The Third Expedition
The experiment on the principle behind the existence of this world two years in the future continues.
“I’m surprised you haven’t even spent one percent of your assets, even writing it like this.”
That much wealth. The only thing I’d spend that much on now would be a covert operation by a former detective uncle. And even then, it’d be aimed at my revenge target Hyojin, so the amount would be in the tens of millions of won range.
Of course, one might raise a question here.
Even if I spend money without restraint, isn’t it naive to think that installing a non-flushing circulating toilet would be too difficult given its size?
Set that thought aside.
I have my own methods.
“Hello? Yes, this is the district office? I was thinking of making a donation. What are you donating? A toilet?”
A question mark pops up on the other end of the phone, and I just laugh.
In short, there’s a way to donate. As everyone knows, in places like Seoul, they do a good job of maintaining parks and environmental areas, and there are often portable toilets attached to them.
I can replace that with the one I’m buying. In exchange for the donation, I just need to specify the location.
“Yes. In exchange, would it be okay if I specify the location? Yes. Near my house and…”
That’s how the negotiation goes. Honestly, how many people would refuse a free portable toilet?
It turns out these people are surprisingly sensitive to the budget.
It’s not about whether the new toilet is better or worse than the old one. It’s purely about the money solidifying. That’s the important part.
“Yes. It’s portable. I just need to have it installed. Yes. First, one near the playground and…”
The locations I’ve ordered the installation for are near Lee Soyeon’s house and Seol-hwa’s house.
Why would anyone need to go far to use the toilet?
This is, quite literally, an experiment.
How Lee Soyeon and Seol-hwa will perceive the toilet installed two years from now.
That will deepen my understanding of this connected world.
With some time off under my belt, let’s wait and see what else I can do.
First, there are quite a few things on order.
Survival supplies and traps and pitfalls for this time.
What’s waiting is the illegal route for firearms, the Melonia infiltration operation.
What more do I need to do here?
Combat skills? Against zombies, that’s just a fight. For humans, judo is more than enough.
The remodeling has started, and once the delivery items arrive, I’ll load them onto the cart and head to Seol-hwa’s house.
“Hmm… I just have to wait, but what’s there to do?”
I checked the former detective’s records again. I scanned the various suspicious signs, including Yongsan.
More than twenty places nationwide. Places where strange rumors have continued from the people even before the electricity cuts out.
I thought of it as just reading a diary and heading there later, but a few places stood out with meaning.
[Yongsan has a direct military unit and security force under the Blue House, so the density of residents is higher than in other places. But in the end, they gave up on the incoming tide and chose to retreat beyond the Han River. No matter how you think about it, with modern equipment and the number of zombies, isn’t that strange? It’s not like the zombies are being artificially recreated.]
The zombies’ quantity overwhelmed the ammunition.
Another interesting place is one where the period of peace after eliminating zombies is long, but according to the former detective’s gathered information, there are specific areas where fighting never stops.
More than twenty places nationwide have been checked for the phenomenon of zombies appearing in excess of the necessary amount.
There are more suspicious places.
Of course, it would take too much time to tour the entire country, and right now, pushing through this area is tough.
“If it remains like this even two years from now… then I have a bunker prepared in advance?”
It’s still experimental, but I’ve been saying repeatedly that I bought a multi-billion-won bunker house.
I stocked food and prepared for contingencies. If it’s confirmed that it remains even two years from now?
“Wait a minute, then if I thoroughly reinforce the areas with problems…”
Can’t I block it in reverse?
If it remains like this even two years from now, I can buy the building and…
A lightbulb went on in my head as I looked through the former detective’s materials.
The countryside is specified only as certain areas, but Seoul is more specific.
“The Yongsan Landmark Tower? Where did I hear that?”
I searched for Yongsan Landmark Tower on the internet, and a skyscraper popped up.
[If Korea Rail buys it first, it’s expected to cost over five trillion won upon resale.]
“Five trillion?”
I stuck out my tongue at a number that made my thousands of billions seem trivial.
If I bought it, I’d remodel a few floors for weapons or defense.
Of course, there’s also the option of renting floors, since it’s an international business district, so various people would move in.
“That’s honestly impossible.”
I could make money, but since the purpose would involve multiple companies moving in, it wouldn’t be at the level of forcibly changing it myself.
“I’ll have to change it to floor rental.”
I’ll buy a few floors and remodel them like a bunker. That number is realistic for now.
