"They... sent you as the IBAA representative?"

"Yes, Adam."

A few hours had passed, and the situation remained relatively calm. The congregation of the Church of Administrators has already started leaving one by one, following Adam’s request. But since there were more than a thousand of them in every street, it looked like their numbers didn’t dwindle at all; it didn’t help that almost all of them wanted a look at Adam before going.

Adam chose not to indulge them, but seeing as they pushed each other and looked like they were struggling, he chose to give them just a little wave—a little wave that each and every person there would probably take home and cherish forever.

He didn’t mind giving this wave, however, as he was doing nothing now in the first place. With the arrival of the IBAA and CIA, he chose to step back and let them handle the entire situation with the foreign humans.

What he didn’t expect, however, was that Beatrice was going to be IBAA’s main rep.

"They called for me as an expert in field linguistics," she explained, getting under Adam’s tent. "They also need my program, which I developed to analyze speech patterns."

"...Just how many jobs did you have before?" Adam’s eyes widened. He knew how smart Beatrice was, but she seemed to just be pulling out all sorts of tricks in her bag each time a weird and unexpected scenario came up.

"I did alright," she said, shrugging before walking away. "If you’ll excuse me for a moment, Adam."

"Yeah. Uh... good luck." Adam nodded at her, watching as she stepped through the barricade the IBAA set up to surround the Leak of the foreign humans. The IBAA were treating the humans from the other world just like any other victims of the Leak—giving them water, relief goods, and some other things to make them comfortable.

Although... they didn’t even know how to open a bottle of water at first. And judging by how amazed they were seeing all the gadgets, it was clear their level of technology was way lower.

Do you think they stopped attacking us because we look exactly like them, Adam? Does that mean... it would be impossible to be this diplomatic with the rest of the people we meet through the Leak? And... should you even be thinking about this? Carmen’s right—you’re being too busy with things that don’t concern you. This is why these people think you’re the second coming of their messiah or whatever.

No. This is the Forger’s fault. What was he even thinking with the drone? Well, it did help you get attention, Adam. They’re all going home because they heard and watched you say it. And also, can you stop overthinking? You’re speaking to yourself again. Go talk to someone. Shit.

Adam’s eyebrows briefly furrowed. He cleared his throat, looking around as if afraid someone was hearing him talking to himself. He glanced back, and the members of the Church of Administrators gasped at him doing so.

"Endless."

"Endless, I love you."

"I hope you’re doing well, Endless."

Adam blinked several times at their words, and then instinctively said, "Thank you."

Stupid fucking—

"He responded to us!"

"Endless, please! Hold my child as well!"

Adam squinted at the woman who said that, as she wasn’t holding a child at all.

"She’s still inside me!"

And he quickly looked away upon hearing that.

These people are... dangerous, Adam. This is what you get for not minding your own business—this all started with that small town with the smugglers. If you didn’t help them, none of this would’ve happened. Or you could’ve at least tried to hide your face. No... you’re done hiding your face. It—Stop. Over. Thinking. Just call Katherine and—

Before Adam could force himself to stop spiraling, the low growl of engines cut through the noise. Several SUVs rolled in, one after another, forcing attention their way. He stepped away from the tent, curiosity pulling his gaze toward the convoy, wanting to take a closer look at who would have so many escorts.

Well, perhaps there wasn’t really any need to guess, as there could really only be one who’d arrive like this. The moment the door opened, the man’s presence gave it away—dark skin, bright yellow-orange hair, unmistakable even from a distance. President Ronald Ohana.

The president adjusted his suit as he stepped out, scanning the area with an obviously fake smile, raising a hand to wave at the surrounding members of the Church of Administrators. The response was... underwhelming. A few glanced his way. Most didn’t bother. Their attention remained fixed on Adam.

Ronald’s smile faltered for just a fraction of a second. He cleared his throat, and his PR team quickly ushered him forward, shielding the moment before it could be captured on camera. He glanced at Adam for a moment, who only gave a nod in response.

Adam watched as the president made his way to Beatrice, his bodyguards making way for him.

