The newly developed Ascend.MK3 was sent straight to China.
There was no need to hesitate.
It was necessary to keep a firm grip on the leashes of barking dogs.
I had been trying to resolve every problem too peacefully.
Trying not to create issues if possible,
letting things slide with a “good enough is good enough” attitude, had only made matters worse.
As a result, they seemed to be confused about who the master was.
They seemed to be confused about who held the knife by the handle.
This was a good opportunity to make it clear who had the upper hand.
I didn’t even tell the Chinese side that the ingredients had changed.
I’d call it a notification, but these bastards would probably take even that as a report.
They were the kind of guys who conveniently interpreted everything however they wanted.
They’d figure it out.
They didn’t tell us when they broke the contract either.
Just eat what you’re given.
The Ascend.MK3 we sent spread across all of China in an instant.
China was maintaining the price they had lowered to 5 yuan (1,000 won).
It was burdensome to raise the price of Ascend again after lowering it once.
It was already a favored product used by the entire nation.
When they lowered the price, they had done it out of necessity to divert attention from the chaos after the coup, but raising the price was another matter entirely.
If they raised the price, a different kind of coup might break out.
Thanks to that, Ascend.MK3 sold even more like hotcakes.
.
.
.
Zhongnanhai.
Wei Zhonglin finished his work, returned to his residence, and sat down at the dining table.
It had been a hard day.
In truth, not just today—every single day was hard.
Even when he served as a soldier.
Even when he was Minister of National Defense, there had been difficulties of their own.
But after rising to the position of Chairman, it felt as if every problem in existence came only to Wei Zhonglin.
Why were there so many problems?
It was a position where there was too much to think about, too much to consider, too much to worry over.
Honestly, it was far too exhausting a position.
Still.
Even so, he had no desire to step down from it.
Nor did he have any intention of ever handing it over to someone else.
It was hard?
That didn’t matter at all.
With one Ascend, everything was solved.
No matter how difficult the problem, one Ascend and it was over.
So it was fine, even if things were hard.
After taking a clean shower, he put an Ascend into his mouth on an empty stomach.
Ascend was more effective when taken on an empty stomach.
In any case, once Ascend’s medicinal effects wore off, he would have to eat something.
It was better to eat once after taking it than to eat now and again later.
It had to be taken on an empty stomach.
He lay comfortably on the bed and placed Ascend in his mouth.
Ascend’s unique sweet and cozy sensation spread across the tip of his tongue.
Even if the manufacturer changed and the flavor changed, Ascend had a distinctive sweetness.
He liked that sweetness.
He didn’t know whether he felt it with his tongue or with his brain, but either way, he liked it.
And then came the thrill.
Khh~ This was it.
It felt as if every cell in his body was waking up.
It felt as if all his thoughts were being emptied out and then reassembled.
It was so refreshing and crisp.
Countless pieces of information gathered and scattered inside his head.
In that process, he could see the threads to problems that had been completely blocked.
All the state affairs that had given him headaches suddenly felt so easy.
The answer had been right in front of him, yet he had been circling around without finding it.
Satisfying.
But today, it seemed a little stronger?
The stimulation was far more powerful than usual.
It lasted longer.
It wasn’t just tapping him and passing by.
It felt like it was grabbing him and shaking him.
It felt like he was being devoured by Ascend.
Still, it was good.
No, it was even better.
It was incredible.
This was why one took Ascend.
Energy welled up throughout his entire body.
It was unbelievable.
The fantastic time came to an end.
He naturally went over to the refrigerator.
Because after taking Ascend, he became hungry.
But he was less hungry than he had expected.
He would have to eat something, but it wasn’t to the point of grabbing food and stuffing it down in a rush.
Come to think of it, today had been very different from other days.
The duration was longer, and the aftereffects had been alleviated.
The effects had become even stronger.
Wei Zhonglin smiled in satisfaction.
It seemed the researchers had succeeded in improving it.
Wei Zhonglin felt proud.
How long had it been since he sent over the solar panels, and the effects were already showing?
They could see results this immediately?
If the effect was this good, he could give them more as much as they wanted.
He felt pleased, as though his children were being filial.
But he kept wanting to take one more Ascend.
The thought that it would be nice to take just one more kept lingering.
If he took just one more, it would feel so good.
He yearned for it as if he were thirsty.
It itched at him.
It was hard to endure.
In the end, Wei Zhonglin could not resist the temptation and put another Ascend into his mouth.
*******
“Found it.”
Toto, a fifteen-year-old Filipino boy, muttered softly while looking at his phone.
Some time ago, Toto had been deeply impressed by a place he had seen through a Shorts video.
In that video, someone came home and naturally turned on the air conditioner, then ran the washing machine.
They studied in a library with air conditioning and ate at a clean cafeteria.
At night, they walked along a street brightly lit by streetlights, laughing with friends.
Even if it was a fabricated video, he was envious.
