Chapter 81 – Chaos (1)

The place where the party appeared was a white sandy beach on an island thick with palm trees.

“It can’t be something like a deserted island, right?”

Michael and the others looked around with lukewarm expressions, but Sun-woo calmly waited for a voice to be heard.

At least the surroundings didn’t look murky colored. They had escaped the contaminated area.

[Welcome back. Emergency transport to each dimension will occur. There will be an additional mission after transport. Settlement will proceed after that.]

As Sun-woo expected, a voice was heard in everyone’s ears. Though it was still a mechanical voice, it also felt somewhat urgent.

Those who heard the voice looked at each other with relieved expressions, then one by one disappeared from the island.

***

Sun-woo, Michael, and one other summoner were transported to an office that was clearly large and luxurious at a glance. Seeing there was only one desk, it seemed to be a private office.

One side of the office was entirely filled with glass windows so the outside could be seen at a glance. From that appearance, they learned the office was in a very high place and also learned where this was. The outside scenery was familiar to Sun-woo too.

“San Francisco?”

If this place was San Francisco in America, they could deduce this building and office.

“Association, is this an executive office in Cleaners headquarters building?”

“CEO, it’s probably Director Douglas’s office, right?”

Michael answered while looking around the office. This was a place he had visited once when coming to Cleaners headquarters.

The woman transported with Michael and Sun-woo had an extremely gloomy expression. Because all the companions she had been fighting with had died.

While the three people looked around with blank expressions, a voice was heard in their ears once more.

[This is an emergency mission. Please report what happened in the final mission.]

The same voice was heard by all three people.

“Certainly it seems the Summoners don’t know at all what happened in the contaminated area.”

Though they could tell from past events, they were unexpectedly weak beings with too many vulnerabilities.

When entering contaminated areas, contact was cut off, ability grants had limitations, and even when not in contaminated areas, without summoners they couldn’t properly know the situation.

Plus, seeing their hands didn’t reach deep underground either, it seemed they had to lower the level considerably from gods or beings with demigod-like abilities.

And shortly after, Director Douglas entered while throwing the door wide open. As if he had rushed over urgently, his clothes were all wrinkled, and behind him other people could be seen running over breathlessly too.

Probably everyone had rushed over after hearing the Summoners’ voice.

“Hmm. Looks like we can get a decent bonus this time.”

At the appearance of people looking urgent, Michael grinned.

***

At the same time, Nan-seol, who was transported to the martial arts world, and another summoner were meeting with Orthodox Alliance soldiers, and Daniel was facing the tower master in the Red Devil Magician’s tower together with a mage.

What each dimension’s summoner representatives facing the party and the Summoners wanted was, as expected, about what happened in the mission and how they returned.

The party who met representatives calmly told the stories they had experienced.

***

“A contamination zone covering an entire planet… Is such a thing possible?”

“Since continents are possible, there were stories that theoretically it’s possible…”

“It was just theory. Plus, to deliberately call summoners then carry out the plan timed perfectly. In the end, other dimensions are in danger too!”

The director and the two directors seen before, Albert and Garcia, were groaning after hearing Sun-woo’s story.

Among the three summoners, Sun-woo had done and seen and heard the most, so the other two people had no resistance to Sun-woo stepping forward to explain.

However, among the directors listening to the story, Albert seemed displeased that Sun-woo was stepping forward to speak.

“That’s a problem too, but right now over 60 of our summoners are trapped in Beta dimension alone. Almost a third of the Association’s summoners disappeared at once. This happened without recovering personnel consumed until now, so the Association has more support teams right now.”

Albert frowned and talked about the Association’s current situation.

“If what they say is true, the remaining personnel have a high possibility of being unable to return… Plus, we have no method to go rescue them.”

In the end, it meant all the trapped summoners were personnel that had to be treated as losses.

At Director Albert’s words, the director sighed. He had been greatly worried because personnel hadn’t returned after the large-scale summoning, but the summoners who survived brought back even worse news than that.

If it was something that happened naturally (?) like the New Continent in that dimension, it seemed like something could be done by spending time to recover, but this was an enemy attack.

Moreover, the weapon they held was different from before. It was like an opponent who had been fighting with conventional guns and swords suddenly brought nuclear weapons.

“The Summoners and Association who left those guys alone until now were at fault. The opponents sharpened their daggers one by one in the shadows, but we were too busy handling things before our eyes so we didn’t even care…”

At Director Garcia’s words, Director Douglas and the other director groaned.

But Michael and Sun-woo could only listen blankly to their stories, not knowing the situation well.

When Sun-woo was thinking he should ask Caroline about the Association, the director spoke to Michael and the party.

“Thank you all for returning alive. It must have been hard, so go back and rest. Ah, and we’ll pay the maximum bonus.”

Seeing Michael rubbing his thumb and index finger, the director nodded with a bitter smile.

“I need to return to Korea. I was suddenly summoned so there’s a visa problem. I’d like the Association’s help.”

The director looked at Sun-woo and groaned.

“Is there a problem?”

“No, no problem. I’ll provide maximum support so you can return.”

The reason the director groaned was that Sun-woo wasn’t affiliated with the Association. Just from the events so far and hearing the current story, he was no ordinary summoner.

‘I’ll have to tell Caroline to try harder. Or get them as close as possible.’

Thinking that to himself, the director sent Sun-woo, Michael, and the other summoner outside. And after giving instructions through the intercom to support them, he turned to look at the directors.

“Raise the emergency alert issued to the entire Association one level higher and convene the standing directors.”

“Yes, I’ll proceed immediately.”

