Chapter 248
Chapter 248
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 248
Chapter Title: 56. Great Migration of Nations (3)
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Everyone staying in South Korea, from Seoul and Incheon to Busan, and even the North Korean residents scattered across the far north—everyone saw it.
Paaaat!
Massive hologram screens unfolding in the skies over each region.
And right now, the only text on those screens was one line.
「Jeong Yeong-woo07」
The unparalleled figure who had single-handedly declared candidacy as the strongest unifier of the Korean Peninsula.
Of course, plenty of people in the country had never even heard of Yeong-woo.
The capital regions where he'd been active weren't small by any means, but nationwide, he hadn't even covered half the cities.
But that was all changing now.
Starting today, Jeong Yeong-woo's background would spread across the entire country—no, the whole Korean Peninsula.
So at the very least, every citizen would know the name Jeong Yeong-woo...
“Ugh!”
Yeong-woo, staring up at the sky's screen alongside about a hundred ethnic Koreans, let out an involuntary scream.
Because.
Paat!
The screen flashed for a moment, and then Yeong-woo's own face appeared.
Not some archived footage, either—it was live, filming him right there in Daelim-dong.
Just like kiss cam at a baseball stadium.
“Uh? Uh?”
The Jeong Yeong-woo on the screen couldn't hide his bewilderment.
Meanwhile, the ethnic Koreans who'd been exposed alongside him scattered out of frame to avoid the camera.
Now, the controversial broadcast airing across the entire Korean Peninsula featured Yeong-woo standing there all alone.
‘Is... is this a dream? This is really being live-broadcast nationwide right now?’
As Yeong-woo stared blankly at his massive image filling the sky, a crisp, refined voice echoed from beyond the screen.
[Mr. Jeong Yeong-woo, nice to meet you.]
“...?”
Yeong-woo gaped, not having expected anyone to actually speak to him.
“Who... are you?”
The voice responded without missing a beat.
[We are the Board of Directors. As administrators of the reset Earth, we will be conducting this approval vote.]
The Board of Directors.
They were the ones who, on the first day of the reset, had announced the start of this catastrophe to all of humanity, and from day five onward, had warned about the emergence of high-risk mutants.
And just now...
‘Administrators of the reset Earth...’
They'd indirectly revealed their role.
‘So, like civil servants?’
Yeong-woo instinctively tried to gauge their status.
Specifically, whether they were beings he could kill.
But the Board, as if peering into his mind, reminded him that his opponent here wasn't them—it was the entire population of the Korean Peninsula.
Using an utterly absurd demand to do so.
[Mr. Jeong Yeong-woo, please remove all your clothes from now on.]
“What? You little...”
Yeong-woo's temper flared instantly.
But he barely managed to clamp his mouth shut before the crude words fully escaped.
After all, this conversation—and his appearance—were being live-broadcast across the entire Korean Peninsula.
No matter what, this stage was a verification process to determine the strongest unifier of the Peninsula.
Especially since, in just a moment, the people watching this broadcast would decide whether Jeong Yeong-woo would ascend to that title.
He couldn't afford to lose his cool over such a simple provocation.
‘This is basically a confirmation hearing.’
He'd stepped in it bad.
This was practically a setup crime.
“I'm already pretty undressed, but you don't mean down to my underwear, right?”
[All of them. Please remove everything.]
‘...No, these bastards.’
They meant stark naked, not a stitch on, in front of the entire nation.
“Do I really have to take off everything? I doubt everyone watching wants that. There are probably kids in the audience too.”
Unprepared for this hearing as he was, Yeong-woo did his best to defend himself.
Sure, being the Peninsula's strongest wasn't some ordinary title, but dropping trou in front of the whole country was a whole different level.
This was about human dignity.
But the Board's will was ironclad.
[In that case, we will now poll public opinion across the Korean Peninsula for 15 seconds.]
“...?”
[With the national vote for the strongest approaching, those who believe the candidate should fully bare himself before the people, think ‘Approve.’ Those who disagree, think ‘Oppose.’]
It was the same method they'd used on reset day one to select erasure candidates.
The Board was abusing its power.
‘These crazy bastards—if you frame it like that, even I'd vote approve.’
When else would you get a chance to peek inside the Peninsula's strongest candidate's underwear?
Forget standing bare and proud before the nation—most would gleefully vote ‘Approve’ just to screw with the top dog.
And sure enough.
[The poll has closed.]
“...”
[The results are Approve 84.2%, Oppose 15.8%. Approve has a majority.]
[The candidate should comply with the people's request.]
That was how you won a pissing contest.
Grind.
Yeong-woo gnashed his teeth inwardly.
‘Board bastards. I'll kill you all someday.’
But what could he do right now? The entire electorate wanted it, so he'd have to oblige.
‘...Hah.’
With a look of detached resolve, Yeong-woo began removing the ‘Aerial Ethics’ mounted on his shoulders.
Clank, thud!
Once the Aerial Ethics hit the ground, the rest was easier.
The bracelets on his wrists fell to the pavement with light, tinkling sounds matching their weight.
Click, ting!
Of course, even in the midst of it, Yeong-woo carefully drove Sagun into the ground.
It was too valuable to just toss aside with his belt.
Clunk!
The belt soon joined the pile on Daelim-dong's street, leaving only his pants and underwear.
“Alright, pants coming off.”
As Yeong-woo slowly lowered his pants while glancing at the sky screen, the ethnic Koreans surrounding him outside the frame started murmuring.
