Fired Characters from an Idle Game

39. That’s Tempering – (2)

The ruins were submerged in a frigid silence.

Upon the ashen gloom, a black feather of the harbinger gently alighted.

Above the city stained black, Karne, the Harbinger Mother, took a small breath.

Everywhere, the scent of decay and pestilence.

The stench of death.

The crows cried. Her kin. She gazed down. A corpse happened to brush against her foot, posed in a posture of prayer.

“…Pray tell, to whom did you pray, wretch?”

She asked, but naturally, no answer returned from the corpse.

Karne offered a bitter smile as she shifted her weight.

“I, too, once prayed, you know.”

How was it, back then?

A faint echo of her past self resurfaced from the depths of memory.

Karne, too, had prayed in earnest. She’d begged for salvation for her children, offered up supplications for boundless grace and mercy.

But what had she received in return?

“…”

Karne slowly knelt, laying her hand upon the mountain of corpses.

A black aura bloomed from her fingertips.

[5★ Omen Mother Karne activates Skill 「Mother’s Summons」.]

Spreading the ebony wings sprouting from her waist, she began to chant. The corpses strewn across the earth coalesced into a single mass, birthing a new familiar.

Such a familiar, formed in such a way, was a desecration, a blasphemy, but simultaneously, a new divinity.

[5★ Omen Mother Karne successfully synthesized a 3★ Black Resonance.]

Unique Skill, Mother’s Summons.

A skill that allows her to create her own familiars.

The price: countless calamities, or perhaps, lives.

It was a power she dared not wield within the peaceful rift of Actor, but the circumstances had changed. Karne was in a new dimension, and this place teemed with endless lives.

To harvest these lives and forge new familiars was hardly a challenge.

It was, after all, what she had done for so long.

And so, Karne’s ominous army already filled an entire mountain range.

“…Hmm.”

As she rose from her task of creating familiars, Karne’s enhanced senses caught a singular gaze.

A sharp, storm-filled glare.

[5★ Northern Sea Tempest Mirien is observing 5★ Omen Mother Karne.]

[5★ Omen Mother Karne perceives the Skill 「Eye of the Tempest」.]

“…The fledgling… what a pointless endeavor.”

When it came to tracking and detection skills, Karne held the advantage over Mirien.

Karne fixed her gaze directly eastward, a mirthless smile playing upon her lips. The Northern Sea Tempest, Mirien, hastily recalled their familiar.

But it was too late.

Karne confirmed that Actor, once her own progeny, was in that direction.

Given the Dominator Actor’s nature, he would surely come to meet her.

If that were the case, Karne could only wait.

With her newly crafted children.

And the doom that would follow.

“Wouldn’t you agree, Lungyen?”

At Karne’s call, the living corpse only blinked its eyes.

Arrayed around her were those who had once been human Awakened.

Soon, a tide of ill omen would break.

*

The position of Awakened Management Bureau Director was inherently one that would constantly clash with government officials.

In that sense, the only role and reason for existence of Yoo Jun-seo, the Bureau’s figurehead, was to grit his teeth and face those government people.

Just as he was now.

“What on earth is the meaning of this!”

The government official, the Prime Minister, slammed the report down, shouting.

“Civilian casualties alone number two hundred! Two hundred! This is a disaster of epic proportions!”

“…Well, you see, it couldn’t be helped.”

This fourth eruption caused civilian casualties, unlike the previous ones.

It couldn’t be helped.

Partly because the number of emerged calamities was incomparably greater, and partly because the dungeon eruption in Yeouido, which had occurred just two weeks ago, was devastating.

“I told you, Awakened aren’t necessarily heroes. Can’t we just frame it as they did their best, but it couldn’t be helped?”

Yoo Jun-seo pleaded his case.

Whether he did or not, the Prime Minister’s face turned mottled.

In truth, Yoo Jun-seo also had many grievances. They had done all they could. It was simply that the scale of the eruption was too great. Even amongst the Awakened, the damage was significant. The dedicated ward was already full, and there was nowhere to transfer the seriously injured.

“Compared to other countries, things here are practically angelic. If badgering would solve the problem, America would have been normalized long ago.”

Yoo Jun-seo’s words were indeed valid, but utterly useless in the political arena.

“What was that you said? You were lucky enough to get a high-ranking position, and now you’re trying to climb over me?!”

The Prime Minister flew into a rage, spewing insults.

For the record, Yoo Jun-seo listened with one ear and let it out the other.

Roughly summarized, it went something like this.

‘An organization run on national taxes… talking back?!’

With the funding source being the government, it was an inevitable course of events.

Yoo Jun-seo’s face crumpled. He scratched the back of his head, offering a justification that was barely a defense.

“Look, I’m saying it couldn’t be helped. Try to understand our side of things.”

Perhaps it was due to the unpleasantness, but his tone naturally shifted into a casual form of polite speech.

“If you don’t like it, have the President come himself. While his head is enjoying the good life in a bunker. You give us a pittance of a budget, and barely any support from the military, what more do you want?”

“…What was that about the military? Keeping an eye on North Korea at the frontlines is already a struggle, do you even know what you’re talking about!”

“In a complete mess like this, what meaning does a divided nation even have?”

Yoo Jun-seo sighed.

The story continued to spin its wheels.

The government side gave up first. The Prime Minister frowned, muttering to himself.

“This is why you shouldn’t put someone from special ops in charge of a bureau, tch.”

“What? Did your son even complete his full military service? A quick search on Namuwiki would tell you everything.”

Yoo Jun-seo was an ordinary citizen, but he wasn’t meek.

Moreover, his patriotism wasn’t particularly strong.

And he was certainly not some saintly figure who would just take the abuse and politely agree.

