I Became the Academy’s Kibitz Villain

-Hey, they say a coup happened in Thailand?

-It’s not the first time something like that has happened in Central America.

-Hey. Thailand is in Southeast Asia, you idiot!

-What? A coup in Thailand? Ah, I was planning to travel to Taiwan.

-Taiwan is not Thailand!

Sometimes, people didn’t care whether there’s a war or a coup happening in another country.

-Have some interest in what’s going on!

-Why should I? Does my life change spectacularly if I care? I’m busy just making a living. If it’s America, maybe! I have stocks in NASDAQ, so I care about that. Is there anything worth caring about?

-The Korean Marine Captain, Red Brassard, is currently training Laplace’s abandoned children with his instructors!

-What? Marines? Ugh, isn’t it just spreading their influence to another country?

Even if the news talked about this and that, and people on the internet discussed it, it rarely reached the general public.

-Anyway, something… Wow! Sephiroth Knights! So cool!

-The new article about them is quite decent. Last time, it was just some arrogant guy running wild.

-Really? No sense of restraint… is that it…?

However, when it’s about extraordinary abilities that became global issues, the story felt different.

As soon as we got off the plane, people’s conversations, smartphones, and earphones were filled with information about the Sephiroth Knights.

Not just in personal conversations, but in the media too.

“As soon as we arrived at the airport, the first thing I saw in the lobby was an analysis article on the Sephiroth Knights.”

After coming out of Yangyang Airport’s lobby and arriving in Korea with Yun Hye-ra, the first Korean broadcast we saw was a current affairs program on a wall-mounted TV.

[Sephiroth, what is it?]

To the general public, the term or concept of Sephiroth might be unfamiliar, so analysts were explaining what Sephiroth is and who Joan of Arc was in a way that people could easily understand.

-So what is Sephiroth, nerd?

-The Tree of Sephiroth is a diagram used in the Kabbalah, a mystical branch of Judaism…

-We don’t need a guy reading from Wikipedia!

-Hmph. Just think of it as ten archangels!

-Oh, I kind of get it now.

That was good enough.

-So is the Dark Charisma an angel too?

-…You could roughly say they’re an angel from the future sent to save humanity. In that sense, aren’t they an angel? If the future is destroyed by demons, God could designate one human as His only begotten son.

-Is it like a futuristic version of the Second Coming of Jesus… complicated.

If a group called the ‘Red Guards’ caused a terror attack in the U.S., you could infer their purpose and principles from the name ‘Red Guards.’

But unlike other groups, the Sephiroth Knights were probably good guys. At least they must be angels, meant to fight demons, right?

If that’s the case, that’s good.

Even though the name might be different, you can guess some of its characteristics from where the name was taken.

“Oppa. Are people in Korea interested in the Sephiroth Knights too?”

“Well, they did show their strength by smashing Susanoo’s head in Busan’s offshore. They must be satisfied knowing there’s another Sephiroth Knight… wait a minute.”

As we were about to leave the airport lobby, a man holding a red megaphone was shouting loudly.

“The Sephiroth Knights are the salvation sent to us by God!!”

“…….”

It’s not uncommon to see someone shouting in crowded places, but it’s rare in this era of extraordinary abilities.

“Believe in God!”

[Adapted to the era of extraordinary abilities, the S+ rank ability users sent from the future to the past are to deal with the demons. In other words, the demons of this Pandemonium are extremely dangerous and serious threats….]

As the man’s shouting overlapped with a woman’s phone analysis broadcast through her speaker, it was clear the effect of the Chief revealing the Sephiroth Knights publicly was significant.

“Scary… So a guy like Duoexini caused chaos in Thailand too?”

“I wondered why Goblin went to Thailand. Turns out he went to execute Duoexini’s friend.”

“Judging by the lack of mention from society, they probably missed him? Ah, damn. Hope he doesn’t come to Korea out of anger.”

“Hey. Isn’t it fine since we have Dark Charisma in Korea?”

People were getting agitated.

The civilians who heard the stories from the media are worried about various things, but those in Korea were more concerned about the trouble spreading to their country.

“Ah, man. Demons appearing is already troublesome enough, but there are even worse demons that require such monsters to step up?”

