How I Built Highways in South America (2)

That day, Eugene talked with the two chairmen late into the night, conducting a negotiation that wasn't quite a negotiation.

To Chairman Yang of International Steel, he said:

"Very well. We'll supply at thirty percent below market price. But you have to keep your promise."

"Of course."

By offering the factory site free of charge, he'd wrung out a full thirty percent discount — a deal made possible only because Eugene's desperate need to slash the budget lined up perfectly with Chairman Yang's decision to crack the Latin American market as a way around American steel tariffs.

And to Chairman Chung...

"I'd love to just hand the whole thing over to Hyunhwa Construction as a turnkey project, but... as you well know, we're not in a position to do that."

"Hahaha, that wouldn't do at all. We've a great many fish still to catch — we can hardly leave the fishing to someone else. I'm more than delighted we can do this together."

Eugene proposed they establish a joint venture. The name: Tortilla Engineering. It would become San Marcos's sole full-service construction company, with the equity split fifty-fifty. Tortilla Company would put up sixty percent of the capital and Hyunhwa forty, in exchange for Hyunhwa taking responsibility for core technical expertise, specialist personnel, and equipment procurement. Management would fall to Hyunhwa, with its wealth of construction know-how, while Tortilla handled the finances.

With the negotiations concluded, Eugene convened a cabinet meeting first thing the next morning.

Even five days after the civil registration campaign had wrapped, the senior secretaries assembled in the grand conference hall looked wrecked. Dark circles sagged all the way down to their cheeks, bloodshot veins mapped their eyes, and their faces were hollowed from skipped meals — the price of the insane overtime the registration drive had demanded.

"His Excellency is entering."

At Protocol Secretary Ana's announcement, everyone rose.

"Good morning. Come on, we're busy today, so let's skip the formalities and sit."

At Eugene's greeting, everyone took their seats.

"Thanks to all of your hard work, I've received reports that the civil registration campaign has been successfully established. Isabella?"

"Yes, sir."

Isabella stood and handed Eugene a bundle of envelopes she'd prepared. He walked a full circuit of the conference room, personally handing an envelope to each senior secretary.

"It's nothing much — just a token of appreciation for your contributions. Civil servants are working people too. You need to be compensated for your efforts if you're going to stay motivated. Ah, don't get your hopes up too high, though. It's not a huge amount of money. We've got to keep the national belt tightened, right? Ricardo, Senior Secretary for Finance?"

"Your Excellency is correct. The nation's development takes priority at this time."

"Once San Marcos becomes a developed country, I'll make sure you get ten times this... no, fifty times this, so don't feel too shortchanged."

Eugene's joke loosened the atmosphere in the room. He sat down with an apologetic expression.

"I'm sorry, but I've got more work that's going to make you all suffer."

"......"

Barely five days after wrapping up a national-scale project. The senior secretaries looked dismayed, then caught Isabella's furious glare and immediately put on a show of enthusiasm.

"Whatever it is, don't worry — just leave it to us."

"If Your Excellency points the way, we'll run into a pit of fire or a pit of water."

"Grinding our bodies down for the nation is nothing."

"Dying of overwork is my dream."

Eugene smiled faintly at their overflowing passion.

"I feel secure knowing I have all of you."

He meant every word. What working stiff on earth clocks out every other day for four straight months and then volunteers to do it all over again?

"Good. Then let's get to the point."

"......"

"Your Excellency... when you say highways, which locations would these roads connect?"

"Take a look at this first. Ana."

Ana switched on the projector, displaying a map of San Marcos with red lines — straightaways and curves — drawn across it.

"This is just a preliminary sketch, but... roughly speaking, I want to build highways like this, all over the country."

At a glance, it was a highway network connecting the entirety of San Marcos. Confirming a scale that was almost unimaginable, the senior secretaries spoke up in trembling voices.

"Y-Your Excellency... if I may be so bold, San Marcos has neither the manpower nor the equipment to build roads of that scale."

"The budget is also a problem. Considering what we spent on the civil registration campaign, we don't have the capacity to launch a civil engineering project of that magnitude."

"The timing is an issue as well. I believe this is the moment we should be concentrating our administrative capacity on the rural population that just completed registration."

"What's more, I'm not even sure there's a point to building roads..."

It was a clear chorus of opposition, but Eugene smiled as if he were enjoying himself.

San Marcos has come this far... is this even real?

Compared to the old days — when someone's brother-in-law opened a soap factory and they wanted to buy soap to hand out, or when they padded the budget with pointless construction projects just to siphon money — this was a quantum leap.

Of course, that was that, and a highway was still a highway.

"I know. It's absurd. Honestly, besides Libertad, there's barely a place you'd even call a city right now. There's no reason to lay down highways all at once like this. It'd just rack up maintenance costs. But."

