Chapter 191
J: Surprise~ X9 (Last) Kyle said that this chapter should be the end of the current arc and the start of a new one, hence a good place to stop for now. We will see how far he translates before I go and whether there is another good place or not.
Creating a detour connection route by infiltrating the Alpha system was a brilliant idea but the feasibility was low.
However, Dr. Suresh had achieved that difficult task. It was something that could only be said to be great.
"Mr. Jun! You are a G.o.dsend!"
He hugged me with an elated expression.
I was wondering whether I should push him off by force but decided to leave him alone.
He was..h.i.tting my back while being happy for a while and then opened his mouth with a voice drowned in emotion.
"I was able to achieve the impossible thanks to you."
"Did it go well?"
"Perfectly. It is now possible to activate the reward system in the dungeon network we created. This is all thanks to Mr. Jun's active role."
"Then can I ask why we didn't receive proper information?"
Twitch.
Dr. Suresh's body instantly stiffened. I felt him out without any certainty but it seems it was the bullseye.
"Wh, what are you talking about?"
He was a person that couldn't act. The type that was a researcher to the bone. It was difficult to think that such a person used petty tricks.
"There were many weird aspects. There was the Mantis, and you never mentioned anything about entering inside the Alpha system."
As I silently confronted Dr. Suresh after saying so, he opened his mouth with a mumble.
"That is……."
"I will speak from this point on."
President Wholsh.o.r.e appeared.
I tilted my head.
"You should be a busy person but you're still here?"
The schedule of presidents should be organized to the minute. It has been several hours since I entered the dungeon so that means he just sat here for that amount of time.
There was almost no case of this happening unless it was a national disaster.
"It's a vacation day you see."
He sat down on a sofa in the reception room.
As he signaled with his eyes to take a seat, I sat on the opposite side as if it couldn't be helped.
The words of the president were simple. It wasn't a completed system but because it was an unstable one.
On top of that, to trick the eyes of the Alpha system they were constantly changing the form of the dungeon randomly so not even they knew that much information.
The thing we saw was a concrete type building but it was sometimes a cave type and sometimes changing to a wide field type dungeon.
"Shouldn't you have talked about that ahead of time? Is it because I might run away?"
"To be exact, it's not because you might run away but because you might not cooperate."
"So that's why you shoved me in and then see what happens. And you thought that we wouldn't be able to leave if you closed up the dungeon."
Edward said.
I got a moderate understanding of the picture now. To put it simply, sweet talk me into it and then get me in the dungeon.
Whether I fight the Alpha system or not its attention would turn towards me and the research team would create a detour route in that time.
In any case, I just had to stall for time so they would have had time while I was doing my utmost to survive.
If there was a problem, it would be that they didn't have the Escape Scroll.
I lightly grinded my teeth.
So they're backstabbing me when I showed them such goodwill.
"So it means it didn't matter whether I died or not."
"That's not true. A special task force was waiting to rescue you if it got dangerous. Only, we used such an extreme measure as Mr. Jun was our only hope. I do feel sorry about that."
As he finished his words, the reception room door opened and Jane Gray entered.
In other words, they were planning on sending in the team that girl leads.
In the first place that would be useless once I entered the Alpha system.
On top of that, for it to be Jane Gray.
"To be brutally frank, a level 8 hunter would merely be a distraction. I might be able to trust you if it had been level 10 hunters that were on standby."
"Level 10 hunters don't move for these things."
"Not even on the American president's orders?"
I said so in a sarcastic manner on purpose. Of course that's not different just because one is Korean. Level 10 means those that have reached the pinnacle as a human. Even if it was the president that was the power of the secular world, they wouldn't move.
They would never move unless they received an appropriate reward.
However, if they had the money to move
He continued his words as if he knew my suspicion.
"This isn't the first time this was attempted."
"In other words……."
"A large number of level 10 hunters were deployed and the majority of them died. I apologize once more for making you do such a dangerous job without a proper explanation. I am planning on giving you a proper compensation for that."
There was a sincerely sorry look on president Wholsh.o.r.e's face.
I almost accepted it just like that.
As expected, it was acting miles away from Dr. Suresh. Certainly, one would only be able to become the president of America by having such skills.
"It's not a problem to gloss over so easily."
"I understand. It's fine to ask as much compensation as you want to."
"Whatever?"
"As long as it's within my abilities."
The American president's abilities you say.
I didn't know how much that was but it shouldn't be small.
I nodded my head for now.
"Well, I'll think about it for now."
"Thank you for understanding. I will mention once more that we have truly prepared all we could against the unforeseen danger. Mr. Jun is an existence needed from America's perspective after all."
How infallible.
"I want to have some rest but is there a place?"
"I will take measures so that you are able to return to the safehouse. We will proceed immediately once negotiations for the s.p.a.ce expansion are complete."
"I will be waiting."
"Right. There's also one more proposal."
President Wholsh.o.r.e opened his mouth as if pa.s.sing by.
