When the Other Side Acts Like Trash

It has been raining for three days.

There were moments when the downpour thinned, but it never truly stopped. The rainy season had begun.

“We’ve installed drainage pipes over here. We used 300mm ones, but….”

Early morning. I am touring the lands of Samira with several people. Mr. Jang-su continues his explanation.

“It looks like it’s going to rain for a while longer. There won’t be any problems, right?”

“Yes. We’ve prepared thoroughly.”

I feel it once again. If I hadn’t gathered people, not only would the farming have failed, but we would have faced countless other difficulties.

My primary interest lies in combat. It’s a matter directly linked to survival, and it’s the area I excel in. However, for people to live properly, there are many things to attend to beyond just fighting.

“We’ve installed additional devices to collect rainwater, and….”

“The rainy season is a problem, but typhoons could also come.”

Things like the rainy season preparations Mr. Jang-su is explaining right now are exactly that. Others take care of the things I overlook.

Rather than living in a cave like a strong caveman….

No matter how many times I think about it, establishing Samira was the right choice.

“Mr. Bae Bong-sik.”

“Yes, Lee Hyun-nim.”

“How is the farming side?”

“First of all, the day-night wheat needs more time. We’re currently selecting the timing for the next sowing, but….”

Due to the rainy season, several of Samira’s projects are facing setbacks. At the same time, the rain is causing new tasks to sprout up everywhere.

There’s a limit to what I can understand through reports, so I came out to the field. It’s my own way of making an effort. Since I am in a position to lead everyone, I must be able to understand what people are saying even about fields I have no interest in.

“The problem is the medicine. If it’s too humid, the kids run into trouble.”

“The kids?”

“Ah, these trees.”

It’s not easy. Since I’m bumping into things without any prior knowledge, there are times I feel like a fool despite everyone’s consideration.

“If you look here, the tips of the leaves are turning brown like this….”

Fortunately, there is a way to study. It’s thanks to bringing the entire library from Myungshin Women’s University. I searched the campus thoroughly and took everything made of paper. Even the notebooks used by undergraduates.

When will this all be organized?

I’m in the middle of building a library, but the collection is so massive that the classification work still isn’t finished. Once the work is done, we will officially open Samira’s library, and I plan to make it accessible to those at the intern level and above.

“Anyway, you’re saying you’re short on medicine?”

“Yes. We have some in stock, but… we’ve been using it sparingly.”

“Can’t you solve it with a skill?”

“We are actually requesting Awakened with relevant skills, but….”

Since some work has been halted due to the rain, we can reassign personnel. Such coordination is basically handled by Aunt Sujeong and Jang Hoseop. Mr. Bae Bong-sik seems to be hoping I’ll put in a good word.

“The relevant employees all belong to the External Activities Headquarters… ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠or it’s something Seong Seol-hee needs to pay attention to.”

Judging what is more important and what takes priority. That is ultimately my job. Because Aunt Sujeong and Jang Hoseop also make decisions based on the priorities I set. Therefore, I must ultimately become a jack-of-all-trades. That is why I took the time to come out here.

“I understand what you mean. Please wait a little while.”

Even on rainy days, external activities for domain expansion are continuing. While tasks like construction or farming are inevitably affected by the weather, it is possible for people to move around.

Because there was something that bothered me a few days ago….

Where to deploy the Awakened. Which tasks to focus on more. While I was deep in thought alone.

“Boss!!!”

“Jang Hoseop?”

Jang Hoseop’s voice cuts through the sound of the rain. He is running from across the central garden, getting soaked.

Jang Hoseop went out today to handle rescue requests. It wasn’t a long distance, but he had to visit five locations, so I expected him to return only by evening.

“Why are you back already?”

“That is… you know that thing from before.”

Jang Hoseop checks that there are many people around and sticks close to me. He covers his mouth and whispers.

“Everything was a bust today.”

I understood immediately what he meant. It meant that the contact with the rescue requesters had been cut off. A thought flashed through my mind.

I returned to the main building and went up to the conference room. I glare at the map of Seoul attached to one wall. It is a map marked with administrative districts.

“Call them out.”

“Yes. Here is the list of rejected requests from the first day. Nowon-gu, XX-dong….”

Do Jieun calls out the areas where rescue and joining requests came in. Listening to her voice, I place virtual dots on the map. The dots begin to increase one by one.

“This is the second day.”

I changed the color of the virtual dots. Patterns begin to appear amidst the irregular dots.

Are they getting closer?

Before I knew it, countless dots were marked on the map. It might look like they were just placed randomly, but they weren’t. If you draw a dense grid over Seoul, there is always one dot marked within a single square.

