Chapter 450

The artificial awakening scandal.

It was remarkable enough that a newly emerged S-rank Hunter was involved, but to think incidents like this were happening all over the world...

_-

For now, I looked up more related articles.

[Seonhan Daily Report: The Horrible Fate of Those Who Tried to Gain Power with 'Money']

What I found were grim reports without a single positive aspect. Come to think of it, the number of top-tier Awakened individuals around the world had actually increased recently.

'Considering the pyramid-shaped distribution of the Awakened population, the proportion was high enough to make you feel that something was off.'

Breaking reports revealed that the recent rising stars entering the Hunter industry were none other than "artificially awakened" individuals. Of course, the circumstances under which this fact came to light were even more intriguing.

'Side effects?'

The existence of artificial awakening had absurdly been exposed because of health problems.

[Article Text]

[Translation] Among the Awakened individuals who appeared this year, certain individuals have been suffering from severe illnesses that could hardly be described as a blessing from heaven...]

Some coughed up blood without warning, while others who had once possessed large builds suddenly wasted away into frail figures. There were even Awakened individuals showing symptoms such as hypersensitivity and irritability caused by constant pain.

Somehow, it all sounded remarkably similar to what this body had gone through, but let's set that aside for now. The important point was that top-tier evolved individuals—people who shouldn't normally suffer from illness—had suddenly begun showing signs of weakness all at once, almost as if they'd planned it.

Naturally, the Earthlings quickly noticed the suspicious phenomenon spreading throughout the Hunter industry. When developed countries, led by Canada, launched full-scale investigations, a flood of people emerged claiming to have obtained Awakened abilities through illegal procedures. That was the gist of the recent news.

'So there wasn't just one reason the price of [Knight's Oath] went up.'

The reason the artificial awakening scandal had remained hidden until now was probably because those who underwent the procedure had been bound by nondisclosure agreements. On top of that, government agencies had likely suppressed information out of concern that ordinary citizens might be swept up in dangerous agitation.

'Then could Japan's fifth S-rank have been exposed as artificially awakened after something happened, like coughing up blood in public?'

I paused for a moment as the fresh morning breeze brushed past me. Honestly, let's say a fifth S-rank appearing in a neighboring country wasn't that big a deal. Rumors about S-rank Hunters were common enough, so the existence of one suspicious article wasn't sufficient to draw definite conclusions about the person.

But the issue on our side was serious enough that it couldn't simply be ignored.

Regardless of the circumstances, there had clearly been cases where people seemed to have induced awakening through unnatural means...

[Suspicious Artificial Awakening Drug Trade Openly Occurring in Major Cities—Can Superpowers Really Be Bought with 'Money'? (Full Video)]

As I fiddled with my phone screen, related articles quickly appeared. Apparently, the trend had already spread among ordinary people. Even without any proper scientific evidence, the moment rumors circulated that someone had awakened through a certain method, people immediately began imitating it.

[@Article from 5 years ago]

#Become a superpowered being by absorbing life energy from a monster?"

K, the operator of the "Self-Awakening" site, which claimed to teach people how to initiate awakening on their own, was urgently arrested on charges of assault and extortion.]

There were people hanging around Dungeon Break sites, trying to inhale a monster's breath, and all sorts of other nonsense.

By now, quite some time had passed since the Dungeon Shock, and anyone with talent could slowly develop into a mage. Yet the humans of Earth continued gambling with their lives in dangerous ways, seemingly unaware of what their own futures might hold.

'Uhm.'

Rumors about "artificial awakening" had suddenly thrown the entire world into an uproar.

And as I watched the situation unfold, a thought quickly came to mind.

'I should call an executive at Pixy Corp.'

It was a reasonable decision.

Ever since the Dungeon Shock, Earth had spent years failing to achieve artificial awakening... Yet recently, there had unexpectedly been cases overseas that demonstrated remarkable technological progress.

'Andy Oliver probably wasn't involved in anything bad since he had [Knight's Oath] around his neck, but with the news blowing up like this, I should at least cross-check the information.'

I turned on my phone.

Then, as usual, I dialed the eleven-digit number.

I was calling my servant living in the United States.

H... Hello?

A few seconds of silence followed.

Despite the enormous time difference, the call connected quickly. Come to think of it, I'd received quite a lot of help from Andy Oliver, the criminal from Pixy Corp.