At the director’s words, Director Albert began making phone calls.

“It’ll be hectic for a while. With combat personnel this depleted, it seems the company will have difficulty surviving.”

As Garcia said, in the distance it was a threat to the entire world, but immediately the shortage of summoners put Cleaners’ very existence in danger.

“But we can’t just leave those guys alone. This place could be hit anytime, and the Summoners will immediately enthusiastically issue missions to grind us.”

“Contamination zones aren’t something that happens that easily. First we have to believe that and move. And we have to somehow obtain and fill the insufficient personnel. Whether outside the Association or new personnel…”

At Director Garcia’s words, Director Douglas recalled Sun-woo who had just left this place.

***

The next day, Sun-woo headed to Korea on Cleaners’ private jet. The jet’s only passenger was Sun-woo alone, and Sun-woo felt somewhat uncomfortable with the stewardess’s dedicated service.

He still wasn’t accustomed to this kind of lifestyle.

The Association resolved Sun-woo’s passport problem by launching a private jet. Of course, with the Association’s capabilities they could have just made a passport, but they sent him on a private jet to eliminate any possibility of problems.

Sun-woo now roughly understood why the Association was being considerate to him though he wasn’t even affiliated personnel, but good gifts were something to receive first.

After half a day’s flight, Sun-woo arrived at Incheon Airport and felt strange at the peaceful airport atmosphere.

San Francisco also had no particular issues, but inside Cleaners was full of tension, so he couldn’t feel such a leisurely feeling.

And waiting for Sun-woo who arrived at Incheon Airport was Caroline.

“Sun-woo-ssi!”

At the sight of a blonde beauty quickly linking arms with Sun-woo exiting the gate, people around looked at Sun-woo as if amazed or envious.

Fortunately, since it was the business-only gate, there weren’t many people, but it was enough to draw some attention.

“When everyone on the mission lost contact, I was so surprised… I was extremely worried that Sun-woo-ssi might not return.”

While driving the sports car seen before, Caroline told stories about what happened during that time.

“But I’m glad Sun-woo-ssi came back. Your companions are all safe too…”

Caroline spoke joyfully, but deep in her eyes, worry resided.

Because among the summoners who didn’t return from this mission, there were many summoners she knew.

But more regrettable than that was that her home dimension became completely contaminated from this incident.

Though she was making a bright expression, seeing the area around her eyes looked reddish, it seemed she had cried a lot.

Stories of Sun-woo’s party had already been conveyed to the Association’s branch offices in each country. Caroline also heard the story directly from the director, and she received one more instruction from the director.

“Perhaps because of the personnel shortage, the director seems desperate. He told me to bring Sun-woo-ssi into the Association somehow.”

Caroline particularly emphasized the phrase “somehow.”

“Thanks to that, I don’t have to worry about anyone’s attention when going to meet Sun-woo-ssi now.”

Though it seemed she hadn’t worried about anyone’s attention before either, Sun-woo wasn’t stupid enough to make the atmosphere awkward with such talk.

“Should I properly make advances with this opportunity? Since it’s company-approved, maybe they’ll give dating expenses and even a house to live in for free.”

At Caroline’s appearance of deliberately speaking more brightly, Sun-woo could only smile.

After spending quite some time with casual conversation like that, Caroline brought up the main point.

As expected, in a situation where the company was this busy and difficult, there was no way she would have come to meet Sun-woo for personal reasons.

“The Korean branch is in a very difficult situation right now. Of course, other branches of the company are also struggling because summoners haven’t returned, but Korea has been under tremendous pressure from the Korean government and other companies since the branch manager changed.”

Though they had information manipulation capabilities far superior to others, that alone couldn’t control the government.

Moreover, it was a relationship working together with the existing government. There were several people in the upper levels of government and business who knew about Cleaners to some extent.

“The information the former branch manager leaked outside is considerable. Thanks to that, the government and opposing companies also have quite good defenses…”

To Sun-woo too, it looked like the successor was taking the fall for the predecessor’s corruption.

“In the end, several big companies we had contracts with brought up renegotiating contracts this time. It seems we’re being underestimated since the branch manager changed, but in the current situation, we can’t really say anything even if underestimated.”

The Korean branch’s damage seemed considerable too. According to Caroline, from when she first met Sun-woo, the number of summoners belonging to the Korean branch had now fallen by half.

“The branch manager and representatives of the opposing companies are scheduled to meet today about the contract renegotiation, and the story is they want Sun-woo-ssi to participate.”

“As security?”

“Security would be the basics. Other summoners have dispatch to other locations and mission waiting times, so it’s not easy to pull them out.”

Unless it was an emergency mission, there was about a 4-day rest period after missions. During that time they could perform missions in rotation, but now that many personnel hadn’t returned from missions, that circulation loop had no choice but to break.

“And honestly, some parts of what we do aren’t very bright, so there’s quite a bit of power struggle at the meeting place. Sun-woo-ssi is needed.”

“Is it an official request?”

“Yes, sufficient compensation will be paid. At A-grade standard.”

Seeing Sun-woo seemed positive, a smile appeared on Caroline’s face as she drove.

Sun-woo was thinking of accepting if there was no problem when requests came from the Association. But for some reason until now, aside from the first job together, there had been no requests from the Korean branch, but now that people were short, a request finally came.

‘The first job that’s not a mission…’

Anyway, it was a new experience. For Sun-woo too, time had come to experience how combat summoners lived in this world.

After the conversation ended like that, before the two people, the Cleaners Korean branch building was already approaching.

Caroline’s red sports car went straight into the building’s basement.