His groin-area buff tattoos were now blatantly exposed.
“And now.”
Yeong-woo spoke in a dry tone.
It was time for the final layer.
‘Fuck it, what's the big deal about stripping?’
In that moment of grim resolve as he hooked his thumbs into his underwear...
Puuuaaaat!
<......!>
A one-span-thick beam of white light pierced through Earth's atmosphere and the hologram screen, shooting straight down to Yeong-woo's feet.
Right between his bare soles.
“...Huh?”
Startled, Yeong-woo reflexively stepped back, then widened his eyes as he spotted a familiar pattern swirling within the unidentified beam.
“Ah...!”
It was Dogo's wedge motif.
Tiny wedge patterns filled the inside of the beam, like a mosaic effect.
“Pre... President?”
Whispering ever so softly while gazing skyward, Yeong-woo caught sight of his image on the screen.
He stood tall and proud, not a stitch on, just as the voters had demanded.
But conveniently, the beam from the sky cleverly blocked the broadcast camera's view of his lower half, obscuring his privates.
‘The President mosaicked it for me!’
Protecting their company ad model.
Yeong-woo's steel heart twinged with gratitude for the President's grace.
And in this situation, the most intriguing part was...
<.......>
The reaction from the Board, self-proclaimed administrators of the reset Earth.
Truth be told, the only thing covering Yeong-woo's groin was a single one-span beam.
In other words, a slight adjustment to the camera angle somewhere could easily bypass it and capture his full nudity.
Yet...
[We apologize for the uneven broadcast due to transmission errors.]
The Board tolerated Dogo's intervention.
‘So this is how real pissing contests are done.’
A cosmic pissing contest.
Of course, the vast majority watching the broadcast on the Peninsula wouldn't even dream of what had just happened.
But for those in the know, this scene alone was a massive reveal of backing.
Then Dogo tossed in a sort of promotion bonus.
Ping!
[From Dogo] “Rise to Prominence”
<Mission> Be elected as the strongest on the Korean Peninsula.
<Reward> 30 million karma
A whopping 30 million karma.
Considering the ‘Paternity Confirmation’ quest that had taken three full days only rewarded 20 million, it meant Dogo was heavily invested in this vote.
‘You really want me to win this and become the strongest, huh.’
Still eyeing the white beam guarding his groin, Yeong-woo nodded quietly.
Right on cue, the Board launched the main approval vote.
[The candidate has finally stood unashamed before the entire nation.]
[The selected individual will represent the Korean Peninsula in future global matters.]
‘Global matters?’
It hinted at some future event on a national scale.
And the one to represent the Peninsula there would be today's candidate, Jeong Yeong-woo07.
[So please review the candidate's background and cast your precious vote wisely.]
Advice laden with subtext.
[We will now examine the candidate's key achievements.]
‘Ah, finally getting to the main event.’
Half expectant, half anxious, Yeong-woo took a deep breath as he awaited what came next. A massive interface appeared before his eyes.
Paat!
“Huh?”
Four hologram buttons.
Sized large enough for voters watching the broadcast to see with the naked eye.
Each bore huge text—clearly keywords for Yeong-woo's upcoming background highlights.
[Character]
[Martial Prowess]
[National Outlook]
[Diplomacy]
‘These bastards really went all out to screw me.’
But at the same time, it made sense.
If the winner's status wasn't just ‘the strong’ but carried political weight representing the Peninsula's people...
‘Then yeah, everyone would want to know what kind of guy their representative is.’
Essentially, this was a search for a diplomat.
Except the international community he’d negotiate with had also been reset, so only those with exceptional martial prowess could even qualify.
‘Makes sense—you need enough blade to even be seen as a conversation partner.’
Yeong-woo tried to rationalize the situation as he scanned the four buttons.
A series of images flashed by super fast in front of him, then vanished.
‘Huh? What was that?’
Thinking he'd imagined it, he scanned them again—and dozens of clips played in an instant, just like before.
Too fast to identify exactly, but the vibe was clear.
‘So those buttons include video footage too.’
Probably related clips for each keyword, playing on the massive screens.
The entire Peninsula watching an album of Yeong-woo's deeds together.
‘Is... is this okay?’
As Yeong-woo tilted his head, pondering the disasters in each button, the Board dropped a loaded line.
[The candidate, please select the first background to reveal.]
“Oh... so I get to choose the order?”
But if all four were getting revealed anyway, what did the order matter? As Yeong-woo thought that...
Paat!
Graphs labeled ‘Approve’ and ‘Oppose’ appeared at the bottom of the sky screen.
“Uh? Uh...?”
[The approval vote proceeds in real time, and voting becomes available from the moment the first background is revealed.]
Meaning voters could cast before seeing all four items.
[The selection criterion for this vote is a 70% approval rate.]
“Huh? What?”
70% approval.
An insane threshold.
Assuming 100 humans on the Peninsula, that meant 70 had to support him.
Regardless of age, gender, birthplace, politics, or ethnicity—the vast majority had to want Yeong-woo.
‘Fuck, just the fathers of this land probably make up 20% of the vote...?’
And hadn't he just beheaded Hwang Gil-hwi, the leader of Seoul's ethnic Koreans?
So he could kiss goodbye to all their votes too.
‘Damn... and I've already stripped down to nothing.’
The naked candidate's expression darkened.
The Board started a 5-second countdown, urging the candidate to decide.
[Which background will you reveal first?]
