Starting Tomorrow, I Will Strive
Having spent hedonistic days falling asleep to the maids' lullabies only to wake and watch movies or play games, I finally came to my senses and sprang upright from my seat.
There was going to be a war soon. The head of a nation couldn't keep living like this! And it absolutely was not because I had been on a losing streak in games!
...Actually, that was exactly it. The bitter sting of defeat was what had jolted me awake!
"Your Majesty?"
The maids who had been giggling and playing games with me looked up in confusion.
An expressionless cool-type maid tilting her head, a gentle mom-type maid beaming with a warm smile, and a loli-type maid clutching my collar with sparkling eyes.
A lethal cuteness that stabbed straight through the heart.
Right. They always brought me operational plans for approval, didn't they? In other words, I had been working hard all along!
The only rooms I knew in this imperial palace were the bedroom, the playroom, and the movie room, but still!
Those were just the names I had given them myself—the real ones were probably different—but I was leading the nation just fine!
"Right?"
I turned and asked the maids.
"Yes!"
"That is correct."
The moment I heard their affirmative answers—spoken without the slightest idea what I was talking about—I admitted to myself that I had been slacking off...
Even though war was about to break out.
I was trash...
The self-reflection period was short. The moment you think you're late is actually the earliest you can start. And I wasn't even late yet.
I could change starting now.
I would be reborn!
I needed to draw up a plan for victory.
Yes! The five-star characters with 9/9/9/9 stats had already crafted careful plans, but I still had to make one myself!
...On second thought, nothing would change even if I drew up a plan!
If anything, victory might turn into defeat. Therefore I was already dedicating myself to the nation!
I couldn't meddle with the experts and ruin everything. All I needed to do was decide the broad direction.
Things like which country to attack and when, for example.
Hmm. Then maybe I should just take a look around this altered Korea.
I knew that after I became emperor every high-ranking official in the country had turned into beautiful girls, but I had no real idea what the outside was like.
From what I saw on the internet, it seemed the ordinary citizens had all changed the same way.
I needed to confirm it in person.
"Would it be all right if I went out for a bit?"
"Whatever Your Majesty desires is possible."
When I told the Head Maid I wanted to see the outside, she answered positively yet looked at me with open worry before contacting someone.
"I have summoned an escort."
A short while later I was able to leave the palace surrounded by a throng of superhumans.
Riding something that looked like an imperial palanquin straight out of an old historical drama—two long wooden poles with a seat mounted on top.
Beauties of every appearance imaginable were lifting and carrying it.
It wasn't merely anachronistic; the historical accuracy was completely off. Being an emperor in the first place was already strange enough.
If you nitpicked, having maids in an Eastern setting was pretty ridiculous too.
This was Korea 3, not Korea 1, so I decided to empty my head and stop thinking about it.
"Do I really have to ride this?"
When I asked with a dubious expression, the superhumans who had been cheerfully preparing to lift the palanquin drooped with dejected faces, so I had no choice but to climb aboard the thing that looked like a palanquin.
In Korea 2, superhumans had been pure nobility who ignored even orders from those in power, yet here they happily did servant work while grinning. It felt incredibly weird.
I still clearly remembered one event conversation.
"War has broken out. Please fight for the nation."
"Why should I?"
Short and brutal dialogue.
From there you had to start persuading them and pick choices, but the options were random and choosing wrong triggered a rebellion.
Memorizing the answers was impossible because every superhuman had a different correct response. The game never even told you who the superhuman was, so it was pure luck-based guessing.
Strangely, even after you crushed the rebels, the ringleader superhuman would still be walking around fine. Troop numbers dropped, yet the number of superhumans stayed the same.
Someone thought it was a bug and sent an inquiry. The reply they received was spectacular.
[Superhumans are an irreplaceable fighting force, so they are released even if they rebel. Enjoy the game.]
It was so absurd I remembered it perfectly. For reference, even choosing the correct answer still tanked your political power.
"Your Majesty, where shall we go?"
The Head Maid riding beside me asked. An Eastern-style palanquin-like thing plus Western-style maids. I could feel just how far this place was from the emperors of Earth 1.
"I just wanted to see the scenery outside, so let's take a slow loop around."
"You heard His Majesty, yes?"
The Head Maid called outward and a thunderous reply came back.
"Yes!"
The palanquin set off at a leisurely walk down the road. Every car that passed came to a complete stop and traffic turned into chaos, yet no one protested.
"Kyaa! It's His Majesty!"
Instead they got out of their cars and cheered. Weren't people supposed to step back and prostrate themselves when a king or emperor's procession passed?
