Ch.287287. Civilian (2)

Kim Tae-hyun and Kang Jae-wan’s journey to Seoul wasn’t particularly difficult.

They either entrusted their remaining assets and businesses in Gyeongju to reliable people or liquidated them into cash. With that money in hand, they boarded a ship from Pohang bound for Incheon.

After arriving in Incheon, the two men purchased an old SUV with a lump sum payment and hit the road. Before long, they could see with their own eyes the sight of Seoul undergoing its reconstruction.

“Despite the Dark Lord’s descent, it looks quite intact.”

“True. I thought the land and Han River would be contaminated like the Yamato Union.”

“I heard that Dragon God Bahamut and the Dark Lord directly clashed in Gangbuk.”

It was an unexpected Seoul tour.

Starting from Incheon, they surveyed the areas where the Cult of Immortality and the Seoul Allied Forces had clashed all the way to Seoul. They were impressed by Seoul’s surprisingly intact condition. They sensed that if the New Seoul construction successfully concluded, their gamble would pay off.

At their final stop near the old Seoul Station, Kim Tae-hyun opened the SUV door and stepped out.

“There’s nothing here except roads.”

“Even the Seoul roads aren’t the ones we’re used to seeing, but rather the type we saw when heading toward Bahamut’s temple.”

“Seems like Bahamut personally installed them.”

Despite its fame, Seoul Station was eerily quiet.

It had once been transformed and could be considered a transportation hub and the heart of Seoul. Now, all that could be seen was dust swirling over the roads, the noisy sound of excavators, and workers transporting supplies.

Both Kim Tae-hyun and Kang Jae-wan looked around Seoul Station with nostalgic expressions, reminiscent of what they had witnessed during Gyeongju’s reconstruction.

The former glory of Seoul had completely vanished, but the eyes of the workers engaged in Seoul’s reconstruction were filled with hope and confidence. There was an overflowing expectation that Seoul would be revived.

“I’ll go do some reporting for a bit.”

“Do as you please.”

Witnessing the scene, Kang Jae-wan began capturing their vivid images with his camera while approaching them with his well-worn reporter’s notebook.

He wanted to conduct live interviews about Seoul’s current situation and conditions. Kim Tae-hyun also needed to share some of Jae-wan’s reporting content to understand Seoul’s internal situation in detail.

While Kim Tae-hyun rested from the journey inside the SUV, Kang Jae-wan interviewed the working laborers. He returned to the SUV with a satisfied smile and began organizing the content he had just gathered.

“It feels like seeing early Gyeongju.”

“That much?”

“Yes, it’s an era where anyone who puts in effort can have a chance to grasp wealth and honor.”

In essence, Seoul’s wealth had been distributed equally, and depending on how one managed these given resources, there was an opportunity to gain wealth and honor.

It was an era where, supposedly, anyone could become rich if they worked hard. In fact, as Seoul gradually rebuilt, its economy began to recover, showing remarkable economic growth rates.

However, for now, citizens had only just begun economic activities.

“There aren’t proper shopping streets set up in Seoul yet, nor factories for mass sales to citizens.”

There wasn’t even proper private commerce, let alone corporations.

Kim Tae-hyun headed to the Dongdaemun Market, which had once been a large-scale shopping district. The countless restaurants and offices that had stretched endlessly along Cheonggyecheon had long since become ruins with nothing remaining.

The only thing Kim Tae-hyun could see were guild members sent by the Three Major Guilds to establish footholds in Seoul. These guild members were setting up temporary tents and looking around perplexedly.

They had sent guild members thinking there would be at least buildings left, but instead, they found completely empty land with nothing at all. For the first time, they had to erect new buildings from start to finish using the Three Major Guilds’ capital without any external support.

Moreover, considering the reputation of the Seorabeol Three Major Guilds, they needed to provide buildings befitting their prestige, which inevitably caused disruptions in budget execution.

“Even the Three Major Guilds seem perplexed.”

“Unlike Gyeongju, Seoul really has nothing. According to rumors, they expressed ambitions to establish bases near where the Dragon God would settle, but…”

“Since there are no buildings left in Gangbuk, they have to erect new buildings from scratch. Poor them.”

In Gyeongju, there had been an abundance of empty buildings, and if one acquired a decent high-rise building and thoroughly renovated it, it could easily become a base for a large guild.

However, contrary to expectations, Seoul had no such buildings left to serve as bases. For guild members who had come to Seoul thinking there would be empty buildings like in Gyeongju, the situation was extremely perplexing.

Of course, if one looked across all of Seoul, it wasn’t that there were absolutely no buildings suitable for the Three Major Guilds’ bases.

If they compromised and established their base in Gangnam across the Han River instead of Gangbuk, finding one or two large buildings for the guild would be very simple.

“Seeing the Three Major Guilds’ predicament, settling in Gangbuk won’t be easy.”

“This is the lowest point right now.”

“That’s true. But they need to focus on rebuilding everything from scratch. There’s a high chance of suffering significant losses before seeing any profit.”

But now was indeed the lowest point, and it was the cheapest time to acquire land in Gangbuk.

People were already flocking to Gangnam, which was habitable, making Gangbuk land relatively cheap.

In other words, they valued the present more than the future, but both the Three Major Guilds and Kim Tae-hyun knew.

This was just the lowest point, and with the Dragon God settling in, the prices in the Gangbuk area would inevitably continue to rise!

“Starting anew on ruins is the cheapest investment. We’ve already experienced this in Gyeongju. Thinking about what happened in Gyeongju, it might be perplexing now, but before long, that area will become gold that can’t be bought even with a fortune.”

