WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: DereKimchi

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Unlimited Money Shelter of the Apocalypse ◈

Chapter 17: Recruiting Top Talent Begins

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The part-timer who had strong-armed me into buying Shelter Builder said it would be more fun if I built while accounting for every kind of apocalypse.

I took that to mean I'd find out the hard way if I didn't.

I had no way of knowing exactly what form the apocalypse would take, but I ran simulations on the subject with Anne whenever I had time.

You could say I had considered the most plausible apocalypse scenarios, the ones most likely to occur.

“Unless the situation in Northeast Asia deteriorates rapidly, it will probably be an epidemic.”

We considered an epidemic the most likely first disaster.

Sixty percent of the population of our country had already been infected with COVID-19. If a virus with even greater transmissibility and lethality broke out, there would be no answer.

There was no guarantee that something which had happened once would not happen again. World wars had broken out twice, after all.

A global pandemic would inevitably paralyze worldwide trade networks, and countries like the Republic of Korea, which relied on imports for a substantial portion of their food and energy, would inevitably collapse.

Countries with vast territories, like the United States, Russia, and China, could endure to some degree on their domestic economies alone. But there was not a single country on Earth that could perfectly maintain its current standard of modern living without imports.

The United States, with the world's greatest self-sufficiency, would hold out for an incredibly long time. Even then, if supplies of certain rare minerals or manufactured goods were cut off, its advanced industries would grind to a halt, and it could not avoid soaring prices and reduced economic efficiency.

Once that kind of competition for survival began on a national scale, conflict would be inevitable. Just think of the farce over masks and vaccines during COVID-19.

Add even one natural disaster like an ice age, and war justified in the name of national survival would break out in no time.

In short, an epidemic would spread into a global disaster, ultimately leading to the worst possible chain reaction: wars over resources and a nuclear winter.

Of course, some people would stubbornly survive anyway. Even in the distant past, when glaciers covered the continents, tens of thousands of people had survived through gathering and hunting alone.

But what about scientists?

People with good physical stamina, like athletes and firefighters, or skills directly tied to survival, like doctors, farmers, and mechanical engineers, would receive some degree of preferential treatment. But once civilization had reset, highly skilled personnel like particle physicists and AI researchers would be genuinely useless.

From the perspective of a leader guiding a group, highly educated people were also a headache. Well-educated intellectuals were less likely to submit to blind control.

According to statistics from an international academic journal, people working in fields like computer engineering and pure science, which I belonged to, ranked at the very bottom among all occupations in physical activity.

In other words, they had neither stamina nor strength. Naturally, their ability to survive a disaster would be woefully lacking compared to other groups.

Unless they had built up some field-hardened fitness by doing construction day labor whenever they could, like me.

“Therefore, there is a strong possibility that most pure scientists will fail to endure the early stages of the collapse and die miserable deaths.”

“That does seem likely.”

Naturally, top-tier geniuses whom the state took care of would be exceptions. But all the middling researchers below them would be abandoned without mercy.

By coincidence, our country produced eighteen thousand PhDs every year, seventy percent of them in science and engineering. In other words, the country was churning out PhDs by the tens of thousands.

It was a sad reality caused by how brutal it was to find employment at a major corporation with only a master's degree, practically forcing people to earn doctorates...

Still, from my perspective, it was fortunate that PhD-level researchers would be easier to find.

What I was trying to say was that a plan to rescue scientists after the world had ended had too little chance of success.

I didn't even believe in zombies, but let's make every possible concession and say a hellish zombie outbreak occurred. How was I supposed to bring a bunch of bookish types out of that chaos in one piece?

Wouldn't it be far more realistic to offer them annual salaries in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, recruit them somehow, and lock them in the shelter beforehand... no. Accommodate them?

“You do not have enough money to cover that level of payroll in the first place.”

“The world ends in nineteen days anyway. I just won't pay them.”

“...That is somewhat.”

Anne swallowed the rest, but it was easy enough to infer the accusation underlying that silence.

You really are garbage.

