Chapter 608

I stared at the middle-aged man before me.

Donald Doramp Jr.

A tycoon with a business empire and a fortune worth trillions of won¹, he had followed his father, a former U.S. president, into office. They were the third father-and-son pair to hold the presidency in United States history.

Neat as a British gentleman, he looked twenty years younger than he was. His smile as he greeted us was genuine.

“Welcome, both of you.”

Unlike his father, President Doramp wore his hair neatly combed back. We shook his hand.

I’d seen the President of the United States on television and in online articles, but I’d never imagined meeting him. Even with him standing right in front of me, I could hardly believe it.

“Haha, there’s no need to look at me like that. If anything, I’m the one who’s amazed. After hearing so much about you both, I finally get to meet you.”

Team Leader Choi answered in fluent English.

“Thank you for welcoming us, Mr. President.”

“I know a joint national funeral was held in Korea. My condolences to the victims who lost their lives so tragically, and to Mr. Kim, the former Guild Master of the Peace Guild. May they rest in peace.”

President Doramp was a gentleman in manner as well as appearance.

He had already done the proper thing by sending the U.S. ambassador to Korea and the Secretary of State to the funeral. Yet he had remembered to offer his condolences in person, too.

“Come to think of it, you’ve already met the Secretary of State, haven’t you? Isn’t that right, Jesse?”

At his call, the middle-aged woman seated at the pentagonal table smiled and greeted us with a glance.

Only then did it hit me: the people in this room were the ones holding up the superpower that was the United States.

The top brass of the U.S. military and government.

Only a few wore suits. The Secretary of State, whom I’d met briefly at the funeral, was among them. The others were probably cabinet members or held positions just as high.

As for the military…

There are a shitload of them.

It was a feast of stars, literally.

Middle-aged and elderly generals, their hair either going gray or already white, watched us with curiosity. Insignia and stars gleamed on their dress uniforms.

“Ah, I’m late with the introductions.”

President Doramp noticed where I was looking and continued.

“Everyone, this is Mr. Choi, who leads the Peace Guild and Ares Guild. And this is Mr. Jin, whom you all know. As for the people here…”

Jack. Philip. Joey. Liam. Isabella.

Names and titles I’d heard in Hollywood war movies flew past me.

Team Leader Choi seemed to know every face and name, as usual. I just stared and nodded.

How many departments and titles are there?

The only people who stuck in my mind were the directors of the CIA and FBI. Probably because those organizations showed up in movies so often.

“Now that we’ve made the introductions, I should tell you why we brought you here so suddenly.”

Snap. Fwoosh!

The instant President Doramp snapped his fingers, the holograms that had briefly disappeared filled the room in every direction.

This is…

A map. Not of the whole Earth, but a detailed map of one region.

Coordinates hovered over countless buildings and stretches of terrain. Markers whose meaning I couldn’t guess glittered here and there like stars.

Oh.

The place names. The deserts scattered across the map. And what President Doramp had been saying when we arrived.

I put it together and muttered, “The Middle East?”

“It’s a tactical map showing the locations of the terrorist groups. The sparkling markers are probably Gates or their bases.”

Team Leader Choi had spoken almost at the same time as me. President Doramp nodded to us both.

“You’re both right, though Mr. Choi’s answer is more detailed and closer to the mark. The lights indicate suspected terrorist bases. Hologram, zoom out.”

Whoosh.

The enlarged map shrank into a globe. It turned slowly at President Doramp’s gesture, lights large and small scattered across its surface.

“All of those are terrorist groups?”

“When my late father was president, there were already more than a hundred Islamic terrorist organizations alone. After the Great Cataclysm, of course, they multiplied at a frightening rate.”

That was news to me.

More than a hundred Islamic terrorist organizations before the Great Cataclysm. Who knew how many there were now?

Sure, some were probably little groups that operated on the scale of clubs. The problem was, they weren’t meeting to talk about comics. They carried out attacks to kill people.

Seriously, why are there so many?

I knew the world had plenty of lunatics. I’d never imagined there were this many.

Team Leader Choi watched the hologram, his gaze dark.

“Does that exclude the rebel forces scattered across Africa?”

“A good question, Mr. Choi. Fortunately, the rebels are included.”

“Just as you said, Mr. President, that truly is fortunate. And I think I understand why you went out of your way to invite us.”

His voice dropped.

“You’re planning to launch an operation to wipe out the terrorist groups, aren’t you?”

“That’s right.”

President Doramp gave a grave nod.

“As both of you know, the United States is still the world’s greatest power, but that also means we face an equal amount of opposition. Therefore, we have no choice but to act cautiously, both militarily and diplomatically.”

The United States might have a long history as the world’s bully, but even it couldn’t push around every country on Earth. That was especially true after it had suffered the worst losses in the Great Cataclysm.

“But the terrorist groups and rebels operating around the world must be eliminated as soon as possible. I’m sure you both know why.”

Of course I did.

As Magic Johnson had told us, the terrorist groups and African rebels had begun experimenting with Gates and Magic Gems.

I didn’t know what those experiments would produce, or whether they would succeed. But the experiments alone were dangerous enough.

Like nuclear tests.

The whole world paid attention whenever North Korea tested a missile.

Koreans, of course, just thought, Those bastards are at it again, and got on with their day. But that was because we knew they weren’t going to fire at us.

Terrorist groups were as crazy as North Korea. Crazier, even.

