Ch.203203. Police Sergeant

As the Hwarang were deployed in the Kyushu reclamation battle to gather spoils—no, experience points—other regions beyond Kyushu were also feeling the effects of the reclamation operation.

Pohang, which guaranteed the maritime supply routes for the Kyushu reclamation forces and secured trade routes for Asian international nations, was feeling these effects most strongly.

Baek Seol-hwa, who had been ensuring the safety of the East Sea, couldn’t help but marvel at the enormous volume of trade goods that had arrived at the port from Fukuoka.

“I-is all this rice from Japan?”

“Yes. It’s been a while since we’ve seen rice. In America, they mainly sold soybeans and corn.”

Rice. Rice. Rice. Rice. Rice.

The primary trade good that Fukuoka sold to Seorabeol was none other than rice.

Rice was practically the staple food for Koreans, making it critically important. Unlike other trade goods, the civilian demand for rice was rapidly increasing every month.

The reason was quite simple.

“True. Lately we’ve been eating nothing but soy and corn dishes. Rice is precious.”

Trade with America had helped solve the food shortage, but America’s main exports were meat, soybeans, and corn—and soybeans and corn weren’t staples in the Korean diet.

Soybeans were processed into various products, and corn was being developed into appropriate processed foods through various recipes, but rice was naturally the Korean staple. With rice came strength.

Of course, America did produce rice, and even though domestic rice consumption in America was low, they had facilities to produce rice for export to other countries.

Considering the volume of rice they produced, it would have been possible to import sufficient quantities from America to satisfy Seorabeol, but…

“Most American rice went to China.”

“Yes. A huge rice market has opened up in China. They don’t have rice to sell to us.”

Unfortunately, all that American rice never made it to the Korean peninsula—it all went to China instead.

As soon as warlord factions emerged in China, America immediately made contact with them and began selling them the rice from their warehouses.

The Chinese warlords, who had been experiencing severe food shortages due to the apocalypse, gladly accepted America’s offer and were exporting Chinese wealth to America in exchange for importing American rice.

As a result, there was virtually no American rice available for import to the Korean peninsula. Civilians in Seorabeol were feeling a serious rice shortage, which was why rice imported from Japan continued to rise in popularity.

“By the way, is the development project in the Hyeongsan River midstream area progressing well?”

“It is progressing. Especially since Kim Tae-hyun joined this development project, we’ve been able to secure sufficient investment funds.”

From Seorabeol’s perspective, they wanted to complete the Seorabeol farming project before Japanese rice imports decreased due to the Kyushu reclamation operation.

Seol-hwa asked Seo Un-jae about the progress of the development project, and Un-jae replied that thanks to private investment, the development project itself could proceed sufficiently.

Seol-hwa’s eyes lit up when she heard that Kim Tae-hyun, who had become a representative business leader of Seorabeol, was participating.

“As expected of Tae-hyun. I feel like we should always be grateful to him.”

It felt like even delayed work was being resolved thanks to him.

Seol-hwa wanted to personally express her gratitude to Tae-hyun, but…

“However, there is a problem.”

“What kind of problem?”

Unfortunately, there was an issue with the ambitious development project.

“River pollution from industrial water. The downstream area of the Hyeongsan River is particularly severely polluted.”

“Ah.”

The problem Un-jae mentioned was a chronic weakness of Pohang as an industrial city.

The Hyeongsan River in particular had pollution issues raised since the 1980s, and that pollution remained ongoing.

The pre-apocalypse South Korean government had been aware of the Hyeongsan River pollution, but the limitation was that they couldn’t fundamentally solve the problem.

As it happened, the steel industry based in Pohang was being singled out as the culprit for the pollution.

“…The question is, can we afford to give up steel production?”

Seol-hwa knew that the problem Un-jae mentioned was due to Pohang’s main industry, steel production.

It was a fact that had been ignored before the apocalypse, but after the apocalypse, Seol-hwa herself had become the person in charge of Pohang, so she needed to try to solve this problem.

But…

“We cannot give up on it. The Pohang steel industry handles not only Seorabeol’s weapons industry but also urban industries. If we give it up, we’d have to abandon half of our industries. Not to mention the unemployment that would result.”

“I see. It’s a difficult situation. So what’s the situation in the downstream area of the Hyeongsan River?”

Realistically, it was too much to give up the steel industry right now.

Seorabeol’s weapons industry as well as urban industries were built on steel from Pohang.

If Pohang were to give up steel production, numerous people would become unemployed, and the responsibility for those unemployed would fall on Pohang.

“The waterways leading to the industrial district have reached serious levels of soil and water pollution due to sediment. There are records of river water quality investigations from a few years ago, but they only investigated without solving the root cause, so the pollution level must be tremendous by now. We need to think carefully about how to solve this.”

Since this was a problem that had accumulated since the days of South Korea, Un-jae carefully explained the situation, suggesting they needed to approach it cautiously.

“Can we solve anything by strengthening the current regulations?”

Seol-hwa asked if strengthening regulations could solve the problem, but…

“Some containment would be possible. Unlike before the apocalypse, after the apocalypse, we completely control the steel industry. But it won’t be a fundamental solution.”

Un-jae shook his head, saying it would only contain the problem but wouldn’t be a fundamental solution like they needed now.

“Moreover, many bad practices that remain as customs are difficult to solve in the short term. Especially for elected officials, they might lose support, so everyone pretends not to notice. If they touch it carelessly, they could lose the positions they’ve barely secured.”

“That does sound difficult.”

It was a challenging task.

