181 – The Returner’s Anguish (3)

“I’m sorry.”

The Korean president bows deeply.

“To the unfortunate victims who passed away yesterday, the grieving bereaved families, and all citizens who may have encountered this accident… sorry.”

At a restaurant. At the airport. In a PC room. At home.

The president’s apology speech is being played everywhere the TV is turned on. It was an incident in which as many as 600 people died. The people watching were heartbroken and angry, but could not bring themselves to blame the president.

Who would have imagined that a huge tiger would suddenly jump out of Namsan Mountain and slaughter people? It’s a disaster. This is not an ordinary disaster, but a catastrophe.

“The 19 police officers who died in the line of duty… 23 players… “

Click.

“… “

Choi Ji-won grabbed the remote control and turned off the TV. With her trembling hands, she picked up the tea on the glass table and took a sip, but the tea was already cold a long time ago.

This is Kang Chan’s guild office. Kang Chan invited me and Choi Ji-won right after the battle with the tiger, and we decided to visit his office a day later, so we were sitting here now.

“… “

Disasters caused by the appearance of monsters are not just a problem in our country. Although there were differences in strength and weakness, monsters appeared from all over the world. All chaos was suppressed within 24 hours… The wound was not like that.

Countries such as Europe and Russia were among those that resolved cases relatively smoothly. The monster that appeared was weak, and there were fully prepared players waiting nearby, so we were able to deal with it without much sacrifice. (I think it’s probably thanks to Michael Jeter’s warning in advance.)

Places that suffered major damage… USA and Canada. These two suffered great damage to the extent of turning Korea into a ‘something like’.

First, a huge lightning eagle appeared in Canada. The eagle that appeared on the West Coast electrocuted numerous civilians with its mere presence and flew low towards the capital city of Ottawa.

There are no strong players in Canada. Those who were still there have long since moved to the United States. Even the land was so large that it was difficult for players to join in time.

At first, police forces were mobilized, then the military was mobilized, and even missiles were fired… Modern weapons could not suffocate him to his last breath. We can only assume that the eagle is wounded and hiding somewhere in the northern forest.

The estimated amount of damage cannot be estimated. Half of Canada’s fighter jets were lost, and the number of dead civilians easily exceeds 10,000.

However, even this was nothing compared to the state of the United States.

The United States… Central New York was devastated. The Statue of Liberty melted in the fierce battle, and the Empire State Building collapsed into rubble. The number of dead is still being estimated. This was largely because the fight broke out in the middle of the night, especially in a big city.

The dragon is dead. Thanks to the actions of Players Association President Michael Jeter and his colleagues, the evil dragon was killed… The heart and symbol of America has fallen. No one could be happy that he had defeated the monster.

However, the bigger problem was the giant werewolf of the West.

Werewolves had poor combat power compared to dragons. It was roughly similar to or slightly weaker than the tiger that appeared in Korea… The guy was smart.

When a strong man chased him, he quickly ran away and only targeted the weak civilians. He kept running away with quick movements and persistently killed only civilians. Since it appeared in the middle of the night, the damage was even greater.

The problem here is… The point is that the U.S. Government’s response was too, too late.

“The government is considering all available solutions, and the people, please… “

The President of the United States gives a speech with a stern expression. Unlike Korea, the response from reporters was extremely cold.

“There was a revelation that no instructions were given for about 5 hours after the incident occurred. “What have you been doing all this time?”

“We were formulating countermeasures in the bunker.”

“The military could not move because the President did nothing. “The ruling party has recently drastically cut the defense budget, so what on earth are you thinking?”

“I just wanted to deal with it carefully.”

“Let me ask you frankly. Where on earth are you spending your taxes? I hear news that the budget has been reduced everywhere, but I don’t hear any news that investment has increased. In return, the people became a handful of blood.”

“I am using it for this country.”

Although the US president was able to handle the situation well, the press conference ended quickly as he did not have the courage to withstand the waves of reporters.

-That crazy pig. Aren’t they using up the budget to build a secret bunker? What on earth were you doing standing still while people were dying?

-I wonder where he was tapping the butt of an actress.

-This really feels like impeachment. Have you seen government agencies whining recently about lack of budget? It’s clear that that idiot is doing something stupid behind his back.

People were shouting that the president was crazy. Protests took place across the U.S. To protest impeachment. Critics say they do not understand the president’s actions. The reason is that he does not know why he committed political suicide.

“Compared to that… Many say that our country responded relatively well. Is not it?”

“I did my best. “Isn’t that enough?”

