abcnovels
Chapter 248
Chapter 248
[Translator – Night]
[Proofreader – Gun]
Chapter 248: The Great Migration (3)
Everyone in South Korea, from Seoul, Incheon, Busan, and beyond, and even those scattered across the northern regions of North Korea, witnessed it.
Flash!
The scene of a massive holographic screen unfolding in the sky over each region.
And the message displayed on those screens was only one.
“Jeong Yeongwoo07”
An iconic figure, Jeong Yeongwoo07, had emerged as the sole candidate for the title of the most powerful person in a unified Korean Peninsula.
Of course, there were still many people in the country who had never heard of Yeongwoo’s name.
Although the regions where Yeongwoo had been active were not few, he hadn’t even visited half of the cities nationwide.
But things were different now.
Starting from today, the story of Jeong Yeongwoo would spread across the entire peninsula… no, the entire Korean Peninsula.
So, at the very least, everyone in the nation would know the name Jeong Yeongwoo…
“Ah!”
Yeongwoo, who was looking up at the screen in the sky with about a hundred ethnic Koreans from China, let out a scream involuntarily.
Because…
Flash!
In an instant, the screen flashed and Yeongwoo’s own face appeared on it.
It wasn’t even archived footage; it was a real-time broadcast of Yeongwoo, who was currently in Daerim-dong.
Like a kiss cam at a baseball game.
“Uh?”
The Yeongwoo on the screen couldn’t hide his bewildered expression.
Meanwhile, the ethnic Koreans who were exposed on the screen with Yeongwoo ran out of the frame to avoid being filmed.
As a result, Yeongwoo was left alone on the problematic screen being broadcasted across the entire Korean Peninsula.
‘Is… is this not a dream but real? This scene is being broadcasted live nationwide?’
As Yeongwoo stared blankly at his face filling the sky, a very polished voice resonated from beyond the screen.
[Hello, Mr. Jeong Yeongwoo.]
“……?”
Yeongwoo, who hadn’t expected anyone to speak to him, gaped.
“Who… are you?”
The voice answered smoothly.
[We are the Council. As the administrators of the reset Earth, we are here to conduct the approval vote.]
The Council.
They were the ones who had informed all of humanity about the beginning of this disaster on the first day of the reset and had warned about high-risk mutants starting on the fifth day.
And just now…
‘Administrators of the reset Earth…’
They had indirectly revealed their role.
‘So, they’re government officials?’
Instinctively, Yeongwoo tried to ascertain the status of his opponent.
To determine whether they were someone he could kill.
Then, as if reading Yeongwoo’s mind, the Council reminded him that his opponent was not them but the entire population of the Korean Peninsula.
Using an absurd request to do so.
[Mr. Jeong Yeongwoo, please remove all your clothes.]
“What? You basta…”
Yeongwoo’s innate temper flared immediately.
However, he barely managed to shut his mouth before he finished his harsh words.
Wasn’t this conversation, including his appearance, being broadcasted live to the entire Korean Peninsula?
Anyway, this was a kind of verification procedure to decide the most powerful person in a unified Korea.
Especially since soon, the people watching this broadcast would decide whether Yeongwoo would ascend to the position of the most powerful person in Korea.
So he couldn’t show himself losing his composure due to such a simple provocation.
‘This is essentially a hearing.’
He was in big trouble.
This was almost at the level of a setup crime.
“I’m already quite undressed, but surely you don’t mean to remove my underwear as well?”
[Please remove all your clothes.]
‘…No way, these bastards.’
They were literally asking him to stand before the people without a single thread on.
“Do I really have to take off all my clothes? I don’t think everyone watching this broadcast would want that. Surely there are children among the viewers.”
Although he was caught off guard by the unexpected hearing, Yeongwoo tried his best to defend himself.
Of course, being the most powerful person in Korea wasn’t an ordinary position, but standing before the entire nation in his underwear was a different matter.
It was a matter of human dignity.
