10. First Experience
10. First Experience
"Hmm."
The same kind of notice as always.
Not even asking for permission while saying they're expanding the city itself—just a 'We're doing it, so you know' kind of heads-up.
Still, this time it's not a bad proposal.
The outskirts land is hers anyway, so if they expand the city itself, there's zero downside.
"Yeah. That makes sense. When have you ever listened to me? When are you doing it?"
"Well. I wanna do it big. That way, everyone knows I did it."
"Evacuating people will take a while."
"No need for that. Bari'll handle it."
"Got it. Just tell me before you do it. Sudden changes freak me out a bit."
"But hey, has anyone else given you a whole district like I did?"
"No. Why?"
"Perfect."
"?"
I tilted my head at the out-of-left-field comment, and Sihwan grinned.
"Gonna ask for something since it'll be a huge win for you."
"You're doing it without my permission and now you wanna ask me for something?"
I shot back in disbelief, but he continued like it was the most natural thing.
"Of course. It's beneficial for me too."
"...Let's hear it. What?"
"The city's getting bigger overall, so the shape'll stay the same, right? Just leave each district as-is with the expansion."
"In other words, the Slums expand too, so acknowledge ownership for the new size."
"Exactly."
No big deal there.
Everyone's gonna end up like that anyway.
You can't just recognize the original square footage if buildings suddenly grow.
"Surprising. Thought you'd ask to wipe that 100,000 gold debt. You remember, right? The interest is killer."
"What do you take me for, an idiot? Of course I remember. And later, my whole district'll be prime real estate—few tens of thousands of gold is pocket change."
"Fair point."
The Slums Sihwan owns take up about 10% of this massive city as a single district.
If that insane area expands?
Obviously, 100,000 gold is gum money.
"At the point you're expanding 1.5 times, gold's meaningless. Area doubles at least."
"Huh? What're you talking about?"
"What do you mean?"
"When did I say 1.5 times?"
Yeonseo tilted her head.
What's this guy on about now.
He definitely said 1.5 times earlier...
"That was just an example."
"......Somehow I'm getting anxious. How much are you planning?"
"Hmm... Bus routes need to run, so about 8 times?"
"You insane bastard."
"What? Why the sudden cursing."
8 times.
Is he serious?
Fine.
Expanding roads? Okay.
For super-fast cars to run efficiently, that size makes sense.
But expanding the whole city—including buildings—8 times?
Is he nuts?
"Phew... 2 times max."
"Why?"
"Too much. Imagine your house suddenly 8 times bigger. 8 times width and length means 64 times the area. Height too? 512 times the volume."
"Really?"
Yeah, thinking about it, it does feel overkill.
"Still, for proper bus operation, you need 8 lanes."
"We'll overhaul that later. 8 times is absurd."
"Gotcha. 2 times it is then."
"Haa."
A sigh of relief.
Hearing such idiotic talk drained me.
"If you weren't with that Bari girl, you'd be dead on arrival~."
"Well, yeah."
No arguing that.
"By the way, if you can do this, skip the trading and just go around expanding cities. You could charge hundreds of thousands of gold."
"...Huh?"
Sihwan rarely looked shocked.
"...Are you a genius?"
"......."
Yeonseo sighed and shook her head.
.
.
After kissing Yeonseo and leaving the room, Sihwan joined Eun-hye, who was staring at him with a weird expression.
"Why're you staring like that?"
"...It's nothing."
"Doesn't look like nothing."
"...."
She stayed silent.
Sihwan quickly looked away.
"Bari."
"Yes."
"2 times enough?"
"Plenty."
"Really? But don't roads need 8 lanes for smooth traffic?"
"That's for humans driving, or 'human-mimicking' Androids. Full self-driving? One lane's fine, no issue."
"...Right?"
"And if not, dig underground roads or go full air traffic."
"...Yeah."
Bari, as expected.
Coming up with solutions I'd never dream of.
He'd only thought 'expand the roads!'
"Still, let's expand the city. My area grows too."
"Obviously."
"Keep this secret. From now on, operating cars in this world means expanding cities."
"Heh. Got it. But secret?"
Bari glanced at Eun-hye.
She aside, there's two escorts tailing them—how's this a secret.
"...Don't worry about me. Pretend I'm not here."
Same line as always.
But still that weird expression.
'No way?'
That bugged Sihwan.
Not even blinking at absurd talk like expanding the city—maybe she overheard his chat with Yeonseo?
Soundproofing's solid, but in the Yu Family full of powerhouses, escorts like her could pierce barriers.
'Yeah. Then she knows about me and Yeonseo too?'
Plausible theory.
'Should I make her one of my women too?'
"Hoo...."
For some reason, Bari sighed.
+++
5th Floor Jin Family.
As a 『Noblesse』 family, it usually exuded elegant, antique vibes, but lately it'd been hectic.
Bad news piling up: Jin Seong-hyeon, the Clan Head's son, found dead; then the Clan Head who went to demand answers goes missing.
"So, no word on the Clan Head yet?"
"Yes, Elder... Still... haven't found her."
"Haa... What the hell's going on."
Even daily emergency elder meetings yielded no solutions.
What's happening in the Tower? It was downright scary.
As everyone racked their brains, one woman spoke.
"No matter how I think... this isn't just our family's problem. Young Master found dead in the end, and now even the Clan Head like this..."
"Watch your words. Too early to jump to conclusions, no?"
"Yeah. The Clan Head's surely alive."
"Hoo... Even so, isn't it weird? This string of incidents."
She brought up the recent 11th Floor Incident.
A floor used only for Academy graduation exams.
They'd scoured every Dungeon and Temple to adjust difficulty.
Yet after 10 years, just recently—a massacre wiping out thousands of graduates and hundreds of instructors.
No official conclusion yet, but everyone suspected Angels.
Nothing else could cause that damage with no gain.
Then soon after, golden boy Jin Seong-hyeon found dead—suicide, sure, but still.
Now Jin Ji-hye, the Clan Head, missing.
Coincidence?
"But... if so, Angels came down to these lower floors... That's serious."
"Exactly. Tell the Committee about the Clan Head's disappearance—start investigating ASAP."
"Hmm... But... Young Master just happened recently... Announcing the Clan Head missing too is..."
Family honor...
Elders mumbling excuses.
Their position wasn't incomprehensible, but it was ridiculous.
"Hoo... Family honor matters, sure, but this?"
"It's not confirmed..."
"What more proof do you need? 11th Floor massacre, Young Master missing then corpse, now Clan Head gone—what else till it's 'sure'?"
"I mean, do we really need to tell the Committee about the Clan Head's disappearance? 'Something's fishy, investigate' should suffice. We search meanwhile."
"Haa... You call that—"
Kwaang-!
"Big trouble!!!!!"
.
.
"This is..."
Sudden news bursting into the meeting room.
Word on the long-awaited Clan Head, Jin Ji-hye.
But...
"Cause of death... cardiac arrest, but... looks like... suicide..."
It was anything but good.
Rushing to the scene, they found a pathetically empty corpse and the forensics team.
Following Jin Seong-hyeon, Jin Ji-hye found dead too.
Suicide again. Like someone staged it.
"......Tell the Committee. Now."