Chapter 145 – When kindness continues

Chapter 145 – When kindness continues

“Hmm…”

Minju stood in front of the mirror for a moment, swaying her body left and right, and carefully examined herself. Her expression was dark.

It was because her favorite jeans no longer fit.

“Have I… gained weight recently?”

It might have been punishment for searching for good restaurants recently, and exploring all the markets in the world. She stood in front of the mirror for a long time.

“Ugh…”

She pondered.

***

Not far from there.

Incheon, in this era, was no different from the Capital City of Humanity. Its population alone accounted for half of the world’s total. The wealth accumulated over time was incomparable from the start.

For instance, it was here that the world’s only factory capable of mass-producing artifacts was located. Also, all the workshops that could custom-make orders were all situated within the Castle.

Furthermore, even setting aside the machines of the Magitech Legion, the Volunteer Knights, the world’s most powerful Military, had a concentrated deployment of Dungeons incomparable to other factions, making hunting efficient.

The citizens of Incheon, living such abundant lives, were tilting their heads as they watched the Direct Fire-type Giant Warships slowly begin to accumulate in the sky above.

Two men in their twenties, looking up at the sky, were talking loudly with voices full of bravado.

“Hey, what in the world is that?”

“They say it’s an ark. We all have to move in there soon. All of us.”

“What, all of us? You, me, us?”

“That’s what I heard.”

“Why so suddenly?”

“Ugh, haven’t you seen the post on Apoin? You’re slow on information.”

“Oh, you’re being really harsh. What is it?”

“Here, look.”

And he showed him the Apoin bulletin board. The man, who had known nothing, quickly skimmed through the content.

“Oh, the prophet posted again… Ark… Predation… What? 99 days?”

“99 days was back then. It’s day 93 now.”

The content, posted after a long time under the guise of a prophet, contained a significant amount of high-level information that had not been revealed until now, such as Pollution and the Final Predation Day.

“This can’t be a lie, so… I guess I need to prepare.”

“You need to apply for residency quickly. I already did it all last night.”

“Hey, while you’re at it, why didn’t you contact me?”

It was a man who also started applying for residency.

***

[Time remaining until Final Predation Day: D-93]

The production of the arks was going smoothly. Furthermore, moving into The Man arks was also happening quite quickly.

The expected capacity of one ark was 10,000 people. And already, four arks in Incheon alone were full.

It was the same in the Western United States Alliance and Vietnam, though a little slower than Incheon’s production speed.

However, not everyone was rational. For example, there were quite a few who didn’t believe my words and said they would stay on Earth.

I felt frustrated.

“Sigh, what exactly are they hoping for?”

In fact, it was easy to figure out what they were hoping for.

Because it was very clear from their arguments.

[…This constitutes a forced relocation measure, and we demand reasonable compensation for the assets left behind on the ground.]

Ultimately, they wanted more money.

“I’m trying to save them, and what they say is…”

It was ridiculous.

I am not a philanthropist.

I immediately began posting announcements through Apoin.

[Title: Those who don’t want to ride the ark don’t have to.]

[If you want to do it your way, I won’t stop you.]

[In fact, I’ll even cheer you on.]

[(P.S.) Just don’t bother me later.]

Again, I say…

“Well, let’s see how they react now.”

I was no philanthropist.

***

At the same time.

[Fight to the Death]

The men with red headbands were agitated.

“Bro, brother! Did you see the new Apoin post?”

“I also rushed here because of that guy!”

All of them were, so to speak, nouveau riche who had accumulated a lot of wealth even before the Apocalypse struck.

Typically, in such cases, they would start businesses, leveraging new abilities based on their ample wealth even after the Apocalypse.

But those gathered here were different. They were individuals with a strong desire to cling to what they already possessed and settle for it.

In particular, a significant number of them were wealthy due to land or real estate, which could not be taken with them on the ark, which also played a role.

Of course, even if they were to take only the wealth they had accumulated so far, they would be far ahead of others. But they could not be satisfied with that.

In particular, a middle-aged man named Lee Bongseok, who had enjoyed some success through organized redevelopment opposition protests before the Apocalypse, found a similarity to the past in the Magitech Civilization’s policy of moving into the ark.

“They should compensate us for the real estate, shouldn’t they!”

“No. How hard did I work to buy that!”

Even though they already had more wealth than others, they were greedy individuals who tried to extort even more wealth.

However… they were making too many mistakes.

As society stabilized again and they could live a more prosperous life than before, they were acting as if it were the good old days.

As such, the notice posted on Apoin-.

[…]

[(P.S.) Just don’t bother me later.]

came as a great shock to them.

In particular, those around Lee Bongseok began to stir greatly.

“What, what, what is it?”

“If you don’t want to ride… you don’t have to?”

“No, is this even allowed?”

“The government, I tell you, isn’t thinking about protecting the citizens’ property!”

“Brother! What should we do now…?”

Lee Bongseok scanned his surroundings once.

It was a familiar situation to him.

The expression he wore was not merely the expression of people whose homes were being taken away. Rather, it was closer to the expression of a snake trying to extort as much money as possible by throwing a tantrum.

“What is he to me? I’ll try to talk to him directly.”

He began to arrange a ‘negotiation’ with the high-ranking officials of the Magitech Civilization.

