Chapter 184

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Translated by Heavenly Cat

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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Earthquake magnitude 7.

Casualties over 10,000.

40,000 buildings destroyed, 2,930 villages destroyed.

Damage estimated at tens of billions of dollars.

Royal military and US military bases damaged.

Missile bases damaged.

Military operations impossible for the time being.

“……”

Anthony received the Morocco damage report and let out a hollow laugh.

“So how long until recovery?”

“They say they don’t know how many years it will take for areas outside the capital. Construction companies’ capabilities aren’t particularly outstanding, and the Moroccan royal family is in chaos right now, so they’ll probably focus all efforts on restoring military bases first.”

“The people’s homes are completely wrecked, and they’re rebuilding military bases first?”

“Yes. They’re looking after the royal family’s safety first.”

He understood.

Royal families are like that.

Thinking of the royal family’s safety before the people.

It’s selfish, but it’s natural to prevent the system from being shaken.

“On top of that, isn’t this an earthquake in 120 years?”

Morocco was completely unprepared for earthquakes.

There hadn’t been a single major earthquake in 120 years, so they were completely unprepared. And probably any country would have behaved similarly.

120 years is enough time to forget about earthquakes.

“But this happened the moment Morocco defied Gwangwoon’s will…”

Could they still claim it was coincidence this time?

Don’t they say if coincidences keep happening, it becomes inevitable?

“I heard the Moroccan royal family has branded Gwangwoon as Dajjal since before and refused to let Gwangwoon enter Morocco.”

“Dajjal means something like the Antichrist?”

“Yes. In Islam, the position is similar to the Antichrist. That Gwangwoon is deceiving the world with lies, controlling them so they can’t reach truth and salvation, and furthermore trying to play God themselves.”

Normally he would have laughed and dismissed it as nonsense. But why.

“Doesn’t the Moroccan royal family’s words feel eerily accurate?”

Gwangwoon deceiving the world with lies is something they’re still doing.

“They’ve made Jeong Jin-ho and Chairman Hwang Dae-woon’s images into practically the world’s greatest angels through the media Gwangwoon controls. Conversely, they turned French President Perong into a devil who extorts citizens’ money and have now completely toppled the French regime. And the US government? They’ve turned that into a figurehead regime too.”

From early on, Gwangwoon poured massive amounts of money into the media sector to reach its current position.

They knew.

Once you control the media, everything after becomes very easy.

Like now, manipulating public opinion to color people’s thinking however they want.

Planting hatred for certain political orientations through SNS, igniting discontent toward certain regimes, spreading fabricated information about certain people to bury them socially.

“And the core figure running Gwangwoon, President Jeong Jin-ho? Sanctification work is currently ongoing. Every day, the good deeds he’s done are covered extensively by various media. But journalists must know Gwangwoon’s dark side too, yet no one tries to write articles about it.”

There’s been a saying circulating in Wall Street for a long time.

‘Never oppose Gwangwoon no matter what.’

Every single person who has tried anything funny against Gwangwoon until now has vanished from this industry without exception.

Wall Street knows this better than anyone, and the news agencies receiving Wall Street’s money are also well aware of the terror and avoid it.

“The scariest thing is this. No matter how deep any agency digs into Gwangwoon, there’s not a single piece of evidence of the evil they’ve committed.”

That was the biggest problem.

To expose something, you need evidence.

Otherwise, it’s just fabrication.

If you make such fabrications poorly, you could face astronomical lawsuits from the global company Gwangwoon.

So evidence is essential.

But despite numerous agencies and well-intentioned journalists investigating Gwangwoon’s background, not a single trace has emerged until now.

“We investigated thoroughly too. But the only evidence that came out was everything really looks like coincidence. Absurdly. There’s even data that President Jeong Jin-ho and Gwangwoon are doing tremendous good deeds helping poor people.”

But Anthony knows.

That it’s absolutely not coincidence.

People in Wall Street, journalists. they all know.

That Gwangwoon is behind all these incidents.

But no matter how much they dig, no evidence comes out.

“It’ll be the same this time too, right?”

