Return of the Sword God-Rank Civil Servant-Chapter 428

My mouth couldn’t help but split into a grin.

Because the truth was, Su-ho had also been planning to use his power once as a recruitment promo for Save the World.

But thanks to Hiro laying out the board this naturally, the justification was good and the timing couldn’t have been better.

However, Jo Jin-hwi, who didn’t know what was inside, fidgeted off-camera, watching Su-ho’s mood in a panic.

In this program, the one with the strongest pull was indeed Jo Jin-hwi, who’d landed the job, but in any case this broadcast was a special program that had been scheduled by “Su-ho.”

That was why Su-ho, seeing Jo Jin-hwi’s anxiety, smiled.

Su-ho quickly sent a voice transmission to Jo Jin-hwi.

I’m fine, so let’s cut it around here, prep the set, and build Part 2 right away as a stage for verifying skill.

When Su-ho’s voice rang in his head, Jo Jin-hwi looked around for a moment, thinking he’d heard things.

Then his eyes met Su-ho’s, and when Su-ho grinned and nodded, the corners of Jo Jin-hwi’s mouth rose as well.

Jo Jin-hwi spoke to the PD.

“Give the okay sign to the host and prepare to wrap Part 1. We’ll build Part 2 as a skill verification stage.”

“Huh? Is that okay? Did Hunter An Su-ho give the okay?”

“Yes, I just got the okay.”

“In that case...!”

As the PD relayed the message to the host on the spot, the host also lifted the corners of his mouth.

“...Since that’s what they say, what do you think, Hunter An Su-ho?”

A natural leading question.

At that question, Su-ho looked briefly troubled, then soon nodded.

“Understood. Seeing once is better than hearing a hundred times, so rather than me, whose name is relatively less known, I’ll prove my skill to everyone through a bout with Hiro, Japan’s hero.”

“Thank you. Then, as this match came together suddenly, we’ll wrap the follow-up interview here and, after sufficient preparation, see you in Part 2. Ah, for the viewers, originally we planned to finish the broadcast at once without a Part 1/Part 2 concept. So even if it takes a bit of time, we’ll prepare Part 2 as quickly as possible and come back to you.”

With the anchor’s smooth eloquence, the Part 1 broadcast came to a close.

No, it was about to come to a close.

“Ah, just a moment!”

If only Hiro hadn’t raised his hand.

The anchor asked,

“Yes, Hunter Yasuda. What is it?”

“Before we finish the broadcast, there’s something I wish to say to the world’s star-studded hunters who are watching.”

“To the hunters of the world?”

The anchor glanced at Jo Jin-hwi and the PD.

When both nodded, the anchor picked it up at once.

“Yes, what would you like to say?”

“May I speak comfortably?”

“As much as you like.”

“Then without reserve...”

Ahem, clearing his throat, Hiro looked straight into the camera and spoke.

“I address the hunters who may be my seniors and also my juniors. This Big Gate incident is an unprecedented calamity for humanity; if we do not join forces, we will not be able to prevent the destruction of our homelands. That is why I intend to fight together with Su-ho. To protect my beloved country and my star.”

Perhaps it was a solemn look in Hiro’s eyes.

But from the instant his next words continued, the peculiar chill of a yakuza—his very roots—began to emanate.

“But you must know this. No matter how we give our all and fight day and night, the number of people who fight is limited. And the Gates to come will grow stronger, and we do not know when, where, or how many will appear. I don’t know what Su-ho will think, but at least I, beginning with my own country, would first save the countries of the comrades who joined forces. So please, do not fear fighting; let us gather our strength and save the world together. Ah, of course I’m afraid of dying too. But...”

Pointing at Su-ho, Hiro spoke.

“If it’s Save the World with Su-ho as leader, I am certain I will never die. That is all.”

As Hiro even finished with a polite bow, the camera director, with good sense, caught the anchor again on screen.

“Yes, that’s what Hunter Yasuda says. Then to truly prepare for Part 2, we will end the Part 1 broadcast here. Thank you for watching.”

The camera that was turning off went dark and the cut sign fell.

Thus ended the craziest live broadcast in PBS history, unprecedented till now.

Right after the live broadcast ended, the very first to dash to Su-ho was none other than Jo Jin-hwi.

“M-Mr. Section Chief. Is all of this okay? What I heard earlier wasn’t a hallucination, right?”

“Yes, it wasn’t. You heard exactly right. More than that...”

Su-ho spoke to Hiro.

“Hiro, I’m very grateful you made such a proposal for me, but aren’t you overdoing it? Especially, what are you doing provoking the hunters of the world like that?”

At Su-ho’s words, Hiro quickly jumped in and denied it.

“It’s neither overdoing it nor a provocation, Master... no, Su-ho. You should have seen what was going up in the chat just now. How dare they say such things to you? It’s so irreverent I can’t stand it.”

Truly angry, Hiro clenched his fist and spoke.

“And in my opinion, simply showing your skill wouldn’t be enough to draw in big-name players. We need at least this level of provocation for it to work out in many ways to our benefit.”

At those words, Su-ho grinned inwardly.

He knew.

Human beings are far more selfish creatures than we think, and Su-ho too had been planning, after the skill verification he would show in Part 2, to draw big-name players by another method.

