Chapter 61 - Black Calamity

"It's snowing."

Time flew by.

Since the last terror incident at the bridge, there was quite a bit of time left before Behemoth's dive into the Han River—or the 'Han River Nosedive' for short.

Since the event was slated to happen around March, I spent the time until then playing. Well, playing is good. Playing is the best.

Actually, I did consider staging another terror attack before the Han River Nosedive.

But the more I thought about it, the more I realized there was no need. Stardus had already become as strong as she was in the third year of the original work... and most importantly, it was winter. It was cold.

Mapo Bridge in December was freezing, so how cold would it be now? Terror is best committed when the weather is warm; that's a rule that benefits both the villain and the hero.

So, I stayed cooped up at home.

Might as well clear my backlog of games.

Even though I stayed home, I was never bored because there were so many people around. Me, Seo-eun, Subin, and Ha-yul's siblings—five of us in total staying in this mansion deep in the mountains.

The siblings returned immediately for winter break the moment we finally managed to send them to school. Huh? What was all that for...

I don't know why Seo-eun went through all that trouble, nagging her to manipulate administrative records just to get them into school quickly. Sorry, Seo-eun.

Anyway, having had a taste of school life, Cha-yoon—Ha-yul's younger brother—was studying even harder. No, why is a kid barely entering seventh grade studying so intensely? Don't middle schoolers usually play?

Watching Cha-yoon study so hard, even Ha-yul, who was watching from the side, started studying. Hey, you have a healing ability; you don't need to study, you know?

Well, Ha-yul is a high school senior now, so I guess it makes sense? Seeing Ha-yul belatedly opening books to study for the CSAT made me realize that whether in a past life or this one, Korean students are destined to study. Poor things...

Since Ha-yul had forgotten most of her studies while wandering the streets after high school began, Subin stuck to her like a private tutor. Right, I forgot, but Subin went to Seoul National University. She knows the most about college entrance exams out of all of us.

Wait, come to think of it, isn't Subin too busy these days? Even though we take turns doing housework, she assists Seo-eun and tutors two kids on top of that. Essentially, she's raising the siblings by herself. Anyone looking would think she's their mom.

While everyone was living busily like that, I was... uh...

Well, I've worked hard until now, right? I'm allowed to play.

Of course, I didn't just play. I periodically planned for the recruitment of 'Human Calamities'—that is, villains—and wrote in my diary...

Though, admittedly, the time I spent lying down and gaming with Seo-eun was overwhelmingly greater. We cleared dozens of games together sitting on the living room sofa. Some difficult games were impossible to beat unless we played co-op.

"Oppa! Parry quickly! Parry and save me!"

"Okay. There! Saved you."

"Phew. If we just kill this one, we clear it, right?"

I spent my time lazing around like that.

I didn't just play inside the house; on snowy days, we went outside to have snowball fights. I dragged Ha-yul's siblings and Subin out with me. It's not good for people to stay cooped up inside all the time; you have to go out and play, too.

"Ack! Oppa! Come here!"

"No thanks?"

"Hey! Teleporting is cheating!"

"Hehehe... Hik!"

"Subin, don't just stand there, join us! Hyah!"

"Da-in... You're dead..."

That day, I learned that Subin is scary when she gets angry.

Lesson of the day: Do not throw snowballs at a standing Subin's face.

The siblings were rolling snowballs together to make a snowman. It certainly snows a lot here since it's a mountain area.

A snowy mountain valley had its own kind of romance. It was a good decision to move houses. This place seems a hundred times better than the Underground Base. Since it's deep in the mountains and we set up devices around the perimeter, people don't come near, so we can stay outside as much as we want.

Of course, there is the issue of having to use the teleportation device every time we want to go to the city center, but that much trouble is worth bearing.

Christmas passed by smoothly; for a change of mood, we even set up a Christmas tree twice the height of a person.

Like that, January and February passed, and time flowed by leisurely.

...No, wait, time goes by too fast when you're playing!

Time passed just like flowing water.

Stuck deep in the mountains, I felt like I had slightly forgotten about the secular world. It was nice.

Occasionally watching Stardus fight miscellaneous villains while eating popcorn was one of the few events. Unlike Seo-eun, Ha-yul's siblings actually liked it, so we watched together. It seemed they watched it more like an action movie than watching Stardus herself, but... maybe they just liked eating popcorn?

While I was spending such a tranquil time, my Mango Squad kids seemed to be going through a tough period.

Slander against me continued from all sides, and I wasn't active.

Sorry, guys...! But the day we find the light will come soon, so just wait a little longer!

Doing this and that, it finally became March.

Cha-yoon entered middle school, and Ha-yul advanced to the 12th grade at her original high school.

I was slightly worried about whether they would adjust well, but seeing them making friends easily, it was a relief.

Both were assigned to a girls' high school and a co-ed middle school near the house where the Underground Base was located, and they were doing well.

Come to think of it, our Seo-eun is high school age, too.

When I gently asked, "Don't you want to go to school?" she replied asking why she would go there. She said she didn't even have enough time to fiddle with the computer network.

...Well, I didn't expect her to go anyway. Actually, it would be a bit troublesome if Seo-eun went to school. If Seo-eun isn't here, flaws appear in my plans.

