## Chapter 3 – 01. Adaptation Complete
‘The NIS?? Why is the NIS here? And what’s with those stats??’
“D-Doryeonnim?”
“No, continue. Please, continue.”
“Ah, yes.”
Why is a woman like that a candidate for my secretary?
Things just got complicated.
If I didn’t know, I wouldn’t, but now I know there’s an NIS spy in the secretary pool, and she’s even a candidate to be my secretary.
What if I choose her as my secretary?
Then I’d be keeping an NIS spy right by my side.
‘Hmm… What should I do?’
If I don’t choose her, a spy will infiltrate the group, and if I do, I’ll have a spy right next to me.
Frankly, now that I’m on my own, I don’t really care if a spy gets into the group, but it’s still unsettling.
“My name is Seo Eun-mi, Doryeonnim.”
“Seo Eun-mi?”
“Yes.”
The woman lied about her name.
And her age, too.
It’s likely that the career and experience she strung together after that are all false as well.
‘Okay, she’s out.’
Honestly, I don’t think the NIS would bother with someone as incompetent as Go Mu-yeol, but there’s no need to take on unnecessary risks.
But I didn’t want a burly man as my secretary either. If I’m going to live as a scoundrel, I should have a hot woman as my secretary.
‘It’s a shame about the stats, though.’
“You’re all pretty terrible.”
“….”
When I stood up, they all became more demure.
“I’ll just find someone myself.”
“…We’re sorry.”
Chief Han bowed deeply, and the other candidates lowered their heads.
They’re probably cursing me out in their heads. In terms of specs alone, Go Mu-yeol wouldn’t even reach their ankles.
“I’m going to Incheon, so just get the car ready.”
“…Are you really going to find someone yourself?”
“Yes, I’m finding someone myself.”
“Yes, I understand.”
Chief Han retreated, and I looked around Pyeongyang for a while before getting a call that the car was ready and going downstairs.
“Doryeonnim.”
Chief Han was waiting in front of the car.
“Why are you waiting here? You said you were reassigned. You must be busy, go inside.”
“Incheon is dangerous, so you shouldn’t go alone. I’ve contacted Incheon, so please travel with an escort.”
“Okay, thank you.”
“Yes, I’ll be going now. Farewell.”
Chief Han bowed and disappeared into the distance, and the car door opened.
Since the setting is 2076, all cars in this era have perfect self-driving capabilities.
But despite that, the chaebols didn’t use the self-driving function, because it made them look less cool.
So usually, they have a driver or secretary drive for them.
I don’t have a secretary or a driver right now, so I turned on the self-driving function.
This is the first time I’ve turned it on since I bought this car, as far as I remember.
“To Incheon.”
.
.
It took about 4 hours to get from Pyeongyang to Incheon.
The hologram billboards visible from afar and the dizzying array of drab buildings made me think, ‘Ah, so this is the famous Incheon.’
“…Makai Incheon.” (TN: Makai means demon world)
In the world before my possession, it was just a meme, but here it’s not.
It’s actually called Makai Incheon because it’s a real demon world.
It’s the most populous city in South Korea and a leading segregated city with the highest crime rate.
It’s called a segregated city because it’s the only city on the Korean Peninsula where North Koreans and Chinese people can live.
After the Third World War, South Korea gained a huge amount of land and population, and to minimize the chaos, they divided the people into three categories:
Korean
North Korean
Chinese
From the perspective of before the war, it’s absurd, but after the war, the various mega-corporations, mainly the Koryo Group, had already seized power, so they brazenly implemented such discriminatory policies.
Only for profit.
Anyway, these three types of citizens have different legally guaranteed rights.
Koreans are free to travel and reside throughout South Korea and have the right to vote, but North Koreans can only travel to Manchuria, Liaodong, Shandong, the northern part of the peninsula, and Incheon, and the right to vote is only granted to those over 40 who have completed South Korea’s compulsory education.
And Chinese people can only travel to Manchuria, Liaodong, Shandong, and Incheon, and the right to vote is only given in the Jungwon local elections and elections related to Incheon.
Even then, they had to live in the city for decades, and in the case of Incheon, participation in politics was only possible after a generation, so the Chinese were virtually treated as second-class citizens.
In any case, the most economically prosperous place in South Korea, or rather, Asia, was the Korean Peninsula.