It meant breaking long-standing customs and bad practices, and the cartels formed because of them would also need to be dismantled.

Usually in such cases, politicians would aim to preserve their own positions rather than touch such sensitive issues.

After all, it was better to just stay put, build up some achievements, and step down than to be driven out by citizens’ criticism or retire in disgrace.

However, unlike such democratic countries, Seorabeol…

“Then someone like me, who has nothing to do with such votes, could make the cut, right?”

This country was also a monarchy that served the dragon god Bahamut as its leader.

It wasn’t a republic elected by the people, but clearly a monarchy, and although it was a constitutional monarchy rather than an absolute monarchy, Bahamut’s royal authority was incredibly powerful beyond imagination.

In reality, since all political problems so far could be solved by Bahamut’s personal abilities, the constitutional royal authority had never been properly exercised.

“Yes. Since it’s the apocalypse anyway, forcing it through with power shouldn’t be a problem. After all, although Seorabeol is based on democracy, it’s not really a democratic country.”

If that royal authority were to be exercised, there weren’t many who could stop it.

If the Dragon Priestess, as Bahamut’s proxy, were to exercise that authority, another Dragon Priestess or Yu-na at the center could stop it, but…

“Moreover, the Seorabeol cabinet seems to have started reforms using Japanese money, so we can’t fall behind. How about using the cabinet as a shield and cutting away Pohang’s bad practices?”

“You seem excited.”

“Of course. Do you think I didn’t know about this before the apocalypse and that’s why I didn’t touch it? I knew everything, but I was afraid of future retaliation.”

Unfortunately for them, Seorabeol was currently undergoing reforms.

Since the country had been established, it was undergoing major reforms or restructuring to match, and issues that couldn’t be touched due to customs or bad practices could now be cut away.

Un-jae advised aggressively that the Dragon Priestess should use the royal authority granted to her to cut away Pohang’s bad practices.

“Judging by your attitude, are you in favor of the reforms, Mr. Seo Un-jae?”

“Yes. Fundamental reforms are necessary. Even though Seorabeol has been established, there are still countless factions within Seorabeol calling for the days of South Korea. Reforms to overhaul the foundation of the nation are not an option but a necessity.”

When Seol-hwa asked if Un-jae was also in favor of reforms, Un-jae nodded and strongly argued that now that Seorabeol had been established, it was time to forget the days of South Korea.

In fact, this was a common problem in newly established countries, and in such cases, they needed to prove that they were better than the previous country through generational change.

For that, reforms to overhaul the foundation of the nation were not an option but a necessity.

“If we’re going to reform anyway, it would be good to root out all the customs and bad practices left over from the South Korean era. Of course, as time passes, new customs and bad practices will emerge… but that’s clearly the task of future generations. Now we need to focus on rooting out the bad practices right in front of us.”

“Hmm.”

Of course, not all the bad practices left over from the South Korean era could be eliminated with these reforms, and they would revive as new bad practices over time.

But Un-jae advised that we couldn’t be responsible for that too, and suggested leaving it to future generations.

After listening to Un-jae’s advice and thinking for a moment, Seol-hwa said:

“First, I will solve the pollution in the downstream area of the Hyeongsan River. As for the reforms to be carried out in Pohang, please discuss with the Pohang council and report back.”

“Yes, I will discuss it. By the way, regarding pollution… regulations again?”

She decided to personally handle the downstream area of the Hyeongsan River, and at the same time, to proceed with the reforms that Pohang would implement.

In the end, she recognized that this was an issue she needed to handle directly as the Dragon Priestess rather than relying on the cabinet’s help, and for that…

“No. If regulations won’t solve it quickly, it’s better to solve the root problem first.”

“Solution?”

“Unlike before the apocalypse, now we have the mystery of magic, right? Then, there might be magic that can purify pollution?”

She decided to use the technology born from the apocalypse… the mystery of magic, rather than conventional methods.

At that declaration, Un-jae opened with a questioning expression, but…

“I want to say that the magic we need won’t appear so conveniently… but…”

At first, Un-jae wanted to advise that it couldn’t be solved so easily, but he soon had to change his mind.

Considering the numerous magical tools that had recently appeared, he changed his thinking to believe that magic capable of solving downstream pollution might exist.

Even now, new magical tools were being created at the Seorabeol Mage’s Association, and these tools underwent strict inspection by the Dragon Priestess or Bahamut before being sold to the public.

The important thing was that these magical tools were all mysterious objects directly created by Seorabeol’s mages, not by Bahamut, and the originals of all these objects…

“Yes. I will seek advice from Lord Bahamut. If Lord Bahamut has magic that can purify pollution, that would be good. If not, couldn’t it become a new research project for the Mage’s Association or Lord Bahamut?”

Were tools first designed by the dragon god Bahamut and then taught to them.

So when Seol-hwa said she would borrow Bahamut’s wisdom for this important environmental issue, Un-jae nodded as if it made sense and spoke:

“Well, environmental pollution was one of the serious problems in modern times, so if it becomes one of Lord Bahamut’s research projects, that would be good. I’m starting to get scared because I really think there might be a solution.”

“Yes. I’m also becoming convinced there might be one.”

They believed that the dragon god Bahamut would have a solution that transcended what they could imagine.

Such belief was natural for them, and so Seol-hwa met directly with Bahamut to consult on this matter.

“Water purification magic? Pollution purification? Well, we can use it. It’s magic I’ve been researching since the days when I supplied water to the Balhut Cult.”

Bahamut had been in charge of water supply and water quality management for the Balhut Cult.

Bahamut had known magic capable of solving pollution all along.