Chapter. 10 Lead and Silver Coins (5)
****
“Hey, Bex.”
“huh. Hepburn.”
“Is what I’m seeing right now… correct?”
“When you ask that question, I see that I wasn’t looking at something in vain.”
As I left the inspection department building, I was worried about how I would find the scattered people in this large dome, but it wasn’t as difficult as I thought.
Vex had bought something similar to a sand-colored hood that people in the wasteland used a lot and was waiting in front of the Inspection Department building, and Ian was…
“I’m sorry, but I hope you don’t obsess over me, ladies. I am a person who will come for a short time and then disappear. There are people who already have it in their hearts. Loving me… is just an act of hurting yourself. “If you love yourself, you better leave my side.”
“Ah, Monsieur! Don’t say things like that!”
“Just stay by my side, Ian. I am confident. I am confident that I will gently embrace your wounds and make you look only at me someday, so for now, just stay by my side…!”
As I always say, this guy doesn’t have a very handsome face. No, he was a bit lively. The eyes are deep and somewhat decadent. However, the jaw is made entirely of metal, so it looks quite bizarre. No, objectively speaking, if you only look at external factors, aren’t I a bit better than him? Why on earth just by my appearance,
“hmm? Oh my, it’s time. Well, it’s time to say goodbye. Melina, Tiri, Azien. “It was brief, but it was fun.”
“Ahh, like that!”
I mean, is he so popular that those girls are staring at me like I’m going to kill them?
I heard that Ian had been staying here for quite some time, so I looked around for accommodations, and I was able to find him in the most luxurious place, surrounded by women who looked wealthy.
A white fedora and a dark brown suit that fits perfectly to the body. The guy, looking like a drunken mafia with his white shirt undone, got up from his seat and came out after killing the women, spreading his arms wide and smiling broadly.
“professor! I think it’s been almost a month since I last saw you! “Did anything happen?”
“I don’t think there was anything like you.”
“Hehehe! then! Rowing when the water comes in. “You can’t just sit still now that you have so much money and recognition, right?”
Hearing what I said sincerely, he let out his characteristic windy laugh (at this time, one of the women who was watching anxiously from behind fainted) and silently pointed upstairs with his thumb.
“Instead of doing this, let’s go to my room and talk. I took a room because I thought I would be staying for a long time on business. “It’s a place for caravans coming from other districts or scavengers with regular contracts, and it’s a pretty good place to stay.”
“Uh, yes. okay.”
Not knowing what to say when he looked like a mafia + Casanova, we just nodded and followed him up the stairs. As I watched the women screaming and screaming at the actions of the guy who waved his hand indifferently as he passed by, I once again thought that the world was ruined.
****
“Suite? Do you really have a tendency to spend money? “I stayed with Corduro and I couldn’t believe it…”
“No dude. I had just rented a small room, but the secretary of the owner of Life & Murder or something came by and said a few words, and the owner upgraded it on his own. “You didn’t spend a single penny of my money, so don’t be so mean.”
The upstairs that Ian was talking about was not just the upper floor, but a splendid suite that used the entire top floor of a four-story building as a private room. At first glance, it was ironic that a luxurious suite filled with unusual furniture had to be accessed by foot without an elevator, but hey, it was free.
Ian, who luxuriously poured milk for four people when I asked for a glass of water, mixed some brandy into the milk, drank it, and handed me the package that was next to the table.
“Now, a gift.”
“gift? “What a gift.”
“Oh, I was walking around this neighborhood and I came across some things that reminded me of you.”
Contained in the package were two boxes measuring about 30 x 30 cm. wait for a sec. I thought I just saw this box in the president’s office.
“no way….”
When I opened it, it contained a figurine elaborately carved out of wood, just as I expected.
[Professor Park announcing the end of the No.17 battle]
“Really!”
“Hehehe! Isn’t it okay? It looks like you’re shooting something that looks like Zeus. It’s kind of precious, right? The production company, District 47 Dome Inspection Department, is making and selling only a limited quantity of 50 units, and all the high-ranking figures in the Dome are rushing to buy them for a premium, so they saved them for us. Ah, Vex. “You have yours too.”
“There’s no need for that kind of consideration!”
“That means the value of our name has become so expensive that we are charging a ridiculous price of 30,000 shillings just for these wooden dolls.”
“A Banksy painting sold for 600,000, but a figurine like this costs 30,000…”
“That was a special situation at that time. At that time, the Dome couldn’t reveal its identity, so the only buyers were those artists, right? “If it had been auctioned off at the dome, it would have easily fetched 10 million, right?”
“Don’t say it, don’t say it….”
“They say that in difficult times, heroes emerge. As you said, the end times have come, so it can be seen as something closer to worship than just popularity.”