Therefore, to make money, people had to come to the Korean Peninsula, and North Koreans and Chinese alike flocked to Incheon, which was allowed.
Thanks to this, Incheon secured a population of nearly 30 million by redeveloping the existing old and new city centers, as well as 14 new cities and the entire island of Ganghwa. That’s more people than Seoul and Gyeonggi combined.
Bbee-oong Bbee-oong
As I was lost in thought, looking at the scenery of Incheon, police motorcycles surrounded my car with their sirens on. Hologram Taegeukgi (Korean flag) were fluttering on both sides of the motorcycles.
“What’s this?”
When I asked, the car AI responded.
– The Incheon Autonomous Police Agency is requesting to share your destination for escort purposes. Do you approve?
“Ah, is this what Chief Han was talking about?”
As I was thinking about his words, a call was forcibly connected.
– Aigoo, Doryeonnim, hello! This is Jang Kyung-soo, Superintendent General of the Incheon Autonomous Police Agency. Haha, it may be a little uncomfortable, but our officers will escort you safely. It’s a bit much to say it myself, but Incheon is a bit rough. Hahaha. Well, it’s a coastal city, so traditionally, you know? There are some rough people. So-
“….”
A talkative old man was talking to me.
‘The police chief?’
The Incheon Autonomous Police Agency is a powerful police organization under the ‘Future Incheon Metropolitan Police Agency’ that is in charge of all public order in Incheon.
They’re called police, but they’re practically a military, and the head of the agency that controls that military is calling me directly.
‘Someone with the rank of Superintendent General wouldn’t be talking to someone like Go Mu-yeol….’
Just looking at the position, he’s a high-ranking official who could treat Go Mu-yeol like trash, but it seems like the intimidation of the ‘Koryo Group’ is considerable, so he’s acting like this.
Chief Han said so, and it didn’t seem like a bad idea, so I shared my destination.
Well, my destination is just the Incheon branch of the Koryo Hotel.
Jang Kyung-soo chattered away and disappeared.
‘Come to think of it, this guy dies not long after the story starts, right?’
He was executed under the pretext of eradicating corruption. The protagonist discovered the drug factory he was secretly running, and it was all exposed, so he was executed as an example.
Ah, by the way, the execution I’m talking about here isn’t about the court handing down a death sentence or anything like that.
It means he was murdered by a person in power much higher up. In other words, it’s a tail-cutting.
‘I don’t have to worry about him much.’
+++
I unpacked in the room, lay on the bed for a while, and then went down to the lobby.
I didn’t want to do drugs again, so my top priority was to get rid of the ‘drug addiction’ trait.
To do that, I had to take a drug item called ‘ninelord,’ which can only be found in Incheon, the center of the world’s black market.
It’s also hidden very secretly, so you can’t even see it normally.
But I know where to get it.
And for free.
“Ah, you’re here.”
I came out to the hotel lobby. The police officers who were sitting on the lobby chairs drinking coffee ran up to me when they saw me. They were the ones who escorted me here.
There were four of them, one of whom was a woman. She was a beautiful woman with long wavy blonde hair and alluring, haughty eyes.
She handed me her business card.
Lim Soo-ah, Superintendent of the 3rd Civil Support Team, Songdo Innovation Future City Police Station.
She’s probably someone with some clout in the neighborhood, and that kind of person came all the way to near Bucheon to start escorting me.
Either she has nothing to do, or she thinks my escort is that important.
Considering the call that the Incheon Police Chief made directly, this might be mild.
“We’ll be protecting you for the time being.”
“You personally?”
I scanned her.
She had a very outstanding figure as a woman, and especially large breasts.
She was very good to look at and even better to hold, but that also meant that she would be very cumbersome in a violent fight.
Of course, that would be another story if she was covered in cyberware, but she didn’t look like it.
Maybe she read my distrustful eyes, because she smiled affably.
Her first impression was of a very haughty ice beauty, but when she smiled brightly, she felt a little loose.
She made a circle with the index finger and thumb of her right hand below her ample chest.
“We’re people who take bribes. You don’t have to worry.”
“….”
I was so dumbfounded that I stared at her for a moment before shoving the business card into my pocket.
I knew it was an open secret, but I didn’t expect her to say it so openly.
“Let’s do that then.”
