Chapter 200
Chapter 200
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Temple Confession Chaos
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Temple
At Ignis's words, the girls' mouths fell open.
"Crazy! Did I hear that wrong? That... uncle confessed?!"
"M-My lord. Is what Lady Ignis said true?"
They seemed shocked by the claim that I had confessed to her.
'W-Was that a confession?'
I hadn't been aware of it at the time, but now I realized it could be interpreted that way.
Especially Lee Ji-ah and Baek Seol-hwa, whose gazes toward me were full of pity. Behind them, Chaewon was quietly staging a silent protest.
"Hiiing... Oppa..."
The stares pouring from them.
And the pressure emanating from those stares.
A chill ran down my spine for some unknown reason.
'Damn... I never thought Ignis clinging to me back then would come back to bite me like this.'
"Why is everyone acting like this? Is it really that shocking?"
Ignis tilted her head at their gloomy atmosphere.
"Of course it's shocking... That uncle confessed? What's not shocking about that?!"
Han Su-ji was being unusually cautious in her speech, probably due to Ignis's overwhelming presence.
"I can't understand it. It's only natural for a man to want the woman he likes. My father alone had over twenty wives. Compared to that, the master's are far too few. To leave many descendants, the more wives, the better."
Over twenty...
Was he some kind of emperor?
...I was a little envious.
"Crazy! Uncle, what are you gonna do?"
I couldn't waver here.
I mustn't waver.
I had to keep my head straight.
For the sake of my women!
"Ahem. People shouldn't have narrow-minded views. We must respect and accept other fine cultures."
-Woof. Woof.
A dog's bark echoed from somewhere.
Chaewon shook her head.
Ji-ah still had a sullen expression.
I'd have to comfort them properly later.
"My lord, you speak wisely. I was shaken by the news that you confessed, despite myself. As your consort, I should have a broad mind... This incident has made me realize just how lacking my training is."
Seol-hwa bowed her head politely.
Fortunately, she seemed moved by my words.
"I'm happy even as Master's slave!"
Suni, standing beside me, beamed as she hugged my arm.
"Twenty wives? Slaves? Everyone's insane! Even if the world's gone to hell, this is too much. Am I the only sane one here!?... I'm losing my mind."
Han Su-ji clutched her head as if suffering a headache.
"Ahem. W-Well then, why don't you all chat among yourselves."
I decided to step away so they could get to know each other better.
"Ah! Uncle! Where do you think you're running off to irresponsibly?!"
-Woof. Woof.
I cleanly ignored Su-ji's accusations.
I had originally planned to add them to my party right away, but now wasn't the time.
I'd do it separately later.
Pyeongtaek.
Camp Humphreys.
This was a place where U.S. forces had been stationed even before the world went to hell.
U.S. Forces Korea Commander Daniel Burns had quickly quelled the chaos within Humphreys, erected barriers to create a safe zone, and protected the survivors.
Today, as always, Daniel was patrolling atop the barriers.
"Any contact from the mainland?"
"None, sir."
His aide, Walter Anderson, who was walking beside him, replied.
Communication with the mainland had been steady in the early days.
But at some point, it cut off, and now it had been over three weeks.
Even when contact was consistent, they only told him to wait—no real solutions from the homeland.
It was time to abandon hope for the mainland. Intellectually, he knew that, but he couldn't help the lingering attachment.
"Food supplies?"
"Depending on future resupply... about three months left."
Daniel looked down at the base of the barrier.
Zombies writhed like maggots below, clinging to it.
They were at the point where even bullets were too precious to waste on them.
But they weren't the real problem.
The occasional massive ones that appeared were.
Before, one of those huge monster bastards had nearly breached a section of the barrier, barely contained.
And a bigger issue: the zombies massing toward the camp had been increasing lately.
Mountain after mountain of problems.
They could hold out for now.
But just hold out.
"What do you think? Will these undying bastards keep pouring in?"
