.

Over the past three days, a large number of ability users had arrived at the Haneul Power Plant.

Given that everyone had gathered in the conference room, bringing Ciel, who has massive wings, would have drawn too much attention.

Hence, I left Ciel at the accommodation and arrived at the conference room only with Serena.

Serena, with her surreal beauty, was bound to stand out. However, showing her strength was essential to establish our position.

After all, it was challenging to convince ability users solely with words during meetings.

I intended to proceed as I wanted. If someone didn’t listen during the meeting, I planned to deploy Serena immediately.

Clank.

As we entered the conference room, murmurs arose.

“He’s here.”

“It’s Kim Doha.”

“Looks just like in the videos.”

“Who’s the woman behind him?”

“Girlfriend?”

“Isn’t she the one from the strategy video?”

“She’s so beautiful…”

“A foreigner?”

‘I can hear everything, you idiots.’

Lately, my overall abilities have significantly increased, which made my senses exceptionally sharp.

Thanks to that, I could feel the overwhelming magical pressure in the conference room.

The spacious conference room was filled with over 100 individuals.

All E and F-ranked ability users had been turned away, so every single person gathered here was a D rank or higher.

The confidence emanating from the eyes that stared at me was palpable.

Every one of them had their own unique abilities, and the confidence stemming from those abilities surged forth with momentum.

These were elite ability users who had come from all over the country in just four days to seal the B-ranked rift at the power plant.

However, there was no need to be intimidated.

Compared to Serena, they were all pushovers.

I casually walked in and took the only empty seat at the head of the conference table.

Since there weren’t enough chairs for the more than 100 attendees; naturally, the seats near the table were occupied by those who appeared the strongest.

Due to the strategy video, everyone recognized me, and my position was at the head of the table.

The people seated to my left and right all looked formidable.

Ahem, ahem.

“……”

As I took my seat, Director Seon Jongyoon, holding a microphone, cleared his throat.

The murmuring crowd quieted down one by one, silencing the conference room.

“Thank you. It seems everyone is here, so we will begin the meeting to form the party to seal the B-ranked rift.”

All eyes turned to Director Seon Jongyoon.

“Firstly, as the director of Haneul Power Plant, I’d like to express my gratitude to all the ability users who have gathered here to seal the B-ranked rift.”

Director Seon Jongyoon bowed his head slightly and continued speaking.

“I might have called you all here, but I’m not an ability user, nor have I ever been inside a rift. Naturally, I don’t have any idea how to form a party for sealing a B-ranked rift.”

Saying this, he walked through the crowd and stood next to me at the head of the conference table.

“Therefore, in my opinion, the best approach would be to entrust full authority, along with the role of leader, to the most expert among us concerning sealing rifts, the individual ranked 1st in contribution to rift sealing. They can then personally select party members and proceed with sealing the rift.”

As Director Seon Jongyoon continued, the focus that had been on him shifted to me.

‘The most expert in sealing rifts.’

‘The one ranked 1st in contribution to rift sealing.’

Yes, that was me.

Director Seon Jongyoon and I had agreed upon this before the meeting.

He would delegate full authority to me concerning the sealing of the rift.

In reality, the people gathered here were not under the command of Director Seon Jongyoon, so there was no obligation to follow his words.

However, both Director Seon Jongyoon and the workers of the Haneul Power Plant had been operating the power plant without compensation for the survivors of South Korea even after the zombie apocalypse.

Thanks to them, everyone enjoyed electricity, making it hard to disregard their statements.

At least, not in a place like this with so many watching eyes.

In other words, the director’s declaration of entrusting full authority had a definite effect.

He had set the tone.

“So, I would appreciate it if all the ability users gathered here could support Mr. Kim Doha’s plan to seal the rift.”

Then, the microphone was handed to me.

Now, it was my turn.

For a smooth proceeding, setting the tone from the beginning was essential.

I swept the audience with a provocative smile and said,

“Hello? As many of you already know, I am Kim Doha, ranked 1st.”

That’s right. Rank 1.

Over a hundred pairs of eyes fixed on me.

‘Staring at me like that won’t bore a hole through my face. Try staring with a bit more passion.’

…a laid-back smile with a similar meaning shone on my face.

To select party members who would enter the rift, it was necessary for me to show them their place.

Of course, everyone gathered here possessed abilities of D-grade and above, making them qualified elites.

However… there were still too many.

Taking so many people would not only make it difficult to manage the abilities, but it was obvious they might hinder each other in their use.

I held the microphone and began speaking,

“From what I can see, there appear to be over 100 people gathered here. I understand that everyone here came out of goodwill, hoping the power plant won’t face any issues once the B-grade rift is sealed.”

“……”

“So… if we just seal the rift, there won’t be any problem, right? I plan to seal the rift with just about 10 people from those present here.”

