Seoul Dragon - Chapter 57

"By the way, Seohyun unnie."

"Yes?"

"When creating a mutant village based on the World Tree, what will we do if there are mutants who don't want to come to the village?"

This is quite an important issue. There might be mutants who value freedom, or those whose hatred has reached its peak and choose revenge over the comfort of the World Tree.

"We can't force those people into the village. That would be nothing but a prison. Instead, if someone doesn't come to the mutant village and acts out of vengeance, other mutants should gather opinions and stop them. I'll help if possible. Oh, and I forgot to mention this during the negotiation... would you relay this one message to the Governor?"

"What message?"

"Tell him that if another situation similar to this occurs due to excessive rejection of mutants, I won't help again. Tell him to improve the treatment of mutants on his own."

"...Understood."

Mutants aren't fools, and they can't instantly resolve the deep-seated emotions they've harbored. Creating a mutant village is just a temporary measure.

It's a temporary solution to build a fence to protect them and allow them to cool their emotions, even just a little.

During that time, the outside world needs to make its own efforts.

So, there was a need to make this kind of threat.

That I helped this time, but I have no intention of stopping a second disaster caused by mutant hatred in the future.

If they try to use me as they please, I'd rather blow away the state government.

This should be... yes, I believe they'll understand well.

"Ah, Vice Chief. You've worked hard. It must have been a long flight."

"No, you've worked harder than I have, haha. It seems you've brilliantly accomplished something."

"Well... that's right."

I summarized what had happened to the Vice Chief.

How to resolve the mutant village and the widespread hatred towards mutants in the U.S., and so on.

"That seems fine. But the situation was much more serious than expected."

"Don't even mention it. They tortured and massacred thousands of people, then created monsters from those corpses and were advancing."

"Insane...! Ah, I'm sorry. B-but really? They massacred thousands of people?"

The Vice Chief's eyes widened. A natural reaction.

"The news will probably spread soon. There were quite a few witnesses."

"My goodness... what a horrific incident."

"The federal government will try to cover this up. But when negotiating with the state government, I promised to reveal in detail how this situation unfolded."

"Is it to instill a sense of caution?"

"Yes. To clearly convey what indiscriminate hatred and animosity towards mutants can lead to. No matter how I think about it, the situation is different from our country."

Anew, through this incident, I realized what an amazing thing the National Intelligence Service Director had done.

...Normally, it wouldn't have been strange if a similar situation to the U.S. had occurred.

"For now, I understand. Leave the follow-up to me."

"Please do."

After the conversation with the Vice Chief, I decided to visit the World Tree with Sia.

First, I need to know how many mutants it can accommodate by checking its size.

And the World Tree I witnessed...

"Wow..."

Its scale immediately made it clear why it's called the World Tree. How many meters high is that? No, not just the height... does it make sense for a single tree to be almost as big as a mountain?

"Amazing, isn't it?"

"Didn't you say last time that it would be about 500 meters tall when fully grown?"

"That's right. But... I don't know. Suddenly, the World Tree grew more..."

"That looks almost a thousand meters tall?"

That was true.

Due to some kind of effect, the current World Tree boasted a height of about 1 kilometer.

The tree, which was much taller than the world's tallest building and literally large enough to wrap around an entire city, provided an overwhelmingly awe-inspiring sight just by looking at it.

"Is this enough for all the mutants across the U.S. to live in?"

"More than enough, I'd say? This is a city-scale size, isn't it? With this size, it seems like mutants from all over the world could gather and live together."

"It's not that extensive. There are hundreds in Korea, but there are more in other countries. The total number of confirmed mutants in the U.S. alone is about 5,000."

"There are more mutants than I thought."

"That's right. There are probably even more in India or China. Anyway, with this size, even if all the mutants in the world gathered here, it could accommodate them... so there shouldn't be a big problem. The issue is the system, but the state government has agreed to help a lot with that."

"That's already been agreed upon."

"It will probably take quite some time to build the village, enact laws for mutants, and establish a system. And we'll need to promote it too. 'Mutants, come here!' Something like that. The California government plans to advertise extensively once preparations are complete."

