Chapter 567: The Continent After 1 Year (5)

Even if I felt guilty, it wasn’t a situation that I couldn’t fix.

Han Sora and Jung Hayan became closer than I thought, and Sora proved to be useful in keeping Hayan stable.

When Hayan exploded like a bomb, she was one of the few people who could control her. No, she was a key figure in preventing that type of explosion from Hayan. Han Sora was very careful about stabilizing Hayan’s moods, not for the sake of the empire but for her own safety. that sort of reminded me of how I acted in the past.

It was so impressive how she desperately tried to persuade Hayan to calm down or shift her attention towards something else. Currently, she was like the people that took care of a friend who became a crazy dog after drinks.

What more could I say when Hayan, who was only close to me, Park Deokgu, and Kim Hyunsung, opened her innermost thoughts to her?

In fact, I thought that Han Sora’s safety wasn’t really threatened.

Of course, unexpected accidents could happen, but I didn’t think it would come to a point where her life would be threatened…

‘I don’t think that will happen. Well, we could give her life benefits to make up for it.’

Including allowances, her annual salary ranking within the guild was close to the top.

Excluding me, it would be fair to say that she was currently the highest-paid person in Lindel.

While I was considering all those factors, my guilt began to disappear like a turtle going back into its shell. I was certain that she thought she only needed to endure a month more, and Hayan would be motivated even more than her.

‘Will she grow a lot in a month?’

I was kind of worried that the same thing would happen again, but I was sure that she would work harder than ever.

I wondered how much she could grow in such a short period. Considering her growth rate so far…

‘I think she can climb at least one more step further…’

It was a little disappointing to think that a genius like Hayan could only go up one step, but I was just too greedy. Considering that most magicians took decades to climb one stage higher, it was already abnormal how fast she progressed.

Still, I kind of hoped she would grow like an escalator or elevator, but I knew that it was more secure for her to progress step by step.

I decided to stop thinking about Jung Hayan for the time being.

After one month, she was going to come to me even if I didn’t call for her, so around that time, I guessed I could enjoy the beach with her and Park Deokgu.

‘I don’t know how everyone’s doing.’

I contacted Elena and Yoo Ah-young once, and I even communicated with Kim Chang-ryul, who I wasn’t close to. I met with Sun Hee-young, Hwang Jeong-yeon, and Kim Mi-young for administration work, and I communicated with the remaining Blue Guild members regularly.

As mentioned earlier, I called Jung Hayan and Han Sora twice, and I met up with Cho Hyejin, who was in charge of training the joint army for Kim Hyunsung.

The only ones I had lost contact with were Park Deokgu, Kim Hyunsung, and, even though she wasn’t a guild member, Cha Heera.

In particular, the last time I contacted Kim Hyunsung was nine months ago.

‘It’s almost vicious how determined he is.’

Was it even necessary to cut off all contact and lock himself in?

I was shocked when he told me out of the blue that to focus on his training completely, he would no longer contact me.

It was even more shocking because I had just been appointed Chairman of the management committee at that time.

It was only from Cho Hyejin that I sometimes heard about whether he was dead or alive.

I didn’t expect him to just hone his sword for nine months.

I told him to put off his burden of saving the world by himself, but it seemed as if he was carrying a new load on his shoulders.

His mentality was unexpectedly weak. If his growth slowed down or things didn’t go well as he thought, he might start to bury himself in a hole and be overwhelmed with his own worries and insecurities.

I quickly organized my thoughts and got up to contact Park Deokgu and Ahn Ki-mo, who were in District 53.

“Oh, this is Chairman Lee. I mean…”

“Yes, it is my h-honor. I’m Michael Wayne from the 53rd Construction District. Chairman Lee Kiyoung, I didn’t expect you to contact me… it’s such an honor.”

“No, you think too highly of me. We met each other when the development plan was announced. I was thinking of contacting you some time ago… Unfortunately, I’m too busy to visit you properly. How is it going in your area?”

-We were a little taken back by the sudden appearance of monsters, but fortunately, Park Deokgu and Ahn Ki-mo helped us drive them out. Not only were the walls barely damaged, but there were also few casualties. Our progress might have slowed down, but we will do everything we can to finish it as soon as possible… We will put all of our efforts…

“I’m glad to hear that. Anyway, other than that, I also heard that team leader Kim Mi-young contacted you. Is Deokgu next to you by any chance?”

-Yes, she did, b-but right now…

“…”

-After paying for the monsters we hunted, she left immediately. As Team Leader Kim Mi-young told us to, we gave him the Goddess’ Hand Mirror and asked if he wanted to stay, but… he said he didn’t need it…

“Ah…”

-I-I didn’t know what to do… I’m so sorry.

“Sigh…”

-I’m sorry. He left so suddenly that I couldn’t do anything to stop him…

“No, sigh, that’s alright. Well, I understand your position. Don’t worry about it and focus on your work.”

-Yes, I’ll make sure to keep that in mind.

“Did he mention where he would be going?”

-He said he’d go to the northernmost point. Maybe it’s where the Chairman is…

“Yes, that seems like a possibility. Anyway, thank you for all your hard work. The committee will be sending you support soon. I’ll end the conversation now.”

