## Chapter 114 – 12. Moo-Yeol Island
The knights subtly stood up.
I called out each of their names.
They all looked surprised, as none of them had introduced themselves.
“Don’t lie again.”
“…I’m sorry.”
Dorothy apologized.
She probably thought I heard it from Gominji.
Little did she know I actually had mind-reading powers.
‘Still, these are all Gominji’s exclusive knights….’
I felt a shiver down my spine.
I should behave from now on.
“Do you know why you’re working under me for a month?”
“No, we don’t.”
“Really? Then I’ll give you your first mission right away. Clear all the forests on this island.”
“Excuse me?”
“See over there? The trees are bigger than your mechs. Even if you mobilized over 100 pieces of heavy equipment, it would take months to clear them all with ordinary methods.”
“…”
“Use super-electromagnetic cutters or railguns, whatever you want, and clear them out.”
The knights looked utterly dumbfounded.
They seemed taken aback that high-level personnel like themselves were being mobilized for such trivial work.
“Dorothy.”
“Yes.”
“You stay by my side in case something happens. The rest of you, clear the forest. Start now.”
The knights tilted their heads and boarded their mechs again.
The sight of 14 knights using lifting cables simultaneously was quite a spectacle.
“Still, they obey orders without complaint.”
That’s the good thing about knights.
They absolutely obey orders, no matter what.
They’re basically brainwashed to carry out orders with joy, but even when the orders are so absurd that they can’t understand them, they still obey.
People say that managing people is the most stressful thing, but if you use these guys, you’ll hardly ever experience that stress.
Woooong.
As the knights boarded their mechs, the mechs vibrated as if they were crying.
“They’ll take care of it. Let’s go look at the mansion.”
+++
The artificial island was mostly forest, making it awkward to use, but the mansion was excellently maintained.
It was several times larger and more luxurious than my house in Songdo.
Kuaaaaaang – !
While I was looking around, a tremendous roar and a flash of white light burst through the windows.
“Ugh.”
The knights in their mechs were firing railguns like crazy, clearing the forest.
The mansion had excellent soundproofing, but there was no way to block the sound of railguns that could be used as cannons on battleships.
“It’s going to be incredibly noisy for a while.”
I was planning to stay here for a while to observe the situation, but it seemed difficult until the forest was cleared.
“How long will that take?”
“About two weeks, I think.”
“Two weeks….”
“That’s very fast.”
“Yeah. I think so too.”
Seunghee has the trait of Divine Calculation.
Her calculation speed and accuracy are close to that of a computer.
If she said it would take about two weeks, it probably would.
“The rental period is a month. So it’ll be done in two weeks.”
Gominji said she’d cleared her schedule a month from now, so the best scenario would be to finish the job, visit her villa with the knights, and return them.
‘If I clear all the forests on the artificial island in two weeks, will she let me use them for another two weeks? There are a few places I’d like to use them.’
Like wiping out the Namdong Industrial Complex.
But I had to ask.
It would be rude to borrow them for a specific purpose and then keep using them for other things just because the job was finished sooner than expected.
I’m not the type to value etiquette, but it would be foolish to fall out with a direct line over such trivial matters.
So I called her.
– Yeah. What is it now?
Gominji, as always, didn’t bother with greetings and went straight to the point.
“My subordinate says it’ll be done in two weeks at this rate.”
– Really? That’s faster than I thought.
“But you said you’d lend them to me for a month, right?”
– Ah. Yeah. You’re calling because you want to use them for something else?
“Yes.”
She was silent for a moment.
She seemed to be thinking.
– This bastard. How lecherous are you, really?
“Excuse me?”
– I knew it. You always have ulterior motives. Tsk tsk tsk.
What was she talking about?
– Do whatever you want. Just don’t break them. I’ll be mad if you castrate them without saying anything like last time.
“Would I ever do that?”
– “Never” is a dangerous word. Use them gently. They’re expensive toys. Do you know how much it costs to make them?
“I understand.”
In the end, they’re just toys.
Rough world.
“Thank you, Sis.”
– Uh-huh.
Gominji hung up.
Now I could use Gominji’s exclusive knights for other things.
I looked at Dorothy, and she straightened her back even more.
