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Chapter 568: The Continent After 1 Year (6)

The first strike in history took place in Egypt. It was a strike against the pharaohs, who were considered the kings and gods of their country. When their wages weren’t properly paid, the engineers and workers who built the pyramids stood up against the government.

There were movements in the form of protests, and some people even stayed inside the pyramids.

It was a demonstration that took place before the basic rights of human beings were properly established. A few decades ago, or a few years ago, there was a violent crackdown in Korea on the practice of spraying tear gas and squirting water cannons, so it must’ve been far worse than that.

There was no doubt that the pharaoh’s fury would have rained like fire on the pyramid protesters.

The pharaoh would’ve desperately wanted to complete the pyramid before he died. However, surprisingly, the workers were victorious.

Of course, there must’ve been many complex reasons, but the managers and upper-level officials must’ve thought that the construction could not be delayed. It was to the extent that workers received wages and weren’t punished even after making blasphemous remarks such as “if wages are not paid properly, we will rob the pharaoh’s tomb.”

“That really was very impressive.”

I wasn’t sure if workers were considered important back then or if they lacked skilled workers, but I had to applaud the workers’ efforts.

‘To use their tactics would be too much, but…’

I thought the story was similar to my current situation. I also had to complete the forward base at all costs. Whatever it took, it needed to be completed.

If I were a manager who didn’t pay my workers on time, I needed to do everything to give them the money to continue their work.

‘But fuck, why are these bastards like this?’

No matter how endless human greed was and how people repeated their mistakes, weren’t each district’s treatments too good for them to have a strike demanding better treatment and higher wages?

They had vacations, and if they worked overtime, they were compensated accordingly.

It was no exaggeration to call it a dream job, and most workers were very satisfied with the conditions. Moreover, there were even priests on standby.

If it weren’t for the Goddess’s Hand Mirror, we might not have even been able to afford the project’s expenses.

‘Are they out of their minds?’

“Or did I make them feel too comfortable? I feel bitter because I think I might have started this in the wrong way.”

“No, it’s definitely more efficient this way. Strangely, they won’t come out even with a bonus. If we haven’t had this type of environment in the first place, no matter how much we beat them, we wouldn’t be able to make as much progress as we did. Look at how much development we made in one year. Think about it. We did all of this in a single year.”

“You mean…”

“Yes, it’s even stranger to have no side effects at the pace we are progressing. From the time the three-year plan was announced, I thought I had no choice but to account for some side effects. And I guess these are the side effects. The first problem was that you pressured the managers in the beginning too much. One person was even beat up and expelled, so it’s natural for all of them to be frightened. It’s not that long, but a year is enough time for people to gather and organize, right? I think it’s only natural that there’s a loophole in the reporting system.”

“Hmmm…”

“If you used only your own people, this wouldn’t have happened in the first place…”

“I have no choice. Even for me, it’s too much to fill all the personnel lines with my people. Even if the management committee is overall under my control, I have to pretend like we are all in equal standing, at least externally. Do you think I left the Blue Guild for no reason?”

“Of course, I understand.”

“The Church and Lindel have the biggest stakes in this as they made the most investments, but since you have to paint a picture as if the whole continent is becoming one, you have to give the impression that all of you are moving towards the same task together. Republic, Federation, ethnic minorities, coalition, and that’s not all. We also need to give each denomination a small share… Even if I try to use only my own people as much as possible, I can’t help it if there are holes here and there. To be honest, this is partly because I was in such a hurry. I admit that.”

“Yes, you were in a big hurry as if you were possessed. I said I’d try my best… but it’s too much to manage a large area like this perfectly in such a short period. The same goes for the committee management. It’s not an ideal situation, but what can I do? There are always side effects to rapid growth.”

They were totally different situations, but somehow the last line reminded me of Jung Hayan.

‘That line is somehow ominous. We should stop talking about this.’

At this, I looked at Lee Jihye with bitterness. I saw her every day, allowing me to swiftly notice that her face was a bit sulky that day.

Short bob hair, short height- because she had been with me for the first three months, I didn’t see any differences in her appearance.

She was the same as before, but it seemed that she was under a lot of stress recently, and I knew for a fact that she actually slept less than I did.

It was because she had her hands in so many different areas.

I wanted to let her rest a little, but I couldn’t do it because I felt like half of the business would become paralyzed if Lee Jihye took a break. She was acting as my eyes, ears, as well as my hands and feet. I couldn’t just let her rest.

“So, has there been a response to the situation?”

“I’m still thinking about it. I thought about just firing everyone and pushing the project forward, but I don’t even know what’s going on right now. I had sent an inspection team to site 5, but I’m still not sure it’ll be that effective. That being said, I’m certain something is going on over there. Maybe you should take a closer look. Site 5 could be an indicator of what side effects our plans could have.”

