In front of the hotel, Lee Tae-Han was having a serious conversation with an officer who appeared to be in charge of the operation. Then, he spotted me from afar, so they stopped talking.

As Lee Tae-Han approached me, the officer turned around and communicated via radio. Then, vehicles carrying martial law forces moved in perfect order. The scent of blood coming from the hotel was stronger here than the trail of fumes that cars left behind.

“The martial law will be lifted soon. Start the conference just in time,” I said.

He nodded. “Then, I will get to Seoul first.”

Yeon-Hee smiled behind Lee Tae-Han’s back and said in a delighted voice, “See you at the hotel tomorrow. Bye for now!”

Despite the blood stains, she was pleased to be able to get into the hotel.

The entrance of the hotel was cluttered with evidence of the removal of martial law soldiers’ bodies, and the traces led to the lobby, elevators, and emergency stairs.

“This is not too bad. It seems like the situation ended without the Awakened doing anything.”

The lobby appeared as if it had been devastated by a storm, and nothing was left unscathed. The sight of the destruction was reminiscent of a bomb that had gone off. Rifles and limbs of the soldiers were scattered in a pool of blood, and hand prints stained the walls.

In the area with the heaviest concentration of blood, it was still seeping through the tile crevices. Yeon-Hee tracked the flow of blood and discovered a martial law officer in a corner. He was still in a panic even after everyone had withdrawn. He crouched there, trembling, and had clearly been there for a long time.

He was...