Ian opened a similar-looking box, glanced back at Cynthia and Bex who were delighted, took a big gulp of the strange liquid that he couldn’t tell if it was brandy or milk, and began to tell what had happened.
“Last time, there was an all-out war with the Raptor Society. You probably all know that our name was quite well known in the engagement known here as the Battle of Breaching Dawn. In order to calm the confusion, the Dome went out of their way to promote us by framing us as ‘heroes’, and it seemed to work so well that the citizens of the Dome completely forgot that ‘Raptor broke into the central power plant, the heart of the city.’ I became enthusiastic about the existence of a new hero. Covering an issue with an issue. “It’s a common media play, right?”
“Even the effect wasn’t common.”
As if he had been waiting for those words, Ian pointed his finger at me and lit a cigarette in his mouth.
“That’s it. Well, I kind of expected that since I was running a business, it would bring in a lot of money. But something a little different happened than I expected.”
“What if it’s something unexpected…?”
“Video edited in that dome. There are some vaguely archaic, semi-archaic weapons that me and the Vex used there. “I get hundreds of messages every day on my computer asking if I can purchase it.”
I remembered. At that time, I received a lot of hand cannons and single-molecule cutters from the inspection department’s arsenal.
“Oh, that. But that’s not for sale, right? Just because you want to save it doesn’t mean you can.”
“Well, of course I thought that too, so I just said no and refused, but… I was wondering if it was possible. The technology leak restrictions were put in place by those who manage the Dome. From the perspective of developing and selling weapons, there is nothing more frustrating than having to work hard to develop the technology, but being tied down by regulations to a small domestic market, right?”
As Ian says that, he only pushes up the upper corner of his mouth. I know what that laugh is. That’s the expression Ian usually makes when he’s having a ‘bad idea’.
“That’s why I contacted [Life & Murder], the largest and most technologically advanced weapons company in the Dome. A purchase offer like this came in. I know that your insides are burning black. Let’s try some business. “That’s why I couldn’t go home for the past few days, so I ate and slept in the dome and met people.”
Ian proudly talks about his plan. But honestly, after listening to it, I couldn’t help but feel a bit skeptical. It’s nothing else but a technology leak from Dom, which stands as the loser of the wasteland with its technology alone. Although it is not comparable to Dome’s latest plasma rifle, exosuit, or shield technology, the hand cannon and electromagnetic weapons that Ian used at the time were products of high technology that could not be compared to the Ak-47 or stainless steel pipe machine gun used in the wasteland. . I knew for sure that the moment it was released on the market, Raptors would rush to buy it, but there was no way the Dome wanted to put a valuable, high-tech weapon into the hands of the enemy.
“Hey, the plan isn’t that bad… but will it work?”
So I tried to stop him before he suffered in vain…
Palak-
“I heard it worked?”
.
.
.
.
“What?”
What Ian took out from his pocket was a thick contract with Dom’s seal, Marketplace mark, and Life and Murder company’s seal side by side.
I quickly snatched the contract from his hand and read it carefully. A contract written by hand with ink, not on smooth paper, but on rough paper that looks like it was made from filtered pulp like Korean paper.
——————
faqwiki.us
Join our Discord for new chapter updates!
https://discord.com/invite/xr7SxG5T6V
——————
It was definitely true. It was clearly written that Life & Murder was selling its semi-state-of-the-art weapons to outside parties through BDSM caravans.
“Uh, how did you do it?”
“Hehehe, the timing was right. As soon as I got here, I could see at a glance that Dom was strapped for money. People who would normally be quiet to maintain the system are selling flags and dolls, and are branching out into various businesses. He was suspicious, so I asked around a bit and found Area 45, the underground bunker where we first met. They say they’re going to completely demolish the area around there and make a new dome? “According to the inspection department’s announcement, there are no disruptions to the plan.”
There is no disruption to the plan, la… First of all, it appears that the problem with the shield components was not reported to the outside world.
“yes.”
“But after looking at it for a few days, I noticed a lot of strange things besides that. As you know, we have some ties to the Inspection Department, so we can easily enter the Inspection Department building, which is now the core of power, right? When I said I was there to check out Ezel, the person at the counter even saluted me. “I went to look around to see when my tank would come out…”
Sigh!
Ian said, snapping his fingers as if he had found a big clue.
“There wasn’t a single exosuit.”
“Not even one?”
“huh. Ezel is also gone on a mission. She asked Anne where everyone had gone…”
“Anne?”
“The lady who managed the armory. I said it was nice to meet you after a long time and said a friendly greeting, and when I asked where everyone had gone, I was told that they had all gone on a mission around the dome? I didn’t even go to Area 45. They’re all standing guard around the dome. Isn’t something strange? “The Raptor tank unit can clearly be seen coming from 10km away, so there is no reason to disperse the troops like that and thoroughly monitor the surrounding area.”
