Ch.184184. Strange Days in Seorabeol (2)

As mentioned earlier, there were more people who didn’t follow Seorabeol than expected, with a notable example being the low number of citizens enlisting in the military.

While there were various excuses for not enlisting, it could be summed up in one sentence.

“It doesn’t pay well.”

Yes, in the end, it wasn’t financially rewarding.

Joining the military certainly provided opportunities for advancement.

These opportunities were given fairly, and the military commander Jeong Dong-geon was fair in calculating merits. If one demonstrated their abilities well, they would be promptly appointed. So military enlistment was the fastest way to advance for those with ability.

However, the numerous restrictions that came with rapid advancement were unavoidable.

In this era where individualism flourished, many of the restrictions imposed by the military clashed with this individualism, and citizens who didn’t want their freedom suppressed began refusing to enlist.

“Just receiving a salary and living like that? Are you kidding me?”

In reality, this was the case for talented Awakened, while untalented Awakened had to live on just a salary as ordinary soldiers.

Of course, being Awakened meant earning more than average small business owners, but wealth standards are relative. When talented individuals received more money and advanced, while they remained as ordinary soldiers, discontent inevitably built up, whether consciously or not.

“And we can’t even loot. Who do you think we are, fools?”

Additionally, not even allowing looting as a supplementary benefit made military service seem unattractive.

In modern times, the idea of permitting looting would be horrifying, but the grim reality was that in this apocalypse, looting was the right of the victor, and taking the property of the defeated to gain wealth was something everyone did.

Most warlords permitted looting of civilians to boost their soldiers’ morale, to the extent that taking property from the defeated or weak had become a sort of established practice in this apocalyptic society.

However, Seorabeol did not tolerate this established practice, which only intensified the discontent of profit-seeking soldiers, but…

“No, but isn’t the salary we receive at least on par with volunteer army nations rather than conscription nations?”

“Damn it! Kim Tae-hyun is making a fortune in the private sector!”

In fact, objectively speaking, military salaries weren’t even low.

Since they needed to establish an Awakened army, military salaries were structured like those of volunteer army nations rather than conscription nations, and the treatment was also at the level of volunteer armies, not conscription armies.

However, most Awakened simply rebelled, claiming that this level of treatment wasn’t appropriate for Awakened and wasn’t what they wanted.

At the same time, they complained that Kim Tae-hyun, who was also an Awakened, was earning more money than them, claiming that Seorabeol was mistreating the military, but…

‘But he doesn’t loot either. Rather, he’s a collaborator who voluntarily cooperates with the military.’

From Seorabeol’s perspective, hearing these complaints only made them sigh.

Yes, it was true that Kim Tae-hyun made a lot of money through business, but that was because he voluntarily cooperated with the military and personally ventured into dangerous mission areas.

Therefore, the military had no choice but to trust Kim Tae-hyun, who personally went to dangerous zones, and entrusted him with many business operations and military supply transportation. Kim Tae-hyun maintained the military’s trust until the end, which allowed him to grow into a representative company established in Seorabeol.

How could these petty complaints be compared to Kim Tae-hyun, who had rendered such solid service to Seorabeol?

“I don’t want to join the army! I don’t want to die! I want to die by suffocating in a beautiful lady’s bosom!”

Of course, there were also those who simply disliked the military itself.

This was at least understandable to some extent.

In any country, or rather universally, disliking military service is human nature, as is valuing one’s life.

Among these opinions, the relatively reasonable one was:

“Wouldn’t it be better to join the police rather than the military?”

Some hoped to join the police, responsible for internal security in Seorabeol, rather than enlisting in the military and going to the battlefield.

From Seorabeol’s perspective, having Awakened who wanted to join the police was actually fortunate, and with the merger of Daegu, it was a time when more police personnel were needed, so their joining was a blessing.

“Police work seems relatively safer, right?”

Of course, from their perspective, the treatment was similar to the military, but unlike the military that went to the battlefield, they were assigned to relatively safer security duties, so their preference for the police over the military was inevitable, but…

Contrary to their expectations, police work wasn’t safe at all.

In fact, the police faced more intense battles than the military, which had outpost surveillance and wandering monster subjugation duties.

Why would the police, who only dealt with humans, be more dangerous than the military?

“We’re just dealing with other humans, right? Just use a stun gun and it’s over, isn’t it?”

How difficult could it be to subdue a single human in this modern age?

Humans could be easily subdued with a stun gun, and Seorabeol even had the mysterious Bahamut Bullet.

With lightning bullets that could subdue even Awakened, what could be threatening?

“No, that’s not it.”

“Huh?”

