Chapter 8: The Ivory Tower and the Library (1)

The meeting with high-ranking government officials was proceeding smoothly. At least, smoother than I’d expected.

Normally, it’s near impossible to communicate properly with those high-level bureaucrats.

“I remember how much trouble we had last time.”

Meaningless political games were no longer welcome.

We didn’t have time, nor did we have enough resources to waste on such trivialities.

In my previous life, the response to the Gate crisis was scattered across various government departments.

Because of interdepartmental power struggles, lack of communication, and shirking of responsibility, serious chaos ensued.

Anyway.

This time, I wanted to eliminate as much of those wasteful arguments as possible.

I had to show them, beyond any doubt, the gravity of the situation and make sure nothing interfered with the work of the Research Institute.

Show them.

The staff of the Research Institute entered the dissection room carrying their notebooks.

After a brief silence as the laptops were set up for the video conference,

Once the connection was complete, the Prime Minister, who was also the director of the Central Disaster Response Headquarters, spoke up.

“Good day, Doctor Lee.”

“Hello.”

The Prime Minister. His name was Kim Yangjeol.

A kindly old gentleman.

In my previous life, he failed to grasp the seriousness of the situation and was less than cooperative.

There was always a reason for this not working, and a reason for that not being possible.

During the initial stage of the Gate crisis, he was practically the embodiment of bureaucratic incompetence.

Even the government officials realized the gravity of the situation too late, and by then, too much time had already passed.

As the person in charge of the Research Institute, I thought that if I could correct the thinking of the Prime Minister and the other bureaucrats early on with this opportunity—

“It will be a great help in containing the situation.”

I inwardly sighed.

“I heard that, thanks to Doctor Lee’s efforts, the incident on Bam Island ended without casualties. It seems you’re quite renowned. I’ve learned that, in the event of a disaster caused by supernatural phenomena, the head of the Supernatural Science Research Institute is to take command on site.”

The lack of a meaningful command authority.

That had been a huge headache in my previous life, but this time, because we managed to get through the first Gate smoothly, that problem didn’t occur.

I’d shown them that what I was saying was basically fact.

“Even now, we are inundated with inquiries through our embassies overseas. They all say that Korea ended its initial crisis response without casualties, and they’re asking if there’s something to learn from us.”

That had happened in my previous life as well.

Back then, from the very first Gate, disaster unfolded, and everyone was frantically calling other countries to try and understand the situation.

This time, since we’d succeeded so spectacularly, they were reaching out to learn about our Gate management methods.

The meeting continued.

“How is the situation on the ground?”

There were countless things I could say.

But I thought, instead of explaining it a hundred times, it might be more effective to show these people the essence of the problem directly.

I grabbed the webcam with my bloodstained gloves and adjusted it so the autopsy table was visible on the video call.

Let them see what kind of existence we’re fighting, what the situation is really like.

I hoped they would understand, intuitively.

On the autopsy table, the head of an Orc had been opened.

Researchers in bloodied gowns and a dissected monster corpse were broadcast without filter. A sigh of dismay ran through the video conference.

Honestly, I hoped they’d be a little shocked.

***

The Prime Minister bowed his head to me.

“Thank you very much, Doctor Lee. We will do our utmost to support the Research Institute’s operations.”

“Ah.”

It’s rare for government officials to show such an attitude. They must really be frightened by this crisis.

The video conference with the Central Disaster Response Headquarters ended.

After all, I’m the only one holding the key to resolving the situation.

There had been some opposition, but in the end, the government had no choice but to agree with me.

The Research Institute staff put away their notebooks.

As soon as the video conference ended, Dr. Min returned.

His expression made it obvious he was dying of curiosity.

“What did the government officials say?”

“We’re government officials too.”

Dr. Min lifted his hand, about to scratch his head, but then hesitated.

He’d have to take off his bloodstained latex gloves before touching his head.

“Anyway.”

“They said they’d elevate our department.”

The real issue comes after the elevation.

The Research Institute was an organization set up to study and respond to supernatural phenomena, but that didn’t mean we were actually ready to deal with the current Gate crisis.

Humanity’s capabilities need to be built up from now on.

This was the workroom of the Supernatural Science Research Institute.

We were in the midst of preparing research, and on one side of the workroom, items from the Gate were stacked in piles.

Weapons used by Orcs and Goblins, artifacts from ruins, photos of ruins, and more.

There were even dozens of Tablet PCs strewn around, each displaying data.

“Dr. Kang. Hello.”

This was Dr. Kang. Real name: Kang Suhyeok.

He was the third senior researcher of the Supernatural Science Research Institute.

As an aside, Dr. Kang also survived to the end in my previous life.

As the Gate crisis progressed, some colleagues died and the country collapsed, and he became half a wreck.

Seeing his dazed face now made me feel oddly relieved.

It was different from the haggard look he’d had right before I returned.

“Good to see you.”

“We just met yesterday, though?”

I lightly ignored Dr. Kang’s comment and looked around the workroom again.

Most of the Goblins’ weapons were just crude sticks, but there were a few interesting ones.

Like that Goblin shaman staff, for instance.

