Chapter 37

Chapter 37. The Patriot (3)

Icy cold.

The Patriot's gaze stabbed into their hearts.

'Kkeuk—.'

Senior Prosecutor Kang Mu-jin and President Lee Seok-hyeon lowered their heads as if they were criminals.

The gaze of one who had Transcended was this potent.

But…

"Sigh, what would you all know. Good work, good work."

Soon the Patriot straightened his tilted head and smiled gently.

He was clearly giving them a pass.

How could a being who publicly executed tens of thousands of people bend his will so meekly?

Kang Mu-jin figured out the reason.

'Shin Si-woo, you bastard — just how strong are you?'

It had been glossed over as… a parade, but Kang Mu-jin, who had watched the Patriot up close for so long, wasn't fooled.

He was certain the Patriot had been intimidated by Shin Si-woo.

'If I told anyone this, they'd call me insane. Clearly, the Patriot…'

He was quietly petty.

You could tell from the slight narrowing of his eyes even while he smiled.

But in this world, only the President and Kang Mu-jin had correctly grasped the Patriot's true nature.

"Heh, you've filled the positions well — the country keeps running smoothly even without me. I was genuinely relieved!"

The Patriot pulled out Mugunghwa medals he had made himself, and said that since he couldn't give cash to public officials, he was awarding them special medals that came from the Constellations.

Kang Mu-jin thanked him and bowed his head.

Beneath his lowered head, his eyes narrowed.

'The Patriot's boisterousness is at 200% of usual.'

Clearly exaggerated.

But speaking the truth would only make him look insane.

He didn't want his head throbbing any more than it already was.

So Kang Mu-jin raised the main point with the Patriot.

"About the real estate measures…"

"Oh, that? It's fine. I earned a damn lot of Mysteries."

Hearing that Mysteries had been earned, Kang Mu-jin felt relieved.

But this time it was President Lee Seok-hyeon who went into alarm and cried out.

"Y-you intend to solve the real-estate measures using Mysteries?"

The Righteous Prosecutor Kang Mu-jin might not know much about economics, but President Lee Seok-hyeon knew quite well.

"Releasing money via Mysteries to resolve the real-estate issue will instead cause major problems in the economy."

Previously, the Patriot had prepared a Universal Basic Income policy for all citizens.

Sell all of the Mysteries obtained by Awakened at the [Shop], obtain Coins, then convert those into won.

What if that money were distributed to the people? — that had been his proposal.

"If the Gates alone are enough of a headache, wouldn't it be good to at least not worry about money?"

Naturally, economists and politicians who cared about this nation had desperately risked their lives to talk him out of it.

'If he's fixated on it again…'

President Lee Seok-hyeon was deeply worried.

But for some reason?

"Just throwing money around recklessly would cause the country to go down further. I remember that kind of thing well."

The Patriot declared that his real-estate measures were a groundbreaking method that wouldn't harm public welfare.

It was not the absurd plan of just distributing money recklessly!

The real-estate solution was—

"We'll create a new district in Seoul."

The Patriot declared that with the Mysteries obtained this time, he would create 'Seoul Aeguk-gu.'

The plan was to take the area centered on Gwanghwamun — a place familiar to the public — and reorganize it into Aeguk-gu, building a large-scale apartment complex there.

"In Gwanghwamun, the headquarters of large corporations are concentrated, and many small and mid-sized firms are clustered there as well."

Flatten Gwanghwamun and the Jongno area whole and build a large apartment complex to make 'Aeguk-gu'?

Utterly mad.

"Hmm, that venerable Gyogyo Books? If we leave just that bookstore, we can move everything else, can't we?"

"But then countless companies will take a hit—"

"Companies make a living off the people to begin with, don't they? I'm not telling them to shut down, just to relocate — to ignore that would be no different from treason."

The Patriot recited the details of his envisioned Seoul Aeguk-gu.

"We relocate every one of the companies in the Gwanghwamun area to the newly rebuilt Goyang City."

"Th-the shops—"

"Small business owners? Let's move them all along with them."

Relocate Gwanghwamun's corporations to a newly rebuilt Goyang City.

In the emptied Gwanghwamun, build a cutting-edge apartment complex using Mysteries — a grandiose plan.

Of course, there was a critical problem.

