Episode 98 [Hero?(1)]
Conference room in the Kremlin Palace.
The central screen of the conference room was showing Chairman Boris’s press conference on his return home, which had been broadcast on TV not long ago.
It was a brief conference held at the airport. Chairman Boris, dressed in a coat, was taking questions from reporters.
[You put on a great show at the press conference. When will that mana stone generator actually be installed?]
[You will be able to see it much sooner than expected.]
The chairman calmly answered the reporters’ questions. Given the situation, there were not many reporters gathered at the airport.
[You have become a cooperation partner. Can you tell us to what level you will cooperate? Exclusive rights or something…]
[Haha, of course I can’t tell you. Instead, I am confident that it will be of great help to the energy situation of my home country, Russia.] As
the Chairman looked at his watch and was about to conclude the press conference, a reporter raised his hand.
[This is a slightly different question, but due to the conflict between the awakened group called EV and the government, equipment support for the awakened people was cut off, right? What do you think about this issue?]
Chairman Boris’s face hardened. He opened his mouth with a serious expression.
[…I am also Russian. We are doing our best to contact EV. Even if our feelings are hurt and there are misunderstandings, we must save people first…]
“Oh my.”
The TV screen disappeared. Then, various charts were displayed on the screen.
The Minister of Energy, who had turned down the TV screen too late, continued speaking while looking at those around him.
“If the mana stone generator you just saw isn’t a scam, a major revolution in energy resources will occur. Fortunately, thanks to Chairman Boris, Russia was able to take action in advance.”
No sooner had he finished speaking than the Minister of the Interior criticized him.
“It’s the same in any country! “Isn’t this no different from saying that our land’s gas and oil have become more useless?”
The Minister of Energy glanced at the President and protested against the Minister of the Interior’s criticism.
“Anyway, if it’s the trend of the times, we have to get on board quickly. And we, Russia, can get more mana stones than other countries.”
The Minister of Emergency Planning, who had been quiet, suddenly blurted out a word.
“That’s why this mess happened now.”
Everyone sighed.
“Still, our army defeated most of the monsters. The monsters have gone back north.”
As the arrow seemed to be heading towards the military, the Chief of Staff opened his mouth.
“You haven’t recovered the stolen cities yet, have you?”
A rebuttal followed, but the Chief of Staff did not care at all.
“This is because of the civilians still remaining in the city. “If we can apply all our firepower, we can drive them all out within a few days.”
The generals all nodded, but the ministers sighed.
It was a ridiculous story.
It wasn’t even during World War II, but they were bombing cities where their country’s civilians remained.
It was not an easy story for the president, who had a record of destroying Chechnya.
“Besides, there are still monsters left in the St. Petersburg area, right?”
The chief of staff’s expression distorted at the next words.
The monsters’ offensive was no joke there. Although division-level or higher troops were blocking it, it was difficult to easily defeat them. Of
course, these were monsters that would be eliminated as time passed and reinforcements gathered, but the battle was now. What was happening was also true.
If he had accidentally released the monsters, there was no way to know how much damage it would cause.
As his face turned red, a small whisper was heard.
“If I had been able to use the awakened people, this wouldn’t have happened… .”
The conference room became quiet.
The President glared at the Secretary of Energy.
“ah! “That’s not what I said…” He
hurriedly came up with an excuse, but the Prime Minister was also ignoring him. The Energy Minister’s face turned black.
The President closed his eyes. Dealing with a Minister who made a mistake was always possible. .
The problem was how to drive the monsters in the city out of the city. If you could just push them out of the city, any monster could be wiped out by the army. Not long ago, a
tank unit was pushed into a small city, and the entire city was destroyed.
Damage After hearing about the situation, I couldn’t force my troops into the city.
‘I also became much weaker.’
When I was younger, I would have just crushed everything and pretended not to notice. He seemed to have become a politician now.
