"Okay. This. Is. Ridiculous."

President Ronald almost puckered his lips while he talked, his fingers moving in the air as he talked to his people.

"We are seriously considering sending someone with no diplomatic training as our representative... to the first extraterrestrial civilization that is both capable of and willing to engage with us?"

The president’s confidants looked at each other, not really knowing what to answer him.

"And don’t we have an entire division dedicated to first-contact protocols?" he continued, his tone flattening further. "Or was that just for show?"

For what it was worth... Adam agreed.

He wasn’t fit for this. Not even remotely. He didn’t know the first thing about diplomacy, about negotiations, about representing anything beyond himself. He was just a lab rat that got out. A mistake that learned how to survive.

So why—Why were people gravitating toward him?

Isn’t it obvious? You’re handsome. Shut up.

He shook his head. His inner voice seemed to be quite... talkative. But then again, he does tend to speak to himself when things get stressful. And this was definitely a stressful situation.

"Mr. President." Manager Chase of the IBAA, who arrived a couple of minutes ago, sighed as he approached Ohana. "I believe the best course of action to take is to just let the situation flow. In this case, we are the higher civilization—we must be the ones to accommodate. If they think Mr. Adam is the leader of our planet, then... we let it play out."

"But he’s—"

And before the President could say anything else, Sang Moon Park, who was addressing the congregation of the Church of Administrators... once again raised his voice.

"The Endless!" he cheered, raising his arms in the air. And of course, the congregation in front of him also raised their voices.

"We pray to you, the Undying Messiah!"

Adam closed his eyes as their screams pierced his ears. He already gave up on trying to make them go.

From being looked at with violent curiosity, to being looked at with raging worship—there is no in between with you, is there? Who knew you’d be the idol of a cult someday, Adam. Bet you didn’t expect that, huh? Oh, god. There’s the Game happening in two weeks, too. Chances are you’re going to get summoned. So busy, Adam. Congrats. Shut up.

And while Adam was getting drowned by his own voice, President Ronald was also getting drowned by the Church of Administrators. He came here to revive his falling image... but as things were going, the only thing he was doing was cementing Adam’s status and popularity.

"W—" He was about to speak again, but this time, Adam finally joined their circle and spoke up.

"Let’s just get this over with," he said, sighing as he looked at Manager Chase and President Ronald. "The only thing we need to do is to make sure they know we’re friendly. I’ll only bring a few people."

"That would be for the best." Manager Chase nodded. "Who do you have in mind?"

"President Ronald should be there," Adam quickly said.

"Huh...?" And this completely caught the President off guard. "You... want me to go?"

"You said we need someone who was trained in diplomacy. Isn’t that you?" Adam blinked, slightly confused at the president. But he no longer heeded him and focused somewhere else. "Of course, Beatrice should be there."

They glanced at Beatrice, who was refining the program she’d made by sticking close to the foreign humans.

"And..." Adam looked at Chase. "...It’s up to you if you want to go, Sir. Maybe you could share information with the people there about the Game."

"As much as I’d want to..." Chase sighed, shaking his head. "I’ll send someone else in my place."

"Hm..." Adam nodded. "Then we’ll go once Katherine’s here."

"Katherine?" Chase blinked. "You mean the Radiant Shield?"

"Yes. She should be here—There she is."

"Adam! E-excuse me, please. Let me pass. Adam! I’m here!"

They turned their heads toward the voice, and Katherine was indeed there, squeezing her way in from the crowd.

"What the... isn’t that Penelope?"

"She’s here? I was just watching her earlier."

"Shouldn’t she be on a press tour?"

"Wait, are the rumors... true? He and the Endless know each other?"

"Wow... she’s so... beautiful in person."

"Of course. Of course... it makes sense that the Endless will be with the Radiant Shield."

It didn’t even take a second for the congregation to whisper, their voices quickly filling the air as soon as they spotted Katherine making her way to Adam and the others.

Even though Katherine was already used to hearing things about herself, this was the first time she ever felt uncomfortable again—the way these people were looking at her was quite... different. She could only imagine what Adam was feeling.

"You... called for an actress?" President Ronald furrowed. "Why?"

"To make a better impression," Adam casually said, shrugging.

The foreign humans, who were busy talking to each other, couldn’t help but stop their discussion as soon as Katherine appeared. They gasped, in awe of how beautiful she was. And when they saw her stand beside Adam, they all nodded to each other, quietly agreeing that it made sense.

