Ch.620Chapter 23. Patriotic General Do Ji-hwan (24)

One of the common themes in apocalyptic novels is the “dilemma.”

Abandoned children in an era of human extinction.

In a time when it’s hard enough to take care of oneself, how should one treat these children?

Readers who want a virtuous protagonist would want them to embrace the child.

Readers who want a realistic protagonist would want them to judge whether the child would be beneficial.

Readers who want an evil protagonist would want them to exploit the child or ignore them completely.

The current situation is similar.

I’ve subdued the villains but haven’t killed them.

If left alone, they’ll become potential threats, and taking responsibility for them would be troublesome and difficult.

However, this novel isn’t an apocalyptic story.

Although we might face a “Welcome! Apocalypse!” situation due to the meteor, this world is a fantasy with superpowers, not a world in the midst of destruction.

Preventing such destruction is The Syndicate’s goal.

I captured them because we have an environment where we can take responsibility, and with that intention, I used the Difficulty Sealing Technique instead of sending them to Zenros.

Their anxiety is also the same.

[As soon as you naturalize to Korea, you’ll be sent to a place for people like you.]

“Where is it?”

[A place managed by The Syndicate. It’s off-limits to outsiders, and ordinary people can’t enter freely either.]

It’s about time to reveal it.

If they settle in a place where they can feel more comfortable, where assassins can’t approach them, and where they can comfortably love a man.

Surely, when I meet them again in six months, at least one of them will have a swollen belly.

Whether that’s from eating a lot of Korean food or receiving a lot of Korean love, we’ll have to wait and see.

[Since you three are sisters but will each form your own family, I’ll give each of you a house equivalent to a suite room.]

“What did you say?”

[It might be much smaller than your home in China, but in Korea, a hotel suite-level room is practically a palace.]

No matter how much we’re talking about the Korean peninsula, we can’t overcome the actual size of the land.

Building upward or digging downward is fine, but creating wide gardens horizontally is difficult even in Korea.

Difficult, but not impossible.

It’s possible with superpowers, but there’s already so much land up there.

[You’ll be staying in northern Gangwon-do. It’s a place with quite a nice view.]

“Northern Gangwon-do…? Is it Yangyang, where The Syndicate fought last time?”

[No. It’s a place with a magnificent mountain view. It’s an S-class residential area based on hotel suite standards.]

Have you heard of it?

[It has a view of Mount Geumgang.]

“…Mount Geumgang?”

[Yes. Mount Geumgang.]

In reality, it’s a place you can’t enter, but here, with permission, you can even trek across the Taebaek Mountains beyond Mount Geumgang.

[A luxury apartment with a suite structure that offers a clear view of Mount Geumgang, which changes distinctly with each season. I don’t think there’s any organization in the world that does this much for S-class individuals except our Syndicate.]

“Um, question.”

Gwanun raised his hand with a suspicious look.

“According to rumors, The Syndicate gave entire castles to S-class ability users who joined in Europe?”

[That’s Europe, and this is Korea. You have to consider the Korean peninsula premium, the meteor zone.]

“Ah.”

Forget about transit accessibility.

Korea has a meteor.

[You’ll be the first residents. This has never happened before.]

“Why?”

[Haeguneul Group was planning to redevelop the old North Korean land, but now Haeguneul is gone.]

Think about it.

There’s empty land over there.

Even though most of it is mountainous, isn’t it easier to plan and build new cities on the empty former North Korean land than to keep building in the cramped areas of Seoul and Busan?

Rather than dealing with redevelopment disputes and land ownership conflicts, it’s more convenient to build from scratch in a place where all the owners have (legally) disappeared.

[New roads are being laid based on existing ones, and planned cities will be built in places suitable for people to live. The construction company has The Syndicate backing it.]

“So, you’re giving us that apartment…?”

[Not to you, but to your husbands.]

“……”

The Syndicate also has minimal safeguards.

The Mount Geumgang view apartment in the meteor zone is an economic weapon for their future husbands and a minimal means of self-defense.

[If you really want it, you can make your husband love you enough to add you to the joint ownership.]

“…Hmph. What if we have bad intentions?”

Yuhyun sneers at me.

