Rust - Chapter 744



Only Krnovel

RUST -744

There was ample justification for bringing in the Korean army.

First of all, there was no need for basic military training, and since the specialty training was relatively good, the combat capability was not bad.

Above all, the most important thing was that there were many people who did their part even in that harsh environment. Some may say it was a military camp, but others say it was a lack of discipline. However, by world standards, the combat capability of the Korean military was above average.

If they were given real-world experience and proper equipment, they would have the potential to become a formidable force. Of course, Maru didn’t make his decision based solely on military considerations.

“I’m thinking anywhere from 1 million to 2 million.”

[What? 1 to 2 million? Isn’t that too much?]

The population of the Holy Kingdom was 3.98 million. If we add 2 million to that, it would effectively fill nearly half of the population with Koreans.

[Are you trying to fill it all with soldiers? If 2 million soldiers leave, Korea will just go down the drain.]

“Not all of them are soldiers. For now, I’m going to start recruiting soldiers and set age and skill restrictions.”

Ki-sun’s thin, squinty eyes grew long.

[Are you still thinking about that election? Are you aiming to bring in Koreans and dilute the cultural aspect, and if they are Koreans, they will try to elect a Korean representative?]

“It’s not that I’m specifically targeting you. It’s something we do for each other. As you know, we’re too white-dominated right now. Your culture is too strong. We need to buffer it to some extent.”

[Haven’t you ever thought that instead of buffering, the conflict might get worse? When the number increases to nearly half the population, there’s bound to be problems.]

“I think that now is the time for reconciliation rather than conflict. The defense system is not yet fully operational. And what will happen to those who have no choice? It’s an extreme situation, but what will happen after I die?”

Ki-sun’s eyes narrowed even further.

[······.]

“While I’m alive, AIs will be fine, and rats, crows, and wolves will pass by just like that, but what about after I die?”

[So we should hold an election?]

“Whether they liked it or not, whether they were deceived or not, there are people who believed in me and followed me. What about them and their descendants? Do you know that I hate being bothered? No matter how bothersome it is, shouldn’t you at least prepare yourself and rest or play?”

[Is that the method of election?]

“I understand what you and PD are thinking. I also thought about what Kim Yang said. While I have power, it would be annoying if I managed it myself, but it wouldn’t be a problem. I’ll admit that much. But, after my death. What if something happens when I’m fatally injured and unconscious? Shouldn’t there be a plan B through an election?”

[The Korean military, are you saying that Korean immigration will also be prepared for that time?]

“That’s a good idea. As I said, the Korean military is a good choice in the current situation of the Holy Kingdom. That’s why we absorbed over 100,000 repatriates in the first place. It’s true that we were in a situation where we needed to recruit troops right away, but we were able to take a breather by absorbing the repatriates. You can think of the current Korean military and Korean immigration as the same as back then.”

This. I made up my mind.

Ki-sun realized this when she saw this story being told. Maru was trying to decide on the immigration of the Korean army and Koreans by authority, not through a meeting.

As the King of the Holy Kingdom, no one would stop him from doing that, but it was a really good idea to use that method in an emergency.

[···If that’s what you think, I’ll support you. I’m just saying this out of concern, but don’t make the decision by your own authority. At the very least, I hope you’ll have a meeting and let others know what you think. Everyone trusted you and came this far.]

“···I get it.”

[Plan B through elections is the same. No one, including me, denies that you are the king. Isn’t there a saying? ‘He who sits on the throne must bear the weight of the crown.’ Even if it’s not the throne you wanted to sit on and opinions differ from yours, I think that the one who holds everyone together is you, the king, and that fact will not change. Like you said, whether it was good or bad, if you think about the people who believed in you and followed you and their descendants.]

“···okay.”

Ki-sun’s thin, squinty eyes widened.

[You little brat. Are you saying that you opposed the transfer of power and the election?]

“Shit.”

[Your Majesty, were you going to take over the immigration issue by force because you were angry?]

“It’s falling behind.”

