Translator: Dreamscribe
"Where on earth have you moved the Chairman to?"
"He needs medical care right now. And yet you moved him away without even consulting us!"
The retainers were full of worry, anxiety, and unease.
The emperor they trusted and followed had collapsed, after all.
Throughout history, the reason mighty empires fell was always the same.
It was because the emperor who ruled over them had vanished.
"I understand exactly what you're all worried about. But the Chairman, my father, did not collapse from illness."
"Even the doctors said they didn't know the cause. And yet you claim to know, Team Leader?"
"Yes. Because modern medicine could never uncover the reason my father collapsed."
"What do you mean by......"
The executives looked bewildered, unable to grasp what Jung Se-yoon was saying.
"I know that most of the people here are members of Trinity. The one who built the empire of Kwangwoon, the one now leading humanity to become the greatest race in history. I'm talking about the religion that worships this very man, our father, as a god."
"......"
"I once told you this. That my father is a being who has transcended the power of humans. That he is the one who will go beyond this Earth and come to rule the universe."
In other words, a living god.
"Consider what is happening now as part of the process to achieve that great undertaking."
"Are you saying the Chairman's collapse is part of a process?"
"Yes. The process of shedding the human body. The process of his return in a new body that all of us will have no choice but to see with our own eyes and acknowledge."
"!?"
The murmuring among the executives grew louder.
Returning in a new body.
What on earth was this supposed to mean?
"Three months. Just wait that long. After that, you will be able to meet my father again. At that time...... he will look rather different from the man you knew."
"......"
It was terribly difficult to believe.
But the person speaking was Jung Jin-ho's son, Jung Se-yoon.
He didn't seem to be making things up just to get out of the situation.
"However, this sacred process cannot be disclosed to everyone. I ask for your understanding on that point. And for the next three months, the executives gathered here must lead the company without incident. Also, please block anyone who grows curious about my father's whereabouts, any articles stirring up needless noise, or any public opinion that might form."
At those words, the executives looked at one another and eventually nodded.
There was clearly much they were curious about and much they wanted to say, but for now they had decided to wait out the three months Jung Se-yoon had given them.
"I was wondering how you'd quiet the executives' complaints, but it seems you handled it reasonably well."
After the chaotic meeting ended, Jung Se-yoon returned to his research lab with Anthony Watson.
"I could see how badly they were all shaken."
"Naturally. The way a great empire falls is not because of outside forces. The problem has always been internal. Above all, when the emperor who founded the empire dies, the empire falls with him. Haven't we learned that through countless chapters of history?"
The executives had their own factions, and they too had ambitions.
Their loyalty to Chairman Jung Jin-ho was unwavering, but upon hearing he had collapsed, as human beings they would inevitably start thinking differently.
"Your help was invaluable, General Director. You deployed your agents as I requested and brought my father here safely."
"As always, I'm just the Jung family's loyal dog, aren't I? Above all, securing the Chairman's safety is what we at Sentinel consider most important. But if I may ask one thing...... Three months. Can you really keep that promise?"
Jung Se-yoon had nailed down three months.
If that period were exceeded, all sorts of unsavory events would erupt from within.
But if it was Jung Se-yoon of all people, and if he had set the timeline at exactly three months, surely he had something to rely on, didn't he?
"Honestly, I can't be certain either."
"......Excuse me? Then you mean it might not be resolved within three months?"
"That's right. I drew that line myself. Think of it as a point of no return, a vow to get it done within that window no matter what."
Anthony let out a dry laugh.
The way Jung Se-yoon had spoken before the executives with such a confident expression, Anthony had genuinely believed it would be resolved in that time.
But as they say, blood will tell.
He had the same gambler's streak as his father.
"Do you have any confidence in succeeding?"
"Well. The project is indeed near completion, but originally it would need years more of testing. So I can't predict what kind of side effects might arise. The way I see it, the probability of success is fifty-fifty. But I trust my father more than my own judgment."
"You trust a man who has collapsed?"
"Yes. Because my father knew in advance that things would come to this."
"W, what does that mean? The Chairman knew beforehand!"
"He has been preparing all this time. Every step he has taken, every single stride, was all planned. So that the moment would come when he could entrust his body to his son with complete faith."
"......!?"
Anthony couldn't possibly understand.
Was he saying every single moment Jung Jin-ho had walked through until now had been the cornerstone for this very day?
"That's why I trust my father's judgment over my own. If he foresaw things this far ahead, it means he trusts that I will succeed."
Of course, it was Intuition that had foreseen it.
And weren't his father and Intuition one and the same?
Father, Intuition, and the body of Eternal Life.
Just like the name Trinity, the religious organization that worshipped his father, he would now become the Holy Trinity and rule the world.
* * *
"......"
Still unconscious today too.
Two months had already passed, and the promised three months was drawing close.
But his father was still unconscious.
"Haah."
Jung Se-yoon let out a short sigh.
The experiment had clearly been a success.
Through surgeries and drug treatments spanning many days, he had transformed his father's body into something different from before.
A body that could take dozens of bullets and still regenerate and heal itself, a body that would not die.
The body of Undying Immortality that Qin Shi Huang had dreamed of, that every man in power had ever dreamed of.
Through the countless test subjects provided by Sentinel, he had worked through trial and error to finally perfect that body.
"And yet his consciousness isn't returning."
