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“Looks okay.”

“…”

It seemed that Bom wasn’t satisfied with being okay, and went back inside to change her clothes. This time, she wore a red evening dress.

“How about this?”

“Looks pretty.”

“No, not that.”

“It’s showing too much of your shoulders. Are you going to the Academy Awards or something.”

“…”

In response to his words, Bom went back into the room and audibly scavenged through her clothes. This time, she came out dressed like a career woman, wearing a business shirt and a tuxedo. 

“Are you going off to work?”

“…”

“Just dress casually. A shirt with pants.”

“I can’t do that.”

“Why.”

“I’m the soothsayer right. I have to look like one.”

Today was the day Bom would be standing before the Association.

Until now, Yu Jitae had never talked about the basis of his ‘prophecies’. However, he vaguely hinted at the existence of one foreseeing the future and today would be the day the existence of the soothsayer would come to light. 

“We have an hour left.”

– Hmm.

“Hurry up. We might be late at this rate.”

– Hmmmm.

“Quick.”

– Nnnnnn.

When Bom walked out of the room again, she was wearing a mediocre black dress.

“Looks fine.”

“Really? Let’s go then.”

But when Bom walked past him, Yu Jitae had to call her.

“Wait. Are you really going to wear that?”

“Why not?”

“Why don’t you wear something else.”

“Didn’t you say it was fine?”

He did,

Not knowing that the back part of the dress was made with transparent sheer fabric.

“Change to something else.”

Beyond the black texture, her white nape and clean back as well as her shoulder blades were all fully visible. It was too improper for a soothsayer to wear.

Not knowing where to look, he slightly tilted his head and looked away.

After placing her hand on her back, Bom appeared slightly flustered and seemed to have mistakenly worn something similar in a hurry. 

She threw a glance at Yu Jitae. After realising that he was even more perplexed than herself, her fluster disappeared and turned into amusement. Bom walked towards him and leaned her back on him.

“No-one will see it if we do this though…”

“Oi.”

It was naturally a joke.

After that, Bom giggled and changed into the dress that she had been trying to wear in the first place.

“This should do.”

“…”

It was the first dress she had worn.

*

Winter.

The sky filled with clouds was dark despite it being the middle of the day. A sedan slithered over the road in that cold weather heading for the Association.

While driving, Yu Jitae opened his mouth.

“You need to be on your toes from now on.”

“Yes.”

Sitting on the passenger’s seat, Bom replied with a stern look on her face. She pulled a little prank in the morning but she knew exactly what the situation entailed. Her voice would soon reverberate across the entire world.

“Foreseeing the future is a ridiculous ability. It doesn’t exist nor should it exist. Even a normal person can do things that no-one else can pull off as long as they know what is ahead of them.”

Bom gave a nod.

“That’s why you need to appear like a god.”

“I have to act as one, right?”

“Yes. Can you do it?”

“Hmm…”

She didn’t seem very confident.

“There’s no need to overthink it. Just try to show some level of dignity. You will start off with a lot of authority in their eyes and that will add weight to your words.”

It was simple to give prestige and authority to Bom. Yu Jitae simply had to treat her like an extremely important person. 

“Should I talk casually to you?”

“No.”

“Then will you talk politely to me, oppa?”

“Yeah.”

Bom entered a world of delusions but that couldn’t last long as they began to see something strange from the distance. 

There were people gathered in front of the headquarters of the Association. Hundreds of people were standing at the door carrying either a placard or a board.

“Dirty Association. Reveal the truth!”

“Stop the war!”

Stop the war.

The protesters shouted in one voice. A few of them were carrying wooden sticks or metal pipes but most of them were normal humans and there were very few superhumans.

“What are they?”

“The anti-Association protesters. Following G12.”

“Protesters? Why would the protesters do that though? The Association isn’t a humanitarian organisation and it’s not like they would listen to a protest right?”

“What do you mean why. Have a look.”

Yu Jitae pointed at a group of cameras. Funnily enough, there were an excessive number of cameras compared to the number of protesters.

Dozens of international broadcast companies were filming the protest and most of their cameras were facing the humans who would die from an accidental tap. Linking that to the recent uproar with the Association’s excessive subjugation, it was obvious what their objective was. 

It was cumbersome. Although there was an underground entrance, he had chosen to use the front entrance since that would give Bom a rough idea of her new workplace. And of all days, the protest had to be today. 

“Uh? What’s that. Isn’t that a guy from the Association?”

It was then. One of the protesters walked towards the passenger’s seat with arrogant steps, while shaking the stick in his hand. 

“Uh, they’re coming… what do we do now?”

The man came to the driver’s seat and shouted out loud. “Oi! You are from the fucking Association right? Huh?!” His yell gathered the eyes of the crowd.

