Apocalypse (2)
At present, the only places in South Korea where normal daily life was possible were Seoul and Busan.
Then what about the cities other than those two?
In a word, the situation in the other cities perfectly matched the word “apocalypse.”
Humans could technically survive there, but because of various problems, it was practically impossible to live like a human being.
In particular, the countless insect-type mutants called “Mana Bugs” would cling to anything that emitted even the slightest trace of mana while it was alive, gnawing away at everything. Because of that, if someone carelessly carried an item powered by mana crystals and left Seoul or Busan to enter the area affected by the mana field, they would quickly find themselves in serious trouble.
This was also the reason why the Korean Gate Management Bureau was having difficulty bringing the Anti-Field Generator to Sejong City.
Currently, the bureau is using various methods to create a route to secure a safe travel path between Seoul and Busan, but the task is far from easy.
People traveled between Seoul and Busan using transportation that did not contain mana, such as bicycles or horses, but naturally, it took a long time.
And because of the Mana Bugs, transporting items with even a moderate amount of size or weight was nearly impossible.
Because of this, the two cities could still exchange things, but nothing could be done smoothly.
In fact, that was precisely why the Korean government desperately wanted to install an Anti-Field Generator in Sejong City.
They intended for it to act as a bridge connecting Seoul and Busan.
However… the problem was that the Mana Bugs would almost certainly destroy the Anti-Field Generator during transport.
So after going in circles, the request ultimately ended up being given to Seon Yul.
Seon Yul waited for Cha Seong Hyeon to bring the Anti-Field Generator.
After the system completed its final patch(?) and disappeared, the community remained active, but the community mail function had stopped working.
Automatic settlement no longer occurred, and it was no longer possible to communicate with other mana users through mail.
When the suspension of the mail function was first announced, it caused more confusion than expected. But humans were creatures that adapted, and before long, they got used to it. Now people lived as if that feature had never existed in the first place.
Mana users even said they were fortunate the system hadn’t taken away their Awakened abilities, and instead communicated by posting community messages using prearranged codes.
If you didn’t have teeth, you learned to chew with your gums.
Of course, some people didn’t need teeth or gums.
When everyone else struggled, there was someone who could solve everything with a simple “click.”
That person was Seon Yul.
Creeeak.
Seon Yul opened a door and stepped outside.
The door he had opened was the main entrance of an ordinary building located in the middle of Sejong City.
At present, almost no one lives in Sejong.
Most of the surviving people in South Korea had crowded near Seoul or Busan.
Entering the administrative districts of those cities was another issue entirely, but at least people believed they could receive some form of help if they stayed nearby, so an enormous number of people had gathered around the two cities.
At times like this, the fact that South Korea’s birthrate had sharply declined and its population had actually been decreasing seemed to work to its advantage.
“This is basically a ghost city.”
Just like the rest of the city, Sejong had lost most of its population to Seoul and Busan, so there was no sign of human presence.
Seon Yul began walking toward Sejong National Arboretum, the location designated by the government for the request.
As he moved, Seon Yul recalled the conversation he had with Cha Seong Hyeon two days earlier when he received the Anti-Field Generator.
***
“But why Sejong? If you’re going to revive a city, wouldn’t it be better to revive Daejeon instead?”
“Well….”
Cha Seong Hyeon looked slightly flustered by Seon Yul’s sudden question hitting the core of the matter.
“On top of that, Sejong National Arboretum? That’s not even in the center of the city. There’s some other reason, right?”
“…Sigh. There’s no point hiding things from AbsoluteSafetyFirst. The real reason the government… and our bureau… chose Sejong City is that the main production facility of Project R is located underground in Wonsu Mountain in Sejong. Research for Project R was conducted in a laboratory in Seoul, and the K-White Tiger prototypes were manufactured at a factory attached to that lab. But when it came time for full-scale mass production, the large-scale system was built underground in Wonsu Mountain.”
“If you built the system with the Great Cataclysm in mind from the start, didn’t you design it so it could operate even without electrical power?”
“Of course we did. But when we actually tried to produce them… we lacked infrastructure, and various problems arose, so we couldn’t run the system properly.”
“So in the end, you’re trying to revive Sejong to run it properly.”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
***
“A misjudgment, basically… but other countries might have the same problem.”
Since the mistake came from not anticipating that the catastrophe would become this bleak, Seon Yul guessed that other nations were probably in similar situations.
Bzzzz. Bzzzz.
Pop! Pop!
Seon Yul casually smashed the Mana Bugs that began clinging to him with a few light punches.
There were enough Mana Bugs to fill the entirety of Sejong City.
They did not directly threaten human lives, but they constantly clung to humans, causing intense disgust and triggering inflammation.
The condition was a skin disease called “Mana Rash.”
It wasn’t a serious illness, but it was essentially incurable because there was no real treatment. Those affected had to endure inflammation for anywhere from two days to as long as a week.
Because of this, people living within the range of the mana field outside Seoul and Busan usually wrapped their entire bodies so that no bare skin was exposed.
Seon Yul eliminated all the Mana Bugs trying to latch onto him and eventually arrived at his destination.
“Even these insect-type mutants are this bad… If mammals the size of cats or dogs mutate as Team Leader Cha said, things will get really serious.”
