Chapter 121
“Wow! You look super strong! But why did the Gauntlet send such a gigantic Monster? I feel like people here are gonna freak out.”
While Sage Lunaris was marveling at the sight…
Seo Dan-bi, Ha Yumi, Shin So-mang, and Hwang Mir.
The four women were left speechless, gaping at the sky.
“Guys? Get a grip.”
“Ah, ah…”
At Sage’s words, the women snapped back to reality.
Seo Dan-bi and Ha Yumi tried to maintain their calm as they conversed.
“Is that… is that a Melody Fox? No way that’s its original size, right?”
“…It seems like it. It must have regained its original size after leaving the Labyrinth.”
“I had no idea it was such a huge Monster… No, more importantly, what do we do now…?”
“I don’t know… It feels like we’ve gotten ourselves into a massive mess…”
While they were discussing, the Melody Fox, with its eyes tightly shut, slightly opened them.
The narrow gaze of Melody was directed toward the gathering Assistants.
Melody quickly pinpointed the exact location of the Assistants.
[Kkyuu.]
Realizing that its massive size was causing trouble for the Assistants, Melody gently closed its eyes again.
In that moment…
A thick tuft of fur began to sprout from Melody Fox’s forehead, and at the same time, its gigantic body started to shrink.
“Oh. It has the ability to reduce its size? I’ll go over and bring that Monster back, so you guys just wait here.”
Sage said with a sigh of relief.
Quickly departing to fetch the Melody Fox.
Thus, leaving the four women awkwardly behind.
While Shin So-mang was tapping away on her phone, reporting the current situation to Kang Geon…
Breaking the brief silence, Seo Dan-bi spoke up first.
“Um, it’s a relief that it shrank back down… but isn’t it already too late? A lot of people probably saw it.”
“Yeah, there must be tons of photos and videos.”
As Hwang Mir replied…
Seo Dan-bi gulped, fiddling with her phone to check for any reactions online.
Unsurprisingly, the internet was in complete chaos due to the appearance of the giant fox.
Even more than when the Hedgehog Summoner’s spirits had appeared.
Skimming through the news, Seo Dan-bi quickly accessed the largest community in South Korea to see various people’s reactions.
===========================
[Super Giant Gumiho Appears in Seoul, LOL!]
[Photos]
[Videos]
These are real-time shots I took myself.
No joke. There are plenty of other witnesses too, and a lot of authenticated photos and videos already up.
And luckily, it has vanished by now, so don’t worry!
━OMG, I just saw it too. What on earth is happening?
━I saw it too. I thought my life was over, but then it shrank and disappeared suddenly.
━[Kkyuu!!!]
━Is this for real?
┗Everyone nearby was screaming and running away.
┗There was some fool filming it without a care. I can’t tell if they’re brave or just stupid.
━Monster apocalypse is here. Let’s just kill each other from now on.
┗Why would we kill each other? We should help each other survive, you lunatic.
━Yay! The door to another world has finally opened!!!
━Looks like the end of South Korea is near.
┗Nah, it feels like it’s the end of the world.
━That’s the fox god. It came down to clean up the human trash, which is like the cancer of Earth.
┗[Kkyuu God]
┗[Kkyuu!!!]
━What on earth is the government doing? Why didn’t they say anything until now?
┗What can they even say? What do you want them to do about this situation?
┗They should at least acknowledge it, say they’re figuring out a response, or that they recognize the seriousness of the matter. It’s absurd to act like everything’s fine while monsters show up, no?
━So Monsters really do exist?
┗Yep. There are still people who don’t know there are monsters. Don’t you watch YouTube or community sites?
┗The news says it’s all manipulated.
┗Why watch the news? You should be checking out community sites instead.
━I’m cautiously guessing it might be a giant hologram.
┗You’re delusional.
┗Still denying reality, huh?
━I’m envious. Only those living in Seoul are getting to see this. Can’t people in the province feel any jealousy?
┗It’s not a good thing at all. Seriously!
┗I hear the house prices in Seoul are about to drop.
┗Why drop? A great attraction popped up; it might actually rise even more!
┗Gotta move to Seoul!
━Gumiho existed for real.
┗Isn’t it supposed to have nine tails?
┗[Kkyuu!!!]
━This is so freaking scary.
━Crap, what do I do? Do I need to leave Seoul right now?
