CH 213

‘It’s suspicious. Are the Noblesse setting up a chess board with some bigger play in mind, or are they under some constraint that I don’t know of?’

To Yongno, the Noblesse’s behavior was much too passive. If the Noblesse’s identity was still hidden, he’d understand their cautious approach, but they had revealed themselves as aliens to the whole world, so they didn’t need to be so cautious.

Even if they didn’t use their transcendent powers, the Noblesse would easily be able to control, economically and politically, the entirety of Earth through DIO.

‘Also, I don’t understand what objective or purpose the Legion and Grotesque have in mind with their attacks.’

Terrorism was guerrilla tactic aimed at achieving maximum political and military effect with small-scale forces to achieve a specific purpose.

Of course, there were terrorist groups that were created as a way to survive, such as those in the Middle East, because it was difficult to make a living, but that was an exception rather than the rule. Terrorism was usually conducted as a means of propaganda or resistance.

However, the Legion and Grotesque had no clear purpose. DIO’s service wouldn’t be terminated or stopped due to their trivial acts of terrorism, and it was unlikely that any requests by humans to stop DIO’s operations would work on the Noblesse, who didn’t care about human welfare.

This novel is available on bit.ly/3iBfjkV.

“I’m sorry for what happened. It seems that the minister didn’t know about Mr. Yongno, as your identity has been kept confidential.”

With his eyes closed, Yongno recalled the image of the Korean president, who he met a month ago.

In the past, Yongno, after reconciling with Merlin, had traveled around the world and manipulated the minds of powerful people once he became convinced that DIO’s management did not grasp his ability to use mana in the real world. He had made himself a major global figure and performed actions that bolstered his importance in the minds of those powerful people.

Even now, though he couldn’t run mental interference and manipulate the minds of these powerful figures, the memories he previously instilled in them remained. However, unlike before, these figures were no longer fully subservient to Yongno’s requests.

‘In other words, the range of things I can request is limited.’

Moreover, the president and other high-ranking officials [remembered] that Yongno was their benefactor and had done great works for the Republic of Korea, but they tended to request things from him more because of that rather than give Yongno more leeway or clout.

Like the saying went, today’s enemy may become tomorrow’s ally, so there was no guarantee that today’s benefactor would not become tomorrow’s enemy in the world of politics.

“We’ve arrived.”

Feeling the van stop, Yongno opened his eyes. For Yongno’s safety, Youngmin got out of the car first and opened Yongno’s door.

“By the way, what do they want today?”

“They’re probably going to whine about this and that again. They’re probably going to request that I become subservient to the country or support a particular political party. The members of the National Assembly are playing more tricks and political games these days, so it’s become more of a headache dealing with them recently…”

Once Masters, who were originally as famous as celebrities, gained political and practical power, they became existences that even a nation state couldn’t easily approach. The power that Masters could wield was one reason, but another was that, as the Masters’ existences were revealed to the public, the Masters started attracting public attention.

Since time immemorial, people have longed for the existence of superhumans; those who were able to exert absolute power. Heroes such as Superman and Batman were the manufactured manifestations of such desires. In one sense, DIO’s Masters fit this superhero image, as they were often seen as [superheroes who acquired power by training themselves to the limit] rather than [idiots who just happened to gain strength].

Just then, a man in a suit, who was waiting on one side, approached Yongno. The man bowed politely and gave a respectful ‘Welcome’ greeting.

“The President is waiting. Enjoy your dinner. We’ll be taking some pictures, so…”

“Who else will be joining us?”

“There is the First Lady, Shin Gil-Soo, and Rep. Han Myung-Jin.”

Yongno sighed inwardly after hearing the man’s calmly stated explanation.

‘The ruling party and opposition leader will both be present. They sure know how to create an awkward and annoying atmosphere.’

In particular, Rep. Shin Gil-Soo, the representative of the ruling party, was someone who persistently irritated Yongno, employing all means at her disposal, to get him, a Master, to support her party’s causes. Moreover, Rep. Shin Gil-Soo didn’t much approve of Yongno, as a person and as a Master, so Yongno couldn’t help but be annoyed that he had to spend dinner with her.

Beep! Beep!

Just then, the smartphone in Yongno’s pocket started ringing. The smartphone was a satellite communication device that he received from the director of the National Intelligence Service (NIS).

[Emergency! Emergency! Legion’s hordes are approaching from the West Sea! Their numbers are overwhelmingly greater than any force that appeared before!]

“Where are they heading to?”

[They’re rushing in a straight line towards Seoul! At this rate, they’ll soon be passing Incheon and Bucheon…!]

The complexion of the man in the suit, who was guiding Yongno, turned to deep contemplation and concern after hearing the message coming from Yongno’s communication device; however, Yongno remained unperturbed.

After receiving several attacks, the Korean military’s response system became more structured and effective, and the Republic of Korea was one of the countries with a very high ratio of Masters to the general population.

