Chapter 121. Sync Ghost
“Wow! It looks really strong! But why did Gauntlet send such a huge monster? People here are going to go crazy.”
While Sage Lunaris was admiring it,
Seo Dan-bi, Ha Yumi, Shin Somang, and Hwang Mir.
The four women were at a loss for words, their mouths slightly open as they stared up at the sky.
“Everyone? Get a grip.”
“Ah, ah…”
At Sage’s words, the women snapped back to their senses.
Seo Dan-bi and Ha Yumi struggled to maintain their composure as they spoke.
“Th-that’s Melody Fox, right? Could that really be its original size?”
“…It seems so. It must have regained its original size after escaping the labyrinth.”
“I never imagined it would be such a huge monster… No, but more importantly, what are we supposed to do now…?”
“I don’t know… I think we’ve made a big mistake…”
As they exchanged such words,
Melody Fox, who had been keeping her eyes tightly shut, slowly opened them.
Melody’s half-opened eyes turned toward the place where the Assistants had gathered.
Melody Fox accurately pinpointed the Assistants’ location.
［Kyuu.］
Realizing that the Assistants were troubled by her enormous size, Melody Fox gently closed her eyes again.
In that moment,
A thick tuft of fur sprouted from Melody Fox’s forehead, and her gigantic body gradually began to shrink.
“Oh. She has the ability to reduce her size? I’ll go and bring that monster back, so you all wait here.”
Sage spoke with relief in her voice.
Then, she quickly left to bring Melody Fox.
Leaving the four women behind.
As Shin Somang tapped away on her phone to report the current situation to Kang Geon,
Seo Dan-bi broke the short silence.
“Well, it’s fortunate she made herself smaller, but… isn’t it already too late? I think a lot of people have already seen her.”
“They probably took tons of photos and videos, too.”
At Hwang Mir’s reply,
Seo Dan-bi swallowed nervously and checked her phone to see if there were any reactions online.
Of course, the internet was in an uproar over the appearance of a giant fox.
Even more so than when the spirits of the Hedgehog Summoner appeared.
After quickly scanning the news, Seo Dan-bi accessed the largest community site in Korea to check out the various responses.
===========================
**<A Gigantic Nine-Tailed Fox Appeared in Seoul LOL>**
［Photo］
［Photo］
［Video］
These are all taken by me in real-time.
No hoax. Other people saw it too, and there are already tons of certified photos and videos up.
Fortunately, it’s disappeared now, so don’t worry too much.
━ I just saw it too. What the heck is going on?
━ I saw it as well. I thought my life was over, but then it suddenly shrank and vanished.
━ Kyuu!!!
━ Is this real?
┗ Everyone nearby screamed and ran away.
┗ Someone actually took pictures of this without running away. Brave or just stupid?
━ Wow, the Monster Apocalypse has started. Now we’re all going to kill each other.
┗ Why kill each other? We should work together, you lunatic.
━ Yes! Finally, the gate to another world has opened!!!
━ The end of South Korea is near.
┗ Not just South Korea, but the whole world, probably.
━ That’s a fox god. It descended to cleanse the earth of the human trash that’s like a cancer to this planet.
┗ Kyuu God.
┗ Kyuu!!
━ What is the government doing? Why haven’t they made any statement as things have gotten this bad?
┗ What could they say? What do you expect the government to do about this?
┗ At least they should acknowledge the severity of the situation, you idiot. Do you think it’s okay for them to keep ignoring the appearance of monsters?
━ So, monsters are real?
┗ Yup. I can’t believe some people still don’t know that. Don’t you watch YouTube or check communities?
┗ The news said it was all fabricated, though.
┗ Why do you even watch the news? Communities are where the real info is.
━ I cautiously guess it’s a massive hologram.
┗ Moron.
┗ Still in denial, huh?
━ I’m jealous. Only people living in Seoul get to see this. It sucks living out in the provinces.
┗ It’s not a good thing. WTF.
┗ I can hear Seoul property prices crashing.
┗ Why would they crash? Wouldn’t they go up because of this unique spectacle?
┗ I need to move to Seoul.
━ The nine-tailed fox is real.
┗ It doesn’t seem to have nine tails, though.