“Have a child, regain our abilities, get Korean citizenship. Then raise the child there… and divorce the husband, right?”

[…….]

“I don’t know Korean law, but I’ve heard there are quite a few such cases, aren’t there?”

[I can’t deny that.]

Having a child born out of love is the trigger.

Theoretically, love for a husband is quite a weak restriction to maintain the seal.

[It’s fine. I’m confident.]

“About what?”

[That although you’re now thinking of using your husbands to break the ability seal and then divorcing them, you’ll decide to live with them as their wives until death do you part.]

“Ha….”

The three sisters, including Yuhyun, gripped each other’s hands tightly and glared at me.

“You’re so confident. Are you saying that knowing what kind of men we’ll choose? Want to bet?”

[A bet?]

“Yes. A man who makes us fall for him purely as a man, without any brainwashing or interference. If he makes us become women for him, we’ll obediently live as Koreans. The kind of virtuous wives and loving mothers you want. And….”

Yuhyun pointed downward.

“After our abilities return, as S-class heroes protecting Korea.”

[I don’t expect you to become heroes.]

What I want is just S-class ability users who can respond in emergencies.

[By the time you’ve given birth, focused on childcare, and then send your children to daycare, Korea will likely officially issue hunter licenses.]

“Hunters in Korea?”

[Unregistered ability users are automatically considered villains. That was Haeguneul’s logic, and such bad practices should be abolished.]

They can live as S-class wives and mothers—full-time housewives—or as S-class hunters earning dual incomes.

[If I lose the bet, I’ll quietly surrender even if you say you want to take your children back to China.]

“……!!”

[If a fairy doesn’t like the woodcutter and wants to return to where she originally lived, there’s nothing I can do about it.]

It was like that in the folk tale.

The woodcutter stole the fairy’s winged clothes and had several children with her, but once the fairy got her clothes back, she took the children and left the woodcutter.

A story where she accepts herself as a mother but can’t continue living as the woodcutter’s wife.

If she had truly loved the woodcutter, she would have stayed by his deathbed before ascending to heaven.

[The choice is yours. I respect that. We’re presenting the optimal conditions to persuade and recruit you rationally and reasonably.]

Korean citizenship through naturalization.

A home.

All the information is already organized in catalogs.

This project was prepared even before Haeguneul collapsed.

[Ah. This isn’t in the catalog, but let me clarify one thing to avoid misunderstanding.]

“What is it?”

[The absence of menstruation isn’t a side effect; it’s your body waiting for optimal pregnancy.]

“W-what…!”

Yuhyun let go of her hand and jumped up from her seat.

“How dare a man casually talk about a woman’s menstruation!! Are you crazy?!”

[I’m mentioning it because you might mistake the absence of periods for pregnancy. It’s an ability-related thing.]

“Hey!! You really…!”

[Without periods, there’s naturally no pain.]

“!!”

At my words, Gwanun jumped up from her seat.

“Is that… really true…?”

[……Theoretically, yes. Theoretically.]

“Really, no more of that? Truly?”

[…….]

She looked somewhat, no, quite desperate.

[Well, let me know in a month. The men who will become your husbands will also be managing your daily lives while living with you.]

“…….”

[Well then.]

I closed the door and went upstairs to give the three of them more time to deliberate.

[Even ability users can’t escape the mysteries of life, and being an S-class ability user doesn’t matter in this regard.]

They say the degree of pain varies from person to person; I’ve learned something new.

* * *

“So, what’s the conclusion?”

“We decided to get the vaccine.”

“…Vaccine?”

“Yes.”

Yoon Hye-ra pointed at the two who were virtually pregnant and snickered.

“Rather than continuing to suffer terribly, why not just get a vaccine shot that stops periods for 10 months?”

“…Is that a vaccine that comes with tremendous pain after 10 months?”

“But there’s no pain for 10 months, right? And oppa, I heard ability users don’t experience much pain during childbirth. Maybe the body reduces pain if one desperately wants to give birth. Don’t you know better?”

“…We can’t say that typical C-class, B-class, and S+-class are the same. But who are you…”

Before I could etherealize, two fingers were already pointing at me.

“…….”

No, four fingers.