Unlimited Money Shelter of the Apocalypse - Chapter 22

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: DereKimchi

◈ Unlimited Money Shelter of the Apocalypse ◈

Chapter 22: You Should Know Your Audience Before Bragging...

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A news clip showed somewhere deep in a remote forest in Türkiye.

It was impossible to tell exactly what was being built from the footage alone, but one thing was clear: massive construction equipment was ruthlessly clearing the area along a narrow road to prepare the site.

People speculated that a government-run forest observation research institute was being built there, and that guess was not far off.

The projected completion date was five years from now.

Considering that a national research institute of that scale normally took at least seven years to construct, it seemed the Turkish government was putting considerable effort into the project.

Perhaps because it was a research institute, security was unusually tight.

They had reportedly divided the blueprints by section so that not only the workers, but even mid-level site managers, could see only the portion they were responsible for.

Naturally, the media took an interest in such a project.

One reporter named Hakan Çelik set up a tent in the mountains 1.8 kilometers from the construction site, where he could look down on it, and endured there for an entire month in pursuit of a scoop.

However, the equipment he had brought was not powerful enough to capture the site clearly from that distance. All that remained were a few low-resolution photos reminiscent of UFO controversies from the 1980s and 1990s.

The twenty-three photos showed the research institute taking shape at an unbelievable pace for something supposedly five years from completion.

He had taken the photos over ten days, and during that short period, the institute had somehow reached thirty-five percent completion.

Naturally, that was a figure no modern construction method could explain.

It might have been possible if prefabricated construction had been pushed to its absolute limit, but there was no way a nationally important facility like a research institute would be thrown together like that, especially not in a country unlike the poorer nations of Africa.

It was doubtful that it was even a research institute in the first place.

And the global reaction to the scoop went roughly like this.

zenciiiii: Broadcasters posting without even AI fact-checking, go dieee~

oktaywwork: These kinds of photos always have shit resolution.

SELTON114: Which is better, Turkey or Türkiye?

Parksooo: Hurry and visit Probakara.net before it gets taken down. A hidden gem only insiders know about.

FullMetalPrincess: Boobs about to burst?! (Click to see!)

Most people dismissed the photos as AI-generated nonsense. Only a few Turks defended the reporter, saying he was a former war correspondent who had spent years covering the Afghan frontlines and would never fabricate something like that.

FullMetalPrincess: They burst. All gone. Thanks for clicking, mwahaha~

“...Administrator?”

“...”

Anyway.

The Turkish government promptly presented regularly scheduled images from commercial satellite companies and dismissed the controversy, saying satellite photos taken from other angles during the same period showed an entirely normal construction pace.

Anonymous: Are the photos the Turkish government posted fake?

kemono: ZOMBIE_MAN would've figured it out if they were here.

I didn't know which side was telling the truth. AI had gotten so advanced lately that unless it was a video, it was hard to determine whether even a single photo was genuine without a watermark.

But I was almost certain the reporter's photos were real, and that the project was using Shelter Builder's Construction Contracting Service.

「Maesan Daily warned by the broadcasting commission for spreading false rumors about Türkiye...」

「The credibility of Maesan Daily and other outlets reporting the story, including Japan's Hatsumuru News Agency and the United States' TRS, has plummeted.」

Once I noticed the government's movements, these efforts to silence the story became painfully obvious.

Unless someone knew of Shelter Builder's existence like I did, anyone would consider those photos AI-generated fakes. They would also think the government's and broadcasting commission's responses were perfectly rational and appropriate.

Mr. President, I love you for punishing those fuckers who write with AI~~~^^

Those stupid-ass media outlets need to be shut down immediately,, hehe.

If nothing else, I now knew for certain that governments around the world were desperately trying to prevent Shelter Builder's existence from coming to light.

Out of the thousands of comments there, how many had actually been written by real people? Weren't most of them generated by AI?

“As you predicted, Administrator, over seventy percent are automatically generated AI responses.”

“That's insane.”

