34-46

Chapter 46 

“Earth... you say?” 

Murmurs spread  

The awakened ones looked at the Supreme Leader with disbelief. After all, Earth isn’t a living being. Yet he spoke as if Earth had self-awareness... and as if it had the special power to grant superpowers to humanity. 

“...Are you serious?” 

They’d just met the Supreme Leader today, but could tell he wasn’t joking or the humorous type. Still, the question came out reflexively because it was so unbelievable. 

“...Of course, there’s no proof,” 

Ahem  

“What matters is that Earth wants to avoid the coming ‘apocalypse.’” 

“...Of course, no one wants to die.” 

Humans, that is. 

The awakened ones fell silent. What could they even say? So what now? Or should they just shout “I want to live!” into the void? 

“...How can we stop the apocalypse?” 

It was Korea’s Sword Saint who broke the silence. 

“Good... question. Stopping ‘God’ that’s your mission. That’s also why Earth gave humanity superpowers.” 

  Stop it...? 

  The one who killed Jessica so easily? 

  I... 

“What exactly is that thing... the one we were just talking about...?” 

Except for the Supreme Leader, the awakened ones avoided mentioning “God.” They were afraid they’d go mad and die like Jessica. 

“...An unknown entity. All we know is it’s extremely powerful. Maybe even all the power of Earth combined wouldn’t be enough to defeat it.” 

“What...!” 

“Then, shouldn’t we just plant apple trees instead of fighting? If we can’t win anyway.” 

It was a demoralizing thought. The people gathered here were, officially, among the top ten strongest out of the world’s seven billion. 

Among the awakened, it’s said that one A-rank is worth more than ten B-ranks; the influence of a single powerful being is immense. 

Especially these, nicknamed “walking nukes” for their strength. 

“...But there is a way.” 

“!” 

“...Right, if there wasn’t, you wouldn’t have called us.” 

“The first way is to change ‘God’s’ mind. ‘God’ didn’t act for centuries, but for some reason, just ‘yesterday’ it started moving, and that brings nothing good for humanity or Earth. If ‘God’ goes back to being still, the problem is solved.” 

“...Why did God start moving?” 

“That’s for you to figure out. I’m just... an [Observer]. The ones who change the world are those who act the protagonists. And the protagonists are you.” 

“If there’s a first, there must be a second, right?” 

Read God’s mind? How do you talk to something that kills you just for mentioning it? 

But if you do nothing, “God” comes to destroy Earth. And the idea that anything humanity does could change its mind is absurd. Is it really a “god”? 

Still, all the awakened could do was trust the Supreme Leader, who told them about “God.” 

“Since yesterday...” 

The Supreme Leader said God started moving “yesterday,” and it’s rapidly approaching Earth to destroy it. 

So, just a day ago, something happened that displeased “God.” 

“What was it?” 

Earth is vast, and there are many people. Asking everyone what they did yesterday would take endless time and effort. People forget, too it’s impossible to know everything. 

Of course, “God” wouldn’t get angry because a kid flipped a table during playtime. It must have been something truly unusual or significant. 

If it were such an event, the World Government would know, but since they aren’t telling, maybe they don’t know either. 

“The second way... is to become stronger.” 

“....” 

The awakened looked at the Supreme Leader coldly. Sure, getting stronger would help! If you could become a bald guy who wipes out everything with one punch, you could defeat even God. But that’s just fantasy. 

“I don’t mean you. I mean Earth itself must become stronger.” 

“Earth must get stronger...?” 

The awakened were shocked again. They’d just barely accepted that Earth gave out superpowers, but now Earth itself had to be strengthened. That was hard to swallow. 

“Do you know why Earth gave humanity superpowers? Just because it likes us? Or for fun?” 

The Supreme Leader shook his head. 

“No. Earth decided that giving humans superpowers was in its own interest. The more happiness living beings on Earth feel, the stronger Earth becomes.” 

“Then shouldn’t you not give out superpowers? Seems like more people are miserable because of them.” 

That was Shao from China. He’d seen countless people and criminals, and was famous for punishing wrongdoers in China. He often wondered, “What if there were no superpowers?” China is so vast, with so many criminals that even 24 hours a day isn’t enough for him... 

He also had to be on guard against assassination and terrorism, always under scrutiny because of his strength. People think being “China’s number one” is amazing and envy him, but Shao would never want that title. 

Still, he punished criminals out of gratitude to his country a reflection of his character. 

“Well, I’m just sharing what I know. Why Earth decided that, I don’t know.” 

The Supreme Leader stroked his long beard. 

“...So by ‘happiness,’ are you saying we should use drugs?” 

“...Not that kind of happiness. More precisely... call it ‘positive karma.’ Like the feeling you get from helping someone in need, or donating to charity... Earth grows stronger as living things experience dreams and hope. Those actions amplify dreams and hope.” 

“Does it matter if it’s done for the wrong reasons? Like, if a villain donates just to look good?” 

“If it leads to a positive result, then yes.” 

“Hmmm...” 

  So should we donate all our money? 

  That’s a bit much... 

“The being approaching now is so powerful, your strength alone is nowhere near enough. At the very least, half of all humanity... must live their whole lives with positive karma, with dreams and hope, to generate the minimum energy needed to face ‘God.’” 

“Can you tell how much ‘positive karma’ we still need?” 

“Fortunately, yes. If we assume the energy generated by one person living a happy life is 1, then... Earth currently has 1,295,053,645. We need at least 2.3 billion more.” 

“So we need to make 2.3 billion people ‘happy for a lifetime.’” 

“....” 

The awakened were stunned by the absurd number. How could nine people influence 2.3 billion? It was almost impossible. 

“Of course, we’ll also work actively to prevent destruction. But your power is desperately needed.” 

Still, making people happy isn’t something you can force. 

‘You can’t just tell people to be happy.’ 

The Sword Saint was lost in thought. All he knew was how to swing a sword could he really do this? 

‘I failed... “that time” too...’ 

“Oh, by the way, the distance between Earth and ‘God’... is about 10 billion light years. In three years, ‘God’ will reach Earth. If it focuses only on closing the distance, that is. If it gets distracted, it might take longer.” 

There wasn’t much time left.