“This is the third day.”

However, there are also areas that are particularly empty. It’s shaped like the number 8 lying on its side, and almost no dots are marked inside it.

“These are the places where contact was successful and… the list of those with lost contact.”

Dots begin to appear inside that shape as well. They are dots of a different color.

“Crazy.”

“Pardon?”

“Nothing. Where did Hoseop go today….”

“I will call them out immediately.”

It took quite a long time to identify all the areas where rescue and joining requests had been received. When I took my eyes off the map, the executive staff had already gathered in the conference room. They look at me, holding their breath.

“It’s true, they are working on it. It’s a group.”

“Ah….”

As I stated the conclusion, Jang Hoseop lets out a sigh. I send Do Jieun out and have the group sit down. I began the explanation.

“I marked dots on the neighborhoods where rescue requests came in after the day-night wheat harvest day.”

The start was the northern and southern outskirts of Seoul. The dots were particularly concentrated at both ends.

“On the 2nd and 3rd days, the dots started appearing closer to Samira. Of course, there are also dots that appear randomly.”

I draw the shape of the lying 8 on the map with my hand. I gradually narrow down the range.

“And then today. It reached this point. If you draw the boundary….”

The group frowns. Samira is included within the boundary I am marking.

“I guess we can’t dismiss this as a coincidence anymore.”

“Yeah. Someone is looking for our location.”

Jang Hoseop says with a serious expression. Then, Aunt Sujeong speaks up.

“Are they judging based on whether we accept the rescue requests? Looking at the shape Lee Hyun-nim is drawing, it seems the speed of narrowing the range is a bit faster on the Gangnam side.”

The lady is right. Even at the same distance, we have been rejecting rescue requests from the Gangnam side.

“Could there be a spy among the people who joined recently….”

“We already used Lie Detection. That’s a possibility, but in my opinion, it looks like the lost contact side.”

“Hmm… still, I’ll check those people again.”

I nodded at Jang Hoseop’s words.

“If this is the work of one group, the scale must be enormous.”

“Plus, more than half of the rescue requesters are over level 20… ugh.”

Jang Hoseop shudders.

“From now on, I will proceed with the assumption that there is a group targeting Samira.”

“It’s highly likely to be a single group.”

Jang Hoseop checked all the secret comments on the Square. There were no negative discussions about Samira. Therefore, it is highly likely that there is only one group targeting Samira.

Or there are multiple groups attached to adjacent areas….

When I stopped speaking, everyone couldn’t easily open their mouths. We identified the enemy, but we still don’t know the enemy’s identity.

“Boss, the goal is probably food, right?”

“That could be it. Or Samira itself could be the goal.”

“But it’s a bit strange. When we went to the meeting place, why didn’t they ambush us?”

Jang Hoseop’s words mean they could have secured our personnel and found out information through an ambush.

“Even when you went, Boss, there were only two people. There wasn’t anyone caught on Target Detection either, right?”

“Yeah. Definitely not. I even walked around a bit.”

“Hmm… Ah! It might have been difficult for them to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠send people to the meeting place. Did they intend to find the location first and then move to the next step?”

“Or they might have used some kind of skill.”

There is one more strange point. The shape they used to narrow down the range.

“It’s not just a circle. It’s not a square or a triangle either.”

“That’s right. That’s strange too.”

Do Jieun, who had left the conference room, brought a transparent acrylic board. I fix it onto the map and draw the area I identified on the acrylic board.

“Looking at it like this, it seems they haven’t found it for sure yet?”

“There are quite a lot of neighborhoods included in the area.”

Yongsan-gu, Jung-gu, and parts of Mapo-gu and Seongdong-gu. The center of Seoul remains. And the few dots marked within the area are all either lost contact or joined Samira.

“In my opinion, the bastards’ base is also within this area. That’s why the shape of narrowing down the range seems distorted.”

“Ah! Right! That’s it! That’s it.”

Jang Hoseop claps his hands. I continue speaking to the group who are lost in thought.

“I will just call that group a hostile force. The first thing to do is find their location.”

Whatever the hostile force’s goal is. They attempted to find Samira’s location behind our backs. “We’re going to spread bait. Hoseop. How many of Park Yun-seong’s location tracking items are possible?”

“It depends on what kind of item it is. Should I bring Yun-seong?”

I sent Do Jieun out again.

“And if you have any other good ideas, please speak up.”

“Uh… Boss.”

“Yeah.”

“How about just running around on foot?”

“We have to do that too. Anything else?”

“Hmm… getting tips through the Square….”

