Chapter 176 – Become Self-Reliant

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Translated by Pratt

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
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Tsuchida Shohei was going through the palace-entry procedure at the Imperial Palace of New Seoul.

Today was the day of the imperial banquet gathering hosted by His Imperial Majesty.

Figures from politics, business, academia, the cultural world, the military, master-grade civilian awakened ones, and more, had all been invited.

The number of people gathering alone came to more than 3,000.

Tsuchida too had received an invitation and had come.

Because he was the chairman of Fuji Group and the president of Fuji Construction.

The group’s scale was nothing compared to Baekdu, but in construction alone, it was at the very top level in the Samhan Empire.

That Fuji Construction was wavering.

No, it would be more fitting to say it was being torn to shreds.

Unexpected tax and accounting investigations had come in.

After just one investigation, the stock recorded three consecutive limit-down days.

And that was not all.

The Ministry of Land’s special safety inspections.

Buildings that had been poorly built were being uncovered one after another.

This was fatal.

It was not one or two places.

It was discovered that construction waste had been mixed into the concrete, and that rebar had been skimmed off too.

Enormous penalty surcharges, and even demolition and reconstruction orders, had been imposed.

Whether the surcharges or the demolition orders, all had been carried out according to lawful procedures, so it was impossible to respond.

Because it was a clear fact that Fuji Construction had committed tax evasion and poor construction.

Even the short-selling forces had jumped in, the stock price kept collapsing, the shareholders, banks, and creditor groups were moving… and there were even rumors of a hostile merger and acquisition.

The acquiring party was TJ Group.

That bitch President Baek Seo-yeon was going around meeting shareholders and the bank creditor groups.

If the rumor spread that TJ would acquire Fuji, the stock price would rise, but the problem was large over-the-counter trading, and there was no way to stop that.

‘Just what did I do wrong?’

The Imperial Palace and TJ Group were joining forces to steal his company?

‘Those hyena-like bastards…’

Externally, it was because of that incident.

The attempted rape case his son had caused.

He too had tried to exercise influence and had ended up getting caught by Jeong Uk-cheol and Geum Su-ho.

His son could not avoid detention.

Still, he had not resisted and had admitted everything.

In any case, he was at least trying to pay for his crimes.

But the whole Fuji Group had become endangered.

Further than that, it even disrupted the great undertaking.

The anti-Samhan independence struggle.

It meant there would be problems with the funding source.

‘Phew, the Great Japanese Empire will definitely be revived.’

The scale of the anti-Samhan organization was unexpectedly large.

It was spread evenly through all fields.

There were some among Japanese citizens who had changed their family and personal names and used Samhan-style names, and there were also some who had not changed their family and personal names and still used Japanese names as they were.

They had almost achieved their goal.

When Emperor Ryu Tae-hyeon had been bedridden in the past, that had been the perfect chance.

Ryu Tae-hyeon, the absolute authority ruling the empire, had not shown himself for years after being struck by a demonic being, and was dying.

How could they let a chance like that pass?

While approaching Empress Lee’s faction and throwing support behind the Third Imperial Prince, they had tried to gather the Japanese forces and join with part of the Chinese line to raise high the banner of independence.

But the result had not been good.

The bedridden Emperor had risen again in robust health, and because of the Honda Kazuo rebellion in Kyushu Territory, many of the military’s Japanese members had been purged.

If things went wrong, the true nature of the anti-Samhan independence struggle organization might be exposed.

For now they had hidden beneath the surface again, hoping only that another chance would come.

Did an emperor live for a thousand years and ten thousand years?

Even if he was awakened, he was human in the end.

Someday he would definitely die.

And the power struggle over imperial authority would resume as well.

The most important key here.

Mere independence was not enough.

For independence, vast sums of money were needed.

Because at present the Japanese archipelago could not survive on its own.

The Samhan Empire had to become a straw to be sucked for Japan’s independence.

Whether technology, capital, or military power, they had to suck up Samhan’s nourishment and pass it to Japan.

And yet, to think such a ridiculous incident would occur.

Tsuchida Shohei entered the palace banquet hall.

The moment he entered, he looked around and searched for someone.

‘There he is.’

Naturally, that person too had received an invitation.

Tsuchida quickly approached him.

“Chairman Kim Tae-ju, I am Tsuchida Shohei.”

Tae-ju tilted his head.

It was someone he was seeing for the first time.

“Who are you?”

“I said Tsuchida Shohei!”

“Hmm, do you know me?”

“…I, I am the ch-chairman of Fuji Construction.”

“Ah!”

He should have said so from the beginning.

If someone came up out of nowhere and just said their name, how was he supposed to know who it was?

With a face flushed red, Tsuchida came right up to Tae-ju and growled.

“Why are you going this far?”

“With what?”

“That scheme to collude with the Imperial Palace and steal my company. The tax investigation, the safety inspections, and even meeting the creditor group.”

This bastard…

Had his guts swollen?

“Is it my fault that your company turned out like that?”