That meant I was considering sending more than 90 people back.

As soon as I finished, a man in the crowd swiftly raised his hand. Judging by his expression, he seemed a bit on edge.

I spoke with a smile,

“Please, go ahead.”

“Yes, Mr. Kim Doha. How do you plan to select those 10?”

“Priority goes to those who have experience in sealing a C-grade rift. If we don’t find 10 from that, we’ll trim down based on the contribution rank.”

His eyes narrowed as he replied,

“Then I have a grievance. I’ve never sealed a C-grade rift simply because I couldn’t find one. However, there aren’t many here who can beat me in a fight. That includes you.”

Wow. That was quite a provocative statement. Arrogant too.

Seeing my momentarily stunned expression, the guy continued with a smug look,

“I’ve seen your raid footage. Didn’t seem all that impressive, honestly. You were just rolling around trying to fend off five mutant zombies.”

Before I could react, a voice came from behind,

“Master.”

It was Serena.

Even just from her voice, I could feel the anger she was harboring.

Given Serena’s nature, she might not be bothered when she herself is insulted, but insults directed at me would be unbearable for her.

So much so that it even manifested in an ability named [Devotion], an S+ grade characteristic.

However, now was not the time.

“Just hold back for a moment, Serena.”

“…Yes.”

I quickly scanned the audience.

“……”

Everyone was still silent, but that didn’t mean they were agreeing with that guy’s opinion.

The gazes were not friendly.

They all disagreed with that guy’s nonsense, his assertion that there were only a few people here who could potentially beat him.

Each of them had probably been leaders in their respective regions.

Such prideful individuals, a few words weren’t going to be enough to persuade them.

From the beginning, I thought that a situation like this would inevitably arise if I had to select party members.

I’d eventually have to showcase some form of power to gain acknowledgment from such proud folks.

I’d have to demonstrate strength.

In that sense, that guy who was acting out voluntarily was a welcomed opponent.

I picked up the microphone once again.

“The one who just spoke, what’s your name?”

The guy chuckled at my question and replied,

“It’s Kwon Seokhyeon. Why? Planning to remember it for revenge?”

Now, he had even dropped formalities. Perfect.

Ignoring his petty provocation, I calmly responded,

“You seem very confident in your abilities. If you don’t agree with my methods, then prove your worth through strength.”

“…Ooh-!”

The crowd buzzed at my response.

Excitement was evident on everyone’s faces.

Of course, it was. They suddenly got to witness a free fight. How could they resist?

Reacting to my challenge, Kwon Seokhyeon took a menacing step forward and said,

“Hehe, with you? Perfect. How about we do it right now?”

The guy stood a head taller than those around him.

Easily surpassing 190 cm, his whole body, bulging with muscles, seemed like he would brawl crudely.

I decided to pick a contest that he’d likely enjoy.

“If we fight using abilities, one of us might die or be seriously injured. How about we decide on a game? How does arm wrestling sound?”

Hearing my suggestion, Kwon Seokhyeon furrowed his brow, as if he had heard something absurd.

“Arm wrestle with you? Did you eat something off?”

It made sense for him to react this way. He genuinely looked formidable in terms of sheer strength.

When someone became an ability user, the rise in their ability scores was fundamentally based on their given grade.

That was, if someone originally had high physical strength, their strength increased even more, and if someone originally had high magic power, their magic power increased accordingly.

Given that, in terms of raw physical strength alone, there seemed to be very few in the room who could rival Kwon Seokhyeon.

Of course, I confidently replied,

“Yes, arm wrestling. Why? Are you scared?”

“… You’re one crazy bastard. Come here. I’ll crush those slender arms of yours.”

Kwon Seokhyeon approached with confidence.

I responded with a beaming smile,

“No, no, Mr. Kwon Seokhyeon. It’d be too boring if I did it myself. Why don’t you try arm wrestling with my girlfriend?”

“…Girlfriend?”

He replied, his face resembling a puzzled donkey.

I pointed to Serena, standing behind me with my thumb.

“Yes, my girlfriend. Why? Does she seem like a tough opponent to you?”

“….”

“If it seems too difficult, I’ll ask Serena to only use two fingers. Would that boost your confidence a bit?”

I continuously teased and pushed Kwon Seokhyeon into a corner.

Then, the first reactions came from the audience.

“…Pfft!”

“Hehe…!”

“…Heh heh heh.”

People who alternated their glances between Kwon Seokhyeon’s muscular build and Serena’s slender wrist started laughing one by one.

Naturally, Kwon Seokhyeon’s face turned beet red.

“You, you bastard, how dare you look down on me…!”

Good.

He was getting perfectly cooked up.

Although I could win the arm wrestling myself, there was no need to take the risk, especially when I wasn’t sure about the opponent’s ability score…

Of course, it was a secret that Serena’s strength grade was incomparably higher than mine.