Rust - Chapter 748



Only Krnovel

RUST -748

Ms. Kim looked at the reconnaissance screen again and again. No matter how she looked at it, there were too many pregnant women.

‘Why?’

Just two or three years ago, Korea’s birth rate had reached 0.7.

With the mutant virus outbreak, cannibal controversy, and the rampant spread of mutant monsters, it wouldn’t have been surprising if the birth rate had dropped below 0.5. But then, the number of mothers increased?

As Japan’s great disaster continued for over two years, import routes representing materials, parts, and equipment, so-called “small and medium-sized enterprises,” collapsed, so it was natural that the Korean economy would be hit.

In the early stages of the great disaster in Japan, they held out with the inventory they had stored in warehouses, and at the time it didn’t seem to have a big impact, but that only lasted for 1-2 years.

In addition, as a result of the war between the US and China, China was split into seven parts, and Korea, which has a lot of imports and exports with China, was hit hard.

Here, as the southern Chinese warlords took control of the sea routes connecting to Southeast Asia, imports and exports to Southeast Asia also became difficult. That was the meaning of Taiwan being occupied by the Chinese warlords.

In addition, the route to the Pacific Ocean was blocked, as the aftereffects of the volcanic eruption spread from Okinawa in the south to Kyushu, Honshu, and Hokkaido.

In fact, maritime transport through Japanese waters was impossible, as the entire country and its surrounding waters were covered in volcanic ash, dust, and pumice.

After all, to avoid the polluted area, you have to go through Russian territorial waters, but because they supported Ukraine in the Russo-Ukrainian War, it was difficult to go through Russian territorial waters.

Negotiations with Russia were at a standstill, and China, split into seven parts, was shouting at each other that they were the suzerain states and that “Korea, kneel down quickly.”

Among them, the southern Chinese warlords who occupied Taiwan were trying to appease and coax them by saying that if they bowed down to them, they would be allowed to pass through the Taiwan Strait.

Huh-

It was a good thing we got rid of Taiwan.

Kim Yang, who was listening to the assistant AI’s situation analysis, nodded.

‘The reason they don’t mobilize the military to wipe out the Japanese refugees is probably because they have the ability. The reason they don’t touch the Chinese refugees is because they judged that the moment they mobilize the military, the seven Chinas will intervene.’

The biggest problem was that the US troops stationed in Korea, who were expected to prevent this situation, returned together with the Chinese troops.

When there was a new drug from the Ojin group that could treat anger management disorder caused by a mutant virus and suppress the cannibalistic instinct of cannibals, there was no need to worry about shipping or import/export, but not anymore.

Fortunately, there were supplies that the Charlotte Group was unable to take with them. It is said that the medicines left behind by the Ojin Group also played a big role in helping Korea endure.

‘It’s strange, even considering all that.’

No matter how much I analyzed it, the landscape of the metropolitan area and the big cities was too different. It seemed abnormal to see women who were at least 7-8 months pregnant walking around and enjoying their leisure time.

If it’s 7~8 months from now, it means that it was the middle of winter when you were pregnant. You must have frozen to death, but you worked hard?

Wasn’t it that cold in Korea?

Looking at the summer weather, it seems like it would have dropped below -20 degrees Celsius.

‘What’s there?’

I felt the need to find out for sure.

‘It’s most certain when people check it themselves. It’s ambiguous.’

There are female members of the guard, but they would stand out because they are white, rather than because they have Korean patches. But if we were to send a nurse, she couldn’t speak Korean.

‘Then who should go?’

‘ah-‘

Kim Yang shouted to himself, ‘This is really like a joke,’ and prepared to infiltrate.

I had experience in sneaking and such when I was working at a company, so it wasn’t a problem for me to go in. I just got upset at the thought of the number two person in the hierarchy going out on his own.

Tsk-

But if you think about it, even the number one person in the hierarchy is running in the field.

‘Something is not right.’

It was Ms. Kim who felt that some kind of groundbreaking method was needed. But there was nothing she could do about it right now.

“I think I need to infiltrate the metropolitan area and dig into it myself.”

The Black Drake’s assistant AI seemed to agree with Kim Yang’s opinion, as if it was a well-thought-out move.

[Calculate the infiltration route and method. Calculation result. It has been determined that it is difficult to enter Seoul directly. The safest possible route is to descend to the abandoned golf course on the Yongin, Hwaseong line.]

“······.”

[The method of descent is to descend using a small stealth airship. After taking control of the golf course as a base, enter one of Dongtan, Osan, Hwaseong, or Yongin. We recommend gathering information.]

This bitch. She didn’t stop me even once.