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It was a spectacular sight to see 10,000 crows basking their heads in the Changwon area. And next to them, 7,000 crows were also basking their heads.

“Huh- who the hell is recruiting and acting like that?”

Kim Yang spoke in a soft voice, looking at the back of the crow’s head.

Kka. Kkaaak. (That. Just for the sake of the country.)

“Ah-again. He said he did it out of love for his country.”

The dispatched nurse relayed the crow’s message.

“You have a good heart for your country, but why did you ignore me?”

huh.

I am the great next door neighbor and second in line.

Were those immigrant, naval, and new-headed bitches ignoring me and doing whatever they wanted? Is ignoring me for the good of the country?

really?

Kkaa. Kkaaaaaah. (That. That wasn’t my intention.)

Kim Yang looked at the crows with blurry eyes.

These bitches, after Maru caught them big last time, they thought it was enough, so they’re being nice to them, so they’re shitting themselves without knowing what’s up or down?

The nurse who was watching from the side swallowed hard. She’s become a lot nicer these days, but Ms. Kim used to be a woman who would always throw a gun.

In the beginning, Hood was almost shot to death. And there was a cloudy gaze that was glaring at him.

The nurse clasped her hands together and thought of the divine being.

As she clasped her hands together in a prayer pose, an illusion unfolded as if her magnificent chest was revealed and the surroundings became warm.

Tsk-

Miss Kim clicked her tongue.

“Unit 1, stop it.”

“Yes? Just. Praying?”

“But stop for now. If you’re going to do it, go in there and do it where they can’t see you.”

“Ah. Yes.”

Big. Hmm. Hum.

Kim Yang’s hazy gaze turned to the sound of coughing heard around her. Everyone started to move busily about something.

She looked at the crows that were densely packed in the parade ground, and then she walked forward, repeatedly throwing and catching the small nuclear grenade she was holding in her hand.

Even though there was a safety device, it wasn’t just a hand grenade, it was a nuclear grenade. She wouldn’t be able to play with a hand grenade, but the sight of her calmly throwing and catching a nuclear grenade was bizarre.

The crows of Changwon, who had been watching what Kim Yang was doing with their heads covered and their eyes rolled around, felt their feathers stand on end. They felt like they were going crazy because they had seen firsthand what would happen if one of those little things burst.

Since crows do not have sweat glands, when they are nervous and hot, they have to open their beaks to cool down. As they breathe rapidly with their heads down and their beaks open, many crows start to spin around and faint.

“These are missing. They say it’s good to install when hunting people. But it’s over when you pass out?”

Caw! (No!)

“I’ll watch over you. And educate the kids properly. If you treat people carelessly, you’ll know what happens. Got it?”

Caw! (Okay.)

“Teach them how to do it. If you hear something strange, you know what to do.”

Knock!

Seven thousand crows led the ten thousand or so Changwon crows to the mountain.

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The total number of troops surrounding Changwon was just over 10,000. Of these, only about 2,000 had passed the immigration process.

Those who were angry at the fall tried to report to the command center, but the wired communication network was blocked by crows and drones.

There was no way to report it, as the wireless network was wiped out by a cute EMP that exploded when a small nuke was dropped on Changwon.

If you really wanted to report it, you had to walk, but no one had the skills to avoid the crows and drones flying around everywhere.

Kim Yang frowned slightly when he saw the recruitment status. It was all pepper fields.

“What about the women? The women didn’t apply?”

[Yes, female applicants have given up on applying for military service.]

“Why? I said that I would treat both men and women equally so that there wouldn’t be any complaints later.”

[That. I don’t know either.]

Kim Yang’s eyes became blurry.

“They say there are more women on the Canadian side, but after the last repatriation, the gender ratio has been adjusted to some extent. If you transport thousands of them at once here, there will inevitably be a gender ratio problem.”

The good girls had already been taken away by the returning soldiers, and the ones left were women with ambiguous personalities and such, so it was a bit much to leave them all tied together like that.

“The dating and marriage rates for people in their 20s and 30s in this neighborhood are low anyway. You can just go with a suitable age range, so take a good look at nearby cities and towns.”