┗Aren’t you still in Seoul? I already moved to Busan ages ago.
━Why are you all making such a fuss?
┗Shouldn’t we be freaking out? A giant monster just appeared in Seoul!
┗What I mean is, that monster might not be our enemy. Why jump to conclusions?
┗Make some sense.
┗What’s unreasonable about that? Has anyone really suffered harm from this? There were zero fatalities, right?
┗We don’t know that yet, idiot!
━Helicopters have taken off. LOL
━Are they fighter jets?
━Is everyone in Seoul okay? Is there any damage?
━Surprisingly, there are no reported injuries.
┗Who then?
┗It was on the news. Not only were no buildings damaged, but as of now, there haven’t been any casualties reported.
┗There was someone who got hurt but seems to have tripped while running away. Or maybe someone shoved them.
━It’s a hologram, for sure. A monster this huge appeared, yet all the buildings and cables are intact? Does that seem realistic? LOL
┗Hologram conspiracy theorists need to GTFO.
━I wonder what the news will say now. I can’t wait to see them call this a delusion or manipulation. LOL
┗This incident can’t be buried. There are way too many witnesses and way too much evidence in photos and videos.
┗It was ridiculous when they claimed last time that two massive monsters appearing was an illusion too.
┗Seriously, they don’t think we’re idiots.
┗I witnessed that giant monster right up close.
━Why does this only happen in our country?
━Next time, I hope a dragon shows up. LOL
━Recruiting for Gumiho Subjugation Team.
━I work for the national intelligence, and I know that monster was created during some government experiment.
┗Is that true???
━You mean it appeared and then disappeared? How unfortunate. I wish it would have destroyed South Korea instead.
━I’ll just turn off my brain and live my life. If I die, I die, who cares~
━The government is still silent on this.
━The news is a complete mess right now.
┗This time they’re not saying it’s an illusion? What gives??
┗They know this is an incident that can’t be covered up.
===========================
“Wow, it’s total chaos…”
Seo Dan-bi mumbled, feeling a bit dizzy.
She rubbed her forehead and pulled her gaze from her phone.
Just then, Sage Lunaris returned.
“Everyone! I quietly brought the Melody Fox away, avoiding people’s eyes!”
[Kkyua! Kkyuu!]
Melody Fox wore a cheerful expression.
“And I quickly surveyed the surrounding area, and thankfully, it seems no one was harmed during this incident. It appears that when it was giant, it had no physical substance, similar to mist. Now, in its smaller form, it has substance.”
“So it was in a state similar to energy? That’s a relief…”
Sighing in relief, Seo Dan-bi responded to Sage’s words.
“But the internet is going completely bonkers; what are we going to do about that?”
“What can we really do? There’s not much we can accomplish.”
In a calm voice, Sage continued.
“Just think positively. This event could actually work out for the better.”
“Huh? How could this possibly work out for the better?”
“It raised awareness among people without any casualties. This might reduce the number of people doubting the existence of monsters. Plus, more people will likely start acting more cautiously, thinking they might encounter a monster, and will prepare accordingly.”
“Ah…”
Seo Dan-bi nodded as she mulled over Sage’s words.
From Sage’s perspective, the appearance of the massive Melody Fox didn’t seem entirely negative.
Moreover, while there might be some small chaos from this incident, it didn’t appear that there would be a significant social disorder.
People were gradually recognizing the existence of monsters already, especially after the recent event with the Hedgehog Summoner’s giant spirit.
‘Just like Sage said, there’s really nothing we can do, so I should just not stress too much and think positively.’
The other women shared the same sentiment as Seo Dan-bi and decided to simply report this situation to Kang Geon without looking into it any further.
“Um… Shall we head to my place first?”
So Seo Dan-bi and the four women moved to her home with the Melody Fox.
Avoiding people’s eyes as much as possible.
After arriving home…
[Kkyua! Kkyuuuu!]
“Yummy! So delicious!”
Trying hard to forget the earlier events, they spent time ordering delivery non-stop and treating Melody Fox to all kinds of food.
With slightly uneasy hearts…
*
Meanwhile, at the same time…
High-ranking officials in South Korea, including the president, were holding a meeting.
“Didn’t we control the media?”
“This time, it was unavoidable. It wasn’t something we could control.”
“Well, given the sheer number of witnesses and the mountain of evidence…”
They were not human.
