Chapter 2165 – 2165. Eternal Eden
“Mr. Seong Yu-jin. Could I have a word with you?”
A man in a neat suit spoke to me. He had a kind face, the kind that would make anyone, young or old, feel favorably towards him at first glance.
I knew who he was. He was a man who had recently gained fame, so it was impossible not to know him. Half of the reason for his fame was his handsome face, but the other half was that he was a rising star among the awakened.
“You’re Mr. Han Du-ho, the ‘Grizzly Bear’ of Gyeonggi Province.”
“Oh. You know me?”
“I’ve seen you on the news several times, how could I not? Of course, your exploits were also impressive. I heard you fought a giant variant one-on-one and won.”
“It was a bit smaller than a giant variant… but I did win.”
Han Du-ho was an awakened being with the ability to transform into a grizzly bear, hence his nickname. From what I could see, his bear form was definitely not an ordinary grizzly bear, but one with enhanced physical abilities. There was no way an ordinary grizzly bear could fight a variant.
“What brings you to me?”
I didn’t want to get involved with Han Du-ho if I could help it. If a handsome guy was next to me, the spotlight would be stolen. The saying that ugly guys get more is bullshit. In reality, the handsome guys eat more and get more attention.
“You seem to be more impatient than I thought.”
“The bus is about to leave. We need to prepare ourselves mentally as we’re going to face monsters. It’s a life-or-death situation.”
“You’re not wrong. Then, I’ll get straight to the point. I’m planning to create the Korean Awakened Federation, an organization for the rights of awakened beings. Mr. Seong Yu-jin, would you join me? It would be a great help if you would.”
The Awakened Federation? Just hearing the name, I knew what it was. He was trying to create an organization like the Hunter Association in reality.
But would it work in this world? The biggest problem was the small number of awakened beings. There were probably less than 10,000 awakened in South Korea right now. And the power of the awakened wasn’t that great.
In reality, there were hunters with powers that could be called natural disasters. Even a B-class hunter was stronger than a decent-sized military unit. They were treated well because of their power. What about the awakened in this world? Even I was probably not as strong as a C-class hunter.
Based on my calculations, the Awakened Federation would do more harm than good.
“I’m sorry, but I have an organization I need to take care of.”
“I’m not saying you should abandon Seongak Elementary School. For now, you can just lend us your name.”
“I’m sorry. The Awakened Federation isn’t very appealing to me. I’ll pass.”
“…The Awakened Federation is an organization for the awakened. The South Korean government might try to control the awakened at any time. We need to prepare for the worst.”
“Haha. Mr. Han Du-ho, you worry too much. The Korean government is friendly to the awakened. In that sense, the Awakened Federation might be seen as hostile to the government.”
“The current government might be friendly to the awakened, but we don’t know how the next regime will change. So, we need to unite and prepare in advance.”
“I don’t think it’s too late to think about that then.”
My will was firm. In the end, Han Du-ho sighed. It was a sigh of resignation.
“Mr. Seong Yu-jin, you don’t care about your fellow awakened. I’m disappointed.”
“I’m disappointed too. You’re just trying to create an Awakened Federation without thinking, aren’t you? Is it really an organization to protect the rights of the awakened?”
“…Hmm. You don’t trust me.”
“We just met today. Mr. Han Du-ho, you suddenly brought up the creation of the Awakened Federation. How can I trust you?”
“…This is embarrassing. I admit my mistake. But I will definitely create the Awakened Federation. Please contact me if you’re interested later.”
Han Du-ho left his business card and walked away. His face was red, so he really seemed embarrassed.
I roughly shoved the business card into my pocket.
There would be no chance of me joining the Awakened Federation later. It looked like an organization with no power.
Soon, the bus arrived at the entrance of Sunwol General Hospital. As we got off the bus, we were greeted by reporters with cameras and curious citizens. It was possible because Sunwol General Hospital was near the city center.
‘Seeing this, it seems like the provinces are better than Seoul. Busan, which I saw last time, was also in pretty good condition.’
Seoul had not yet secured enough public safety for citizens to move around freely. Since it was a place with a population of nearly ten million, there were zombies and variants hiding everywhere in Seoul.
“Awakened ones! Aren’t you afraid?!”
“What are your feelings about supporting Gwangju?”
“Please say a word to the citizens of Gwangju who are watching!”
The reporters were making a fuss. In a way, they were amazing. The large hospital in front of them was full of variants and mutated creatures.