“…Th-then are you saying it isn’t?”

“Did I do the shoddy construction? Was it me who committed tax evasion too?”

“…”

Tae-ju let out a short laugh.

Seen closely, he was a pitiful fellow.

He probably could not even imagine how the future was about to flow.

“Let me give you one piece of advice.”

“What…?”

“Other than Fuji Construction, hand over the other companies to me too. If the price is proper, I’ll buy them for you. If you’re interested, shall we make a verbal contract right here?”

Grrrk.

Tsuchida glared at Tae-ju with bloodshot eyes and ground his teeth.

“How dare you!”

“If you want to pocket even a few coins, this is your last chance.”

“…No chance.”

“Well, do as you please.”

Tae-ju knew why the Emperor had held the banquet.

Among the more than 3,000 people gathered here, more than half were Japanese imperial subjects.

He would probably declare it here.

The approval of the independent State of Japan.

Before long.

The doors of the banquet hall opened.

Palace Secretary Geum Su-ho entered first.

“His Imperial Majesty is entering. Everyone, show your respect.”

The people lowered their heads.

Step by step, Emperor Ryu Tae-hyeon crossed the banquet hall while spreading the force of an intense imperial bearing, then climbed onto the prepared podium and opened his mouth.

“Thank you all for attending despite your busy affairs.”

After the formal greeting ended.

“I ask you. Is the Samhan Empire a democratic state?”

Then someone stepped forward and answered.

“It is not. The Samhan Empire is an absolute monarchy, and therefore the master of the empire is Your Majesty.”

“Wrong. The master of Samhan is the people. The people of former Daehan, and the Chinese line, the Japanese line, the Russian line, the Southeast Asian line, and many other kinds of people have gathered together to form Samhan.”

“Your grace is immeasurable.”

“All of them are precious people who form the foundation of Samhan. I am always grateful to them. However…”

After pausing briefly, the Emperor looked around with brilliant eyes, and soon continued speaking.

“I have heard that among some imperial subjects, there are those who refuse to be people of Samhan.”

Murmur murmur.

The banquet hall grew somewhat noisy.

The Emperor directly hammered the point in.

“If there are members of the anti-Samhan independence struggle here, raise your hands. I mean those who desire Japan’s independence.”

At that moment.

Thud.

Silence flowed through the banquet hall.

In particular, beads of cold sweat formed on the foreheads of the major Japanese figures.

They had thought this was an invitation to a banquet, but had they walked in with their own feet to the site of a great purge?

“Do not deny it. And do not worry. It is not to punish you that I have pointed you out here.”

Then what was it?

“By imperial decree, I command this. From today onward, I approve the independence of the State of Japan. Those who wish may live not as imperial subjects, but as citizens of Japan.”

A giant bomb dropped into the banquet hall.

All of a sudden?

“From now on, the Japanese archipelago is not Samhan territory. I will guarantee your safety, so if you wish to go, leave Samhan.”

The banquet hall was still silent.

Not a single person opened their mouth.

What in the world was the Emperor’s intention?

Did he truly mean to approve independence?

“Of course, I will give you a chance to choose. Whether to remain citizens of Samhan, or become citizens of Japan.”

The Emperor’s words were not finished yet.

“However!”

In a terrifying voice loaded with mana.

“Imperial subjects involved in the anti-Samhan independence struggle will not be given a choice. Without fail, within six months, settle everything and leave Samhan. If you ignore this and continue to remain, I will put you to death.”

Kimura Takeshi, a parliamentary member elected from the southern region of Samhan where many Japanese citizens lived, spoke to the Emperor with trembling hands.

“…Y-Your Majesty.”

“Speak.”

“Then does that mean the empire plans to support Japan until it becomes a proper independent state?”

“Support?”

The Emperor scoffed.

“Are Japan and Samhan the sort of relationship where we support one another and receive support in return?”

“…Pardon?”

“If you learned history too, you should know well. Does independence not mean inheriting old Japan?”

“Y-yes, th-that is true, but…”

“After the mana invasion, when the Korean Peninsula fell into chaos, which nation was it that launched a preemptive invasion without even declaring war?”

“…O-our ancestors too, for s-survival…”

“You do realize how absurd what you just said is, don’t you?”

Representative Kimura could not refute it.

“Remember this well. The independent Japanese state that will be established in the future is not an ally of Samhan. Therefore, we will not establish diplomatic relations with one another. Entry and exit will be strictly regulated. Economic exchange, meaning imports and exports, will not be permitted either. With your own strength alone, be self-reliant.”

Only then did the people realize it.

This was not an approval of independence.

It was a cruel expulsion order.

They were being imprisoned in the giant prison that was the Japanese archipelago.

Tsuchida Shohei was completely out of his mind.

The figures of the anti-Samhan independence organization were the same.

‘Be self-reliant?’

How in the world?

Facing the danger of being stripped of everything and expelled.

Meanwhile, Tae-ju was impressed.

‘As expected, he’s charismatic.’