If even Anne could say that with certainty, it had to be bad.

I felt it more directly in the Telegram chat room, where only real people were present.

KING250: Motherless bastards. Not naming names.

Anonymous: Fucking creepy. So if I'd posted on a community the day I bought the game, I would've been treated like an idiot and dragged away too? The reporter was even a Pulitzer Prize nominee. How did he get ruined overnight...?

Anonymous: Don't know about anything else, but it does seem like they took away everyone who carelessly posted about it early on;;

Anonymous: But is this place really safe? Telegram might be hard to crack, but if the United States and Korean governments cut a deal, couldn't they raid it in no time?

FurryLover: Telegram is a Russian company, and they even told the Russian president they'd do whatever the fuck they wanted, so we're fine~

Cham170: Or use a VPN like me~

Lupin720: This room gets blown up at regular intervals anyway, so it's fine, hehe;; It's been shut down a few times before too;;

InariSushi1300: Even if the owner acts like that, they're pretty thorough about this sort of thing.

Kimo777: People with money like me have been routing their signals through relays for ages, so they couldn't catch us even if they tried. This isn't even a phone registered under my name. How would they track me? Hahahahahaha.

Anonymous: True lol.

That aside, I was starting to feel that I needed another adviser besides Anne.

“Could you finish designing the kitchen first? I'd appreciate it.”

“Understood.”

Until now, simply following the blueprints Anne drew had been overwhelming enough, so I had maintained a one-adviser system.

But no matter how capable Anne was, Anne couldn't inspect every facility in the shelter while also keeping track of global affairs.

That was why I decided I needed another adviser dedicated to monitoring world affairs and gathering other information.

Anne gave off too much of a researcher-like impression, so perhaps this adviser should instead have an appearance closer to that of a soldier.

The reason I wanted someone who looked like a soldier was that the advantages of a stereotypical appearance were so obvious.

Anyone who had served in the military had probably felt at least once that when someone who looked like a soldier and someone who did not wore the same uniform, the former carried far more authority.

Also, I needed a convincing public face to act as the shelter's external leader in my place. Wouldn't a military figure be more fitting as a leader during the apocalypse?

Of course, Enigma models were relatively lacking in field and combat knowledge, but after exchanging opinions with Anne over the past few days, I realized that even that supposedly lacking level surpassed that of most officers.

「Appearance settings are required.」

Hmm...

What would be good?

‘An older general with deep experience. Someone who looks intelligent and decent, but also like he would be truly terrifying if angered.’

The sort of presence that made people certain that if they asked this person, they would have an answer, without him even needing to open his mouth.

It would be even better if he possessed the composure and ease unique to a general who had led people for many years.

If age had only added to his dignity, and he had an atmosphere that made him difficult to approach casually no matter how close you became, that would be perfect.

I wondered whether the system would accommodate such abstract and demanding requirements, but once again, it did not disappoint me.

The android that soon appeared seemed as though the word “general” itself had been molded into human form.

A solid, broad frame showed beneath a sharply pressed uniform.

“Hmm.”

His upright posture was perfectly composed, and his efficient stride carried the discipline of someone who had spent a lifetime as a soldier.

Gray-streaked hair and deeply carved wrinkles only emphasized his experience. His gaze was calm rather than sharp. Yet meeting those eyes made me unconsciously straighten my posture under their strange pressure.

If someone like this handled the shelter's public-facing Administrator role, who would doubt him?

“It is an honor to meet you.”

A resonant baritone, rough as scraped steel.

...Definitely impressive.

I looked at him for a moment before asking whether he had a name.

“My name is Kang Tae-seong. I look forward to working with you.”

* * *

The reason I had deliberately set Kang Tae-seong's appearance as Korean was that I didn't think the person commanding a shelter meant to accommodate people from the Republic of Korea could be a foreigner.

In a country where academic and regional connections could make Seoul National University more prestigious than Harvard, would people really accept a foreigner sitting in the leader's seat so easily?

