Hoarding In Hell [EN]: Chapter 210

“Yes. The Teacher saved Commander Lee Ji-tae.”

210. New Orders (7)

Lee Ji-tae opened his eyes again. It was a ceiling he had seen several times, but he couldn’t get used to it.

The difference from before was that Madam Butterfly always kept the lamp on in the room. And his strength had recovered to some extent, enough to raise his body.

His tongue, which felt stiff as a snail, could now move to some extent.

“Ah, eh, ee, oh, oo.”

Lee Ji-tae practiced his pronunciation by making meaningless sounds, and now he thought he was able to have conversations, albeit awkwardly. He could also use his skills.

After preparing himself, Lee Ji-tae slowly looked at the corner of the room where the shadows were particularly thick.

“You.”

No answer came.

“I know you’re there. Come out.”

“I’ve been here all along, there’s no need to come out or anything. Lee Ji-tae.”

Without a sound, the man’s figure naturally emerged from the shadows.

Lee Ji-tae felt as if the man had been there from the beginning, but he hadn’t noticed him due to an optical illusion.

The man’s face was still hidden in the shadows, so he couldn’t see it.

Lee Ji-tae groaned and muttered.

“You… are you the ‘Teacher’?”

“I am and I am not.”

“What do you mean?”

“‘Teacher’ is an honorific title attached to someone respectable. Other people call me that, but you don’t necessarily have to call me that. Actually, it seems like Madam Butterfly calls me that, so other people follow suit.”

“…Then what should I call you?”

“Well, anything… I would recommend Brad Pitt or DiCaprio.”

Whether he was serious or joking, Lee Ji-tae felt a bit pathetic, but he seemed to know the other person’s age roughly.

Both names were of older actors from a previous era.

Lee Ji-tae cleared his throat lightly and looked at the other person with a serious expression.

“Then I’ll call you Sullivan.”

It was the name that best suited the title of ‘Teacher’ that Lee Ji-tae knew. But the other person chuckled and shook his head.

“No. Just call me Teacher.”

“You just said that Teacher is an honorific title attached to someone respectable….”

“If I saved your life, isn’t that respectable enough?”

The two continued their bickering conversation.

Honestly, Lee Ji-tae didn’t care what his name was. But if he called the other person by names like Brad Pitt or DiCaprio, he couldn’t be serious at all.

In the end, the man in the darkness raised his hand first.

“Okay. Then just call me Bi-gwang. I use that name when I have to write my name down anyway.”

The name Bi-gwang was also awkward. But it was the most acceptable option for Lee Ji-tae.

“Bi-gwang, how long has it been since I lost consciousness?”

At Lee Ji-tae’s question, Bi-gwang was silent for a moment. His silence felt uncomfortable.

Just as Lee Ji-tae was about to repeat the question, feeling thirsty again, Bi-gwang opened his mouth.

“30 years.”

Lee Ji-tae’s eyes narrowed slightly.

“It’s been 30 years since you lay in bed and were able to move again.”

***

It was then.

Suddenly, the door opened and Madam Butterfly came in. She looked surprised to see Lee Ji-tae standing up.

“Are you already able to move that much, Commander Lee Ji-tae? Your recovery is fast. You’ll be able to eat solid food soon.”

“…….”

Lee Ji-tae felt like he had never looked at Madam Butterfly’s face so closely as he did today.

But Madam Butterfly’s face was clearly not much different from the last time he remembered it.

Even if she was young for her age, it couldn’t have been more than 5 years.

Lee Ji-tae glared sharply at the shadows. Bi-gwang was holding back a chuckle behind the door.

“Is there something wrong, Commander Lee Ji-tae?”

“…Madam Butterfly. How many years have passed since I regained consciousness?”

“How many years? It’s been a little over 3 months. It’s a long time, though.”

3 months. Lee Ji-tae felt like throwing something at Bi-gwang.

To joke about something like this. But Bi-gwang was nowhere to be seen.

He couldn’t figure out how he appeared and disappeared. It didn’t seem like teleportation or high-speed movement.

“I just met someone who claimed to be the Teacher.”

Madam Butterfly’s eyes widened, but she didn’t look around or do anything. She smiled with an ambiguous expression and said.

“Isn’t his way of appearing a bit bizarre? Some people in the alliance also find the Teacher’s methods unpleasant. But please consider it as the Teacher’s prank. He doesn’t appear in situations where privacy is sensitive.”