But what could I do? The world was about to end.

Besides, once those bookish types entered a shelter of this overwhelming scale, they would end up cheering anyway. Even more so if I saved not only their lives but their families' as well.

“Did you not say just a few hours ago that you would let them experience the apocalypse to some extent before rescuing them?”

That was before I knew the underground research facilities alone would swallow nearly $200 billion in funding.

The total cost of building the International Space Station, supposedly the most expensive structure in human history, was around $200 billion.

That meant I was pouring capital equivalent to a colossal space project jointly undertaken by global powers like the United States, Russia, Europe, and Japan into a single research complex.

So no matter what happened, I had to bring in researchers. I had to recoup my investment.

Even without any detailed explanation from me, once they saw this overwhelming laboratory complex, they would naturally believe it had the support of a government agency or global organization behind it.

Just as anime fans could be lured in with a cosplay convention, wouldn't researchers be drawn in by an “ultra-low-temperature, high-magnetic-field laboratory” or an “ultrafast laser facility”?

“That is not an impossible prospect.”

And that was not all. This place was fully equipped with top-of-the-line facilities that even leading domestic universities such as Seoul National University and KAIST did not have.

There was literally no equipment it lacked, so to people obsessed with research, this would be a paradise above ground... no, below ground.

Contact with the outside would be troublesome, but I could simply confiscate their devices under the pretext of maintaining confidentiality.

Even at major corporate workplaces like Samsung Electronics, people put stickers over their cameras and had their communications controlled. Security measures like that would only make the place seem more credible.

Then how would we fill the absence of top-level researchers within the shelter? Simple. Put high-performance androids like Anne in charge of each research zone.

They had the drawback of being unable to independently lead creative research, but no researcher could surpass their subject expertise, built on vast databases, and their capacity for constructive discussion.

In other words, they were perfect as administrators.

“Then you will need to deploy at least thirty additional androids to the research zones alone.”

“There are only twenty-three research wings.”

“That is because, in addition to the twenty-three senior administrators who will oversee each research wing, you must account for personnel responsible for shared equipment areas and other auxiliary experimental facilities.”

An android with specifications equivalent to Anne cost $1.8 billion each, so that immediately meant an additional expense of $54 billion. Including the facility costs, the total came to $250 billion. A quarter of the shelter's total budget would vanish into a single research complex.

But it was an expense absolutely necessary for the shelter's safety. Otherwise, the scientists would slip beyond my control.

* * *

“So, to carry out this ‘Research,’ you are saying that specialists in particular fields are necessary?”

A cool, businesslike voice flowed from the speaker. Voluntary reporter Kim Hyunwook had begun to feel sick of that high-handed voice after listening to it for more than ten days.

Only a few days ago, they had at least been able to speak face-to-face with people. At some point, however, the researchers had begun issuing instructions only through speakers from beyond a transparent soundproof glass wall, with no view of the outside.

The only people who occasionally came to the room were mechanical facility managers covered in protective suits.

They said it was a safety measure meant to protect the researchers, but no matter how Kim Hyunwook thought about it, they could not understand.

‘It isn't like we're potential criminals...’

If not for the jaw-dropping sum deposited in their bank account, they would have reported them to the Human Rights Commission or the police long ago.

“Answer.”

Those fucking bastards.

Kim Hyunwook knitted their brows and replied with deliberate curt hostility.

“Yes. Personnel are important, but it says the facilities are essential too.”

“By facilities, you mean?”

“Um, according to the explanation on the game screen... it says that a high-performance computing cluster, an ultra-high-tensile-strength crushing chamber, and cleanroom facilities are essential to produce proper research results. At least two more specialists are needed as well. But when can I go home? It's been over a week since I was even able to call my family and check in...”

“Kim Hyunwook.”

The tone beyond the speaker instantly turned cold. Startled by the irritation and overwhelming authority in the voice, Kim Hyunwook's shoulders flinched on their own.

“Kim Hyunwook, you are currently contributing to national security. I understand that isolation is stifling, but please cooperate until the end.”

