Chapter 145 (1/2)
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.