Ch.630Chapter 24. Real Estate Never Die (8)

Back.

I hope no one had any strange thoughts.

I mean, the other side of the world.

Heroes and those who were once heroes.

They once fought villains together, battled each other as rivals, and considered themselves comrades in arms.

But the worlds they saw were different.

While Baek Seol-hee only looked at the bright side of the world, Seong Ji-eun was forced to see its dark side.

Much of it was due to Haeguneul’s influence, but even before Haeguneul, the entire Republic of Korea had demanded patriotism from Seong Ji-eun.

Building bridges with passion, constructing roads with fulfillment, creating apartment buildings with just a packet of snacks.

In 2025, it’s no exaggeration to say that South Korea’s real estate market in this world was created thanks to Seong Ji-eun’s existence.

“South Korea has forests. Uniform forests of asphalt.”

Someone in the architectural world came forward to criticize this situation.

All apartments had the same square footage, the same underground parking structure, and the same complex layout and composition.

“Wait, what’s with this design? How can all these building structures be exactly the same?”

“But it was fast, wasn’t it?”

“How fast could it have been? Even if Korea builds quickly, it would still take at least a year.”

“One week to complete a building frame without curing time. This ability is divine, and earth magic is invincible.”

Because they were identical, they could be built faster.

Thanks to the efforts of a young female ability user whose name can no longer be spoken, South Korea was able to supply over 100,000 apartment units nationwide.

“■■-yang. Today we’re going to build a 30-story building in Seomyeon. Want to try it according to this plan?”

“Sure. After we finish, the men will buy us soup. Since we’re in Busan, we should have some pork soup before leaving. Oh, and do you want to try some seed hotteok too?”

No matter how identical the apartments were, once they were built, that was all that mattered.

The girl built numerous homes with government officials, receiving various meals as compensation for her labor.

If she had received even 1% of the unit cost of apartment construction, she would now be among the top ten wealthiest people in South Korea.

That girl, now the woman Seong Ji-eun, was thoroughly exploited for real estate greed.

While Baek Seol-hee was praised as a hero, the girl had to endure being mocked as the “Apartment Maker” behind her back.

And then the girl was murdered.

Although she was an S-class ability user, the government killed her to prevent the revelation that they had been exploiting her since childhood.

“The reason I became a traitor wasn’t complicated. It was when I turned 18 and realized that ‘construction costs’ were included in government-subsidized apartments.”

Seong Ji-eun accepted the wine I poured for her with one hand and moistened her lips lightly.

“How much do you think labor costs for building an entire apartment complex would be? Waiting for the curing process to finish, bringing in construction workers. I built all those countless apartments with my ability and didn’t receive a single penny.”

She didn’t receive money because she didn’t know better.

“When I was in elementary and middle school, 50,000 or 100,000 won seemed like a huge amount. If I got 500,000 won as pocket money after building an apartment, that was an incredibly happy day.”

The moment she realized that the unit shouldn’t have been “ten thousand” but at least “hundred million” was when she became a high school student.

“At that time, the government was wary of many things. Ability users were slowly starting to wake up.”

Economic education was the issue.

Ability users had to receive at least minimal education, and through various lessons in high school, they began to realize things they hadn’t known before.

“Until then, I was just a child they could exploit cheaply, but gradually the time approached when they would have to pay me properly or even more.”

The value of labor that had been done for fulfillment and a single candy.

The difference in cost between structures created with just a swipe of their finger versus those built using conventional methods without abilities.

“As I grew older, I started demanding. At the very least, shouldn’t I be getting this much? Even if we don’t count what came before, I should at least get what I deserve now.”

“Don’t tell me that when you brought this up…”

“That’s right. I was cursed as a money-grubbing woman and became a traitor. Someone trying to suck up taxpayers’ money.”

People cursed at the girl.

When the girl began demanding fair compensation for her labor, they started criticizing her for asking for money when she should have been “working with fulfillment.”

“What would the money they’d give me come from? Taxes, of course. Or apartment sales prices.”

“That was when… wasn’t that when apartment prices suddenly rose by 100 million won each? At that time…”

“That’s right. From the moment I started demanding my labor costs, they raised the base price. And then the propaganda…”

“‘100 million won to Seong Ji-eun for each apartment.'”

And so Seong Ji-eun became a witch obsessed with money.

“They raised the costs and shifted the blame to Seong Ji-eun. I didn’t ask for 100 million. I just told a reporter that if that much was being deducted, I should at least get one-tenth of it.”

