“Hey, Narae. Didn’t you say Russia attacked the boss of the place where you work?”
“Ah, yes. That’s right.”
After being given one bottle each of the highest-grade healing potion and disease-curing potion Suho had provided, Narae’s parents had now fully recovered their health. They asked as they came home after finishing their evening exercise.
For Narae, each day lately felt like a dream.
Her parents, who had spent years in a vegetative state, had not only recovered and woken up, but were now going about all sorts of activities in even better health than before.
As soon as her parents were discharged, Narae looked for an apartment spacious enough for a family of five to live comfortably in, and immediately moved them there.
After hearing from Narae’s younger siblings about all the hardship she had endured, her parents felt as though their hearts were being torn apart. That made them even more determined to look after the family now, to fulfill their roles as breadwinners and parents, but Narae firmly stopped them.
She told them that she was truly earning well, so they shouldn’t try to work or overexert themselves, and that they needed to focus on rehabilitation to recover their weakened bodies.
In truth, her parents’ bodies, after being bedridden for so long, were extremely frail. The potions had healed them, but weakened muscles had no choice but to be trained back up again.
On top of that, Narae repeatedly emphasized, “The two of you have practically died and come back to life, so don’t insist on living the way you did before. Do what you want to do now.”
Her parents, who were simply bewildered by all these changes, could only feel proud of Narae.
And after hearing from Narae about the changes she had gone through, such as her move to TDM, her parents naturally became very interested in Suho and the Sanarae Clan as well.
“They say the president has passed away, so it’s certainly a serious matter... but in a way, it also feels like it turned out for the better.”
“It did turn out well. No matter what anyone says, I think it turned out very well. There are far too many bad people targeting our boss, Suho. Greedy people who want to comfortably take everything for themselves... I hope this becomes a chance for the whole world to learn what kind of divine punishment they’ll receive if they dare target Suho recklessly.”
Her parents were startled to see such combative zeal from their daughter, who had always been gentle, bright, and courteous.
“Hoho, that boss of yours must have captured our daughter’s heart completely.”
“N-no! It’s not like that! How could someone like me... It’s just... he’s my benefactor.”
Narae’s face flushed bright red.
* * *
Preparing to strike North Korea, preparing TDM’s new weekly goods—Suho, who had suddenly become much busier, had one more important task. It was “participating in and supporting the construction site of Elysium Heights.”
Since groups targeting Suho kept gathering around him, he felt the need to build the family house more quickly.
Suho drastically changed the existing construction plan.
1. While keeping all existing convenience facilities, he increased the residential space so that far more residents could stay there.
Not only Suho’s own family, but anyone who could become Suho’s weakness due to external threats would be able to stay at Elysium Heights and receive protection. To that end, he secured enough additional residential space for at least several hundred people.
2. He greatly expanded the security facilities. He had them build a powerful security system against all external intrusions, and reinforced every part of the building so that even if the intruder was a high-grade Admittee, or even if an army attacked, the building could withstand external assaults until support forces arrived.
3. For faster completion, Suho decided to personally participate in the large-scale work of the construction.
The beginning of that was participating in the work of laying an integrated mat foundation—constructing a slab-shaped integrated foundation with high-strength concrete across the enormous construction site.
It was a tremendous undertaking requiring 150,000 tons of high-strength concrete alone.
Originally, it would have been a large-scale operation requiring some 10,000 ready-mix concrete trucks, around 50 high-pressure pumps, and about 1,000 workers for the pour, but with Suho’s participation, everything proceeded simply and quickly.
Aside from that, Suho actively participated in the construction in various ways: installing high-rise tower cranes, moving large structures out of the way, storing large-scale waste generated during construction to make site cleanup easier, and, when assembling prefabricated modules, transporting them so they could be assembled on-site immediately.
As Suho actively handled the large-scale work, the construction speed accelerated tremendously.
Stability increased as well, and both cost and time were reduced—though of course, cost reduction had never been the goal in the first place.
Only time reduction had been the goal, but cost reduction came along as a bonus.
Watching the building rise day by day with satisfaction, Suho began making a list of residents.
* * *
One day, after hearing sudden news from the TDM members, Suho ran from the construction site to the officetel.
There, without even informing them of his visit schedule through his manager and without any attendants, someone had come in person.
It was S-rank Thomas Harris.
“Wow, Thomas! You came back.”
Suho clasped his hand and shook it.
Perhaps because they had already talked a lot, the faces of the members who had greeted Thomas—Danbi, Taewung, Joshua, Narae, Seongsik, Jiho, and the others—were all flushed with excitement.
Thomas seemed to be hesitating for some reason, and Danbi patted him.
“Just say it plainly, Thomas.”
After dragging it out, he opened his mouth.
“I... I’ve decided to come to Korea too. I’ll be active as a TDM member... and I’m fine with joining the Sanarae Clan as well.”
At Thomas’s bombshell declaration, Suho’s eyes went round.
“Wait, what do you mean, ‘too’? Was there someone else?”
“Joshua is right here, isn’t he?”
“Ah... But Joshua had his own circumstances... Why would you, Thomas...?”
Thomas took a deep breath, then began speaking in a trembling voice.
