Chapter 86
The final tally was 54% to 46%. With a precise 8% difference, Candidate Lee Han-yeon has been elected!
""Waaah-!""
A cheer loud enough to shake the plaza erupted.
It seemed that the ordinary survivors, who wanted stability rather than aggressively expanding the safe zone, had slightly outnumbered them.
Hwang Doo-han applauded and nodded with an expressionless face, while Old Man Lee climbed onto the podium and spoke briefly.
After finishing his victory speech amid the heated atmosphere, Old Man Lee came down from the podium and approached me.
He wore a benevolent, genial smile, but his eyes gleamed when I met his gaze up close.
"Congratulations."
"Thank you."
When I bowed lightly in greeting, Old Man Lee nodded and brought up something strange.
"Conductor. Do you know the story of King Sejong the Great from the Joseon Dynasty?"
"Huh? Why bring that up all of a sudden? Of course I do."
What Korean wouldn't know about King Sejong the Great?
Old Man Lee smiled broadly at my answer and clasped his hands behind his back.
"To the people, he was a great king who would go down in history. But you know, to the officials who worked under him, there was no greater source of fear. Hwang Hui and others begged him to let them retire because they were old and sick, but Sejong kept Hwang Hui by his side and worked him to the bone until just before he died. Why do you think he did that? Because it was the most efficient path for the sake of the people."
"..."
"I sometimes wonder if even the capable Hwang Hui wasn't partly to blame for that."
Old Man Lee stared at me with a genial smile.
At that moment, a cold shiver ran all the way down my spine.
Why was he telling me this? Could it be...?
"I'm joking."
He said it was a joke, but the look in his eyes a moment ago had not been a joke.
Then a man approached him, spoke with him, and promptly disappeared inside the Administration Bureau.
He had only just been elected, so he would probably be busy for a while.
In the meantime, I took the siblings with me and walked toward the tents on the outskirts of the polling station as though fleeing.
That was when it happened.
"Mom?"
"It's Mom."
The children's clear, bright voices rang out.
When I turned my head, a familiar-looking woman had heard the siblings' voices amid the noise of the crowd and was looking this way.
She was the siblings' mother.
The siblings slipped through the crowd with their small bodies and ran to their mother, throwing their arms around her.
"Are you hurt anywhere?"
"No!"
"Did you vote too, Mom?"
The mother and children reunited warmly and exchanged a few words.
Even the survivors passing nearby smiled fondly at the sight.
I was also watching the heartwarming scene and beginning to relax when my eyes met several familiar faces standing beside the siblings' mother.
"Oh? Aren't you the Conductor!"
A man approached cheerfully, pushing up his translucent, horn-rimmed glasses.
He was the star instructor I had personally evacuated by train during the earlier survivor rescue.
"Oh, have you been well?"
"Of course! I survived thanks to you, Conductor, and I've been working on textbooks ever since."
The instructor laughed heartily and pointed at the students and papers behind him.
The students standing behind him repeatedly bowed deeply to me.
As we exchanged greetings, my gaze settled on the thick stacks of paper and tablet PCs piled up on the floor behind the instructor and his students, where they were being sorted.
"You said they were textbooks, right?"
The instructor grinned at my question and lifted one of the thick stacks of paper.
The cover bore the title 'Emergency Survival Guide & Basic Academic Textbook' in rough marker lettering.
"We're working on textbooks containing the common knowledge and basic academic subjects needed in this changed world. Just because the world has turned out like this doesn't mean we can give up on teaching children the basic knowledge they need to learn. But I was trying to teach only high school students, and then I started making textbooks for the children, so I've been getting a little confused..."
Then the instructor looked at the students behind him and the siblings' mother.
"So with their help, we're combining essential basic curriculum with emergency survival guidelines, such as what to do when encountering monsters and first-aid procedures, into a single handbook."
The instructor proudly flipped through the pages.
Inside, places suitable for hiding were neatly organized alongside drawings made by the students themselves.
The textbook's words had also been written repeatedly in ways that would be easy for children to read, using simple vocabulary. Apparently, the siblings' mother had chosen the words with the siblings in mind.
Other chapters covered subjects such as basic mathematics and Korean language arts.
"Wow, this is really good."
"Once the book is finished, we plan to scan it and upload it to the Gallery as well. This is about all we can do to contribute to the survivors."
Even as he said that, a quiet pride showed in the instructor's eyes.
"Uh-oh..."
"That person is..."
At that moment, a man walked over, and the people around us covered their mouths in surprise.
It was Hwang Doo-han, the representative of the Awakened Alliance who had just lost the election.
He approached me with a relaxed attitude.
"Could I speak with you for a moment?"
I nodded, and Hwang Doo-han and I moved aside for a while.
The drone followed me, and when Hwang Doo-han looked at it, he said it was fine for the drone to come along, so it joined us.