“Won’t there be any problems if we take over an abandoned golf course?”

[Yes. There are many abandoned places, except those used as military bases.]

Yeah. Go. Go.

Since it’s something we have to do anyway, let’s just do it and come back.

Ms. Kim took heavy steps.

‧

‧

‧

The air defense network in the metropolitan area was certainly dense.

In particular, Seoul had to be considered a completely impregnable fortress. If you expand the scope to the metropolitan area, it became a bit looser, but even so, with tens of thousands of troops spread out everywhere, it felt like the entire metropolitan area was a military zone.

At first, they said there were 2 million, but according to information obtained from Changwon, there were 3 million. And based on what we have confirmed while looking for the current infiltration route, it seems there are probably more than 3 million.

‘Was the cannibal major in Changwon a low-ranking one? Was the information update slow?’

Wheeeeeeing-

With a small sound, Kim Yang, his bodyguards, and crows landed on the empty golf course.

While the crows and stealth drones were scattered in all directions to conduct surveillance and gather information, Kim Yang and his bodyguards took control of the golf course clubhouse.

[Here. It’s strange.]

The interior of the clubhouse, which was clearly abandoned, had been strangely renovated. The space that was marked as a large hall had been split into smaller, one-room rooms. The door was a door that could be locked and opened from the outside.

[Is this some kind of concentration camp?]

[There are traces of dismantled experimental equipment underground.]

[Check if the abandoned golf course on the other side is like this too.]

Kim Yang sent a crow and a reconnaissance drone to a nearby abandoned golf course.

It is surprising that there are twenty-five golf courses in nearby Yongin alone. If you include the eight in Hwaseong City, there are a whopping thirty-three.

‘I had to bring in psychometry.’

Currently, Erica is rolling around in Canada with Ki-soon, so she didn’t call, but seeing the abandoned facility, Miss Kim wished she had psychometry.

[The abandoned golf course is small in size.]

[Some of the large golf courses are still in operation.]

‘There are guys playing golf in this situation?’

Can cannibals play golf?

If you have the power to blow something from one end to the other with one strike, what fun would that be?

Kim Yang’s gaze scanned the abandoned golf clubhouse.

What if golf isn’t the goal, but rather a gathering of cannibals using golf as an excuse?

Or, rather than being used as a place to attract cannibals, it’s used as a place to attract the upper class.

[Is it possible to tail those guys who enter the golf course?]

Caw. (It’s possible.)

Although it would be nice to use a stealth drone, Kim, assuming the worst case scenario, chose a crow.

[Don’t push yourself too hard. Be careful not to get caught.]

Knock! (Net!)

Kim Yang, who had sent out reconnaissance and tailing in all directions, began his actions using an abandoned golf clubhouse as a base.

The place Kim Yang chose to infiltrate was Dongtan, a place famous for many reasons.

Daughter-

“Welcome. Have you come to get your hair done?”

“yes.”

“Please sit over here. Oh my. Look at your hair. How do you manage it? These days, there are so many customers with bad hair. I haven’t seen a customer with such good hair lately. Do you have a special way of managing it?”

The effect of choosing the hair salon as the first stop was apparent. The designer chatted while stroking Kim Yang’s hair. Kim Yang, a professional at her work, answered with an innocent face.

“I guess it’s because I ate a lot of meat.”

“Meat?”

“Yes. I just came up from the countryside. I raise chickens and ducks, and I think eating things like chicken feet helped.”

“Oh, I see. That’s right. Chicken feet and duck meat are good too. Where in the countryside are you from?”

“Near Changwon.”

“Yes? From that far away? Isn’t Changwon in Gyeongsangnam-do?”

Kim Yang’s eyes narrowed slightly. This woman. I thought she talked a lot, but before I knew it, she was conducting a household survey.

‘This. I was trying to get information, but it seems like they’re stealing information instead?’

There were unexpected things when I was working in China and in Southeast Asia, especially when the entire neighborhood where the person I was working with was connected to that organization.

When I went to buy a drink, the supermarket lady was the mother of a member of the organization and immediately raised the alarm that an outsider had come in. Or when I ordered delivery, there were cases where the delivery person was a member of the organization or a relative of the organization.

Because Ms. Kim had experienced such things, she maintained a pure expression and did not let go of her tension.

“yes.”

“Oh, you came from far away. How should I do your hair?”

As expected, this woman was quick-witted.

Seeing the response getting shorter and shorter reminded me of my old work.

‘I just came in to get some information easily. But I’m confused.’

Upon entering, I checked that there were four CCTVs. One at the entrance, one at the checkout counter, and two in the hall. I don’t know if the CCTVs are working or not, but I think it’s right to assume they are and move forward.

