The Swords I Raised Are Too Strong - Chapter 48

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

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Chapter 48. Awakening (5)
[April 28 (Wed) 01:00]
[Transcendent Shin Si-woo confirmed entering The Void.]
Ever since the Gate crisis erupted, all economic systems had revolved around it.
For better or worse.
The role of civil servants was no exception.
[Gate Management Bureau]
Just as the Awakening Management Bureau managed Hunters, the Gate Management Bureau managed ‘Gates.’
Even lands completely swallowed by The Void—like Jeonju City in Jeolla Province—fell under their jurisdiction.
Ordinarily, she would have recorded things like ‘Patriot conducted aerial bombardment near The Void,’ but this morning brought a rare change.
‘Shin Si-woo is….’
Im Su-hyun, assigned to the Gate Management Bureau.
Her parents had vanished into The Void.
That’s why she had volunteered for this post.
In truth, most people who volunteered for this type of work had family members caught up in the catastrophe.
She had spent the entire day watching the pitch-black darkness.
And recording it all.
[April 28 (Wed) 11:00]
[The darkness of The Void begins to tremble.]
Suddenly, she noticed something strange.
‘Is it… shaking?’
The Void earned its name because that darkness had always been utterly still.
Pure black, nothing more.
A calamity that existed without the slightest movement, swallowing everything in its path.
“Wh―.”
It had trembled.
Im Su-hyun frantically pressed the red button.
The emergency call button.
Pressing it connected directly to Cheongwadae.
【This is the Cheongwadae Emergency Response Team. We have confirmed an anomaly at the Jeolla Province Gate. Please provide a detailed situation briefing.】
After confirming the location of the call, the Cheongwadae Emergency Response Team immediately contacted Special Task Force Hyunmu.
Simultaneously, they responded to the Void Surveillance Team where Im Su-hyun was stationed.
Im Su-hyun spoke in a trembling voice.
“Th―this is officer Im Su-hyun. The Void is trembling. This is the first change since we began observation―.”
Im Su-hyun’s report trailed off.
Ragged breathing came through the line.
【Im Su-hyun?】
No response.
The Emergency Response Team escalated the emergency status level by one tier according to protocol.
After that, they continued their conversation with the initial discoverer.
“Im Su-hyun, you must remain calm. No matter what happens, you cannot lose focus on the Gate anomaly.”
Within a Gate, Hunters can exert extraordinarily powerful abilities.
Ordinary people, however, cannot withstand the Gate’s wavelength.
Their minds can shatter, and in severe cases, they may die.
“Im Su-hyun! Special Task Force Hyunmu has departed for your location. Just hold on a little longer—”
Thanks to [Portals] appearing across all of South Korea’s territory, response times had shortened dramatically.
All available personnel from Special Task Force Hyunmu had already been mobilized through the portals, and now they would use the [Doors] to move toward the Jeolla Province vicinity.
So hold yourself together.
“Take slow, deep breaths with me as we count to ten—”
The Emergency Response Team continued their attempts to keep Im Su-hyun’s mind anchored.
Then, in that moment.
Suddenly, her voice came through.
“The G-Gate… No, The Void is d-disappearing.”
That place where her parents vanished.
The calamity that had remained unchanged for years.
That darkness began to slowly scatter.
“What do you mean by that… Could you provide m-more specific details?”
This time, the Emergency Response Team’s voice trembled.
[The Void.]
Jeolla Province and Gyeongsang Province.
A great catastrophe that had even erased the regional rivalries between them.
All of South Korea prayed with one heart and one mind for them to return alive.
The fact that Shin Si-woo had headed there was already known to every citizen.
All media outlets on WorldNet had reported the news, so there was no one who didn’t know.
“L-let me say this again.”
Yet the idea that The Void, which had swallowed hundreds of thousands of people, was disappearing was utterly unbelievable.
Im Su-hyun, who had witnessed it first, felt the same way.
“….”
Mom.
Dad.
They might come back.
She wept.
Yet she steadied herself and fulfilled her duty.
“The Void is disappearing.”
Still trembling, but clear.
“As of Wednesday, April 28th, 12:13 PM, the Jeolla Province Void Gate has been eliminated.”
* * *
Kim Jun, the Jeolla Province Public Relations Officer.
He, having truly been trapped in this space for 1,135 days, did not recognize me at all.
“Y-you’re saying you’re the second Transcendent to appear in South Korea? How could anyone believe that…”
In a way, it was only natural.
Especially since he had contracted with a Demon and lost his memories in the process.
