The Chairman of Pharmaceutical Company is a Poison King - Chapter 35

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 35: The Beginning of Change in Gurye

Finally, the operation of the Imperial Army’s Jirisan Monster Defense Corps was officially announced in the Great Subjugation Press.

【Jirisan Monster Defense Corps! Shifting monster strategy from defense to offense.】

【Mosquito poison antidote development makes subjugation strategy possible, plus Taehong recovery potion.】

【Corps Commander Oh Jin-hyeong: “We’ve prepared for a long time. The results will speak for themselves.”】

【Jirisan monster waves that erupt just when you think they’re forgotten – can they finally be stopped?】

【The key is conquering elite monsters. But it seems doable.】

【Imperial Palace promises full support, graduating cadets to participate in subjugation operation.】

In fact, subjugation operations by the military in monster-dense areas aren’t particularly special.

Even now, great subjugation operations were underway somewhere in the Empire.

However, there were regions where great subjugation operations were impossible for various reasons.

The Jirisan Wilderness was one such place.

The reason was absurdly due to mosquito poison.

If you think about Awakened and Compatible individuals becoming like Mana Rejecters, you can understand how serious a problem this is.

But now things were different.

Because they could solve the mosquito poison problem.

Gurye citizens were also in an excited mood.

Gurye’s economy had developed to rival that of major cities.

Gurye, the center of monster byproducts.

Gurye, Hamyang, Sancheong, Namwon… hundreds of raid teams enter and exit Jirisan daily.

Most Jirisan monster byproducts collected are distributed through Gurye.

Even monster byproducts from other monster-dense regions outside Jirisan come to Gurye.

Why?

Because taxes are exempted on monster byproduct sales.

However, there were limits to development.

The so-called ‘Gurye Risk.’

Just when the city develops enough to seem livable, monster waves arrive like thieves. Infrastructure and casualties are destroyed, returning everything to square one.

It was a chronic problem.

Gurye citizens living with an unpredictable bomb by their side.

But hope had emerged.

The Great Jirisan Wilderness Subjugation Operation.

Citizens desperately prayed for the operation’s success.

Meanwhile.

Standing Committee Member Ji Gwang-in’s major announcement broadcast on Gurye regional radio.

– We plan to permanently remove the boundary between the Castle and the city. From now on, anyone can visit the Castle without permission. And for convenience of travel, we plan to build a bridge across the artificial lake…

This was as shocking as the subjugation operation.

It wasn’t that the Castle had never been opened before.

When waves occurred, it had been temporarily opened for humanitarian reasons for citizens without shelters.

But this time was a bit different.

Not temporary opening, but permanent opening.

└ Are they crazy or something?

└ Living in the Castle itself was a form of power, and they’re voluntarily giving that up?

└ If no permission is needed, I should go play at the Castle right now.

└ All the good restaurants are gathered there too. Great! Today’s date will be at the Castle!

└ Do you even have a girlfriend?

└ I’ll have to make one. Anyone want to go with me?

└ As if there would be?

└ Anyway, when a wave happens, we can just run to the Castle.

└ Bullshit! That’s ridiculous! Who is he to decide on his own!

└ You live in the Castle, don’t you?

Gurye citizens welcomed it, but Castle residents did not.

Residents came to protest at the Council Building, angry at Ji Gwang-in’s decision.

“How much did I pay for my Castle apartment? Will you take responsibility if property values drop?”

“Ji Gwang-in, you bastard! Come out!”

“Who gave you the right to make such decisions?”

“Chairman Min Dong-yeol, what’s your position on this?”

Regular council members were also in an uproar.

“It’s invalid, invalid!”

“This should be put to a full council vote.”

“Since when did Gurye change from a free city to a dictatorship?”

“Let’s show our power! Let’s restore the plummeted property values!”

Castle residents and regular council members joined forces.

The closed front door of the Council Building opened.

People poured in.

It was almost riot-level.

“Immediately withdraw the Castle opening!”

“Let’s show them what force means.”

“How dare commoners come to our neighborhood as they please? Will you take responsibility if crimes occur?”

Windows shattered and furniture broke.

It was chaos.

That’s when it happened.

Lee Jeong-hak of Nogo-dan Guild and Self-Defense Corps Awakened rushed in with weapons.

“Oh! Guild Leader Lee, you came at the right time. Please arrest Standing Committee Members Ji Gwang-in and Min Dong-yeol immediately.”

“We’re reporting them for abuse of authority.”

“Does this even make sense? Opening the Castle!”

“At this rate, we’ll all die!”

“That’s right. Property values have already dropped by nearly half.”

However, Lee Jeong-hak was not on their side.

“Arrest all the rioters!”