But because a disciple knows his master’s heart best, Hiro had, with good sense, laid out the board.

“This is why I’m fond of Hiro.”

As expected, a giant yakuza guild isn’t run by just anyone.

About then, the others who’d been listening to the two approached them.

Among those who came over, Im Cheol was first to extend his hand to Hiro.

“Aigo~ Aren’t you the hero of ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ Japan? I’ve heard so much that you’re truly an incredible person. I’m Im Cheol, President of the Grand Hunter Association.”

“I’m Yasuda Hiro, master of the Sumiyoshi Guild.”

The two shook hands.

Then Im Cheol introduced Jeong Cheol-min, and once the handshake with Jeong Cheol-min ended, Charlie spoke.

“I’m Charlie. I serve as director at the UN Player Secretariat.”

“Haha, it’s quite amazing to meet someone I’ve only seen on TV here. But from what I heard during your interview earlier, when the UN requested a personnel dispatch, I did not refuse. The ones who refused the request were...”

“Haha, I know. It was probably the Paranormal Ability Agency first, right? But I understand. From their perspective, for the safety of their country, it would have been hard to readily give up high-grade personnel like Hunter Yasuda. And I never misunderstood from the start. Just seeing that you came out here, I could tell you were never someone who would refuse, Hunter.”

“I’m only grateful you see it that way.”

“Not at all. Rather, since you’ve joined Save the World, I’m the one who’s truly grateful. Additionally, it must have been a proposal hard to bring up readily, yet you put forward promotion through a sparring match first and a strategy we hardly dare to carry out, and for that part as well, I thank you very much.”

As expected of Charlie.

He, too, had the same thought as Su-ho.

If they didn’t lay out the board in advance like this, even if Su-ho showed overwhelming skill, big-name players would hardly join.

“No, no. If it’s for Su-ho... no, for the peace of humanity, this much is only natural. And I think that for Save the World to function properly, an outstanding leader like Su-ho is important, but other players must back him up just as much.”

“That’s right. An individual can finish a battle, but ending a war is a difficult thing.”

In fact, Hiro roughly knows Su-ho’s plan.

That with the newly appearing Gates, almost all of them would be entered by Su-ho alone, and that most hunters including himself would focus on other derivative Gates or field monster handling.

But that fact need not be revealed first.

Information that could lead to personal self-preservation like this only makes the anxious human heart all the more fragile.

“If you give a person who’s resolved to die a bit of hope, they become endlessly weak.”

Jeong Cheol-min spoke.

“But Su-ho, where are you planning to use as the venue for Part 2’s match? Do you have a place pre-booked?”

“Ah, you don’t have to worry about that. This match is going to show all my facets, so I happen to know a place that’s suitably decent.”

“You already arranged it?”

“Not that, but securing the venue itself won’t take long. And since it’s come to this, I thought up a bit of a special direction.”

“A special direction?”

At that, Su-ho grinned, pulled out his phone, and spoke.

“Yes, so I’ll need a lot of your help.”

 The world turned upside down.

The follow-up interview about the Big Gate that began on PBS achieved a record unprecedented in all broadcast history, and people all over the world started calling the Grand Hunter Association and PBS like crazy.

Ah, so when’s Part 2!

I said, when’s Part 2!

Are they really going to throw down?

How far and to what level?

When’s the website opening!!

Pick up the phone! fuck!!!

Fucking!!

Chiksho!!

Naturally so.

This was the big event among big events in which the fate of humanity was at stake along with personal curiosity, plus Hiro’s provocation mixed in combination.

So, starting with Im Cheol, Jo Jin-hwi and the rest received orders for decisive action from their respective organizations.

“Just pull the phone line.”

“Why are you responding to those one by one? Are you a call center?”

“Just blank the website inquiries. Do they think we won’t release things as needed on our own?”

Thanks to that, the staff could breathe.

Of course, besides the three reasons mentioned earlier, there was another reason people were hopping up and down.

It was the time issue: Su-ho had said on the broadcast there were about 30 days left until the Big Gate broke out, and in the meantime they were even going to show a Part 2 broadcast, so in some quarters people worried they might be wasting the golden time for founding Save the World.

Of course, such critiques were quickly suppressed.

Fuck, in the end, without Save the World, all you can do is sit and wait to die, and what? Criticizing?

lolol So what can you do?

The real armchair sages, even now, the only thing they can do is backseat?

Those bastards would even backseat the side dishes on a meal their mom set out for them lolol

And so, after the public opinion, steeped in expectation and anxiety, boiled for quite a while,

About six hours after Part 1 ended, a first “Premiere” video about the Part 2 broadcast popped up on PBS’s official YouTube channel. But—

Huh?

Hul?

What is this?

Huh? What is this...?

??????

Why are these people suddenly showing up here?

Is the thumbnail clickbait or what? Is this for real?

Every viewer who saw the thumbnail for the Part 2 broadcast tilted their head.

No, they fell into confusion.

And no wonder—because the waiting-screen thumbnail for Part 2 had, on the left, Su-ho standing alone, and on the right, a photo in a face-off composition with Hiro and top-tier players representing Korea and Japan swarming together.