Of course, that wouldn't have any effect on the punishment he ultimately deserved for the Beast Case.

'No matter how competent you are at your job, trying to blow up a dungeon in the middle of someone else's country is a bit—'

I ended that brief thought and asked him a question.

'He has to pay for it somehow.'

And the question I ultimately asked—while willingly swallowing the absurdly expensive international call charges—was this:

[Have you, by any chance, artificially created another 'awakened person' recently?]

For reference, the term "awakened person" was a slight mistranslation of "Awakened individual."

But the person on the other end ignored the minor mistranslation and answered.

[No! Of course not. There's no way I'd ever get involved in something like that again.]

When I bluntly asked whether he'd gotten involved in anything bad, he panicked and immediately denied it.

But what was with this reaction?

[First of all, I know you're calling because of the recent international news.

But look closely at the reports. Most of the testimonies say that the 'illegal awakening procedures' spreading lately involve some kind of 'awakening aid' that someone created.

We don't know who leaked the method, but several small clinics that got hold of the information went ahead with the procedures without using any gag contracts, so secrecy really did collapse this time.]

Andy Oliver cleared his throat with difficulty and gasped for breath as he tried to defend himself.

[But just to clarify, the... awakening-triggering method I obtained through my deal with the Youth Guild Master didn't involve any kind of potion.

We never made anyone ingest something in order to induce supernatural abilities.]

The translated words coming through the phone surprised me.

'I see. So the awakening-triggering method this Earthling knew about before... is completely different from the one being reported in the news now?'

Since artificial awakening was such an extraordinarily rare technical achievement, I'd expected Pixy Corp to be involved somehow.

[We use radiation exposure when producing awakened superhumans.]

Hmm.

'As expected, I should deal with that foreign bastard before taking care of the Gisimche. I should put it in my phone calendar so I don't forget.'

A completely different thought briefly crossed my mind, but I quietly set it aside for the moment.

"Explain the principle in more detail."

The foreign criminal who had once commanded the Beast group answered my question in detail.

According to him, although so-called experts might look like people blessed with God-given talent at first glance, awakening was still a phenomenon that occurred within humans, meaning it followed the mechanisms of human DNA base sequences or whatever.

In simple terms, their method was to force a living organism into... an explosive mutation.

In other words, they exposed an ordinary person to radiation to damage their body, then rapidly infused them with mana.

Apparently, doing so gave them a high probability of triggering what was known as the conventional artificial awakening procedure.

"Oh my. You're completely insane, aren't you?"

But there was no way a process involving that kind of damage to DNA could proceed without consequences.

O Failure to awaken results in immediate death.

O Even if awakening succeeds, there is a high probability of aftereffects.

Andy Oliver then explained the drawbacks of earlier awakening procedures.

If the subject successfully became a primal mage and gained resistance to radiation energy, then surviving even a nuclear war wouldn't be much of a problem, so the radiation itself would no longer matter.

However, the damage already inflicted on their genes would remain for life.

Ultimately, artificial awakening carried an extremely high risk of fatal side effects capable of shortening one's lifespan...

In summary, it was all painfully obvious once you thought about it.

[Besides, the method we used before wasn't as crude as simply blasting someone with a reckless amount of radiation.

We had to adjust the ambient mana concentration inside a cutting-edge chamber—almost like mixing a cocktail.

I can guarantee that it has absolutely nothing to do with the current situation.

Korea will probably receive follow-up reports soon, but judging from what we're seeing right now, this "artificial awakening" incident appears to involve illegal procedures being performed simultaneously in extremely filthy and harsh environments.]

So what did that mean?

If I put everything together, did that make this entire incident the work of some third party?

In other words, some unknown figure who could fairly be called a mad scientist?

[Ah.]

Just as those thoughts were swirling through my mind, a mechanical translation voice sounded from the phone's speaker.

[However.....

To be honest, I can't say that my former partner—the person from the Youth Guild—is completely uninvolved in this matter.]

I quietly turned my attention back toward the sound.

[Would you like to hear my speculation for a moment? Even if I didn't have a contract with Mr. Kim, this is information I'd still want to share.]

For a criminal, he sure has a long tongue.

I can't say I like that.

[My hidden bunker was discovered, and now I'm in a position where I get woken up by calls at all hours. If I'm going down alone, that wouldn't be fair. So I really want to share whatever information I have about that guy who slipped away on his own.]

