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Join the Server“This CGI is truly astonishing, so incredibly realistic. I feel as if I’m witnessing reality itself. What masterful craftsmanship!”
“Where could this place be? It’s utterly dreamlike and breathtakingly beautiful. The talking deer, especially, seems so natural it feels truly alive.”
“Wow, this is insane, lol. Look at how fast the subscribers are pouring in!”
Park Han-woo’s plan had undeniably hit its mark. Each time a video was uploaded, thousands of comments flooded in almost instantly.
Upon translating and reading each foreign comment, he was astonished to find every single one expressed a positive reaction.
The interest in the videos was immense, and the subscriber count climbed with astonishing speed. In less than two weeks, they surpassed 100,000, and with just a few more additional videos, they amassed 500,000 subscribers. It was an unprecedented pace.
While the high quality of the videos and their unique, mystical atmosphere certainly played a part, the multilingual subtitles were undoubtedly effective. Targeting a global audience, their growth trajectory was steep.
This strategy leveraged the strength of Air Rain as a multinational collective.
“This is truly incredible.”
“Eheheheheh.”
Park Han-woo, who had been grinning ear to ear for days, let out a strange, cackling laugh. Though his companions took a step back from his manic display, their faces were alight with joy.
Clearing Air Rain’s name and returning to their homeland was a desire they had all harbored for a long time. Now, taking a step closer to a wish they had once deemed impossible and dared not voice, they couldn’t help but feel exhilarated.
Kang Tae-han, who had been observing the real-time subscriber count, finally asked, “Are you going to reveal your identities soon?”
“It’s still too early. We need to surpass a million for it to have a significant impact, so let’s wait a little longer.”
Even with his crazed smile, Park Han-woo’s judgment remained cold and clear. If they were to reveal Air Rain’s identity by introducing Jin Sa-yoon now, they might gain fleeting attention, only to be quickly suppressed and forgotten.
To make a truly explosive impact that the entire world would witness, they needed a much broader foundation.
“Wow, it’s actually hard to find Korean comments now.”
Kang Ah-jun excitedly read the comments beside them. He had set the display to show the newest comments and kept pressing the F5 key.
“I do see some strange spam comments, but that’s just inevitable trolling when you get famous, right?”
“Strange comments?”
“They’re comments that keep repeating the same phrase. Hundreds of them pop up every day, but they get buried under everyone else’s comments. Don’t worry about it.”
Sa-yoon approached Kang Ah-jun. While he wasn’t one to react to every little thing people said, remaining indifferent to this was difficult.
Sa-yoon read the spam comments that filled the screen.
Truly admirable. Video.
Truly admirable. Video.
Truly admirable. Video.
At first glance, the comments seemed harmless. Aside from the repetition, they appeared ordinary, though the placement of the period was a little peculiar.
“If it were just this one comment, it wouldn’t be an issue. But look at the ones posted on other videos.”
Kang Ah-jun played the next video, which featured a plant-type Rain.
The tree is truly green. With light, it’s lush.
The tree is truly green. With light, it’s lush.
The tree is truly green. With light, it’s lush.
“Huh…?”
They were indeed strange comments. They seemed to be machine-generated, with one or two appearing as spam in the latest comments section of multiple videos. Moreover, the odd period placement persisted.
“And these are the last of the spam comments.”
“They’re not spamming every video?”
“No. They only post on exactly three videos.”
Kang Ah-jun switched the video. This one featured an animal-type Rain, a giant chameleon.
The large creature’s color strangely changes.
The large creature’s color strangely changes.
The large creature’s color strangely changes.
This time, the period was correctly placed, but the sentence structure felt awkward, as if it had been run through a translation machine.
“That’s definitely odd.”
“Right? It’s so unsettling that even when I block them, they just use a new ID. This is already the fifth account.”
Kang Ah-jun grumbled, furrowing his brow. Sa-yoon intently stared at the comments. What could be the reason? It didn’t seem like simple spamming for attention.
The peculiar behavior of targeting only specific videos, in particular, gave him the impression that there was an intention to convey something.
Seeing Sa-yoon lost in deep thought, Kang Ah-jun said, “Don’t overthink it too much. The internet is full of strange people. They’re probably just attention-seekers.”
“Is that all it is?”
Was the reason for creating multiple accounts and spamming with content that received no attention simply to gain attention? Jung Hyun-woo approached Sa-yoon from behind, who was quietly contemplating.