"Many of the large buildings in Gwanghwamun are valued at over a trillion won per building."

"Can't we strengthen the Wealth Accumulation Restriction Act and have the state confiscate them?"

"Many of them are owned by corporations, so that would be difficult…"

Ordinarily, at this point, the Patriot would say his head hurt and declare, 'Figure it out yourself and implement it!'

But this time was different.

"Let's do exchanges!"

With certainty and boldness.

The Patriot acted as though he had a solid plan.

"Are you saying we exchange the buildings in Gwanghwamun with ones rebuilt in Goyang City?"

"Build them at a similar size. Companies will come out ahead — they'll be getting brand-new buildings in exchange."

The Patriot's eyes were extraordinarily sparkling.

Just like during the Dokdo incident.

'Damn it…'

A determination to see it through could be felt.

In the end, the President said he would persuade the corporations, and raised the next issue.

There were still plenty of things to push back on.

"Wouldn't this extend ordinary citizens' commutes too extremely? In terms of public-welfare stability—"

"Hahaha!!! I really picked the right people. I've thought that through too."

The shorter the commute, the better.

Didn't even the Patriot's Constellations live in their 'Constellation spaces' to save commute time?

"Do you… have a plan?"

The Patriot was being so assured that President Lee Seok-hyeon felt something was off.

So he asked, and the Patriot presented a remarkably fine plan, different from what he'd shown before.

"Shin Si-woo, you said our junior plundered Japan thoroughly?"

Build Seoul's land on top of Japan.

Improve Japan's backward Mystery technology and develop it our way.

"That vile elf girl."

The mastermind who had tormented him along with the World Tree in the Black Gate — [SSS-rank Half-Elf Yuki].

"We took her portals whole from her, didn't we?"

The Patriot really did have a plan.

"Going forward, portals will be installed nationwide, and travel between regions will be free. So what does commute distance matter?"

A swoosh through a portal, and you'd appear at the Goyang City business complex.

One-minute commute cut.

So the Patriot said,

"Let's cram all citizens into Seoul and turn the whole of Seoul into an apartment complex. Keep building and the supply will stabilize, and the housing prices will drop."

Seoul housing prices haven't dropped?

Then replace the situation with infinite supply.

"F-for now, we will implement it on a trial basis, applying it only to the Gwanghwamun area."

"Yeah, good work, everyone!"

The Patriot rose from his seat with an utterly refreshed face.

Then, saying 'Oh, right!', he extended a hand to Kang Mu-jin.

"Yi Sun-sin's Axe. I need to upgrade it, so I'll return it after the upgrade."

"An honor."

Kang Mu-jin pulled out the gleaming axe and handed it to the Patriot, and the Patriot left the Presidential Office with a significant expression.

* * *

Using his summoning ability, the Patriot entered the interior of a carrier and had a serious conversation with the Constellations.

Yi Sun-sin needed to read the information contained in the [Axe], so the Patriot's conversation partners were Yulgok Yi I and Cheok Jun-gyeong.

"Shin Si-woo may not be as bad a guy as he looks."

"I think so too."

That was the result of combing through all the information about Shin Si-woo.

'And he really did plunder Japan.'

Of course, the fact that Japan's three Transcendents had gained freedom pissed him off.

But he could still bear it.

Why?

Chureup——.

The Constellations and the Patriot had a video they kept watching again and again.

"To feed that vile Ggampre to the demons—"

The elves who had tormented him in the forest of the World Tree.

Yuki, Japan's Transcendent who had inherited elf blood, was a deeply uncomfortable being for the Patriot from the start.

'A kind of counter.'

The reason Japan hadn't taken large damage from the Patriot's bombings was because Yuki had used the [Spirit World] to block the physical missiles.

All of it was because of that horrifyingly powerful World Tree and elf blood!

And Shin Si-woo had—

"Fed that impudent elf to the demons."

Just a taste, mind you…

Even so, the sight of the half-elf fainting and the Million Demons smacking their lips had left a deep impression on the Patriot and the Constellations.

"Looked like he was ready to feed her for real if he met her one more time."

As they talked about various things while watching the footage, Yi Sun-sin called out to the Patriot with an unusual expression.

"Regarding Shin Si-woo… it's still too early to make a judgment."

Yi Sun-sin pointed out a few issues.

"There are quite a lot of records left in the Axe."

