Ch.2929. Plunderer (3)

Of course, for these two politicians who had no idea what this foolish dragon was thinking, they interpreted his words as something close to lamentation.

At the same time, it also appeared that Bahamut had made a noble decision.

“Then what should be done with these people?”

The statement that followed confirmed the premonitions of Park Cheol-gon and Hwang Geun-chul.

“The fundamental cause is the special status of the Awakened. If Awakened have absolute power and rights in this disaster situation, a fundamental solution is impossible.”

Park Cheol-gon ultimately argued that the root cause was the special status of the Awakened, and as long as this special status existed, a fundamental solution would be impossible.

“True, even now in Gyeongju, the demand for Awakened is overflowing, but there’s no supply at all.”

Hwang Geun-chul agreed, explaining that the current situation in Gyeongju was one where demand for Awakened was excessive, but supply was completely absent.

Unless they could gain additional Awakened through zombie hunting, the value of existing Awakened would inevitably continue to rise.

After considering Park Cheol-gon and Hwang Geun-chul’s advice, Bahamut thought for a moment.

“Then what if the Awakened were no longer special beings?”

He asked what they thought would happen if the existence of Awakened was no longer special.

Though it was an abrupt statement, it was one way to solve the current situation.

However, according to what Park Cheol-gon and Hwang Geun-chul knew, the method of awakening in South Korea was through hunting zombies.

‘Is this a test for us?’

‘It’s not particularly strange to verify the abilities of working officials, but…’

So their first thought was that this question was a kind of trial testing them.

‘It’s strange to suddenly give a test in the current situation.’

‘Then… does this mean there’s really a way to solve the Awakened problem?’

But finding it odd that they would be tested in the current situation, they instead speculated that Bahamut might have a means to solve the Awakened problem.

Considering the abilities Bahamut had demonstrated so far, it was easiest to understand that he might really have a way to solve this difficult problem.

Once they reached that conclusion, their decision was quick.

“First, Jo Sun-do would lose his reason to rule North Gyeongju.”

“Since he rules by force rather than principle or greater good, the moment his special status disappears, Jo Sun-do would simply be devoured by another powerful force.”

If the Awakened problem could be solved, North Gyeongju’s ruler Jo Sun-do would lose his reason to remain as ruler.

The reason he could rule was because he was an Awakened and the strongest among the Awakened in Gyeongju.

However, if the boundary between Awakened and ordinary people disappeared, Jo Sun-do would lose his legitimacy to rule North Gyeongju.

If only the strong could rule, Jo Sun-do would inevitably be in a position to be challenged by others, and the moment he was defeated once, he would lose everything.

“Then it’s simple. I shall increase the number of Awakened from now on.”

So if they could first erase the special status of the Awakened, Jo Sun-do’s power would inevitably be greatly diminished.

Park Cheol-gon and Hwang Geun-chul fell silent at Bahamut’s sudden shocking statement.

Even now, when awakening just one person was difficult enough to cause wailing, how could he think of increasing the number of Awakened?

Many thoughts crossed their minds, but first they needed to confirm whether this was a mere slip of the tongue or not.

“…If I may ask, is there a method?”

“Yes.”

And Bahamut declared:

“I recently learned how to artificially create Awakened.”

A method to artificially awaken people.

If this were made public now, it might be news that would cause a stir throughout Gyeongju… no, perhaps the entire country.

“…Indeed. You’ve brought a method beyond what I imagined. I thought it would involve capturing zombies to awaken people.”

“If it can be properly implemented, it could clearly solve the Awakened shortage.”

Of course, Park Cheol-gon and Hwang Geun-chul might be making a fuss.

The Awakened shortage was only occurring in Gyeongju where zombies had disappeared from within the city, and many Awakened were still being born in other cities across South Korea.

Of course, the harsh reality was that as many Awakened were dying as were being born.

Either way, there was definitely merit in being able to safely awaken people.

“I discovered it by chance. In any case, I have a method to artificially increase the number of Awakened. What do you think?”

“First, if I may be so bold, announcing this without any justification would cause discontent among the Awakened of our Balhut Cult.”

“I agree.”

However, Park Cheol-gon warned that acting without justification would cause discontent among the Awakened of the Balhut Cult.

‘What? What’s that? That’s scary.’

Discontent from the cult’s Awakened!

This was like a bolt from the blue for Bahamut.

He had discovered a new awakening method to solve the Awakened shortage problem, so how could there be discontent?

“Why is that?”

Hiding his bewilderment, Bahamut asked for the reason with the most composed appearance he could manage.

Of course, while he appeared calm on the outside, his inner feelings were not at ease.

“Just as they consider themselves special, being an Awakened in this era is a kind of privilege, isn’t it? In other words, Awakened are the vested interests of this era.”

“Bahamut’s declaration could be seen as taking away the privileges held by the Awakened.”

“I see.”

Vested interests!

With that one phrase, Bahamut could immediately understand.

