10. First Experience
10. First Experience
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Blushing at Sihwan's teasing and smacking his back, Yeonseo immediately returned with people from the Guild.
An ominous feeling that strange rumors might spread washed over him, but what could he do about what had already happened.
After she left, the Slums sank back into silence.
Originally, there were all sorts of ambient sounds like the bubbling boil of the earth, the wind whistling through the gaping breached walls, the whooshing puff of rising clouds,
But since he'd restored everything perfectly, it suddenly felt like the decibels had gone empty.
On top of that, the previous explosion had wiped out weak lifeforms like bugs, making it even quieter.
In that silence, Sihwan had Rihana gather the slum dwellers in one spot.
They'd been shooting arrows and defying Sihwan just moments ago, but after witnessing Bari's overwhelming power and Rihana killing the Village Chief, they tucked tail.
Gathered like that, there were roughly 900 people.
Few from the Ho-in Tribe had died, but quite a few slum dwellers were goners.
"You guys were unregistered vagrants with no master or hearth, rotting away, but from this moment on, it'll be different. I'll vouch for your identities."
"...?"
Sihwan prepared Slave Contracts matching the headcount and had Rihana hand them out.
It was a sort of Slave Contract.
Slaves' identities were guaranteed too, so it wasn't wrong.
A few bristled up, but with their power to resist gone, they all ended up stamping their fingerprints.
After dumping the freshly minted 900-or-so slaves on Rihana like baggage, Sihwan got serious about planning the Base.
"Shops might be better at the district entrance?"
"I don't think that's strictly necessary. So many people are already watching, so building deeper in should be fine. To really spread Master and my greatness, it's better if they poke around every corner, so shoving it way inside works too."
Bari slyly tacking herself on after "Master" and calling them great.
Kinda cute, somehow.
"Well, we did put on quite the flashy show."
Thanks to that massive explosion just now, plenty of folks were still peeking around.
Right after Yeonseo bounced, some guard squad types showed up growling about investigating.
Lucky for them, Yeonseo must've pulled strings, 'cause they peaced out quick—but if it'd gone down proper, the city's soldiers might've been history.
Anyway, with all those piled-up buildings wiped in one go, plus the mega-blast and instant fix-up, eyes were already all over the place.
For now, the filthy, ugly image kept direct visitors low, but once it got cleaned proper and slick buildings went up, tons would swarm to gawk.
Plus, once the flagship smokes really caught on, folks'd venture inside just to buy.
"Or make the building itself massive and tall—a landmark visible from afar."
"Oho, nice. Sell this from here to there, that from there to there. Top floors get an observation deck restaurant or somesuch. Local buildings top out at 30-40 meters, so 200 meters'd be one-of-a-kind."
"That holds for this city. But head central and you've got the 1st-tier max city, Tower's capital vibe—with tall buildings."
"Yeah?"
"Long-term? Might as well go full skyscraper. Resources'd be insane, though."
Skyscrapers mean tons of factors to juggle—more floors, way more resources.
Magic or not, same deal.
Nobling might squeeze out efficiency somehow, but flashing Nobling now? No upside.
"Alright, here's the play: Plan skyscraper, build partial for now. Resources are tapped from the restore anyway. 1st floor: flagship smokes shop."
"Yes."
Nanomaterials meant construction was no big wait.
Pretty much instant.
He slapped up a roughly 20-meter building on the prime spot.
Restoring the mega-blast ate ~90% of his Nanomaterials stock.
Bright side: over 300 liters incoming daily.
A day's burn—back to full tomorrow.
"Here, 1st floor's Cigarettes Branch 1, the flagship. Narcotics sales here. The noble Sub-species won't keel over from a hit, right?"
"Noblesse? Totally fine. Rest? Haven't dissected any, so dunno."
"Eh, it'll be fine."
Sihwan kept it simple.
Serious side effects? Not his circus, not his monkeys.
Landmark up, he built a bus depot next, set a 1-hour timer on the <Large Printer> from the Factory he'd hauled from the Academy, queued bus prints.
<Large Printer> spits a bus every 300 seconds, so one hour nets 12 total, plus the one pre-printed: 13 buses ready to roll in the depot.
"Start with one at Academy front, here, key residential spots."
Initial batch: about thirty sites.
City-wide spread meant too much hassle for Bari solo, so he put the slum crew on it.
Bus stops? Just slam big signboards in the dirt—easy peasy.
"Good thing it's carriage and Magic Carriage turf. Roads are wide at least."
"Yeah."
This area's got active carriages, even occasional Magic Carriages, so roads were decent enough.
Basics locked in, he threw up a prefab on an empty Academy lot—for future Cigarettes Branch 2.
Yanked the Research Lab from the underground Base too.
Resources? Zilch across the board.
Daily Nanomaterials synth plant expansions? On hold—but damn, felt good.
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City office trademark filed, evening hit: Sihwan rounded up the slum folk for a party.
Sizzle, sizzle.
Golden-brown meat grilling on the hot plate, soup wafting savory scents.
Pigs roasting whole on bonfire spits.
Massive yard packing a full block, endless cooking—gulping swallows echoing everywhere.
"...Where'd all this come from?"
"Brought it from home?"
"...Chief Instructor-nim's?"
"Yeah."
Enough to feed 2,000 easy.
Big as Yu Ina's mansion was, stockpiling war quantities? Nah.
Rihana smelled BS but let it slide.
Today's eyewitness overload had her drained anyway.
"Listen up. Folks can't be stuffed silly or starving desperate. Too full, minds wander; too hungry, they bolt for broke. So feed 'em just shy normal, toss parties like this occasional. Weekly, weekends—goldilocks."
"..."
"Well, they've starved forever—might be overkill, but my crew eats like kings."
Sihwan flipped meat nonchalant.
Execs(?) had their own table, naturally—all women bar Sihwan.
Eun-hye and two bodyguards, Eleonore too: Eun-hye chowed silent, Eleonore looked salty.
"Pay's in company/district currency. Details TBD, but regular slaves: 10 gold equiv monthly. Mid-managers: 15. Execs: 20. Rest per contract terms."
He yapped on; Rihana soaked it in.
Lips said "moderate, not too full/hungry," but slum-vet her knew this offhand haul was jackpot.
Fresh trainee: 30 gold/month. Vice-rep bonus: +20. A-Class sub-leader: +5. Other-class leader: +10. Total 65-gold haul—but three-month gig only. Rest? All-day grind for maybe 10 gold/month, reality.
Then boom—Sihwan drops, promising 10 gold even to grunt slaves.
How to process?
"Ah, was gonna give more, but docked for the rebellion. Salty? Hustle harder."
"...But didn't you say you're in debt?"
"Yup. 200k gold-ish."
"Huh..."
What dimension?
200k gold.
"Business runs on debt, always."