A middle-aged man with platinum-blond hair was gazing out the window with a slightly tired face. The slim man, standing a little over 180cm tall, adjusted his glasses and looked down at the late summer sea.
The blue sea of Los Angeles always managed to calm his heart. Staring at the blue horizon, he felt some of his fatigue ease.
Only then, feeling a bit more energized, he crossed the room and walked over to his desk. Sitting down on the glossy wooden chair, he let out a small sigh.
It had already been almost a year since he started using this office. Yet he still hadn’t gotten used to it.
No matter how he looked at it, this room was simply too large. The luxurious furniture, the sophisticated wall decorations, and above all, the overwhelming size of the room-though he had truly become a VIP in this world, whenever he recalled his status as a researcher in the other world, he couldn’t help but feel like he was wearing clothes that didn’t fit.
He glanced at the nameplate on his desk.
[Link System CEO Arthur Huxley]
This was his title in this world.
Knock knock.
He heard a knock at the door. When he pressed the bell, his secretary opened it, and two men entered the room.
One of them was a well-built Black man. Though he appeared to be in his forties, his tall height and robust physique made one forget his age. He spoke to Arthur, who looked tired.
“Looks like you pulled another all-nighter yesterday.”
In response to the Black man’s question, Arthur rubbed the back of his neck and answered.
“I’m neither a scientist nor an inventor type of CEO anyway. But thanks to that, I was able to finish it yesterday.”
Upon hearing his words, the other man’s eyes gleamed. He was a white man with sharp features and brown hair, dressed neatly in a suit, giving off a somewhat cold impression.
“The Dimensional Connector has been completed, then.”
“Yeah, it was tough.”
At the white man’s words, Arthur nodded. He had barely managed to complete it today.
“You see, to develop objects that use Dimensional Power, Dimensional Power has to be spread across this world. Detectors and Dimensional Power Meters are simple in structure, so they’re easy to develop, but Dimensional Movement Blocking Devices and Dimensional Connectors are much harder.”
Saying so, he moved to sit on the sofa in the center of the office.
Arthur gestured for the two men to sit on the sofa as well.
As he took his seat, the Black man tilted his head slightly.
“I still don’t understand why you and Robert are so obsessed with the Dimensional Connector. To put it bluntly, it feels like you’re creating an escape route.”
Arthur gave a bitter smile at his words.
“If that’s how it looks, so be it. I have my reasons. Plus, there’s also a bit of scientific ambition involved.”
The Black man turned to look at his companion.
When he looked, Robert answered calmly.
“I needed to make sure there was a way to another dimension.”
“Tch, you perfectionist.”
The Black man made a disgusted face at him.
“So, would you care to tell me why the two pillars of this company have come to see me? As you can see, I’m pretty exhausted.”
Arthur looked at the two men in front of him.
Each of these two men represented one of the company’s two major factions.
The well-built Black man named Dennis Martin was the representative of the Linkers, while the sharp-featured white man was a direct subordinate of the chairman, overseeing the research team and some Linkers.
The sharp-featured man, Robert Stevenson, answered on behalf of the president.
“It’s fortunate that the Dimensional Connector has been completed. We came to report that the time has come.”
At Robert’s words, Arthur adjusted his glasses and looked at him.
“As expected, B-Rank monsters have been confirmed to appear at two-month intervals. It’s the same interval as in the previous world. Although C-Rank monsters have appeared in between, the appearance interval of B-Rank monsters has remained consistent.”
Arthur nodded at his words. It was just as he had anticipated.
Each dimension was desperately defending itself to prevent lifeforms from other dimensions from crossing over. It was only natural that it would take a long time for Detection-type monsters of B-Rank or higher to cross dimensions.
Robert continued speaking.
“So far, B-Rank monsters have appeared three times: first in the United Kingdom, then in Korea, and lastly near Chicago. Of these, the raids in Korea and Chicago were successfully completed, excluding the UK.”
“Ugh, it was a close call. If Carrie and I hadn’t just ranked up to B-Rank, Chicago would’ve been wrecked too.”
Dennis shuddered his large frame.