But I couldn’t let it go on. Once the monsters in St. Petersburg were dealt with, I had to make a decision. Either send in
the army or let the citizens do it. I guess I was waiting for him to escape on his own.
Phew.
I sighed.
I never thought that the disappearance of the awakened card would be this painful.
Bang!
The conference room door opened and an officer ran in.
People frowned. The officer ran to the Chief of the General Staff and whispered in his ear.
The Chief of the General Staff’s expression darkened. After hearing the whole story, the Chief of the General Staff opened his mouth.
“There is news that part of the defense line of St. Petersburg has been breached. They say some monsters have invaded the city.
The conference room is in an uproar . Flipped over.
“What!”
“What if it breaks through!”
“It’s a city with a population of 5 million! My family is there too!”
It was the worst. The city of St. Petersburg, which believed in its defense line, was not even evacuated.
Bang!
The president hit the desk.
“Everyone be quiet!”
The conference room became quiet.
The President opened his mouth while slamming down on the desk.
“Arm as much as possible and send the soldiers into the city. “Tell them to take all the grenade launchers and anti-tank guns!”
The Chief of Staff carefully presented his opinion.
“The damage to the soldiers will be very great.”
It just might not have been that big of a deal. Without proper firepower, the damage could have been greater than that during the first Chechen war.
“The damage to civilians will be severe…”
A cabinet member was about to quietly say something, but then closed his mouth. Now was not the time to say such a thing.
“And push in the government awakeners too!”
“There are no weapons. Everyone will die.”
“You guys are useless without equipment! Tell them all to die!”
“Your Excellency, please think about the future!”
All the cabinet members who were watching tried to stop the president.
In the end, the president had no choice but to retract his last words.
That was when.
Jiing. Jiing.
A cell phone vibrated somewhere. The president’s eyes turned to the Minister of Energy. The Minister of Energy
turned white. He took out his phone and tried to turn off the vibrate.
But he couldn’t turn it off. When he saw the number on his phone screen, he answered the phone from his seat.
“…Are you sure?”
The President crossed his arms and watched what he was doing. He wanted to see how far he would go.
“Thank you for your hard work. I will deliver it to you right away.”
He hung up the phone and looked at the President.
“This is Chairman Boris’s call. They say they have succeeded in negotiating with EV. EV said they will lift the embargo on Russia. The awakened people will also begin supporting Russia.”
The conference room became noisy again. The atmosphere was completely different from before.
“Are you sure?”
“The EV guys finally came to their senses.”
“Fortunately, the!”
“Since when did you come here?”
In the noisy conference room, the President watched the scene with a strange expression.
It was definitely a good thing, but something didn’t suit him.
But now was the time to get support first.
EV was annoyed, but it was okay to take as much as he could now and pay back later. .
The President gave instructions to the Minister of Energy. It seemed that the Minister of Energy would have to retire.
“Tell them to send me the details of the negotiation and the support plan!”
“All right.”
The Minister of Energy, who did not know what the President was thinking, bowed his head with a bright face.
*
Soon after, a live press conference began in the Kremlin.
It was a press conference presided over by the President himself.
“Are you trying to tell me to cheer up?”
“Monsters have come to St. Petersburg. They are digging it up on the Internet. Isn’t that why they are doing it?”
“What can I do? Anyway, my job is to report certain stories.”
Before the President came in, the reporters were whispering in low voices. Most of them were swearing at the President. The
President entered the press conference room. He headed to the press conference table set up in the center. He
sat on the chair, put his hands on the desk and clasped his hands.
Camera in front . The light came on.
He looked around at the reporters and opened his mouth.
“To the citizens who are suffering from this sudden ordeal, everyone, please be patient just a little longer. Today, the Russian government resolved the misunderstanding between EV and each other.”
The reporters’ hands were busy with the unexpected words:
“EV has decided to support Awakened equipment again. The Russian government has also decided to open its borders to receive Awakened support.”
