Ch.83Chapter 4. How to Conquer a Hero (4)

While there are good and bad aspects to every world, this world has many more bad points than the one I used to live in.

An era where supernatural abilities take precedence.

An era where money can’t solve everything.

If your body is weak, you can build it up through exercise and medication. If your face isn’t attractive, you can live with a handsome or pretty appearance through plastic surgery.

But this era is different.

No matter how much money you have, there’s no way to become an ability user.

Though some use their vast wealth to research ways to become ability users.

And here enters the cold, dirty, ruthless, and trashy part of reality.

[Do you know how many children are born each year?]

As I left the temple and rode my bike again, I played a video on a streaming site using the burner phone I received from the monk Samuel.

[Yes, that’s right. Since 2000, we’ve worried about low birth rates and an aging population, but fortunately, there was no decline in births. After 2000, everyone started having children.]

The newly born children were ability users.

Wanting to give their children the “ability spoon” (silver spoon of supernatural powers), people began having children one after another.

[What sense of reason would these newly growing ability users have? Some parents were killed by their ability user children, and many others were killed by ability users too. Even in that place up north, they tried to turn ability user children into nuclear weapons, only to have their heads blown off by the children. Many people died that way.]

Many died.

[Just look at Seoul. After 2000, which place had the most obstetrics clinics? Seoul, of course. Everyone was having babies, and then ability users went berserk. People died in semi-basement apartments, and when authorities checked, only babies remained. It was truly horrific.]

Corpses piled up everywhere, and this land truly saw many deaths.

[Do you know that the number of deaths after 2000 has increased significantly compared to before? Along with cancer, suicide, and traffic accidents that were once the leading causes of death in this country, ‘death by supernatural abilities’ has now been added to the list. Yes, being killed by ability users.]

Whether it was due to a child’s inability to control their powers.

Or the result of someone becoming obsessed with their abilities and using them recklessly while ignoring those around them.

[Children who couldn’t even speak were born with criminal records as murderers before they could say “papa.” Our society wasn’t mature enough to accept such individuals, and many people died.]

Social change was too rapid.

[But you know what? This country’s population has reached 60 million. Can you believe it?]

Despite the increasing number of deaths, the population actually grew.

[Because more new lives were born than people died. While 10 people died, 100 were born in the neighboring town. All because people wanted their children to be born as ability users.]

Baby booms usually occur during economic golden ages.

[Shortly after 2000, just in Korea, people living near where meteorites fell had a significantly higher rate of giving birth to ability users. When this became known, everyone started having children, marking the beginning of the Millennium Baby Boom.]

That wasn’t the case.

The population increase wasn’t due to economic prosperity, but because of supernatural abilities.

[Do you think this only happened within Korea? Have you heard about the “French Town” created in Gangneung recently? The number of foreigners has grown enough to fill an entire city, and many have come down from the north after its complete destruction. If we were to include everyone from north of the DMZ, wouldn’t that be at least 100 million? Hahaha.]

It’s meant as a joke, but it’s a frightening number to hear.

A whopping 60 million just south of the military demarcation line.

Not only did the number of newborns on the Korean Peninsula itself increase tremendously, but the population influx from foreign countries also grew.

[Why would they come all the way to Korea to have children? Why would they desperately try to enter Ulleungdo? It’s all for “pumpkin babies,” to increase the probability of giving birth to ability users.]

There was only one reason for the population increase.

To give birth to ability users.

[But is it easy? Have you ever won even fifth place in the lottery? Fourth place? Third place?]

What would people do if they scratched a 10-month lottery ticket hoping for an ability user, only to find it was a dud?

[Of course, no one would see their child as a lottery ticket. Probably. Most people, at least.]

Most raise them.

Most people don’t have children specifically to birth ability users; they have children and sincerely hope they become ability users.

[But what about those who get pregnant specifically to ‘give birth to ability users’? Not because they love this man or woman and want to have a child together, but because they want to have an ability user child and become ‘piggyback parents’ who live off their child’s abilities. What happens if the child isn’t an ability user?]