“Seeing that, Korea is pretty amazing. Rumor has it there’s even an Awakened who reached B-Rank.”
Arthur looked intrigued.
“An ordinary Awakened. It seems they manifested their abilities late in the other world. They weren’t on our list.”
“Can’t be helped. We don’t know everything.”
Arthur shrugged at Robert’s words.
“Anyway, with B-Rank monsters confirmed to appear every two months, we have to counterattack before Dimensional Beasts show up. If we don’t, we’ll keep getting pushed back like in the last world and eventually face a Dimensional Beast assault. We need to reduce the number of high-level Detection-type monsters as much as possible beforehand.”
“We talked about that before. So, the time has finally come, huh?”
Arthur cut off Robert’s words.
“Yes. We need to gather as many Linkers as possible and first eliminate the Detection-type monsters occupying London. Of course, it would be even better if we could recruit more high-level Awakened.”
“There will be strong opposition from other countries.”
“I think we can handle that. After all, what happened in the UK could happen in their own countries too. Right now, aside from Korea and the United States, no other country can eliminate B-Rank monsters. They’ll probably welcome us with open arms. Since we’ve already discussed it with our country, there shouldn’t be any problems.”
At his words, Arthur nodded. The plan itself had already been decided. It was just waiting for his approval.
Martin grumbled from the side.
“If we’re going to dispatch overseas, we need to think more about the Linkers’ welfare. They’re already complaining about suffering after crossing over. It’s only going to get tougher. We need to calm them down now.”
“More importantly, isn’t the management of the Linkers falling apart? During the recent relic incident, three Linkers didn’t return. I’d prefer we properly manage the Linkers first before talking about anything else.”
At Robert’s words, Martin scowled and growled.
Arthur raised his hand to stop Martin from losing his temper.
“This time, the company will provide sufficient compensation. Especially for the Awakened participating in the upcoming UK raid, we’ll pay triple the usual allowance and distribute relics owned by the company.”
Martin’s eyes widened at his words.
“Wouldn’t that be a huge loss for the company? That’s pretty extreme.”
“It’s an all-out war anyway. We also need to turn around the company’s image. We have enough funds, so we should spend when we need to.”
Arthur replied calmly to Martin’s concern.
“Then we’ll start preparing now. We should be able to launch the operation within two weeks at the latest.”
At Robert’s words, Martin beamed.
“Oh, you’re not opposing it this time? Great. It’s been a while since we all got together to catch up.”
Robert and Martin finished their conversation and left the president’s office. Arthur took off his glasses, placed them on the table, and closed his eyes.
It had already been five years in this world.
It was a long time.
Now, his work was almost done. The remaining tasks were up to others. It felt like it was finally time to shed the ill-fitting role of a manager.
Thinking that, Arthur fell asleep. Quietly, his secretary came in, sat by the sofa, and gently covered him with a blanket.
Sitting at a café and looking outside, Yonghoon found the sunglasses he was wearing a bit uncomfortable.
But if he didn’t wear sunglasses, people were starting to recognize him. Moreover, among Awakened, some even asked for his autograph, so he had to wear a makeshift disguise when going outside.
It was all because he had made such a flashy appearance during the raid two months ago.
Until then, he had some recognition among Awakened, but was completely unknown among ordinary people. That day, however, he was fully acknowledged as Korea’s strongest Awakened.
Thanks to that, Yonghoon’s name kept popping up in the Linkers’ community and eventually even spread among the general public.
Fortunately, it seemed no one had figured out he was a Linker. Everyone thought his extraordinary strength was just the unique power of a B-Rank.
In this café, no one recognized the sunglasses-wearing Yonghoon. He sat by the window, waiting for Instructor Seo.
Yonghoon turned his head at a familiar voice. On a wall-mounted TV in the café, Grace, dressed in a suit, was speaking.
[After eliminating a B-Rank monster two months ago with the combined efforts of soldiers, Awakened, and citizens, Korea is now considered one of the safest countries in the world alongside the United States. Riding that momentum, we are accelerating the installation of Safe Zones. This time, we plan to install one on Jeju Island.]
As her speech ended, reporters began firing off questions.
