Chapter 384

「t.i.tle: YSN Radio

‘Baek Seong-In’s Breaking Through News’

■ Channel: FM 99.1 (18:10 ~ 20:00)

■ Date: July 12th, 2018 (Thursday)

■ Guest: Lee Soo-Il, Professor at Seongju University

◇ Baek Seong-In (host, commentator, news reader)> Today, we will discuss the overall problems, starting with the item trading market. Professor Lee Soo-Il at Seongju University is on the connection. Good evening, Professor.

◆ Lee Soo-Il> h.e.l.lo.

◇ Baek Seong-In> The very first S-cla.s.s auction was held yesterday, and Xi w.a.n.gmu"s Ten Thousand Year Old Spider Egg was sold at an astronomical winning bid of over ten billion dollars. I can’t even imagine how large ten billion dollars is!

◆ Lee Soo-Il> That is true. The exchange rate was 1056.30 won yesterday, so that’s equivalent to ten trillion, fifty-six billion Korean won. Let’s use the stock market as an example. The total market value of Daehyun Motor is thirty trillion won, so ten trillion could buy thirty percent of the stocks of Daehyun Motor.

◇ Baek Seong-In> Wow.

◆ Lee Soo-Il> Everyone here likes smartphones, right? The most expensive one among Berry’s A phone costs 1.5 million won including VAT, so with ten trillion won we could provide them to 6.66 million people for free. Also, we could even pay the tuition for every single college student in Korea for one term with ten trillion won.

◇ Baek Seong-In> That is unbelievable, but there have been two more S-cla.s.s item auctions since then. The second one was sold at four billion dollars, which was forty percent of the initial winning price, and the third one was sold at three billion dollars. It is understandable that the first transaction was bound to be fierce, but three billion dollars is indeed an astronomical amount as well.

◆ Lee Soo-Il> When considering the entirety of the situation, there is so much to discuss. Yet, upon closer examination, it becomes apparent that it is merely a fragment of the actual economy, which operates on the principle that as demand increases and supply decreases, prices rise.

◇ Baek Seong-In> Yeah, I agree.

◆ Lee Soo-Il> Also, the Awakened hold a position that dictates the crucial factors of profitability and risk in outer s.p.a.ce exploration. In order to secure the allegiance of the Awakened, corporations are obliged to make significant investments in costly, top-of-the-line items. As a result, these often carry an astronomical price tag, as you mentioned.

◇ Baek Seong-In> What is your opinion on the current market price?

◆ Lee Soo-Il> According to the a.s.sociation’s announcement, less than ten percent of the two hundred thousand Awakened have entered outer s.p.a.ce. There are many reasons for this. First of all, the a.s.sociation has yet to completely open the entranceway to outer s.p.a.ce, which they call the ‘dungeon.’ Also, agencies and companies are presently deliberating the advantages and gains of venturing into the extraterrestrial realm.

◇ Baek Seong-In> Ah, I see.

◆ Lee Soo-Il> Since a new source of revenue, the item market, has been guaranteed, more companies will be willing to enter and invest in outer s.p.a.ce entry.

◇ Baek Seong-In> That makes sense.

◆ Lee Soo-Il> The World Awakened a.s.sociation is actively supporting companies’ entry into outer s.p.a.ce. In other words, the number of their entries will definitely impact the price trend of the items.

◇ Baek Seong-In> Do you think the value of items is as the a.s.sociation expected?

◆ Lee Soo-Il> Yes. Undeniably, the supernatural products referred to as items have never before been traded in human history, and the market, with a modest consumer base of merely two hundred thousand individuals, is bewildering. However, it’s a different story if you look at them as military weapons. That is probably the right way to look at this situation.

◇ Baek Seong-In> …

◆ Lee Soo-Il> With so many supernatural happenings going on in different parts of outer s.p.a.ce, it’s becoming more evident that humans will use the land separately from profits.

◇ Baek Seong-In> Are you talking about the war industry of our world?

◆ Lee Soo-Il> Yes.

◇ Baek Seong-In> The a.s.sociation has limited the war industry of Awakened to outer s.p.a.ce, and the majority of them appear to be willing to follow their instruction. Not long ago, the Safety Bureau subdued any unregistered Awakened who had appeared during the Yemen Civil War. Both government forces and their enemies who employed them are vigorously urging for their extradition, which is antic.i.p.ated to take place sooner or later.

◆ Lee Soo-Il> So I think the a.s.sociation should implement a stricter policy in managing items. Imagine unregistered Awakened holding onto high-level items. Simultaneously, it is important for both the global community and the world at large to cooperate extensively in order for secure nations to swiftly capture or eradicate unregistered Awakened individuals.

