Chapter 259 - Association Bunker

# Republic of Korea is, in fact, quite distant from the mainstream of hero society.

With a smaller population, there are naturally fewer strong heroes. To begin with, there are only three A-rank heroes, and with North Korea being the only adjacent country, foreign villains rarely cross over. Anyway, rather than having significant connections to the international community, they're just busy dealing with their own internal affairs.

But now! Finally, our Republic of Korea has a chance to join the mainstream.

Specifically, a catastrophe that could bring the entire world to the brink of destruction will occur in Korea, caused by a Korean. Wow!

"....Haha. That's... quite an... amusing joke."

After I explained everything clearly, the Director grabbed his head with a devastated expression and muttered those words.

Especially after I displayed on the screen:

*

[Estimated time until Seoul's collapse: 5 hours]

[Estimated time until Busan's collapse: 3 hours]

[Estimated time until Gyeonggi Province's overthrow: 3 hours]

...

[Estimated time until Republic of Korea's destruction after incident: 14 hours]

[Estimated casualties: 20,000,000+ people]

*

The predicted outcome if we let the catastrophe unfold according to the scenario without intervention. Even more so after that. I noticed beads of sweat forming on his smooth head. Poor guy.

"So... what exactly are we supposed to do?"

Underground bunker.

After I very kindly explained about the Moonlight Church catastrophe that would occur at the end of the year, complete with estimated casualties and the resentful gaze of the international community, the Director, his mental state in tatters, muttered to me in a dying voice.

"First of all, how many underground bunkers have you built?"

"...After what you told me last time, we've completed quite a few."

"Pour more money into building more of them quickly across the provinces. There should be at least one in each area."

"Well, we've been receiving unusually good budget allocations lately, so that's doable."

"Hehe..."

As the Director nodded and answered, Lee Seol-ah, sitting beside me, smiled at me.

Of course, since Lee Seol-ah controls the budget allocation, she would naturally support it.

"So, what else do we need to do?"

"Next, we need to prepare in advance for that fateful day."

Saying that, I took out a marker and started circling areas on the large map of Republic of Korea spread across the wall.

"According to what we've learned, the catastrophe will begin in Seoul. This means the strongest, so-called boss-level monsters will mainly appear in Seoul."

As I spoke, I circled several districts in Seoul.

These are the places where particularly strong entities appear in the original story.

"...Then what do we do?"

"These ones need to be dealt with in a special way. The good news is that most of the common monsters that will appear in other regions, apart from these, can be affected by conventional weapons."

Of course, they're extremely resistant.

For example, it might take 100 bullets to equal one attack from a C-rank ability user. And with their sheer numbers, it's overwhelming. Most boss-level monsters are also immune to firearms due to some strange barrier.

Still, the fact that weapons work on at least some of them is a big advantage. We can use missiles and such.

"So for these provincial areas, we can destroy them with missiles..."

"The previous administration's president nearly got impeached for firing missiles at Seoul, and you want to fire more missiles?"

"...Honestly, wasn't that public sentiment largely due to your instigation, Director?"

"...Ahem. Nonsense."

At my incredulous look, the Director turned his head and cleared his throat.

I mean, who was it that appeared on the news every day during the Han Eun Group's massive weapon incident, cursing the president like crazy while claiming to protect Stardust?

...Well, he did the right thing, but anyway.

"In any case, the boss-level monsters in central Seoul will be the biggest problem. I'll handle them. Stardust will help too."

I stated with certainty.

In reality, it would be more like us helping Stardust rather than Stardust helping us, but...

"And now the issue is the metropolitan area and the provinces. I'll leave those to the Association's B-rank heroes, Icicle's PMC, and Shadow Walker."

"Understood."

"Got it."

Icicle and Shadow Walker nodded at my words.

They all seemed reliable.

"But... Egostic. Will my ability work on those things...?"

"Yes. It should work on most of them, so don't worry."

"...Right. Whew, haha. That's some good news for once."

Shadow Walker cautiously asked, and despite his tired face, he smiled brightly at my answer.