“….”
Ian’s words made my head spin. Each clue was playing separately, but I was missing one strange clue that connected them.
Dom needs money. Exosuit maneuvering is based on enormous power, and that’s all about money. From the Dome’s perspective, there is no reason or room to waste money unnecessarily.
The exosuit is Dom’s final weapon. So, I don’t expose it easily, and I only activate it when there’s an opponent who really needs that much force. Mainly, only when there are enemies like Raptors or Type 3 variants that can lay waste to a city.
Since there are no Type 3 variants around, that means the opponent is a Raptor. However, Raptor is a large piece of metal that is easily caught by radar anyway, so there is no need to spread out and respond like that. If there is a need for that, it means that Raptor’s tactics have changed dramatically.
The moment when the Raptor Society’s tactics changed. I have seen it.
“It felt too analog to be called a cyborg. Mechanized man? “Are they the ones with chainsaws or hydraulic vices on their arms?”
As I muttered while organizing my thoughts, Ian, who was grinning and proudly sharing the information he had discovered, looked at me with an expression that made me wonder what kind of guy this was.
“C’mon. If I had known you would find me so quickly, I would have paid 8 million to wake you up instead of using the information dealer. Yes, that’s right. “The intelligence officer said that several Raptor soldiers with strange prosthetic arms and incredible physical abilities are waging a guerrilla war against the Dom.”
Ian’s answer was positive that my guess was correct.
During the Great War, it was developed to create soldiers with superhuman strength and various abilities by transplanting mechanical bones and muscles into the human body. However, it not only caused physical and mental rejection in users, but also had poor fuel efficiency, making users uncomfortable. A technology that was abandoned due to limitations that did not match the goal of quick agility and mobility, such as having to carry a large power engine on one’s back.
The Raptor Society, which took this technology away from the Dome and later became the basis for the development of exosuits, eventually succeeded in developing it to the point where it could be used.
“The original strategy is that the more our troops are outnumbered, the more they deviate from the correct attack method…”
“That’s right! The reason Dom was in a hurry was because there was no way to completely stop this guerrilla war. After dispatching all the exosuits and turning on the radar at full speed, they managed to catch a few, but even now, they say there are people who come in from time to time and throw missiles like rocket punches at the outer wall of the dome and bounce around. Naturally, citizens’ anxiety is growing. Control of the media also has its limits. So, we tried to complete the Area 45 dome as quickly as possible to make it functional at least partially. “With the Dome’s powerful regional control, the scope for carrying out guerrilla warfare over there will be greatly reduced.”
In the professor’s mind, the information Ian came to and the information he learned from the conversation with the president began to come together. The reason why we have no choice but to rely on external personnel while spending a lot of money. The reason money was so tight. And, the fact that Ian brought this up at this point…
They found a way to solve that tight money situation and a way to get rid of the Congo in between.
“so. “How much will you give me to lift restrictions on technology leaks?”
“Hehehe. When the 30% was called, the inspection department employee who came to negotiate said, ‘Sir, do you want to take it?’ I did it once. Since it can be purchased from Raptor, it is absolutely impossible to upload it to the GG exchange. Only direct transactions, that is, buyers come directly to the dome and purchase weapons at a store directly managed by Life & Murder headquarters, or consignment transactions through a ‘caravan that has been proven to have a risk of betrayal converging to 0’ are possible, and 20% of total profits are subject to tax. “It will be presented as .”
“Consignment transactions are only possible through caravans that have been verified. Are you a genius? “You created a corner to intervene like that.”
Restriction of direct transaction. This was where our caravan would find space. Buyers are scattered all over the place, and not all of them can cross this dangerous wasteland to come to the dome. A caravan is a group that travels across the wasteland carrying various items for survivors whose movement is limited. It is a caravan whose ideology has been verified, but this is the same as meaning that the goods will not be handed over to any other place except for the caravans directly operated by the dome or marketplace and our BDSM.
“Hehehe, it took about a week of marathon meetings just to come to a conclusion on this. It seems that Bisil, who is weak in stamina, has been having a meeting without sleep for a day or two, so his head is getting irritated. Thanks to this, we were able to close the contract on fairly favorable terms. It seems like a weakness of will. “The chairman from Life and Murder didn’t even bat an eye even when he was in his 60s.”
Palak
I was listening to Ian and going through the contracts one by one. Dozens of types of weapons divided into tiers 1 to 5 with restrictions on sales quantity, price, and sales region. There were some things I was familiar with, and some things I had never seen before, but at a glance, they were of a type that easily exceeded the average technology of the wasteland. The name of the caravan confirmed to participate and the area in charge were also described.
