A while later...
Cecil closed the laptop, then shut his eyes and kept rubbing his temples.
"Well?"
Jovian sat across from Cecil with one leg crossed over the other and asked calmly.
"It's insane. Honestly, at my age, what haven't I seen? Aliens? Superpowered people? Demons? Angels? People from parallel universes?"
"I'm already sick of that kind of cliché stuff. But someone like you? You're the first."
"Calm. Collected. Decisive when it comes to killing. The moment someone stands in your way, you remove them without hesitation. And when you meet someone useful, you guide them in step by step, then use every possible method to keep them under your control."
"You... are impressive."
Cecil raised a thumbs-up at Jovian.
"You know that's not what I want to hear."
Jovian waved a hand at Cecil. He could do without the flattery. He had always known he was exceptional.
"Heh..."
"You really are someone meant to accomplish great things."
Cecil smiled. In his eyes, Jovian possessed every quality needed to succeed.
"So you've made your decision?"
Jovian asked, still sitting there with his leg crossed.
"I have."
Cecil narrowed his eyes slightly.
"Then give me your answer, Cecil!"
Jovian looked at him coldly. If Cecil's answer failed to match what he wanted, then Cecil would be rewarded with a blazing glance.
"Cecil Stedman, reporting to the Emperor!"
Cecil dropped to one knee before Jovian and spoke with complete respect.
"You really are a smart man, Cecil. I'm very satisfied with your answer."
Jovian looked at Cecil kneeling before him and smiled, as if this reaction were the most natural thing in the world.
He had always known Cecil was smart, so he had always known Cecil would give him an answer he liked.
"Your Majesty, have you truly made up your mind?"
"Helping humanity advance and develop at high speed may make your name live forever, but it will also leave you cursed for generations."
"If humanity's armies sweep across the universe, then countless alien civilizations will burn. This will be a war of human aggression against other races."
Cecil phrased it as delicately as he could, trying to voice the kind of moral concerns that might be used to bind Jovian down.
"No. I won't bear any infamy at all!"
"When others invade us, that's aggression. It's shameful. When we strike outward, that's destiny. That's expansion. That's an achievement!"
After hearing Cecil's words, Jovian answered with unshakable conviction, his voice ringing through the room.
"Expansion..."
Cecil had not expected that answer. It made his whole spirit jolt.
Aggression was wrong, but expansion somehow sounded righteous.
A contradiction. A massive contradiction.
But then again, humanity itself had always been a contradiction.
"Then I wish humanity success in its great future of expansion."
Cecil sighed inwardly. He had not expected that while he was still fixated on this tiny patch of Earth, Jovian had already been looking far beyond it. In the end, his own strength had limited his vision and kept him from seeing so far.
"I don't need your wishes."
"This is humanity's future."
"As far as the known universe stretches, it will all become humanity's domain."
"As long as it is a universe I know of, it will eventually become human territory."
Jovian clasped his hands behind his back, his attitude leaving no room for doubt.
"Gulp..."
Cecil tried to picture the world Jovian was describing, but his imagination was too limited. He simply could not envision it.
"I'll leave the nations of Earth for you to handle."
"The warships I need will be ready in about three months."
"Within those three months, I need you to help me cultivate reliable soldiers."
Jovian raised his hand and held up three fingers in front of Cecil.
"Three months..."
"For humanity, that's extremely rushed."
Cecil wiped the sweat from his forehead. He still felt three months was far too little time.
"For the Viltrumites, three months is enough time to conquer dozens of star systems!"
"We're weak, so we make up for it with efficiency and speed!"
Jovian patted Cecil on the shoulder and turned to leave.
"Sigh..."
Cecil watched him go and let out a long breath. For a moment, he suddenly wanted to resign.
Thinking about it carefully, what had he done with his life?
Spent his entire career on Earth, playing house with a bunch of superheroes and supervillains?
And he had done it for a lifetime?
"Bang!"
"Fuck! I'm so fucking pathetic!"
Cecil slammed his fist down on the steel desk in his office and roared.
"Woof! Woof!"
Just after Cecil finished cursing himself for being useless, a pitch-black dog ran up to his side and barked at him nonstop.
"Whose dog is this?"
Cecil swore he had never seen such a strange breed in his life. The dog had several pairs of eyes.
"Fuck! Has anyone seen my dog? He's about a foot tall, all black, and has a bunch of eyes. Oh, right, my dog's name is Fuck!"
Just as Cecil was wondering who the dog belonged to, a voice drifted into his ears.
That voice was one he knew all too well. After all, he had only just been discussing its owner a moment ago.
"I should've guessed. This dog has to belong to Jovian."
Cecil looked down at Fuck and shook his head.
With Cecil joining him, the entire United States—no, to be precise, the entire Earth—had basically fallen into Jovian's grasp.
What came next would be a series of publicity stunts and grand spectacles, the lights turned all the way up, until under the gaze of the whole world, one starship after another launched into the cosmos.
And when it came to spectacle and image-building, Jovian immediately thought of Vought.
No one understood how to manufacture celebrities better than Vought.
Vought knew exactly how to manipulate human emotion. They knew what most people in this world wanted to see, and whatever people liked, they promoted. After enough time passed, people would end up liking whatever Vought promoted. They fully exploited celebrity worship, human dependence, herd mentality...
It was a kind of hypnosis, and one of Vought's most commonly used methods.
"It's about time I harvested a round from The Boys world."
