At some point, people all over the world began saying that the plants around them were growing unusually fast as well.
Of course, there was an explanation from the organization overseeing Project C.E. regarding that matter.
IBRA—International Biosphere Recovery Authority—flatly dismissed those concerns.
Their stance was that Project C.E. was being strictly managed, and that anything happening outside the areas where the project was being carried out had nothing to do with them.
When they put their foot down and said it wasn’t related, people instead became even more desperate to find a connection and dig up evidence.
But that wasn’t exactly easy. It wasn’t something that could be proven in a short period of time, either.
While that minor commotion was going on, I focused my attention elsewhere.
The materials the Doctor had given me contained fairly detailed examples of the side effects that could occur if Project C.E. went ahead, so it wasn’t that hard to look for them.
The first thing I checked was the incidence of respiratory diseases.
In truth, it was hard to find meaningful figures for that. It wasn’t as if I worked at a hospital.
No. Even if I did work at a hospital, it would still be hard to determine the trend on a global scale.
So I simply measured it based on the number of mentions.
Search volumes for respiratory illnesses mentioned each year before Project C.E. began, and after.
Those had definitely increased.
It was clearly different from an increase in mentions due to the development of media.
There were definitely more people talking about it.
There were also quite a lot of people saying they’d caught mild colds or respiratory illnesses despite never having had them before.
This was one of the things the Doctor had been most concerned about.
Biological disasters. There was nothing more terrifying than that. Especially invisible, highly contagious respiratory illnesses.
We’d already experienced it once, hadn’t we? Under the name Wuhan pneumonia.
But this was more serious.
The biggest factor causing respiratory illnesses was the increased concentration of pollen, spores, and the like.
That wasn’t something you could stop just because you wanted to.
In the United States, where the Doctor was, they immediately began collecting anything that triggered those allergic reactions and started developing treatments.
It was probably possible because they had dozens of doctorate-level personnel.
That was why they had gathered in the first place.
Fortunately, he said that for now, commercially available medicines could cover it to some extent.
And he also said that, unless some special mutation occurred in the future, there was a high chance there wouldn’t be any major danger as long as commercial medicines were available.
So what I had to do was clear.
Stockpile large quantities of antihistamines.
But there was no need to start right away. Even with a generous estimate, antihistamines only had a shelf life of about three years.
Of course, it wasn’t as if they became “unusable starting today” once three years passed, but their effectiveness would decline.
So there was no need to hoard them from now. I could just buy a lot when the time came.
The fact that pollen and spores had increased compared to before could be confirmed through other things as well.
The rate of filter consumption had sped up. In other words, the sales of companies that made those things had shot up.
That was easy to confirm just by looking at quarterly operating profits.
A clear increase. But they probably didn’t know why their sales had gone up, either.
No. Maybe they did? It feels a bit wrong to underestimate them.
There must be plenty of people there far smarter than me.
What was certain was that in Korea, concern about pollen and spores wasn’t very high.
People here had already suffered endlessly from yellow dust and ultrafine dust. On top of that, winters here were harsh.
It would be difficult for things like that to run rampant in Korea. Half the year was safe, in other words.
At any rate, that was the situation.
Project C.E. was definitely beginning to reveal its problems, one by one.
So I, too, was gradually moving into action. In order to find a way to survive.
In truth, it was still too early to act. Problems were appearing, yes, but they weren’t enough to bring about the end of the world.
But if I waited until I confirmed everything, it would be too late. There were things that had to be prepared in advance.
So I had to make a decision.
Would I invest in an uncertain apocalypse?
Or would I trust in human wisdom, hope that everything ended as a mere happening, and preserve what I had?
My parents’ inheritance, and the death insurance money.
It wasn’t a small amount. After all, it was money in the billion-won range.
If the world didn’t end, it was enough money for me to live well going forward.
But if the world did end, it would become scraps of paper of the same volume.
The money in my bank account would vanish as nothing more than numbers in a computer system.
The moment to place my bet had come.
Of course, I didn’t agonize over it. I had long since decided to bet on the world ending.
From the moment the Doctor went to the United States, in fact.
So I acted without hesitation. The first thing I did was buy a wooded hill near the capital region.
The reason for buying a wooded hill was simple. If the world went wrong, the things most needed would be water and electricity.
And I would also need a hideout no one knew about.
