Chapter 287 – Warring States Period
At this point, let’s briefly talk about the forces of the outside world.
The cleansing of the world started by vaccines, the place where the effect was most strongly seen was, of course, the starting point, South Korea.
Since three years have passed, I expected that there would be some degree of integration.
It is mainly led by government forces that crawled out of Jeju Island with heavy butts and military warlords in the south.
A narrow land mass, collectivistic nature, and population composition close to a single ethnic group.
It is an inevitable condition to have a strong tendency to return to the old society.
However, the reality was a world of great chaos reminiscent of Japan’s Warring States Period.
“Although it was not officially recognized, there was even a war between the Jeju Island government and the southern warlords.”
Artemis, dressed as a teacher, raised her glasses and said.
“Wasn’t it a relationship where we treated each other like cows and chickens?”
The government forces fled, abandoning not only their own citizens but also the soldiers who risked their lives to fight.
Since they act like superiors and try to interfere in various ways while not providing even a single supply, the abandoned soldiers can’t help but be in awe.
You will feel like you want to shoot and kill it just as much as the infectious agent.
In the end, they continued to despise and ignore each other, but the relationship became closer to that of a man and a woman, which was the situation three years ago.
“There are two reasons why there was no fight even when the military protested against the government. One is that I didn’t want to start a civil war while being threatened by monsters right in front of me. The second one was blocked by the sea.”
Artemis stretched out her index finger and lifted my chin.
“But those two issues were resolved when a reserve soldier who liked to wander around went on an unprecedented expedition.”
“Ah!”
When he tried to bite his cheeky finger, Artemis quickly took it away.
He escaped from my lips by a narrow margin.
“Are you really trying to bite me?”
“This was not built.”
I was planning on nibbling it with my lips and sucking on it until I apologized for being rude, but it was a pity.
“I didn’t expect them to fight against each other and rebuild, but I never expected them to fight.”
The PDA contained photos of the wreckage of a government helicopter that had been shot down, and a guard post destroyed by a drone strike.
“Looking at the scale, it doesn’t seem like it has escalated into an all-out war?”
“No matter who wins, there is no benefit. “I can’t afford that.”
The marine monsters blocking the sea have disappeared, but landing battles still require a lot of cost and effort.
In terms of power alone, the Jeju Island government army is the strongest single force, excluding Shelter.
However, based on the number of troops capable of crossing the sea and landing on the Korean Peninsula, it was ranked at the bottom.
Jeju Island is like a castle from the Three Kingdoms era. It’s good to stay in and preserve your life, but getting out is a huge pain in the ass.
“Abura is me…?”
“I guess you really liked that movie line?”
Oil, which was precious three years ago, has become even more precious now.
Now that oil tankers have been cut off, all pure oil has become rancid and has become a figment of our imagination.
Even the most affluent of us have no real oil, so the only thing distributed in the world is synthetic oil.
There are places producing synthetic oil here and there, but the quantity and quality vary. Crucially, high-quality aviation fuel is our Shelter’s exclusive patent.
The air power that the government forces had managed to preserve could only be used to defend Jeju Island and demonstrate their authority, and meaningful external expeditions were impossible.
The neighboring warlords are also gnashing their teeth instead of cooperating with the government. They have no intention of sacrificing the land and people that they worked hard to protect while being abandoned without receiving supplies.
In the end, after several small battles took place along the beach, there was a long lull. Artemis’ intervention was also effective here.
“You looked after the backs of local warlords?”
Aerial photos of government troops launching landing craft or helicopters at night. There are satellite photos and thermal images taken by drones.
-Thank you for your cooperation. I will thoroughly punish these shameless pigs.
The warlord who received the message immediately went to intercept it.
“No problem. Because they were discovered so often, they thought there was a traitor and even carried out an internal purge? As a result, it brought out the lull faster.”
“Even if I hadn’t done that, I think I would have stopped it anyway. Well, it’s a good thing that the pointless fight ended early.”
“There is such a thing as what if? It is also good to be in debt to the warlords.”
At the time of the search for my disappearance, Artemis did not want other variables to step on this land.
This is because the information network she worked so hard to build and her relationships with her warlords can be disrupted in an instant.
“If you feel any confusion as a former soldier, let me tell you that this is a really useless idea.”
“I didn’t think like that.”
Artemis chuckled.
“Since Dangun, there has never been a countryman who has not been criticized, but the anger and hatred toward this government is at an all-time high. No one welcomes you. There is absolutely no need for you to worry about it.”
“Oh, well, I don’t care.”
The map of the Korean Peninsula displayed on the PDA showed each power’s territory, population, troops, relationships, and even the details of the command staff.
This is not possible simply through aerial observation. It is the fruit of numerous peddlers, information merchants, and bribed managers who have been touched by Artemis.
Appropriately nurturing and rewarding so many individuals, continuing the relationship, and drawing a roadmap using the collected information.
This would only be possible for a being capable of transcendent intelligence and simultaneous computation.
“It’s an agenda that’s been put off and put off for a while, but now we have to face it. Rebuilding a nation is something that people dream of at least once after the fall. But someone always tries to stop it.”
“Those who benefit from the current situation are probably like that.”
“Huh. The leaders of each warlord, anarchists, and those who run wild with morals and values.”
“It feels like they are mostly villains.”
In the games and stories I’ve enjoyed, such people have always hindered the recovery of the world.
“Now we too are among those villains. If a force advocating for the reconstruction of the Republic of Korea appears, the person they will be most wary of and the ultimate enemy will be…”
“It would be us, no matter who else.”
There cannot be two kings in one country. In the era of reconstruction after the great disaster, a king is someone who has a lot of power and supplies.
“I thought I was living a fairly moral life, but now I’ve become a villain?”
