Chapter 191: Slave Labor Camp Intrusion

“You were a highschool teacher?”

Crampus replied to Sung-Woon’s question, “Yes.”

“A science teacher?”

“Yes.”

Sung-Woon looked at Crampus from head to toe.

Then Crampus said, "You seem to be having some rude thoughts again."

"No, not really. I just naturally thought you would be unemployed...preparing for a job."

"...Jang-Wan, this guy didn’t have any friends, did he?"

Jang-wan, who was beside them, nodded silently. She had taken off the lion mask she usually wore because it was getting in the way of the work they were currently doing.

“Anyway, that's not important. Just because I was a science teacher doesn’t mean I know a lot about science.”

"But?"

"Look at this."

Crampus lightly tapped the table with the tip of his knife. On the table were luxurious dishes of food.

Sung-Woon sat at the head of the dining table while the other players sat around the table and enjoyed the meal. The players didn't need to eat, and neither did they have to sleep or breathe. They could even change their appearances however they wished. Therefore, Sung-Woon thought this kind of meal was useless, and he objected to the idea when Lunda and the other players proposed to build a restaurant.

Sung-Woon's opinion was simple. The desire to eat was just a tradition and habit. He said that there was no reason to create a restaurant even though it didn't cost a lot of resources, but Lunda and the other players said that eating was a necessary activity. Even though they no longer felt like real people, performing this function was mentally helpful, just as it was when they were still regular humans. Sung-Woon had then said that everyone had been doing well without such things, but that was wrong. As it turned out, Sung-Woon was the only one who had not taken up any hobbies outside of the game, while the other players had continued their hobbies from the past, including eating.

Eventually, Sung-Woon ended up saying something he shouldn’t have said.

"Isn’t that why you lost?"

Lunda finally punched Sung-Woon in the face, and Jang-Wan also kicked him in the shin. Then Eldar scolded Sung-Woon, saying that he should be careful with his words.

Wisdom then mediated the conflict. While it might not be a perfect experiment, he had secretly divided the players outside of Sung-Woon into two groups. One group was encouraged to secretly enjoy their hobby without Sung-Woon knowing, while the other group tried to cater to Sung-Woon's preferences by not enjoying their hobbies. Wisdom then quantified the players' performance and documented how each group performed, presented the document to Sung-Woon, and made a presentation for the other players of the Pantheon.

According to his findings, although the result differed from individual to individual, and there wasn’t a significant difference, those who enjoyed their hobbies showed better performance than those who didn't. So Sung-Woon created a restaurant, created creature creations to work there, and gathered spirits from the Afterlife who were skilled in cooking. He also allowed a broad range of hobbies for each player to pursue in their private rooms. And it was around this time that they decided to hold a banquet when all the players would gather for a meeting.

Sung-Woon asked, "Why? Is there a problem with the steak?"

"It's not that... Players don't need to eat anything, right?"

"That's right."

"But as long as we exist, we can't ignore the laws of physics. Saying that we're fine even though no energy is supplied can be interpreted as energy coming from somewhere else, right?"

Sung-Woon shook his head as if he didn’t know the answer to that.

"We've already seen many things that can't be explained by the knowledge we had on Earth. So there must be something more that we can't explain."

When Crampus was about to say more, Lim Chun-Sik, who was sitting next to him, said, "By the way, what's happening with Hwee-Kyung?"

Sung-Woon briefly explained the situation. Hwee-Kyung had been keeping out of Hegemonia's sight and couldn’t be found even though they searched various places throughout the second continent, but now they were starting to get some clues to where she was. In order to attract Hegemonia’s attention, the apostles, the creations, and the Empire’s army were shedding blood on various battlefields, but they weren’t only on the receiving end, and the exchange rate wasn’t too bad. In Sung-Woon’s opinion, they would end up with a net positive when they eventually found Hwee-Kyung.

“But why is Hwee-Kyung in a slave labor camp?”

"I have my theory. We need to check, but it's likely to be true."

"What is it?"

Sung-Woon said, "Have you heard of the Fake God Strategy?"

***

Rubeil once used to be the center of the Garang Kingdom, but now, it was hard to find traces of the prosperous nation there. Unlike the Empire, which generally attempted an appeasement policy in their occupied areas, the Union Kingdom did not. When the Union Kingdom occupied other cities and countries, they simply imposed their system. Kings and nobles either died or became slaves, and their bloodlines were dragged to slave labor camps scattered throughout the occupied territories. Due to these measures, the distinction between the Full Tailed and Tailless classes became even more defined.

Many nations solidified their determination to resist due to the Union Kingdom’s actions, which in turn fueled discrimination against the dominant species of the Union Kingdom, and this became a driving force for the anger of the main species of the Union Kingdom. Then the Angry One drew strength from the pain and hatred between the species, as their name would suggest, and the anger translated into the slave labor camps.

To some extent, the Empire determined where to obtain basic resources based on economic feasibility. Therefore, even if a region appeared to be resource-rich, resources were abandoned and new regions were sought if the region was too dangerous, or the resources required excessive labor force for extraction. And whenever such situations arose, there were often conflicts between regional management, local residents, and merchants, so in the players’ perspectives, the resource generation rate was not always satisfactory.