As Bom anxiously stared at Yu Jitae, he lowered the window of the driver’s seat and gestured with his finger for him to come closer. 

“What you fucker! Are you from the Association or what!”

The man lowered his head. Right as the car blocked the vision of the camera, Yu Jitae smacked the man by his chin.

With a thud, the man crumbled to the ground. Bom widened her eyes and threw glances at Yu Jitae and the man on the ground in surprise.

From a distance, the protesters began to walk up.

“Hang on.”

“Sorry?”

He suddenly pressed hard on the accelerator. The speed rapidly rose up as the engine frantically rotated. 

It was as if he would actually run over someone. 

Yet again in surprise, Bom tightly grabbed onto her seatbelt.

“Ahhht! Dodge it!”

“R, run away!”

The crowd quickly avoided the car in fright. Although they were here with a violent demonstration in mind, they would have died in one hit if they didn’t dodge that.

Going past them, the sedan entered the Association. There was no problem because it won’t make for a big headline without a dead person. 

“…”

Bom was again reminded of what kind of person Yu Jitae was outside and how he was only unconditionally kind inside Unit 301. 

This was the natural Yu Jitae.

“Were you surprised?”

So when Yu Jitae asked that question, Bom shook her head. If he was that kind of person…

“That was refreshing.”

She had to become that type of person as well. 

However, it wasn’t easy.

The moment they left the car, Bom felt the weight and tension in the air. The inside of the Association had a very sharp air to it. Every superhuman appeared to be having a bad day and people shouted from all corners of the building.

Her resolution to show the same attitude as Yu Jitae only lasted a little, and the weighty atmosphere came across as very foreign. 

She tried to wrap her arm around his.

“Why. Are you scared?”

“No. I just wanted to appear close.”

“There’s no need to.”

Yu Jitae said while slowly pulling his arm out. Bom fidgeted her fingers in mid-air before following after him.

“You are here, Season!”

Before long, Jefferson and Kang Ahjin ran out to welcome Yu Jitae and Bom. They had received the message prior and knew about the existence of the soothsayer. The two of them bowed to Bom with a very deferential look on their face. 

“Nice to meet you. I am Haru.”

She introduced herself using the alias they had decided on.

A high, clear and elegant yet somewhat melancholic voice. Her voice was quite a good match with the expected voice of a lonely soothsayer.

“We will guide you to the conference room.”

The two of them led Yu Jitae and Bom to the conference room while reporting about the things that had recently occurred. 

At last when the conference room was before them, Yu Jitae sent Kang Ahjin and Jefferson away before turning towards Bom.

“Don’t be nervous. Just do as you normally would.”

“Yes.”

“But don’t forget what we’ve talked about.”

Bom nodded in return.

Before revealing the true existence of the soothsayer to the world, they first had to show her to the Association and etch Bom into their brains. And the preparations for that were all set already.

Opening the door, Yu Jitae walked in. Following from behind, Bom bit her lips in secret.

The organisation with the strongest people on Earth unravelled before her eyes. The Five Transcendents, high rankers, Chaliovan, Zhuge Haiyan as well as other hands and brains of the Association.

Each and every one of them was a force to be reckoned with. Thirty people from here working together might even allow them to compete against an adult dragon.

It was even more nerve-wracking than she expected. Bom was unconsciously about to grab onto the sleeves of Yu Jitae’s shirt but restrained herself from doing so.

“The Prophet is here,” someone said. Everyone inside the conference room stood up rigidly from their seats. As if he was used to that already, Yu Jitae walked towards his seat while Bom followed and sat next to him.

“Then, we will now begin the weekly reports.”

Zhuge Haiyan stood up and walked onto the pedestal.

“Please look over here.”

A large letter floated on the hologram.

[Q]

The one behind the Quasars, that moved the terrorist group to murder the grandson of Christoph, controlling the flow of anti-Association movements worldwide and the one that instigates G12 (Group of 12 nations at the top in superhuman military) – the enemy at the core of every problem.

“First, according to the data we have, there is a low chance of Q being an individual.”

Several graphs appeared on the display.

October 8th, Hanyaval Cyplenkov’s South Sudan terrorist attack.

October 13th, discovery of illegal trades of 4.4 tonnes of artifacts in Syria.

October 27th, Ichimaru’s extortion and blockade of fissures guarded by the Association.

November 1st…

On display were countless incidents that Q was estimated to have directly intervened.

Someone muttered, “This is unbelievable.”

Zhuge Haiyan added.

“Rank 177, Wizard Hanyaval Cyplenkov – he’s a neutral superhuman. In the past, the Association had requested for a special mutual assistance relationship at the cost of a long-time rent of a Level 3 artifact but was rejected.”

“That didn’t happen just once did it?”

“Yes. I met him 8 times before giving up. Even Zhuge Liang was 3 visits and Meng Huo was 7 times after all.”

