Episode 289 [Maria]
For Kyung-hoon, that day was not much different from any other day.
As always, the usual routine of dealing with monsters the day before and checking on businesses today continued.
Perhaps that was why Kyung-hoon muttered without even realizing it.
“Have I fallen into mannerism too?…”
The traffic light turned red.
Kyung-hoon stopped the car and looked out the window with a gloomy face.
People were moving about busily. The gloomy atmosphere that had spread throughout the city had largely disappeared.
Elsewhere Although the situation was still difficult, the atmosphere in Korea was clearly improving.
Manufacturing and other industries in the past were leading the atmosphere, but the economy was also gradually reviving.
Among the companies leading the atmosphere, companies in which Kyung-hoon invested and item manufacturers There were people saying,
“Everyone is taking care of things now.”
These were companies that initially grew with Kyung-hoon’s investment and support, but now the companies he invested in have grown into full-fledged mid-sized companies. No one could
ignore Kyung-hoon, who had a significant stake in each company, but now there is a problem in continuing development without him. “Monsters are also less frequent…”
A few months after destroying the tower, the movement of monsters began to decrease. The few
monarch
-level monsters that were there were nowhere to be seen, and there was no reason for Gyeong-hoon to go out like before. The
same was true in other worlds.
After the goal of the tower disappeared, I didn’t go to the destroyed world often.
It was because I didn’t feel like traveling through a world full of monsters alone.
“…I guess I’m not homesick.”
But it was hard to be sure that it wasn’t. Unlike before, he was feeling quite lonely. While
sighing at the pitiful thoughts, he saw a woman standing on the side of the road, sighing continuously. It
was someone he knew.
Just then, the traffic light changed, and he was happy to see the woman. He drove forward.
He stopped in front of the woman and greeted her.
“What kind of monk are you here?”
The woman who raised her head at his words made a strange face when she saw Kyung-hoon. Her
face was a mixture of joy, surprise, and regret.
She sighed again and said to Kyung-hoon,
“Didn’t I tell you before that we shouldn’t pretend to know each other?”
Kyung-hoon shrugged.
“That’s just what I heard one-sidedly, and I didn’t agree. Well, if you still feel the same way, you can just go…” As
Kyung-hoon pointed forward with his finger, Maria shook her head. .
“Well, maybe this is fate too… Well, it’s all doomed anyway.”
She muttered softly and got into the back seat.
“I’m depressed. Would you like to join me for a drink?”
“It seemed so, so I spoke to him.”
“Well, you don’t have a very nice face either.”
Kyung-hoon chuckled at Maria’s words.
Boom.
The car started again.
“Can I call you Kyung-hoon? “I don’t know everyone’s name…”
“You can call me K.”
“That’s a nickname I don’t know. There are many nicknames, such as dimension shifter, mystery, best awakened, etc…”
“This is the first nickname I’ve heard here.”
“Wow, is this a secret only I know?”
As expected, I got along well with Maria. Tension was relieved and loneliness decreased.
Maria also looked better than before she got in the car.
“Where shall we go? Hmm, the house is right in front of me. Can I go there? “There is a good wine bar.”
“swimming? Are you flirting?”
“Does it look like that?”
“no. Not at all. “It looks like he just wants to drink.”
She curled her hair with her fingers and grumbled softly.
“Am I that unattractive? They’re all stupid idiots.”
Kyunghoon laughed out loud at her words.
A moment later, the car entered the basement of a high-end officetel.
*
It’s been a while since Gyeonghoon’s house wine bar welcomed customers.
The wine bar took up an entire wall in the living room of the top floor penthouse.
Lots of wine filling the walls and long tables and chairs.
No matter how I looked at it, this wine bar didn’t look like a home wine bar.
“Wow… this is a really nice bar?”
“Yes? “I paid some attention.”
The wine bar alone exuded sophistication in a dreary interior with little interior decoration.
Kyunghoon went inside the bar and started making cocktails.
“Oh, you were a bartender before you became an Awakened?”
Kyung-hoon shook his head at Maria’s surprised words.
“Not really. “I did learn from a professional bartender, though.”
It was because of that bartender that the wine bar gained such strength.
Maria sat down on a chair and placed her arms on the bar.
“Then you can taste the alcohol made by the world’s greatest awakened person? hmm. “I must have lured several women with this.”
Kyunghoon shook his head.
“This is my first time having a female customer.”
“yes? “I’m your first time?”
“I am the first woman to enter this house, including the wine bar.”
“Eek!”
Maria gaped at Kyung-hoon’s words. She narrowed her eyes and looked at Kyung-hoon.
“No way, she likes men…”
“No!”
Kyunghoon answered firmly.
Absolutely not. It’s just that although quite a bit of time has passed, for some reason it has been difficult to date women here.
“Well, if that’s the case…”
Kyung-hoon couldn’t help but laugh at Maria’s vague attitude.