But some?

[There are 10,000 orphans abandoned each year. Ten thousand. Can you believe it? Children abandoned in this land just because they aren’t ability users could form an entire city. Orphans are naturally sent to orphanages, and when orphanages can’t handle them, they’re put up for adoption.]

The temple I visited was a place that raised and managed children that society couldn’t handle.

Most of the child monks there were children abandoned for not becoming ability users.

[And most of those are from foreign… no, I’ll stop here before people with translators come from far away to leave comments.]

Even in this world’s Korea, public opinion is scary.

Unless you live completely ignoring it like me, or with the mindset that insults are fine “because I’m a villain.”

[So what’s the solution to this problem? I believe that by establishing a social safety net through massive capital and strong leadership…]

Click.

I stopped the video playback.

The bike had already arrived at the sea, and I’d listened enough to organize my thoughts during the journey.

‘Transform.’

I changed back into the Goblin form.

The transformation tore and disintegrated my coat once again, and I pressed the mask against my face while placing my hand on the bike.

It was late at night.

A full moon hung in the sky, and not a soul was visible at the beach.

[No CCTV, and no signs of people…]

I checked once more for anything that could be tracked and whether there were people around.

I had already checked before transforming into the Goblin, but I always had to check multiple times after transformation too.

[Hmm.]

Just as I felt my magical power running low, I took out something I had loaded onto the bike beforehand.

A five-colored candy in a plastic bag.

She called it a “yeouiju” (dragon orb), and I popped the candy into my mouth.

Ahhhh.

A refreshing sensation spread throughout my body.

As if vitality was spreading through my entire body, I felt my gradually depleting mana rapidly rising from below.

In this world, means to recover mana are extremely rare.

Mana powder also increases mana, but this is fundamentally different from mana powder.

It does come from a human body, but this item has no ethical issues whatsoever.

If I had to explain, it’s something refined from the Chairman and made into candy.

Chairman, loyalty, loyalty.

After expressing sincere gratitude to the Chairman, I picked up the Goblin Club based on the mana flowing through my body.

Vrrrrm.

As soon as I placed the Goblin Club on the bike, the exterior of the bike began to shine.

The ordinary bike instantly transformed into a new appearance, becoming a majestic form with black scales and golden patterns.

[This is the new bike…]

I won’t be able to ride it back when returning to Seoul from Sejong Island, but it’s still cool, so it’s fine.

And it’s not just any bike; it’s a bike that concentrates the science and magical technology of the Syndicate.

Vroom.

I immediately grabbed the handlebars.

The bike was facing Sejong Island.

I pressed my hat down firmly, then stepped on the pedal.

VROOOOM!

The bike’s wheels rolled quickly even on the sandy beach, and I slowly moved forward.

And I moved slowly along the bottom, into the sea.

I.

[Turn breath into magical power.]

[Turn substance into spirit.]

[Turn fantasy into reality.]

[Insufficient mana is filled with the Chairman’s love and grace.]

From now on.

[Goblin Ride.]

I become the Goblin Rider, undetected by anyone.

* * *

Full moon.

Ymir couldn’t sleep tonight.

It was already her usual bedtime, but something felt off about sleeping tonight.

“Come to think of it, I didn’t specify which full moon.”

With no roommate, Ymir muttered to herself, self-questioning and self-blaming.

“Well, there’s no way he’d just show up. It’s the first full moon since the incident.”

The Goblin is an elusive being.

There’s no way such a being would suddenly appear just because she wanted to meet him—

“…?”

Outside the window.

On top of the dormitory fence, a strange shadow was gleaming.

It looked like a man in a suit performing a stunt by riding a bike on top of the fence wall…?

Clunk.

Ymir opened the window and looked up.

[It’s been a while.]

With the full moon at his back, the Goblin stood holding a helmet in his hand.

[Drive. Want to ride behind me?]

“……”

Ymir threw off her Taegeuk Watch and launched herself out the window.