Chapter 292
Chapter 292
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 292
Chapter Title: 67. New Capital, Seoul (2)
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In response to the question of whether their country might be playing the role of the villain, Jeong Young-woo07 shot back without a moment's hesitation.
“Villain? What exactly makes something a villain? Does having strong power make it one?”
At those words, everyone in the room let out a groan.
‘Fuck… we really are the villains.’
‘Me, one of the forces of evil…?’
‘We wanted a strong and prosperous nation, not to become villains.’
Even amid all this, the core hovering in the skies over Gangnam continued to grow enormously.
Ruuuumble…!
It had already surpassed twenty meters in diameter, to the point where even Young-woo, who had activated the core, couldn’t help glancing at it sidelong.
‘Is that thing really okay? How long is it going to keep growing?’
Contrary to Young-woo’s inner thoughts, at least on the surface, the Korean Peninsula was growing plenty powerful.
Just the sight of that massive iron orb in the sky casting a dark shadow gave off the vibe of an evil lair.
“So… what exactly are we supposed to do that’s so villainous?”
“Are we going to invade and plunder?”
“What about war? If we’re the villains, does that make the two companies that declared war on us the righteous ones?”
“Yeah, that’s right. They declared war because we’re the villains?”
The room erupted in chatter once more. It was total chaos.
“…….”
Young-woo felt a throbbing in his temples and pressed his forehead with his index finger before speaking in resignation.
“Whew… Anyway, since we’ve received declarations of war, we’ll have to start with the war. We’ll push out the closer ones first—whichever of Mara or Lemu is nearer.”
“Ooh……?”
The citizens grew excited at the rather aggressive phrasing of “push out.”
If they were going to be villains anyway, better to be empire-building arch-villains than weak extras who get taken down.
“And there are brothers in Australia… well, at least several thousand orc troops.”
As Young-woo said this and pointed south toward the Australian continent, everyone in the room turned their heads that way in unison.
“When we attack Mara, the orcs will join in the advance. For this pact, the orcs in northern Australia are handing over eighty million karma to us every day.”
“Eighty million?”
“…Several thousand orc troops?”
“We’re earning eighty million in foreign currency every day?”
Everyone gaped at the unbelievable briefing, but Young-woo’s report of achievements didn’t end there.
“We’ve also made major inroads into China. With security restricted, our pure profits from China alone come to a hundred million karma per day, and we plan to squeeze out more depending on the situation.”
“A hundred million?”
“Squeeze out more?”
“We’re already invading and plundering?”
As the citizens made faces like “Is this really okay?”, Young-woo puffed out his chest proudly.
“Fortunately, Lim Du-pyeong, the former state chairman of China, has been draining their high blood early on. So our misdeeds have been somewhat diluted, and we won’t go down in history as the worst invaders.”
At some point, Young-woo had started speaking crudely, but the citizens had already lost their sense of reality and nodded with expressions of relief.
“Th-that’s a relief.”
“We did topple a dictator, right…?”
“We did a good thing…?”
Excess in anything could daze even one’s soul.
“Of course, we’re not invincible yet. Until we pinpoint the locations of the other two companies that jumped into planetary development, there will always be threats, and our relationship with Japan still hasn’t been established.”
When Young-woo mentioned “Japan,” heat flared in the eyes of some citizens.
National sentiment made Japan a provisional enemy no matter what.
Especially since Japan had actually tried to land in Busan during the Pangea days.
At minimum, they were hostile with Japan’s south.
“Now that we can travel around the Earth using that tower, we’ll need to check on Japan’s situation too. It’s such a big country, so they must have a ton of money.”
“Ah… Japan too?”
“Well, it is a dangerous country.”
“Isn’t it an outright war criminal nation? No guarantee they won’t start another war.”
But Young-woo’s report of achievements didn’t end there.
“I’ve been entering dungeons every night, and I’ve saved some people and gotten bonds.”
“Bonds?”
“Young-woo saved people?”
A few reacted with disbelief, but what was even harder to believe was the amount of those bonds and the debtor nations.
