Became a Mechromancer - Chapter 115

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 115.
D-1
A day had passed since Ghost issued his warning.
In that time, all of China had erupted into chaos.
Boycotts of Korean products.
Blockades on resource exports.
Even dangerous voices calling for preemptive nuclear strikes against South Korea before the meteorite could fall.
The Chinese Government immediately lodged a formal protest with the South Korean Government, but….
“The Korean Government can’t control Ghost either?”
Wang Jian-guo’s eyes blazed with fury.
Liu Yuan-dong, the Vice Premier, responded in a trembling voice.
“I said the same thing, but… they claim they only saw Ghost for the first time yesterday.”
Clack!
Wang Jian-guo slammed his teacup down harshly.
“Does that make any sense?!”
What this meant was simple.
The Korean Government had no connection to Ghost whatsoever until now.
Ghost had simply destroyed two Abyss layers of his own volition, then placed a reprieve on eight additional layers.
What pained Wang Jian-guo most was that this wasn’t some fabrication by the Korean Government to escape blame.
Why?!
‘Why doesn’t our China have such a patriot obsessed with the nation?!’
Beyond what Ghost had done to them moments ago, Wang Jian-guo felt consumed by envy and admiration.
Sigh.
Wang Jian-guo exhaled deeply, then asked in a sharp voice.
“Did I not order you to verify whether the news footage we saw was authentic?”
A bureaucrat reported immediately.
“We sent in a dual-national Hunter to observe firsthand. Upon returning, he reported….”
“Reported what?”
The bureaucrat hesitated briefly before continuing.
“He said that upon climbing the embankment, an enormous chasm stretched endlessly before him.”
Sigh.
Wang Jian-guo’s brow furrowed, having hoped against hope that it was fabricated.
‘…Damn it all.’
It was then.
Whirr.
The National Crisis Response Center door opened, and a scientist entered.
A scientist from the China National Space Administration, equivalent to America’s NASA.
The scientist projected prepared data as a hologram onto the conference table.
A map of Beijing.
Concentric crimson circles ripple outward above it.
The scientist swallowed hard, watching the bureaucrats.
“Based on the collision scale in the footage, if we calculate….”
He faltered mid-sentence, then gathered his courage.
“What I mean is… if a meteorite falls….”
Finally, Vice Premier Liu raised his voice.
“Can’t you speak clearly?!”
The startled scientist answered quickly.
“If a meteorite 150 meters in diameter falls, Beijing will disappear from the map.”
Thump.
Chairman Wang slumped back against his chair, deflated.
And then.
Pfft.
Puhahaha….
He laughed as if he’d lost his mind.
“Disappear from the map…?”
“…I-I’m terribly sorry.”
Before the trembling scientist, I stare blankly at the holographic map of Beijing floating in the air.
The capital for 700 years.
The heart of China—the center of politics and culture.
‘It’s going to disappear because of that madman?’
Chairman Wang’s mouth twisted.
“Don’t we have magic-type Hunters as well?”
At those words, the Director of the China Hunter Management Bureau, who had been standing at the back of the conference room, stepped forward cautiously.
“We do have some.”
“But?”
“Generally speaking, magic-type practitioners can only conjure large flames momentarily or freeze water on a large scale.”
Chairman Wang’s eyebrows twitched.
The Director continued.
“To be honest, magic-type Hunters are more of a liability than an asset in combat.”
Bang!
Chairman Wang slammed the table.
What’s our population?!
“Are we worse than those living on that tiny scrap of land?!”
No one dared raise their head.
Wang Jian-guo’s breathing grew ragged.
When I think about it, South Korea had always been a strange nation—even before Ghost appeared.
The Hunters called the golden generation had revitalized South Korea as it stands today.
Some of them established themselves in the Abyss and became the Five Major Hunter Families.
Chairman Wang understood this well.
How could I not understand?
I’ve spared no effort trying to bring even one of them over.
I offered them power, money, positions.
I even promised to let them live like kings.
And yet.
‘Why are they still doing that over there!’
South Korea had always been like this.
Small land, sparse population.
Yet monsters emerge at the most critical moments.
Sigh….
Wang Jian-guo asked once more.
“Have you found out how Ghost broadcast across all of China?”
The scientist opened his mouth carefully.
“It’s not something an individual could do with just a few small devices. It would require satellite-grade equipment and massive transmission infrastructure….”
Wang Jian-guo’s brow furrowed.
“Do I need to know such details?”
The startled scientist provided only the conclusion.
“We discovered a satellite. However, there’s no launch record from any nation.”
“A satellite exists with no launch record?”
“Yes.”
A brief silence fell.
The scientist swallowed and continued.
“That’s why Choi Tae-jin of Sanin Heavy Industries seems suspicious.”
“That man, suddenly?”