But the Council’s will was firm.
[Then we will conduct a public opinion survey of the Korean Peninsula’s citizens for the next 15 seconds.]
“……?”
[For those who think the candidate should present himself fully to the public for the selection of the most powerful person, please think ‘approve.’ Those who disagree, please think ‘disapprove.’]
It was the same method used on the first day of the reset to nominate candidates for elimination.
The Council was abusing its power.
‘You crazy bastards, if you do it like that, even I would approve.’
When else would people get to see the underwear of a candidate for the most powerful person in Korea?
Setting aside the idea of standing fully before the public, most people would gladly vote ‘approve’ just to mess with the candidate.
And, unsurprisingly:
[The public opinion survey has concluded.]
“……”
[The results are 84.2% in favor, 15.8% against. The approval has won by a majority.]
[The candidate is requested to comply with the public’s request.]
This is how a power struggle is conducted.
Grit.
Yeongwoo ground his teeth in frustration.
‘The Council bastards, I’ll kill them someday.’
But what could he do right now?
If all the voters wanted it, he had no choice but to comply with their wishes.
‘…Sigh.’
Eventually, Yeongwoo began to take off the ‘Cosmic Etiquette’ cape mounted on his shoulders with a detached expression.
Clunk, thud!
Once he threw off the Cosmic Etiquette cape, the next steps became much easier.
The bracelets on his wrists fell to the ground with light, cheerful sounds matching their weight.
Clink, tap!
Of course, even then, Yeongwoo carefully placed the items on the ground.
They were precious things to him, not something to toss aside with his belt.
Clank!
Soon the belt also fell to the ground in Daerim-dong, leaving him only with his pants and the underwear underneath.
“Okay, I’m taking off my pants.”
As Yeongwoo slowly pulled down his pants while looking at the screen in the sky, the ethnic Koreans surrounding him started murmuring.
The buff tattoos he had on his groin were exposed in all their glory.
“Now then.”
Yeongwoo spoke in a dry tone.
The time had come to remove the final layer.
‘Damn it, what’s the big deal about taking off some clothes?’
[Translator – Night]
[Proofreader – Gun]
Just as Yeongwoo resolved himself and began pulling down his underwear.
Flash!
[……!]
A beam of white light, about a span wide, pierced through the Earth’s atmosphere and the hologram screen, shooting down to Yeongwoo’s feet.
Right between his bare feet.
“Uh?”
Yeongwoo, startled, instinctively took a step back, but then he noticed the familiar pattern inside the mysterious beam of light and widened his eyes.
“Ah…!”
It was the insignia of Dogo.
Tiny insignias filled the inside of the beam of light like a mosaic effect.
“Chairman?”
Yeongwoo whispered very softly, looking up at the sky, and saw his image on the screen.
Yeongwoo stood proudly without a thread on, just as the voters had requested.
Only the beam of light from the sky had conveniently covered his lower body, obscuring some of his parts from the broadcast screen.
‘The chairman has provided a mosaic!’
Protecting their own advertising model.
Yeongwoo felt a stirring in his iron-clad heart from the chairman’s grace.
And the particularly interesting thing in this situation was:
[…….]
The reaction of the Council, who claimed to be the administrators of the reset Earth.
In fact, the beam of light covering Yeongwoo’s groin was only about a span wide.
In other words, with a slight adjustment of the camera angle, Yeongwoo’s naked body could be fully captured despite the beam of light.
However:
[We apologize for the uneven broadcast due to a transmission error.]
The Council tacitly allowed Dogo’s intervention.
‘This is how real power struggles are conducted.’
Cosmic-level power struggles.
Of course, the majority of the Korean Peninsula’s viewers would have no idea what had just happened.
On the other hand, for those in the know, this scene itself was a tremendous reveal.
Following this, Dogo even handed out a kind of promotion bonus.
Ping!
[Dogo] “Recognition and Fame”
[Mission] Get elected as the strongest person on the Korean Peninsula.
