25. Reconstruction (2)
A week had passed since the Balhut Cult's coins began circulating daily as currency. Through the Mirror of True Sight, Bahamut, the god of the Balhut Cult, watched over Gyeongju as the cult rebuilt the city.
"Wow. It's progressing even better than I thought?"
The results exceeded his expectations. Bahamut had assumed urban reconstruction would be incredibly difficult even without zombies, but with Choi Yu-na at the center, the survivor camps unified and charged toward rebuilding—and it happened far faster than anticipated. In just a month, intact buildings rose anew, and the coins he minted fueled economic activity. He felt a deep satisfaction.
"Feels like playing a city management sim. Hmm."
Yes, it was exactly like that—a city management simulation. Of course, it was hardcore mode, with no restarts or save files like in a computer game. Bahamut knew full well that countless cult members' lives hung on his hands.
Yes, countless lives. A single mistake could snuff them all out—that fear lingered.
"Enough spectating. Time to work."
He tore his gaze from the installed Mirror of True Sight and began another day. First thing in the morning, he melted the coins the Balhut Cult brought and reminted them into proper currency. The minting process was already automated with magic, so Bahamut simply used telekinesis to pull the raw coins into the temple interior. Clink. One motion, and they became minted coins.
By evening, those coins would head to the Balhut Cult under heavy escort by cult executives.
"Today's purified water and charged batteries."
"Thank you, Bahamut-nim."
After minting, he recharged the water and electricity for the cult's use. He cast Creator Water magic on the transport vehicles' tanks to refill them with clean drinking water and topped off the batteries with electricity. Water could simply be stored in tanks, but batteries risked disaster if mishandled, so he charged them with utmost precision.
Water and electricity were essentials for city life, so without fail, Bahamut provided them free to the Balhut Cult every day.
"Another productive day."
Come evening, he greeted the executives collecting the coins, sipped cool water, and peered into the Mirror of True Sight at the cult's burgeoning new Gyeongju city to wrap up. That alone gave him strength to live another day...?
"Hold on."
Only then did Bahamut sense something off.
...Yes, it was off. Why was he living like such a diligent, fulfilling corporate drone? He recalled his old self. He was...
A shut-in gamer who'd gone straight-edge as a normie?! Damn it! I haven't abandoned my identity!
Wasn't he a total shut-in otaku who only played games? Why this relentless diligence? Where was the rice-farming gamer who trolled forums as a self-proclaimed Lü Bu? His glory days were fleecing his parents' wallet!
R-right! Management! It's the city sim vibe blinding me to the weirdness!
Bahamut excused it away again, escaping reality. A ruined city reborn fostered attachment, he rationalized.
W-well... Yu-na's working hard too. And I've got people I know now...
He secretly hoped this prosperity lasted forever, but cities drew people—and problems.
"Raiders have surged lately."
During the weekly Balhut Cult report, Jeong Dong-gun, head of military affairs, dropped ominous news.
"Targeting Balhut Cult members?"
"Yes."
Envy of the cult's prosperity had bred bandits. Jeong Dong-gun detailed the recent uptick.
"Raiders dodging cult surveillance to prey on civilians have spiked. Our security caught one; interrogation revealed he's from a survivor camp north of Gyeongju Bridge."
"North Gyeongju. The camps that rejected us, right?"
Gyeongju Bridge divided them: Balhut Cult south, holdouts north. North had a reserve army training center, promising firearms—but at the cost of depleted emergency rations, forcing long foraging trips.
South Gyeongju lacked weapons but brimmed with nearby farmlands; liberate them from zombies, and self-sufficiency followed.
"Any response from them?"
"Self-proclaimed King of North Gyeongju, Jo Sun-do, flatly denies ties to the raiders."
Jeong Dong-gun shook his head, pity in his eyes—for the abandoned raider or the desperate camp?
"If that's their line, punish raiders our way. Sorry to burden Hwang Seung-man mid-lawmaking, but request an emergency statute for dealing with them. Can't ignore this many."
"Understood."
Bahamut ordered Jeong Dong-gun to have Hwang Seung-man draft a temporary law punishing captured raiders. No clear precedent existed yet; the cult's three laws covered ordinary crimes, not external bandits.
"Knew it'd happen eventually."
He'd foreseen survivor camps turning bandit, just not so soon. Sighing, he moved on.
"How's the currency economy?"
"Swimmingly! Though..."
Next, Lee Hyun-ah briefed economics. Her policies thrived; her face beamed.
"One snag: civilians can't detect counterfeits well."
"Figured."
His coins' anti-counterfeit magic was superb—but flawed. Even Choi could spot fakes instantly.
"Awakeners sense mana easily, distinguishing real from fake. But unawakened civilians can't detect that subtle difference."
The magic's "scent" eluded normals. Awakeners sniffed it out; 3D-printed knockoffs were obvious post-minting.
"Without a fix, civilian-targeted fakes will proliferate. Abandoned factory printers are already copying exteriors."
"Too early for complacency."
Normals lacked mana sense or scent. They accepted fakes blindly, traded goods, eroding value—inflation loomed.
"Root cause: counterfeits undetectable by civilians?"
"Yes. No mana detection. We're stationing appraisers at markets, but civilians can't summon Awakeners on demand."
"True. Awakeners are precious manpower."
Lee Hyun-ah had appraisers per market, but Awakeners were scarce in civilian-heavy cult. Each mattered.
"Got it. I'll devise countermeasures."
"Thank you, Bahamut-nim."
Promising solutions, he advanced.
Next, Yoo Soo-seong on reconstruction brought glad and grim tidings.
"Gyeongju rebuild nears completion."
Gyeongju reconstruction! Yu-na's dream almost realized—not perfect, but habitable buildings restored or rebuilt. Livable again.
"Good news."
"Catch: completion idles masses of construction laborers. Awakeners enlist or join security/scouting, but civilians lack options."
Instant unemployment crisis. Fresh off coin woes, now this. Bahamut's head throbbed.
"No new builds... We're short supplies; extra civil works bankrupt us."
Forced projects for the jobless? Resources limited; pointless excess.
"Homes assigned to all; more is luxury. Cult headquarters expansions and market developments planned, but they need few workers..."
Some work remained: headquarters, markets, temple roads. But not mass-labor like rebuilds—skilled crews sufficed.
"Discussed with Lee Hyun-ah?"
"She seemed stumped too. Can't push all into self-employment. Plus, she's griping about civilian counterfeits."
"Alternatives?"
Even the economist demurred, tied by fakes. Bahamut pressed; Yoo pondered, offered one.
"Abandoned farmlands nearby. Assign labor for food production—but not a fix."
"Why?"
"Farming's grueling. Civilians crave easy jobs like Awakeners."
Can't argue!
No noble/mean jobs, but aptitudes varied. Workers wanted easy, fitting roles—not toil or mismatches. Rebuild masked gripes; they'd surface.
"Awakeners pick from tons of jobs; normals one or few. Discrimination brews."
Awakeners did normal work plus exclusive gigs. Civilians couldn't reciprocate—conflict fodder.
"Awakener-civilian divide again."
Normalize it, or the Balhut Cult stalled.