And if I set up a base like this? Won’t things be easier in the future?
“No, don’t get too confident yet.”
There are more things to check than just Min Doyoon from now on.
I don’t know how much it will cost, so I’ll experiment a little at a time and gain confidence. If one of my choices causes a butterfly effect, it would be a big problem.
Then what do I need to do?
[Current stock prices have plummeted and are rising sharply again…]
I need to gather enough money to buy buildings across the country.
I opened the stock app again and pulled up the former detective’s materials.
*
The ants are always victims of this world.
Ban Dohwan, with a haggard face, stared only at the stock app, his body trembling.
“Damn it all. They said it was good information…”
His stock trading app showed a horrifying -3 billion won.
As always, he went bankrupt through stock investment.
He spent his days buying lottery tickets and visiting internet gambling sites.
“How am I supposed to do this…”
It was money he had poured his entire life into.
His friend who lured him with good stock information had long since fled.
His wife had already taken the children to her parents’ house, leaving him alone to worry about how to handle the 3 billion won in debt.
Of course, 3 billion won could be repaid if handled well, but his mind had already sunk into gambling over this loss.
[Debt Collection Agency Baekil]
-You must repay the interest by the 19th of this month.
The kind guidance message from the debt collection agency was warning him.
The 5 thousand borrowed and the money gathered from two debt collection agencies and friends.
‘I have to hit this big time. And I’ll never step foot here again.’
He was trying to flip it all at once, and of course, it was through stocks.
He gathered information from every stock information site, looking for stocks that would rise sharply.
“No way!”
He was walking down the street with his phone in hand when he was hit with a huge shock.
It wasn’t bad news about the stock he invested in.
He hurriedly tapped the stock trading app, and after a moment, he let out a sigh of relief.
In that dizzying moment when it dropped more than 10%, he luckily managed to limit the loss.
[You have to watch stocks and wives for a long time.]
The proverb came to mind, but it didn’t apply to him right now.
Because he was in a hurry.
“Then where do I invest next?”
Since he’d taken the money out, he had to put it back in, but his hand was shaking.
‘I’m unlucky. Always. If I do this, I always…’
His heart was full of gloom. If he failed, he might really have to go to the Han River.
Lost in anxious concentration, he didn’t notice the scooter approaching from behind.
A commotion erupted behind him, and as he muttered something and kept walking forward.
The moment the scooter’s horn sounded right behind him, Ban Dohwan collided with the scooter rushing toward him.
“Ahak!”
Ban Dohwan tumbled for a moment and barely got up.
“What are you people doing! Suddenly…!”
But what he saw were civil defense police and men running toward him.
“Eh?”
“Got him!”
“Those who’ve been tailgating lately are you guys?”
A tall man approached between the civil defense police who were grabbing the groaning people who had fallen from the scooter.
“Hey, thanks. I almost got tailgated.”
A sturdy man with a bold appearance gave a grateful greeting.
“Ah… you have to be careful about tailgating… there are a lot of those guys.”
“You hit it, so you should go to the hospital once.”
“I’ll do it later. The police will handle it, so I’m in a hurry.”
As he said that, he was checking stock information on his phone.
“Stocks?”
“Yes. Recently it’s been bad. Just now, the Seonhwa Bio stock almost went bankrupt. Nothing’s going well.”
The man approached Ban Dohwan, who let out a deep sigh.
“If you’re having a hard time, should I give you some good information?”
“Eh?”
“Think of it as losing to win and invest. This Seonhwa Bio is supposed to rise sharply within a few days.”
Ban Dohwan felt absurd at the man’s words. Stock information out of nowhere?
“I, I don’t have much money, and I’m a debtor. Besides, I’ve already been deceived by a friend. So…”
“Thanks to you, I got the money back. It’s a favor. I’m telling you to believe it and think of me as an operation force.”
“Operation force?”
Ban Dohwan asked in surprise, but the man waved his hand and left.
For the remaining him, there was only one choice.
‘Either way.’
That’s right. For someone aiming for a big hit, the only thing waiting was the debt collection agency’s repayment message.
In the end, he decided to invest with the mindset of grabbing at a straw.
Of course, he regretted it enormously afterward, but the water had already been spilled.
He wandered around the stock exchange anxiously for three days.
“Damn it. I can’t stand it! Nothing happened!”
The next day, as soon as the market opened, he turned on the stock trading app.