Even if, when he met Tae-ju, he was a fool who only made silly remarks.

He had cornered them into a dead end.

Even if the independent Japanese state was established, what could they do?

War?

How were they going to challenge the Samhan Empire, one of Earth’s strongest nations?

In the end, it was no different from choosing isolation by themselves.

In truth, looked at realistically, in ordinary states or ordinary human relationships, cutting off communication in such a cold-blooded way was by no means satisfying catharsis.

If you did that, a huge problem would arise.

Rather, it would be close to self-harm.

You yourself would suffer enormous damage too.

Because in communal society, there were many cases in which things were entangled in complicated ways.

However, in this case, there was no problem at all.

From Samhan’s perspective, Japanese land was little more than a troublesome burden.

Did it have oil? Did it have natural gas? At best, it was a magical-beast dense region, and on top of that, the land itself was disappearing.

Cutting it off was far more profitable.

Moral responsibility?

There was no issue there either, since those unrelated to this matter had been given a choice.

‘By the way, I should tell Seo-yeon to shop as much as she wants.’

He had planned to be satisfied with Fuji Construction, but now it seemed fine to buy a few more.

* * *

Netherworld.

The soul-spirit of Jacques Deluan had risen up.

Swiftly, punishment was handed down, and he was processed as a sinner.

Then, by the same method, Vincent Moretti’s soul-spirit too rose to the Netherworld.

Their names were not recorded in the register of the dead.

Was there any need to write them down?

And there was no need to write them.

Yama judged Vincent with the judge’s scales.

“Vincent Moretti, you yourself know your sins.”

Naturally, the scales moved toward evil.

Vincent and Jacques.

How many people had they killed?

Vincent had wiped out the Emperor and the armies of the European Empire, and Jacques had led his own world into destruction.

No matter how different the world, the sins they committed were engraved on the soul.

Under the pretext of pursuing truth, they killed people without any sense of guilt.

They were even worse than psychopaths or sociopaths.

They were no different from devils.

Devils among devils.

“I sentence you to punishment in hell!!!”

Bang!

Then,

srrrrrk,

a human body formed, and Vincent’s soul-spirit entered inside it.

“Did it work?”

“It did.”

“It’s done!”

“So now can we beat him up as much as we want and he still won’t die?”

“Shall we take him with us?”

Yama waved his hand briskly and said,

“Take him away quickly.”

In any case, it was a soul that had risen by an irregular method.

It could be seen as having briefly deceived the eyes of the divine spirits of Heaven and Earth.

Even Tae-ju, who had formed a connection with the Immortal Realm, had not been able to remain for long.

By the same logic that Earth had pushed Sword Immortal out, the natural order between worlds could never be defied.

In other words, once time passed, the souls of Jacques and Vincent would naturally vanish.

They had to squeeze everything out of them before that happened.

The sinner Vincent Moretti was brought over to the Immortal Realm.

As if he had been waiting, Sword Immortal tossed down ten locked subspace bags and said,

“Open them.”

“…”

“Oh? Rebellion?”

Then, looking at Gangrim,

“Hey, he’s not listening.”

“All right.”

Originally, sinners could not resist the messengers.

Someone of a high soul rank like the Heavenly Demon or Blood Demon might be able to resist, but Vincent Moretti had not reached that level.

“Open them.”

At Gangrim’s command, Vincent Moretti, his hands trembling, touched the formulas on the subspace bags and released the locks.

“All right!”

The subspace bags opened.

All kinds of golems and crystals poured out from inside.

“Ooooooh!”

“What are all these?”

“They look like construction equipment.”

“…But how are we supposed to use this?”

“The smart immortals will figure out a method.”

The two immortals said to be the smartest in the Immortal Realm.

Ghost Valley Immortal and Galhong Immortal were in the Yellow Springs Realm.

Yama shook the Summoning Bell.

Ding! Ding! Ding!

Then the life of Jacques Deluan unfolded as if it were a movie.

From the moment he entered enchanted magitech all the way until he finally became a grand magitech engineer, the countless memories and events Jacques had experienced in his own world.

Ghost Valley and Galhong were studying Jacques’s life by means of indirect experience, with notebooks and writing tools prepared.

But Tang Gun-ak had also been dragged in together.

He too had brought writing tools.

“…Why do I have to study magitech?”

“Come now, Poison Immortal! Why is your thinking so short?”

“What?”

“You should learn magitech and pass it on to Hero Tae-ju. Then on Earth too, they can make subspace bags, and, eh? Golems too, and, eh? Dimensional gates too…”

“No, w-wait, how am I supposed to? It’s not as if I can go to Earth.”

“Tsk tsk, did you boil your soul linkage into soup and eat it? Once linked, knowledge will be transmitted automatically. So let us study magitech diligently. We will teach you well.”

“…”

Tang Gun-ak was not stupid, but still.

‘…I’ve already ascended, and now they want me to study?’

Yet there was no helping it.

If it would benefit Tae-ju, then he had to do it.