Everyone stirred at the unexpected name.
When Vice Premier Liu asked for the reason, the scientist quickly answered.
“He once mentioned a rocket-launching drone platform.”
“…A drone launching platform?”
“Yes. He said you launch the platform first to a point where it receives maximum lift, then fire from there.”
Vice Premier Liu narrowed his brow.
“You mean he succeeded?”
“I cannot say for certain, but at present, that possibility exists.”
Wang Jian-guo clenched and unclenched his fist.
‘Certainly suspicious.’
But then again.
Could Ghost truly launch a meteorite at Beijing?
Just as such doubts arose.
Whirr.
The door burst open as a Ministry of State Security official rushed in urgently.
“Apologies for the interruption! I think you need to see this!”
A Ministry of State Security employee opened a new holographic window in midair without a word.
“It’s news that Ghost left a message!”
“A message?”
And then….
What? What is this?
How is that even possible?
Everyone fell silent, staring at the video displayed on the hologram.
* * *
Two hours before Wang saw the video.
Song In-ah drew a sharp breath as she entered Abyss Layer 7 of Yeouido.
In fact, every time Ghost cleared a layer, she would visit the site the next day.
But….
It seemed Ghost had left a message this time.
‘There was nothing like that on that day.’
As she looked ahead, her lips twisted slightly.
“I still can’t get used to seeing this.”
The towering canyon that served as Layer 7’s landmark had been obliterated, vanishing without a trace.
Moreover.
“The mineral-eating monster has also dried up.”
She shifted her gaze, recalling the information she’d received.
‘They said an enormous pit had formed.’
Song In-ah’s eyes fixed on the ground beneath her feet.
There was no need to search for it.
“…Is this it?”
Ahead, she could see the earth split open in a long gash.
It was different from anything she’d witnessed before.
This seemed excessive, didn’t it?
No.
She needed to examine what this actually meant.
If this really was a message Ghost left behind.
She pulled a folded hot air balloon from her spatial backpack.
Moments later, the burner roared to life and the balloon slowly inflated.
Sigh.
‘A hot air balloon in an age of unmanned drone taxis—what a sight.’
Somehow, she’d become someone who indulged in forced romance.
Anyway.
She secured the rope firmly to the ground and climbed into the basket.
The hot air balloon rose into the sky.
She pulled out her camera, pressed record, and looked down.
Even at this considerable height, she couldn’t make sense of what this was supposed to be.
‘Is it not writing?’
Whoosh, whoosh.
I reignited the burner and tossed the sandbags attached to the basket into the subspace, pulling the altitude higher still.
Only after repeating this for quite some time did the full picture come into view.
Her eyes widened in perfect circles.
The characters inscribed upon the earth were none other than.
“D-1?”
After gazing downward for a moment, she suddenly grasped something peculiar.
Honestly.
‘Only someone like me could even read this—so why would he do such a thing?’
In that instant, the hair on the back of her neck stood on end.
Could it be that I’m factored into his calculations too?
Without thinking, she swallowed dryly.
“Just how many moves ahead is Ghost thinking?”
Soon the hot air balloon began its slow descent. Then Song In-ah suddenly furrowed her brow.
Wait.
‘Who was the one who tipped me off about this?’
The voice had been oddly courteous.
* * *
Inside the Garage.
Duo-ho turned to face Hawkeye.
“You tipped off the journalist on the hot air balloon?”
-Yes, Mecromancer.
Hawkeye, having answered thus, immediately projected a hologram on his smartwatch.
There appeared a photograph of Song In-ah aboard the hot air balloon from her SNS.
『The Abyss has made me this way』
Upon reading the caption below, Duo-ho raised his eyebrows.
“This person is incredibly passionate about Ghost’s affairs. The Meteor meteorite footage too.”
-She seemed like the most suitable target to me as well.
It was then.
Splash.
Bom-i leaped onto the workbench and looked up at Duo-ho.
-Master, it should have turned out just as you ordered, ribbit.
Hmm….
My Bom-i surely did well.
However.
“Bom, this time the scale needs to be incomparably larger than before?”
Puff!
Bom immediately puffed out his chin.
-I put three magic stones each into the mines instead of the usual amount and detonated them, ribbit!
So don’t worry about the scale.
Just as Duo-ho let out a soft chuckle.
Ooh!
An exclamation mark appeared on Isto’s LED eyes.
-News just dropped!
The creature immediately held up the smartwatch on his wrist, and a holographic window unfurled across the space.
Song In-ah’s face materialized before us.
It wasn’t a first-person perspective, but it was unmistakable—she was riding in a hot air balloon.
The terrain of Abyss Layer 7 sprawled beneath her.
Song In-ah’s voice came through.