When Ms. Kim’s reply was delayed, the woman became the first to start fussing.

“Are you going to grow your hair out? Or are you thinking of cutting it a bit and making it short? If you’re going to cut it a bit, I think it would look really pretty if you put some force into it with a magic straight perm. Like this style.”

The woman strongly recommended a perm that would take time. Ms. Kim lightly declined and requested a light trim.

“There are a lot of people who get pregnant strangely.”

“Ah- That’s right. These days-”

I thought she would give a dry answer because she didn’t get a magic straight perm, but that wasn’t the case. Ms. Kim didn’t miss the subtle changes in the designer’s scissors cutting time and pressure.

“How is it? Is this enough?”

“Yes. How much is it?”

“It’s a basic cut, so it’s 25,000 won.”

When Ms. Kim took out 30,000 won from her wallet and handed it to her, the woman’s hands trembled slightly.

‘thrice.’

Once when I did my hair, twice when I cut it, and now three times while I was getting paid. Anything more than three times was considered weird.

“Block here.”

“Huh? Block?”

At the same time, the lights in the hair salon went out. It was 7 p.m. The woman took a step back through the gap in the blinds that allowed light to stream in.

“Where···.”

When Kim Yang’s fingertips, who had been kicking the seat, hit the woman’s pubic bone, the woman collapsed without even making a sound. Kim Yang immediately went around behind her and wrapped her neck around her neck, compressing her carotid artery. Kim Yang tilted her head as she watched the woman suddenly go limp.

‘I had a strange feeling. Or was it?’

Kim Yang communicated while injecting anesthesia into the unconscious woman.

“Bring the information extractor over here.”

[ancient.]

A moment later, a delivery man carrying a Chinese food delivery bag came in, changed [OPEN] to [CLOSE], and locked the door.

[Are you okay?]

“I tried to get to Seoul, but there’s nothing I can do.”

The Chinese restaurant delivery box opens to reveal the information extractor. The two halves of the information extractor are instantly combined into one.

Pokkak-

An information extractor was inserted into the unconscious woman’s head, and images began to appear on the monitor.

“Look at this, you bitch. I told you it was weird.”

Miss Kim shrugged.

‧

South Korea has been rapidly moving toward a surveillance society since winter. With temperatures hovering around minus 20 to minus 30 degrees Celsius, the South Korean government and martial law command, which had a tight grip on energy supplies, implemented a series of strong policies.

The first thing we did was to issue CBDC (Central Bank Digital Currency), which is to say, to switch to a digital currency issued by the central bank.

They said they would only accept digital currency for electricity, gas, and water bills, and if anyone objected, they would cut off the supply. They couldn’t protest in temperatures of -20 to -30 degrees Celsius.

Even if they protested, it was difficult to endure because they lost body temperature in 1~2 hours. They either froze to death or just followed. In that way, when CBDC was introduced, virtually all bank accounts came into the hands of the government and martial law command.

As the government gained complete visibility into cash flows, it was able to completely control things like wholesale fraud and collusion.

At first it was controversial, but as prices were lowered and collusion was beaten down, people began to support it. That’s how the full-scale conscription began.

‘You are subject to conscription.’

‘No, I have work to do right now, but what should I do if you suddenly ask me to come like this?’

‘If you refuse to be drafted, all your accounts will be frozen.’

‘Are you crazy?’

If you refuse to be drafted, your CBDC currency will be frozen immediately. If you are subject to conscription, you must serve in the reserves unconditionally. Otherwise, your entire family’s accounts will be frozen, and you will starve to death.

“Wow, those kids who immigrated. Are their families okay?”

[Because there was no provision to freeze family accounts when immigrating. It seems like everyone was taking advantage of that gap.]

After all, who would have thought that in these times one could emigrate to the Holy Kingdom in North America? After the men were drafted into the army, it was the women’s turn.

The Maternity Support Program was announced, and maternity discounts began for all public utility bills and other product transactions. Discounts range from a minimum of 50% to a maximum of 80%.

From priority housing for pregnant women to policies that provide subsidies as soon as a pregnancy occurs, without asking any questions.

‘The country takes responsibility as soon as you give birth.’

‘Let’s have children and reap the benefits.’

On the other hand, harsh policies were applied to women who could not get pregnant and did not get pregnant. If they did not have special qualifications or abilities, their salaries were cut. Even if they had qualifications and abilities, they had to perform the tasks that the government and martial law command wanted.

Here, the hairdresser’s job was to monitor the movements of non-pregnant women and report non-pregnant women.

“I knew this would happen. I told you what you were doing was suspicious.”