“I’ll have to go and see what’s going on.”

“But the dinner with the President…”

Yongno shrugged at the pale-faced, business-suit wearing man.

“Do you think I can sit around and have dinner when there’s a war unfolding? Soldiers might die; furthermore, public opinion would turn for the worst if it became known that we were enjoying dinner at such a time. There’s no way the president doesn’t know that, so he’ll most likely also move to his secure bunker and command the national forces; after all, he’s the commander-in-chief of the Korean military.”

Since Yongno was dreading the dinner, he got back into his car without any regret or hesitation. He soon spoke to the driver.

“You know where to go, right?”

“… Yes. I’ll take us there now.”

The driver, dispatched from the NIS, gave a bitter smile before stepping on the accelerator. The vehicle, carrying Yongno and Youngmin, wildly sped down the road.

***

On Yongyu Island, where Incheon International Airport was located, fully armed infantrymen and tanks began to line up and get into formation. Dozens of warships were in the sea and fighter jets were seen circling the sky.

Among the aircrafts located at the airport, all aircrafts capable of flight were on the runway, waiting for their turn to take off and enter the battle zone. The citizens living nearby were also hurriedly evacuating Yongyu Island.

The existence of aliens and the dangers they posed were felt not only by the military but also by the general public.

The number of casualties suffered under alien attacks numbered in the hundreds of thousands in Korea alone. In the past, domestic catastrophes that brought hundreds or thousands of casualties would have been major events that would later be listed in public textbooks, so the Legion and Grotesque’s attacks were not something that Korean people just put off as [something far away that has nothing to do with me].

Moreover, since the Legion and Grotesque targeted densely populated areas, the number of people moving out of metropolitan areas and moving to the countryside had increased tremendously.

“This is your division commander! If the aliens show up, you can fire without any preauthorization! Do not let them pass through the battle zone! Eagle, did you spot the enemy?”

[This is Eagle. The enemy is still not visible. They’re not even showing up on our radar. They should have already reached us by now… perhaps they’ve switched directions?]

“That can’t be. The information we have states that the enemy is still advancing towards us.”

The Noblesse had provided Korea with a wide range of shields to prevent space-based attacks and space infiltration, and items to check where enemy attacks were coming from. The only problem was that these devices were only given as [rentals], but the important thing right now was that they were being used and providing critical information.

Since the Legion or Grotesque could only appear at a point outside a 500-kilometer radius from where a broad-spectrum blocker was installed, which blocked space penetration, South Korea, which installed a blocker near Gapyeong, was able to cover the entire country except for parts of Hamgyeongbuk-Do with a single blocker. Even so, a broad-spectrum blocker couldn’t do anything against an enemy force that appeared outside the blocker’s effective area and moved directly into the area.

Therefore, a sensor that identified the location of an enemy force, within a radius of 800 kilometers, was needed. Thanks to a broad-area sensor, located next to the blocker, Korea was able to identify enemy forces and defend itself before the enemy entered its territory.

‘Recently, the enemy forces have mainly appeared on the southern side, near Jeju Island, but it seems they’re now retargeting our capital! Why don’t they just keep attacking China, where the defenses are relatively poor!’

A war against alien forces was a series of crises; nothing could be guaranteed.

Basically, regardless of whether it was Legion or Grotesque, the enemy alien forces possessed enough firepower that no national defensive military power could properly handle such an attack, so even if a nation was thoroughly prepared, there were bound to be victims.

The division commander had entered the military academy with the goal of becoming a soldier and serving his country from a young age, but he never thought he’d be engaging in a life-or-death battle like this in Korea. If he had known, he would have thought twice about becoming a soldier. Anyway, while the division commander was fuming with resentment and regret, which was subtle enough to be heard in his tone of voice, a flat saucer-shaped flying object, like a UFO, suddenly appeared in front of a fighter jet that was flying in the sky. Utilizing some sort of stealth mode, the object had appeared right in front of the gathered forces without being caught on radar.

[T-target spotted! Launch…]

Boom!

The fighter jet’s pilot, who was startled by the sudden appearance of the enemy, tried to fire the jet’s missiles, but the jet was hit by a beam and exploded. There was a clear difference in mobility between the two forces. Moreover, the fighter jet couldn’t respond properly due to the sudden appearance of the enemy.

Whoosh!

And at the same time, huge robots started appearing here and there. Once the enemy forces engaged in battle, their Stealth Mode, which no longer needed to be maintained, was being released.

“Damn it! Hurry!”

“Why is the road so congested!”

The road that Yongno was traveling down was full of vehicles. Although an evacuation order was issued, the air raid started just 30 minutes later, so there wasn’t enough time for the residents to escape the island.

Of course, even now, they hurried to escape the area, but the problem was that Legion’s target was the civilians, not the gathered soldiers.