Eugene met the senior secretaries' eyes.

"We have to do it anyway. Because."

"......"

"The state has an obligation to feed and support the 2.7 million citizens who entered the formal system through this civil registration campaign."

In modern society, the state was a service provider. It delivered healthcare, education, pensions, housing — services spanning an individual's entire life cycle — and collected taxes in return. But San Marcos, as it stood, was in no position to provide all of those services.

So what service should it provide?

The answer, in fact, was already written in the history books.

"The state must ensure they can live stable lives, even if they cannot live wealthy ones."

Jobs. Just as America had stimulated its economy with the New Deal during the Great Depression, Eugene intended to unleash a massive wave of employment as the state's service to its people.

"Right now, San Marcos has essentially gained 2.7 million new citizens. Every last one of them has never paid a single tax. Why did this happen? Because the state had nothing to offer them. And yet."

"......"

"The moment we offered education as a service, civil registrations poured in. The moment they heard we'd lease them land, people who'd been hiding in the mountains and jungles came flooding down. Why did they make that choice?"

"......"

"The answer is simple. They now believe the state will actually help their lives."

Strength entered Eugene's voice.

"But if we abandon them now because we don't have land to give them, because we don't have the budget — what happens? They'll go back to the mountains. And they'll distrust the state forever."

"......"

It was an utterly calculated reason. Once people lose trust, winning it back is far harder. You only had to look at other countries. Split along lines of belief and ideology, they cycled endlessly through politics of mutual distrust.

Right now, the rural population was small and weak enough to ignore. But once San Marcos rose to a middle-income country, then a developed one — could they still be ignored?

Absolutely not.

The people of Libertad and the people of the provinces would split apart and come to hate each other. That much was obvious. In that case, overextending now would cost far less in social expenses down the road. That was Eugene's calculation.

But to the senior secretaries, Eugene's calculation sounded entirely different.

He's looking after even the Unregistered ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Outlaws who haven't paid a single tax... just who is His Excellency...

We've been whining about how hard it is, and His Excellency has been looking at the people beyond all that!

He really... he truly thinks of nothing but the people!

He's a blessing upon San Marcos itself...!

Eugene Choi — is he a god?

Sniffles of overwhelming emotion burst out here and there. In the eyes of the zombies who'd been dying just moments ago, a fanatic's peculiar vitality began to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠stir.

And then:

"Your Excellency! We were too shortsighted!"

"We'll complete it even if it costs our lives!"

"We'll get it done no matter what!"

The overwhelmed senior secretaries pressed their heads to the floor.

It was the moment the senior secretaries' loyalty hit MAX.

The moment the cabinet meeting ended, every ministry went into full emergency.

"This is His Excellency's order! Stop whatever you're doing and assemble immediately!"

The Ministry of National Defense inspected every piece of equipment the engineering corps possessed and issued a mobilization order. Education Ministry officials stayed up all night producing a safety manual even a kindergartener could understand. Construction and Housing Ministry officials scattered across the country to survey potential highway sites.

And that wasn't all. The Ministry of Commerce started calling material suppliers around the world to buy at the lowest possible prices, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs inquired with the Korean government about whether they could receive ODA aid — and if so, how much. Officials from the remaining ministries headed out to regional branch offices to prepare for the administrative chaos to come, as a matter of course.

Meanwhile, the inaugural CEO who would take the helm of Tortilla Engineering arrived.

"Good day, Your Excellency. I'm Jung Min-sik, appointed as the inaugural CEO of Tortilla Engineering."

It was Jung Min-sik — Eugene's friend, and Chairman Chung's grandnephew. Eugene was still reeling from the unexpected appearance when ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Chairman Chung placed a hand on Minsik's shoulder and chuckled.

"When I thought about who Your Excellency could trust the most, there was no one more suited than this fellow. He may not look like much, but I personally guarantee his management ability. I'll cover for whatever he's lacking from behind the scenes, so don't you worry."

Eugene swallowed a hollow laugh.

"I'm counting on you, Minsik. Or rather — President Jung."

"Just leave it to me, Your Excellency."

From the moment it launched, Tortilla Engineering's trajectory was nothing short of earth-shattering. Chairman Chung, a towering elder of Korean business, issued a mobilization order across the Korean construction industry.

Under Chairman Chung's direction, working-level staff from Korean construction companies dropped into Libertad Airport day after day, and container ships pulled into the port just as frequently, unloading every kind of construction equipment imaginable.

Then, after a month so hectic no one could catch their breath, one day:

"Your Excellency, the final estimate is in."

"Is it?"

"Compared to what I expected..."

Confirming the number, Eugene smiled faintly.

"Not bad at all."

The San Marcos of today was no longer the San Marcos of the past, a country that had trembled in anxiety over a mere hundred million dollars.