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Chapter 526: Headbutt (2)

Headbutt rotation.

In front of this harsh trial, the old star Golux finally dropped to his knees.

Swoosh.

His trembling hand slowly rose, pointing somewhere outside the control room window.

『Nu… Nurpf.』

“Nurpf? Who’s that? The name of the next star?”

When Yeongwoo asked this, faint light began to leak from the tip of Golux’s finger.

Swaaat.

Then it drifted forward, swimming toward the universe beyond the window.

『Huh……?』

Seeing the swimming stream of light, Earth widened its eyes.

For within that light was none other than coordinates.

Golux had actually pointed out the next star to be assaulted after himself.

『…Ah.』

Earth bit his lip tightly, overcome by mixed emotions.

To come barging in, headbutt him, and then force him to pick the next star to be struck… wasn’t this truly something only a villain would do?

Of course, Jeong Yeongwoo was a villain, but Earth at least had never thought of himself that way.

And yet in the end—

『My ha… hands have been tainted.』

Earth lowered his gaze to his palms with a look of anguish.

Then Korea’s greatest output, Jeong Yeongwoo, stepped forward and laid a hand on Earth’s shoulder.

“Oi, pirate ship. Stop spouting nonsense and pick the next route.”

Yeongwoo’s sharp intuition had already caught that what Golux just sent was the next destination.

『…….』

So Earth, with a sullen face, placed his hand on the navigation device.

Immediately a holographic universe unfolded above it.

Fwaaat!

『Nurpf… it’s only two planetary jumps away from here.』

If they passed through an intermediate zone, it was a distance that could be covered in no time.

『But this one’s body is a bit larger.』

“How much?”

『About 15% bigger than Lord Golux……?』

Fifteen percent.

Not a difference to be taken lightly.

“15% is quite large, isn’t it?”

『Indeed. I did reinforce the shield, but… if we’re unlucky, the cities near the impact point could be torn apart.』

It must not be forgotten: this whole conversation was still being broadcast.

“Really? Then it’d be best if the ones who don’t support me are the ones shredded. That way my approval rating goes up, doesn’t it?”

For Yeongwoo, postponing the second headbutt was not an option.

At that, Jiseon, listening silently, spoke up with an even scarier suggestion.

-Can’t we actually see the approval rating?

“Oh.”

『Eh……?』

-If we could display people’s inner lines as chat messages, pulling out the approval ratings from each region would be easy.

It sounded plausible.

Yeongwoo immediately turned to Earth.

“Possible? Honestly, I think it might be.”

Earth took a step back with a troubled expression.

『To speak frankly, I could issue a notice like: “Right now, please think of whether you support or not!” and then collect their inner responses. That much is possible.』

But then Earth shook his head.

『But would that really be the true approval rating?』

“What do you mean?”

『Hearts and actual votes can be very different. Some may hate the lunatic called Jeong Yeongwoo, yet still cast a vote for him out of respect for his drive.』

“…That’s true.”

No one knew humanity better than Earth.

Having watched his inhabitants his whole life, he understood perfectly how they worked.

『So judging and sentencing them based only on thoughts isn’t right.』

Normally, this is the point where the other party would concede.

But Yeongwoo was not one of those “normal” beings.

“Ah, then we just ask for the true approval rating!”

『…What?』

“We announce: if you don’t support me today, you’ll be caught up in the fallout of a stellar headbutt!”

『No… what I meant just now was…….』

“If, even with death on the line, they can’t even pretend to like me, doesn’t that mean they truly don’t support me?”

『…That’s…』

Even Earth began to waver, his eyes flickering.

“Anyway, let’s just ask. Even the trend alone will be informative.”

Yeongwoo’s strength and weakness was his excessive drive.

Shff.

Already he had grabbed one of the cameras, switching the angle between himself and Earth as he spoke to the audience.

“You all heard, right? This is a question your lives may depend on, so answer sincerely.”

Then he thrust Bastard in front of the lens and asked.

“As of this moment—do you genuinely support me? You have 10 seconds to decide.”

『That lunatic.』

Earth instantly flipped his pupils and began collecting the results.

After all, the moment the question was asked, every human alive would form some answer in their heart.

And who wouldn’t be curious about Yeongwoo’s approval rating after watching a stellar headbutt?

Swaaaaaat!

Streams of pale light began to gather over Earth’s furrowed brow.

-What’s that, survey data or something?

Jiseon stared at Earth with fascination, just as the broadcast screen’s right side displayed a world map.