“I recently left my clan, Thunder Base.”
“Whaaat? N-no, why?”
Of course, it had been Suho who had shaken his heart, but even so, this decision was so drastic that even Suho had not expected it, and he was shocked.
Wasn’t Thunder Base a top-tier clan in Canada? To throw aside a clan like that and come here—had there really been that much merit?
Thomas unhesitatingly explained what had happened.
“Thunder Base hasn’t disbanded. I handed over the clan leader position to the vice clan leader, and as for my role in raid positions, they decided to recruit a new ranged dealer.”
That was a relief. If Thunder Base were to disband, it would be a tremendous loss and destabilizing factor for Canada’s top raids as well.
Thomas said he had disposed of his assets, distributed portions to his parents and siblings remaining in Canada, and then completely wrapped up his life in Canada before coming to Korea.
He said he had brought only one billion dollars with him.
“...What was the decisive reason you suddenly made that decision?”
At this point, Thomas seemed unable to find the right words and scratched his head.
“Ever since the day I met everyone here and went back... it just felt like... my world was a well. I thought what I had was the best, but it wasn’t.”
He looked straight at Suho, his eyes shining.
“You said it, didn’t you, Suho? It shouldn’t be about making a lot of money. It should be about doing something that makes your heart race.”
“Uh... I did say that, but...”
“No matter how much I looked around, it felt like the thing that would make my heart race was here. So I’d like to set one foot in here. Will you accept me?”
Suho had put on an absurd little farce when he called Thomas over, but he had never imagined it would come back with this kind of result.
Whatever the case, another big shot was coming in. There was no reason to refuse.
“For us, it’s more than welcome! What we’re always lacking is trustworthy talent, not anything else. Welcome, Thomas! We welcome you joining either TDM or Sanarae.”
After saying it himself, Suho realized something strange and hurriedly took back his words.
“Oops... I’m sorry, Danbi. That part about the Sanarae Clan was a mistake. It’s not my place to get involved.”
But Danbi smiled, her eyes curving gently.
“Not at all. Suho, you may not have officially joined the Sanarae Clan, but most of our clan members consider you something like an ‘honorary director.’”
“Ha... If that’s the case, then I’m honored. Anyway, Thomas, for now, I’ll find you temporary accommodations. And once Elysium Heights is completed, move in there. I’ll give you a very cheap price.”
“Elysium Heights? I don’t know where that is, but... I can easily find a house with my own means.”
This time, Suho smiled.
“It’s a special home unlike any other in the world. Once you see it for yourself, you’ll change your mind.”
Suho confirmed that the pitiful side he had once glimpsed in Thomas had not been wrong.
As it turned out, Thomas was someone lonely and starved for affection.
* * *
North Korean State Affairs Commission Chairman Kim Jeong-heum had a total of thirty-five private villas.
Some were enormous places like Changok Villa, seventeen times larger than Seoul’s Yeouido area, while others had geographical advantages that would allow escape overseas in an emergency.
Even as the entire country starved, astronomical sums had already gone into building villas for his family and the core ruling class alone, and enormous costs continued to be spent on constructing new buildings or managing, repairing, and maintaining them.
Among them, the place currently known as his residence was “Yongchang Residence,” a site with such perfect security and defense that it was formed of three layers of restricted zones.
It was a villa reminiscent of a medieval fortress, with not only first and second defensive lines, but also fences inside, forming a triple protective barrier.
According to estimates, the visible defensive lines were not all there was; some speculative analyses suggested that a bunker extending up to more than one hundred meters underground had been built there. It was said to have a reinforced design capable of withstanding penetration by bunker-buster missiles.
The entire site of Yongchang Residence was about five times the size of Seoul’s Yeouido, and analyses suggested that beneath it were even wartime command headquarters and nuclear weapons command-and-control facilities.
Recently, given how turbulent the situation had become, many news outlets confirmed analyses stating that Kim Jeong-heum was most likely staying at Yongchang Residence, the place with the strongest security.
Since he was always suffering under the threat of assassination, the residence was vast and complex in design.
During times when the international situation was precarious, he rarely appeared even at important official events, and even when he did, he often used a double. Such was State Affairs Commission Chairman Kim Jeong-heum, a figure shrouded in mystery.
“Damn, he’s diligent...”
Suho, who had been gathering a great deal of information for a direct strike on North Korea, obtained another piece of information that made him feel refreshed.
Since it was a vast and luxurious residence, there were many people working there as well: bodyguards, household staff, chefs, drivers, administrative staff, medical personnel, communications technicians, gardeners, and so on.
It was said that each and every one of these people had gone through an extremely strict selection process.
They were basically selected through internal recommendations, subjected to thorough background checks, and ideologically verified in depth regarding Juche ideology and North Korea’s official doctrine. They were even investigated to see whether any distant relatives by marriage or blood, down to far-flung connections, included anti-regime figures or defectors.
“Hmm... The people working there are also, in many ways, hard to call ordinary civilians.”
If those people were practically one body anyway, it was impossible to strike only the head without accepting other damage.
Then they would have to bear collective responsibility.
Suho hardened his resolve.