Ch.185185. A Strange Day in Seorabeol (3)

However, making policy decisions without any negotiation was something a dictator would do, not what a prime minister should do.

As a prime minister who had legitimately received power from the Dragon Priestess, he decided to first summon the protesters who had recently caused a commotion in Seorabeol and hear what they had to say.

In conclusion, their demands were purely selfish, asking for all their wishes to be fulfilled and guaranteeing rights for women, not for the benefit of Seorabeol but for their own organization’s greed.

“Very well. I’ll grant those demands.”

After listening to all their sophistry, Hwang Geun-chul quietly nodded.

True, their logic was complete nonsense, but there was one way he could use their arguments to his advantage.

“We won! Women’s rights have won! Long live feminism! Long live political correctness!”

They want human rights? Seorabeol must uphold political correctness from now on?

Fine, I’ll grant that.

If they’re going to force political correctness and women’s rights on Seorabeol…

“From now on, for equal rights between women and men, women will also bear the same obligations as men.”

“That’s only natural!”

“Indeed. From now on, please serve in the military. About two years of service should do! Haha. New asse… I mean, new soldiers are always welcome.”

From now on, they would become Seorabeol’s new recruits.

In exchange for granting their demands, Hwang Geun-chul demanded obligations equal to those rights.

In other words, he demanded that these human rights activists bear the sacred duty of military service just like South Korean men before the apocalypse, and in response to this demand, the self-proclaimed human rights group…

“Huh?”

They wore dumbfounded expressions as if they hadn’t heard correctly.

They seemed completely caught off guard by Hwang Geun-chul’s demand.

“Didn’t you hear me? With rights come obligations. If you voluntarily complete two years of military service, I’ll do my utmost to implement the policies you want within my authority.”

“W-what are you saying? Why should I go to the military?”

Naturally, there was pushback.

Of course there would be resistance, given that even the semi-volunteer military system was criticized for poor treatment. Hwang Geun-chul was essentially forcing them into military service by announcing a change from a volunteer system to conscription.

Although military service had been a natural obligation for South Korean men before the apocalypse, these people looked at Hwang Geun-chul with bewildered expressions, as if they disliked that obligation.

“My goodness. Why do you think soldiers in Seorabeol join the military? Don’t they all serve to protect their city on a small scale and Seorabeol as a country on a larger scale? This was even an obligation that all South Korean men shouldered before the apocalypse. Fortunately, we have patriotic people like you just when Seorabeol is short on military personnel!”

“Y-y-you… sexist!”

Hwang Geun-chul’s real intention was to solve Seorabeol’s military shortage with this justification.

Yes, women’s rights and political correctness are all well and good.

But for the future of the newly established Seorabeol, he decided to join hands with the self-proclaimed human rights group to address one of Seorabeol’s problems: the shortage of military personnel due to draft evasion.

Of course, this could become a major liability for Seorabeol in the future.

‘Anyway, if there’s a change of government at the right time, all these promises can be conveniently forgotten.’

Hwang Geun-chul was counting on the possibility of a change in government, which is characteristic of democracy.

If power were transferred to the Constitutional Democratic Party, the rights he promised to these people could fade away without resolution.

Of course, they might have anticipated this possibility.

“As it happens, I was planning to propose to Lord Bahamut that we switch from a volunteer system to conscription… How fortunate that you’re all willing to help!”

“A-ahem! We believe military service is unreasonable for most women. I don’t think Lord Dragon Bahamut needs to know about this.”

Hwang Geun-chul increased the pressure on the self-proclaimed human rights group by invoking Dragon Lord Bahamut’s name.

At the mention of that illustrious name, even the vocal human rights groups found it difficult to strongly oppose Hwang Geun-chul’s words.

The name Bahamut carried too much weight for them to handle.

“Awakened ones shouldn’t be a problem, right? Those who join the military are all Awakened.”

“Even for Awakened, it’s unreasonable for women!”

Above all, Seorabeol was recruiting Awakened ones.

Even women, when awakened as Awakened ones, exhibited strength several times that of ordinary humans, so they couldn’t be exempted just because they were women.

Of course, some insisted that military service was unreasonable for women, but…

“What about hero Jin A-yeon or the Dragon Priestess who goes to the front lines herself? And there are already brave female soldiers fighting on the front lines.”

Many female Awakened ones were already active on the battlefield.

There was Jin A-yeon, called a hero, and when needed, the Dragon Priestesses Yu-na and Seol-hwa always showed their power at the forefront of battle.

Even beyond these talented and special individuals, there were already female soldiers in the military, notably Son Sang-hui, who served as Jeong Dong-geon’s adjutant.

The excuse that they couldn’t join the military simply because they were women didn’t hold water.

“No, we just wanted the rights that men enjoy!”

“Those rights naturally come with obligations. Surely you’re not disparaging the soldiers who protect Seorabeol?”

But they wanted rights without the corresponding obligations.

When they explicitly stated they only wanted the rights men enjoyed, Hwang Geun-chul firmly replied that rights come with appropriate obligations, and asked if they were disparaging the soldiers protecting Seorabeol.

Seemingly heated by Hwang Geun-chul’s words, they began to protest loudly.

“I hear soldiers are already getting massive compensation! Isn’t it only natural that they protect us with our tax money!?”

“Compensating soldiers who protect Seorabeol is absolutely natural. Aren’t they risking their lives right now to protect Seorabeol from undead and monsters? Surely you don’t think their efforts and lives have no value?”

The fact that these people could enjoy civilian life without any threats was only possible because of soldiers’ blood, sweat, and sacrifice.

Even as they were arguing, soldiers on the front lines were risking their lives to protect citizens, and their efforts deserved proper recognition.