In human society, asking someone to give up privileges they possess is very difficult.

While they currently speak of an Awakened shortage with insufficient Awakened in the field, it’s also an undeniable fact that just being an Awakened allowed one to enjoy numerous privileges within the cult.

So they might oppose it to protect those privileges.

‘Of course, there probably aren’t any Awakened who would boldly defy Bahamut himself.’

‘But that discontent could be directed at us.’

Realistically speaking, they couldn’t express their discontent to Bahamut who had saved Gyeongju.

While Bahamut himself currently tried his best to resolve conflicts through dialogue and turned a blind eye to most issues, one shouldn’t forget that he could force compliance through power if necessary.

Moreover, if there were those who opposed, there would certainly be those who supported Bahamut’s plan as well.

“Ah, of course, all this applies only if the policy is implemented without justification.”

“If there’s a convincing justification, even the opposition would find it difficult to refuse.”

“Justification, is it? Then, what justification have you thought of?”

It was originally about what would happen if the policy was implemented without justification.

If the content of the policy was something that many people could accept, even those opposed would find it difficult to object.

Park Cheol-gon and Hwang Geun-chul explained that rather than announcing the policy without thought, there needed to be a justification that others could accept.

Bahamut nodded at this and asked them about that justification.

“We should use the zombie apocalypse disaster itself.”

“This disaster itself can be a powerful justification.”

“Hmm?”

They say that the apocalypse disaster, which is now almost like everyday life, could be used as justification.

The solution was so clear and simple that even Bahamut, who was listening, was taken aback.

“If you simply order them to follow without any explanation, there will be inner resistance. Of course, they might submit to absolute power, but that won’t last forever.”

“So our justification to persuade them is simple. A topic we can all empathize with—using this zombie apocalypse disaster.”

However, it was a fact that everyone could empathize with something so familiar.

While peace had been achieved now, cities other than Gyeongju were still suffering from the zombie apocalypse, and zombies from outside still came to Gyeongju.

“Right now, everyone can focus on their livelihoods because they’re protected under Bahamut. But what if Bahamut’s protection were gone?”

“Even now, crimes are occurring both inside and outside, whether we know it or not. Naturally, people want means to protect themselves. In such a situation, if Bahamut announces the Awakened Project policy, all ordinary people following the Balhut Cult will follow Bahamut.”

The reason there were no problems with peace was because of Bahamut’s protection.

But what if Bahamut’s protection were gone?

What if they went to an area without Bahamut’s protection and faced danger?

Above all, the fact that Awakened crimes were occurring within Gyeongju was spreading among ordinary people, knowingly or unknowingly, and so they would naturally want some means to protect themselves.

“But according to your words, won’t the Awakened, who are the vested interests, not follow?”

However, that was logic to persuade ordinary people.

It wasn’t logic to persuade the existing Awakened who were the vested interests.

“They need their own persuasion method. Of course, since that special consciousness isn’t very deep right now, we could ignore it and proceed, but more justifications are always better.”

“It would be easier to persuade them like this: Realistically, in this zombie apocalypse disaster situation, we need as many Awakened as possible.”

So to persuade them, they needed a method to convince the Awakened who were in the field.

That meant making them see the current reality clearly.

Gyeongju needed many Awakened, and even now, there was a significant shortage of Awakened, causing numerous problems.

“Both the Awakened dispatched to security scenes and those in expeditionary forces all feel it. There are too few Awakened.”

“While it’s not inconvenient now because our territory is limited, there’s an opinion that we’ll soon reach a limit if we unify Gyeongju and expand our influence.”

This issue was already being mentioned in various places.

To solve this, if they awakened additional people, even if there was discontent, it couldn’t be openly expressed.

“Above all, not all Awakened can fight. Rather, there are even Awakened who can’t fight despite being awakened.”

“For Awakened with families, if they could awaken their family members, they could easily switch to supporting the policy.”

And that wasn’t the only method of persuasion.

If an Awakened had parents they served or family they protected, there was sufficient logic to persuade such Awakened.

Rather, such Awakened might empathize the most and become major supporters of this policy.

“So you’re saying there are those who can be sufficiently persuaded.”

“Of course, there are Awakened with a sense of being chosen, and there are those who shut themselves in and just complain.”

“So in this disaster situation, we don’t have the luxury to accommodate all dissenting opinions. For stable governance, we need to bring in as many people as possible and suppress complaints as much as possible.”

Being human, there would inevitably be some dissatisfaction with policies.

However, the Balhut Cult wasn’t a group with enough leeway to accommodate such complaints, and they had no choice but to attract as many supporters as possible and suppress the remaining complaints.

“There’s no policy that satisfies everyone. Every policy will have people who like it and people who don’t.”

“I’ll review it as thoroughly as possible.”

There’s no policy that everyone can empathize with and be satisfied by.

While thinking that politics was difficult, Bahamut decided to consider the policy direction as thoroughly as possible.