◇ Baek Seong-In> What kind of cooperation are you talking about?

◆ Lee Soo-Il> There are damages that inevitably occur when the Security Bureau takes action. Let’s look at our country. Everyone probably remembers the disturbance that Awakened caused at an Incheon hostess bar last month. To be exact, it was supposed to be called ‘An Unregistered Awakened’s Rampage.’

◇ Baek Seong-In> That was the first Awakened incident in Korea. Since then there has been no issue here compared to other countries, but it was shocking.

◆ Lee Soo-Il> Before diving into the details, we should be familiar with the power structure at the Stage of Advent’s Final Stage. The Awakened in Korea is largely divided into two forces.

◇ Baek Seong-In> I heard they were the Savior Odin’s group and Mary’s group, right?

◆ Lee Soo-Il> That’s correct. The Korean Awakened in Revolucion (12) during the Final Stage are categorized as members of Odin’s group, while those a.s.sociated with Revolucion (42) are regarded as part of Mary’s faction. The hostess bar rampage was caused by an Awakened in Revolucion (42).

◇ Baek Seong-In> Oh, I see.

◆ Lee Soo-Il> The members of Odin’s faction call themselves the ‘Savior’s people’ and are loyal to Odin regardless of their nationality. Therefore, they faithfully followed Odin’s instructions not to cause social unrest.

◇ Baek Seong-In> But I heard that all the Awakened were in awe of Odin.

◆ Lee Soo-Il> You can never know what a person really thinks. I a.s.sume this particular guy must have had discontentment towards the microchip implantation and opposition towards the a.s.sociation’s overall policies. Anyway, the Incheon hostess bar incident occurred when the unregistered Awakened tried to take control of Incheon’s violent gang. In addition to the gang that owned the bar, nearby businesses were negatively impacted by this. Remember how the business owners reacted back then.

◇ Baek Seong-In> Yes.

◆ Lee Soo-Il> The government promised to compensate for the damage, but business owners flocked to the a.s.sociation headquarters’ Korean branch and made a fuss. They surely knew they had entered into an area of extraterritorial jurisdiction under the UN agreement.

◇ Baek Seong-In> Ah…

◆ Lee Soo-Il> Also, what was the point of wearing alien monster masks? I understand they tried to make their voice heard, but if they were going to protest in a mask, they should have at least complied with the a.s.sembly Demonstration Act outside the border. But what happened? There were physical collisions when they tried to get inside the perimeter.

◇ Baek Seong-In> The business owners contended that they found it hard to believe the government’s a.s.sessment of the extent of the damage, and that the suppression of the Awakened by the Safety Bureau further exacerbated the damages. These two were their main arguments, and their points had drawn sympathy from the public. More than four hundred thousand citizens signed the pet.i.tion because of the a.s.sociation’s judicial system.

◆ Lee Soo-Il> Prior to that, people might have perceived the agreement between the World Awakened a.s.sociation and UN member states as insincere, but it was only after witnessing businessmen being forcefully suppressed and taken into detention centers that they likely realized the gravity of the situation. At least in Korea, the public had viewed the a.s.sociation and the Awakened as a simple media creation. At least, that’s how they viewed them before.

◇ Baek Seong-In> Are you suggesting that the businessmen were aware of the special circ.u.mstances regarding the land they were attempting to enter, but lacked sufficient knowledge about the specifics?

◆ Lee Soo-Il> One S-cla.s.s item that was auctioned for the first time was sold at ten billion dollars. Not that many people can imagine the magnitude of the amount. My summary is that the public thinks that Korea’s agreement with the World Awakened a.s.sociation as a member of the United Nations is very unfair, but they should understand why UN members had no choice but to sign such an agreement with the a.s.sociation. If they did understand, then would they have tried to enter the land of the a.s.sociation branch wearing the masks of alien monsters?

◇ Baek Seong-In> People released from custody are preparing a lawsuit against the government and the World Awakened a.s.sociation. What is your thought on this?

◆ Lee Soo-Il> You should know that this is a lawsuit that cannot be validated in the first place. The government is actually being very considerate of the businessmen by not dealing with the damage done by them as the law of war. That’s what I want to reiterate.

◇ Baek Seong-In> …

◆ Lee Soo-Il> I mentioned that not only the world community but also the entire world should cooperate greatly with the a.s.sociation. It’s also because in addition to the problem that unregistered Awakened cause, the war of humanity is still taking place. When Korea had an uproar with one unregistered Awakened, North America and Europe had multiple alien raids.

◇ Baek Seong-In> I don’t know if I should call them ‘bases,’ but four Awakened and civilian military companies’ bases were attacked.