The Self-Defense Corps moved in unison at the guild leader’s command.

“Huh? Why, why are you taking me?”

“What? Suddenly?”

Lee Jeong-hak, you’re in cahoots with them too?”

However, Lee Jeong-hak was resolute.

“If they resist, you may use force. I’ll take responsibility.”

Only then did the Castle residents stop rioting.

Because their belief that they would be safe no matter what they did had vanished.

People became docile when faced with violence.

“…I, I wasn’t trying to destroy this place.”

“This is a protest to correct what’s wrong.”

“If you had talked to us first, this wouldn’t have happened.”

“Let’s not do this and resolve it through dialogue.”

They realized something was going wrong.

It turned out all three standing committee members shared the same position.

That couldn’t be.

Lee Jeong-hak didn’t get along well with Min Dong-yeol and Ji Gwang-in.

The three of them joined forces to make this decision?

“What are you doing? Arrest and detain them immediately!”

“Huh?”

“In broad daylight, such laws…”

“Aaah! Hey, you bastards! Don’t you have any respect for the law?”

“Do you know who I am? My cousin is a central government official!”

The people causing the disturbance were Gurye’s power holders.

Those who divided social classes, received special privileges, and maintained their vested interests inside the Castle while others were sacrificed to the Waves.

They were arrested by the Self-Defense Corps and confined in detention cells.

It was the first time ordinary citizens had witnessed such a scene.

└ Wow! This is a revolution!

└ I’ve lived my whole life and this is the first time I’ve seen the Self-Defense Corps arrest committee members.

└ Honestly, I didn’t believe the Castle would fully open? But I was wrong.

└ Something’s happening!

Gurye where change had begun.

This was only the first step.

* * *

The foundation for the new Gurye Free City had been laid.

Tae-ju planned to go hunting until things quieted down for a while.

Let’s collect some Giant Panda Bear gallbladders.

His poison mastery had reached 6-star, but his physical enlightenment wasn’t there yet.

He needed to train hard to catch up.

The great Jirisan monster subjugation operation was also scheduled ahead.

Today too, he went hunting in the Jirisan Wilderness and returned home.

It was the new house he had recently moved into.

A magnificent house that Baek Seo-yeon had built, saying his original home was inadequate and should match the chairman’s dignity. It was located not far from the Taehong Bio factory.

It was a two-story house with a spacious garden, carefully landscaped lawn and scenery, a shallow pond with fish and fountains, and ironclad security.

“Chairman, have you returned?”

“Yes, thank you for your hard work.”

“I’ll prepare your meal right away.”

“Thank you. Ah! You’ve all eaten, right?”

“Yes, we ate our fill.”

The people working in this house.

Gardeners, housekeepers, cooks, and even part-time workers.

Baek Seo-yeon had found them all.

Having capable people under him certainly made things convenient.

They say when you first live in such a big house, your first thought is ‘How do I handle heating and cleaning?’… but he didn’t need to worry about such things at all.

Creak, he opened the front door and walked through the long corridor.

“Chairman!”

“Call me uncle.”

“No way, father would scold me.”

“It’s fine. Just do it when he’s not around.”

Middle and high school students from the orphanage.

Kids at the height of adolescence with many things they wanted to buy and ways they wanted to dress up.

Originally, he had been secretly giving them allowance behind Baek Hong-pyo’s back, but when told this would spoil them, they compromised on house cleaning part-time work.

Every day they took turns cleaning the house and received part-time wages.

Of course, he was giving them a bit more than what he had discussed with Baek Hong-pyo.

“Here! Take this!”

“…Uh, this is too much?”

“Buy something delicious. Don’t tell anyone about this.”

“Yes!”

Tae-ju went up to the second floor.

This was his personal space.

He entered the study with a large desk, took off his coat, and sat in the chair.

Ring ring!

A phone call came at just the right time.

“Hello?”

– This is Lee Jeong-hak.

“Ah, I was just about to call you. Thank you for your hard work.”

– Hard work? We’re all doing this for the good of everyone.

“I heard there was an unpleasant incident at the Autonomous Committee?”

– I handled it. We arrested several people and put them in detention.

There must have been tremendous complaints.

They had their privileges stripped away in an instant and experienced the nightmare of plummeting property values.

But it was something that had to be done.

The Castle, a symbol of discrimination in Gurye Free City.

Living in the same city, why should some enjoy safety while others tremble under the threat of death?

“Please persuade them to understand and release them when they calm down.”

– That won’t work. These aren’t people who can be persuaded with words. Their way of thinking is fundamentally different from ordinary people.

“Then?”

– We need to make them submit. Show them that they’re just as weak as everyone else when you get down to it.

“Hmm, yes. If necessary, do that.”