The reason behind his snitching was something even an Alphaur could easily understand.

So I gave him permission and listened to a little more of what Andy Oliver had to say.

[Actually, what I want to say is simple.

The anonymous Guild Master who first succeeded with 'artificial awakening'... what if their technology has advanced even further since then?]

A prominent figure in the world whose name I still didn't even know was brought up again.

[It's been several years since I last exchanged information with them, and by now they may have abandoned horrific tools like radiation... and discovered a safer and more precise method.]

That was reasonable.

[I don't know why this phenomenon is suddenly occurring all over the world... I'm still investigating that myself.

But if you look at the deadly health problems appearing after successful artificial awakening, you can see certain similarities between the procedures.

So, anyway, personally, I get the feeling that all of this is Youth's doing!]

Andy Oliver continued insisting on his theory, saying, "If you ever meet the real power behind Youth, make sure you tear into them just as harshly as you did me."

But I ignored the rest of his rant and immediately ended the call.

'Let's save on international call charges.'

I understood now.

"Hmm."

When I'd briefly visited Switzerland for the Hydra auction, I'd already noticed the signs.

The Earth of today was witnessing an abnormal increase in highly capable, top-tier Awakened individuals.

'From level 8 onward, their proportion should be tiny, like the tip of a pyramid.'

That made the theory proposed by my American helper naturally seem more credible.

This really was the result of humans releasing an artificial awakening method into the market.

'Though it is a little strange that such classified information was leaked in the first place.'

And if I took the theory one step further, it seemed likely that the suspect had continued developing the technique and refining the procedure itself.

'Being able to pick and choose the grades... that's pretty impressive.'

But was this really something we should simply watch and applaud as humanity's advancement?

[Attempts at Awakening by Ordinary People Spread Like a 'Plague'... Casualties Reported Again]

[Japan's Fifth S-Rank Awakener: Silent Amidst Flood of Artificial Awakening Allegations]

[[Anonymous Live] ♣: Hey, someone uploaded a video on a site showing themselves bleeding from the nose and claiming they're a victim of artificial awakening?? Apparently they paid a fortune for the procedure, but all it did was wreck their immune system; Gasp]

[[Anonymous Live] ♣: What victim? Victim, my foot ㅋㅋㅋ. In the end, it all happened because of their own greed.]

Every attempt to artificially create superpowers in the civilian sector carried a high risk of side effects.

In fact, even those who had genuinely succeeded in artificial awakening were collectively ending up bedridden.

There was no need for further explanation.

'It feels like someone out there in this world... is playing with the people of Earth.'

I lowered the device I'd been looking at and sank into thought.

My surroundings were quiet, but the thoughts running through my head were fiercely decisive.

'I'd rather that didn't happen, though?'

Yeah.

It really was a decision.

Whether they're called "Youth" or "Young," whatever they are, I still don't know their true identity—but I decided that I would soon go and meet the person responsible for driving this entire situation.

And that no matter how insignificant someone might seem, even if they were no more than an ant to you, you shouldn't torment them carelessly...

That was something I wanted to teach them.

Even if I had to dump water over them to make them understand.

_-

By the way, now that water had come up, it reminded me of something.

If they're Korean, most of them probably know this traditional folktale, right?

That—.

You know, the one where a wicked family spends all day mistreating their adopted daughter.

Then, on the day of the village's big festival, they force her to carry water in a leaking jar and scold her when she can't fill it.

_-

The reason I suddenly brought up that old folktale was because my current situation felt exactly like that adopted daughter's.

"When are you going to convert all of those into Earth-style terms and give them proper classifications?"

In fact, the rental office I was heading toward still had around 300 different items scattered throughout it.

Apparently, some Guild Masters couldn't feel truly free until every last one of them had been appraised.

"I shouldn't have lied about having an appraisal skill."

For reference, because of this damned loot-classification work, I still hadn't even been able to dismantle [The Greatsword of the Sun God].

That was the kind of situation I was in.

"I probably would've been better off honestly earning the 20 billion in tax breaks. Instead, I revived the guild and ended up dealing with all this nonsense."

But ultimately, this too was karma I'd brought upon myself.

Ever since arriving on Earth, I'd spent nearly every day living dishonestly.

Well, I suppose it was only natural that the consequences were finally beginning to catch up with me.