“The reason I came to find you is simple. To confess my sins... and also to step down from this position of Chair.”
“Chair...!”
At Gangsan’s words,
the leaders cried out in alarm.
“There’s no need for that!”
“R-Right. Even if you did leave your seat for a while... you are still our Chair.”
“No. That’s not the case.”
Even though people tried to stop him,
the Chair cut them off and spoke.
“Be honest with me. Weren’t you all thinking I had overcome the domination of those ghosts?”
“That is...”
“But in the end, I lost. I failed to live up to the expectations the Association had of me.”
At those words,
someone clenched their teeth and spoke.
“Please don’t blame yourself so much. That was... something no one could have helped.”
“No one will blame you, Gangsan. The enemy was simply too strong. You were only unlucky, that’s all.”
“Something no one could have helped, huh.”
The old man let out a bitter smile.
“It’s been, what, about a year since I first awakened. In that year, I thought I had built up a fair amount of strength. Embarrassing as it is to admit, I even thought I was the strongest.”
“....”
“Protagonists with powerful strength you’d only see in martial arts novels... I thought I’d become one of them. For an old man who’s lived as long as I have, that’s a shameful delusion to be having.”
“It’s no delusion. In practice, weren’t you actually like that?”
“I wasn’t. In front of truly powerful enemies, I was utterly defeated.”
The Demon Realm and the cold.
The Chair’s last two expeditions had ended in back-to-back failure.
“Strongest, my foot. The last thing I was able to do... was nothing more than flailing around to cause a little less harm to others.”
“...”
“And in the process... I think my mind finally snapped.”
He looked down at his own hands,
and spoke in a powerless voice.
“While I was being tortured, I somehow endured the mental domination... but the pain is still burned into my mind. I no longer... have the confidence to fight those overwhelming monsters.”
“Chair...!”
The leaders clenched their fists.
“How could someone like this lead the Association?”
He had once been their hero.
But now,
they looked at an old man who had been crushed by the storm this world had called down.
“Damn it...”
“Chair...”
In their minds,
the times when they had received help from that Chair passed by.
Gang Jaeho had been able to exact revenge for his brother and his group thanks to the Chair.
Jo Beomseok had achieved his dream of recapturing the military base thanks to the Chair.
Architect Kim Jongdu, who had no combat power at all, had also been able to play an active role because the Chair had built a system in Gyeonggi Province.
“Do you really... have to do this?”
“Don’t be sad. In fact, you’re the ones who ought to be angry with me.”
“...”
Since awakening, he had devoted the rest of his life to the members of the Association.
But because of one final mistake, the old man had lost every bit of strength he had built up.
“How could this happen...”
“...”
At that tragedy,
some people shed tears.
“I under... stand.”
“You’ve... really gone through so much.”
“It’s not like I did anything worth mentioning. If anything, thinking about how much you’ll suffer in the days to come just makes me feel sorry.”
And then,
together with those words—
DING!
[Guildmaster of Gyeonggi Awakeners’ Association.]
[Gangsan has left the guild.]
The Guildmaster’s departure message
filled the vision of every Association guild member.
[With Guildmaster Gangsan’s departure, the guildmaster position becomes vacant.]
The position called Chair...
became perfectly vacant.
“With this, I am no longer the Chair.”
“...”
“It’s not much of a replacement, but... may I ask one favor?”
“A favor? Whatever it is, please say it. You are still our Chair.”
“I’m sorry to do something like this the moment I quit the Chair’s seat... but I’d like to exercise just one last authority.”
The final authority a man who had stepped down as Chair could exercise.
That was—
“I’d like to recommend my successor as Chair.”
The old man’s gaze
turned toward another old man.
“Beomseok.”
“...What is it, Gangsan.”
“I’d like you to take over after me.”
“What?”
*****
“You want me to take over after you.”
At the Chair’s words,
Jo Beomseok frowned and said,
“I’m the head of the Southern Branch. I don’t have the capacity to represent the people of the other branches.”
“I also served concurrently as head of the Central Branch.”
“......Besides, I’m someone who tried to join those soldiers. To be honest, even now, I don’t entirely lack that desire. I’ve spent most of my life as a soldier. In a situation where we have to respond to that Legion, for me to represent us...”
“That is precisely why it has to be you.”
The old man, who had lost his strength and grown gaunt,
spoke in a firm tone.
“You’re all too afraid of those soldiers.”
“...What do you mean by that?”
“We’re grateful they saved us, but they’re still a different organization. We have to keep our guard up...”
“Keeping your guard up is fine. What I mean is, you must not mistake who the enemy is.”
He was the man who had built the massive organization called the Association.
