Two weeks passed.
Reconstruction in Yangjibang had begun to show real results.
Morning sunlight filtered through thin mist, illuminating a city slowly recovering from its wounds. The once-devastated coastal district had been largely cleared; major roads were open again, and maglev vehicles had resumed limited operation, tracing quiet silver paths through the air.
In areas that had once been flattened, modular commercial blocks and residential units now stood in orderly rows, their composite materials gleaming with fresh polish. The foundations of several new skyscrapers were already being poured, while enormous construction drones buzzed among steel frameworks like tireless mechanical bees.
The roar of machinery composed a grand overture of recovery.
Everything seemed filled with hope.
But for Shen Yong, something had changed.
He sat in the cockpit of an exoskeleton construction machine, his hands moving like the controls of a precision instrument.
With practiced movements, he guided the hydraulic arms to lift a multi-ton slab of concrete from the rubble.
Just moments earlier, he had completed a particularly difficult maneuver—extracting a section of buried maglev rail trapped beneath twisted steel beams without disturbing the fragile surrounding structure.
The operation had been flawless.
Workers nearby whistled and applauded.
Two weeks ago, Shen Yong might have waved back awkwardly.
Now, he simply glanced at the operation data on the control panel.
Once the system confirmed the task was complete, he retracted the mechanical arms.
No expression.
As if the skillful maneuver had been performed by a machine, not him.
The lunch whistle sounded.
Workers drifted toward the rest area in noisy groups, discussing last night's soccer match and the EUC's newly announced renewable energy subsidies.
Shen Yong parked the machine silently and walked toward the farthest corner.
He sat with his back to the crowd.
Twisting open a tube of nutrition paste, he squeezed it into his mouth.
It tasted like nothing.
"Hey, Shen Yong! Come eat with us!" foreman Old Zhang called out warmly, holding a steaming lunchbox. "The cafeteria has extra high-protein meals today!"
Shen Yong shook his head slightly.
He didn't turn around.
He didn't speak.
Old Zhang exchanged helpless glances with the others.
They could all feel it.
The Shen Yong who once chatted with them about tokusatsu shows and occasionally smiled shyly was gone.
In his place stood a man surrounded by silence and distance.
In Shen Yong's mind, the black-suited man's prophecy echoed again and again.
"A tragic clown used by everyone."
He watched the workers laughing and eating nearby.
Once their lively faces had warmed him.
Now they seemed covered by a faint gray shadow.
He couldn't stop imagining it—
If they discovered he was the Ultraman they admired…
What would their smiles become?
Awe?
Fear?
Or would they turn him in for an EUC bounty like a monster?
He had begun avoiding eye contact.
Avoiding closeness.
Because every act of kindness now felt like the seed of future betrayal.
Sara Kim noticed.
From the second floor of the temporary command center, she had been observing him for some time.
As leader of the Dawn Mutual Aid Association, she managed supplies and personnel—but she also paid attention to the emotional state of her volunteers.
Shen Yong's growing isolation troubled her.
She sensed he carried something heavier than the ruins around them.
After a supply handover, she approached him while he inspected the tracks of a construction machine.
She handed him a compact energy bar.
Its elegant packaging clearly showed it wasn't standard rations—it came from her private supply.
"I noticed you barely ate lunch," she said gently.
"This will help restore your energy."
She hesitated slightly.
"Are you okay lately, Shen Yong?"
"You look… exhausted. Not just physically."
Shen Yong's hand stiffened as he accepted the bar.
He didn't look at her.
His eyes remained fixed on the machine's tread joints.
"I'm just a worker," he said flatly.
"I get paid to do a job."
The words formed an invisible wall.
Sara froze.
She could feel the deliberate coldness behind them.
She wanted to say more.
But looking at his closed expression, she simply sighed.
"If you ever need help," she said quietly, "you can come to me."
Then she turned and left.
Shen Yong clenched the energy bar in his hand.
The sharp edges of the packaging dug into his palm.
He understood Sara's kindness.
But he didn't dare accept it.
If his identity were exposed, she could be dragged into unimaginable danger.
Or worse—
When the world turned against him, she might be the first person forced to step away out of fear.
That possibility frightened him more than anything.
Meanwhile, deep inside the EUC Asian Division Research Facility, Ellie Solen's secret investigation continued.
She disguised the core data from the Dover battle as a simple equipment signal interference.
Privately, she analyzed it alone.
In her laboratory, enormous holographic displays poured out streams of data like waterfalls.
After hundreds of simulations and filtering processes, she finally isolated a faint signal hidden within the high-dimensional energy residue.
It pulsed.
Like a heartbeat.
"…This doesn't resemble a purely physical phenomenon," she whispered into her encrypted research log.
Her voice trembled with excitement.
"It's more like… an echo of a biological signal."
"Every teleportation leaves behind a unique dimensional signature."
"If the signal becomes clear enough… we might reverse-track the source."
Her pulse quickened.
She realized she might have discovered the key to finding Ultraman's human form.
But she told no one.
Especially not Mark Reyes.
She feared he would turn the search into a hunt.
Instead, she secretly began designing a portable device capable of detecting this biological echo.
In the official report she submitted to Mark, however, she wrote only:
"Target G's energy system displays irregular fluctuations. Current technology cannot accurately predict the location or timing of its next appearance."
Mark tapped the conference table irritably during the MCD internal meeting.
"An unpredictable superweapon is the greatest threat of all."
He stared at a map of Yangjibang on the screen.
More than 500,000 red markers filled the display.
"Status of identifying G's human host?"
An intelligence officer replied helplessly:
"Male. Age twenty to forty. Physically fit. Deep knowledge of tokusatsu culture."
"That profile alone matches over five hundred thousand individuals in the Yangjibang metropolitan region."
"With reconstruction underway, we cannot conduct mass biometric scans or psychological screenings."
"It would trigger public panic and severe backlash."
"Public support for the EUC is already declining."
The invisible net tightened more slowly.
Partly due to reality.
Partly due to Ellie's deliberate concealment.
Late at night, Shen Yong returned to his apartment.
He opened his terminal.
The tone of public opinion had begun to shift.
New voices were spreading online.
Not pure admiration anymore.
A darker theory had begun circulating.
On a popular talk show, a well-known commentator spoke calmly but chillingly:
"We must consider another possibility."
"Is there an unknown causal relationship between these monsters… and the being called Ultraman?"
"Why are monsters suddenly appearing now?"
"Is Ultraman acting like a disaster magnet, drawing cosmic threats to Earth?"
The idea spread like a virus.
"Think about it! Yangjibang first, then London!"
"Everywhere he goes, catastrophe follows!"
"Is he a guardian—or a harbinger of doom?"
The narrative cleverly shifted blame away from the monsters—
And toward the protector.
Shen Yong felt his blood turn cold as he read the comments.
The black-suited man's prophecy was unfolding faster than he had imagined.
Public worship was cheap.
It could turn into hatred overnight.
He slammed the terminal shut.
The room fell silent.
He curled up on the sofa.
Loneliness engulfed him like freezing ocean currents.
The world he had protected now felt like a cage built just for him.
Suddenly—
The terminal screen lit up.
A maximum-level emergency alert filled the display.
The piercing alarm shattered the silence of the apartment.
"EUC Emergency Notice:
Abnormally high energy readings and spatial distortion detected near the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean.
Preliminary analysis suggests the phenomenon shares the same origin as the 'Yangjibang Rift.'
All civilian vessels are advised to immediately avoid the area…"