"Hey, Cheon Kwan-Wi. What are you doing? Aren't you leaving?" Yu Ran asked.

Cheon Kwan-Wi looked genuinely stunned. If Yu Ran's voice hadn't snapped him out of it, he would have stood there, blankly staring into space forever.

"What are you doing? Your girlfriend—no, your future wife is calling you. You should go," I said to him.

"..."

"At least ask her to have a meal with you. Go on. Right now. Hurry up," I said, urging him.

"..."

"..."

"I-I'll go... now..." Cheon Kwan-Wi muttered.

"..."

"..."

"What did Lee Ki-Young say? Hey, why did he call only you again? Come to think of it, I think he secretly likes you. It's almost like he has marked you or something," Yu Ran asked.

"..."

"Hey, Cheon Kwan-Wi. Can you hear me?" she asked.

"J-Just a second..." he mumbled.

"What is it? Come on, what did he tell you?" she asked.

"I-I'll tell you later... M-More importantly..." He trailed off.

"What? What's wrong with you?" she asked.

"F-Food..." he mumbled.

'That idiot. What a waste of a handsome face.'

For a moment, I wondered if calling them here had been a little excessive, but watching Cheon Kwan-Wi and Yu Ran together made me feel like it was the right decision.

So many things had happened all at once that I had completely forgotten about the things I wanted to do after returning from the first life. Pairing Cheon Kwan-Wi and Yu Ran together was definitely one of those things I wanted to do.

'Gotta increase our military strength. Gotta increase our military strength.'

Of course, it would be a long time before their child grew into someone great, but looking at the state of the continent right now, one could only reach one conclusion—we had to strengthen our forces by any means necessary.

There were Lukifer's followers, the Hypnosis Guy with a numbered item, and now, there were even some random martial artists causing trouble. The situation was just absurd.

Considering that all this happened not long after I returned from the first life, it wouldn't be strange if even worse things happened tomorrow, a few years from now, or even decades later.

Solving the problems right in front of us was important, but I couldn't neglect strengthening our foundations.

'And when am I supposed to get around to the Lindel Restoration Project?'

We also needed to raise the gacha rates in preparation for Cheon Kwan-Wi and Yu Ran's future kids...

'The Black Tower has to be included in the peace treaty, too. We need to expand the convenience scroll business and train more black mages...'

We had already poured hundreds of millions of gold into resolving the contamination zone in the Federation. Damn it... I had practically thrown money at the Union of Kingdoms for the young ladies' future as well.

The Rift Land update was delayed significantly, and projects were still piling up from higher up. Commander Jin and Ji-Hye noona's agreement still hadn't been fulfilled either.

Holy power was still being drawn from Rohen, so resources weren't the problem. The issue was that there wasn't enough time to put any of it into action. No, at this point, we weren't just stagnating. We were on the verge of falling behind.

I wanted to accelerate our progress along the tech tree as quickly as possible, but...

'The problem is that the Tutorial Dungeon is blocked.'

Once a game no longer had any new players, its demise was inevitable.

Of course, the continent's birth rate was still increasing, and children born with inherited traits were still popping up, but the current generation—kids like Jin Young's group and Kim Myung-Won—still had at least five years before they could actually take on the role of adventurers.

The problem was that the stream of newcomers who ought to arrive in the next five years had been cut off entirely. In other words, the continent wasn't functioning properly anymore. It was a complete disaster from top to bottom. It was to the point that I couldn't even tell where to begin sorting things out.

However, one thing was certain...

'I can't keep getting dragged around anymore.'

I couldn't keep letting myself be led around as if I were wearing a leash. It was a little late, but this time, we had to take the initiative and drag that bastard along instead. As for whether that was possible or not, it was a different issue entirely.

"..."

"..."

"You should get going now, Commander," I told him.

"Once again, I offer my condolences. Your city—"

"Yeah, yeah, I got it. Just get going already. Restore Baek Ri-whatever's sanity, and see if there's anything else you can dig up. I’ll leave the rest to you. Let's just keep sharing information. I've got things I need to investigate too, so I'll keep in touch. Oh, and take Miss Sora with you. As I said before, we're still moving forward with the Peace City project. We need to get the Black Tower built as soon as possible, too," I said, interrupting him.

"Ah... ah... O-Okay..." Jung Ha-Yan visibly panicked the moment she realized that she would be separated from Han Sora, but I didn't have the luxury of paying special attention to her right now.

"Ha-Yan, you’ll be moving together with the Continental Protection Management Committee," I said to her.

"Ah... uh... okay," Jung Ha-Yan said.

"When the Tutorial Dungeon investigation begins, you'll be working with Jung-Yeon on sample research. That's the plan," I added.

Since I had delivered my decision in an unusually firm tone, Jung Ha-Yan realized that there was no room left for negotiation, and she deflated visibly.

Just then, Han Sora's urgent voice rang out. "S-Sir, if it's sample research, I-I could..."

'What now? Wasn't building the Black Tower what you wanted?'

She seemed worried about Jung Ha-Yan being left alone.

"No, Miss Sora. You're assigned to the Black Tower," I said firmly.

"B-But..."

'Come on, why are you making this so difficult? You're the one who said you wanted to take charge of the Black Tower.'

"Focus on the Black Tower. If you finish your work quickly, I'll assign you to the same mission afterward. That's how it'll be," I said.

"M-Miss Jung Ha-Yan..." Han Sora mumbled.

"S-S-Sora..." Jung Ha-Yan muttered.

'Seriously, what is wrong with these two?'

"I-I'll finish it as fast as I can..." Jung Ha-Yan said.

"M-Me, too," Han Sora stuttered.