Cases of mutated rodents like rats were already occasionally being discovered.
Those mutated rats were called “Mana Mice,” and they were classified as monsters capable of dealing surprisingly serious damage to humans.
Being classified as monsters meant that hunting them would yield loot.
In fact, it was said that if you dissected a Mana Mouse, you could find a tiny fragment of a mana crystal inside its body… about the size of a grain of rice (roughly 0.001 kg).
For this reason, quite a few people risked their lives hunting Mana Mice.
Although they were monsters, they were so weak that they were practically the only monsters that could be hunted even by people who weren’t mana users.
“Is this the place?”
After pushing through the Mana Bugs and arriving at the destination, Seon Yul looked around.
Without hesitation, he opened the entrance to Absolute Space.
He immediately took out the Anti-Field Generator and placed it in the designated position.
The generator stood about 7 meters tall and was over 5 meters wide.
It wasn’t small at all.
Perhaps because of that, countless Mana Bugs rushed toward it.
The Anti-Field Generator emitted the scent of mana, making it practically a banquet for them.
However, Seon Yul activated the generator faster than they could reach it.
Click. Whiiiiiiiiing!
The Anti-Field Generator immediately began drawing energy from the soul stone and generated an anti-field that neutralized the mana field.
Tssssssssss!!
The anti-field spread instantly.
A radius of 10 kilometers centered on the generator became an anti-field zone.
In other words, a hemispherical safe zone with a 20-kilometer diameter had been created in Sejong City.
At that moment, the Mana Bugs rushing toward the generator suddenly panicked and tried to turn around and flee.
But in a space where mana had disappeared, they couldn’t exert any strength at all and simply fell to the ground.
Tap tap tap tap.
Then they slowly disintegrated.
“So that’s how it works.”
Watching the anti-field spread quietly, Seon Yul nodded to himself.
Even now, the soul stone inside the generator glowed as it emitted power.
According to Cha Seong Hyeon, 1 kg of soul stone could operate the Anti-Field Generator for about one month.
Since the generator installed in Sejong contained 1 kg, it would continue generating the anti-field for a full month without any additional action.
Soul stones were currently being brought back little by little by returnees from Earth–001.
Of course, they weren’t free. Countries purchased them by paying substantial rewards to the returnees.
At the moment, Seon Yul had about 2.5 kg of soul stones.
He had no intention of giving them to the Korean government for free, but if the conditions were right, he was willing to exchange them for appropriate compensation.
“The request is finished… The government and the bureau will probably arrive soon.”
Seon Yul had already told them two days earlier that the installation would likely be completed around this time.
From here on out, it was their responsibility.
After finishing the installation, Seon Yul immediately entered Absolute Space and disappeared from Sejong City.
Some people might later wonder how AbsoluteSafetyFirst managed to install an Anti-Field generator alone in the middle of Sejong.
But there was no one who could answer that question.
***
[The GPS satellites will probably take some time.]
“How long will I have to wait?”
[Since there aren’t any satellites left, I’ll likely have to assemble a team and manufacture them myself. If you give me about four months, I’ll try to produce as many as possible.]
“Understood. Then I’ll leave it in your hands.”
This wasn’t something that could be solved by forcing the issue, so the only option was to trust Cha Seong Hyeon as much as possible.
“By the way, is the reconstruction of Sejong going well?”
Two days earlier, Seon Yul had installed the Anti-Field Generator in Sejong, and reconstruction had begun immediately afterward.
There were already dozens of posts about it on the community, so it was impossible not to know about it.
[Everything is being rebuilt rapidly. With this measure, it seems that several million more people will be able to live stably.]
“And the mass production of K-White Tiger is going well, too?”
[Yes, that’s progressing smoothly as well. Once K-White Tigers start being mass-produced properly, the speed at which other cities are rebuilt will likely increase.]
“But isn’t it difficult to rebuild new cities recklessly because soul stones are limited?”
[Since we still have to install two additional Anti-Field Generators, each in Seoul and Busan after Sejong, we don’t plan to expand further immediately. However, even if we can’t install anti-field generators everywhere, we’re trying to restore some level of urban function using temporary methods to create environments for people who can’t enter the safe zones.]
“That’s really good to hear.”
[Speaking of which… if you happen to have spare soul stones, would you consider selling some more?]
“I do actually have a bit of a surplus.”
[Really? Then please sell them to us. The current market price is about 50 billion won per kilogram…]
“Come on, what’s the point of talking about paper money in times like these?”
“…Ahem, my apologies.”
Cha Seong Hyeon apologized immediately.
In truth, money wasn’t completely meaningless. Currency still maintained some level of value.
That was only possible because the government was barely maintaining the system and keeping it running.
However, the value of currency had dropped drastically compared to the past. Something that used to cost 100 million won now requires almost 5 billion won if you want to buy it with money.
In other words, although the price was 50 billion, in pre-catastrophe terms, it was only about 500 million.
Almost no one would sell soul stones for that amount.
“Instead, let’s trade through barter.”
[Barter?]
“Yes. If we exchange soul stones for items I want, then I’m willing to sell them.”
[What items do you want? No, whatever you want… we will make sure to provide it.]
Right now, the most needed resource for every nation is soul stones.
And that meant…
This moment was the most valuable time to sell them.
Comments (0)