"Sounds good."

"But, unnie."

"Yes?"

Squish, squish.

I continued squishing Sia's cheeks while she was talking.

"Don't you get tired of it?"

"Nope. It's thrilling every time. The best."

"Ughh... A-anyway, the general flow will probably go that way."

"I hope many gather here."

"They probably will. Even just the mutants within the U.S. would be yearning for a place without discrimination and hatred. Of course... as you mentioned earlier, there might be residents who don't move in for the sake of revenge, so we'll have to rely on the cooperation of other mutants and the help of the federal government for that."

"Well... as I said earlier, I'll help as much as I can if there's anything I can do. There are many dangerous mutants. And if someone is that fixated on revenge, tell me instead. That would be the best."

"Is that okay? I know you're still attending university."

"My professors will surely be flexible about that. That's why I can legally skip classes when there's a Management Bureau schedule."

"That's a relief. Ah, would you like to see the World Tree up close?"

"Yes."

I approached the World Tree with Sia. Then, I felt an overwhelming sense of freshness surrounding the area.

My slightly dissatisfied mood subsided, and I felt a sense of calmness.

"...Does the World Tree also have some kind of mental stabilizing effect?"

"That's right. It's a kind of defense mechanism. Emotionally unstable individuals might pose a threat to the World Tree. Because of this effect, I want to bring mutants here. Being around here brings mental stability, which can suppress the impulses unique to mutants."

According to Sia, this might become a true paradise for mutants who can't control themselves. There must be mutants who don't cause disturbances by choice.

"That's amazing. There will probably be many mutants who want to come here."

"First, we need to build all the basic preparations, systems, and facilities. It seems like it will take quite some time, but I hope it happens as quickly as possible."

"Well, the federal and state governments will take care of that."

"Still, I'm the person in charge... Ah, I was thinking of giving you a fancy title too, what do you think?"

"That can't happen. I'm already a Korean civil servant. There's a prohibition on holding multiple positions."

"Ah, right."

While chatting like that, Sia and I discussed what kind of mutants would live here in the future.

And at this time, I didn't know what kind of repercussions it would bring to ask the California Governor to release the drone footage taken this time.

The drone footage released to the media by the California Governor astonished the entire United States.

Thousands of corpse legions led by Liches and Dullahans.

And the corpse dragon formed by those corpse legions coming together.

It was so extreme that there were rumors saying it wasn't real footage but CGI.

But it wasn't just CGI; it was a being created by the sacrifice of thousands of actual people.

The fact that it was moving towards San Diego wasn't something that happened in a fantasy but in reality.

People wondered how on earth that monster was stopped.

And not long after, that question was answered.

A jet-black dragon that appeared casting a massive shadow on the ground.

The scene where the corpse dragon melted instantly from the breath shot by that dragon was shown right after.

Even after capturing the corpse dragon, the bodies of the Liches and Dullahans suddenly turned to ash and scattered.

People who had heard bits and pieces about the situation in Mexico were shocked by these facts.

Because they knew how vicious those Liches and Dullahans were.

The internet was on fire.

Many people were curious about the identity of that dragon and why a mutant stopped another mutant.

The one who resolved their doubts at that time was the California Governor.

Through an official press conference, the governor imprinted Seohyun's existence on Americans and announced how she had helped America with her heart.

-My goodness, it's not an evil dragon but a dragon that protected us?

-Guardian Dragon!

-She's a Korean civil servant?

-Wait, even a university student? That massive dragon? Unbelievable!

-I heard she rushed immediately to save America!

Interest in Seohyun exploded across the United States, including in communities. Also, there were an enormous number of people who showed goodwill towards her for readily stepping forward for another country in a national crisis.

Even in the U.S., which rejects mutants, Seohyun exceptionally succeeded in solidifying a hero image.

And so, now.

Seohyun wore a dumbfounded expression as she saw the numerous people who suddenly came to find her.

The pickets they held had welcome messages for the hero written in English.

Along with their expressions of gratitude and cheers.

It was truly an innumerable request for handshakes.