"How about staying in America at this chance? Korea would be a good place to live as well but we can treat you like a state guest if you stay."
"I'm not sure. I will have to think about that a bit more."
I was wondering why this talk wasn't coming out.
I shook my head for now. The proposal itself wasn't bad. It was true that there was no particular need to stay on Korean land after all.
However, there were too many people that weighed on my mind.
Also, as if he had thought to that point, President Wholsh.o.r.e continued his words.
"If you have any relatives or acquaintances, we will provide permanent residency to all of them. We can do it for many people so you do not have to worry about that."
Makes one waver.
As expected, the seat of president of America really isn't obtained by playing GoStop.
***
I called An Gyu-b.u.m immediately after returning to the safe house.
"Is the negotiation going well?"
[It's proceeding without problem. There were some differing opinions on future aid but it's being finalized.]
"Yeah? How much has it been concluded to?"
[100b for 20 cubits.]
"Raise it to twice that amount for now."
[What?]
I could hear An Gyu-b.u.m's fl.u.s.tered expression from over the phone.
It was fun seeing such a figure. I was the only one getting done in you see.
"Didn't you hear me? Raise it to double."
[Wh, why are you suddenly like that? Negotiations might break off.]
"It doesn't matter. Even if it breaks off it wouldn't be my fault."
[……Did something happen?]
"A matter that you don't need to know about."
[I don't know what that is but a negotiation isn't something that can be flipped so easily. So calm down for now and let's go with 100b…….]
"Double. No negotiation. If they don't accept it say that I'm leaving."
[d.a.m.n it…… You crazy b.a.s.t.a.r.d! Do you know how much effort I put in to achieve this!!]
An Gyu-b.u.m suddenly shouted.
Oh ho. Look at this.
"Do you want to be fired?"
[Haha. Please pretend you never heard that just now. 200b is fine right? Dear customer?]
"Yeah. Report it until tomorrow and make it as if nothing happened if it doesn't work."
Beep.
I ended the call and lied down against the sofa.
Thinking about the reaction from here and there a smile appeared on my face unconsciously.
You shouldn't have done it.
Edward opened his mouth while clicking his tongue.
"I knew that you didn't have a good personality. But I didn't know you were rash to that degree."
"One should pay the appropriate price for tricking someone."
"What are you planning on doing if the negotiation actually breaks down? Even if the president works from behind, it's still a civilian contract. Do you think it will actually work?"
"I have nothing to lose. That side is the one that loses. That chump change doesn't matter. It's not like I have nothing to earn money with. And you can't be surprised with just this much. I still have more to get."
"What more are you going to do."
"I'm not sure. I'm thinking for now."
"Isn't money not that important in the first place? I think there are many enemies you have to face though."
"I just have to think about that then. Besides, it's not for certain. There's no need to trust everything the president said."
The Alpha system was created in our country. Also, Lee Hui-seung is deeply connected to it.
These two facts certainly had credibility to it. However, it wasn't like there was definite evidence. If there was evidence President Wholsh.o.r.e would have shown me.
If he could convince me to stay in America, there would be nothing better after all.
It might have been something that was said to make me leave Korea after feeling threatened by Lee Hui-seung.
Cross checking facts is a necessity though.
The problem is about how I will figure that out in Korea.
For now, as long as the Alpha system treats me as an enemy, they will try to approach in any method possible. Since they found me within the system they might feel greater threat.
I have no idea how I ended up at this point.
I just had to live moderately well but I had succeeded too much.
Delta that was the cause of all this never tried to approach me after the Red Hole incident.
It did seem like he handed me the Mystic Dungeon in hopes that I would replace the original dungeons with Red Holes but I hadn't even activated that at the moment.
There were problems here and there but they have been somewhat solved so the problem to face now was the Red Hole.
Level 8 dungeons were deleted and I could erase level 9 dungeons with the reward points I currently had. That would mean that the dungeons in the entire world would disappear.
There was already chaos all over the world.
The rare earth metals that were being supplied had been cut off and the price of industrial products was skyrocketing because of that. Ores were somehow being supplied by the islands such as the Yellow Sea.
America accessing the reward system was probably to recover the falling rare earth metal supply rate.
However, the number of dungeons in the underground laboratory was merely in the dozens. It was impossible to replace all the dungeons that disappeared with just that.
They would somehow work it out as time pa.s.ses but it would be difficult to handle the social chaos until then.
I had to open Red Holes no matter how I thought about it.
"The problem is that they're too dangerous."
To the people that were familiar with the original dungeons, Red Holes were no different to ant nests. The level of the monsters that appeared were high and there were many of them as well. On top of that, they had to complete a certain quest to clear it and the dungeon boss was far too powerful compared to the dungeon level.
If these matters that require attention aren't familiarized, it can't be helped that a large scale death parade will occur.
I have heard that the number of people that died in one day when I opened it numbered 3 digits in our country alone. If that was increased to the entire world it might reach several tens of thousands. In just a single day too.