Shin Si-woo had simply released information about demon worshippers to the entire world.

And he had yet to provide a proper explanation through the media, and he didn't even hold a separate press announcement about the conversation between the US President and Jesus.

"In fact, Patriot, every problem that has arisen since we vanished has both started with Shin Si-woo's appearance and been resolved by him."

His movements from the moment of his Awakening were strangely suspicious.

"So, is he a good guy? A bad guy?"

Now it was time to find the answer.

* * *

"You, what's your objective?"

The Patriot came looking for me, accompanied by Sword Master Cheok Jun-gyeong.

And just like that, he asked me that.

'Objective?'

My objective was to wage war on North Korea and destroy the vessel of the Dark God Necribas.

Dropping that kind of statement was too wide an information gap for the situation.

While I was deliberating what to do, the Patriot opened his mouth first.

"I looked into everything you've done."

It looked somewhat like a self-orchestrated affair.

But watching the videos, it was true he had punished some truly damned bastards.

The Patriot muttered in his characteristic flippant tone.

Then, his eyes set in resolve, he asked.

Somehow, that gaze felt more fearsome than when he had rolled out the aircraft carriers and 100,000-strong army.

"You're not exactly inciting people to kill — so why release information about demon worshippers?"

I knew he'd ask this.

Jesus and the US President had both flared up over the same thing.

Anticipated.

So I conveyed to him the same thing I had said to Jesus.

"The more observers, the lower the probability — sounds reasonable, but the basis? Release that kind of info without basis and the country's done for!!!"

Was his patriotism kicking in?

At his urgent tone, I swiftly gave him the world's most definitive form of answer.

"Jesus's church has guaranteed it as truth."

The living Jesus.

The Grand Canyon church where he lives.

Is there a more certain guarantee than that?

"That unhinged Jesus-freak said so?"

"Yes."

To the Patriot, even Jesus was a Yankee.

Naturally, I expected his anti-American tendencies to ooze up, but…

"The Jesus-freak's appearance is a bit scary, but his skill is genuine."

He obediently acknowledged it.

"Is it fine to cooperate with Jesus?"

"Gods aren't bound by nationality. Jesus is a bit nuts, but—"

The Patriot applied a reasonable yardstick to Jesus, just as he had to me.

Good was good, he said.

"Still, Jesus booted out Elon Mask and Doramp in the early days of the Gate crisis. That's how the world became peaceful."

SSS-rank Transcendent, Elon Mask.

He was one of the leading intellects on Earth, and an enormous tycoon.

A man who spouted nonsense about Mars immigration and ran hundreds of trillions in assets to achieve it.

Of all people, he had to Awaken.

He had spouted insanity about using a Gate's dimensional portal to evacuate the entire world to Mars.

The result — he'd been expelled by Jesus.

And Doramp…

"The insane bastard who deployed nukes to Korea."

A deranged power-holder the Patriot had tried to kill, whom Jesus had handled first.

In the earliest days of the Gate crisis, under the pretext of checking China, he had deployed tactical nuclear weapons to Korea.

"China surely possesses cyborg weapons! MAGA, rise up and fight back!"

He had deployed nukes to an innocent Korea and raised hell, ruining Korea-China relations.

In the early days of the Gate crisis, North Korea had been firing missiles at Korea every single day.

Jesus, watching this, had sent Doramp to hell.

'Hell.'

According to what was known, Transcendents each had their own world.

Spaces where my swords lived, or the Constellation-spaces where the Patriot's Constellations resided.

Places like that.

'What is Jesus's world like?'

A sudden curiosity arose.

The church was the divine palace where Jesus lived, and heaven was the present life where we lived.

Then where was the hell Jesus spoke of?

My deliberations failed to reach a conclusion in the end.

Because the Patriot finally got to the main point.

"Understood everything. But what's with the alliance?"

Crazy as the Patriot was, he was reasonable.

And considering his disposition, the chances he'd go along with my plan were high.

"Together with the allied nations, we will strike North Korea."

"North Korea? Which means China?"

When I nodded, a light flickered in the Patriot's eyes.

Unlike the long-winded explanations he'd given before, this time the Patriot asked nothing.

He simply nodded gravely and said,

"You really were a patriot."

That profound gaze felt like looking at Jesus himself — it was truly a burden.