“Not something that stands out. We have to find them without them knowing to pull off an ambush.”

Jang Hoseop stares straight at my face.

“Why?”

“No, have you already finished thinking about the ambush?”

“Then what? Is there another way?”

“Uh… yes. I understand.”

It seems I’ll have to delay supporting Mr. Bae Bong-sik with Awakened for a bit.

Yeom A-hyeon, a lawyer-turned-assemblywoman. She is an Awakened leading the Namsan Government.

Unfair Contract is a skill that makes several promises with the other party through conversation. The contract is fulfilled even if the other party is not conscious of making a contract. The party who made the contract cannot break the terms of the contract. Yeom A-hyeon raised her level and built her power with this skill. And recently, she left one spot open. To make a contract with the leader of Samira.

So that’s how it is.

Yeom A-hyeon has been consistently putting pressure on Samira through the Square. As a result of demanding the disclosure of information on various food resources for several days, Jang Hoseop’s comment was posted. It was expected. This is because Samira has been releasing various information under the pretext of helping survivors. Yeom A-hyeon saw this not as something truly for the people, but as part of image management. So she thought he wouldn’t be able to ignore her post mentioning the greater cause.

“What did he write, I wonder.”

Yeom A-hyeon reads Jang Hoseop’s comment on her post.

Yeom A-hyeon frowns. Comments with similar content are lined up. She searches the Square for a long time, wondering what on earth they told her.

“It’s not there!”

Only later does she realize she was deceived and becomes furious. And the next day, Jang Hoseop starts posting on the Square as if to show off.

Yeom A-hyeon makes a dumbfounded expression. Jang Hoseop covers the Square with photos of all kinds of food made with day-night wheat. Although the cooking process is kindly listed, there is absolutely no information Yeom A-hyeon asked for.

Yeom A-hyeon even prepared various rebuttals to Samira’s reaction. She thought logical and political conversations would go back and forth. It looks delicious… no, that’s not it. Her prediction was off. She thought they would ask for her identity or that conversations would go back and forth through secret comments. But it wasn’t. She feels like Jang Hoseop is teasing her. Even the comments seemed to be mocking her along with Jang Hoseop. But that wasn’t the end. Not only food, but reviews of items she had never seen before, such as magic lamps and magic induction cookers, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠were also posted. Also, some people posted various authentication posts saying they received support from Samira.

Why… why are they ignoring me?

Among the posts that keep coming up, there is not a single post related to Yeom A-hyeon. As if the world had forgotten her. Yeom A-hyeon couldn’t stand this and left a comment on Jang Hoseop’s post.

Yeom A-hyeon, who only watches the Square with an anxious expression. In fact, she has already asked Samira for help. This is because the food situation of the Namsan Government is precarious. They gathered many people, but supplies are lacking. But she was rejected. She tried to contact them a few times after that, but she was ignored. And that touched Yeom A-hyeon’s pride. Because she is a person who has enjoyed the attention of others all her life.

Huh?

She was worried about what to do if she was ignored this time too. Fortunately, a reply was posted.

Yeom A-hyeon, lost in thought. What does this mean? Is it some kind of code? She eventually gathered the people. Listening to a man’s explanation, she screams in anger.

“What happened to the location tracking? How long has it been since we started working on it!”

“I-it’s almost done. Among the candidate areas….”

So, the group that was looking for Samira’s location is the Namsan Government. Yeom A-hyeon was carrying out a double operation.

“Assemblywoman. But I’m worried that they might feel unpleasant if they find out. Just be honest now….”

“What are you talking about? How would they know?”

Among the Awakened of the Namsan Government, there is a person with a skill called Transparent Drone. Through his skill, they captured the Samira personnel who came out to the meeting place, and now they have almost found Samira’s location.

“We just need to meet and talk. Then I’ll take care of everything, so just find it.”

“Th-that… yes. I understand.”

At her sharp momentum, the executives of the Namsan Government bow their heads. There is also a heart that trusts Yeom A-hyeon’s resourcefulness. There is no other breakthrough anyway.

A few days later.

“As-Assemblywoman! We found it!”

The people who left to find Samira returned with decisive evidence. One man hands Yeom A-hyeon a coated piece of paper.

Yeom A-hyeon thought it was all done now.

“Where did you find this? But this… is this really marking Samira’s boundary? Why is it so shoddy.”

“Yes. It’s certain. It’s closer than I thought. It’s in the direction of Yongsan Station, but….”

“Good. Now that I know the location, just a way to call them out….”

While doing so, she inadvertently flipped over the coated paper.

Yeom A-hyeon’s anger flared up once again.