Kang Chan sits at the head table and nods. He has now become a hero who has surpassed Choi Ji-won. This is because the body camera attached to the body of Kang Chan’s guild member captured the scene of him killing a tiger in one fell swoop. Kang Chan posted it on the internet again.

“I’m sorry that I seem to be hogging the spotlight. “If it weren’t for you, the sacrifice would have been much greater.”

“No… “It’s true that you were the one who defeated him last.”

“… “

Kang-chan and I have been talking to each other for the past few months. Choi Ji-won looks a little awkward even though we exchanged greetings earlier.

“What do you think? “I feel like a hero.”

“Honestly, it’s burdensome. Did you know there was a reporter outside? “There is a reason why there are blinds on the windows.”

“Oh my.”

We chatted for a while about various things, including the state of the world. Kang Chan had already noticed that Choi Ji-won and I had not developed at all, but… Thankfully, they didn’t ask me that directly. Perhaps they are trying to move on thinking that there is some kind of reason.

The moment I felt that the conversation was sufficiently ripe, I decided to get to the point.

“So… What is Doksuhee? “Why are you going with him?”

“Before I explain in detail… I got help from her dog Soo-hee and made her one promise to her. What we went together with was… “It’s because of the players’ association president.”

“The president of the association?”

Suddenly.

The moment I asked that question, Dok Soo-hee opened the door and came in.

“I want to talk to Junho alone. “I have something to tell you.”

“… Why me?”

Even if the two of you suddenly want to talk together, there is absolutely no reason for me to comply. I frowned without realizing it.

“You want to talk alone?”

Choi Ji-won seems to have a different opinion.

“… Okay, I’ll move out of the way. Should we have a cup of coffee for a moment?”

“Good.”

Choi Ji-won looks at me and leaves the office. Kang Chan shakily stood up and followed him.

Choi Ji-won knew the story that happened on the third floor because he heard it from me. Perhaps it was an opportunity given to me to sort out my past.

In the end, the two people left here were me and Dok Soo-hee. Only then does Dok Soo-hee remove her hood and take off her mask to reveal her face.

The overall impression is that the person has become sickly. Dark circles stretched down under his eyes, and his face became pale and pale. If she felt like Dok Soo-hee was like a high school girl before, she should say that now she is like a high school girl who refuses to attend school and stays at home.

“So, what do you want to talk about?”

I was the one who opened the conversation because I didn’t want to continue the conversation for a long time. A cold voice came out without me knowing, but Doksuhee just looked at me with a mysterious smile.

“I… “I just wanted to say let’s forget the past and get along.”

Dok Soo-hee says something uncharacteristic. Is this what you wanted to talk about only between the two of you?

“… To be honest, I don’t really understand.”

“What is it?”

“The reason you want to get along well with me.”

“… Why?”

“Four arms… “He’s fine now, but I was the one who blew it.”

Dok Soo-hee betrayed me. She said she had her own reasons, but from my perspective, it was just a slap in the back of her head, so I set a trap and blew off Soo-hee’s arm. Even now, I sometimes regret that decision. Was it right to blow off a high school girl’s arm?

Of course, I listened to her Dok Soo-hee’s past history, and she even activated her awe trait on her. She was friendly to me until the end. If she didn’t know I had blown off her arm, it wouldn’t be too surprising if she harbored good will.

However, she has no intention of becoming friendly with her. My theory was that someone who betrayed her once could betray her again. I even have Choi Ji-won by my side. She would never accept Dok Soo-hee as her colleague.

“My arm? “I already knew that.”

However, Soo-hee is the only one who nods her head without any hesitation.

“To that extent… It’s just a minor incident. “Isn’t it true that human relationships tend to involve fights?”

“What are we going to do?”

“Let’s just be friends. Like a friend. We also contact each other sometimes. “We also exchange tips when climbing the tower.”

“… “What if you don’t like it?”

“Then…” It can’t be helped. I have to give up. What.”

Dok Soo-hee expressionlessly tilts her head about 30 degrees.

“But do you know what?”

“… “

She came closer, one step or two, and then sat down next to me. The black, dead pupils are so deep that even a person would not notice.

“I, Junho oppa, have a weakness.”

Dok Soo-hee takes off the pink watch on her wrist and puts it on my wrist. She tapped, tapped, tapped the glass of her watch with her slender fingers and looked me in the eye.

“… “We need to talk about this more.”

Cold sweat runs down my back. What was a possibility has become a reality.

The condition for accompanying regression is emotion. The condition for a memory to be stored is that you must feel strong emotions towards the object.

At the time of her betrayal of Soo-hee, I felt her immense anger towards her.

“Good!”

That is… It appears that a regression has been triggered.