The great “Pangaea-like” supercontinent.

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Beep!

Borders appeared between nations, and then subdivided further into administrative regions.

The data was that detailed.

“What the hell, it can go this far?”

Far more precise than expected, Yeongwoo gawked at the screen.

And at last—

Beep-beep-beep-beep!

Short signal tones sounded as the global approval map was painted in colors.

“Oooh……”

Even without explanation, it was obvious green meant “strong support,” since the Korean peninsula was entirely green.

Then came yellow, across North America and Eurasia.

‘Probably “general support.”’

“So orange means somewhat negative regions?”

A few spots in Africa and Europe were orange.

『Those are areas with around 50% approval.』

“50%? That doesn’t sound bad, why orange?”

『Your minimum goal is 70%. Compared to that, 50% is poor, so they’re marked orange.』

“Ah.”

As expected, Earth was wise.

After all, Yeongwoo needed 70% support to avoid mutating into a monster.

Thus the statistical “floor” was set high.

“Then… what about those guys?”

Yeongwoo pointed at the one region glowing red.

And there it was—

-Ah.

Jiseon closed her eyes tightly.

For it was none other than Tokyo, Japan.

-No helping that.

She sighed with resignation, and Earth added.

『You collect war reparations from them daily. And you own Tokyo’s main infrastructure…….』

From the Tokyoites’ perspective, supporting Yeongwoo was impossible.

-Surprisingly, the rest of Japan is orange.

Jiseon observed, and Earth nodded.

『They still think it’s better to back a fellow Earthling than be subjugated by aliens.』

Then Yeongwoo asked again.

“So how low is the red zone’s approval?”

『About 30%.』

“What?”

Higher than expected.

True, it fell short of the 70% target, but wasn’t Tokyo supposed to hate him most of all?

And yet 3 out of 10 Tokyoites acknowledged him as planetary leader.

『…Even if Tokyo vanished, global approval wouldn’t change much. Don’t get any weird ideas.』

“Wouldn’t change much? So it would change somewhat?”

『…….』

Pressed, Earth blinked and then replied.

『At present… about a 0.7% boost.』

“That’s actually significant. What’s my current global rating?”

『66%.』

Meaning: erase Tokyo, and it rises to 66.7%.

“Hm.”

Still short of the 70% goal, but this revealed something.

‘So just before re-vote, erasing Tokyo could net me +0.7%.’

If the poll showed 69.3%, Tokyo’s erasure would push it over the line.

‘Wait… then in theory, if I erased all orange zones…….’

At that thought, Yeongwoo reflexively covered his mouth.

Then Earth’s voice echoed in his mind.

○ Hey, that’s not “crazy guy” level, that’s straight-up trash.

“……”

Turning his head, Yeongwoo saw Earth silently glaring at him.

‘I didn’t mean I would do it, just that theoretically….’

○ If you destroyed cities just to gain support, wouldn’t other Earthlings withdraw their backing once they found out?

‘Honestly, I could just cut the broadcast before doing it.’

○ Earthlings know your character too well. They’d easily guess why the stream ended.

‘…That’s true.’

And if such a massacre were carried out, immense karmic retribution would follow.

Not to mention, he’d lose the support of Jiseon and Jeonggu, the family pillars.

‘Politics sure is tricky.’

○ Politics is always like that.

‘Still, the next headbutt region has to be near Tokyo.’

○ …Why?

‘Because I already announced: those who don’t support me may get caught in a stellar headbutt’s fallout.’

○ What.

‘So at minimum, I should target somewhere around Tokyo. A promise to humanity is important, isn’t it?’

And with that, Yeongwoo’s gaze turned to the sea east of Japan—the Pacific.

“How about the Pacific as the next headbutt site?”

Jiseon tilted her head.

-The Pacific?

“Yes. Plenty of space, and no people live there.”

But the Pacific held countless islands, as well as the Earthship’s main cannon.

So Yeongwoo specified—not the open ocean, but the sea east of Chiba Prefecture, across from Tokyo Bay.

『But wouldn’t that tear apart Chiba’s cities along with Tokyo?』

Of course, it was uncertain.

With a star 15% bigger than Golux colliding under current shield levels, even Earth couldn’t predict the outcome.

Yeongwoo, rather than dwell, went with his gut.

“Which means they’d better evacuate fast. Effective immediately, I advise emergency evacuation of Tokyo and Chiba Prefecture.”

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