"Y-Your Majesty! Please just pat my head once!"
"I'd like a handshake!"
A swarm of beautiful girls rushed over, carefully avoiding the front of the moving palanquin and running alongside. Even the superhumans made no move to stop them.
"Please do not come too close."
"Kindly do not block the path ahead."
They merely said such things in a relaxed tone.
Emperor... was this really an emperor? He felt more like an idol. I blinked, then reached out and stroked the head of one cute little girl.
"Nyaaa!"
A cat-girl drifted away with a blissful expression. After that my fans—no, my citizens—charged even more passionately.
Even so, no one actually clung to the palanquin or tried to climb aboard.
As if they had made some unspoken agreement, they followed for a short while before falling back with regretful faces. Extremely curious.
"Oh, that's the palanquin carrying Korea's emperor!"
Hearing strangely accented Korean from somewhere, I glanced over and saw foreigners snapping photos with fascinated expressions.
Tourists?
I now thoroughly understood how the animals in a zoo must feel. While I was thinking that, one of the foreigners approached the palanquin.
Thud.
He immediately collapsed unconscious.
"Do not approach His Majesty's vicinity. You should have been warned upon entry."
"Sorry. No—I apologize."
A beastkin lifted the fallen foreigner, carried him back to his group, delivered a brief warning, and returned.
"Why aren't foreigners allowed to come close?"
I asked the Head Maid about the strange rule.
"Because they are dangerous. A Korean would never attack Your Majesty, but foreigners are different."
So max loyalty had become common knowledge everyone simply accepted.
After finishing that short outing and returning, the facts I had learned were simple. I was an emperor in name only; in reality I was something closer to an idol mixed with a god.
Hard to put into words.
On top of that, the gender "male" simply did not exist among Koreans.
Applying a certain mod used to turn every male character female, but here the entire population had become female.
"Head Maid, why are there no men in Korea?"
"Pardon? Isn't that the normal state of things?"
The Head Maid asked me back as if I had questioned something completely obvious, and she clearly found nothing strange about it.
Wait, then where do you people even come from?
...Too scary. Better not ask. Yeah, I'll just chalk it up to "this is just how shitty games work" and move on. Next question.
"Why did Korea lose to Japan?"
Logically, with this level of power they should never have lost. How had it been patched?
"...Well, because we were weak before Your Majesty appeared."
Perhaps old grudges had surfaced; the Head Maid answered after a brief silence.
Ah, so that was the setting. They had been weak in the past but grew strong. That sort of feeling.
Was this max loyalty the result of that?
The more I thought about it the more my head hurt, so I decided to stop digging into the details. Confirming that the entire citizenry was firmly on my side was enough.
"In that case, let's play another round of games."
"Yes!"
Back at the palace, I began a video game that grew the brain in order to soothe my exhausted mind and body.
My character charged bravely while the characters controlled by the maids supported me.
In a four-person party game I was the sole damage dealer and filled the rest with support characters, receiving full buffs and going on an absolute rampage!
"Your Majesty, that was magnificent!"
"Incredible!"
Empowered by countless buffs, debuffs, and endless healing, I soloed the mid-boss and praise for me erupted from every direction!
When the battle ended I collected every coin the three maid sisters' characters possessed and used it to upgrade my own gear.
This was the power of an emperor!
Taxes.
The people's gold is my gold!
I grinned and kept playing for a while, but fortunately I was a man possessed of cool-headedness and self-restraint, so I came to my senses before it got too late.
How much time had passed?!
I hurriedly checked the clock.
Whew, only three hours. According to positive thinking, that was the case.
I hadn't played that long, but still—had the three maid sisters gotten angry?
I had enough social awareness to know that doing this sort of thing was an excellent way to get thoroughly chewed out.
I sneaked a sidelong glance at the three maid sisters.
"Your Majesty?"
"Shall I bring more snacks and drinks?"
"Are you tired? I'll sing you a lullaby tonight."
I had only moved my eyes without turning my head, yet they noticed instantly. Superhumans really were amazing.
They didn't seem particularly angry. All three were smiling brightly.
...I had only played that hosting game to confirm their max loyalty. The result: their loyalty looked rock-solid!
"Just one more round."
"Yes!"
My outstanding self-restraint was terrifying. Just one more game and then bed.
After playing five more rounds, I lay down on the bed.
"~♪"
Third Sister sang a lullaby beside me.
Lying there, I made a vow. I would definitely protect this blue star called Earth!
I would become not merely the Emperor of Korea, but the Emperor of Earth! Starting tomorrow, I would make an effort!
Zzz...