“…Is the Teacher that playful? I thought he would be more serious. Since the title is Teacher….”

“It’s a little different for everyone. He becomes more playful with serious people, and he shows more serious sides to playful people, like teaching. He plays a lot of pranks on me too….”

“Can’t he just come out and talk normally?”

“There’s no reason why I can’t.”

Bi-gwang was sitting at the foot of the bed at some point.

Madam Butterfly was startled and stood up. Lee Ji-tae felt even more bizarre.

When he thought back to when Bi-gwang appeared, he realized that he had been there from the moment he started talking to Madam Butterfly.

Even the feeling that the bed mattress was slightly tilted, it felt like he had been there from the beginning ‘when he looked back’.

It was a bizarre ability.

“Teacher, please don’t suddenly appear like that.”

“Okay. Madam Butterfly, I have something to talk about with Lee Ji-tae, would you excuse us for a moment?”

“Yes, Teacher.”

Madam Butterfly bowed lightly, greeted Lee Ji-tae, and quietly went outside.

Lee Ji-tae looked at Madam Butterfly’s back and then turned his gaze back to Bi-gwang.

Bi-gwang was wearing the same suit as before, but this time he was wearing a mask.

It was the same mask as Park Do-ryeong’s.

But it was full of glue and tape, as if it had been broken and clumsily reassembled.

“…What’s that mask? Did you take it from Park Do-ryeong?”

“This has been mine since a long time ago.”

Bi-gwang said, touching the mask.

“And the mask and scroll that Park Do-ryeong was wearing have passed into Kang Hyun-moo’s hands.”

Lee Ji-tae’s body trembled slightly again when Kang Hyun-moo’s name was mentioned.

“Kang Hyun-moo… how is he living now?”

“Ah, the outside world is Kang Hyun-moo’s world now.”

Bi-gwang said with a laugh.

“A lot has changed in 3 months, Lee Ji-tae. It’s only been a little over 100 days, but now Kang Hyun-moo is the best hero in Korea. He has defeated the notorious monster Kazat, who is rampaging in Pyongyang, twice. In addition, Chrome has appointed Kang Hyun-moo as the head of the East Asia branch, and the Special Inspection Department has appointed him as an honorary inspector. He and the Almighty Union are now virtually the next most powerful group after Chrome in the Special Inspection Department.”

Lee Ji-tae’s face changed as if he couldn’t believe it.

“Surprising, isn’t it? But what’s even more surprising is that Taesung is Kang Hyun-moo’s biggest supporter. As the Almighty Union’s supplies flowed along Taesung’s distribution line, it became unstoppable. Now Kang Hyun-moo is the fastest-growing asset holder in the world.”

“That….”

“Wasn’t there anyone to stop Kang Hyun-moo? I told you. Taesung is on Kang Hyun-moo’s side, so who in Korea would stop him? China has fallen into a civil war and is repeatedly collapsing irreversibly, and Chrome is just watching. The Special Inspection Department is addicted to catching troublesome international terrorist logs with the help of the Almighty Union.”

Lee Ji-tae hoped that what Bi-gwang was saying now was a joke. But considering the speed at which Kang Hyun-moo had risen from the bottom, it was not surprising.

“The world is screaming, terrified, and trembling, relying on Kang Hyun-moo.”

When Kang Hyun-moo first stood in the ability test center, he was just a level 7 rookie. But in less than a year, he was among the best ability users in the world.

“What do you think, Lee Ji-tae? You who witnessed Kang Hyun-moo’s true nature.”

“I….”

Lee Ji-tae felt a strange emotion for the first time.

It was an emotion he had never felt towards a person before. But he couldn’t bring himself to say it out loud. But Bi-gwang smiled as if he already knew everything.

“Suppress that emotion for now, Lee Ji-tae.”

Lee Ji-tae looked at Bi-gwang.

He couldn’t see his face, but for some reason he felt a slight sadness. But Bi-gwang quickly shook off that attitude and stood up vigorously.

“Because you are the only one who can save this dark world now!”

Bi-gwang took a wonderful pose that was suitable for the sound effect of Jjajan, but when there was no reaction from Lee Ji-tae, he quickly returned to his original pose.

“I’m saving the world?”

Lee Ji-tae asked in a choked voice.

“Don’t you think you can do it? You’ve already seen it. Your appearance of saving the world.”

“I saw it. But….”

Kang Hyun-moo was by his side in the future he wanted.