To sell the nothing that had been there for three days.
But he soon had no choice but to make a surprised face.
As soon as the market opened, his stock was skyrocketing.
“Eh? Eh?”
With the surprising fact, he stared at the app all day from his house.
He didn’t know what the good news was. It was just that it rose.
From that day, his stock recorded an insane rise of 10 times for a week.
“Done!”
Even after paying off his debts, Ban Dohwan cheered.
Thanks to someone unknown, he earned 10 times more and could even pay off his debts.
“Really who is it? Such good luck for me…”
Of course, he didn’t know that the young man who gave him the luck earned an unimaginable amount more with it.
*
About ten days passed, and three pieces of news reached his phone.
[Certification completed. Full-scale construction will begin next week.]
[Currently in contact with Melonia’s planning company, and they say they’re picking a new manager. Well, there were ways to replace the existing manager without picking one, but we’ll go with this.]
[As promised, the installation of the non-flushing circulating facility is complete.]
Progress was being made on the remodeling construction and approaching Melonia.
The firearms side would be difficult, so I’d just have to wait a little longer.
The toilets were being handled first near Lee Soyeon’s, and the rest would take more time. It was fine. Even this much was enough.
It was time to depart on the third expedition. This time, there was a lot to bring. Water and food were basic, and light medical supplies like first aid kits were included.
On top of that, the shower booth and two portable toilets I ordered for the yard.
And a generator to use electricity.
“It won’t do with just one.”
This time, there was more to prepare than last time.
It was important to move this first, and I had to check with Lee Soyeon. First, I dragged the things inside while grumbling and went out to the yard, only to find a worn tarp surrounding the portable toilets that had weathered the years.
I connected it to the generator and checked if it worked.
“It works?”
Surprisingly, the portable toilet sprayed foam mixed with water and disinfectant and ran well.
“This is enough.”
So I loaded one onto the cart and the generator too.
“It’s insanely heavy.”
Shouldn’t this be transported as a machine? But don’t underestimate my strength trained by manual labor. I just need to set it up slanted and load it on the cart behind me.
That’s all the trick.
I managed to get one portable toilet onto the cart, but the back was still empty for a while.
“Whatever.”
I placed the generator on top and tied it down with rope to start moving.
As I arrived at Lee Soyeon’s house, I checked if the circulating portable toilet I installed was there.
It was there. Then the most important thing.
How Lee Soyeon would perceive that toilet.
I climbed the four floors while panting and opened the door, and Lee Soyeon, the one I wanted to see so much, greeted me.
“You’re back, husband.”
“…Yeah.”
Lee Soyeon’s face briefly brightened, then turned expressionless again.
No, that bright expression was obviously the truth in the corner of her heart. I was supposed to raise her feelings toward me like this.
“How have you been?”
“It hasn’t even been a day.”
“Gee, if you miss me, you miss me.”
Lee Soyeon didn’t answer and turned her head away shyly.
Cute. It was definitely different from Seol-hwa’s timid rebellion.
“That’s right. By the way, there’s a public toilet over there outside, right? Do you know when it was installed?”
“A public toilet?”
Lee Soyeon tilted her head and looked toward the window of the room overlooking the playground.
“Look at that. It says ‘non-flushing circulating’ toilet.”
“Eh? There was one like that? Ah… I think I saw it. Strange? My memory is… eh? Eh?”
At that moment, Lee Soyeon touched her head.
“I definitely don’t remember seeing it. When was it? I don’t remember. Was it something that was originally there…?”
Lee Soyeon had no idea about that at all. One hypothesis was derived from this, but several more sample cases were needed.
‘Yeah, I’ll keep checking.’
It had only been tens of minutes since I left Seol-hwa’s house, crossing time zones.
At least when it got darker, when loneliness seeped in.
Before that? I had to play with Soyeon. As a man, I could easily handle two or three women a day. Even if it was hard, I did it.
“Right. Soyeon-ah.”
“Don’t call me like that.”
To Seol-hwa, who still showed rejection, I gifted the generator.
“A generator?”
“Diesel, so it lasts long? You can use it only when needed.”
I started the diesel generator and connected the phone and other electronic devices.
Once I was able to use some electricity, Lee Soyeon’s expression was really worth seeing at that moment.
“…Thank you.”
“What?”
“Tha…nk you.”
She was thanking me and looking embarrassed! Because that sight was too cute, I couldn’t hold back my desire and immediately covered her.