“That much?”

Kim Tae-hyun focused on the fact that the area would become the economic center in the future, land that couldn’t be bought even with a fortune.

Yes, just holding onto that land without doing anything would allow for selling it at a high price later.

Of course, there could also be a phenomenon where demand drops when the price gets too high.

“Considering the power and fame of Dragon God Bahamut, when this news spreads overseas, foreign capital will definitely flow in.”

“Indeed. The Seorabeol Mage Association and Craftsmen Guild also showed signs of movement, right?”

Not only foreign forces, but also the Seorabeol Mage Association and Craftsmen Guild had shown interest before they came here, indicating that now was indeed the lowest point.

The Seorabeol Mage Association and Craftsmen Guild, which could be considered the biggest players, had enormous capital incomparable to Kim Tae-hyun’s, and if given even a little time, all the prime land would become theirs.

“For a small business owner like me, if I miss this opportunity, there might not be a next one. Let’s move quickly. I heard that Seoul’s land is first distributed to citizens who lived in Gangbuk, so I need to buy those rights.”

Before that, he needed to secure land by physically moving quickly, and realizing the urgency of the situation, Kim Tae-hyun quickly headed to the market in Gangnam.

He needed to purchase land to settle in Gangbuk before it was too late.

“Will it be easy to buy?”

“I don’t know. I’ve prepared as many coins as possible, but whether it’s enough…”

The biggest issue was indeed the price.

Kim Tae-hyun had liquidated all the assets he had accumulated so far and prepared a substantial amount of coins, but nonetheless, this was land in Seoul, the capital of South Korea.

Unlike the surplus land in Gyeongju, it was land that still held high value, and it would certainly be priced several times higher than Gyeongju’s land.

“With the New Seoul plan already announced, it’s going to be extremely expensive.”

Especially with the reconstruction project underway.

Many would think of it as land that would gain higher value over time, and most Seoul citizens might pursue long-term profits by not selling and keeping it, but…

“Thank you so much for the transaction on the terms we proposed! I’ll be going now.”

“…”

But surprisingly, Kim Tae-hyun quickly succeeded in securing land near Gwanghwamun Plaza.

Kim Tae-hyun and Kang Jae-wan were so silent at how easily they acquired the land that they almost thought the land contract in their hands was fake. However, Geas scrolls were already commonplace in Seoul, and for land contracts with many rights, there was even a mark certifying that the Dragon God personally guaranteed it, so there was no falsehood in the contract itself.

“We got it quickly.”

“Yes, really quickly.”

Contrary to expectations, they succeeded in acquiring land very quickly.

Seoul citizens who received land as a kind of settlement support prioritized the present over the future. Although they knew the distributed land would greatly increase in value in the future, to those who needed assets to use right now, someone like Kim Tae-hyun was just a rich sucker.

To be frank, right now there was nothing there, just a piece of land, which they bought for a huge sum.

“I paid a high price, but getting land near Gwanghwamun Plaza is a stroke of luck.”

“Yes, I spent more than half of the assets from disposing of the business.”

Kim Tae-hyun had used half of his entire fortune for a piece of land with nothing on it.

Given that Kim Tae-hyun had been called a rich man or capitalist in Gyeongju, he had a considerable amount of cash and physical assets, yet half of his fortune had gone just to acquire a piece of land without even a building. It could be considered a painful loss, but…

“This is where I start anew. This is when I build something of my own on these ruins.”

“Oh? Something of my own. Then how about this for the article title? Kim Tae-hyun. After the Seoul Incident. He arrived in Seoul with his entire fortune and a friend to help rebuild. The journey of two friends beginning on ruins is about to start…”

At least he had secured a place to make a new start.

As if that alone was enough, he pledged to build something of his own in this ruined Seoul, and Kang Jae-wan, facing such a Kim Tae-hyun, laughed heartily and began to spin a story like a novel.

“Cut that crap! It sounds like bromance!”

“It’s popular with female readers?”

“Stop it. Really stop it. My heart is solely directed toward Yu-na.”

At those words, Kim Tae-hyun exclaimed in horror, telling him to stop, and Kang Jae-wan, as if teasing Kim Tae-hyun, tried to persuade him that it would be popular with female readers, but it didn’t work at all, as Kim Tae-hyun asserted that his heart was always directed toward Yu-na.

But to such words from Kim Tae-hyun, Kang Jae-wan only said one thing with an expression as if looking at something truly pitiful.

“Yu-na doesn’t know that fact. It’s a love that will never be reciprocated.”

“Ack! The fact hurts too much!”

Nevertheless, Kim Tae-hyun’s feelings toward Yu-na would never change.

Kim Tae-hyun watched the scene announcing that Seoul was preparing to welcome a new country from the land he had purchased, and seeing such a Kim Tae-hyun, Kang Jae-wan grinned and extended his hand.

“Alright. Since it’s come to this… if you fail, I’ll write an article about it, and if you succeed, I’ll publish a book.”

“Then write this at the beginning of your article.”

At those words, Kim Tae-hyun also grinned and extended his hand.

“Here, I start again.”

The two men shook hands, feeling a strange friendship.

It was a new beginning for two young men on ruins, but…

“Oh? Tae-hyun, Jae-wan. I never dreamed I’d see you here.”

“Y-Yu-na?!”

However, their serious resolve was short-lived.

What greeted them upon arriving at Gwanghwamun was none other than Yu-na, who had been managing the health of Seoul citizens.

Having met such an unexpected person in such an unexpected place, both Tae-hyun and Jae-wan could only look at Yu-na with shocked expressions.