┗ Kyuu!!!
━ This is seriously terrifying.
━ What the hell should I do? Should I leave Seoul now?
┗ Why are you still in Seoul? I moved to Busan ages ago.
━ Why is everyone freaking out?
┗ How could they not? A huge monster appeared in Seoul!
┗ What I’m saying is, why assume the monster is our enemy? Why be scared right off the bat?
┗ Are you even listening to yourself?
┗ Why not? Has anyone been harmed so far? There haven’t been any casualties.
┗ We don’t know that yet, idiot.
━ A helicopter’s in the air. LOL
━ Fighter jet?
━ Are the people in Seoul okay? Any damage?
━ Surprisingly, no one got hurt.
┗ Who said that?
┗ It was on the news. Not only are no buildings damaged, but there haven’t been any injuries reported either.
┗ There were injured people, but they seemed to have hurt themselves while running. Or someone pushed them.
━ So, it really is a hologram. How could a monster that big show up without damaging any buildings or power lines? Makes no sense. LOL
┗ Shut up, hologram freak.
━ I wonder what the news will say. Will they call this a hallucination or hoax again? LOL
┗ They can’t sweep this one under the rug. Too many witnesses and too much evidence.
┗ Last time, when those two giant monsters appeared, the hallucination excuse was ridiculous.
┗ Right? They think we’re idiots.
┗ I witnessed the giant monsters firsthand.
━ Why do these things only happen in our country?
━ Next time, I hope a dragon shows up. LOL
━ Recruiting a task force to hunt the nine-tailed fox.
━ I work for the National Intelligence Service, and that monster was created by a government experiment gone wrong.
┗ Really???
━ It appeared and disappeared? That’s a shame. It should’ve just destroyed South Korea.
━ I’m going to ignore all this and live my life. If I die, I die~
━ Still no word from the government.
━ The news is also going crazy right now.
┗ They’re not calling it a hallucination this time? What’s going on??
┗ They know they can’t cover up this incident. That’s what it is.
===========================
“It’s complete chaos…”
Seo Dan-bi mumbled, feeling a bit dizzy.
She rubbed her forehead and tore her eyes away from her phone.
Just then, Sage Lunaris returned.
“Everyone! I brought her here quietly without attracting attention!”
［Kyua! Kyu-kyu!］
Melody Fox had a bright, innocent expression.
“And I quickly checked the surrounding area. Luckily, it seems no one was harmed. It looks like while she was in her giant form, she didn’t have a physical body, more like she was in a fog-like state. Now that she’s smaller, she has a solid form.”
“She was in a gaseous state? That’s a relief…”
At Sage’s words, Seo Dan-bi let out a sigh of relief.
“But the internet is blowing up right now, what do we do about that?”
“What can we do? It’s not like there’s anything we can control.”
Sage calmly continued.
“Just try to think positively. This could actually work in our favor.”
“Huh? How could this possibly be a good thing?”
“We’ve raised awareness without causing any casualties. People who were skeptical of monsters will be fewer now. And from now on, more people will be cautious, knowing they might encounter monsters. They’ll start preparing in their own ways.”
“Ah…”
Seo Dan-bi nodded as she mulled over Sage’s words.
From the perspective Sage had mentioned,
The appearance of the gigantic Melody Fox might not have been entirely bad.
Also,
While there might be a little chaos from this incident, it didn’t seem like it would lead to a major societal upheaval.
People were already becoming aware of the existence of monsters, especially after the recent appearance of the Hedgehog Summoner’s giant spirits.
‘Like Sage said, there’s nothing we can do anyway… we should just stop worrying and think of it positively.’
The other women shared the same thought as Seo Dan-bi, deciding that they would report the incident to Kang Geon and not dwell on it any further.
“…So, should we head back home for now?”
With that, Seo Dan-bi and the four women left for home with Melody Fox.
Doing their best to avoid people’s attention.
And once they arrived home,
［Kyua! Kyuuu!］
“Oh, look at you eating so well!”
They tried to forget what had just happened,
Ordering endless deliveries and spending time feeding Melody Fox with all sorts of food.
Though with a slightly uneasy feeling.