But Kang Hyun-moo is not as good as he believed, and according to the rules of the ‘game’, one of them must die while taking and taking away fragments. Then it will deviate from the future he saw.

Lee Ji-tae felt confused by this contradictory future.

“That’s right, you saw it!”

Bi-gwang shouted as if hammering a nail. There was even joy in his cry.

“That’s why you have no choice but to win. Because you are the only one who can be sure of such a future and run towards such a future!”

“But according to the rules….”

“That’s right. That’s right.”

Bi-gwang clapped his hands twice and shouted loudly.

“That’s why you are the one who will kill Kang Hyun-moo. The only one! Because Kang Hyun-moo has to hand over the crown to you!”

“…I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Oh, it’s hard to communicate with someone who sees the future like this. The other guys complained that they didn’t know what I was talking about, but I thought you would understand.”

Bi-gwang sighed deeply and said.

“Then I’ll give up on the explanation and just tell you what to do and what the situation is now.”

Bi-gwang chuckled and threw himself onto the bed. The mattress swayed and Lee Ji-tae’s body was about to fall.

Lee Ji-tae groaned at the pain in his spine, but Bi-gwang didn’t care.

He declared loudly.

“I can say with certainty that this is a more hopeful situation than ever before!”

“…Now?”

“Yes! I guess you don’t know what I’m talking about. I’ll explain it step by step.”

Bi-gwang whispered in a voice full of laughter, playfulness, and madness.

“First of all, I have to explain the world called Difficulty: Hell.”

***

The area near Pyongyang was developing day by day.

All assets were registered in the name of the Almighty Union, but it was virtually Hyun-moo’s land, by Hyun-moo, and for Hyun-moo.

Based on the capital of the Almighty Union and Taesung, Hyun-moo acquired and merged companies from all over the world and brought them to Pyongyang.

Around Pyongyang, countless jobs and state-of-the-art facilities and equipment began to be installed.

Even the budget of the Korean government was being sucked up to expand this infrastructure.

Park Gyu was watching the Almighty Union, which was growing in size, with uncomfortable eyes.

When he came to his senses, the seizure of national power by ability users that he had been worried about had virtually taken place.

With his own hands.

The move to help the Almighty Union, dreaming of an ability user army, had turned the Almighty Union into a quasi-state institution, and the soldiers he had entrusted for training had virtually become the Almighty Union’s private soldiers.

Since they were soldiers conscripted through the conscription system, they had to be discharged after the period, but many wanted to serve under the Almighty Union for a little longer for tuition or business funds. This was because they were paid more than the annual salary of a decent large company.

“Wouldn’t it be better to just hire a famous foreign PMC [Private Military Company] with this budget?”

Seo Ji-hoo, who saw the budget paid to the soldiers, seriously said to Hyun-moo.

Most of it is paid with government subsidies, but there are countless things you can do with this money.

But Hyun-moo shook his head.

“Soldiers are valuable just by having them. It’s hard to defend with just PMCs and ability users.”

“That’s true, but….”

“And I like our soldiers. Do you know why?”

“…I don’t know.”

“These people are so used to the conscription slavery system that they don’t even dream of forming a labor union. They know that it’s a big deal if public officials or soldiers form a labor union.”

“No, do you have a grudge against labor unions?”

“I don’t really have anything like that, but labor unions should only be in heaven.”

Seo Ji-hoo looked dumbfounded at Hyun-moo’s words.

“No, why is there a labor union in heaven? If there is one, it would be in hell. Labor unions are created by people who are dissatisfied with their employers.”

Hyun-moo, who was about to refute Seo Ji-hoo’s words, suddenly realized something.

Just a few days ago, he was tormenting the working goblins, saying, ‘There can’t be a labor union in hell,’ but when he thought about it, Seo Ji-hoo’s words made sense.

“That’s right. Then I realized that my workplace was heaven….”

“No, that’s a slightly subtle issue, but….”

Even though it’s a hell-like workplace, there are definitely workplaces without labor unions. There may be workplaces that are similar to heaven but have labor unions.

But Hyun-moo seemed to have made up his mind.

He wanted his workplace to have the proper appearance as a workplace.

“Seo Ji-hoo.”

“Yes?”

“From today, you are the chairman of the labor union.”

In this way, Hyun-moo accumulated the evil of a puppet labor union, accumulating karma that brought him closer to the devil.

“…Anyway, Mr. Park Hwi-so is waiting for the commander.”