Chapter 149
ㅡShining so dazzlingly~
ㅡInto the sparkling light~
ㅡWith all our hearts~
ㅡOn the unfolding stage~
ㅡTreasure it; our dream will keep going~
“H-Haa..! How were the soldiers!! Wasn’t it fun!!!”
There wasn’t any cheering, but everyone was super excited, waving their hands like crazy. Since they were all made of iron, they were bouncing around, and whenever they bumped into each other, it made a huge racket.
“Agh, eugh…. The performance is over! Hurry up and disperse!!”
Everyone looked really disappointed, but once Ophelia climbed up onto the stage, they all started moving in a hurry.
“Everyone, stop. I have a general announcement.”
I wonder what it was, but it was Ophelia’s terrifying general announcement. Since everyone was gathered, she skillfully went over things like dividing up the gate personnel, which shifts would handle which jobs, and how everyone would be assigned to each post.
In the meantime, I edged a little closer to the front of the stage and did a little fan service by holding hands.
Honestly speaking, was there a little? Like, really, really just a tiny bit? I guess I should say it was fun about as much as a speck of ant poop. Seeing more people made me think that, too.
“That concludes the announcement. Everyone, disperse.”
“Bye-bye~”
* * * * *
After the stage performance ended at 10 in the morning, the soldiers all followed Ophelia’s orders and immediately started busily getting to work. They began everything from laying tracks inside the gate to full automation work and more.
Meanwhile, the commanders had gathered near the gate entrance and were chatting about this and that.
“I see..! Then we’ll need to choose a squad leader for the cavalry staying at this gate.”
“Yes, that’s right. Minyum, how are the infantry doing?”
ㅡClank!
“Then I trust you’ll do well.”
“These guys will be focused on construction work for a while.”
“For a while, yes.”
With the purchase of another gate, we needed to split the now larger number of soldiers between here and there. And since the commanders of each branch couldn’t oversee everyone themselves, we also needed soldier squad leaders to lead everyone on the side without a commander.
“Woah, there really are a lot more now.”
“Thanks to the Princess working hard.”
“I-I guess so…. I don’t feel like I really did anything.”
“No, Princess! Watching your performance gave us so much energy!”
“Yes, that really is true.”
Right now I’m sitting on Atalante’s lap with a chair set up by the gate entrance, but Atalante keeps touching my stomach, so it’s kind of awkward…. But it’s hard to say anything about it.
ㅡTap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap....
Next to me, Minyum stands with her arms crossed, tapping her fingers and drumming her toes while glaring at Atalante, but Atalante doesn’t seem bothered at all. She just pretends not to notice and keeps touching me.
“I don’t have any assignments right now. Should I stay on standby while staying with the Princess?”
ㅡClank!!!
“Sleep in the same bed with the Princess, eat the same meals, and fall asleep together?”
“U-uhm….”
ㅡClank clank!!! Crash!!
Every time Atalante said something, Minyum would fly off the handle beside us and bark at Atalante. Ophelia pinched the bridge of her nose and shook her head.
“I’ll assign Atalante’s subordinate soldiers as soon as possible. Since Atalante is skilled in urban combat, you’ll need to actively take part in the new business venture.”
“What a shame.”
And so the EVE Project’s new business began. The one we’d already talked about before—stationing ourselves inside the city and super-fast smashing open any entry-type gates that pop up from time to time. It isn’t exactly a hugely profitable business, but since they say it’s for earning the citizens’ trust.
All of the heavily armored infantry, who are absurdly good at brute force, will be assigned to the newly built facilities. First and most important is the forge, and the research facility to be built underground beneath it? Building underground doesn’t get finished overnight, so a ton of other soldiers will be thrown into this as well; it won’t just be the heavy infantry.
Building the barracks for the soldiers to live in and all sorts of other things too. Once the government gives approval, they’ll start building them right away.
“You beat the S-rank Gate Break…. You’ve really gotten strong.”
“The mana output was S-rank, but the actual difficulty was assessed as a little easier.”
“Huh..!? Really?”
It had seemed impossibly difficult, but its difficulty was apparently around A+, a little below S-rank. The gate’s mana output was indeed S-rank, but after a closer investigation, it turned out that a few things were odd.
I still don’t really know why the Gate Break happened in the first place; I guess you could say it wasn’t in a complete state? The boss monster was nasty and reflected attacks completely, but apparently its active movement time was limited.
“Hmm…. Without us, Seoul might have been completely destroyed, so isn’t that a little underestimating it..?”
“That doesn’t seem to be the case. Here, this is a video of the S-rank Gate clear that happened in Mataram, at the southern tip of Indonesia.”
“Oh, a video.”