Hmm, he must have been going through a tough time lately. Well, recently, quite a few people like our Seo Ja-young have become immune to Shadow Walker's attacks at night. Thanks to the crazy power inflation in the original story...

Actually, around this time in the original story, Shadow Walker was living as a wild man after turning dark when his girlfriend died. He had very little screen time, living like a wolf in the mountains. Because of that, Stardust had to work all day without even evening breaks.

Anyway, despite his diminished status, having Shadow Walker officially help like this is a tremendous advantage. Being nearly invincible at night means he can go wild once the sun sets on the day of the catastrophe. This is also a major factor in my assessment that I could protect the rest of Seoul with just the PMC.

That's why I decided to give Shadow Walker some words of encouragement.

"Shadow Walker, you are actually the core of this operation."

"Hmm...?"

Though he turned to me with a questioning look at my words, his ears perked up with great interest.

I spoke to him gently.

"Could we really cover this vast area of Republic of Korea without you, Shadow Walker? Without your divine shadow movement and abilities, this plan would have been impossible from the start."

"Hmm, is that so?"

"Yes. Let me say it again, you, Shadow Walker, are the key to this plan. So please do your best."

"...Ahem, well, that's quite flattering. Alright, I'll definitely do my best."

Shadow Walker answered solemnly, but he didn't seem to notice his mouth twitching as it tried to curl into a smile.

...Poor guy, he must have been having such a hard time lately to be this happy over something like this. Maybe I should have paid more attention to him.

Anyway, as I unexpectedly praised Shadow Walker, Lee Seol-ah smiled knowingly, understanding why I was doing this. The Director was looking at me with an expression that said, 'Why is he suddenly acting like this?' Well, Shadow Walker's role is important, but the truth is that Stardust is the most crucial part of this plan.

Anyway, I revealed my final plan.

"In any case, this is my plan. I and Stardust will handle Seoul where the strongest monsters will appear. And the provincial areas below will be handled by Icicle and Shadow Walker. If you quickly evacuate all citizens and hold out for a little while..."

"I will close all the gates."

Yes.

This is my ultimate plan.

When monsters come through dimensional gates, Ego-squad, Stardust, heroes, and everyone else will evacuate citizens as much as possible and try to hold them off.

And during that time, I will take down the Moonlight Church leader to prevent more gates from appearing.

...Of course, since the dimensional rifts will be weakened, gates will continue to appear, making it physically impossible to block them all. But there's always a way.

"...I see. So we just need to hold out during that time?"

"Yes. We'll probably have to hunt down and kill each monster that's already been released... but we can prevent additional damage."

If we don't do this, the world will become a garbage dump with monsters popping out all day long, quickly reaching a near-extinction state and turning the genre into a post-apocalyptic one, just like in the original story.

This is what I've been talking about since I first possessed this body in this world - "the episode where the atmosphere of the work completely changes."

In other words, if we can't stop this, there's simply no answer.

"So, let's do our best. So that I can continue terrorizing in peace after this is over."

"Alright, I understand... Sigh, a Director working with a villain. I wonder how history will judge me later."

"Won't you be remembered as a wise ruler who joined forces with enemies to defeat a catastrophe in a moment of crisis?"

"...I hope so."

At Lee Seol-ah's words, spoken with a smile, the Director wiped his sweat with a handkerchief and muttered.

Anyway, finally.

Now, the Association has officially begun preparations.

***

On my way back after the meeting.

I quietly gazed at the dark night sky and fell into thought.

'...This should take care of Republic of Korea.'

The issue now is overseas.

Although all of the Moonlight Church's forces will be concentrated in Korea, gates will obviously open in other countries too. Of course, if I close them quickly, the damage won't be as catastrophic as in the original story, but there will still be some.

In truth, I'm protecting our country like this because of Stardust.

'That's right...'

If chaos breaks out overseas, it will naturally affect our country too. This means other countries need to establish countermeasures as well.

And that, of course, would be the job of the International Association.

"Kathedal will... open soon, right?"

After recalling the schedule briefly, I muttered.

Now, it's time to reap what I've sown.