Chapter 230
[Nani o (What)?]
“McMillan’s Third pledge. Do you have any guesses?”
Not to mention his flashy past career, the Dragon President was someone who, upon closer inspection, had incredible connections and occasional flashes of insight into how the city operated.
Since no more orders were coming in, I asked him for fun while taking a quick breather, and the Dragon President pondered while stroking his large dragon jaw.
[Well. Let’s see. The First Pledge was free medical insurance, and the Second Pledge was…]
“The Real estate supply policy, wasn’t it? Right.”
That was the Second Pledge announced last week.
Since I was freeloading in Sey’s penthouse, wondering if there could possibly be a better home in the world, I didn’t pay much attention to it, but I noticed Tony seemed quite interested last time.
It was certainly an unconventional pledge as well.
He promised to build a staggering 500,000 units of new public housing, such as condominiums and apartments, for beggars in the lower levels, and supply them at nearly half the existing pre-sale price. Looking at the expected completion hologram interior design and such, the promise seemed quite plausible.
Although it was still just a pledge, it looked like a better place to live than Kabuki Condominium Unit 0973 where I used to stay.
That was just the exterior, of course; no one would know what the actual substance was like until it became a reality.
Tony, despite being tempted enough to look into it diligently, seemed to hold a negative view.
“Even if we accept the First Pledge, the Second Pledge really seems like a Paper Plan. Half-price pre-sales aside, building 500,000 new homes? Where is there space for that in Dusk City? It’s already packed to the brim. It’s a saturated state.”
Hmm, he definitely has a point.
In the Kabuki Building’s lower building section alone, over a thousand people swarmed like cockroaches, and I remembered worrying about getting crushed every time I rode the lift at the Elevator Hub because nearly a hundred people would pack in at once.
The entire city was that packed with buildings and people. There simply wasn’t any space for 500,000 new homes to come in.
Devout McMillan Supporters argued it was possible, citing reasons like large-scale redevelopment projects and real estate funds, but Tony was on the side that believed it was still unfeasible.
[medical insurance, real estate - so the next likely topic is the economy. Something related that could come up is… overcoming economic recession? That’s even less realistic. Maybe signing a trade agreement with another city? But I hear air transport hasn’t been great lately either.]
Judging from his words, the Dragon President also seemed to have a hard time making any sharp deductions.
Then again, who were we to read the mind of a Dusk Mayor?
Since he was heavily promoting it as his secret weapon, we just thought, “He must have something big planned.”
In the end, we would know once we saw what it was.
“It’s starting!!!!”
Someone screamed.
Amidst the pouring cheers, D.D. McMillan, who is, without exaggeration, Dusk City’s greatest superstar right now, stepping up to the podium with a massive crowd before him, was broadcast live on the hologram channel.
[I greet you, esteemed Dusk citizens. I am Doi Dexter McMillan.]
An enthusiastic response stirred at that short greeting.
He definitely seemed to have some meat on his bones during the early campaign, but perhaps due to the grueling schedule, he looked much thinner, his blue eyes shining.
[I will not speak at length. The time I promised you has come, and I plan to reveal the third hope I have prepared right here. And I am certain that this pledge, this plan, will bring a truly great wind of change to the city we live in.]
The undeniably noisy square and bar held their breath and fell silent the moment McMillan opened his mouth. He had a powerful voice and powerful gestures that contrasted with his gaunt face.
Did McMillan gain his current popularity because he had such a heavy presence, or did that presence naturally follow as he gained popularity and godfathers?
[To explain, let me briefly talk about something else. I have encountered a great deal of dissenting opinions, questions, and attacks regarding the second hope I announced previously. Most of them were pointing out the feasibility of the plan.]
At McMillan’s words, the scum of countless people was transmitted through the hologram.
The heated reaction of the supporters was, “To think there are people who dare doubt McMillan!”
When McMillan raised his palm and struck a pose asking them to calm down, the crowd once again quieted down like a flock of gentle sheep.