“The border is already open. Awakened people are crossing the border. Equipment is also being flown to Russia. As soon as the equipment is received, the Russian military will begin a counterattack. We will save all the suffering cities!”
Reporters as well as citizens watching the broadcast widened their eyes at the unexpected news.
People who had been criticizing the Russian government and EV cheered, and people who were hiding at home listening to the radio also breathed a sigh of relief.
The president’s self-portrait continued . It was when the self-praise was about to begin.
There was a murmur of laughter.
The reporters started looking at their phones with surprised faces.
The cameraman also took his eyes off the camera.
The President looked around with a puzzled face.
The chief of staff standing on one side had a pale face. He came running.
He had a tablet in his hand.
The chief secretary showed him the tablet.
“This is the broadcast where the press conference was shown a little while ago.”
Instead of a press conference, a different video was playing on the tablet.
A Russian man and woman in military uniform were sitting down with a forest in the background.
The road they were sitting on had large holes in it.
The man and woman were looking at the forest in the distance.
Shu Wow.
There were numerous bombs flying towards the screen.
The screen turned white.
It was the last scene of an operation that had taken place not long ago.
The scene was repeated and a voice came out. It was a Russian woman’s voice that was nice to hear.
[Russian government’s request] This is the last video sent by an awakened person who participated in the operation.
EV had evidence that the Russian government killed our awakened people.
Just like yesterday, today, EV condemns the evil deeds and lies of the Russian government and the president.
However, EV nevertheless supports Russia. I decided to help.
It was because of Chairman Boris’s petition that we need to save countless people dying from monsters. We don’t
trust the Russian President yet, but we trust Chairman Boris and the conscience of the Russian people.
Sorry for keeping you waiting. We’ll leave now. ….]
Chisik.
Before the words were finished, the screen turned black.
Then, a message about adjusting the screen appeared on the screen.
Quasik!
The tablet was thrown to the floor and smashed.
“How dare you! How dare you!”
The President’s face turned red.
Bang!
The President hit the desk and disappeared out of the conference room.
“Are you going to be okay? You’re not going to cancel, right?”
“Wouldn’t that be too much? I don’t know what will happen later, but I’ll accept it now, right?”
It was impossible to write an article anyway. Reporters whispered softly as they looked at the door through which the President left.
The video and audio sent by EV were transmitted to everyone watching and listening to the live broadcast.
People who hide and listen to the radio, people who watch TV, and even people who use the Internet.
That day, everyone in Russia got to know Chairman Boris.
***
Tutututu.
It was so noisy inside that it was hard to hear Eve’s voice.
– Blocked. Hacking time 40 seconds. Unfortunately, I don’t think I’ll be able to hack it next time.
“That’s enough.”
Kyung-hoon stood up after hearing Eve’s report.
For Eve, a communication AI, it was not that difficult to get into a network-based homepage.
However, hacking the real-time transmission of a national broadcaster was completely different.
Thanks to switching to knight-level mana stones this time, she was able to hack the Russian state broadcaster and survive, albeit for a short period of time.
Tutututu.
The sound of the propeller spinning hurt my ears. Kyung-hoon opened the helicopter door.
It’s a disaster.
The wind rushed into the helicopter.
“Ouch! What is it!”
“Close the door!”
The surprised people shouted, but Kyung-hoon just looked at Jin-hyuk and said nothing.
“I go first. “Follow me.”
Kyung-hoon jumped out of the door.
“it’s crazy!”
“How high is it?”
“Do you know if you have a parachute?”
“There wasn’t one!”
Korean awakeners hung on the door and looked down.
A light was falling towards the city of St. Petersburg, where smoke was rising.
Jinhyuk shouted.
“Don’t worry, just close the door. We also have to hurry.”
The awakened people looked at Jinhyuk with bewildered faces, but Jinhyuk closed the helicopter door.
The helicopter descended quickly toward the ground.
The city of St. Petersburg, with dozens of smoke rising from it, was the target.