‘Don’t they realize that a variant could pop out and attack them?’
Did they believe that the army and police surrounding Sunwol General Hospital would protect them?
Either way, they seemed stupid.
Of course, I kept these thoughts to myself. There were cameras in front of me. I put on a friendly smile and answered the interview sincerely.
“I rushed to Gwangju for the citizens of Gwangju. I’m not afraid of variants at all. I will protect the citizens of Gwangju!”
I shouted confidently. The reporters and citizens gave me thunderous applause.
“Seong Yu-jin! Seong Yu-jin!”
“Zeus of Seoul!”
“Thunder God Seong Yu-jin!!”
The citizens chanted my name. To me, they looked like votes. Votes that would make me president.
“Okay, okay, that’s the end of the interview.”
The police appeared and cleared the area. They led us to a tent set up at the entrance.
• • •
“This is the variant that has occupied Sunwol General Hospital.”
A man in a police uniform played a video on the TV screen. It was a video taken by a reconnaissance drone.
A woman with long hair, about 2 meters tall, was captured. She had four breasts on her back, and her hands were two to three times larger than an adult man’s. Just by her appearance, she was a terrifying female monster.
“We call this monster Catherine.”
The monster had a name tag around her neck. The name on the name tag was Catherine. It seemed she was a foreigner when she was human.
“Catherine acts stealthily without making a sound. Please be careful of that. Also, Catherine’s main attack method is to grab and crush with her hands. A steel drone was crushed without being able to resist.”
The human body was weaker than steel. Being caught by Catherine was as good as dying.
“The mutated creatures inside the hospital are mutated rats. They are 50cm in size, move around at speeds similar to dogs, and are highly aggressive. Be careful as their saliva contains a paralyzing agent.”
The police’s short briefing ended. All the awakened decided to move together. They judged that scattering would be more dangerous in the current situation.
Before starting the operation, Han Du-ho took out a camera from his bag. The police frowned and approached Han Du-ho.
“Why did you take out the camera?”
“I’m going to broadcast it live on the internet. Many people are curious about how our battle is going.”
“…Please turn off the camera. It’s not good for the operation to be leaked.”
“Leak the operation? Are you kidding me? The opponents are variants and mutated creatures. Are you saying that variants and mutated creatures watch broadcasts?”
“……It can have a negative emotional impact on the viewers.”
The police reached for Han Du-ho’s camera.
Slap!
Han Du-ho slapped away the police’s hand.
The atmosphere turned cold. Han Du-ho gave a cold smile.
“…What do you think you’re doing? Are you obstructing official duties?”
“This camera is mine. Who are you to try to steal it? Does being a police officer mean you can steal citizens’ belongings?”
“It’s not stealing, I’m just trying to keep it safe for you.”
“Isn’t that stealing? And the citizens have the right to know. It has a negative impact on the citizens? Go on the internet. You can easily find videos of people fighting zombies and variants. Or are you perhaps trying to control the media? If you continue to try to take my camera… I will stop the operation here and inform the citizens of this fact. That the Korean police are ignoring the people’s right to know and trying to control the media.”
“……”
The police’s face changed colorfully. He barely swallowed his anger and turned around, leaving the tent.
“Ha, the police who do nothing are trying to control us…. They’re out of their minds.”
Those around Han Du-ho nodded as if it was natural.
“That’s right.”
“Are all the police in Gwangju like that? They’re ignoring us so much when we came to help.”
“Let’s make this public and socially bury that police officer.”
“Whoa, whoa, everyone calm down. You’re too excited. I don’t like this either… but we should treat it as a happening and move on. We have an important task ahead of us.”
The awakened gathered around Han Du-ho. They seemed to be the awakened that Han Du-ho had recruited. Han Du-ho seemed to be serious about creating the Awakened Federation.
The other awakened also praised Han Du-ho for doing a good job.
‘By the way, that police officer was a bit strange.’
Even if I didn’t know anything else, controlling the camera was a bit too much. How many of the awakened gathered here came to help with a pure heart? Not even one. They all came here to gain fame. But to ban cameras? By some random police officer?
‘Looking at how easily the police backed down, it must have been a solo act to try to confiscate the camera.’
If the government had ordered it, it wouldn’t have ended so easily.
‘Something feels very strange.’
Suddenly, I remembered that Sunwol General Hospital was related to Ilwoo Group.
There was no way they would openly interfere… but I quietly raised my guard.