Having lived together for three months, everyone had become quite close. Even Ha-yul and Seo-eun, who were slightly awkward at first, were now close enough to call each other Unnie and Dongsaeng. Time really is the best medicine.

Anyway, March slowly passed by.

Right.

It was finally time for it to happen.

The Alpha and Omega of Haneun Group's ambitious world conquest project. The day a giant king-sized worm, the size of the 63 Building, would pop out was approaching.

That bastard, who destroyed every city north of Seoul and even smashed North Korea in the original work. The day it would fall into the water and die in vain because of a single bridge I destroyed under the pretext of terror.

This would probably be the event where I twisted the original work the most.

The day the fate of South Korea, which was destined to plunge into a tragedy, would change.

Waiting for that day, I spent day after day.

And finally, one day.

It appeared.

***

Seoul, Daytime.

The city center overlooking the Han River.

This place, where various people gathered to do their own work, looked ordinary as usual.

Yes, until this moment.

"...?"

A vibration suddenly felt in the quiet city.

As the vibration shook the ground stronger and stronger, as if an earthquake had occurred, people fell into confusion.

The vibration shook the earth for dozens of minutes.

And then, snap. It suddenly stopped.

And then.

Suddenly.

From beneath the ground of the Haneun Group building facing the Han River.

Smashing through the building,

Something black burst out.

It was like a black tower.

A black calamity composed of countless tentacles.

KRAAAAAAAAASH-

This black thing that soared from the ground in an instant laid its body down on the ground with a THUD.

Looking like an earthworm enlarged to the size of a building, a thing that looked like it could destroy a city with just its massive bulk.

While people were screaming and scattering in panic at the sudden disaster.

It suddenly began to let out a horrifying screech.

Guh... Kreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeech... Kreeeeeeek...

Like the sound of fingernails scratching a chalkboard.

Like the wailing voices of hundreds of babies gathered together.

A horrifying screech where primal malice could be felt.

A sound loud enough to be heard anywhere in Seoul, a sound so horrifyingly loud it shattered all nearby glass just with its noise, emitting a frequency that no living creature should be able to produce.

That thing, looking like the apocalypse descended upon the present world, appeared as a disaster itself—come to judge humans, unstoppable by human hands.

Had the end of South Korea arrived so suddenly?

The thing, which had been in a lull for a moment, finally began to move.

Forward, forward.

Like a runaway locomotive, wriggling its countless tentacles.

As if it didn't know how to go sideways or backward at all.

Overturning the road, it began to march straight forward.

From a distance, it looked like a black tsunami.

Visible to the naked eye even from kilometers away, that thing marched straight ahead as if to destroy everything in its path.

And what lay in the path of that thing, charging straight ahead, was none other than the Han River.

Right in its path, there had been a bridge.

No, there had been one. Not anymore.

Some terrorist had smashed it to pieces not long ago, so now there was just empty air with the river rippling below.

And so, that terrifying monster—the one that looked like it would destroy Korea, the one that seemed unstoppable by any hero—charged straight into the Han River.

It plunged right into the water.

"SCREEEEEEEEEEECH!!!!!!!"

Suddenly, it let out a blood-curdling scream and began to dissolve as if the water were some kind of acid.

And then.

And then.

It was over.

".....?"

Peace returned just like that.

The catastrophe that had, just moments ago, been emitting horrific noise audible to tens of millions of people in Seoul, looking like a god of destruction—

It vanished so absurdly, so abruptly, as if nothing had ever happened.

Only the buildings shattered by its emergence, the overturned ground, and the Han River stained black remained to prove that something had been there just moments before.

The disaster that had appeared so suddenly vanished just as suddenly, five minutes after its arrival.

Incident over. Problem solved!

"Man, that was easy."

Lying on the sofa, munching on popcorn while watching the scene on TV, that was all I had to say.

Hmm, being out here in the rural mountains is nice—can't even hear the noise.

Won't property prices in the countryside go up after this? See how dangerous Seoul is, everyone!

Seo-eun, who had been eating popcorn beside me, just sat there with her mouth hanging open, staring at the TV screen, forgetting to even eat.

"No, wait. Wait a second. Oppa, wasn't that almost a disaster?"

Well, that thing's presence was pretty overwhelming, I'll give it that.

Still, in the original work, aside from devastating the area north of the Han River in Seoul, Gyeonggi Province, and North Korea, the other regions were mostly fine.

Ah. I guess that still counts as a disaster.

"Well, it got stopped, so that's what matters."

I just shrugged as I spoke.

Sure, one building got destroyed, but it was suppressed quickly.

People probably weren't too shocked, right?

***

[WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT JUST NOW ASJDFKL]

No seriously I thought I was gonna die

I live in Jongno and that thing, if it had come here I would've just died right?

My hands and feet are still trembling what do I do

The sound, I thought the freaking world was ending

=[Comments]=

[Give thanks to Mangostick for saving your life. If he hadn't destroyed that bridge, you'd already be dead.]

└ [Why is this true?]

***

Honestly, I just wished everyone would let this slide like nothing happened.

Please don't drag me into this.

"Oh, Oppa. Egostic just entered the real-time trending at number 10. Above it are all things like monster, Mapo Bridge, Haneun Group."

Yeah, I guess that was too much to hope for, huh?

Hahahahaha.