“Thirty million from India, a hundred million from the US, ten million from Poland, twenty million from the UK, forty million from Peru, eighty million from Saudi.”
“Huh……?”
“That’s all the bonds we hold?”
“Adds up to about two hundred eighty million, right?”
For something received as a reward for good deeds, wasn’t it too much?
“Yes. That’s how it turned out. I plan to go collect that money soon.”
As Young-woo folded his fingers one by one to recount the bond amounts, people started making queasy faces.
“Crazy… that’s too much.”
“At this rate, aren’t we the ones who should disappear from Earth?”
“We’re pure evil.”
And yet, they felt it deep in their bones.
Though the methods were a bit rough, the Number One Sword before them was truly realizing “a strong and prosperous nation to unify the world.”
And above all.
‘This is bad… No one else could handle all this but him.’
It was now certain that Jeong Young-woo07 was an irreplaceable figure.
‘He might actually unify the world at this rate?’
‘…If we accept being the villains, that is.’
‘What’s he planning to do with all that massive karma debt?’
As all the citizens in the room fell into a dilemma, Oh Yeon-hee from Songpa spoke up for the first time to put on the brakes.
“So, to put it properly again.”
Snap!
She stepped forward a couple of paces with a slightly annoyed tone, and the crowd parted in the middle, making way for her.
“All we’ve done in our country’s name so far is collude with the orcs who occupied Australia without permission and squeeze money out of countries around the world?”
“That’s right? And thanks to that, starting tomorrow, we’ll have fixed daily income of two hundred million. We’ve already achieved a good chunk of ‘strong and prosperous nation.’”
“No, how is that…….”
Oh Yeon-hee tried to retort, but she couldn’t.
The only issue was walking the path of slaughter; everything else was exactly as promised in the election.
And in the meantime, Young-woo had Negig walk forward, stepping three or four paces into the crowd.
Clank, clank.
“Are we villains? In the old world, maybe. But where are we now?”
As Young-woo asked the air, someone in the crowd muttered uncertainly.
“The… reset world?”
Catching it somehow, Young-woo snapped his thumb and middle finger.
Snap!
“That’s right. This is a reset world. Everything has been reset. Our fates, social structures, and even our ways of survival.”
Clank.
As Young-woo took another step forward, the citizens filled in the space he had passed through.
“Therefore, I refuse to be defined by those stale old values.”
“Th-then?”
As the citizens tilted their heads and asked back, Young-woo drew his bastard sword and pointed it at the core in the sky.
“We are not villains. We are a great power.”
“……!”
“If someone calls the Korean Peninsula an evil lair, bring me their name. We must correct what’s wrong. If you have power, you can change concepts too.”
“C-crazy.”
“Has he lost it……?”
Some citizens couldn’t hide their shock and covered their mouths, while others admired the ruthless philosophy that burned out their circuits.
That’s right.
If you don’t want to be villains, just eliminate everyone who calls you that.
Shwoooom!
“Are we villains?”
As Young-woo thrust his blood-red magic sword into the air and asked, no one dared answer “Yes.”
Just as Young-woo had declared, the very concept of villain… no, it had vanished.
“Then what are we? What do you all want to become!”
When Young-woo rephrased the question slightly, a few citizens cautiously opened their mouths.
“A… great power?”
“…A great power.”
At that, Young-woo shouted his election slogan as if he’d been waiting.
“With a strong and prosperous nation! We shall surely unify the wor……!”
With a crunch, the core floating in the sky decomposed into dozens of fragments and opened up right then.
Whiiiirrr!
An enormous mechanical whir came from inside the core, and a tremendously powerful energy field spread out, causing the citizens to collapse in place screaming.
“U, uwaaaah!”
“What’s happening?”
“Isn’t that thing exploding?”
But Young-woo alone stood straight atop Negig, staring straight at the core in question.
In the eyes of the core’s owner, Young-woo, a regional reinforcement interface had appeared.
「Steel Core activation preparation complete.」
「Steel Core」 - ◇ Toma Power Source
【C-Rank Development Zone Creation】
【Guardian Dragon】
【Extermination Posture】
Activation preparation.