His father's body had been restored to his early twenties, his muscular strength and reflexes now transcending human limits.
He also possessed stamina that would never tire and cells that no longer aged.
And yet his father's consciousness, the most important thing of all, was not returning.
"What am I missing?"
Jung Se-yoon mobilized his full Comprehension, the ability he possessed, to search for a solution, but no matter how hard he tried, nothing came.
According to his calculations, his father should have regained consciousness at least a month ago.
And yet there were still no signs of him waking.
It was the first time.
The first time his own ability had felt this useless, this powerless.
"No. It's too early to give up."
There was something he was missing.
He simply didn't know what it was yet.
Which meant all he had to do was find it.
His father's consciousness was still in that body.
Beeeep!
That was when it happened.
Startled by the sudden alarm, Jung Se-yoon dashed to where his father lay.
"......!"
The medical staff on standby had already rushed in and were performing emergency procedures.
Because his father's heart had stopped.
"Ah......"
Jung Se-yoon felt his legs give way beneath him and sank to the floor.
Had I been too arrogant?
He had believed that with his own abilities, with this high intelligence and Comprehension, he could surely gift his father the body of Eternal Life and let him rule the empire forever.
That had been his role, his mission, ever since he was a child.
But the result was the exact opposite.
The son he trusted most had driven his father toward death.
* * *
"Isn't today the promised day? And yet there's been no word until now, which means the Chairman is still......"
"Tsk. Watch what you say. Are you suggesting something has happened to the Chairman?"
"I have ears too. I've heard that there was recently a serious problem with the Chairman's condition. And that Team Leader Jung Se-yoon has been scrambling to hide it."
To the executives, three months had felt incredibly long.
It was only natural they felt uneasy.
A vast empire called Kwangwoon had been built, yet the very man who should be ruling it was absent. It was only thanks to the three-month deadline Jung Se-yoon had set that things held together; an absence of this magnitude was enormously critical.
"Kwangwoon is running smoothly only because we've managed to plug the holes. The problem is that this too has its limits."
"Exactly. The news that something has happened to the Chairman's condition is already starting to spread to the presidents and prime ministers of various countries."
The Earth was currently divided into many nations, but in truth they all followed a single order.
That order was Jung Jin-ho.
The emperor who had completed the Kwangwoon Empire had established a New World Order, and nations were governed according to it.
The citizens didn't know it, but the world had long since been ruled by Kwangwoon.
"The problem is that once the leader who governs them disappears, everyone starts entertaining their own ideas. When an empire falls, multiple dynasties rise, and with that naturally come horrific wars and bloodshed."
That was precisely what they feared.
If the empire fell, factions would form, and those factions would wage war against each other.
"So what are you trying to say?"
"That we need a new leader. One who can quell this chaos!"
"You're not by any chance trying to say, in a roundabout way, that you want to be the new leader?"
"I didn't mean it quite like that. But aren't we executives Kwangwoon's last hope? It wouldn't be difficult if we just held a vote among ourselves."
At that, someone erupted in anger and shouted.
"Absurd nonsense! That's treason!"
"Treason, my foot! Kwangwoon is, at the end of the day, a massive company, a group. How is electing a new chairman treason!"
"Do you even have shares? Most of the management shares are held by the Chairman. Are you saying we should ignore that and just pick someone among ourselves?"
"In an emergency like this, shouldn't extraordinary measures be taken? Or do you intend to install that greenhorn Jung Se-yoon as the next Chairman?"
Three months had been quite a stretch of patience for them.
When the emperor hadn't so much as shown his shadow for three months, and rumors had even begun spreading that something was wrong with his condition, could anyone really sit still and wait calmly?
"Your faith is sorely lacking, all of you."
Just then, at the sound of someone's voice, every executive's head turned in unison toward the entrance. It was none other than the General Director of Sentinel, Anthony Watson.
"General Director Anthony. You don't have the authority to attend this meeting......"
"I have no intention of conversing with you tedious people either. I've only come to deliver this one message."
"W, what?"
"The Chairman will be entering shortly, so I ask that everyone rise from their seats and show proper respect."
"......?"
Just as they were thinking, what kind of nonsense is this man spouting,
"It's been a while, everyone."
A familiar face walked into the conference room.
"C-Chairman-nim!"
The executives could not contain their shock.
Because Chairman Jung Jin-ho had returned, perfectly well.
"I've been away far too long, haven't I? I apologize for causing you all such worry."
"......N, no, not at all, Chairman-nim."
"We're just truly grateful that you've returned, even like this."
"Yes. It's good to see all your faces again."
A gentle, benevolent voice.
It was undoubtedly Jung Jin-ho.
But it wasn't his face.
It was as if time had run backward for him alone, a face that looked closer to his early twenties.
"Ah."
Perhaps sensing those stares, Jung Jin-ho stroked his chin and said,
"There's a complicated story behind this. It's difficult even for me to explain."
The executives looked back and forth between that face and Jung Se-yoon standing behind him.
So that was what it meant.
Those words that when they met Jung Jin-ho again, his appearance would be rather different.
He really had shed the human body and returned in a new form.
Through the sacred process Jung Se-yoon had spoken of.
"Well then, shall we catch up on everything I've missed?"
At Jung Jin-ho's words, everyone swallowed dryly.
This, this was truly the king's return.
No. The god had returned.