I intended to avoid places with lots of people. Pointless competition would only consume resources.
So I had to find a place where I could avoid competition. To do that, I needed somewhere that people wouldn’t easily discover.
That was why I bought a wooded hill. A hill in Yongin. A total of 280 million won.
And I decided to put up a building there.
If I had my way, I would dig into the ground and make an underground bunker, but that would be too eccentric. There weren’t many people who would build something like that, either.
Besides, maybe I was worrying for nothing, but if I made a bunker like that and the world ended, I couldn’t imagine I’d be able to use it leisurely.
Wouldn’t the people who built the bunker be the first to come attack me? That was my concern.
So I had to make it so the people building it had no idea this was a disaster-preparedness hideout.
And, as expected, the important thing was water. A stable supply of water was more important than anything else.
So I bought a place where groundwater drilling was possible. In particular, where I could bore through bedrock and draw water from deep underground.
It would be unfair to go through the trouble of developing groundwater only for it to be contaminated and unusable.
So I didn’t spare any money and had them drill deep underground.
It cost me tens of millions of won, but that was fine. Since I’d decided to do it, there was no need to be stingy with money.
All I had to consider was how economically I could use it.
So I was busy for a while. I was out of my mind entrusting the blueprints to an architect and looking into construction companies.
The architect looked at the proposal I had submitted and seemed quite puzzled.
“This is… very modern.”
Hm. This person had some sense. To dress this up as modern.
“You’re saying you’ll cut into the mountain here and build a retaining wall. And put the building right up against it. Hmm… exposed concrete… You won’t be doing any exterior finishing at all? If you do it like this, it may look a little more… unsightly than you expect.”
And honest, too. Most people wouldn’t say it like this.
“That’s fine. I have something in mind.”
“May I ask what that is? In order to design it, I have to take all those aspects into account.”
“Ah. Just in case. I think I’ll probably expand it later. So I’m planning to do the exterior after I’ve decided on the expansion.”
“Ah. Is that so? Still… hmm…”
“Please skip over the exterior. That’s something I can think about after the building is constructed. So please focus on the load-bearing side and things like that. There will be a lot going on top of it.”
“Haha. Is that so? Then we’ll do that… And there are far too few windows here. Will that be all right? This will feel extremely stifling. For lighting and ventilation alone, you should secure more windows or balconies.”
“Ah. That’s fine too. It’s a place where soundproofing and light control are important.”
In that way, the architect raised various issues, but there was nothing to be done.
Since I couldn’t dig into the ground and build a bunker, I was going to cover the building I constructed with soil.
So it wouldn’t be easily visible from the outside. So it would look as if there had never been anything there in the first place.
So there would be no expansion. That was merely an excuse to cover the top with earth and sand.
That was also why there was no exterior finishing. I was going to bury it in dirt anyway.
At any rate, that concluded my discussions with the architectural office for the time being.
Those people, well, they were the kind of people who did things as requested.
They would take care of only the things that were truly problematic.
Once the design was completed, I looked for a construction company.
They said that if you included permits, groundbreaking, and final completion, it would take about a year, so during that time I would just have to come by from time to time and check on things.
It wasn’t like I was busy anyway, right? I could do that much as often as needed.
My biggest worry was that a major problem would break out before the house was completed.
But the situation probably wouldn’t deteriorate that badly in just one year.
Even at this very moment, plants somewhere in the world were probably growing and spreading at a terrifying rate, but it wasn’t as if that happened overnight with a pop, right?
So there was still time. There was still plenty of room.
And so time passed again.
Since there was a lot to do, passing the time wasn’t difficult.
If anything, I more often wished I had more time.
Because I didn’t want to regret it later, thinking, I should have prepared more back then…
The thing I put the most effort into was materials I could obtain from the internet.
Information. Information was always a great power. And the materials online were like mirages.
What if society collapsed? What if I could no longer connect online?
So backing up materials was essential. I mobilized every method I could and backed up all the materials I could get my hands on.
Public papers, dumps of things like wikis, open textbook materials, and so on.
Around the time I was preparing things one by one like that, more evidence that Project C.E. was failing emerged, one piece after another.
Signs that the world was heading toward ruin. Omens.
I laughed as I looked at them.
I don’t know why I laughed. It was just… I could only say I was happy.
And in truth, I was.