Even though he had lost his strength,
the charisma he exerted over the Association’s people was unchanged.
“Think about what it was that left us in this state. Was it humans?”
“...No, it wasn’t.”
It wasn’t human conflict that had driven the Association to the brink of destruction.
It had been those monsters of the cold.
“Our enemies are the monsters. Not other humans... but those monsters that must be swarming beyond that Curtain!”
“...!”
The Black Curtain would soon open.
When it did, the Association would face forces from other regions.
“Among them will be places ruled by monsters. It might even be that there are fewer lands ruled by humans.”
If that was the case—
“Junggu said it earlier. That the Association is strongest when it stands as one.”
“H-He did say that, but...”
“And I’m the one who coined that phrase and made it the Association’s slogan. As its creator, I’d like to add one more thing. The only thing that becomes strong by uniting is not just the Association.”
“...What do you mean?”
“Humanity.”
Gangsan looked around at the faces of the leaders,
and spoke as if engraving the words upon them.
“Humanity must fight as one.”
“...”
“There is no need to grovel before those soldiers. But we must have a cooperative relationship with them. Only then will humanity be able to survive against the enemies that have swept over this world.”
He was the man who had made the Association unite as one.
For such a man to speak with such conviction—
‘Indeed... just as the Chair says.’
‘This is the insight of someone who led a massive guild. We can’t take it lightly.’
His words carried a powerful persuasiveness.
“...It’s true we may have been fearing the Legion too vaguely.”
Until not long ago,
they had been waiting only for the Legion’s visit.
But once that Legion actually came to them,
the people of the Association became wary of those soldiers.
The reason was simple.
“Because they’re too strong.”
The violence the Legion had displayed
surpassed by far the level they had imagined.
If the Legion wished to oppress them,
it possessed more than enough power to do so.
Had it been a force that was only somewhat stronger than they were, they might have approached it as a friendly ally.
But an existence with such overwhelming power was more than enough to inspire fear in them.
Because they had no way of knowing what kind of disposition that group of soldiers had.
The Association’s leaders feared them.
However—
“Our enemies are the monsters that have swept over this world. Even if we don’t know those soldiers’ true intentions, they are still one of the very few solid allies we have.”
Only after listening to the Chair’s words
were they able to realize that their thinking all this time had been mistaken.
And then—
“The one who can communicate best with that ally is you, Beomseok.”
[The person recommended as successor Chair is ‘Jo Beomseok.’]
[If the recommended person agrees, that person will be elevated to Chair.]
Jo Beomseok was a former soldier.
He was one of the few people who shared common ground with them.
“...I don’t have the confidence.”
Not long ago,
Jo Beomseok had suffered a major failure.
Because of it, the authority he had built up over the years had vanished,
and he himself had fallen into doubt about his own abilities.
“You still have to do it.”
“What do you mean, I have to?”
“Well.”
The old man gave a light laugh,
as if wondering why he was even asking something so obvious.
“You and I are both old men who’ve lived long enough... but we both want to live even one day longer, don’t we.”
“...Yes. That’s true.”
To live,
they would have to cooperate with that Legion.
“In that case.”
He hesitated for a moment,
then, as if making up his mind, he nodded and spoke.
“I have two conditions.”
“What are they.”
“I don’t have the confidence to act as the sole head. I don’t have the ability for that either. So...”
Jo Beomseok lacked the authority to take the Chair’s position alone.
In /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ that case,
he just had to borrow that authority from someone else.
“Gangsan. You’ll have to support me completely.”
Until recently, he had been borrowing his authority from Shin Youngjun.
Now, the one he would borrow that authority from simply changed.
“Very well. It’s not like I intended to just idle around after stepping down as Chair.”
The Chair.
Gangsan’s standing was overwhelming.
The authority he possessed would support Jo Beomseok.
“Announce to everyone that I recommended you, and appoint me as the Association’s advisor. If there’s any need to persuade the people, I’ll actively step forward.”
“...Thank you.”
Just as Jo Beomseok had continued to serve as the Expedition Force’s commander with Shin Youngjun’s authority at his back,
with Gangsan’s authority behind him, he would be able to fulfill his role as Chair.
“The second condition depends on you.”
“Huh?”
After nodding,
Jo Beomseok next turned to look at the other leaders and spoke.
“I recently went through a major failure. This is a world where even someone like Gangsan has experienced failure. In a world like that, I can’t bring myself to believe I’ll be able to do well. I can’t trust myself.”
“You mean...”
“So I’d like to tweak the guild’s structure a bit.”
DING.
[The guild system is being overhauled!]
[The executive ranks are being renamed.]
[Previous - Executive]
[After revision - Representative]
“This is...”