“From the beginning, wasn’t the damage caused by the government’s failure to properly control civilians?”

“What?”

“Seriously, why? It’s true. The Awakened Management Bureau doesn’t even have the resources to stop the disasters erupting from the rifts. Evacuating and controlling civilians is your job, so why are you getting angry here?”

In truth, Yoo Jun-seo knew that this entire farce was a show to create a justification for explaining things to the public.

But what could he do?

He had to say what needed to be said.

“You.”

The Prime Minister, who had been listening in silence, pointed a finger.

“If things continue like this, we will have no choice but to reclaim full authority over the Management Bureau for the executive branch.”

“Ha, now you’re saying you’ll cut the budget and suspend duties? What a goddamn joke.”

“A joke? Did you just call it a joke?”

Voices rose.

Yoo Jun-seo was also on the verge of going crazy with frustration.

It was around then, when the argument threatened to escalate even further.

“…E-excuse me….”

A staff member from the Administration rushed into the conference room, opening his mouth hesitantly.

“Can’t you see we’re in a meeting!”

“Ah, no… I apologize. But it’s terribly urgent….”

“Speak.”

Yu Jun-seo, having had enough, gestured with his chin, and the staff member carefully spoke.

“…S-Class Awakened, Nam Ju-yeon, made contact with a Chinese scout just now….”

“…”

Yu Jun-seo blinked a few times after hearing the news.

Then, he met the Prime Minister’s gaze, a man he’d been in the middle of a heated dispute with moments ago.

“Damn it, why aren’t you calling her!”

“…Find her, immediately!”

They spoke as one.

*

“Actor, that b*tch Karne saw me.”

As soon as Mirien returned to the base after hearing the full story from the Chinese scout, that’s what she said.

“That b*tch, she was creating familiars. Already hundreds of them.”

“….”

The suspicion had become truth.

Karne, the Mother of Omen’s, signature skill, “Mother’s Call.”

Like Selene’s Saint Flame Imprint, and Mirien’s Thunderstorm, this skill, classified as Unique grade, was one of the most peculiar skills among the Disaster Order, guaranteed to synthesize a 3-Star Calamity.

Of course, in the game, it was treated like a useless burden. Consuming a tremendous number of Calamities to make a mediocre 3-Star was hardly useful.

However, now that reality had become a game, it was different. I finally understood why Karne had settled in China. A large population also meant an abundant supply of materials to turn into familiars.

It was time to come up with a plan.

But….

“…However, Master….”

“What is it.”

“There was an observer.”

“I know.”

I pulled out my phone.

A swarm of missed calls.

Most were from the Bureau, but a few were personal numbers, unknown to me except for Yoo Jun-seo.

Just as Selene had said, I was being watched.

“…Since the Bureau’s calling, I guess I have to show up.”

“If they try anything with you, my lady….”

“Don’t worry, Selene.”

I shrugged, looking at her.

“I’ve got a decent grasp on how to play my hand in this fucked-up world now.”

“…What exactly does that mean….”

“Oh, Selene, lend me something, will you?”

Selene tilted her head at my words.

*

“This is a grave matter, Ms. Nam Joo-yeon. Even for an S-class Awakened, this crosses the line.”

As soon as I stepped into the Bureau building, a suit from the government accosted me, spewing words. He looked to be in his fifties, and I vaguely recalled his face from the pre-cataclysm elections.

I half-listened to him as I continued walking.

Soon, I entered the conference room where Yoo Jun-seo and other government officials were seated. The moment I appeared, they all stood up, each spitting out a question.

“Ms. Nam Joo-yeon! What is the meaning of this!”

“You’re aware of our national security regulations, aren’t you? You contacted foreign recruiters without even a report? How are we supposed to understand this?”

“What exactly were you thinking, meeting with a Chinese recruiter in private? Did you naively believe you could have an ‘exchange of information’? Do you think they would have simply met with you for no reason?”

“Be honest with us. Did China offer you something? Some kind of condition we don’t know about?”

Most were accusatory.

I was dumbfounded.

Like it was my fault.

“…Ha.”

Unsurprised by the unfolding scenario, I glanced at Yoo Jun-seo, standing awkwardly to the side.

Our eyes met, and he clasped his hands together, offering an apologetic gesture, careful not to be seen by the others.

I didn’t react, facing forward.

“S-class Awakened Nam Joo-yeon! Answer the question immediately!”

It felt like I was in a hearing room.

In truth, their intentions weren’t all that different.

Their aim, most likely, was to corner me with their overbearing pressure, to essentially break me.

Already frazzled, why were these pathetic excuses for people so desperate to devour me whole?

“Let me begin by saying…”

To play meek here would make me less than third-rate.

And I *had* to be first-rate.

“Everyone, shut your traps.”

My words brought them all to a halt.

No reason to watch my back.

And so, I intended to meet them with audacious insolence.

“Excuse me for a moment.”

“U-uh, yes?”

Just then, I grabbed the sleeve of the first person to catch my eye: the assemblyman who’d guided me here from the Administrative Bureau entrance.

I was confident in my strength. I was a vigorous twenty-something, and he was a feeble old man in his fifties.

Though, even without confidence, it would’ve been fine. I was wearing solid sneakers, after all.

*Thwack!*

I kicked his shin with all my might.

A veteran of military service, I knew a thing or two about pressure points, and the assemblyman, shin kicked, groaned, hopping on one foot. I seized his hair and slammed his head against the desk.

*Crack!*

A dull sound echoed.

The assemblyman slid down to the floor. A smear of red blood and fragments of a broken tooth marked the desk.

“…So.”

Only silence hung in the conference room.

“If I want to do things my way, what business is it of yours?”

Feeling a little better now.