-This morning, a new trace believed to have been left by Ghost was discovered on Abyss Layer 7 of Yeouido Abyss.
The massive pit visible on the ground in the footage climbed for quite some distance before finally revealing itself as letters.
『D-1』
Song In-ah’s voice continued.
-Only after reaching approximately 3,000 meters did Ghost’s warning message to the Chinese Government finally become visible.
Duo-ho watched the screen, then turned to Bom-i and gave a thumbs up.
“That’s art right there.”
Ribbit!
Bom-i puffed out his throat happily.
-I told you I’m an artist, croak!
Haha. Ribbit ribbit, hehehehe, hehehehe.
.
.
.
About thirty minutes passed after that.
Meteor’s drawn-out voice echoed.
-We’ve got a bite.
Duo-ho quickly looked at the magnifying glass positioned over the monitoring device on the workbench.
Meteor showed us something.
None other than the outskirts of Beijing.
Autonomous vehicles lined every road in long processions.
Like a mass exodus fleeing the city.
Duo-ho gazed down at the sight and shrugged.
“Hmm. Looks like everyone got the message from the news.”
Isto, watching the Beijing evacuation procession that Meteor was showing, peered at his laptop and spoke.
Duo-ho!
-The Chinese public opinion about hacking has started to decline after the news. Instead, the keyword about assassinating Wang is rising.
Duo-ho was somewhat taken aback.
“Assassination? Really?”
-They’re all AI entities. Since they’ll lose the Beijing backup center if the meteor hits anyway, they figure they might as well assassinate Wang to curry favor with Ghost.
Hawkeye then flips through the smartwatch hologram and continues the conversation.
-Korean public opinion is quite significant as well.
“What do you mean?”
-As the fact that China started the games first with the Chiko Island incident spreads again, most public opinion is now pushing for the meteor ending right away.
Hmm….
That’s a bit problematic, isn’t it?
Hawkeye flips to the next page.
-Japan has joined in as well.
“Japan?”
That was truly unexpected, I thought.
-Being a nation that experienced atomic bombing in Hiroshima, they’re saying you should get hit once too so you’ll come to your senses.
Bom-i tilted her head on Dooho’s shoulder.
Why are they taking our side, croak?
“It’s not about sides—the momentum is just shifting in our direction.”
‘And there’s probably a calculation underneath about borrowing Ghost later.’
Right.
The moment before impact is always the most terrifying.
How much longer will the Chinese Government hold out?
* * *
After the grim news of “D-1” spread across all of China in an instant.
The interior of the National Crisis Response Center in Beijing felt like a funeral home.
Wang Jian-guo stared at the hologram in empty space, unable to believe it.
Streets where not even a shadow of a person could be seen.
Instead, long processions streamed outward from the city’s edges.
People desperately struggling to get as far away from Beijing as possible.
‘All this in less than an hour?’
Wang Jian-guo, denying reality, asked.
“…D-1, isn’t that manipulated?”
“Please, sir!”
Startled, Liu Yuan-dong, the Vice Premier, glared at Wang Jian-guo with a seething expression as if ready to devour him.
This is all or nothing anyway!
“Stop being so stubborn and come to your senses, you senile old fool!”
A start.
Wang Jian-guo, about to cry out that Liu had gone mad, felt the gaze upon him turn lethal.
As if Liu were ready to dispose of him right then and there to contain this crisis.
Vice Premier Liu spoke in a tone closer to intimidation than persuasion.
“Everyone is evacuating from Beijing’s streets right now!”
A brief silence.
Wang Jian-guo’s mouth twisted.
But.
No one dared defend Wang Jian-guo.
Finally.
Wang Jian-guo raised his hand.
“Connect a hotline to the Korean Government.”
At those words, the staff members simultaneously activated holograms on their wrists.
Communication channels rapidly aligned across one wall of the conference room.
Wang Jian-guo stared blankly at the floating image of the outskirts of Beijing.
.
.
.
Moments later.
-Emergency channel with the Korean Government established.
Wang Jian-guo spoke immediately.
“Tell them we’ll send settlement money right away.”
The staff members hesitated.
“Settlement money, you say….”
Money!
He’s sending money!
“Tell them we’ll do a formal apology or whatever they want!”
Just then, Vice Premier Liu opened his briefcase.
He pulled out a t-shirt with Ghost’s face printed on it.
As Wang Jian-guo’s expression turned bewildered, Vice Premier Liu held out the t-shirt.
“Why don’t you wear it properly for the announcement?”
I Became a Macromanser
Author｜
Gungang E
Published｜
February 25, 2026
Publisher｜
TalesYX
Website｜
https://talesyx.com
Email｜
[email protected]
ⓒ Gungang E, 2026
This publication is protected by copyright law and may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without permission.
UCI｜
G720:N+A277-20260210015.0115

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————