***
While the Assistants played with Melody Fox,
At the same time,
High-ranking officials of South Korea, including the president, were gathered for a meeting.
“Weren’t the media supposed to be controlled?”
“This time, it was unavoidable. There’s no way to stop something of this scale.”
“True, with so many witnesses and so much evidence…”
They were not human.
To be precise, they were beings from another world who had taken over human bodies.
Their true identity was the Sync Ghost race.
By Kang Geon’s standards, their threat level would be around C and D rank.
“Ugh… my soul almost disintegrated from fear just now. What kind of monster was that?”
“Clearly a being we cannot possibly handle.”
“As I mentioned before, there’s a monstrous woman hiding her strength in this country. If she fully reveals her power, she would rival what we saw today.”
“This is not good.”
“There’s definitely something strange about this country.”
“That’s what I’ve been saying! I told you before that I felt two massive forces here, but no one listened!”
“Are you talking about those beings in the photos? I didn’t sense anything from just the pictures.”
“Of course you wouldn’t sense it from photos! Use your brain!”
“But seriously, why are such powerful beings gathering in this tiny country? Other nations seem fine.”
“Looks like we made the wrong choice of country.”
“There’s a saying in this country that even small peppers can be incredibly spicy. I think that applies here.”
As the dimensional barriers of Earth grew unstable,
Many forces were eyeing the opportunity to conquer this world.
The Sync Ghost race was one of those forces.
However, after today’s meeting, they made a major decision.
“It’s unfortunate, but we have no choice. Our race is pulling out of this world.”
They decided to withdraw from Earth.
It was a very wise decision.
And no one disagreed.
Everyone realized that Earth was beyond their control.
This was just the beginning.
Soon, far stronger beings would cross over.
“Of course, I agree, but we can’t return right away.”
“We’re aware. How long will it take to create the return tunnel?”
“Hmm. At least 100 days.”
“100 days… fine. Then we’ll need to prepare a plan in the meantime.”
“A plan? What plan are you talking about?”
“We’ll prepare the humans of this country to face an invasion.”
“Huh? Why bother with that…?”
“Because I hate to see others benefit. If we can’t have this world, we should at least make it troublesome for others to take it.”
The Sync Ghost possessing the president surveyed his peers as he explained his plan.
The plan, in summary, was as follows:
● Supply the South Korean military with the Sync Ghost race’s weapons.
● Establish a task force to deal with otherworldly beings.
● Create a special unit capable of handling high-grade weapons.
The weapons mentioned were far more advanced than anything on Earth.
By Kang Geon’s standards of threat level,
The weapons supplied to the military would be effective even against D-rank entities, and the weapons given to the special unit could harm C-rank entities.
In addition to these measures,
They would build shelters for civilians,
Organize information for the original owners of their possessed bodies to understand the situation,
Recruit unpossessed humans to help,
And finally, on the day they completed preparations for their return,
They planned to announce the current state of Earth and release captured beings from the other world to the public, revealing all the information they had gathered.
“We’re leaving anyway. Even if we reveal everything, the other nations’ leaders who have been taken over by beings like us won’t be able to do anything to us.”
“Haha, it’s a parting shot. I like it.”
“Me too. It feels satisfying to leave others in chaos rather than just walking away quietly.”
From today onward, they had no intention of controlling the narrative.
That way, when they eventually revealed the truth, people would find it easier to accept.
However,
No matter how many conspiracy theories arose or protests erupted,
The government (Sync Ghosts) would remain silent until the day they returned.
Leaking their plan to other nations could endanger their lives.
So this plan had to be executed in absolute secrecy.
“But when we reveal all the information and leave, won’t other countries try to attack South Korea?”
“That’s not our problem.”
“Still, I’ve grown fond of this place…”
“How can you already feel attached…? Besides, other countries will be too preoccupied with their own issues to attack South Korea. Even if they do, the weapons we distributed should be enough to defend against them.”
About 100 days remained until the grand declaration.
The Sync Ghosts, who had infiltrated South Korea’s leadership, began quietly and swiftly implementing measures to counter the otherworldly beings.
Their intention?
If they couldn’t have this world,
They would at least ensure that others found it difficult to claim.
Driven by sheer spite.