And yet Q had successfully pulled that Hanyaval Cyplenkov into their arms.

“And what about the other matters? 4.4 tonnes of artifacts that we retrieved from Syria were all explosive types that were being strictly governed by the state and the Japanese ‘Ichimaru’ was a colleague of ‘Hasegawa’, the disaster-ranked demon who had died 2 years ago, and is similarly assumed to be of the disaster rank.”

“Was Ichimaru captured?”

“Currently, Myung Yongha and Minamoto are out on the case but that is not the focus. The centre of attention here is that neither of them are options approachable through money alone.”

Q attempted to smuggle 4.4 tonnes of strictly guarded artifacts, and moved the disaster-ranked demon Ichimaru. People that no-one in the world should be able to move were being manipulated by Q.

“It has barely been one year since the Prophet Season has warned of the Long Night. It is an absurdly short amount of time to pull in demon organisations that have constructed their own networks over decades, and neutral superhumans who are living alone.”

“Hmm…”

“If this was in a drama, people would swear at it for being highly improbable.”

“But isn’t that exactly what is happening right now?”

“That is correct. It doesn’t make sense and yet that’s the reality we’re facing,” Zhuge Haiyan said with a bitter look on her face.

“But after some time, I thought of a possibility.” 

She continued with an extremely low and gloomy voice.

“It might be, that Q is an individual with a brainwashing ability.”

It truly was an absurd hypothesis but considering the current situation at hand, it was the most believable explanation and Zhuge Haiyan viewed the probability of that being the case as 15.5%.

“Perhaps they have a way to seduce every person they meet into helping them.”

When that was deemed as the most probable explanation, the intelligent woman had no choice but to consider the worst case scenario.

“And because of that, we have gathered everyone including the commanders that are usually out in the field for this weekly report.”

The conference room turned rowdy. The crowd began to buzz as the look on Zhuge Haiyan’s face turned even more serious.

“I thought to myself. If I was Q and could brainwash people, who would be my first target?”

She raised her glasses up with her eyes scanning through everyone that had attended the conference.

It was a what-if.

If it was true that Q had a brainwashing ability and they had belatedly discovered that, then there definitely had to be brainwashed people inside the conference room. 

A few of the advisors raised their voices.

“…Are you trying to say that there are people brainwashed within the Association?”

“Such doubts are not welcome!”

“That’s right, Haiyan. People are demoralised already. There are voices inside the Association that consider themselves to be in the wrong and without any justification. How will doubting each other help in this situation?”

Some of them shot out of their seats and explained the potential risk.

Yu Jitae and Bom quietly waited for the right timing.

The prepared arrangements were drawing near.

Nervously, Bom fidgeted her fingers and grabbed onto his sleeves for a bit. She quickly lowered her hand but this time, Yu Jitae held her hand for a short while before letting go.

Bom did not turn towards him, since she knew that now wasn’t the time to do so.

“Actually, this doubt struck me last Saturday at 8:13pm.”

“What?”

“It’s suspicious but there is no way to confirm is there? We have no idea about the methods of brainwash nor how it’s applied… In the first place, does a convenient ability like brainwashing high rankers and disaster-ranked demons exist in the world? It surely doesn’t exist and we therefore can’t discern it. That’s what I thought but…”

Zhuge Haiyan gave a relaxed smile. Everyone present knew the implied meaning behind her words and gathered their eyes at Bom.

“It seems that such a thing is possible.”

Zhuge Haiyan continued while politely bowing at Bom.

“Please, if you may. Soothsayer.”

Bom nodded in return before standing up from her seat. The eyes of the crowd gathered at her.

“Nice to meet you. I am Haru, one who foresees the future.”

She opened her mouth and read the prepared lines.

Ohh. Some gasped. A few of them were momentarily befuddled by her appearance while some of them were in awe of how it was such a young girl that was moving that omnipotent prophet. 

Foresight.

A blessing that had never been found among humans in the history of the New Era that ranged over a century. It was such a young girl that had such an ability.

“Heading straight to the topic at hand, I will now confirm whether there are people who have aligned their goals with the objectives of the enemy.”

Bom walked onto the centre of the conference room and Yu Jitae followed from right behind her as a bodyguard.

“I will now ask everyone a question. Please reply with either a yes or a no.”

No-one knew how that was related to foresight, but didn’t dare ask.

“In here, is there anyone who has either met or decided to stand alongside an individual or an organisation that is presumed to be Q?”

She wasn’t using any spells or anything and yet her voice, her gaze and her gestures oozed out with presence more so than anyone else inside the conference room.

“Starting from this side, please look into my eyes and tell me.”

Immediately after that, Yu Jitae used his authority from behind.

[Eyes of Equilibrium (SS)]