“The most dangerous creature, more dangerous than wild monsters, is a human. Especially an Awakened human who has tasted blood.”

Of course it was dangerous, and the most dangerous creature in this world was none other than humans, so subduing humans couldn’t be that simple.

Moreover, the police were dealing with groups of looters who had tasted blood.

“B-but I heard they can handle Awakened too. Such Awakened can’t be common, right?”

But how common were such Awakened?

No matter how much the police warned that Awakened monsters were dangerous, many chose the police career path with the complacent thought, “How dangerous could it really be?”

‘No, the truth is that blood-tasted wild Awakened are extremely common outside.’

But contrary to what they thought were just verbal warnings, wild Awakened in this apocalypse were so common outside Seorabeol that you could easily encounter them just walking by.

“Wow, this is a total cushy job!”

As if there could be cushy jobs in this apocalypse. You rice-eating parasite.

“KIEEEEEEEK!”

And these people regretted it the moment they were deployed to police duties.

The police’s warnings before enlistment weren’t given for nothing.

They regretted that if they had enlisted in the military instead of the police, they wouldn’t have suffered so much, but it was already too late.

But the time had already passed, and now they had to survive against Awakened who were more threatening than monsters.

And finally…

“I want to become a warlord of chaotic times! I want to become a regional lord! I want to become Jo Sun-do!”

“You crazy bastard!”

These were the warlord aspirants in Seorabeol.

In reality, there weren’t no warlord candidates within Seorabeol.

The already risen warlords had shown them that as a faction’s military leader, one could live like a king, and such powerful images gave these people dreams of becoming warlords.

Thinking they wouldn’t follow the same fate as those warlords, there were inevitably those who dreamed of becoming warlords, and naturally, neither the military nor the police could accept such warlord aspirants.

“There’s already someone living like a king! I want to do that too!”

“Seorabeol has already been established as a nation, do you think that’s possible?”

Of course, such opinions were extremely rare, and most people in Seorabeol thought it was impossible and gave up on the idea.

However, there were still those who dreamed of becoming warlords, and…

“All you need is an appointment letter from Lord Bahamut, right?”

“What nonsense… actually, there’s some truth to that!”

Their logic eventually reached the conclusion that with Bahamut’s appointment, becoming a warlord was always possible.

Yes, even without Seorabeol’s approval, if Bahamut recognized it, one could maintain power as a warlord.

Of course, Bahamut would never allow that, and having already selected the Dragon Priestess as his representative, he wouldn’t choose to appoint warlords that would hinder unification. So it was essentially a self-serving argument, but it was undeniably appealing and had some logic to it.

And the group that thoroughly embraced this logic was…

“Right! Choi Yu-na had nothing special! She just luckily got the position of Dragon Priestess and became the leader of the Balhut Cult!”

“Why isn’t there a Ministry of Gender Equality in Seorabeol! Maintain political correctness!”

“Protect women’s rights! Give all women the right to challenge for the Dragon Priestess position!”

The feminist faction and those advocating for political correctness.

Even extremist groups began activities as a kind of civil society organization, thoroughly embracing these arguments.

Particularly, the feminist faction questioned the position of Dragon Priestess, even going so far as to demand that the Dragon Priestess stop monopolizing the contract with the dragon god Bahamut and share it with others.

“Y-y-y-you ungrateful human bastards!”

The fact that organizations receiving government support were backstabbing them made Hwang Geun-chul, the Prime Minister of the Dragon God Association, nearly collapse on the spot, grabbing his neck.

Had they been shot in the brain with lead bullets? How could they advocate for feminism and political correctness in an apocalypse where survival was the priority!

Of course, he couldn’t say these ideologies themselves were entirely bad, and he knew that if properly applied, they could help resolve social discontent appropriately.

But in this apocalypse, it wasn’t the moderate faction that came forward, but the extremist faction that had been harshly criticized before the apocalypse, attacking the foundations of Seorabeol. This made Hwang Geun-chul of the Dragon God Association seriously wonder if these people were 21st-century civilized humans like himself.

“I knew they would make these claims someday, but isn’t it too early! At least wait until a year after the nation’s founding!”

Yes, he already knew they would make these claims eventually.

In fact, it was undeniable that Seorabeol was implementing oppressive policies toward civilians under the pretext of the apocalypse.

But the timing was terrible—they were making these claims just as the nation was establishing government departments after declaring its founding.

Hwang Geun-chul could only sigh and agonize over the numerous problems that kept arising, and…

“I have no choice.”

And after long deliberation, the path he chose was…

“I’ll have to turn them all into marines or army soldiers.”

He decided to shoulder the burden that bore his name.

From now on, all forces hostile to Seorabeol would simply become fresh recruits.