This wasn’t something he had forcibly ordered Lee Jeong-hak to do.

Before meeting Ji Gwang-in and Min Dong-yeol, he had many one-on-one conversations with him.

The stress he had been under, the ostracism he received from the standing committee, how angry he was about everything, and how he wanted to apologize once more for the Sangsikipa incident…

Once they opened up, their relationship improved considerably.

Lee Jeong-hak was also aware of Gurye’s problems.

That the situation was serious enough to require cutting out the infected flesh.

So they moved beyond their power-based relationship and officially joined hands.

The first step was opening the Castle, the next step would be dismantling the Gurye Autonomous Committee.

They would elect new people through voting.

The timing would be after the great Jirisan Wilderness subjugation operation succeeded.

Tae-ju exchanged a few more words with Lee Jeong-hak and hung up the phone.

Starting tomorrow, he would need to prepare for the Jirisan great subjugation operation.

There wasn’t much time left.

* * *

Each combat unit stationed in Jirisan was frantically busy preparing for the subjugation operation.

Supply logistics were especially vital.

Once they entered the jungle, they would need to survive for at least close to a month.

The most important items were mosquito poison antidotes, and since they had to kill Gorani on sight, spore poison antidotes too.

Also, Taehong recovery potions were essential for immediate healing and redeployment to the battlefield when injured during hunting.

And that wasn’t all?

Combat rations, large tents, sleeping bags… it was a massive operation requiring tremendous budget and manpower.

So having external personnel observe was very troublesome.

VIPs coming from the Imperial Palace was one thing, but Military Academy cadets about to graduate were practically dead weight.

Lieutenant Do Min-su, who had been dispatched for Taehong Bio security duty, also returned to the Hamyang Defense Division.

But the orders he received.

“What? You want me to babysit those cadet brats? The ones who just awakened?”

“Please do me a favor. How much of a headache would it be if those clueless kids get hurt while running around? This mission is just as important as monster subjugation.”

“Wow! I’m a Junior Expert. You know my dream is to kill an Elite.”

Do Min-su’s direct superior snorted.

“You? Kill an Elite? You’d be lucky not to piss yourself if you met one. Know your place first.”

“Still…”

“I can’t even get near an Elite. At minimum, colonel-level officers, staff members, division commanders, or corps commanders will handle them. Ah! And I heard Chairman Kim Tae-ju will also be participating.”

As his direct superior said, the elite masu special raid team had already been formed.

But he never had any intention of joining it from the start.

He just thought he might be able to get into the support team.

Well, the competition for the support team would be fierce too.

“We didn’t want to take cadets either, but it’s an order from Army Headquarters, so what can we do? And our division commander got outranked in seniority.”

“Haah,”

“No more complaints, just follow orders. I’ll make sure you get a decent share of merit points.”

“…Yes.”

But Lieutenant Do Min-su still looked displeased.

“Min-su, it should still be interesting though.”

“Yes? What do you mean…?”

“Take a look at this.”

Thud!

Lieutenant Do Min-su caught the document folder his superior threw to him.

“…Isn’t this the cadets’ personal information?”

“That’s right. Keep flipping through to the back.”

He did as instructed.

But then.

“Huh?”

Do Min-su’s eyes widened.

The personal information of two people written in the documents.

Kim Tae-pyeong, 23 years old, from Paju Domain, father is General Kim Woong-bang.

And Kim Tae-cheon, 22 years old, also from Paju Domain with his father being…

“Is this for real?”

“Isn’t the world quite interesting?”

At the Jiri Mountain Defense Corps, Chairman Kim Tae-ju was always the center of attention.

The person who invented antidotes and recovery potions to supply the military, and even single-handedly dealt with three mages.

Naturally, people were curious about him, and most people knew the general details about his family situation.

“Anyway, these two and Chairman Kim Tae-ju are complete strangers to each other.”

“Yes. I’m aware of that.”

There was no way he wouldn’t know.

Information that the Jiri Mountain Defense Corps Intelligence Division had investigated.

Anyone with access to classified clearance knew about it.

Lieutenant Do Min-su had also been briefed on it before being dispatched to guard duty at Gurye Taehong Bio.

The reason why Chairman Kim Tae-ju had drifted from Seorak Mountain Outpost to Gurye. And the treatment he received at Paju Domain.

Now he finally understood.

Why he had been given the task of commanding the cadets.

“I’ll make sure they don’t run into Chairman Kim Tae-ju. How upset would he be seeing those two bastards’ faces?”

“That’s right.”

“Just mess with them moderately and keep them entertained. As long as you don’t create any real problems.”

“Yes, yes, moderately, moderately…”

For Lieutenant Do Min-su, the scope of that word ‘moderately’ was a bit broad.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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