* * *

Contrary to Lee Bongseok’s hopes, the one who appeared at the ‘negotiation’ was neither Lord Seong Siwoo, nor Kim Mincheol, who was in charge of the overall administration. Not even Kim Gyeongcheol, Kim Mincheol’s younger brother, who was in charge of the economy, was present.

“I heard you have something to say.”

It was a very young child who spoke calmly. Lee Bongseok kept moving his mouth, seemingly unable to hide his uncomfortable feelings.

“Hmm… That’s true, but who exactly are you?”

“My name is Chae Minho. I am in charge of administration within the Magitech Civilization.”

“Hmm… I don’t think I’ve seen you before. Anyway, I understand.”

Minju’s younger brother, Minho, twitched his eyebrows at the blatant display of emotion. It was a world of difference from before, when he had failed to properly understand people, which ultimately led to the survivor group being torn apart.

Indeed, it seemed he hadn’t followed Mincheol and Gyeongcheol for nothing. He didn’t even look directly at Bongseok—.

“So, Mr. Man, you said you had something to say?”

He lowered his voice, coldly.

“Uh, um. It’s about Mr. Man…”

This time, Bongseok was flustered by Mr. Man’s sudden change in demeanor.

‘What? Why is he like this? This isn’t right…’

The previous civil servants Mr. Man remembered used to fret when he threw a tantrum.

If they didn’t, he’d just file a complaint, and even the most rigid civil servant would force a smile at him the next time they met, even if they didn’t like it.

But Mr. Man was also a veteran among veterans. He quickly put on a poker face and began to express his loyal opinion.

“I’ve come to talk about this Real Estate matter. I hear everyone has to move to the ark because of a dangerous situation, is that right?”

Even for someone his age, he was being informal from the start.

Minho felt this was a slight against him, and by extension, against the Magitech Civilization he represented in this meeting.

And Mr. Man was not the Minho of old. He began to carefully observe Bongseok’s expression, as if trying to discern his intentions.

“That’s right.”

Even so, he answered well.

There was no need to stir up trouble unnecessarily. Bongseok made a satisfied expression at that and continued his explanation.

“Then what about my Water buildings? Huh? I had two Water buildings in Gangnam. Even those are now completely destroyed, and I only have one left in Incheon, and you’re telling me to give that up too?”

“…? What do you want?”

“What else but compensation! You guys, if you’re going to step up to protect people, you need to do your job properly. Anyway, isn’t this all your fault?”

“What? What do you mean by that—”

“I need about 200 million Worker Bug Coins. If you can’t give it to me, then I won’t get on your damn ark or anything, and that’ll be that!”

Bongseok yelled loudly.

Minho chuckled at his words.

“Then don’t get on it.”

“Huh? Informal speech? Did you just speak informally to me?”

“Mister, let’s be straight. Whether you get on the ark or not isn’t your decision. It’s ours.”

“W-w-w-what?!”

“If I say one word to Apoin right now, you’ll never get on the ark. Understand? Should I also revoke your right to enter Incheon while I’m at it?”

“Wh-what kind of talk is that?”

“What, should I do it like this? The Incheon Water Building. I’ll give you 200 million. And while I’m at it, I’ll give you 1 billion coins for the Gangnam Water Building, valued at 400 million each. How about that?”

“Y-you’d really do that for me-.”

It was just as Bong-seok’s face lit up brightly.

“Instead, hand over 2 billion for an ark admission ticket.”

Min-ho dropped a bombshell.

“Huh?”

Bong-seok unconsciously used polite speech. When he came to his senses, Min-ho began using polite speech again.

“Mister, we’re not running a charity.”

As he spoke, he pointed to the 17 arks floating in the sky.

“Do you know how much one of those arks costs?”

“……”

The ark at his fingertip was none other than a Leviathan-Class vessel. Those massive machines casting dark shadows across the sky were large enough to change even Incheon City’s climate.

Even if all three Water Buildings Bong-seok owned were combined, they would barely amount to one-hundredth of an ark.

“The construction cost for one of those is 6 trillion coins.”

“6, 6 trillion?!”

“If you don’t like what we’re doing… you can just build one yourself and ride it. Didn’t you hear what the Lord said? To take care of yourselves.”

“There’s no way I could build that…”

“If you know that… then when we offer you a free ride, you should just get on quietly. Or die.”

With those words, Min-ho closed the payment document he was looking at.

Thud!

He rose from his seat.

“If you’ve said all you need to say, I’m leaving now. We have no further business, do we? Or do you want to pay for an ark ticket?”

At the man’s words, Lee Bongseok turned away.

“Ah, no…”

The man’s initial momentum had long since vanished.

***

A moment later.

Minho clenched his fists, trying to calm his trembling fingers.

“Whew… this isn’t easy.”

He was, at best, merely acting as a proxy for Kim Mincheol, who was busy building the ark. Even the man Kim Mincheol was merely a proxy for Siwoo.

And he wasn’t even fighting or negotiating for the survival of humanity like Siwoo. He had simply dealt with one troublesome person.

But perhaps because it was so different from Minho’s usual gentle demeanor, he felt completely shaken inside.

“Seriously… how does Siwoo, my older brother, manage all of this?”

The man could only admire him.