Still, I explained it to him anyway.
“Otherwise, how could I have made it this far?”
I possess the ability to tear through spacetime itself.
Thanks to that, I discovered the Gate hidden within The Void, and entered directly into your body to reach The Tomb.
“That… that would be the only way it makes sense, but… wait, there are really two Transcendents now? Phew—.”
After hesitating for a long while, Kim Jun finally released a sigh of relief.
He muttered quietly to himself, “South Korea’s incredible. Two Transcendents?”
“You’ve endured so much for 1,135 days.”
“What? Has… has that much time really passed?”
He had lost his memories.
The scope seemed larger than I had anticipated.
I recited a slightly embellished version of the truth to him matter-of-factly.
“Kim Jun, the Jeolla Province Public Relations Officer. For 1,135 days, you led hundreds of thousands of survivors and held the line while continuously sending out distress signals to the outside world.”
That’s how I managed to find my way here.
It was the truth, after all.
“And… Patriot’s bombardment never came because of that…”
“Yes, it’s all because Kim Jun sent out those survival signals.”
“Ah, so it wasn’t in vain.”
He retained vague memories of his own actions.
He simply didn’t know the specifics of how long it had been or what had transpired.
‘Is it fortunate, then?’
From roughly 300,000 to 170,000.
An enormous number of people had died, but those who would have all perished had instead survived.
I revealed only his heroic deeds and concealed all the darkness.
That was the least I could do for him.
“I… I saved all those people…”
Kim Jun gazed at the massive structure built from coffins, his expression growing complicated.
Perhaps seeing nothing but piles of coffins made it feel unreal?
Kim Jun began using his ability to extract the people from the coffins to the outside.
This ability was incredibly versatile.
‘He’s just pulling out tens of thousands at a time.’
The problem was that the people’s condition didn’t look particularly good…
They all appeared to be on the brink of death.
“Can we… really call this a rescue?”
I used the Saengsagwi to grant the people vitality.
The British Doctor could supposedly revive anything as long as there was breath left, and the Saengsagwi created from absorbing his ability possessed that same skill.
Born from Iris Ruzbella’s Demon, the Saengsagwi swiftly restored the people’s health in an instant.
“These are the people Kim Jun saved.”
Kim Jun only then seemed to grasp the reality of it, his breathing ragged and labored.
I waited for a moment.
For him to compose himself.
“May I ask what your ability is, by chance?”
“Ah, yes. W-well, of course.”
Still dazed, his response came a beat too slow.
Nevertheless, Kim Jun began to calmly explain his awakened ability.
The Tomb is a place where coffins are kept, and the Coffin is an object that grants a reprieve from death.
And I, as the Gravedigger, am the guardian who protects the Coffin.
“B-but I never underwent a trial….”
“Perhaps all the experiences you endured in this space were counted as trials.”
The Void—this Gate was an environment as harsh as any trial could be.
I shrugged and asked him to continue explaining his abilities.
“Ah! And there is an ability called Communication.”
An ability to maintain contact with the world outside the Tomb.
But that wasn’t what puzzled me.
“Surely that isn’t all, is it?”
I had witnessed a miracle that those abilities alone could not explain.
“W-what else could there be?”
“So many people are alive and completely intact, but your current abilities don’t account for that.”
Kim Jun cried out, his face bewildered.
“B-but you swallowed them with that terrifying monster and then spat them back out! So if people ask me how they’re all fine, what am I supposed to say….”
170,000 people—an enormous crowd.
I swallowed them with the Saengsagwi and granted them Life, then spat them back out.
That’s why the weakened survivors became healthy.
“No, that’s not what I’m asking.”
What I wanted to know was.
How so many people could possibly.
“Why did 170,000 people become Awakeners?”
The question was whether all of them had become Awakeners.
* * *
President Lee Seok-hyun and Prosecutor General Kang Mu-jin gathered in one place.
It was something that happened daily since Shin Si-woo became a Transcendent, but this time, numerous staff members were present alongside them.
“This is the first time we’ve had over 100,000 civilians survive a Gate.”
Though the Void was still disappearing, the President was certain of its “annihilation.”
He led the meeting assuming that survivors would exceed 100,000.
After all, the Transcendent Shin Si-woo had demonstrated achievements worthy of such a response.
Moreover, when would such fortune ever come again?
“Since the Emergency Response Team was established, this is the first occurrence. Please provide a detailed explanation.”
Prosecutor Kang Mu-jin, who by rights should not have been present at this meeting, naturally participated in the conference.