"The result was unfortunate."
"What's there to regret? Nothing will change, no matter who won."
Hwang Doo-han gave a small snort and handed me a sheet of paper.
The paper contained a list of supplies I was to take from Singil Station to Demi-Human Town.
The list included large quantities of construction materials and boxes of food.
"These are the promised supplies. Old Man Lee was busy, so I brought you the list in his place. For now, we've prepared the construction materials and food that seemed necessary during the safe zone's early days."
I gave him a slight bow and checked the list, when Hwang Doo-han suddenly spoke to me.
Unlike his usual self, he radiated an extremely serious and heavy air.
"I have one request."
"A request? From you, Representative Hwang?"
"No, it's Old Man Lee's request. It's something he should tell you himself, but he can't at the moment, so I thought I should pass it along instead."
Hwang Doo-han glanced around and lowered his voice as much as possible.
"The moment the voting officially ended and Old Man Lee's victory was confirmed, messages came pouring in for him."
"Messages?"
"The Constellations. Messages from the Constellations came pouring in. They were asking him to become their incarnation..."
"An incarnation..."
I drew in a sharp breath.
The word 'incarnation'—I had seen it before. It had been mentioned several times on the Constellation-only boardㅡ
The Constellations had reached out to Old Man Lee directly at the moment he was elected.
"I don't know exactly what an incarnation is. Both Old Man Lee and I are trying to figure it out."
The request itself was simple.
"When you return to Demi-Human Town this time, I would like you to ask the demi-humans there about incarnations. They probably know more about them than we do."
I nodded at his words.
The dwarf might indeed know something about incarnations.
"All right. I'll ask the demi-humans and get back to you."
Hwang Doo-han nodded at my answer, then turned around and waved without a moment's hesitation.
I watched him walk away, then called the children and boarded the train.
***
After passing through Singil Station and picking up the promised supplies, the train finally arrived at Demi-Human Town.
"Move these, please."
The train's freight car opened, and the drones and golem quickly got to work.
As the large quantities of construction materials and boxes of food from Yeouido came pouring out, the dwarf who had come to greet us cleared his throat and joked.
"Ahem! No, all you needed to do was come back safely—why did you go and bring all this stuff back with you? Hahaha!"
Despite his words, the corners of the dwarf's mouth were already stretched all the way to his ears.
It seemed the timing was perfect, since they had just gained more mouths to feed and needed food and resources.
The goblin brought Mimic over as well and began diligently carrying the food boxes while humming.
As expected, nothing could beat Mimic at moving cargo.
Perhaps out of frustration, the golem stomped its feet on the ground as it stared at Mimic's enormous mouth.
When the supplies had been mostly organized, I spoke to the dwarf in a serious voice.
"We've decided who will be managing Yeouido."
"Oh, so that election or whatever is over."
"Actually, I heard that as soon as the voting ended, numerous Constellations bombarded him with offers to become their incarnation. Do you happen to know anything about what an incarnation is...?"
"...An incarnation."
The moment the word 'incarnation' left my mouth, the dwarf's expression, which had been jovial a moment ago, twisted instantly.
He stroked his beard and composed his expression.
"It's not a very pleasant word."
The dwarf slammed one of the loads he was carrying onto the ground and continued in a deep, heavy voice.
"In the world I came from, those incarnations began appearing at some point too. And after they appeared, the dungeons and monsters grew even more savage, while conflicts and wars between the races intensified beyond control."
"The monsters grew more savage too?"
"...Yes. I don't know which came first. Whether the Constellations intervened because the dungeons and monsters grew more violent, or whether it was the other way around..."
The dwarf's eyes gleamed sharply.
"One thing is certain: becoming a Constellation's incarnation grants you tremendous power."
He stared into empty space with a troubled expression, as if recalling some scene.
Even so, he warned me about something I needed to be careful of.
"From the moment a person becomes an incarnation, they become entangled in the subtle factional struggles among the Constellations. The Constellations' interference continues without pause, and if a person happens to become the incarnation of a wicked and capricious Constellation... their future will become hopelessly tangled."
Wrinkles formed between my brows as I listened to his explanation.
If Old Man Lee took the hand of the wrong Constellation, all of Yeouido might become entangled in a factional struggle.
'So the Constellations have factions too.'
The problem was that there was no way for an ordinary human to know anything about the Constellations' factions or dispositions.
"Then shouldn't he absolutely refuse?"
"That's the ironic part."
The dwarf clicked his tongue bitterly.
"Despite those dangers, all the heroes and kings in the world I came from desperately wanted to become incarnations. That's how great the power is."
"..."
"That's all I know. But Conductor, you—and that person who leads Yeouido—must both be careful."
The dwarf left me with that brief warning, then picked up another food box and walked away.
The dwarf spoke as though he was certain that I would receive offers from the Constellations to become an incarnation.