Translator: HunterW
Editor: RED
I looked up to the sky as I walked out.
It was only three in the afternoon and the sun was still out, scorching hot.
"I just want to go home and have a drink. I'm too tired to do anything else today."
I briefly checked my health and fatigue levels and noticed that my fatigue was still at 0, but I was still tired. So tired.
I didn't normally drink, but I bought five bottles of soju and went up to my rooftop room. I wasn't hungry, either; I just wanted to drink.
The more I drank, the more I shivered. It was in the middle of July, but I turned on the heater.
I soon fell asleep. I didn't notice that my cold sweat was soaking through the covers.
The Sunbin Group was headquartered in a ninety-seven story building located in Gangnam, Seoul.
On the eighty-thirdrd floor, a group of sharply dressed men and women were holding a meeting in one of the conference rooms.
Song Daechul, the chairman of the board of Sunbin Group, looked through the report in his hand for a while before sighing and asked his executive secretary. "You are saying that everything in this report is true?"
"Yes, Mr. Chairman! There's no doubt about it."
"Father! We don't have time for this."
"He's right, grandfather!"
Song Daechul's son, Song Myungsoo, and his five granddaughters implored the chairman. One of the girls was Song Haein, one of the first of them to become a Deva.
"So, humans can no longer leave descendants?" Song Daechul asked his head of Sunbin Pharmaceuticals, Lee Daehun, while ignoring his family's pleas.
"Yes, Mr. Chairman. We investigated 7,500 different cases and we concluded that no man can produce sperm and no woman can produce eggs anymore. We've also tested on mice, pigs, and dogs, but they have no problems with reproduction. It's only with humans! Humans can't reproduce anymore."
"Hah…" the chairman sighed deeply at Lee Daehun's affirmation.
"Mr. Chairman." The fifty-year old chief of security, Han Chulgyung, looked upon his employer. This man had been Song Daechul's personal guard since the chairman's beginnings; even the chairman's family respected him.
"You must become a Deva. I'm sure you have seen my men's reports, but you escape death for good once you become a Deva. We don't know what else will happen to the world. You must become a Deva as soon as possible."
While everyone else hesitated and feared about becoming an unknown Deva, Han Chulgyung stepped forward and took the initiative. He had even committed suicide to reveal that Devas truly couldn't fully die. As head of security, he was extremely sensitive about the safety of his ward and took it upon himself to experiment, even after all of his men volunteered to take the task.
He did it in front of Song Haein. It was because of his experiment that Song Haein could become a Deva so quickly.
"He's right. If we go by the R&D report, there is something known as a stat and skill menu. It's very similar to that of a virtual reality game."
"The only thing that can top this weirdness is if a meteor strikes the Earth tomorrow. The best option we have in all this uncertainty is to have you become a Deva, Mr. Chairman. Quickly." Kim Soochul, the executive secretary, and Park Manho, the head of the R&D, both agreed with Han Chulgyung's advice.
As soon as Song Daechul heard the voice in the sky, he had immediately ordered Sunbin's R&D to investigate. It was thanks to his preemptive decision that the Sunbin Group had learned so much more than anyone else.
Song Daechul took in what everyone said, and remained deep in thought.
"Would that be the right thing to do? No, the problem here isn't that if it's right or wrong. It doesn't matter if it makes sense or if it's absurd. No, the real problem is…" The chairman trailed off and looked over at the Don Gate.
The executives had cordoned off the floor and held their meeting there because there was a Don Gate sitting in the middle of the lobby. This was the Don Gate he was looking at.
"This is the problem, here. Is it really okay for humans to not be humans anymore?"
Would immortality truly be a gift, like everyone believes? Or would it turn out to be a curse? Mortality was the most beautiful part of being human. Humans could have pleasant memories and happiness because of their short lives. There was no such thing as everlasting love and everlasting happiness. Nothing was permanent, which was why humans could have short, burning love and dream of happier days.
"This might as well be the end of days! How am I supposed to make a decision like this?" The executive members fell silent at the chairman's monologue and watched him.
Sunbin Group was South Korea's largest conglomerate. There was no foreign power that did not know about the Sunbin Group and its influence.
Sung Daechul took over his father's small textile factory and converted it into a construction company, to take advantage of Korea's growing economy. Then at the peak of Korea's construction boom and Korea's construction projects in the Middle East, Sung Daechul used all of his profits to convert his company into an electronics company and focused all of his investments to create today's Sunbin Group.
He beat political interference and his competitors fairly and legally and gained the reputation of a bulldozer as he struggled through many difficulties.
"There's a chance I'll become more of a monster than human!"
Deva. Immortal human being. There was no such thing. That was a monster!
And so, the chairman of the board stood there in silence for more than twenty minutes, staring at the Don Gate that had appeared in the lobby.
The others silently watched over the chairman as he stood there, ready to follow whatever order he gave them.
"Hah!" the chairman suddenly laughed. After frowning in contemplation for so long, he finally gave a smile.
"Fine! If the world wants me to, then I will. I'll become a monster! I can't stop here now, no matter what might be waiting for me on the other side." He finally made his decision after considering all of his departments' reports.
[The era of humans has come to an end. If we can't prepare for the future, then who are we leaving our future to? There is no such thing as forever!]
Those that knew Song Daechul personally knew that he didn't like the word forever. To him, forever took away dreams and hopes. If something was forever, then it had no value. Why? Because it lasted forever.
But that didn't mean he was going to go stand against the flow of time. He knew that was impossible. If he couldn't stand against the tide, then he was going to ride it out.
He believed that he should at least see where the tide would take him, even if he fell off the wave midway.
In the years he had spent building his businesses; he had to make the toughest decisions and had many times where he thought it was the end. But he always made it through.
And so, on that day, the Sunbin Group gathered its most talented people and turned them into devas using all the Don Gates that had been hidden all this time at the chairman's command.
"By the way, what was that young man's name again?" Song Daechul asked his youngest and most favored grandchild, Song Haein.
She was shrewdest of his grandchildren, and she took after his boldness and resolve. She had quite the ability to accurately judge people.
"Do you mean Lee Jiwon?"
"Yes, him. I would like to meet him once."
After Song Haein encountered Lee Jiwon, she had thoroughly investigated him. Obviously, she hadn't done it herself, but she still handed the report on him over to her grandfather.
They weren't going to leave any stone unturned about devas!
"I understand. I'll see if I can contact him, grandfather."