"Hard to say, sir. But we can't be optimistic. Better to prepare ahead."
"Sigh... Yeah. Can't just be optimistic."
Zombies streamed in endlessly from the distance, one by one.
And occasionally, Awakeners unleashing superpowers at them.
It wasn't just the zombie monsters.
Even inside the camp, which had taken in a substantial number of survivors, problems abounded. Humphreys was like a ticking time bomb, countdown shrinking by the day.
Worry deepened on Daniel's face, the leader of Humphreys.
Before heading to Pantera.
I instructed the survivors from the camp I'd taken over and the Cheonbu Sect to set up residential zones.
After that, I'd left it to Seol-hwa and paid little attention.
Now, I decided to check on the progress.
Seol-hwa and Ignis followed me.
Ignis tagged along, wanting to see what this world was like.
"In the end, apartments again."
It was a riverside apartment complex.
"Someone knowledgeable in construction from the Cheonbu Sect said it's a luxury apartment built by a highly reputed contractor."
"Pantera's mansions are impressive, but these buildings are even more so."
Ignis marveled at the towering high-rises.
From the exterior, they did look that way.
But they weren't on the level of Liriana's mansion, plastered with magic.
Ignis just didn't know that one building housed dozens to hundreds of households.
The complex was cleaned up, no mess in sight.
It looked like an abandoned luxury apartment to the untrained eye—tidy enough.
Honestly, for residential space around here, nothing beat apartments.
"Interior cleaning is in the final stages. And we're planning barriers around the complex to keep monsters out."
I surveyed the area while listening to Seol-hwa's briefing.
True to its luxury status, the landscaping was quite nice.
"This is the place Ji-ah and Chaewon picked?"
The apartment building was slightly set apart from the others.
"Yes. For us, we're thinking of taking over an entire unit."
Not just us.
There were also about twenty women I'd rescued from the raider den.
Even one house per person left plenty spare—could use extras as storage or whatever.
"One building for Cheonbu Sect. Two for the survivor camp."
With mana generators powering electricity, elevators would work too—no major inconveniences.
"But... there's a problem."
"Problem?"
I gathered the executives from the survivor camp and Cheonbu Sect, who had been cooperating on the residential setup.
Seol-hwa stood to my right.
Ignis to my left.
People's eyes flicked toward Ignis beside me.
Not just her foreign looks, but her tall, slender 180cm frame and unique attire drew stares inevitably.
"Restoring the water supply will be tough."
One executive uncle, towel around his neck fresh from work, spoke to me.
He radiated expert vibes in this field, even if not a martial artist.
Seemed to be from Cheonbu Sect.
"Hmm... You think it'll be tough?"
"Yes. To bring in water, but the existing intake pipes seem damaged somewhere. Fixing them is hard to find, and no guarantee it's just one spot. In the current situation... probably impossible."
He trailed off, gauging my reaction.
His careful wording showed real expertise.
To use the water system, intake pipes needed repair—but in a monster-infested world, locating and fixing them was no easy task.
'Dig a well for groundwater?'
The thought crossed my mind briefly.
But then I recalled Liriana's mansion in Pantera.
Clean water gushed endlessly there somehow.
I'd have to ask Liriana about it.
If no better solution...
'Groundwater it is?'
Equipment for wells wasn't hard to procure from the original world—no big worry.
"I'll handle the water issue for now."
They all looked puzzled at my words,
but given my track record, a hint of expectation filled the air.
I wrapped up the meeting roughly and dismissed them back to work.
"Ah, Im Gu-seong, stay back. Got something to discuss."
I called out to Im Gu-seong.
He was the civilian executive managing the camp now.
Former deputy to Jang Seo-won, the original survivor camp boss I'd killed.
Relying on my backing, he was the camp's third-in-command after Seol-hwa, despite being a regular guy.
"Yes, sir."
"Send me a woman who can drive."
"A woman who can drive... Understood."
Im Gu-seong looked puzzled at my request but didn't argue.