“Are you saying a similar phenomenon could happen on other sites?”

“Yes, it’s another reason why my observations slowed down.”

“I understand observing the situation, but…Even if there’s something we’ve missed, how do we improve our treatment from here? No matter how hard I try to understand, I just can’t seem to.”

“It’s the same for me, too. It’s hard to understand from a management’s perspective that complaints could come out in such ideal conditions. In the first place, we could’ve done mandatory conscription. If they complained about things no matter what, wouldn’t it be better to save some money at least? They have to roll around in a dog poop field to think that the place they are in is heaven. Should I take out the warm-up magic first?”

“No, I want to avoid anything that can slow down the speed of our work as much as possible… And if you force the conscription, the backlash would be too severe. Especially with our image…”

“I’d rather have a problem with upper management. I still want to believe in humans, seriously.”

‘I don’t think that should come out of your mouth…’

However, I still agreed with Lee Jihye to some extent.

“Anyway, there are three possibilities.”

“Go on.”

“First, there might be something wrong with the person in charge… No, there is a problem for sure since the reports are also a problem.”

“You’re saying that there’s a possibility that someone is self-profiting from this work.”

“Yes, indeed, the workers might really be under unfair treatment.”

“If that’s the case, we should get rid of everyone involved in corruption cases.”

“I agree. The second possibility is that our workers are just greedy. I really hope that’s not the case. Please let that not be the case.”

“…”

“And if that’s not the case… there could be opposing forces out there.”

“Didn’t you say that there’s no possibility of opposing forces? You said that there weren’t any chat logs left.”

“I just haven’t found it yet; I didn’t abandon the possibility. Even if we don’t have any logs left at Benignore Net, there are still some ways to stay in touch with each other. It’s not like we have no enemies at all… It’s a little too early to abandon the possibility of opposing forces.”

“What’s the alternative?”

“Let’s just wait for the inspectors. I’m going to look at and think about this matter more comprehensively. I keep saying this, but… I would hate it if the workers there are the problem. It’s going to make me hate humans.”

‘You shouldn’t be the one to say that of all people, Nuna.’

“I thought I was still a long away from becoming like you, but there are a lot of people around us who are beyond our imagination…”

“Who is in charge of District 5?”

“Mikhail.”

“Ah.”

‘Mikhail.’

He was one of the people recruited because we needed someone from the coalition.

He was a well-known moderate within the Union and was also a symbol of integrity, an idealist, and a renowned scholar.

We had put a lot of effort into Mikhail’s recruitment.

From the 1st to the 10th bases, we paid a lot more attention to them because those areas faced the enemies outside. The leaders at the most important bases 1 through 10 had been hand-picked by me.

However, we had no choice but to bring outsiders to fill relatively less important bases like the 4th, 5th, and 9th sites.

Since it was a situation where we had to fill a seat from the Republic and another one from the Union, we needed someone who could work efficiently and properly by themselves, and Mikhail was one of those who had met such conditions perfectly.

How reassuring it had been when he said that he would accept the post reluctantly.

‘I don’t think he’s the problem…’

He wasn’t the type of person who stole money to use it for self-interest. I even checked his tendencies and temperament with the Mind’s Eye and found nothing alarming.

“He’s famous for his integrity in the Union. And hadn’t we already run thorough background checks on him?”

“He’s a person who doesn’t have any dirt on him.”

“What should we do? Should we dig deeper?”

“Don’t try too hard. He refused to work with everyone who tried to recruit him. Let’s first talk about whether there are opposing forces in the first place. Ah, no, I think it will be better to just try to meet him.”

“Who? Mikhail?”

“Yes, call him to come to us. And in the meantime, send some people to the scene.”

“That sounds alright.”

“It seems like I’ll be meeting this guy before the guild members.”

“Should I send him a Griffin right now?”

“Yes, I think that would be a good idea. Please don’t make it seem like you are interrogating him. There’s a possibility that he’ll come prepared.”

“I know. I’ll just tell him I want to meet for a cup of tea.\'”

“Good. Is that the end of your report?”

“Yes.”

“Then let’s have dinner together, Nuna.”

“I was planning to do this hastily because I was busy… But this changes the story. Is that a date request, Oppa?”

“Feel free to think of it like that.”

I wondered how he was managing the place that was suffering from a strike.

“District 5…”

“Is it still on your mind?”

“Of course.”

“Don’t get too stressed, Oppa. It’s within a boundary that we can solve. It probably won’t be as big of a deal as we think it is.”

I also prayed for that to be true. I truly hoped that it wouldn’t be a big deal.