“Think of the good influence we have on the world.”
The PDA screen showed an aerial sprayer spraying vaccines everywhere.
Even the various orphanages, charities and schools we run.
“In this day and age, feeding everyone and warming their backs is impossible, even in games. “Isn’t this enough?”
The power structure of Shelter and Polis goes beyond dictatorship and is no different from despotism.
Artemis seems to be more concerned about something that might come from my conscience than an external threat.
“I have no intention of handing over what we have created to those who are strict.”
“That’s it.”
Artemis took off the jacket she was wearing and approached me.
Her arms wrapped around my neck and the fragrant smell of her hair calms my mind.
“Jinsu, considering the content of the education you have received in the curriculum and your general sentiments, your current absolute authority and position may be considered immoral. I understand that. However, rather than thinking of this as politics, think of it as management.”
“Like a CEO?”
“Huh! But it’s much more convenient. Because there is no need for government tax audits or worrying about shareholders. You can embezzle as much as you want with a corporate credit card.”
“When you say that, I feel like a villain again.”
“It’s my mood, it’s my mood. “It’s nothing compared to what the warlords outside are doing.”
Her voluptuous breasts press against my chest, giving me a pleasant feeling of pressure.
“After you gained a body, you seem to have a tendency to push yourself more with your body rather than with logical persuasion.”
This is Artemis, who enjoys subduing even the smallest details with perfect logic that I can’t argue with.
However, these days, there has been an increased tendency to push half of the logic and the other half with the body.
“So this is more effective?”
As she violently pulled down her shirt, her white breasts appeared as if they would jump out at any moment.
“Oh…”
“Look at this. “You can’t take your eyes off me at all.”
This lady is wearing no bra again. Her nipples, barely hidden next to her large cleavage, made their presence felt prominently beneath her thin shirt.
“Bras are uncomfortable. “It doesn’t even feel good.”
She noticed the meaning of my gaze and pursed her lips.
Lectures on history and political situations continued.
“We advocate neutrality even among the various warlords. Unification by force would be possible if it were too much, but I don’t think our administrators would want that.”
“It’s not worth it considering the innocent blood that will flow in the process and the troublesome control of distant regions.”
For now, we wanted to take a contemplative stance by maintaining our position as a regional powerhouse and focusing on improving vaccines.
“Besides, I don’t want to point my gun at the two commanders, Hwang Jin and Lee Seong-bong.”
Hwang Jin has safely restored the Honam Plain and is making a great contribution to feeding starving refugees by farming on a large scale.
Lee Seong-bong is busy maintaining a peaceful balance among numerous warlords who may clash at any moment.
“I thought that if he was as talented as Lee Seong-bong, he would be building up a much bigger power, but surprisingly, he wasn’t able to grow?”
His sphere of influence displayed on the PDA has grown compared to three years ago, but the increase has been small.
“In a wild situation, those who are idle are claiming to be the leader and making a fuss, and in order to suppress them, you have to put bullets in the end. But it was too soft in that area. “Fighting so bravely against the infectious agent.”
“I don’t want to say that in a bad way.”
“Well, me too.”
I have absolutely no desire to engage in a slaughter war with two great true soldiers.
“That said, now that we have found our manager, we will cut off the relationships with the outside world that we have built so far! “It can’t be like this.”
It is difficult to cut off a relationship that has already been formed just because there is little benefit. In the end, the ones who suffer the most are the refugees barely scraping by at the bottom.
“Besides, I’m satisfied with finding our manager, but Jinsu, there are more people you want to find, right?”
“Okay.”
The robots that accompanied old Solaver and me. Even if it wasn’t intact, I wanted to at least save that keepsake.
In light of my case, even if a problem occurred during the warp process, I don’t think it would have gone too far from the Korean Peninsula.
“Then we must continue to maintain the cooperative relationship as before. Well, there’s no need to be as desperate or stoop as I was when I was looking for you.”
Artemis shudders as if she is annoyed even thinking about it again. When I held her hand and massaged it, she calmed down somewhat.
“I’m always grateful that you didn’t give up and found me.”
“Okay. Anyway, to maintain a relationship like this, sometimes you have to do things you don’t want to do.”
The map of the Korean Peninsula displayed on the PDA moved south. Cities on the western coast of Japan’s Kyushu region are displayed.
“This?”
“It’s the Japanese Yakuza warlord I mentioned before who is very cooperative with us. They will be of great help in your search and in the future search of the Tanis Expedition. It’s also great as a trade partner.”
“They are good friends.”
“Would it be difficult to say that it is difficult to repeatedly refuse invitations? “They know we have the strength to come over.”
The friendship between them has already been explained several times.
“If you’re saying this, I guess you’ve been really persistent in asking for it.”
“Don’t even talk.”
Artemis waved her hands in a rare gesture of surrender.
For me, it’s not a particularly bad offer. This is because the desire to go outside was slowly growing.
I traveled a lot to Europe and the Middle East for work and travel, but I had never been to Japan.
“My trip to Jeju Island would have been blocked anyway. This is pheasant instead of chicken.”
“I really like it when people think of me so kindly.”
“There are no restrictions on escorting, right?”
No matter how friendly the relationship is, you never know when a person’s mind can change. I don’t want to suddenly be in a situation where I’m like, ‘You’ve been kidnapped.’
“Of course. In a world like this, it would be incredibly rude to place such restrictions on guests coming from across the sea. They said you can arm yourself however you like. If it wasn’t for that, I wouldn’t have even mentioned it to you.”
Since it is an overseas trip in an apocalyptic situation, this is something that is not easily seen even in stories.
In particular, the appearance of a large warlord created by gangsters rather than the military stimulated great curiosity.
It may be of great reference in future operations as an administrator.