Kim Hyunwook knew better than anyone what had happened to those who refused to cooperate until the end or harbored other intentions.

All because I made one stupid post in the community...

If they had known this would happen, they should have stayed home and played games instead of going out on Christmas Eve.

“...Understood. I'm sorry.”

“First, we will try to secure the specialists you requested within twenty-four hours. As for the special equipment and facilities you mentioned, they are unavailable domestically, so you should allow at least three days for overseas transport and security-approval procedures...”

* * *

Today, I had spent nearly fifteen hours on nothing but Research Lab construction. Eat, shit, game, repeat. A fine specimen of a Korean man in his twenties, wasn't I?

Just kidding. Despite investing that much time, I still had not completed all the research facilities.

This was the largest area of anything I had built so far, so even with Anne's help, it was too much to construct in a single day.

No matter how quickly Anne produced blueprints, only I could operate the game. That was the problem.

“Phew.”

Making sure related research wings connected organically without excessively intruding on one another's territory, while also accounting for security concerns, had truly made my head feel like it would split open.

And during that time, I had also considered ways to bring in the researchers.

Lure them in under the pretext of a seminar or academic conference, purchase a front building and quietly divert them there, or simply snatch them up by offering extraordinary employment terms like I had initially suggested.

Several inhumane(?) plans came to mind, but something else had to come first.

Deciding who to bring.

After the apocalypse hit, I would have to search desperately for any researcher I could find. But right now, I could select only the talent that suited my preferences.

And in my opinion, the most valuable people in a post-collapse shelter were not senior professors at the very top of their fields, standing on the brink of retirement.

I thought younger assistant professors, associate professors, or promising graduate students in their thirties and forties would be better.

I considered age a resource in an apocalypse too. We would have to live in the shelter for at least several decades, so I judged that younger people were better, even if they were slightly less capable.

Besides, the government was likely keeping a close eye on researchers of that caliber. Carelessly approaching them might draw unnecessary attention.

And the reason senior professors received such treatment was their experience and intellect. I judged that androids like Anne could adequately replace them in that regard.

Therefore, I...

“I have narrowed down a list based on papers, conference presentations, patents, research achievements, and so on, Administrator.”

...Decided to poach graduate students, those poor souls who'd committed some terrible ‘crime’ in college and been sentenced to grad school.

Of course, compiling a list did not mean I intended to bring them in indiscriminately. Setting aside the signing bonus, who would happily follow an unknown research institute that suddenly appeared and told them to come along?

Therefore, I decided to borrow the methods used by intelligence agencies like the CIA when recruiting people.

Anne explained the method in detail.

“First, I would like to state that it is nearly impossible to remove research personnel while completely avoiding the Republic of Korea's administrative networks and surveillance under normal circumstances.”

In other words, normally bringing them in without leaving a trace would be absolutely impossible.

“However, if the deadline is limited to nineteen days, it is sufficiently possible.”

That was right. The fact that the apocalypse would arrive in nineteen days was the core of this plan.

I did not know what kind of apocalypse would come, but if it was even on the level of COVID-19, the government would no longer have the administrative capacity to turn its attention toward me.

And naturally, the apocalypse would be incomparably more devastating than a mere pandemic.

“First, we cannot exclude the possibility that the government, like you, Administrator, is also drafting relevant researchers for [Research]. Therefore, we excluded top-tier and second-tier research personnel likely to be drafted, for risk-management purposes.”

Was that to minimize the chance of being caught by their surveillance network?

“Yes. After that, we will make scattered contact with one or two people at a time from different universities and laboratories across the country. On the surface, it will appear that they are moving normally to different companies from unrelated laboratories.”

“...Can you do that?”

“As I said, if it is limited to nineteen days, it is possible.”

I asked, just in case.

“...Can you hack government websites too?”

Anne nodded slightly.

“For a few minutes, yes.”

“...Hmm.”

I decided to leave talent scouting entirely to Anne.

In other words, it was time to buy more androids.

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