“But after becoming an awakened person, that drink became incredibly strong. “Is it high alcohol content?”
“What I’m making now is bomb liquor exclusively for awakened people. It is a drink that is difficult for the general public to consume. “It would be good for an awakened person to drink.”
“Oh, that’s why you came here. Great. “After I became truly enlightened, I couldn’t taste alcohol properly.”
“Oh, but Mr. Kay’s grade is much higher than mine. “Can you drink the same thing as me?”
Maria asked with sparkling eyes.
Kyunghoon shook his head.
“The mana in the body purifies alcohol and almost all poisons that enter the body in real time. “The alcohol that awakened people drink just tastes like fruit juice.”
“Then it’s not a masterpiece. “If that happens, I’ll be drinking it alone.”
Kyung-hoon grinned at the expression on his face that said he didn’t like it.
“Well, it’s not like there’s no way.”
He poured a cocktail into each glass and placed it in front of Maria and himself. Afterwards, he lowered the arm wearing the ring and took out a potion from subspace.
widely.
A potion was placed on the table. There was about two-thirds of the potion left in the bottle.
“What is that? “It looks like a potion… It’s the first brand I’ve seen.”
“It’s a homemade potion. This was given to me by a close colleague. “The effect is amazing.”
It was the last remaining potion among the ones Jin Xiawei gave her.
I used both combat and support potions, but this one was useless.
Stamina enhancing potion.
“It was originally a product used for something else, but it had an interesting side effect.”
He opened the potion bottle cap and poured a few drops of the potion into his glass.
“When I mix this potion with alcohol, the alcohol in the drink breaks through my resistance and enters my insides. To put it simply, you get drunk.”
“Then isn’t it dangerous? They say it weakens poison resistance….”
“Unfortunately, it’s not that big of a side effect. Only alcohol is allowed. It only works on alcohol. Thanks to you, I can now drink.”
Kyung-hoon raised a cocktail mixed with potion. Maria laughed and raised her own glass as well. The two drank without saying a toast.
Maria drank for the first time since becoming an awakened person.
My eyes widened at the taste of the alcohol, and Kyung-hoon also looked satisfied with the slightly intoxicating taste.
“Wow, if I sell this to the awakened people, I’ll be very rich. I guess there’s no need to open a bar right away.”
She looked around the house and pouted.
A few drinks were passed as they chatted and made useless small talk.
“I’m going to go to the bathroom in a moment.”
Even the best awakened person had to run errands.
“Yes, please go back.”
Maria answered in a slightly relaxed voice, and Kyung-hoon went into the master bathroom.
As he disappeared from the living room, Maria’s expression changed. She looked at the potion on the table with a stern face.
“Is it really fate… or is it not? “Who is pushing my back?”
Maria’s sigh became deeper.
After Kyung-hoon came back from the bathroom, the drinking party continued. Perhaps
because he had relaxed, the drinking took longer than expected.
And at some point, Kyung-hoon lost his memory.
***
The time when Kyung-hoon fell asleep.
America As always, it was monitored by satellite.
Even though the hegemony of the Earth was lost to monsters, humanity still took time to adapt to the changed world.
In particular, the United States, a superpower, maintained its strong power even in the changed world.
The United States wanted other countries to manage it. The power was clearly demonstrated by the continued launch of the abandoned satellite.
Under the Rocky Mountains.
In the satellite control room of the Air Defense and Space Command, many control personnel were still controlling the satellite.
“But now, ordinary spy satellites are not very helpful. “Monsters are different from people. There are many monsters hidden in nests, and there are also ones that settle underground…” The
senior agent grumbled, looking limp from fatigue. He hasn’t been able to go home for several days already.
It has been a long time since the focus of work shifted from surveillance of enemy countries and terrorist organizations to surveillance of monsters, but the method of surveillance on the ground has not changed from before.
I couldn’t help but complain about the tedious work and the reduced manpower.
“But it’s still better than other countries, right? It seems like all the satellites there are are giving up. “Why don’t we just keep shooting?”
The new agent who was watching the terminal from the side countered his words.
“They are all military satellites or communication satellites. These days, ‘NASA’ is closed.”
“No, what kind of ‘screw’ are you worried about at the Strategic Command? They were tax thieves from the beginning. “In times like this, you have to suffer harshly.”
Like other young Space Force agents, he seemed dissatisfied with NASA.
But older people thought a little differently.
“It’s a romance. “I was originally from NASA too.”
“Thanks to coming here, I didn’t lose my job.”
“Is that how it happens?”
The senior agent burst into laughter.
The young agent was not wrong. Most of my colleagues at NASA were playing at home.
“And I heard that the Jet Propulsion Laboratory is building a mana detection satellite. They say that all mana can be detected. Just shooting that would be a big help.”