-Thank you, Chairman. It’s been an honor.

“Yes.”

[Call ended]

“Ah, I’m nervous for some reason. Is that fat fuck for real…”

He would probably reach the northernmost part at some point. But in the meantime, I was anxious about where he would go.

Since Deokgu said he would leave immediately, I didn’t think that he would enjoy any luxuries. However, since he was a nosy person, he might make a lot of detours to help a random shopkeeper or a village chief.

He was the kind to take useless types of quests like helping a village from a bear or bringing firewood to a struggling village.

“It’s so hard just to see one person.”

‘I have to start working too.’

I sighed and went out. There wasn’t much meaning in going out. I just didn’t feel like staying inside when I couldn’t focus on work.

‘Ah, my coat.’

The moment I went outside wearing my thick coat with cold resistance, the committee members greeted me.

The security forces led by Park Li-ahn began to follow me immediately.

As soon as I stepped outside, I saw a huge wall. Technicians were glued to it, and they were in the midst of finishing their work. I really couldn’t see an inch ahead.

The walls were that high. The towers built into the walls were even higher.

It wasn’t complete yet, but the walls piled up with magic stones looked high and solid.

Thinking that we only had a year to make it, I applauded our achievement. Of course, that was only to be expected.

‘This is the first line of defense.’

In fact, it was the most important place.

‘Park Deokgu, you punk, if you wanted to help build a wall, you should have helped me out here.’

The place was still working in full swing. To be honest, I didn’t expect that we would make so much progress that fast.

Other areas were much slower in their progress, but it was only because most of the resources and supplies were concentrated in our area. Of course, no one would disagree that the biggest reason behind our smooth construction was welfare benefits.

The daily wage was high, and there was insurance. Temperature magic was always present to deal against the cold environment, and most of all, technicians and workers were treated with respect. Due to all of those factors, the speed wasn’t slow.

I thought that giving a treat would be more useful than whipping, but it was nice to see that the situation was better than I expected.

‘It should be completed in about six months from now.’

After that point, we would finally have a solid foundation.

‘I’m a little nervous about everything going as planned…’

𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

There was no reason for a huge event to happen, but it made me nervous that everything was going so smoothly. At that moment, Lee Jihye’s voice came from behind me.

“Why do you look so worried?”

“Just… Well, there’s nothing else to do today, right? Are you ready?”

“If you’re talking about bringing people in from the training camp, we’re almost done. We’ve got housing and amenities. I think the transfer will go smoothly. We’ll have some troops soon.”

“Hmmm…”

“It’s going to look more like a city when the soldiers come in. Right now, it’s…”

“There’s a lot of workers and technicians. There’s also a lot of manpower involved in managing them all. Well, I think it’s right to think that we are already urbanized somewhat. If you add up the nearby area, it’ll be like a kingdom. We’ve already established a market, and we’ve come to the point where we need to pay attention to security.”

“Well, we seem to be holding on well so far, but it’s a little confusing. There’s something that I’m a little worried about, but…”

“What is it?”

“There are a couple of things. Don’t you think that’s the case with the workers’ strike problem right now?”

“Well, a strike is a natural thing that happens. There haven’t been any big incidents so far.”

“No, no. I’m just worried that we might have gone too easy on the workers. You know that these technicians are being treated better than most adventurers, right? But when I heard that they might be planning a strike, I thought their mental states must be rotten. They’re telling each other that they should create a union and things like that. Since there’s a lot of investment being made towards this construction, I think they want to get the most money. The slow progress of work zone 6 is because the workers there did a slowdown strike.”

“Who the heck is managing them? Did you check the Benignore Net chat log for the strike union?”

“The chat log is clean. At first, I thought someone was intentionally shaking the workers, but that’s not the case at all. Still, that’s a possibility. No one is directly showing their resistance against the committee, but it’s hard to see everything that is happening, especially from the top.”

“Hmm…”

“The situation at the scene may be different from what you’ve been briefed through reports and documents.”

“I get what you mean.”

“Each district construction manager desperately wants to cover-up if there’s a slowdown, a strike, or any incident. If they get on your bad side, their whole life could get messed up, after all. According to their words, their area is always safe, and they pretend as if there is no problem. I think a perfect explanation allegory would be to compare them to the high-ranking military officials in our country (*South Korea). No matter what happens, they only try to solve it within their unit. Isn’t it so similar to how it was like in our world?

I nodded at Lee Jihye’s words to show my complete agreement.

Even Wayne, who had reported verbally about his 53rd work zone, said there were no problems in his construction site.

I didn’t know if that was true, but it was difficult to believe his words when a monster wave just hit them.

Since Park Deokgu and Ahn Kimo were there, it was probably true that the construction wasn’t ruined much, but from the manager’s point of view, he would be afraid that even the smallest mistakes would be a blemish on his career.

‘There’s a reason why past kings have become fools.’

If it weren’t for Lee Jihye, my eyes and ears could’ve been closed.

‘A strike, huh? Hmmm, a slowdown strike…’