“Yes. Morocco and Gwangwoon were already at odds, so you expected something would happen, didn’t you?”

“I did. So I was monitoring closely beforehand.”

Anthony had expected that Gwangwoon would cause some incident to shake the country when he saw Morocco and Gwangwoon in a standoff.

“So we were monitoring in various ways. Earthquakes were one of them. But…”

“Nothing came up again this time?”

“Yes. They say there’s not a single piece of evidence that looks like an artificial earthquake. No matter how many times they recheck, it seems like a natural occurrence…”

Anthony nodded, knowing it would be like this.

“Of course it would. In a country where there hasn’t been even a small earthquake in 120 years, a major earthquake hits the moment they made enemies with Gwangwoon, but it’ll look like just a natural earthquake. Of course. So what’s the Moroccan royal family doing now?”

“At first when the earthquake hit, they reportedly didn’t give in. But as aftershocks continued and there were reports that additional major earthquakes might occur like in Turkey, they hurriedly contacted Gwangwoon saying they’d accept all proposals. And then…”

“Then?”

“As soon as they negotiated with Gwangwoon, the aftershocks stopped.”

“……”

“Because of that, the Moroccan royal family has become completely terrified. King Abdul is trembling in fear to the point of not even mentioning the ‘Kwang’ in Gwangwoon.”

This made it certain.

Gwangwoon showed the world once again that they can manipulate earthquakes.

But how it’s possible, and how they leave no evidence.

That secret is known only to Gwangwoon.

So maybe.

A curiosity suddenly arose.

What is Jeong Jin-ho, who could be called the center of all these incidents, thinking right now?

And what expression is he making?

Perhaps he’s laughing thinking he’s already ascended to the ranks of gods?

***

“Ah… that’s unfortunate.”

I was saddened by the continuing reports from Morocco.

Fortunately, since Morocco had been blocking Gwangwoon’s access all along, there was no damage to our company or foundation side.

“The Moroccan royal family seems to have become quite desperate. At first when the earthquake struck, they put up their pride, but the damage must have been worse than expected. the royal family directly responded that they’d accept all our support.”

“What is Gwangwoon Foundation doing?”

“As soon as Morocco gave approval, they all departed for the disaster areas. They’re particularly focusing support on underdeveloped regions that can’t even receive help from the Moroccan royal family.”

“But isn’t the rebel problem serious in Morocco too?”

“Yes. There are quite large rebel forces opposing the Moroccan royal family, so Sentinel is going in together to protect our employees. The Moroccan royal family has also permitted Sentinel to arm freely.”

If so, I could put my mind at ease.

If the Moroccan royal family had accepted us a little earlier and our foundation people were in the Morocco region when the earthquake occurred, the damage would have been really severe.

Should I say Morocco’s stubborn refusal actually helped us?

No, even so, with tens of thousands suffering from such a natural disaster, it was hard to use the word fortunate.

“Morocco also has a big wealth gap like Nigeria, right?”

“Yes. Isn’t that why Gwangwoon Foundation was trying to enter Morocco? Like Nigeria, the extreme wealth gap from those at the top hoarding everything was a serious problem.”

The biggest problem with countries like Nigeria that overflow with natural resources is the royal family.

The royal family monopolizes all wealth and won’t share with the people below, so the ironic situation occurs where the royal family is living incredibly well while the people are dying from starvation.

“Gwangwoon Foundation was concerned about that point too, so they drew a clear line through negotiations this time. All donations from Gwangwoon Foundation will be managed by Gwangwoon, and the royal family absolutely cannot touch them.”

“They accepted that?”

Remembering the Moroccan royal family’s pickiness from before, they wouldn’t have accepted.

Since donations are typically used under government supervision.

“Fortunately, the Moroccan royal family accepted. They must be really desperate. Damage estimates alone exceed tens of trillions of won. Above all, the royal rebels might try military provocations using this opportunity, so they’re focusing most attention on the military side right now.”

Seeing how they’re okaying whatever conditions we set, it seems the Moroccan royal family is in such a desperate situation that they can’t afford to be picky.

