectic than usual.

As he was studying deep into the night, his little sister, Jin-Ah, entered his room while carrying a tray of sliced Korean melon.

"Oppa, Mom says you should eat these while studying."

Jin-Woo was concentrating on the textbooks below the desk lamp's light, and raised his head to greet her.

"What about Dad?"

"Dad is on night shift duty from this week again."

Jin-Woo received the plate with melon slices neatly arranged on top and nodded his head. But then, he reached out to snatch his sister's ponytail just as she was about to sneak out of his room.

"Stop right there."

"Heok!"

Jin-Ah turned around to face him with wide-open eyes and he sternly asked her.

"Why are all these slices missing the soft middle sections?"

"I, uh, I don't know...."

"You should say that while getting rid of those pips stuck near your lips."

"Ahh-iinng..."

Jin-Ah formed an unhappy expression at the fact that she got busted, but he found her way too adorable when she acted like this and couldn't hold back his own laughter.

He used his thumb to remove the pips from the ends of his sister's lips and out of pure mischievousness, formed another stern expression.

"If you eat only the softer part of the melon again, I'm gonna make you eat nothing but the hard part for a whole day as punishment, okay?"

"Hiii-eeeng..... Okay."

Jin-Ah turned around to leave with a tearful expression and he lightly patted her on the head.

Currently, she was in her sixth year in elementary school. Jin-Woo had seen her grow up once before already, and pretty much anything she did came across as adorable to him.

Crunch.

He began chewing on the sliced melon piece and focused his concentration back on the questionnaire on the desk. When he did, though, Igrit began to offer his counsel once more, as he was still worried about his liege's academic success.

[My liege, the 24th question should not be tackled in this manner, but...]

'I'm going to check the answer sheet, then?'

[….Allow me to ponder this query for a little while longer, my liege.]

'…....'

It was rather commendable that he was so concerned about his master, but this….

'Oh, well. At least, I'm not bored during studying, so there's that....'

Crunch.

As the number of questions remaining on the questionnaire decreased, so did the number of sliced melon pieces on the plate.

Tick, tock….

And so, just how long had it been?

Abruptly, Jin-Woo sensed this chill and raised his head.

'What was that? Where?'

He shot up from his chair and shifted his head in the direction of where he detected that strange phenomenon. He closed his eyes and focused his perception.

….He definitely hadn't made a mistake just then. Right away, he imagined the worst possible scenario and his expression hardened as a result.

'Where is that business card....?'

He quickly dug through the pockets of his school uniform and pulled out a certain business card. It was none other than the one left behind by the envoy of the Rulers.

Jin-Woo quickly dialled the number and tapped on the 'Call' icon on his smartphone. The call itself got through really quickly.

- "It has been a while, Shadow Sovereign-nim."

The envoy tried to greet him with a warm, welcoming voice, but Jin-Woo simply spoke up certain coordinates without any hints of emotion. And then, he added one more thing at the end.

"Is this your people's doing?"

The envoy was stunned by his serious attitude and replied quickly.

- "I don't understand what…. Hold on. Allow me to confirm."

"..."

The brief silence was soon shattered by the panicky voice from the other side of the line.

- "This, this is definitely not us. We are also finding out about this matter through your call, Sovereign-nim. I'm sure you already know, but this method of crossing dimensions is different from ours."

As expected – it wasn't the absolute worst possibility, much to his relief. Still, it didn't mean that the situation itself had become any better, though.

'To Earth…. Someone, or something, is coming.'

Whether they held good or bad intentions, there was no way to tell for the time being. So, he should start preparing for either case right away.

Jin-Woo fell into deep thought as he stood there, still holding the phone, before he spoke to the envoy.

"Can you come and see me?"

He added that there was also something else he'd like to talk about and that prompted the envoy to reply as if it had been waiting for that all this time.

- "I shall come and speak to you tomorrow."

***

The meeting place was the cafe where Jin-Woo met Yu Jin-Ho for the first time outside the dungeon. He got there just in time and found the envoy already waiting for him by the corner of the cafe, having arrived a while ago.

After entering, Jin-Woo wordlessly settled down on the opposite side of the Ruler's proxy. The latter only discovered the former's presence after he appeared right in front of its eyes. The envoy performed a polite bow of the head.

With the situation being what it was, Jin-Woo went straight to the meat of the discussion.

"The things trying to get here…. Do you have any clues on who they are?"

"They are the 'Outsiders' that tried to step into my world not too long ago. They were beaten back by the Army of the Heavens and it seems that they have now set their sights on this world, instead."

"Why are they trying to come here?"

"They are a race of giants that consumes the rocks found on a planet that can support lifeforms. They are referred to as a race of 'Titans' and are known for their evil nature even back in their own world. Their reason for coming to Earth should be rather obvious at this point."

Jin-Woo leaned against the chair's back and nodded his head.

"....So, they are not friends."

"Yes, they are most certainly not."

Now that he knew what their purpose was, the nature of his response had been decided, as well. However, there was something he still felt curious about.

"This didn't happen before the Chalice of Rebirth was used, so what gives?"

Jin-Woo could only remember the Gates and monsters, but nothing about the attack of an alien race capable of 'eating' a planet. The envoy hesitated slightly with his answer before willingly admitting to it.

"Yes, you're indeed correct. Actually, when I told you about them invading our world not too long ago, I was referring to the timeline that has been overwritten."

"Meaning, the creatures that should have been aiming for your world changed their heading towards Earth, instead?"

"Yes."

The envoy replied as thus, carefully observing any changes in Jin-Woo's mood. Of course, he immediately figured out the reason for this change.

"I'm the cause."

"Those creatures chased after the traces of Sovereign-nim, who possesses incredible power…. At least, that's what the exalted Rulers believe happened in this event."

Just like how one would rely on the light from the lighthouse illuminating the lone pathway to navigate the treacherous nighttime waters when you couldn't see an inch in front of your nose, the race of 'Titans' had been led towards this small planet by the enormous power being emitted by the Shadow Sovereign.

The potential influence Jin-Woo's powers would have on this world, the one that shouldn't exist and shouldn't remain – the part the Rulers were worried about had finally become reality.

Still, the Rulers felt that they owed Jin-Woo big time and thus, they weren't planning to sit back and watch another crisis unfold on Earth. The agent made sure to drive this point home.

"The exalted Rulers have already deployed the Army of the Heavens."

Jin-Woo slowly shook his head.

"No, it'll be too late."

Even if they started creating a tunnel connecting from that side to here right now, at a bare minimum they would still need a good few years to get here. By then, everything would be over.

In that case….

"I shall take care of it."

'….My soldiers and I will stop those b*stards.'