To be precise, they were entities that had come over from the Otherworld and taken human bodies.
Their true identity was the Possession Race, the Sync Ghosts.
If assessed by Kang Geon’s standards, their danger level was around C and D.
“Ah… Besides that, I almost obliterated from fear just now. What kind of monster even exists like that?”
“Certainly, it was something we absolutely cannot handle.”
“As I mentioned before, there are monster women disguised as humans in this country. They seem to be hiding their powers, but if they reveal their full strength, they could be on par with what we saw today.”
“This is bad.”
“This country is definitely strange.”
“So I haven’t been saying for ages! This country is definitely strange! I felt two massive energies last time too, I clearly mentioned that!”
“Are you referring to the ones in the photos? I couldn’t sense anything just from pictures.”
“Of course, you wouldn’t sense anything from pictures! Think critically!”
“Wait, but why are such high-level beings so concentrated in this small country? Other countries seem fine!”
“It seems we misjudged our choice of country.”
“In Korean proverbs, there’s a saying about small peppers being spicy. Perhaps this is that case.”
As the dimensional veil of Earth becomes unstable…
Numerous forces are trying to engulf this world from the gaps created.
The Sync Ghosts were one of those forces.
However, after today’s meeting, they would make a significant decision.
“Regrettably, it can’t be helped. Our race shall withdraw from this world.”
They decided to step back from Earth.
This was an exceedingly wise decision.
And no one voiced any objections.
Everyone realized that Earth was a world they could not possibly handle.
This was merely the beginning.
In the future, stronger entities would inevitably come through.
“Of course, I’m on board, but it won’t be easy to return immediately.”
“I’m aware. How long will it take to create a return tunnel?”
“Hmm. If we give ourselves ample time, around 100 days.”
“100 days… Alright. We need to devise a plan before then.”
“A plan? What kind of plan?”
“I intend to prepare these Earthlings for the Great Invasion.”
“What? Why go through such useless endeavors?”
“I can’t stand seeing others happy. If we cannot have it, at least we’d better make it complicated and annoying for others trying to.”
The Sync Ghost possessing the president explained his plan while looking around at his kin.
Summarizing, the plans outlined were as follows:
● Supply Sync Ghost weaponry to the South Korean military.
● Establish a Bureau for dealing with Otherworld beings.
● Create a special forces unit capable of handling high-grade weaponry.
The weapons mentioned here were on a different level than Earth’s armaments.
If calculated based on Kang Geon’s danger level…
The weaponry they decided to supply the military would possess destructive power effective even against D level entities, while those intended for the special forces could strike C level beings.
Additionally, they formulated various other strategies.
Setting up shelters for ordinary citizens.
Organizing information making it easier for the original owners of the bodies to comprehend the situation.
Encompassing even ordinary humans who weren’t possessed.
Lastly, on the day they were set to return…
They planned to officially disclose the actual state of the planet Earth and release the captured entities from the Otherworld, exposing all information to the public.
“After all, we are leaving. Even if we disclose this information, the ones occupying the leadership positions of other nations won’t be able to do anything against us.”
“Haha. That’s a solid plan. I like that.”
“I like it too. I don’t want to leave without doing anything. It’d feel more satisfying to leave having caused some inconvenience to other Otherworld beings.”
After this day, they decided not to control the public’s opinion.
So that when the truth comes to light, it would be easier for people to accept.
However…
Conspiracy theories began to spill out, protests surged.
Regardless of what these humans had to say about the government, the Sync Ghosts decided to stay silent until their return.
This mysterious scheme had to be kept secret, for if information leaked to other countries, their lives could be endangered.
Thus, this plan had to proceed covertly.
“But couldn’t other countries attack South Korea when we disclose all the information and return?”
“That’s not our concern.”
“Still, I’ve grown somewhat fond of this country…”
“How could you be so attached after such a short time? Besides, other countries are much too busy with their own affairs to consider attacking South Korea. And if they do, we can manage easily with the weapons we provided.”
With a grand announcement approaching.
About 100 days until they declared war on the Otherworld…
The Sync Ghosts, having occupied the upper echelons of South Korea, swiftly began establishing and executing their countermeasures against Otherworld beings.
If they couldn’t take it for themselves…
Then at least they would ensure it would be difficult for anyone else to do so, driven by malice.