“Sa-yoon, are you busy? You know how we agreed to watch a hero movie tomorrow. Which one do you want to see?”
“I don’t mind anything, Hyung. Please choose the movie you want to watch.”
“Then I’ll narrow down a few options. I’m not really in the mood for flashy action movies right now, so I was thinking of focusing on spy thrillers. I thought a style where you solve puzzles and deduce things might be good. Oh, but are spies even considered heroes?”
“I suppose it’s a similar genre.”
Sa-yoon answered absently, returning his gaze to the comments. They were truly strange comments, almost like a code…
“Ah!”
As soon as he heard Jung Hyun-woo’s words about deduction and puzzles, something clicked in Sa-yoon’s mind.
“Wait a moment, Hyun-woo Hyung. The movie, it seems we shouldn’t watch it tomorrow, or rather, it might have to be much later.”
Sa-yoon, raising his voice, pressed closer to the monitor. The protagonists of hero movies always moved in secrecy, often undertaking infiltration missions.
In such instances, they would encrypt and share coordinates distributed across the world using various methods. Then, a method used by a protagonist in a very old movie, one he had watched with Myeong-ah, came to mind.
“Ah-jun. Bring up those three comments again, right now.”
Sa-yoon wrote down the sentences from the three comments on a notepad. Then, he linked the words that appeared just before the oddly placed periods.
Admirable. Green. Changes. Kang Ah-jun read the seemingly random words written on the notepad, his voice lacking conviction.
“What is this?”
“It’s a method used long ago.”
It was ‘What3Words’, a system that described coordinates by linking three randomly selected words. Sa-yoon scoured old sites and found a still-functioning What3Words page.
He then entered the three words: Admirable. Green. Changes. He typed them exactly as they were, without altering a single character. After a moment, the long-neglected page finished buffering and transitioned.
After confirming the location that appeared on the map, Kang Ah-jun swallowed hard. “Team Leader. It can’t be a coincidence, can it? This place is…”
“Seoul.”
More specifically, it was right in the heart of Seoul, near the Korean Esper Headquarters.
Sa-yoon pulled his mask and hat down low, then wrapped a scarf around them. He concealed every visible physical feature to hide his identity.
Yet, his distinctively tall stature and build still caused pedestrians to glance at him as they passed. Sa-yoon knew that if someone with a keen eye looked closely, his identity might be exposed, but he stood motionlessly in front of a grand hotel.
It was a day filled with the sparkle of elaborate lights, even in broad daylight, and an unusual number of couples walking hand-in-hand. Familiar music vibrated energetically on the streets. For decades, carols would spread from all directions during this season.
The place where Sa-yoon now stood was in front of a hotel in Seoul, the exact coordinates indicated by the comments.
White puffs of breath escaped through his slightly parted lips. He had been waiting alone in front of the hotel for several hours since the morning, waiting for someone he was meant to meet.
After he first deciphered the comments, everyone had opposed Sa-yoon going to Korea. They speculated it was surely a prank, just malicious trolling because the videos were popular. It was a highly plausible explanation.
While he fully understood their concerns, Sa-yoon decided not to follow their advice. Thus, he left only a letter and secretly entered Korea alone.
“……”
Even though he found his own choice absurd, Sa-yoon did not regret his actions.
Throughout his life, he had often found himself strangely intertwined with prophecies. Esper seers had consistently told Sa-yoon that he was an important being, and he had heard many prophecies concerning him.
‘You will reunite on Christmas.’
This was a prophecy once given to Sa-yoon by the S-class Esper, Go Ok-kyung. She hadn’t specified which Christmas or with whom he would reunite, leaving him to wait indefinitely.
Consequently, he had tucked it away in a corner of his memory and lived his life, having forgotten about it. However, the moment he saw the coordinates in the comments, and the moment he saw the December calendar with falling snow, Sa-yoon instinctively knew.
‘This is the year.’ A certainty filled him: the day had finally arrived for him to reunite with a longed-for person, whose identity he still didn’t know.
After that, he couldn’t think rationally. The lack of a logical reason for ‘this year’ and the dissuasion from those around him simply didn’t register in his mind. And so, Sa-yoon attempted to illegally enter the country alone.
Today, Christmas Day, he sat in front of the hotel indicated by the coordinates, having finally returned to his home country with great difficulty.
You think this chapter was thrilling? Wait until you read The Shining Knight’s Odd Eyes! Click here to discover the next big twist!
Read : The Shining Knight’s Odd Eyes
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