“Relax. Duoexini is dead in Korea. One appeared in Thailand, so next time it will be another country, right?”

“Right? Damn. Hope it appears in another country.”

It’s a natural concern in a way.

“Hopefully the neighboring country… haha.”

“Why are you saying such scary things?”

“Well, what does it matter? We were already hit once. As long as it’s not us. As long as it’s not meee!”

No matter how globalized the world was, if there’s turmoil in Phuket, Thailand, and missiles fell on the city, it didn’t have a direct impact on the Korean Peninsula.

“Hey, honestly, I want to see another Sephiroth Knight. Aren’t you curious about what kind of extraordinary ability users came from the future?”

“Sigh… It would be nice if we could make their future technology ours. People are already mimicking the Dark Charisma’s techniques.”

“Exactly. Soon there will be more people wearing claws on both hands. Haha.”

Even if a meteorite fell on the opposite side of the Earth, if its damage didn’t affect here at all, it would just be an interesting issue to watch.

“Oppa. Let’s just go.”

Yun Hye-ra pulled my hand.

Seeing that I was paying attention to people’s voices, she covered my ears with her hands and pulled me along.

“There’s no need to stress over hearing that. People would think differently if they directly experienced what happened in Thailand. Right?”

“…I guess so.”

“Oppa.”

“Sometimes, I get these thoughts.”

I held Yun Hye-ra’s hand and left the airport.

The car prepared by Yun Hye-ra’s subordinates was waiting for us in the parking lot. I put Yun Hye-ra in the passenger seat before sitting in the driver’s seat.

“They say knowledge is power, but sometimes, knowledge is poison.”

“Ignorance is bliss?”

“Yeah.”

That’s how it felt.

I had always felt that way whenever I encountered the darkness of this world, but every time I faced this darkness, the ‘protagonist’ must have had his mentality chipped away.

“No matter how strong someone’s mentality is, they still get stressed. I do too. But now, I think I’m more stressed than when I entered the underground island of the succubus.”

“When you see people who know nothing?”

“Yeah. It’s not that it’s their fault, but it feels a bit that way.”

It might have seemed like the women beside him were healing him, but whenever the protagonist saw the terrible malice of humans in the dark world, I wondered if his heart was truly healed.

“Really, the stress is beyond words.”

Sometimes, I got these thoughts too.

“I think it’s right to wipe everything out.”

The meteor was right.

If all humanity could be euthanized simultaneously by a meteor collision and the destruction of Earth, wouldn’t it bring peace to those suffering all over the world?

Sometimes I thought that maybe the answer was for everyone to go to the afterlife together harmoniously.

But.

“…Still, wouldn’t the Chairman worry about this more than I do?”

Thinking about someone who worried and suffered more about this than I did, my thoughts changed.

The woman who knew everything about the world, even seeing the future, did not give up on this world.

Instead, she created the Secret Society and decided to save the world.

She decided to conquer the world herself and unify the system, bringing awareness to the world by revealing the Sephiroth Knights.

In that case, I only supported and followed the Chief’s decision.

“Hye-ra.”

“Yeah.”

“If the Chief decided not to conquer the world but to destroy it all, what would you do?”

“…Hmm.”

Yun Hye-ra, who was booking a ticket to Ulleungdo from the passenger seat, laughed.

“Oppa. Do you know?”

Yun Hye-ra winked at me with an innocent face.

“Just a year ago… around this time. Before you started making your name known in earnest, we had that kind of talk among ourselves.”

“What kind of talk?”

“Just, wouldn’t it be better to wipe out everything except for one country.”

Flinch.

“All the other executives agreed. Why? Because they had all been betrayed by humans, by nations, by people. They only had thoughts of wanting to wipe everything out.”

For a moment, my hands on the steering wheel paused.

“And now?”

“Not anymore.”

Yun Hye-ra’s hand stroked my thigh.

“We found a reason to live. Hehe.”

“…That’s a relief.”

I gripped the steering wheel tightly.

“Oppa. Until we get on the boat, I need to recharge my magic power.”

“If we get stopped at a checkpoint, sort it out quickly.”

“If we say we’re going to Ulleungdo, they’ll just let us through, right?”

“…”

“Stop. …Pass!”

What was this reality?