Toto wanted to live that kind of life too.
He wanted to live in a heaven-like place like that.
He wanted to study in a place like that and go to school there.
He really could study hard, but reality was the complete opposite.
He had quit school.
Because he had to work.
He found a job, but it did not suit Toto.
Even so, he couldn’t quit.
Someone had to earn money.
People said that if he graduated from Senior High School, it would be much easier to get a job.
They said that if he even finished university, he could get a good job, but his mother was firm.
They needed money right now.
She said they had no room to wait for and prepare for the future.
If he was going to get a job anyway, then he should quit school now and find work.
He should earn money even one day sooner.
That was how he got his job.
It was cleaning up trash at a hotel.
It was dirty, grueling work.
At work, he was ignored, looked down on, and treated with contempt because he was young.
Even so, he couldn’t quit.
He had to earn money.
Then he saw that Shorts video.
That place really looked like heaven.
Everyone looked peaceful.
They mixed Tagalog and English, so it was definitely the Philippines, but he had no idea where it was.
He was so curious where that place was.
He thought the comments would say where it was, so he read through hundreds of comments, but all of them were only asking where it was.
There were no comments telling him where.
Because of Unity Town’s nature, where everything was handled inside it, it had little contact with the outside world.
So he began searching for where that place was based on the clues shown in the video.
He watched the video again and again.
He looked at nearby buildings, looked at the trees, and analyzed the license plates of the vehicles.
He pieced together the clues in the video.
And he found it.
He discovered that it was a place called Unity Town near Zamboanga.
Not that anything changed just because he knew where it was.
But simply knowing such a place existed made Toto feel as if he had gained a paradise of his own.
As if to make all his difficult searching meaningless, not long afterward, the words Unity Town began to be heard here and there.
There were others who had wandered in search of Unity Town, just like Toto.
They left comments on the video saying that place was Unity Town near Zamboanga.
He didn’t like it, as though a treasure he had struggled to find was being revealed to others, but thanks to it, he was able to obtain more information.
A town for single-mother families.
A place that provided jobs for parents and education for children.
Education?
That was exactly what Toto had wanted so badly.
Toto wanted to go to Unity Town too.
He thought that perhaps Toto might also be able to go to Unity Town.
His mother was single, he was the eldest, and he had two younger siblings below him.
That was also why Toto had to work.
He began writing an email to someone he didn’t know,
to a place he didn’t know whether he could reach.
With the feeling of putting a letter in a bottle and setting it adrift from a deserted island.
That he wanted to go to Unity Town.
That if he went, he would study truly hard and live a life for Unity Town.
He wrote each letter with desperation and sent the email.
******
The election campaign began.
No, the official election campaign had not yet begun, but it already felt as if the election had started.
In particular, the issue of electricity rates was devouring the Philippines.
It began with Akbayan ng Katarungan’s pledge.
Their pledge was to lower electricity rates to half of their current level within the next five years, and to one-third within ten years.
Many people went wild over that pledge.
They actively supported it.
But others sneered, calling it an absurd promise.
Newspapers and the media expressed doubts about whether it was truly possible.
They said it would be impossible, comparing it to the data and the current situation.
Even so, the controversy did not subside.
There was one reason.
Because people wanted it to happen.
Many people hoped electricity rates would go down.
They wanted that pledge, if not all the way to 50%, to lower the rates even just a little.
It showed just how much stress electricity rates caused the Filipino people.
And how closely tied they were to their lives.
Even if not right away, they truly hoped electricity rates would be lowered.
They hoped so, but Akbayan’s pledge seemed as if it would end as mere words.
But once the official election campaign began, Patrick revealed it.
He revealed that the place that had appeared in Shorts, that Unity Town, was a place that had collaborated with Akbayan ng Katarungan.
That fact created a huge sensation among the Filipino people.
It was proof that things they had thought were dreams and impossible to achieve right away were possible.
Everyone was shocked by the fact that Unity Town, which looked like paradise, was located in the darkest part of the Philippines.
A place swarming with rebels.
Near the terrifying Zamboanga.
Akbayan ng Katarungan was confident.
They asserted that with Akbayan ng Katarungan, the entire Philippines could become a paradise.
Supplying electricity.
Lowering rates.
They explained that both were fully possible.
How many power plants would have to be built, and what scale of power generation facilities would be needed.
They showed a roadmap of how the rate system would work.
They made it into Shorts and spread it around.
The people who watched it understood quickly.
It was well explained in an easy way.
They also explained why eco-friendly power generation was necessary.
And why electricity was needed.
Akbayan ng Katarungan’s approval rating rose tremendously.
Akbayan ng Katarungan had never said such a thing, but rumors spread that only regions where Akbayan ng Katarungan was elected would have their electricity rates lowered.
It meant that regions where Akbayan lost would have to keep paying high rates.