◆ Lee Soo-Il> It is difficult to check the reality unless we are directly involved in the matter. We should admit that. Even though the businessmen didn’t have positive images in society, many people sympathized with them because they realized that the a.s.sociation started to have a direct impact on their lives.

◇ Baek Seong-In> I see.

◆ Lee Soo-Il> For example, if I open the window from my apartment, I can see a hill. It’s called Choo Il Bong, and the residents of our apartment used it as a hiking trail. Now it has become a controlled area affected by the agreement. Whether intentionally or not, the media has formed an image that anyone entering the control area would be in the same situation with the businessmen. Aren’t there people around you like that?

◇ Baek Seong-In> Yes.

◆ Lee Soo-Il> People weren’t interested in the Yemen Civil War before, but they started looking into it because they feel like the refugees will come to Korea and cause problems. Still, a war in the far Arab states doesn’t feel real. I’m just saying that we should admit the general public’s psychology and face it. However, it’s very dangerous to treat extraterrestrial attacks in North America and Europe as they are. It’s something that can happen to us at any time as we are exposed to a controlled area near us.

◇ Baek Seong-In> There is a good example of that. The World Awakened a.s.sociation headquarters is in Korea, and there was actually one invasion.

◆ Lee Soo-Il> Exactly.

◇ Baek Seong-In> Last but not least, what do you think about the a.s.sociation’s general direction of entry? In addition to the Awakened and regular military personnel, there are suggestions to establish a coalition with a focus on major countries.

◆ Lee Soo-Il> The actions that the a.s.sociation has shown so far have come down to one thing.

◇ Baek Seong-In> What is it?

◆ Lee Soo-Il> The a.s.sociation doesn’t want humanity to go through another war. I’d like to ask those of you who want to form a coalition. Do you want your sons to carry guns and fight a war somewhere in outer s.p.a.ce?

◇ Baek Seong-In> All right, Professor. That’s all the questions I have for today.

◆ Lee Soo-Il> Thank you for inviting me.

◇ Baek Seong-In> Thank you for coming.

Comments 13,901

└ [BEST] Jeong-Yoon: Can I buy an elf girl as my slave before I die? (Seoul, 21-year-old, Female)

└ Cute orc: I’d rather go to outer s.p.a.ce than stay in h.e.l.l Chosun. It’s a jackpot if I pick up one artifact from there.

└ Solsol: f.u.c.k, let’s just blow them up with a nuclear bomb. Tell the North Korean pig to give us one. If he doesn’t, then let’s make one. We will be able to make one quickly with our technology. Ah… I forgot that we are super careful with the U.S. They will hate this idea lol.

└ Cororong: If an S-cla.s.s item is around three billion dollars, that’s h.e.l.la cheap. I should get it before it is sold. Where is my wallet? It’s hard to find it since I only carry one black card,[1] hehe.

└ Ajji: Those who signed the pet.i.tion must be embarra.s.sed. By the way, I didn’t. Public psychology is so interesting.

└ Kadirna: But it was f.u.c.king stupid to wear Declan masks and rush into the a.s.sociation’s branch. Whose idea was that? Ugh. They could have died immediately if an Awakened was there. They must be very strong-minded since they deal with alcoholics.

└ Gonfrics: Although I’m not an Awakened, I’m a Savior’s person, Odin. I will be loyal forever, salute!

└ Lee Jin-Kyu: I like Caliber better. L.O.V.E. Y.O.U.!

└ sai676: There is a dungeon in front of my place, too.

└ Yang-Soo: Where is my military uniform? My darling elf~ I will come to see you as soon as Odin opens the gate. Hold on a second, love~

└ ㅇㅇ: I am a veteran who was active in the war zone, and my main specialty is using 1123 106MM recoilless rifles, but I can also handle rifles used in divided areas such as K1, K2, and M16. I received specialized martial arts training focused on hand-to-hand combat and I partic.i.p.ate in annual military training as required by the state. I think I’m qualified to help the Awakened to enter outer s.p.a.ce. Please contact me. One S-cla.s.s item will be enough for payment.

└ Three-year-old in dog age: Dang, you got me.

└ Glanisca: What are we going to do with the Yemen refugees? How come they aim guns at each other as soon as the bell rings?

└ Yang-Soo: You guys are wasting your time. Jeonil is the problem in our country, not the Awakened. Y’all are cowards. Go tell all this to the Jeonil Group.

└ Choi Jin-Hyuk: Thank you for your words, Professor.

└ Lee Hyun-Seok: The Incheon gangs barely survived.

└ Ewaaaaang: They are all dead.