….. Hereafter, Caravan takes 13% of the sales price.]
Goldman Wanderer, Districts 42-46.
Dome Caravan Zones 40-49.
BDSM, areas 41-35….
huh?
“Hey, wait a minute. this….”
“Kill me? I told you! He said he wrote it down while the kids were busy. That’s not profit, it’s 13% of the sales price! This means that if we sell well, we can make a lot of money! “No one will know how much it was sold for, so in effect, we can eat the entire amount sold above the list price set by the dome!”
“No, not that… Isn’t this area a bit strange?”
“Well, the 30th division is a bit dangerous. There haven’t been any problems in that neighborhood recently, right? “Except for the fact that there are some fierce monsters, there are fewer people who can come out here, so there are a lot of customers, and because of the radiation, everyone lives confined to the shelter, so there’s no chance of being attacked out of nowhere while moving around.”
No, that means a problem that never existed before has recently exploded…
This must be done clearly. Now that we have so much money, there is no reason to crawl into dangerous areas and risk our lives.
“Ian. “Why are you making money?”
“hmm? What kind of idiot are you suddenly talking about? “Did I drink alcohol in your milk too?”
“No joke, seriously. We have a lot of money now. “I don’t lack anything to make a living for the rest of my life, but I’m curious as to why you work so hard to make money.”
“Be serious….”
Teuddeuddeuk-
Whoa.
In response to my question, Ian exhaled cigarette smoke and said, taking off his white fedora and putting it down.
“You do it because you want to.”
“…Because you want to?”
“okay. Is there any reason? Now that I have more places to spend money, I naturally want to earn more. I thought it was an opportunity so I jumped at it. You must have seen it when you came. “A village or something has formed around my house.”
“That… why?”
“Are you asking because you don’t know? “It’s because there’s no way you can just ignore that because of your personality.”
At Ian’s words, I wondered for a moment whether I had ever told this guy what I was doing in town. She never said a word.
“If you look closely, you’re making things really complicated. Keep it simple! Think simply. Now, if you leave those people alone, they will fight each other to death or leave. If we leave like that, we will return to our peaceful and lonely shelter. good? no?”
“Well, it’s as simple as that….”
“f*ck! “Just picture that scene in your head and say whether you felt uncomfortable or comfortable.”
The professor recalled that scene when he heard Ian’s voice. A familiar alley and a road where quite a lot of people once passed by. Blood stains remained in the underground shopping mall where Park Geum-pil was located, and only traces of the two people and an unlit furnace remained. It’s a quiet, safe, empty street…
“It’s inconvenient….”
“Then I guess I’ll have to live. Professor, you guys are looking too far into the future. Sometimes I just have to look at the one step I’m about to take and move on. okay? So you have to have a lot of money to run a village, right? It may not be as big as a dome, but there should be an exterior wall and defenses that prevent wandering mutants from creeping in. When people gather, some people will meet and get married, and children will be born. Even if it’s not city-level, it would be much better to buy several large shelter shields to block out dust. Look at this! I have endless thoughts of things I want to do? This is all money, money. These are things you have to pour money into like water without any other option than having 200 million won. “Is there no reason for me to make money like this?”
Gulp, gulp-
Percussion!
Ian emptied the glass in front of him in one go, then tugged on his collar and spoke.
“I make money because of me, not because of you. My first family was ruined, but I can’t leave my second one like that. I like the group of people gathered now. So, I really need to close this deal. Even if it’s a bit dangerous. “It is abnormal that life in the wasteland is not dangerous in the first place.”
He is so firm, without a single doubt about his actions. Sometimes, whenever I see this side of him, I feel that Ian has lived more than 10 years longer than me.
“…Haaa.”
“what. Are you dissatisfied? “If it’s really annoying, it’s a bit disappointing, but I might cancel the contract…”
“No, not that one. “I thought, I lost again this time.”
“lose? To whom?”
Who is that raccoon-like mustachioed man?
‘Please, as quickly as possible. At least within the time that the disappeared people will be classified as ‘missing persons’.’
I said that I would make a decision after consulting with my colleagues.
The president already knew everything. Ian signed a contract and made up his mind to enter District 30. In fact, he received the consent of one of his three colleagues, so he must have been able to let me go with some leisure.
“Okay, let’s go. Doing business, looking for missing people, and delivering boxes filled with Dom’s hope. Let’s do it all. “Let’s eat until our stomachs explode.”
“Missing person? box? Hey, what is that….”
“Don’t talk nonsense later. “Because I’ve already decided.”
The professor stood up, checking to see if the president’s request letter was in his arms.
After listening to what he said, I really wanted to do it myself. Even if I asked him to step down, he had no intention of giving up.
****
fantasy,