However, in the case of the Union Kingdom, there was no such problem, as resources were obtained through forced labor until the slaves in the slave labor camps died. Moreover, even as a slave class, the population was rapidly increasing due to advancements in medicine and increased grain production. And from the perspective of the Angry One, this was a highly reasonable methodology.

"The security seems tight," said Gorogota, who was looking ahead through binoculars.

Ramin and her group had entered the Rubeil Valley. Below the exposed rocky mountains and cliffs were dense bushes, making it easy for the three of them to hide.

Gorgota was looking at a cluster of small buildings below the cliff. The broken stone structures seemed to belong to the previous era, and many people were moving in between them.

Ramin said, "Is it because of us?"

"Maybe. In a slave labor camp, the internal security should be stricter than external security, but it seems like the opposite is true. They not only have people at the watch posts but also have reconnaissance scouts going around."

The journey on foot after getting off the train was not enjoyable. The residential areas were patrolled by not only the Fang agents of the Union Kingdom, but also the policemen and soldiers, as if they no longer planned on hiding the fact that they were chasing after Ramin and her friends. There were also many difficulties along the way, but it wasn't impossible to get through them. However, from here on, there were problems that couldn’t be solved with determination and effort alone.

Gorgota said, "The station you see there is probably one of the small camps of the logging camp. As far as I know, the main production resource of the slave labor camps in Rubeil is not wood but coal, so if we want to get to the center, we need to pass that place and go deeper in.”

Ramin then looked at Juran and said, "What should we do in a situation like this? Shouldn't we ask the higher-ups for guidance?"

Juran replied, "The tubifexes have no signal here, and we also seem to be too far from the nearest switching center. We have to make the decision ourselves."

Gorgota sighed and said, "We've worked hard, but I can't risk both of your lives by going that way. If the Fang agents are smart enough, there are probably people waiting for us inside that slave labor camp as well. It's too dangerous."

“Then what?” Ramin asked

Gorgota replied, “After I escort you both to a safe area, I'll go in alone. If I can find Hwee-Kyung, that would be great, but if I don't return within the time we agree upon, you might be able to contact another agent and receive better assistance."

Ramin furrowed her eyebrows and said, “Let's do the opposite."

"The opposite?"

"If anyone can find Hwee-Kyung, it's the two of us, not you, Gorgota. If Juran is okay with it, the two of us will go in, and you can be on stand-by."

“What?”

Juran nodded.

“I’m good with that. Besides, it seems like noonim isn’t just saying this out of politeness, and actually has something in mind.”

"How did you know?"

"Because you don't seem like the type to sacrifice yourself just for the greater good…"

“...”

Ramin briefly looked at the distant mountains and then turned to Gorgota.

"Just hear me out first."

The daily work in the slave labor camps was straightforward. The camp was divided into three main groups. The managers, security guards, and laborers. Although the managers were the smallest in number, they effectively managed both the security guards and the laborers, and the security guards, who were part of the military, were in charge of monitoring the laborers and ensuring they didn't leave the camp.

But of course, this task alone was not easy; even though both managers and security guards were armed, the laborers outnumbered them by about twenty times. Therefore, the laborers were always put into groups and moved together, and the managers and security guards made each group keep an eye on each other. If anyone violated the camp's internal rules, they would report each other, leading to rewards or punishments.

However, Ramin’s idea was simple.

"If external surveillance is stricter while the number of security personnel stays the same, then it's only natural that internal security would be weakened, right?"

"I don’t think that’s necessarily true, but...yes, it could be that way."

"As we’ve already seen with our eyes, each group seems to be spread out for their logging work, so there would be room for escape. And among them, there definitely are people who want to escape.”

Gorgota added, "Escape attempts in the slave labor camps are quite common. Even though it's the Union Kingdom, they don’t have complete control of the issue. In fact, it is said that many former runaway slaves have settled themselves in the remote parts of the Union Kingdom, and some even manage to escape overseas…like to the Empire."

Ramin nodded.

"So, we can help with that."

Gorgota then said doubtfully, “Are you saying we should take advantage of the chaos and infiltrate? But I don't think that alone will be enough."

Ramin shook her head.

"That's not it, not exactly..."

As Ramin began to explain, Gorgota found it hard to accept the idea, but had to admit that it was the most viable plan among those proposed so far.

"...Alright, let's go with that. Let's hope for the protection of the stars."

***

There was a minor disturbance at the logging site of the Rubeil slave labor camp. Five groups of laborers took advantage of the weakened internal security and attempted to escape. However, the reason why this chaos didn't draw much attention was that none of the five groups managed to escape successfully.

The security guards didn't have a complete list of the members in these groups, so they counted heads to verify, but there were no missing numbers. Then the security guards gathered the five groups and took them to the old Garang fortress site, which was in the middle of the slave labor camp. And among the group of slaves being taken away, were Ramin and Juran.