“I heard it too. But it’s just the beginning, so I wonder how long it will take…”
“Well, we’ll have to wait a few years.”
Hearing his words, the senior agent suddenly remembered another rumor:
“Is it true that you received help from Korea to build the satellite?”
“Yes, it’s true. They say they are collaborating with a Korean company on technology.”
“It’s amazing. That small country survived a cataclysm, and we can learn a lot about mana engineering…” “
There’s a lot of robotics engineering and item manufacturing, so it seems like technological cooperation is active.”
“What is there that causes all that to come out? Dimension shifters are also from that country.”
The answer to the senior agent’s question came from an unexpected place.
“It looks like there’s something on that land. Please take a look at this. “A satellite passing over the Korean Peninsula found something.”
The agent who had been analyzing satellite photos for a while waved his hand at him.
Anyway, if I wanted to report it, it had to go through his hands. He stood up and went next to the analyst who spoke.
The screen the agent was looking at showed a crater with a lake in it.
“Is it a dormant volcano?”
“Yes, it is a volcano located in the north of the Korean Peninsula, called Changbai Mountain in China and Baekdu Mountain in Korea.”
“But why? “It’s an ordinary photo.”
At his words, the agent manipulated the screen.
“This is a picture I took two days ago, and here is a picture I took yesterday.”
The screen changed with the agent’s words.
It was a photo taken by a satellite from the same location. Other parts were the same as before, but there was one thing. A huge symbol appeared next to the lake.
“Manazin?”
At his question, the agent moved the screen again.
“And this is a photo I took today.”
The pattern disappeared, leaving a black hole in its place.
Monsters were popping out of the hole, and there were many monsters around the hole.
They all looked like monsters popping out of a hole.
“A hole that summons monsters?”
“It looks like the portal the dimension shifter was talking about.”
“Was that a real thing?”
At his words, the agent pointed to the screen.
“This is my first time seeing it in person. But traces have been found many times.”
“And the monster that was where the traces appeared also appeared here.”
There was no need to enlarge the screen. Even the senior agent recognized the monster right away.
“Italian destroyer?”
“Yes, this is the guy who disappeared from Pompeii a year ago.”
A huge stone giant stood next to the crater.
“After destroying Italy, this time it’s Korea… I guess they’re targeting Korea, right?”
“Korea is the only country around Mt. Baekdu that is in good condition. “It has been a long time since China moved its capital to the south, and Russia also gave up on eastern Siberia.”
“I need to tell Korea. But I don’t know if Korea can stop it.”
“I can’t help it. “Now that logistics are blocked, it is difficult to go to help.”
He nodded at the words of his successor. He gathered the materials and headed to the commander’s office.
The commander who received the report immediately notified the White House, and the White House immediately contacted the Blue House.
Early in the morning, the Blue House was shocked by the news from the United States.
***
Kyunghoon opened his eyes in the morning sunlight.
Kyunghoon was confused. I was definitely drinking yesterday… and where I was now was on the bed.
He took off all his clothes and covered himself with a blanket.
Kyunghoon frowned. I had no memory.
“Surely you lost your memory after drinking?”
That couldn’t have been possible. Since becoming an awakened person, I have never lost my memory after drinking alcohol.
He got up. The blanket was wrinkled, but there was no one sitting next to me.
He roughly wrapped himself in a bed sheet and went out to the living room.
In the living room, traces of drinking yesterday remained.
Drinking glasses and bottles taken out.
And an empty potion bottle.
Kyunghoon picked up the potion bottle.
“It’s empty?”
But he only added a few drops of the potion to the cocktail he was drinking.
“Could it be… Maria put it in?”
He looked around the room with a serious face.
Nothing was lost.
Moreover, all the important things were in subspace, so it didn’t matter if they disappeared.
My physical condition was also good. There was no pain anywhere and mana movement was fine.
“I don’t think it’s okay…”
The last blocked mana circuit was almost opened.
If things continued like this, it seemed like he could soon regain his former power.
And he was able to find a note stuck in the crack of the door.
[I’m sorry.]
It was a note with a simple apology written on it.
“Is this a confession note?”
Kyung-hoon crumpled the note with a bitter expression.
No matter how much he looked at it, it didn’t seem like he had been particularly harmed, but it never felt good to be
treated like this. He had been betrayed by someone he trusted.
Of course, he may have been the only one who trusted him, but the pain that went down his neck was It was not a small thing.
“I need to know why.”
Kyung-hoon wasn’t going to just give in to an apology. Since
I knew where she went, I was planning to turn things around properly.
It was then.
Tiriri-ring.
A call came to Kyung-hoon’s cell phone.
Kyung-hoon frowned at the call that came early in the morning, but the number was I checked and immediately answered the phone:
“This is a first-level situation. You need to come right away.”
The voice of the President of Korea was heard on the mobile phone.