[Reward] 30 million Karma
A whopping 30 million Karma.
Considering the reward for the ‘Parental Verification’ quest, which took three days to complete, was 20 million Karma, this showed how much Dogo cared about this election.
‘They are telling me to make sure I get elected as the strongest.’
Yeongwoo quietly nodded while looking at the white beam of light still protecting his groin.
At that moment, the Council proceeded with the main approval vote.
[Finally, the candidate stands proudly before the entire nation.]
[The person elected through this vote will represent the Korean Peninsula in future global matters.]
‘Global matters?’
It meant there would be something on a national level in the future.
And the person representing the Korean Peninsula in that context would be today’s candidate, Jeong Yeongwoo07.
[Therefore, please refer to the candidate’s profile and cast your valuable vote with care.]
A piece of advice that seemed to hold many implications.
[We will now review the candidate’s main achievements.]
‘Ah, it’s finally starting in earnest.’
Half excited, half worried.
As Yeongwoo took a deep breath and awaited the next development, a large interface suddenly appeared before his eyes.
Flash!
“Huh?”
It was four holographic buttons.
They were made large enough for voters watching the broadcast to see clearly as well.
Each button was inscribed with large text, which upon a glance, were the key aspects of Yeongwoo’s profile to be introduced from now on.
[Personality]
[Martial Skills]
[Patriotism]
[Diplomacy]
‘These bastards are really trying to bring me down.’
But at the same time, it made sense.
If the person elected through this vote wasn’t just a ‘strongman’ but also held a political role representing the people of the Korean Peninsula…
‘Then it’s natural for everyone to be curious about the traits of the person representing them.’
In essence, it was a process of selecting a kind of diplomat.
However, given the reset state of international society, only those with outstanding martial skills could qualify.
‘Well, you need to be strong enough to be seen as a conversation partner.’
Yeongwoo tried to rationalize the situation as he scanned the four buttons with his eyes.
Suddenly, a series of videos flashed before his eyes at an incredible speed.
‘Huh? What was that?’
Thinking he might have imagined it, he scanned the buttons again, and once more, dozens of videos played briefly.
Though he couldn’t be sure exactly what was being shown due to the speed, he had a sense of it.
‘There are video clips included in those buttons.’
It was likely that videos corresponding to each keyword would be played on the giant screen.
A video album of all the things Yeongwoo had done, to be viewed by all the citizens of the Korean Peninsula.
‘Is this… alright?’
As Yeongwoo pondered what kind of disaster might be contained in each button, the Council made an intriguing statement.
[The candidate will now choose the first profile to be revealed.]
“Oh… So I can choose what to show first?”
But if all four were going to be revealed anyway, what difference did it make?
Just as Yeongwoo was thinking this:
Flash!
At the bottom of the screen in the sky, graphs labeled “approve” and “disapprove” appeared.
“Huh……?”
[Voting will be conducted in real-time, and voting will be possible starting from the moment the first profile is revealed.]
In other words, voters could cast their votes even before seeing all four items.
[The criteria for election in this vote is a 70% approval rate.]
“What? What did you say?”
A 70 percent approval rate.
An absurd standard.
Assuming there were 100 people currently residing on the Korean Peninsula, it meant that 70 of them had to support him to be elected.
This meant that regardless of age, birthplace, political orientation, race, etc., a significant majority of people had to want Yeongwoo.
‘Damn, just the fathers of this land alone would probably take up 20 percent of the total votes…’
And didn’t he just recently decapitate Hwang Gilhwi, the head of the ethnic Koreans in Seoul?
Therefore, he could consider all the votes of the ethnic Koreans in the country lost.
‘Damn it… I’ve already taken off my underwear.’
The naked candidate’s expression darkened.
Then the Council started a five-second countdown, urging the candidate to make a decision.
[Which profile will you reveal first?]
[Translator – Night]
[Proofreader – Gun]