Of course, anyone thoroughly familiar with the Republic of Korea's list of generals might realize that General Kang was not an actual flag officer. But in that case, I could just insist he was an elder statesman with a military background.

What mattered was not whether General Kang had truly been a general.

It was whether he looked like one, behaved like one, and could properly fulfill the role people expected of one.

Anyway.

The moment I had two advisers, my work style changed far more than I had expected.

“Administrator, please review the kitchen blueprints. There are a few changes needed for the water supply and drainage pipes.”

Before Anne had even finished reporting, General Kang approached with a stack of documents.

“I have distilled the developments in Korea, China, Japan, and North America down to the essentials. I will first report the key points, and you may review the attached documents for the details.”

Not long after, Anne held out a phone.

“Deputy General Manager Lee Junsu sent over a list of the talent they recruited. Please review this separately as well.”

“...”

Even when Anne was my only adviser, I had thought I was doing a respectable job as an Administrator. But now, it was on a completely different level.

I was beginning to understand why important people sitting at desks and doing nothing but stamp documents all day were so stressed.

Perhaps Anne had deliberately slowed down for my sake before, because not long after handing over the kitchen plans, Anne brought me completed blueprints for a large dining hall as well.

Of course, no matter how quickly Anne created blueprints, I was still the only person who could use Shelter Builder's Construction function.

Therefore, the speed at which the shelter itself was constructed did not dramatically increase.

But the density of time I experienced became incomparably greater than before.

At least now I understood why modern corporations operated by having their presidents or chairmen receive reports and issue orders to executives instead of personally handling every task in the field.

No matter how outstanding a leader might be, they could not personally manage and take responsibility for every field from beginning to end.

And in an ordinary organization, you couldn't entrust management roles to just anyone. That was probably why they handed titles to the family members they trusted most.

But in my case, I didn't need to worry about that at all.

‘Hmm.’

Even while building the dining hall and kitchen, I constantly considered the advantages and disadvantages of changing the administrative system.

If I continued acting as an on-site manager like now, the advantage was that I could understand the shelter's structure more closely. That would reduce variables that might arise during construction, and I could adjust the internal facilities in detail to suit my preferences.

On the other hand, if I acted like a chief administrator who received reports only through documents, I could review far more areas in the same amount of time.

I would inevitably miss more details than I did now, but my overall view of the shelter would become incomparably broader.

“I don't think you need to worry about that issue already, Administrator.”

Anne spoke while watching the work connecting the ventilation facilities and pipes planned earlier to the dining hall and kitchen.

“You can act as an on-site manager while the shelter is being built, then become chief administrator once all construction is complete. After all, if you intend to operate as the power behind the throne as you said, you will have to adapt to a chief administrator system whether you want to or not.”

“...That's true.”

Anne was right.

Sooner or later, I would have to go through it anyway.

‘What else did I still need to build?’

The major facilities were a rest facility and infirmary.

Then there was an access control station people would pass through before entering the residential zone, a security corridor that separated the military and residential zones and could seal them off if necessary, and separate quarters for the Juggernauts and androids.

There were also watch posts to handle internal security, a guardhouse near the shelter entrance, a quarantine station to initially house outsiders, communications facilities, and perhaps a hangar if I had money left over.

There really wasn't much left now.

Of course, other facilities I had forgotten might come up later, but Anne would handle that.

After that, I would need to use all remaining money to stockpile androids, satellites, and other materials.

Then my phone rang.

Something seemed to have happened in the Telegram chat room.

I had delegated all information gathering related to that side to General Kang, but I had not handed over my phone as well.

To clear my head, I took out my phone and checked what people were talking about this time.

Surprisingly, the notification was not from the group chat. One of the users had sent me a private message.

And the sender was one of the familiar names I knew fairly well.

Message from InariSushi1300: Hi, friend.

Message from InariSushi1300: You put 330 after your username, meaning $33 million. You've got more than that, right?

Message from InariSushi1300: Not as much as me, of course.