You think the guy hates you, Adam? Obviously, he should have some grudges for you almost threatening him back at the Hospital. Speaking of which, do you think the doctors made any breakthrough with the blood sample you gave them? The renovations for the underground street should be done as well, given how many people are working on it. And... you’re thinking too much again.

Adam exhaled and shook his head, forcing his thoughts back into place. He could leave. Nothing was technically keeping him here.

Except the crowd.

If something went wrong, he was the only one who could calm them down.

He sighed at this realization, shaking his head once more before focusing on the Leak situation. To his surprise, however, he found all the people there looking at him, while the party leader of the foreign humans was pointing at him.

He squinted at this and was about to turn around, as he truly didn’t want to be involved with any of the politics happening, and politics was happening, the president made sure of that as soon as he arrived.

But alas, before he could even take a step, Beatrice’s voice whispered in his ear.

<I think we need you here, Adam.>

"...Why?"

<It... would be best to explain it here.>

Adam closed his eyes, exhaled slowly, then turned and walked toward the Leak with a reluctant breath. The moment he moved, the CIA and IBAA agents parted almost instinctively, clearing a path without needing to be told.

The congregation outside the perimeter also stopped walking, with some of them trying to squeeze their way to see what Adam was going to do.

Adam hesitated to step through the barricade; however, but Beatrice waved at him, leaving him no choice but to commit. He sighed again, nodding his head to the foreign humans as he approached.

"Is... something wrong?" he asked, glancing between the foreign group and the others gathered there. President Ohana didn’t look pleased.

"Wear this," Beatrice said, placing an earpiece into Adam’s other ear. "It’s still a little crude, but it’s enough to have a basic conversation."

"Huh...?" Adam adjusted the earpiece while Beatrice turned to the foreign party leader. She typed something on her tablet, which then let out words that Adam couldn’t understand at all.

The foreign humans seemed to understand, however. They looked at each other, seemingly shocked, before speaking.

"Akal si nuno? Lat tao sun kan," the foreign party leader spoke. "Hin ba si—"

<We think leader, question.> And to Adam’s surprise, he heard a robotic voice whispering from the earpiece Beatrice gave him. He glanced at Beatrice, his eyes wide in awe at her. Beatrice noticed how he was looking at her, and a hint of a... smug smile crept on her face.

She’s starting to look like Harvey.

<All humans follow you,> the translation continued. <You no leader, question.>

"Me...?" Adam’s eyes turned even wider. "Beatrice. Tell him no."

Beatrice typed on her tablet again, making the foreign humans once again look at each other in confusion.

<You is leader?> They turned to President Ronald. <No human follow.>

President Ronald’s eyes twitched at that. He was about to say something, but the foreign humans spoke first.

<You. Behind humans.> The foreign party leader pointed at Adam before looking at all the people behind him. He then looked back at the president, who only had his guards and PR team with him. <You. No.>

The foreign party leader then completely turned his back to President Ohana, fully standing in front of Adam instead.

<We speak to you. Strong. No fight you. You Emperor.>

"Uh..." Adam blinked a couple of times, finding it hard to understand what the foreign humans were saying, and not just because of the rough translation.

"No," he said slowly, shaking his head. "I am not the emperor. He. Well, he’s not. But he is—"

"All hail, the Endless!"

Before Adam could finish, a loud voice approached them from outside the barricade. They all turned... and it was just some old Asian man.

Great. Now what?

And while the others were completely confused as to who this was, President Ohana’s face lost all of its color.

And before anyone there could figure out what was happening...

...Sang Moon Park, the leader of the Church of Administrators, kneeled in front of Adam.

And not even a second later, the thousands of people surrounding them fell to their knees, too.

"Huh...?"

He blinked a couple of times, and dry breath just escaped him as he glanced back at the foreign humans.

"This isn’t what it looks like."

But alas, the foreign humans all bowed their heads to him, too.

<Please. Meet we Emperor. You show mercy. We thank.>

Ah, shit. Here we go again.