That’s because Patriot had stopped nagging him ever since Kang Mu-jin began frequenting Cheongwadae.
Clearly, he feared Shin Si-woo.
“A righteous prosecutor doesn’t have to be confined to the Prosecution Office, does he?”
He’d even said as much when returning the [Reinforced Yi Sun-sin’s Axe].
Kang Mu-jin thought that since things had come to this, he might as well enter politics.
That’s why he now sat here discussing countermeasures with the President.
“There are over 100,000 civilian survivors. Don’t you think we should start by recruiting doctors?”
Doctors.
Crucial, indeed.
I’d already issued a nationwide search.
The results were far from satisfactory, though.
“The number of doctors is critically insufficient.”
The Void had swallowed entire cities, tens of thousands of people.
It was only natural that everyone—young and old, men and women—feared it.
Even if it were conquered, no one would volunteer until it was completely annihilated.
I understood.
Still, it was manageable.
“Under the Patriot Special Law, forcibly conscript all doctors from university hospitals. Leave only minimal staff and send the rest to Jeolla Province.”
South Korea is a democratic nation.
But when a calamity like a Gate occurs, the state may infringe upon individual freedoms.
The logic was that all humanity must step forward to address a pan-human catastrophe.
This wasn’t something that originated from Patriot.
It was the will of the living Jesus.
“Using portals, we can save considerable time as well.”
“Who knew improved Korea-Japan relations would be this helpful?”
“Ahem, let’s be careful with our words for now.”
The meetings continued in this manner.
Arranging vehicles.
Searching for places to house hundreds of thousands of survivors.
Confirming how the land corrupted by the Void was changing.
And through it all, things progressed smoothly.
“Doctor recruitment is complete.”
“Psychiatrists are particularly scarce. Why is that?”
“A large-scale contaminated monster outbreak occurred at the frontline military base, so reinforcements were sent there.”
“A contaminated monster… Has it approached the first containment line?”
The President had received the report as well.
Because of it, he hadn’t slept all night.
‘The timing felt almost like a deliberate trap.’
Patriot had entered the [Tower] at 8 PM the previous evening.
Shin Si-woo had headed toward the Void at 1 AM.
The sudden invasion of Corrupted Beasts occurred around 3 AM.
Naturally, there was something to rely upon.
[Korea-US-Japan Mutual Defense Treaty]
Jesus’s judicial support.
Transcendent Portal dispatch among Korea, the US, and Japan.
An alliance to fill the gaps when each nation’s Transcendents were unavailable.
And precisely during the gap when South Korea’s two Transcendents had vanished, an enormous swarm of Corrupted Beasts surged from North Korea.
“Approximately five times the usual volume poured through. However, thanks to the newly introduced portable Gates, we managed to repel them without major casualties.”
Still, the contamination was so severe that numerous soldiers suffered psychological trauma.
Thus, countless psychiatrists and counselors were dispatched to the frontline medical stations.
“That matter… sigh, since that’s the most critical, let’s set aside the psychiatric concerns.”
War.
In truth, it was madness.
Yet when considering only the frontlines, the desire to wage war immediately burned fiercely.
The President, along with every conscientious politician serving this nation, thought the same.
The soldiers of the National Army suffering there.
Thinking of them alone made one feel as though losing one’s mind.
The President knew well, having spent time at the frontlines himself.
‘China.’
Though they spoke of North Korea, the true culprit was China.
Calling out a nation already destroyed was something they couldn’t bring themselves to do, so they refrained from uttering severe condemnation.
But now, things were different.
‘War means…’
As President Lee Seok-hyun fell into contemplation, someone suddenly cried out urgently.
“Mr. President, check WorldNet first!”
The President hastily activated WorldNet and checked the news.
Countless people watching the landscape of Jeolla Province in real-time were visible.
What if they got caught up in it?
Unnecessary worry crept in.
“Deploy military units and enforce stricter control—.”
Just as the President was about to issue such orders, he suddenly stopped mid-sentence.
Then he changed his directive.
“…No, just ensure they maintain a safe distance.”
The Void that had engulfed the Jeonju City area had dissipated over 95%.
And just before the last remaining darkness vanished, an enormous number of people began pouring out.
No—they cascaded forth like a waterfall.
They had prepared assuming 100,000 survivors, yet even that proved insufficient.
“Shin Si-woo…”
At the very end of the crowd.
Shin Si-woo appeared, riding upon a peculiar Demon that was half white and half black.
He gazed upward with an expression of profound complexity and mystery, his features etched with contemplation.
In his hand, he held a massive seed.

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

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