“We’re moving to a structure befitting the name ‘Association.’”
[Gyeonggi Province Survivors’ Association will consist of one Chair and five Representatives.]
[Each Representative speaks for one of the Association’s subordinate groups.]
[They can only be designated as a Representative if they have the support of the members of that subordinate group. If the members of a subordinate group wish to replace their Representative, it can be done through a vote.]
[If a majority of the five Representatives calls for replacing the Chair.]
[The Chair can be replaced through a vote by the Representatives.]
“I’m afraid of making another mistake if I’m alone at the top. So... you will all have to keep me in check.”
An Association is something made by the union of many groups.
The members of each group choose their own Representative,
and those Representatives choose the head of the Association.
The Chair was distributing his own power to every member of the guild.
It was a choice that required considerable resolve.
“...General.”
“I told you. Don’t call me by that title. It’s not much of a replacement, but...”
[Gyeonggi Province Survivors’ Association]
[Chair - Jo Beomseok]
“It seems there’s a different title you can use now.”
“...Yes, Chair.”
“I’ll do my best... to be worthy of being called by that name for a long time.”
The organization called the Association had been overhauled.
Under its new Representative leadership, they would once again unite as one
and begin to build up their strength.
“For now, we may not be all that strong. But through that Expedition, didn’t we all realize something.”
Compared to Gangwon,
the situation in Gyeonggi Province was better.
Even originally, its population had been large,
and because the monsters had flocked to the Demon Realm, the mortality rate had been extraordinarily low.
The survivors had had to wage a fierce struggle to survive,
but before the crisis of death closed in on them, the [Legion]’s radio had spread,
and they had fished out frozen zombie corpses and safely awakened.
“The potential of a united Association is by no means lacking!”
They themselves did not know it,
but in sheer numbers of survivors,
the awakened in Gyeonggi Province far outnumbered those in Gangwon.
And all those awakened were humans with thoughts of their own.
Having them unite as one would not be easy.
And so—
“As Chair, I’ll give my first order. Inform every member of the Association that the former Chair, Gangsan, has returned.”
“Yes!”
The very person
whom all those many Association members deeply respected
was the former Chair, Gangsan.
“Tell everyone his story. That although he did fall prey to the enemy’s schemes... until the very last moment, he resisted the enemy for the sake of the Association, a true fighter!”
His story
would give all those belonging to the Association great emotion.
It would strengthen their sense of belonging to the Association and their unity.
“There is one month left until that Curtain is completely lifted... In that time, we have to reorganize our forces as much as possible and build up our strength. It’s going to be a busy schedule.”
“Heh heh, well then, let’s give it a shot.”
“And... once we’ve reorganized things to some degree, I plan to contact the Legion.”
The Gyeonggi Awakeners’ Association.
A massive force that had unified the countless people of Gyeonggi Province.
“Tell them the Chair wishes to meet the Legion Commander!”
The potential they had possessed
was finally beginning to be brought to bear.
*****
“To meet the Legion Commander, huh...”
After that, for a while,
among the people of the Association,
the story of the former Chair,
Gangsan, spread far and wide.
To heighten their sense of belonging to the organization.
An embellished tale that concealed his failure as much as possible,
and inflated only that heroic part of him that had resisted to the very end for the sake of the Association.
The Association members who heard that story would come to feel a sense of belonging to the Association.
And they would follow the leadership of his chosen successor,
Jo Beomseok, without complaint.
“With this, I’ve kept my promise.”
And then, at that moment—
“I didn’t kill you, and I even turned you into a great figure. How does it feel?”
In the treatment wing where the patients were gathered,
in a solitary room,
a young man sat,
listening to the stories and praise about the Chair coming from that conference room,
and spoke toward the darkness in the corner.
At those words,
– It’s a strange feeling... but I can’t say I’m deeply moved.
from within the shadow,
a voice tinged with a chilly cold could be heard.
“No feelings, huh. You’ll never be able to go back to that seat. That doesn’t bother you?”
– A seat like that... was nothing but an empty shell anyway. I have no lingering attachment to it now.
“Well then, that’s a relief.”
Once,
he had been an awakener called the strongest in his region,
and,
“Do you want anything else? Like I said back then, if you really wanted, I could even have a statue made of you.”
– That won’t be necessary. I’ve already given my name to my Master. The name they call me by is no longer mine...
he had yielded his strength from those [Lords]
and gained the qualification to someday ascend to the position of [Lord].
He, who now remained near that deep place in the shadow
where an unbearably bitter cold had settled,
– What I desire... is only my Master’s ‘favor’...
“Not even an hour has passed since lunch, you maniac.”
was simply sitting quietly,
waiting for the next mealtime.