“You thought it was 1 million won, but the reporter conveniently twisted it to 100 million. It was Haeguneul Daily, wasn’t it?”

Suddenly construction costs rose, and when the increase was in the hundreds of millions, people began looking for the cause, and the government revealed it in detail.

“For every apartment purchased, 100 million won goes to Seong Ji-eun. The whole country was saying this. Just to make me hated.”

“…I think I heard about that. At that time…”

“Baek Seol-hee was busy subduing villains. With your ‘Ice Prison,’ something similar to the original iron cage that Tae Jo uses now.”

When Baek Seol-hee was preoccupied with fighting villains.

“You… you heard such things being said about you…?”

“At that time, kids were going through their middle school or high school phases, right before becoming demons. While you were freezing those guys, I was being portrayed by the media as a woman demanding 100 million won per unit.”

Seong Ji-eun was facing public criticism.

“Hadn’t she been serving the people all this time!”

“There’s a limit to what you can take, how could she think of taking 100 million each!”

“If the sales price goes up, so will the acquisition tax! Is Seong Ji-eun going to pay that too?”

Those who had purchased apartments cheaply for decades, at prices that excluded Seong Ji-eun’s labor costs, were the first to criticize her.

“Of course, at that time, it wasn’t Seong Ji-eun but—”

“Goblin?”

“Let’s stick with Seong Ji-eun.”

Like everyone else, her previous name is as good as “nonexistent.”

The name of someone who, despite being active as a hero, ultimately became a traitor is no longer the virgin ghost (former) sitting before us.

“From Seong Ji-eun’s perspective at that time, the sense of betrayal must have been immense.”

“That’s right. People who bought apartments 100 million won cheaper thanks to me were now criticizing me? That was part of it, but more than anything…”

Seong Ji-eun shook her head.

“I reduced the labor cost by 100 million won per apartment, but the housing corporation added 50 million won to the sales price, and that didn’t sit well with me.”

“What? Wait. Don’t tell me that price…”

“100 million per unit going to Seong Ji-eun? Bull. The 50 million all went to the housing corporation and became their performance bonuses.”

“And at that time, the housing corporation had close ties with Haeguneul.”

The material and labor costs saved by Seong Ji-eun’s ability weren’t reduced by 100%.

The housing corporation and Haeguneul Construction reduced the material and labor costs by about 50%, and naturally included the other 50% in the sales price.

In other words.

“Seong Ji-eun’s share, the actual benefit of 100 million per unit, was split: half to the buyer, a quarter to the government, and a quarter to Haeguneul. What Seong Ji-eun received was…”

“Passion, fulfillment, service. The pride of having built the framework of these apartments. That’s it.”

Nothing fell to Seong Ji-eun’s share.

Since it never existed from the beginning, the concept of “Seong Ji-eun’s share” itself didn’t exist.

They knew such a concept should have existed originally, but those who had profited from low sales prices by exploiting Seong Ji-eun for over a decade came to think that paying her labor costs was unthinkable.

“How could a ‘hero’ think of receiving money for serving the people? If Seong Ji-eun starts this, other heroes will also begin demanding compensation for using their abilities.”

“That was the reason the government decided to reject and eliminate Seong Ji-eun.”

The specifics of how Seong Ji-eun was murdered are not for me to discuss.

“Seol-hee. You agreed to receive compensation for spreading your ice crystals throughout the country, right?”

“Yes. I agreed to receive about 10% of the reduced costs related to air conditioning and cooling…”

“That’s thanks to me. Because I took the bullet and was killed for it, you can now receive money for using your ability for everyone’s benefit.”

Seong Ji-eun pushed her wine glass forward.

“Baek Seol-hee. The real ‘behind-the-scenes’ of this country hasn’t even begun. They murdered and disposed of even an S-class hero when necessary, so how many more cases like mine do you think there are? Hmm?”

“…”

“Can you really handle that? The true behind-the-scenes of this country that Goblin never showed you, that he never revealed to protect your mental health. Can you watch all of that?”

“…Of course.”

Baek Seol-hee took the wine glass Seong Ji-eun handed her, then dipped her hand into the wine.

“If I know all that and still want to change everything after coming back, I shouldn’t think about killing them all.”

Shhh.

“I just need to weed out such people.”

Water streams gather at the tips of Baek Seol-hee’s fingers from within the wine.

“Impurities must be discarded. Like Haeguneul.”

The alcohol and other components of the wine remained in the glass, while only pure H2O clung to Baek Seol-hee’s fingers, freezing like crystals.

“I can handle those behind-the-scenes matters, as much as needed.”