[I understand. I know that, unlike the First Pledge, I failed to show you sufficient evidence. How could I expect you to believe unconditionally when I haven’t given the citizens enough reason to trust me?]
[So now, I will give you that trust.]
As expected, an explosive reaction followed McMillan’s words as he raised a finger.
McMillan skillfully enjoyed the audience’s response before leisurely opening his mouth.
[In fact, the Second Pledge and the Third pledge are connected to each other. If you felt it was incomplete, it is likely because you only saw a part of it and not the whole. However, I ask for your understanding that I could not announce it immediately because time was needed for consultations.]
McMillan bowed his head slightly before continuing.
[Allow me to introduce it: the third hope, the reason I could be certain of the realization of the Second Pledge, the measure I dare to put forward to change Dusk into a better city.]
D.D. McMillan stood up straight and shouted powerfully.
[It is named the Opening Plan, citizens!]
…The Opening Plan?
I felt a sense of déjà vu.
I turned my head with a frown. I made eye contact with the Dragon President’s bright yellow electronic eyeball.
I knew we were thinking the exact same thing.
That crazy scientist from back then!
* * *
It was two weeks ago.
When I was wandering around in the dead of night playing hero, spreading hope alongside the Dragon President - no, the self-proclaimed Dark Dragon,
Right before he was killed on sight by the Mili-Tech Special forces, I vividly remembered the last words left like a will by the crazy scientist villain we subdued.
'Th-that… there’s a reason. It was unavoidable to stop the plan! To make the danger known, this was all I had… Urgh.'
“The open plan, created through a collaboration between a politician and a corporation that want to rip the scab off a healing wound… The research I was doing under them was…”
The open plan. It was a term that gave off a suspicious, foul stench just when heard.
Because it was a collaboration between a politician and a corporation, I had only thought it would be a dark, dangerous project carried out secretly, and I had been careful not to even easily mention the 'O' in open out loud. To think that the name would be revealed to the whole world like this!
And from the mouth of the hottest politician in Dusk City right now, a mayoral election candidate, no less!
Was that politician who collaborated with the corporation to create the open plan none other than D.D. McMillan?
It might be too early to make a hasty judgment, but somehow, my image of McMillan seemed to be shifting from a passionate and unconventional mayoral election candidate representing the will of the lower-class citizens, to a two-faced, scheming conspirator plotting a massive conspiracy behind the citizens' backs.
They say there isn’t a single politician you can trust; I guess that saying is spot on.
Anyway, what was being opened?
Just what was being opened that McMillan would so confidently declare it a secret measure to change the city, and why did the crazy scientist run wild, committing biochemical terrorism while claiming it had to be stopped and its danger made known?
Right on cue, McMillan in the hologram was answering my question.
[You must have this question. A plan to open what? citizens, I intend to make the district of the outside, which has long been considered a Forbidden Zone, part of the city again, part of ours.]
The outside.
It literally meant outside the city.
And there was a reason why outside the city was outside the city.
If the outside world was a good place to live, everyone would go outside. Why would they be cooped up in this stifling city?
The outside was a hell that couldn’t even be compared to the inside of the city.
The Radioactive Dust Zone that had become hopelessly polluted after the Cataclysm, the wasteland made of harmful heavy metals, the River of Death flowing with chrome waste…
A land where neither plants nor animals could live, where the survival of not just humanity but all living creatures was forbidden - that was the outside.
…Or so I knew.
It wasn’t like I had lived in Dusk City since birth, nor had I actually been to the outside, so my knowledge might not be entirely accurate.
Still, I couldn’t help but think it was strange.
“Make the district of the outside part of the city again? It was a place outside the city to begin with. Does that even make sense?”
Perhaps having a similar thought, Tony next to me also tilted his head… then let out an exclamation as if he had remembered something.
Then he spoke.
“Don’t tell me, the Quarantine Zone… the Quarantine Zone?”
At the same time, D.D. McMillan continued speaking.
[citizens, do you remember the End Pandemic Incident?]