Jovian thought to himself. He wanted to see just how chaotic The Boys world had become during his absence.
Jovian had always been a man of action. Once he decided to head to The Boys world, he acted immediately.
His figure flashed, and he vanished from the sky.
At Vought headquarters...
"My head hurts..."
Stillwell looked over the morning's news and felt a pounding headache coming on. Ever since Jovian had disappeared, she had been forced to take on an extra job. On top of serving as Vought's vice president, she had also been acting as President of the United States.
Knock, knock.
Just as the strain of work was wearing her down, to the point that even her child often had to be left in someone else's care, there came a soft knock at her office door. Then a tall figure pushed the door open and walked in.
"I really don't have time for you right now, Doppelganger..."
Stillwell looked at the tall figure in front of her, clearly irritated.
"You look exhausted."
The tall figure spoke.
"You changed clothes? That suit actually looks pretty good..."
"Wait..."
"You're not Doppelganger. You're the real Jovian?"
Stillwell put on her glasses and stared carefully at the man standing there. In the end, she reached a conclusion. This was not Doppelganger. This was the genuine President of the United States, Jovian.
"So you recognized me."
"Overall, you've all done very well."
"Really, I mean that as praise. I honestly didn't expect you to keep this country running so smoothly while I was gone. No, actually, you've run it even better than the people who were in charge before."
Jovian truly was praising Stillwell and the others.
Originally, he had assumed that once he left, this world he treated as an experiment would descend into chaos. But in reality, thanks to Vought's active response, ninety-nine percent of the population had never even noticed that Jovian was gone. Most people still believed he was sitting in his office, working tirelessly. And the few who sensed something was off could not find any evidence proving that the President in the White House was not actually Jovian.
"Thank God you're finally back!"
Stillwell rose from her seat and walked up to Jovian. Seeing that it really was him, she slowly let out a breath of relief.
"I feel like you don't even need me anymore."
"Isn't the whole country running in perfect order under your management?"
Jovian looked at Stillwell and spoke softly.
"You really do love joking around..."
"It may look like we've got the whole country under control, but in reality, we can't withstand any real blow."
"In every area, Vought is already at its limit."
Stillwell looked at Jovian, feeling like she had a mountain of bitterness she could not put into words.
The moment he disappeared, they had moved quickly to lock the news down. But leaks were inevitable, and that drew in a crowd of desperate vultures chasing profit, like sharks smelling blood. They had managed to hold those people off by using Doppelganger in Jovian's place.
But...
That was never going to last forever.
And the people chasing power and profit had never stopped investigating whether Jovian was real or fake.
"Relax."
"Now that I'm back, everything will get better."
Jovian walked over to Stillwell's desk, pulled out her chair, sat down, and crossed one leg over the other as he looked up at her standing there.
"Tell me exactly what the current situation is."
Jovian asked her directly.
"To be specific, the overall situation is still under control, but some of the senators are getting restless."
"They've been aggressive. And since you weren't here at the time, we didn't dare act too forcefully. That led to some of our interests being carved away by them. Fortunately, they were cautious too. After taking their share, they stopped short of pushing even further..."
Stillwell kept speaking, her voice tinged with helplessness.
She had no good options. If Jovian had been present, everything would have been easy. But he had not been, so they had no choice but to throw out some benefits, numb those people with profit, and wait patiently.
"They already took things from us, and that doesn't count as pushing too far?"
Jovian shook his head. There were always people in this world whose throats were gripped by power and desire.
"Uh..."
"So, Mr. Jovian, what exactly are you suggesting?"
Stillwell bent slightly toward him and asked.
"Why not gather all the people who've taken benefits from us in one place?"
"I want to have dinner with them and discuss the future of this country."
Jovian looked at Stillwell and spoke with a smile.
"..."
"You are... truly merciful."
"I doubt they ever dreamed they would one day have the honor of dining with you."
Stillwell fell silent for a moment, then immediately resumed flattering Jovian and stroking his ego.
"Heh. I've always been a merciful man."
Jovian chuckled softly after hearing that.
"I'll handle it for you right away..."
Stillwell respectfully asked for permission.
"Go ahead. Tonight."
Jovian nodded, approving her request and giving her the time for the gathering.
"Yes, Mr. Jovian."
Stillwell left her office with a respectful expression.
Half an hour later...
In Jovian's name, Stillwell informed every senator who had received benefits from Vought about the dinner invitation.
"What do you all make of this? Could Jovian have been at Vought the whole time? Maybe the reason they kept indulging us was to bait us into taking the hook."
The senators were in contact with one another. The moment they received Vought's invitation, they immediately got in touch with their allies and began discussing why Vought had suddenly summoned them in Jovian's name.
"Hmph! There's nothing to be scared of. We already confirmed Jovian is gone. The one on TV has been that fat bastard Doppelganger pretending to be him all along!"
Some of the senators flat-out refused to believe Jovian was really back.
"And even if he is back, so what?"
"We've all taken Compound V."
"We're not the same as we used to be. With all of us together, are we really supposed to lose to one Jovian?"
"We're all part of the new humanity created by Compound V. How far apart can our strength really be?"
One senator who had grown arrogant after gaining powerful abilities through Compound V spoke with total contempt.
"That's true. There are thirty of us on this side."
"When the time comes, it'll be thirty against one. This time, the advantage is ours!"
The senators mulled it over and felt that logic made perfect sense.
This time, they held the advantage.
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