└ Jeong Hyun-Ho: I agree. Many people forget that war is a reality because humans are forgetful. I never want to be dragged by martial law forces ever again… Are you watching this, Sergeant Kim? You motherf.u.c.ker. Stay out of my sight. I warned you. I will kill you.

└ Seo Yeong-Deuk: Huh?

└ Jae-Woo: I have never seen an Awakened before. Is it true that Odin, Mary, Caliber and Lee Tae-Han are all real? I’m tired of the public hyping Catalina Ronea. One fan signing event is enough.

└ Bong-Wook: I have seen them once, and I almost peed in my pants. Their eyes are so scary.

└ 123: The Awakened I saw even waved her hands at me. She was pretty too.

└ Agus: I just want to buy one item even if it’s an F-cla.s.s. I have a lot of money.

└ Jeong Cho-Yeong: Tsk tsk. You pathetic things. I’d rather die than leave the fate of mankind in your hands. I support you, Korean Awakened. Don’t give in because of the r.e.t.a.r.ds. The whole nation is rooting for you!

└ Jackpot: But four hundred thousand people signed the pet.i.tion lol.

└ I’m Odin: I admit your guts, unregistered Awakened. But that’s it. As long as I, Odin, am watching you, you are dead. You should feel the bitterness from the Final Stage more. Stay quiet. I’ll be standing behind your backs as soon as I smell your breath. Hoo hoo hoo. Summon the gate!

└ White: You idiots are unbelievable. Be careful, man. The real Odin will come get you.

***

The web page converted the interview conversation into a text form.

The a.s.sociation doesn’t want humanity to go through a war.

The controversialist who came out as a guest had grasped my exact intention. It was unreasonable to say that Jamie’s influence had reached this small broadcast, so the overall public opinion wasn’t necessarily negative toward the a.s.sociation. There were people who understood us.

At that time, Yeon-Hee was petting Kciphos with one hand and eating ice cream with the other. She was killing time by surfing the Internet for the first time in a while and smiled as she glanced at me.

She said she felt like we were in a relations.h.i.+p as I wasn’t working too much. As the comments conveyed a message of peace, my world was progressing seamlessly from a trading system to an entire financial empire. Therefore, I was taking a break until the items I ordered arrived.

One of the Savior’s people left to receive the insignia and the Spider Egg.

Then, Yeon-Hee asked, “Has Jonathan contacted you?”

Jonathan hadn’t set up a military company and partic.i.p.ated in the bidding. Instead, it was Olivia, a close aide to him. Jonathan only instructed her to do so and didn’t tell her about his whereabouts. He had been like that ever since he appeared at the rituals of the four priests.

I thought he was wandering, but Yeon-Hee seemed to have a different thought. She believed he was moving secretly for a purpose he didn’t tell me, but Jonathan wouldn’t have been doing that. Yeon-Hee’s opinion remained unchanged even when she brought up Jessica. She said the Stage of Advent was a place that would turn a person into a completely different individual.

Did the Stage of Advent change Jonathan? No, he was a man of unwavering loyalty to his people, having stood firm in his convictions during the tumultuous times of the past. This was precisely why I selected him as my partner. If there were any chance that his character could have been altered during the Stage of Advent, then he would have already s.h.i.+fted his att.i.tude upon the acc.u.mulation of immense wealth before him.

However, he never changed and didn’t even claim his due share. Jonathan was such a man.

“I don’t believe in anyone except you. People think and move according to a given environment. It’s called role-playing. It’s not the people who change; it’s the surroundings that change.”

Yeon-Hee said that and didn’t even listen to my answer. Instead, she went into a separate room as she wanted to avoid further arguments.

There was one thing Jonathan told me before the return.

“But we should remove those we shouldn’t take. I have a few guys on my mind.”

Even after returning, he often mentioned that he was chasing those whom he wasn’t able to deal with in the Final Stage. I knew whom he was talking about. Those who shared the same blood as the Rothschilds, Goldsteins, Morgans, Medicis, and other club members. They were the members of the royal family of an oil-producing country that didn’t belong to the club but had an immense impact.

Besides them, anyone born with blood that could affect the internal affairs of the club could be included in the ‘removal targets’ that Jonathan mentioned.

However, there was a reason why I thought he was wandering. If he were killing the targets, then he wouldn’t have cut off contact. Therefore, I thought he was debating whether to return to Jonathan Hunter, the financier, or remain as the King of h.e.l.l.

I decided to respect his decision no matter which one he chose. I planned to gift him Xi w.a.n.gmu"s Ten Thousand-Year-Old Spider if he returned as the King of h.e.l.l, but delegate the club’s throne if he returned as Jonathan Hunter.

***

1. a premium credit card offered to high net-worth individuals who meet certain income and credit score requirements. ☜