Ophelia took out a wide tablet and showed me the video, and the timestamp was from several years ago. It somehow felt like something I might have heard of before? But back then I was at the orphanage, so it wasn’t like I could just decide to watch TV whenever I wanted. This feels like the first time I’ve actually seen it.
ㅡKWAAAANG
“Whoa, is that the boss monster?”
“That’s right.”
It was a dragon with three heads, spewing fire in three separate streams while flying around, and just looking at it made it obvious that it would be hard to catch. If something like that moved around nonstop for twenty-four hours, the damage would’ve been far greater than this.
The Cyclops had insane attack power, but it only attacked once a day, and during the rest of the time it just stayed still like it was asleep. The strategy was tricky, but we still pulled it off in the end.
“Hmm, do you think we could take this thing down now?”
“It’s uncertain.”
“I see….”
It’s too early to feel relieved. What we’re aiming for is something even stronger and more ridiculously powerful than this, something no one can even touch.
“But…. shouldn’t we be able to get S-rank by now?”
“Do you think so?”
“Not yet?”
“I think it should be possible soon, but there are still many shortcomings.”
“I see….”
Ophelia waved her hand, and new information appeared on the tablet. Displayed on the screen were the four huge alliances currently rated as “quasi-national powers.”
The strongest, as expected, is Orbit Club. It’s the only quasi-national power affiliated with a single country, the United States, a force formed by an alliance between the Seven Big Tech firms and the world’s two largest U.S.-based asset managers.
Second is the Starwell Syndicate. It’s an oil-money coalition formed across the Middle East, a representative oil-money power that still controls most of the important oil market.
Third is the Sunrise Hegemony. This side is a coalition of communist-bloc countries based on the existing BRICS framework, and because their population is overwhelmingly large, their power is terrifyingly strong. In a numbers game, it’s all about how many tries you get, so naturally there are an absurd number of Awakeners as well.
Fourth is Citadel Concord. A coalition faction made up of the old financial and political powers that dominated Europe—Roth○schild, Habs○burg, and so on. It spans countless countries across Switzerland, Belgium, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Austria, Hungary, Italy, and Greece.
Compared to those, us? Honestly, we’re still way, way behind. I even wonder if we can actually win this.... When you gather them all up like this, they’re nothing but absurdly overpowered monsters.
We’d probably need 150 million times more soldiers than we have now to win, right?
“Hmm…. Would that even be possible..? You mean we’d go get S-rank after reaching quasi-national power..?”
“That’s not it. But we do need to get a little stronger.”
“I see..!”
Honestly, it was hard to imagine us becoming that strong. If we became a quasi-national power, we’d be coming from a single country—Korea, right? But I wasn’t sure whether Korea itself was really that strong.
“Now is the time for the faction to expand explosively. We’ll be much busier than before.”
“Eh, really? Because we’re making a lot of money?”
“That too, but more than anything, it’s our results. We’ve actually stopped an S-rank gate and defeated a single A+-class dangerous entity.”
Ophelia gestured, and the next data screen appeared. On the tablet was the search volume for the name EVE PROJECT.
“The important thing now is that global interest and expectations have risen. You could say the groundwork for attracting investment has been laid.”
“Investment! It’s basically saying, ‘We’re good at this, so hand over the money!’”
“In summary, yes.”
Ooh. Saying it like that makes it feel like we’ve really become a huge company. We really are huge, though. What company can do this much?
“And we’ll also be listing.”
“Oh, I want one too. Give me a certificate too. I danced really well.”
“...Not that kind of listing. It means making the company’s stock available for sale.”
“Ah.”
Our company currently has a very unusual structure. No co-founders, no stock options given to employees, and the initial investor, Oseong Group, holding about a 3 percent stake.
The remaining 97 percent belongs entirely to us, and if we sold these shares for insanely high prices now that expectations are sky-high??
“Oh my gosh. That’s 500 times the money.”
“That’s right.”
Once the stock sale goes through properly after listing, Ophelia says the company’s scale will grow by more than tenfold.
“T-That much..?”
“Because people are expecting a lot from us.”
“I see….”
Anyway, from here on out, there’s going to be a ton of work.
“Hmm…. No prize?”
“Here, I bought something for you to snack on since I thought you might be hungry.”
“Oh, what is it?”
Ophelia handed me a brown paper bag, and inside was something like a plastic container.
“It seems to be a snack called butter tteok that’s trendy these days.”
“Hee, butter tteok. I’ve seen tons of it on Reels.”
Trends really do change fast these days.
“Hmm….”
“How is it?”
The moment I took a bite, I knew right away.
“Hm.”
Butter tteok? Nope. Forced trends are a no-go.