[There are really few young women around.]

Even if we were to say that it was near Changwon, it was Gimhae, Jinju, and Geoje. There were a lot of older people, but there were quite a few women in their mid-20s or younger.

When the mutant virus situation became serious, not only were the treatments for the Ojin group distributed first in the metropolitan area and large cities, but even after the virus situation calmed down to some extent, jobs continued to be created in the metropolitan area and large cities.

As provincial cities began to dry up except for industries related to agriculture, not only young women but also men moved to large cities and metropolitan areas.

“Not only women, but also young people who are not soldiers?”

[Yes, it is said that it is even more so after the war with China.]

It is said that the phenomenon of moving away from the countryside to the city has become evident after the outbreak of the mutant virus.

It was to eat and live.

As a result, if there were any young people who did not go to the city, they were treated like village or town slaves. There were even stories that young people who could not stand it any longer ran away to the big city at night.

“What are you talking about? Public slaves? You’re saying that they made you work even though you had parents?”

[I don’t know what it means either, but that’s what the assistant AI interpreter says.]

We can’t ignore the requests for help, and if some people help and others don’t, the atmosphere in the village will become chaotic.

This wouldn’t be a problem if they paid them a daily wage and made them work, but if they made them work in ambiguous shifts of 1 hour, 1 hour and 30 minutes, it really became a mess.

If I were to swear, it would be obvious that there was a shortage of workers, and it would be awkward to receive 10,000 won in cash on site for 1 hour of work or 20,000 won for 2 hours of work, but it would be annoying not to receive it.

Ms. Kim was puzzled by the report that grandparents, who saw their grandchildren struggling because of the difficult employment situation when they came down to the countryside to return to farming, told them to go to the metropolitan area instead.

Grandparents? So, in this rural area, only elderly people with an average age of over 70 live there.

“Then who will do the farming?”

[It was being built by mobilizing soldiers.]

“Farming for soldiers?”

ah-

So the unit was larger than expected.

There was also a reason why military bases were built near vinyl houses and farmland.

It’s not even a farmland, and they’re mobilizing soldiers to farm it.

But he said that soldiers don’t just farm.

therefore.

hmm···.

But I heard that the military service was postponed indefinitely due to martial law?

uh···.

It was truly amazing. In so many ways.

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When the crows recruited, not many soldiers responded.

That would be the case. How many people would take seriously a crow carrying a tablet PC and a pamphlet asking them to immigrate and recruit them?

It wasn’t that there weren’t any. There were definitely a few soldiers who signed the draft and immigration papers because they were dirty. That was luck.

“There were no conditions on the immigration documents that the crows showed me yesterday?”

[Where is unconditional immigration? The Holy Kingdom military uses the most advanced equipment, so you must pass a minimum intelligence test.]

It was the Holy Kingdom Army that set the cut line at an IQ of 115, even though it was said to be the minimum. As of 2020, the average intelligence in Korea is IQ 113, so the cut line was set at slightly more than that.

Starting with IQ tests, physical and fitness tests, and even genetic tests were used to filter out people with hereditary diseases.

“What about that···family?”

[Do you have any family members you can contact now?]

“No. We haven’t been in touch for almost a year.”

[Are you saying you can’t contact him?]

“Yes. If I join the Holy Kingdom Army, will I be able to contact home?”

[Realistically, it is difficult right now. The immigration recruitment that is currently in progress is not being conducted in consultation with the Korean government. Then, should I cancel the immigration application process?]

“No. I will go.”

[If you have problems performing military service due to family issues in the future, not only will your citizenship be revoked, you may also be deported.]

If things went well, they would be able to contact their families and, if conditions were right, invite them to the Holy Kingdom, but the Holy Kingdom Immigration Department was pushing ahead with the plan, assuming the worst case scenario.

“All right.”

[Please sign here.]

Swish-

As the electronic signature field that appeared on the tablet screen was filled in, another Korean soldier joined the Holy Kingdom.