It probably meant preparations were complete to turn the current area into a C-Rank development zone.
‘Time to make new history.’
According to the Dogo quest “Heavenly Capital,” the area to be remodeled with this core would become the new capital of Earth.
<mission> Secure the Capital Castle remodeling core and designate Earth’s new capital.
It even hinted at the intent to somehow drive out planetary development rivals Lemu and Mara.
Trusting his backer Dogo, Young-woo shouted.
“Now, watch closely! See how we become a great power!”
“Wha……?”
“What else is there?”
As the citizens who had ducked down lifted their heads at Young-woo’s words, he approved the core’s activation.
Flash!
An intangible wave spread from the opened core, displaying a system message to Young-woo.
「Selected coordinates: |l||I-Earth-482-183-4361-83. Local classification: ‘Gangnam District.’ Proceed to convert to reinforceable state as C-Rank development zone?」
‘Huh? Not Seoul, but Gangnam District?’
Young-woo paused just before approving the conversion.
The Dogo quest had used “capital,” so he’d assumed it would be at the city level, but the maximum area this core could reinforce was district-level.
‘What’s going on? Is the cosmic concept of a capital surprisingly small?’
He was a bit disappointed, but with everyone’s eyes on him and the core, he couldn’t hold back.
So Young-woo ultimately.
‘Approve.’
Approved Gangnam District as a C-Rank development zone.
「Gangnam District set as C-Rank development zone.」
A brief notification followed, and soon a harsh whooshing sound came from the sky.
Screeeeech!
“What’s that?”
Young-woo looked up, and he could see a large metal object—clearly Toma-made—plummeting at high speed.
‘Ah, that’s the thing that made the Metal Capital Castle….’
Young-woo quickly understood.
Activating the core to make a specific area development-ready brought in Toma from space to do the construction.
‘So, not Metal Seoul… but starting with Metal Gangnam?’
Well, no one fills their belly with the first bite.
Young-woo thought this wasn’t bad either.
No myth is born overnight.
‘Anyway, it’s started now. My success story!’
As Young-woo gazed at the falling alien supply with swelling anticipation, he spotted another hunk of metal dropping from even higher up.
“Huh?”
“Huh?”
“Something else…….”
It grew in size rapidly enough for ordinary citizens to notice quickly, and in the blink of an eye, it shoved aside Toma’s supply and landed in Gangnam instead.
BOOOOM!
What fell near the core, exuding a precarious vibe like an unexploded shell.
「Commencing Planet Secondary Development Process.」
“Secondary……?”
It was none other than a module sent by Dogo.
「Company module has arrived at C-Rank development zone ‘Gangnam District.’ Upgrade this area to B-Rank development zone ‘Seoul’?」
“Ah……!”
Young-woo’s pupils finally dilated.
His hand was already slamming the activation button on the module.
BOOM!
“This city! Upgrades with the support of the universe’s premier weapon brand, Dogo!”
An intangible wave burst out once more centered on the module, and this time, an ominous change came immediately.
Shhhhwick!
Starting from the ground beneath the core, gray steel tiles began rapidly laying themselves down.
“Huh?”
“Wh-what!”
Before the citizens could even dodge, the ground under their feet turned to metal, and Coex—what was supposed to be the venue for today’s business briefing—transformed into a massive fortress clad in iron plating.
Then, like the mutation log on reset day one, change logs for B-Rank development zone Seoul appeared in a row.
―「Dogo」 development module has discovered key point ‘Gyeongbok Palace’ in ‘Seoul.’
―「Dogo」 development module has discovered key point ‘Jongmyo Shrine’ in ‘Seoul.’
―「Dogo」 development module has discovered key point ‘Four Great Gates’ in ‘Seoul.’
Whatever it was, Dogo was clearly scanning Seoul right now.
Gyeongbok Palace firing photon cannons, the Four Great Gates rising when the nation was in crisis—Metal Seoul was no longer a dream.
“Aah!”
Feeling his steel heart pounding, Young-woo shouted his closing ad line.
“This is Earth’s new capital! Dogo Special City, Metal Seoul……!”