I unconsciously scanned her pretty face and body.
‘Oh, no way.’
Was that what she meant by “lecherous”?
She thought I was going to play with the female knights as toys for a month….
‘Seriously. Does she think I’m some sex-crazed pervert who can’t get laid?’
Pretty accurate, actually.
“Dorothy, come with me.”
“Yes.”
“You guys keep working here.”
I grabbed Dorothy and went into any random room.
+++
The Shanghai Economic Alliance.
One of the countries that emerged when China, which had started and lost World War III, split into twenty pieces. It controlled Shanghai, the center of economy and politics, as well as the surrounding Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Anhui provinces.
With a population of about 310 million, it was a considerable power in terms of national size and economy, but it had one major flaw.
That was that the territory of the Republic of Korea was located to the north and east of the Shanghai Economic Alliance.
The Republic of Korea, or rather, the Goryeo Group, had been steadily checking and pressuring the Shanghai Economic Alliance from the moment it was born.
It couldn’t be helped, as the world still traded by sea, and many of the Republic of Korea’s trade ships inevitably passed through the waters off Shanghai.
Moreover, to take the shortest route, they had to pass through the Taiwan Strait, sticking close to the territorial waters. So they had no choice but to keep poking at them.
Thus, what the Goryeo Group had consistently demanded since long ago was the complete opening of the Shanghai Economic Alliance’s territorial waters.
Originally, civilian ships could enter if they reported, but now they wanted to be able to come and go whenever they wanted without having to report, a rather difficult demand to grant.
Okay.
Let’s concede that much for the sake of trade ships.
Before World War III, that was the international norm anyway.
But the problem was that the demand didn’t end there.
Rather, the core was what came after.
The Goryeo Group argued that merchant ships alone were vulnerable to negative events such as encountering pirates, so they needed naval escorts. Therefore, they demanded the complete opening of territorial waters to warships of Korean nationality or owned by the Goryeo Group.
It was already a sensitive issue to allow civilian ships to pass through, but to allow warships to come and go freely?
It was an absurd demand.
“A report has come in that a giant artificial island, known to have been built over 13 years, departed from Nampo Port without undergoing an official handover ceremony. Its destination… appears to be the waters off our Shanghai.”
“Another artificial island has docked off the coast of Incheon.”
“A report has come in that 15 mechs have been forward-deployed to the artificial island off Incheon.”
Li Wei, the premier of the Shanghai Economic Alliance, clutched his head at the continuous reports.
“Two artificial islands are targeting us?”
A middle-aged man with a receding hairline quickly added to the report.
“Yes. Originally, the 40,000-hectare artificial island that was completed this time was scheduled to undergo a handover ceremony at Nampo Port within this month, followed by various commemorative events. However, considering that all those schedules have been canceled and it has set sail immediately, it is a clear warning to us.”
“…What’s this about it being off the coast of Incheon?”
“It’s a 10,000-hectare artificial island that departed from Tianjin. Due to the perception filter, detailed information is unavailable, but there have been eyewitness reports that 15 mechs were forward-deployed just a few hours ago.”
“15 mechs….”
“The problem is that since it was observed with the naked eye, we cannot say for sure that that’s all there are.”
“You mean there could be more.”
“Yes. There is probably a very high probability that there are dozens more.”
His worries deepened.
He was trying to maintain peace as much as possible and protect even the lowest level of rights, but it seemed that the Goryeo Group wanted war.
“After taking so much…! How can they be so greedy as to covet what’s ours again!!”
The Shanghai Economic Alliance denied the old Communist Party-ruled China.
Since the Communist Party’s China still existed, centered around Hubei Province, they claimed that China and the Shanghai Economic Alliance were separate.
But such statements were bound to fall on deaf ears.
The twenty or so countries that had broken away from China were still paying huge reparations.
The Shanghai Economic Alliance was no exception.
The reparations paid to the Republic of Korea alone amounted to 10% of the Shanghai Economic Alliance’s annual GDP.
In addition, the Goryeo Group was extorting an additional 5% under various pretexts.
Even if they did nothing, they were being bled 15% every year. And now, even more??
“Shameless Bbangjja bastards!!!”