The argument that people had to vote for Akbayan to lower electricity rates continued to spread.
Their approval rating kept rising.
The official election campaign had only just begun, but Akbayan had already sucked up every major issue.
Whether newspapers or broadcasts, everything was about Akbayan.
In this election, nothing could be seen except Akbayan ng Katarungan.
.
.
.
“Don’t you need money for the election?”
I didn’t know I would say those words with my own mouth again.
During the last election, I really had to fund the campaign to the point of selling even the underwear I was wearing.
I had decided never to get involved in anything like an election again.
But what was this?
I was asking on my own whether they were short on campaign funds.
You really never know what life has in store.
There were a few reasons I asked Patrick this.
First of all, I had too much money.
I had nowhere to spend it, and I had far too much money.
I wanted this money to be of some help to Patrick.
It was good to have money when running an election, after all.
On the other hand, I thought Patrick, and Akbayan, would struggle as their electoral districts expanded nationwide.
Every time one electoral district was added, an enormous amount of money was needed.
So I asked.
To help Patrick.
Even if I supported him like last time,
no, even if I supported him with several times that amount, my bank account would be fine.
It wouldn’t budge.
Because I had earned an enormous amount of money in the meantime.
But Patrick’s answer was unexpected.
“I appreciate the offer, but I think we’ll be all right for this election.”
“Really? It cost a lot last time. You suffered because you didn’t have money.”
“Back then, weren’t we a new political party? So we had no foundation and no name recognition, which made it expensive. This time, it’s a little better.”
“Still, the number of electoral districts has increased tremendously.”
“It’s true that it will cost far more money than the last election, but we’ve also gained that much more in donations and sponsorships. On top of that, since we came out with a pledge to lower electricity rates, our support is tremendous. There are many companies here and there saying they want to sponsor us.”
“You have to be careful taking that money. You’ll get your nose pierced and be led around later.”
“That’s right. That’s why we’re only accepting as much as the law allows. Following the proper procedures.”
“That must be a hassle. Just don’t take it. I’ll give it to you.”
“To be honest, we’re taking it more because of the relationships than the money. By accepting their donations, I can give them a signal that they’re standing on the same side as you, rather than rejecting them outright. That’s why we’re taking small amounts from many places.”
“Really? Politics is hard. Why does money have that kind of meaning attached to it?”
“Don’t you handle politics far better than I do, sir? I don’t think someone who has the Chinese president in the palm of his hand should be saying that.”
“No, I don’t. What do you mean, in the palm of my hand? That guy just calls me every day because he’s bored. It’s annoying as hell. Every day, he calls and asks me to tell him what kind of person he is. Then I have to flatter him like crazy. You are a leader for the people. Are you not walking a thorny path for the sake of the people? Like that. Wow, I’ve completely spoiled him. I’m thinking of changing my number.”
“Hahahaha. You’re probably the only person who can talk about the Chinese president like that, sir.”
“Anyway, tell me if you need money. I’ve got plenty. Do you need pocket money? Should I give you some pocket money?”
“I’m fine.”
“Che. What a boring guy.”
And so, the election began.
This election was important.
It was the first election in which proper party politics took root in Philippine politics, which had previously depended on established political families and individuals.
Patrick made pledges and fought the election not as an individual named Patrick, but under the name of the party Akbayan ng Katarungan.
This election was recorded as the most important election in Philippine history.
******
Akbayan ng Katarungan produced winners in many regions in this election.
It rose to become the strongest and most powerful party in the Philippines.
It was a remarkable achievement accomplished only three years after its founding.
But it also made just as many enemies.
The foremost among them was the president of the Philippines, Melchor.
This election had been a midterm election.
A crushing defeat here meant that people were dissatisfied with Melchor’s administration.
It wasn’t as if Melchor had done anything particularly wrong.
If Akbayan hadn’t come out with the issue of electricity rates, none of this would have happened.
If not for electricity rates, it would have been an election he could have won without difficulty.
He hated Akbayan to death.
And the bigger problem was the general election that would take place three years from now.
That election would choose the president.
At this rate, the chances of a president emerging from the party led by Melchor were markedly low.
It seemed likely that a president would come from Akbayan.
He had to stop it.
He had to come up with some kind of countermeasure.
If Akbayan ng Katarungan took power and started digging everything up, Melchor would have no choice but to go to prison.
Many former presidents had already gone to prison.
Melchor had no desire to go to prison.
Melchor thought of a way.
And before long, he came up with a good one.
The stronghold of Akbayan ng Katarungan.
He would attack Mindanao, the birthplace of Akbayan ng Katarungan.
Thankfully, it was also a stronghold of the rebels.
All he had to do was send in the military under the pretext of suppressing the rebels and sweep the place clean.
Along with that Unity Town he couldn’t stand the sight of.
The rebels,
Unity Town,
and Akbayan ng Katarungan.
It was the best idea, one that could take care of them all at once.