Han Sora rushed over and hugged Jung Ha-Yan as if they were members of a family being reunited after being torn apart. At this point, I felt like the villain. It was almost as if I were desperately trying to force the two apart, but I couldn’t do something as stupid as keeping two highly capable mages tied together under these circumstances.

Whenever Jung Ha-Yan had no one left to rely on, she tended to display superhuman levels of ability, so I had to rely on that.

"So I just stay on standby, right? It's not like there's anything else for me to do..." Cha Hee-Ra asked.

"Yeah. You'll stay in the Democratic Country for now, noona. The chances of another freak like Fiend Elder Mad White showing up are slim, but if something happens, you'll need to move immediately. It'd be best for you to focus on recovering," I answered.

"I heard somewhere that nothing beats a miraculous elixir when it comes to recovery... I wonder if there are any elixirs lying around," she said.

"I'm busy, noona," I told her.

"Are you the elixir?" she questioned me.

'Come on... is this really the time for that...?'

"Anyway, I've got something else I need to take care of, so I'll be leaving for a while. I've already put Miss Kim Mi-Young in charge of the Lindel Restoration Project, so if you get bored, maybe keep an eye on it," I advised.

"Sounds annoying," she commented.

"..."

"..."

'We're seriously short on manpower...'

Hye-Jin's injury hurt more than I could put into words. At least Sun Hee-Young was still around, which was a relief, but there was an endless pile of work beyond guild management and external affairs. Media control alone was already a headache.

Lindel had collapsed, so I couldn't even begin to imagine what kind of nonsense was happening on Benigoa Net right now.

I felt like news about revenge for the Shadow Manor terrorist attack was already spreading. The trolls who practically lived on the forums were probably aware that the atmosphere was terrible at the moment, so all I could do was hope they'd keep their heads down for once.

If public opinion were to go wild, we'd have to release an official statement. More importantly, announcing that martial artists were literally falling on the continent in a situation like this would only create even more confusion.

'I guarantee some idiots are already trying to learn inner energy cultivation so they can upgrade their status windows.'

"..."

'I wish I had two bodies. Damn it.'

I felt like I had to personally meet Pope Basel, Oscar, and the leaders of the Union of Other Races to explain the situation, but there simply wasn't enough time. Written reports would have to do.

I also wanted to check on Jo Hye-Jin's condition myself, but that wasn't possible either.

"Choi Young-Ki and Colonel Smith are okay, right? Hye-Jin wasn't seriously hurt, was she?" I asked.

"Doesn't seem serious enough to worry about. Just take care of your business. They'll understand," Cha Hee-Ra answered.

'They probably will. I'm just the one feeling uneasy about it.'

"Anyway, I'm counting on you, noona," I told her.

"Yeah, take care," she said.

"You too. You worked hard."

After exchanging a final nod with Kasugano Yuno, who was watching from a distance, I had no choice but to move on. My destination was obvious. The moment I opened the door leading upward and stepped through it, my vision twisted as a sensation of weightlessness washed over me.

Immediately afterward, a loud commotion reached my ears.

'I seriously don't have a second to breathe. Damn it, even ten bodies wouldn't be enough.'

“L-Lee Ki-Young!"

As if she had been waiting for me, Benigoa launched herself at me with a flying tackle.

"L-Lee Ki-Young... I-I didn't do this! You believe me, right?! You're not suspicious of me because of what I said before, are you?" Benigoa asked.

"I know this wasn't your doing, Miss Benigoa. The gate was opened from the other side first. The investigation is still ongoing, but the most likely culprit is Lucifer," I answered.

"R-Right! Lucifer! I knew it! That scheming witch... What grudge does she even have against our dimension to keep tormenting us like this? Seriously! I could just rip her hair out!" she screamed.

"More importantly, where's Ji-Hye noona?" I asked.

"Ahhh. Lee Ji-Hye went to visit that... Spear... um... J-Jo Hye...? Anyway, she heard that girl got injured and went to visit her," Benigoa answered.

"..."

"..."

'Wow...'

"..."

"..."

'The betrayal is unreal. Come on, am I the only one on this entire continent who's actually committed to the cause?'

"She said she'd be back soon. Something about changing the water in a flower vase first,” she added.

'What do you mean, changing the water in a flower vase? It's not even a life-threatening injury, just a wound. I’m capable of doing that too.'

"She should be here any minute now... A-Anyway, hurry to the conference room. Belial's been looking for you. And Lee Ki-Young, just between us, Belial's acting a little suspicious. He used to be one of Lucifer's most trusted subordinates, so I think we should be careful.

"Maybe this is a good opportunity to cut ties with him altogether..." she suggested.

'Benigoa is seriously going to drive me insane.'

"Director Bel isn't involved in this incident, Miss Benigoa. Bel defected from Lucifer's side and joined us. If anything, he'd be trying to avoid this situation," I said, reassuring her.

"I-Is that so?" she asked.

"I understand not trusting demons, but considering how much of a stake Director Bel has in our dimension, betraying us won't even cross his mind. If this dimension goes down, Director Bel will go down with it," I told her.

"Ah!"

"..."

"..."

When I quietly opened the conference room door, I saw Director Bel. He looked like someone who had just been informed that his company's market value was seconds away from total collapse.

"Director Bel..." Benigoa mumbled, "I heard it from Lee Ki-Young."

"..."

"If our dimension goes down... then you'll go down, too," she added.

"..."

"Hehehe... I think I may have misunderstood you..." she said.

"..."

"Let's work hard and climb out of the abyss together. We can do it!" she shouted.

Anyone could tell from his face that he was thoroughly displeased.

"We can do it!"

He genuinely looked like he regretted joining our side from the bottom of his heart.