“You must have heard from Mr. Johnson. Today alone, terrorist groups carried out the same kind of attack simultaneously in California, Arizona, and Texas. And this isn’t happening only in the United States.”

President Doramp swept a hand through the hologram.

The globe vanished. Dozens of small windows took its place.

“Surrender! Put down your weapons now, and…!”

“God is great!”

“R-run!”

“BOOM!”

Dozens of languages, translated for me by the System, mingled in a deafening clamor.

People of different appearances and skin colors fled explosions or screamed as human bone and flesh sprayed over them.

“There have been thirty-two attempted attacks around the world today alone. Fortunately, as with the incident in Texas that made the news, the damage so far has been minor. But if the terrorist groups complete their experiments with the Gates and Magic Gems in their possession…”

Chuck Hagel, fiddling with his cigar, cut in.

“Fuck. Everything goes to shit. Monster Waves will break out at any time, anywhere, just like what happened in South Korea.”

Magic Johnson spoke with a sigh.

“And the rebels won’t stay quiet, either. They’re just as dangerous as the terrorist groups. They kidnap even children, brainwash them, and use them as soldiers. If it meant taking over a country, they wouldn’t bat an eye even if tens or hundreds of thousands of people died.”

Why did that remind me of the saying that human beings were capable of both the greatest good and the greatest evil?

The bodies of the people who had died before my eyes only weeks ago came back to me. So did their screams. A weight settled in my chest.

“Hmm.”

I glanced sideways at Team Leader Choi with a low hum.

His gaze was deeply sunken as he remembered someone who had left his side not long ago.

That can’t happen again.

I didn’t know how cruel people could become, or how many had to die or be hurt before this insane wheel stopped turning.

But at the same time, I felt relieved. I possessed enough power to stop that endlessly turning wheel, even if only for a moment.

And if I couldn’t stop it…

I’ll break it.

Having already made up my mind, I looked at President Doramp and suddenly spoke.

“When will the operation to wipe them out begin?”

He understood what I meant. A smile spread across his face, and at his signal, someone at the pentagonal table stood.

“Assuming the entire UN Security Council agrees, we estimate that it will take two months at the earliest to complete all preparations. At the longest, it may take more than six months.”

“Two months at the earliest?”

Slow. Far slower than I’d expected.

I frowned.

“Considering how dangerous you’ve said the situation is, doesn’t that seem like an awfully long time?”

“International law leaves us little choice. Deploying troops to countries in the Middle East and Africa without their consent would be a clear violation of their sovereignty.”

“Funny. My modern history textbooks made it look like you fought in the Middle East just fine. I watched a documentary criticizing the oil money involved, too.”

The key government official who had been listening suddenly lost his ability to speak and cleared his throat.

“Ahem… That was because of the 9/11 attacks. Under the new international agreements made after the Great Cataclysm—”

“Never mind. Two months really is the absolute earliest?”

“Ahem. Yes.”

I thought for a moment, then leaned close to President Doramp and whispered.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Anything.”

“Suppose someone nobody could identify—some mysterious stranger, for example—wiped out the African rebels or the terrorist groups in the Middle East. Would that break international law?”

“Pardon?”

“Batman. Spider-Man. Someone like that. And lower your voice before you answer.”

President Doramp stared blankly at me. When he finally caught on, he struggled to get the words out.

“So you’re saying that Mr. Jin would hide his identity and launch an operation against the terrorist groups…?”

“Me? Why would I?”

“But what you just said—”

“I never said that. It was an example.”

“W-wait, Mr. Jin.”

“This man is going to cause a disaster. Why would I do something like that alone? Unless I were some lunatic who stormed into Ares Guild headquarters by himself.”

“…”

A suffocating silence filled the room.

President Doramp stared at me as if I were insane. At last, he spoke.

“It seems I misunderstood. What an absurd thought.”

“Right?”

“Yes. In that case, we’ll end today’s meeting here. I’m going to leave the holographic tactical map behind by accident.”

“Ah. An accident.”

“Yes. It’s top-secret—more secret than any other classified information—so it must never be leaked outside. Especially since it contains the precise locations of rebel forces in the Middle East and Africa.”

“Anything else?”

“Everything necessary is in the materials. Not that you’ll have any opportunity to obtain them, Mr. Jin. You’ll be heading straight back to Korea, won’t you, Mr. Johnson?”

Magic Johnson had caught on. He nodded.

“Of course, Mr. President. Though Jin likes to travel. I wonder if it would be all right for me to take a few days off and spend some time with him.”

“Is that so? Is there anywhere you particularly like to—”

“Africa and the Middle East,” I said without drawing breath. “I go crazy for deserts. My dream is to pee in an oasis and give the Sphinx some Churu².”

Team Leader Choi added calmly, “I was born in summer, so I like hot places.”

“Well. What a coincidence.”

“Ready, Choi?”

“Of course, Johnson… No, that sounds a little strange.”

The conversation was bewildering, yet somehow going remarkably smoothly. Chuck Hagel clamped his cigar between his teeth and put an end to it.

“A lunatic is going to kill lunatics.”

He was right. Lunatics ought to die at the hands of a lunatic.

It was an ordinary day.

Muhammad Saladir ad-Din, leader of an armed Islamic terrorist group, had interrogated a foreign prisoner and killed a subordinate who’d gotten mouthy. Then he returned to his bedroom.

Before he could take off his outer clothes, he found an uninvited guest waiting for him.

“Stand up straight, Hassan.”

“…?”