“Have you examined this?”

Dr. Kang shook his head.

I averted my gaze from Dr. Kang and began to examine the Goblin staff myself.

The Goblin staff was more ornate than I expected.

It was made of wood, decorated with bones and teeth.

In the center of the staff, a green gem was embedded.

A translucent green gemstone, or perhaps a crystal.

“This must be a Magic Stone, too.”

As I reached out my hand, it began to emit light.

“That one? I considered it for a while, but I don’t know what would happen if we broke the staff open to extract the gem.”

“It’s fine. It’s not like we only have one or two.”

“Still, we should be cautious…”

Crack!

I immediately slammed the staff down on the worktable. What mattered was the Magic Stone.

Magic Stones don’t break easily.

The staff shattered, and a green Magic Stone rolled onto the floor.

I could feel Dr. Kang’s exasperated gaze on me.

“Well, we managed to get it out. Take a look.”

“Hmm. Isn’t this radioactive?”

Dr. Kang picked up the faintly glowing Magic Stone.

It probably wasn’t dangerous enough to be highly radioactive. I think?

[You have discovered a Magic Stone.]

[Exploration +10.]

[Enlightenment Stage 1 Progress: 70/100.]

Only a little more to reach the next stage.

In a few days, I’d probably be able to reach the next stage.

“It’s about time to prepare for the next stage.”

Especially since more Gates would be opening soon.

The number of problems to solve would only increase, so our preparations had to be thorough.

I immediately called together the senior researchers.

Before long, four of us gathered in the conference room.

Dr. Min, Dr. Kang, and the hurriedly arrived Dr. Ryoo.

“To lay out the basic premise, the main goal of the Gate is to change the fundamental nature of this world. Our objective is to stop that from happening.”

“I have something to say.”

“Yes?”

The Institute’s fourth senior researcher.

Ryu Ji-hye. Dr. Ryoo was famous for her brilliance.

One of those so-called obvious geniuses.

Photographic memory, skipped high school, graduated college early, finished her PhD in molecular biology in just three years.

But as the saying goes, the difference between genius and fool is just a thin sheet of paper.

Dr. Ryoo was exactly that.

For her, that sheet was closer to a wet tissue than a crisp sheet of printer paper.

“She always made me think, ‘The gods truly are fair.’”

Anyway.

Dr. Ryoo seemed to have found something new.

“When I checked the air sample from beyond the Gate with a mass spectrometer, the atmospheric oxygen concentration was over 30%.”

“And?”

“In Earth’s geological history, there have been times when atmospheric oxygen exceeded 30%. We call that era the Carboniferous Period.”

I get that it’s interesting, but is that really something to be excited about?

“So, what do you think caused the high oxygen levels in the Carboniferous Period? Do you know?”

She seemed to have a point, but how would I know the details of Carboniferous oxygen concentrations?

I cut Dr. Ryoo off.

“I don’t know, Dr. Ryoo. Please get to the point.”

Dr. Ryoo nodded.

“The reason oxygen levels were so high during the Carboniferous was because efficient fungi hadn’t evolved yet. By that logic, if we introduce our world’s fungi into theirs…”

So that’s what she was thinking.

“As you said, Doctor Lee, if we make the environment beyond the Gate more similar to ours, we might even cause a mass extinction event in their world.”

Dr. Ryoo continued.

“Conversely, if we don’t strike first, a similar event might happen in our world.”

The monsters we see are just the tip of the iceberg.

We’re not just fighting Goblins; we’re fighting an entire world forcibly connected to ours.

“It’s a less pressing issue, but considering their environment, they might have no trouble finding large amounts of coal over there.”

I looked at Dr. Ryoo and asked,

“What makes you say that?”

“I just said, right? It’s called the Carboniferous because of the abundance of coal. If their environment really is similar to that period, it could be a world where you can dig anywhere and find coal.”

Dr. Ryoo sounded confident, but it’s not a conclusion we can jump to easily.

This is the first I’m hearing of it, after all.

Verification is necessary.

“Understood for now.”

I began writing a list on the whiteboard at the front of the conference room.

“A lot has already been decided. We’ll burn down the forest beyond the Gate and then introduce Earth’s vegetation into their world. As for how to burn the forest…”

This time, Dr. Min raised his hand.

“Their world’s oxygen levels are high, so burning the forest shouldn’t be too difficult. We could use phosphorus bombs, for example.”

“Phosphorus bombs… Aren’t those banned under international law? Wouldn’t it take time to manufacture them?”

“Our country didn’t sign that agreement.”

“Oh.”

I scratched my head.

Anyway, the Geneva Convention and all that are rules set by humans for humans. Is there any reason to follow them when fighting non-humans?

“Understood. Then, we’ll ask the military for assistance and use phosphorus bombs to burn the forest, and then release Earth-origin invasive species into their world.”

The four senior researchers in the conference room murmured among themselves.

To summarize once more:

First objective: Explore the ruins.

Second objective: Burn the forest around the Gate.

Third objective: Introduce invasive species from our world.

The plan was set.

All that was left was to write it up and put it into action.