“What’s the possibility of additional earthquakes?”

“Currently the aftershocks have stopped too, so the possibility is low for now. But earthquakes are unpredictable natural disasters.”

Still, our Gwangwoon Foundation people were risking their lives to go over to Morocco.

Should I call them living saints?

When I die and go to heaven, our Gwangwoon Foundation employees will probably each have a seat there.

I don’t know where such courage comes from.

“This is all thanks to you, President. You created the foundation and are helping with your personal assets. Normally for such work, people are reluctant to go anywhere because of personal life issues, but since you’re covering all those costs, our employees can go volunteer with peace of mind.”

Getting such words from Manager made me a bit embarrassed.

“No. I’m just doing the minimum I can do.”

But I didn’t feel proud.

I’m just spending money. our foundation employees are doing all the hard work.

“Ah, and the foundation sent a report on additional grain purchases.”

What foundation people need most are two things. Food and medicine.

Medicine could be handled through pharmaceutical companies Astrazenon has acquired.

Same for food.

Following my intuition, I purchased grain companies in Canada and companies located around the world to accumulate food.

“But they say the current stockpile is quite substantial. They say even if we distribute plenty to African countries, there’ll be leftovers, so additional purchases probably aren’t necessary…”

Did I accumulate too obsessively because of last year’s poor harvest?

I reviewed the report the foundation sent.

Indeed, we had stockpiled way too much grain.

But for some reason, my intuition was sharply stimulating my fingertips.

And the contents in the report were all turning red.

I was startled and put the report down.

“…President?”

When I put down the document, the red energy disappeared as well.

It seemed my intuition was giving an opposing opinion.

“Please proceed with purchasing additional grain.”

“What? More from here? As the report says, there’s almost no storage space left.”

“Then tell them to acquire additional warehouses and fill them so full they’re bursting.”

I know too.

That grain is already piled up enough to burst the warehouses.

But seeing my intuition react this strongly, is something else about to happen?

***

“Hello, Mr. President. It’s an honor.”

The blond man who introduced himself as Alex entered the White House with a bewildered expression.

“So you’re from the Trinity Guild?”

“Ah, yes. I’ll be providing coaching by your side for your comfortable hobby activities from now on.”

Just looking at his face, he seemed like someone who’d done nothing but play games all day.

“Since your schedule is so busy, Mr. President, I plan to come according to the White House’s schedule from now on. Since there’s so much to learn, I’m planning to come every single day for a while.”

“I see. So you’ll stay by my side monitoring me and report everything to Gwangwoon?”

“Well… monitoring is an awkward way to put it, but I will report to the Trinity Guild daily. I need to report on your gaming skills and progress, Mr. President. That way you’ll be able to enjoy fun raids with the guild members later. Hehe.”

Alex seemed like a very nice young man.

With a pure soul that seemed to have not a single gram of malicious intent.

That’s Gwangwoon for you.

They must have deliberately assigned someone like this to lower his guard.

“Alright. So what should I do first?”

“We’ll start with the easiest basics. First, here’s a booklet I made myself. Please be sure to read this starting today.”

[Alex’s Game Basics Volume 1]

“……”

Aiden could only be flustered by the crudely made booklet.

No, don’t get fooled.

There might be listening devices attached in there, so he’d have to get it checked later.

“This is all I need to read? It’s thicker than I expected.”

“Oh, no. When you finish reading that, I’ll give you the next booklet. There are more than 10 volumes total prepared. Please read as quickly as possible and learn while playing games with me.”

“More than 10 volumes?!”

“Yes. It’s an old game, so there’s really a lot to learn. Monster and boss characteristics, patterns, growth, items, and so on. There’s so much.”

“…”

“Oh right. And we’ll have a simple quiz next time, so please be sure to read it. Hehe.”

“E-even a quiz?”

“Yes. That way I can see what’s lacking and what you need to learn more.”

Aiden blinked.

At first, he was relieved when he heard Gwangwoon would accept him into Trinity.

But a thought suddenly occurred to him.

Aren’t these guys actually trying to torture him using games as an excuse?

End