In fact, because of the apocalypse, the Balhut Cult had to ensure good treatment for soldiers and didn’t hesitate to invest tax money for soldiers’ human rights.

“It’s Bahamut who protects Seorabeol!”

“That’s true. This country is under the dragon’s protection. But do you think Bahamut would involve himself in such minor details? He’s busy with other matters, which is why he selects representatives like us and the Dragon Priestess.”

So their only counterargument was to mention Bahamut.

They were saying that no matter how important soldiers were, they would be meaningless if Bahamut stepped in, and Hwang Geun-chul didn’t deny that.

However, Dragon Lord Bahamut didn’t involve himself in Seorabeol to protect each individual, and Hwang Geun-chul informed them of this fact, adding that Bahamut was busy with other matters, which was why Seorabeol existed in the first place.

“Y-you…!”

“I understand that military service is difficult. I know that. Your freedom is restricted, you undergo tough training every day, you have to endure derogatory terms like ‘grunt’ and ‘military fanatic’ from people like you, and yet they still risk their lives to protect you. But now you’re claiming to be victims while disparaging the soldiers who protect the country. Let me put it another way.”

After sighing at the human rights group who couldn’t refute his arguments, Hwang Geun-chul continued…

“Why should we cooperate with you? It’s the apocalypse, isn’t it? The apocalypse where all civilization and ideologies have collapsed. Shouldn’t feminism and political correctness that existed before also collapse?”

He answered that Seorabeol had no reason to cooperate with them.

The apocalypse had destroyed everything, and existing ideologies naturally collapsed as well.

In this apocalypse, feminism and political correctness had essentially become useless and needed to be rebuilt as sound theories after their collapse.

So Hwang Geun-chul refused to cooperate with them.

“You should prepare yourselves.”

“Sure, sure. Let’s unify South Korea first. And by the way, what I just said will actually be reflected in policy, so you all should prepare yourselves.”

“What?!”

Although the angry human rights group warned him to prepare, Hwang Geun-chul casually ignored them and warned in return that he would implement the policy he had just mentioned.

In reality, implementing one or two extreme policies right after founding the country could be easily achieved under the pretext of the apocalypse.

Switching from a volunteer system to conscription? Female conscription?

Before the apocalypse, these would have been highly controversial policies that would have been attacked by political opponents, but with the apocalypse as justification, they could be implemented without much resistance.

Moreover, even the Constitutional Democratic Party, the political rival of the Dragon Association, had implicitly formed a national unity cabinet despite their outward conflicts. If Hwang Geun-chul explained to them that this was a policy to bolster Seorabeol’s military forces, he was confident the policy would be implemented, even if they put on a show of resistance like WWE.

“We elected you as our representative, and this is how you repay us!? Just die!”

“Thwack!”

What happened to their representative afterward need not be detailed.

According to rumors, they were impeached, beaten by someone on the street, or even sold into a back alley—disturbing rumors, but commonplace in this apocalypse.

But that wasn’t what mattered.

As Prime Minister Hwang Geun-chul gradually began to take action, news of this quickly reached the ears of Dragon Priestess Yu-na.

“Ahaha… You’ve had a hard time.”

“I apologize for causing you concern.”

Yu-na naturally had to summon Hwang Geun-chul because of this commotion, and after hearing what he had to say, she comforted him, saying he must have had a difficult time.

Hwang Geun-chul apologized, bowing his head as if sorry that this news had reached Yu-na.

After all, internal social issues were supposed to be handled by Hwang Geun-chul, the head of the Dragon Association and the cabinet, and the fact that it had reached Yu-na indicated the seriousness of the problem.

“I suppose soldiers might feel their treatment is inadequate. It’s the same as it was a year ago.”

“That’s a complaint from those who are well-fed. It’s a claim made by people who don’t know what it’s like outside.”

Yu-na pointed out the core of the problem, and Hwang Geun-chul replied that it was a complaint from the privileged.

Considering that many cities outside couldn’t even maintain civilized living, claiming that military treatment was poor could be dismissed as nonsense from someone who knew nothing.

In fact, the military provided civilized living conditions and guaranteed food, clothing, and shelter, so their treatment couldn’t be considered poor.

“But there are people who claim they can’t be satisfied with such treatment, right?”

“…Yes.”

Hwang Geun-chul felt ashamed at those words.

In the end, Yu-na was pointing out the cabinet’s failure to suppress social discontent, and the cabinet’s failure was the Dragon Association’s failure.

He suddenly thought that he might lose Dragon Lord Bahamut’s trust if he wasn’t careful, but…

“Since we’re on this topic, how about forming an elite force summoned by the Dragon Priestess’s order?”

Yu-na didn’t seem to blame Hwang Geun-chul at all and instead proposed forming a kind of elite force to address the current military issues.

“A royal guard… no, you mean establishing special forces.”

“Yes. A newly formed corps composed of the most elite Awakened ones in Seorabeol. A mobile division that can defend the capital and, if necessary, go on expeditions directly.”

“Not bad. Considering the prestige of the Dragon Priestess, it’s a corps that should be established right after founding the country.”

It was also an opportunity to redistribute positions held by established military personnel to newcomers.

Essentially, people avoided joining the military because it was difficult to advance even after enlisting, but if new high-ranking positions were created and existing positions became vacant, more people would prefer military service.

Moreover…

“Those seeking honor would want to join this division.”

It would certainly be a valuable position for those motivated by honor and fame rather than money.

Hwang Geun-chul showed a favorable response to Yu-na’s proposal, saying it wasn’t a bad idea.

“Now for the name… since our country is called Seorabeol, how about Hwarang?”

“Hwarang. I like that.”

Yu-na decided to name the newly established unit “Hwarang,” using Seorabeol as an example.