After the day she fought the B-Rank monster, Grace stepped down from command and never participated in it again. She also resigned her position as Team 2’s leader and went monster hunting as an ordinary Awakened.
Instead, she was appointed as the official spokesperson for the government and the Link System, appearing on broadcasts.
Yonghoon studied her face. Thankfully, she looked bright as she answered the reporters’ questions.
“Hey!”
A deep male voice called out in front of Yonghoon. It was Instructor Seo.
“Good to see you.”
Yonghoon greeted him.
Yonghoon had recognized him the moment he entered the café. Ever since he reached B-Rank, there were no blind spots for him.
Yonghoon was still a bit puzzled, feeling that his abilities seemed stronger than the B-Rank Awakened he had seen in the other world.
However, since he hadn’t encountered many Awakened above B-Rank, he couldn’t pinpoint the reason. For now, he decided it must be thanks to his long experience in war.
“Tch, it’s hard to even talk casually with you now. I knew you were talented, but you’ve gone way beyond that. You even played a major role in the last Safe Zone installation, defeating waves of D-rank monsters without even an assassin-type.”
Yonghoon quietly waited for him to finish speaking.
Judging by how he was starting with compliments, it seemed he had something important to say.
“Tch, guess I better just get to the point.”
Instructor Seo raised both hands in a gesture of surrender.
He lowered his voice and began to speak.
“An order has come down from Link Corp HQ. They’re gathering Linkers from all over the world to launch a counterattack. Since they’ve confirmed the appearance cycle of the B-Rank monsters, the C-Rank monsters will be left to the Awakened of each country, while we’ll head to the United Kingdom and take down the one holed up in London.”
Yonghoon tilted his head at his words.
“The whole world, you say?”
“Well, you could call it an international Awakened task force. Right now, only Korea and the United States can stop the B-Rank monsters anyway, so the plan is to gather Linkers and Awakened and reclaim the cities attacked by the B-Rank monsters.”
Yonghoon was even more confused.
“Other countries would welcome it, but didn’t Korea and the U.S. oppose it?”
“Korea seems to be cooperating with the U.S. to prepare for even stronger monsters. There might be deeper reasons internally, but we can’t know for sure. As for the U.S., Link Corp’s influence is strong there, and they know that even if only America survives, it’s meaningless if the world falls. Thanks to that, all the responsibility falls on the company and the U.S. government.”
Instructor Seo took a sip of the cold water in front of him.
“Well, basically, since it’s mainly the company’s Linkers and Awakened moving, there’s not much resistance.”
“Then it shouldn’t have anything to do with me, right?”
“The problem is you’re too strong. Currently, there are only three B-Rank Awakened known in the world, and two of them are Linkers from the U.S. headquarters. The last one is Kang Yonghoon, a regular Awakened.”
Instructor Seo raised his hand and pointed at Yonghoon in front of him.
“So from the company’s standpoint, they can’t just let it slide without at least making an offer. If you agree, great. If not, they can claim they tried but you refused, thus avoiding responsibility.”
Instructor Seo crossed his arms as he looked at Yonghoon.
“An official proposal will come soon. I’m telling you in advance because I don’t want you to feel blindsided.”
It seemed Instructor Seo thought Yonghoon would refuse. His assumption was natural.
In battle, Yonghoon fought like a madman, true to his nickname, but outside of that, he was extremely cold and rational. There was no way he would volunteer for something like going abroad for service.
“Well, they’re offering several times the usual pay and splitting the Relics too. It’s an unprecedented move for the president. They say he splurged because he was so happy the Dimensional Connector was finally completed, but for a guy like you with a cool sword, it’s meaningless.”
Yonghoon’s expression briefly twisted at the mention of the Dimensional Connector.
Yonghoon cut off Instructor Seo and spoke.
“I’ll go too.”
“Huh?”
“I’ll participate as well.”
Instructor Seo’s eyes widened at Yonghoon’s words.
Ignoring Instructor Seo’s surprised gaze, Yonghoon sank into thought.
He had grown stronger. The time was approaching to finally settle things with the Link System.
A cold light gleamed beneath Yonghoon’s sunglasses.