"Okay." Adam looked around before gesturing to Beatrice. Beatrice raised her thumbs up, and then turned to the foreign humans to tell them they were ready.

Adam glanced at the people beside him, nodding to them before starting to walk.

"Alright," he whispered. "Let’s get this over with."

***

Far from the tension of the crowd, beneath a sky so clear, a man lay stretched across warm sand beside a lagoon of impossibly blue water. His tanned chest, almost golden as he bathed in the rays of the sun. And a few yards behind him, was a Leak, just casually hovering there.

The man didn’t seem to care or mind at all.

There was a smile on his face, his pair of sunglasses reflecting a man running around and chasing a laughing child.

"Drew! Don’t let her stay in the sun too long!" he called out, lifting his drink for a casual sip.The man only waved him off, still running.

If Adam was here, then he would recognize the man relaxing on the sand.

The man was a little older, and there was nothing that really stood out with him—except for the fact that every person on Earth would recognize who he was.

[Gerald, the First Soldier]

One of the only three X-tier Heroes in the world.

Gerald exhaled slowly, running a hand through his unusually well-kept black hair as he lay against the sand. For a moment, he seemed incredibly content to just relax there—but then his expression shifted.

He sat back up, and another sigh escaped him. Without looking back, he reached down and scooped a small clump of sand into his palm. His fingers tightened, and with a sharp snap, the grains fused into a shard of glass.

He then casually flicked the shard toward a coconut tree behind him, softly cleaving the sand behind it and creating a crevice as it flew.

The shard went through the coconut tree, and continued to fly and poke through several more trees before finally just shattering in the air.

Gerald stared at the tree for a moment before sighing and looking away.

"What do you want?" he asked. The only thing that answered him were the sounds of the sea and waving of the trees. But after a few more seconds, a shadow stepped out from behind the coconut tree.

"You could have just approached me, you know." It was a white-haired man, wearing a white magician’s hat, a white long coat, and completely white pants and shirt underneath—his skin, however, was as deep as his voice, incredibly dark and almost completely black. His entire suit was completely sharp, except for the hole in the middle of his chest, which the shard went through. But surprisingly enough, there was no blood at all.

[Chike, the Healer of the Land.]

Chike, another of Earth’s X-tier Hero.

"You could’ve just approached me," Gerald repeated back. "And you know we’re not supposed to be in close proximity with each other."

"Eh. Rules are for the government, friend." Chike stepped forward, trailing his fingers across the hole on his chest and making it just... vanish. "But I forget, you were a trained soldier."

"Why are you here?" Gerald sighed, shaking his head at Chike before turning his focus back at the man and little girl.

Chike did the same, a hint of a smile also forming on his face.

"Is that Angela?" he asked.

"Yeah." Gerald softly shrugged.

"She is growing up well," Chike whispered. "I do not know how you did it, friend. A family."

"Why are you here?" Gerald asked again.

"Toronto. I am sure you know what happened?" Chike stood beside Gerald.

"Yes." Gerald closed his eyes. "We could have saved them." 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

"We could have." Chike nodded. "But we have our limits—despite our strength, we can not be in two places at once."

"Kyung Hye Park could have."

"Her? Ha!" Chike scoffed. "The world will end, and the Puppeteer of the Void will not move. You know this."

"Did you come here to just make me depressed?" Gerald waved him off. "Just get to the point."

"What do you think your chances are against the Emperor’s kind?" Chike asked, his eyes trailing toward the sea. "We always knew we were not alone—but an entire army of him?"

"We’ll win," Gerald said without any hesitation.

"Oh? How are you so certain?"

"Because we have people to protect," Gerald whispered, his eyes focusing on the little girl. "I’ll die first before I would let anything happen to them."

"And you think they will not do the same for their loved ones?"

Gerald glanced up at Chike when he heard that. Chike returned his glare, but raised both his palms and softly chuckled.

"Well, I will not depress you any further, friend," he said. "I am actually here for one more thing—Adam the Endless."

"What about him?"

"Are you not curious about him?"

"I like him." Gerald shrugged. "A man that doesn’t rest, and doesn’t stop helping people—a real man."

"Agree." Chike nodded.

"I... just hope all the things that are happening to him right now won’t break him."

"Agree." Chike nodded once more. "But how much do you want to wager?"

"Hm? What?"

"How much do you want to wager..." Chike smiled again.

"...That he is one of us?"