How a Disaster-Class Necromancer Retires – Chapter 7
The head of the Bureau, arriving at Seron Corporation, opened his mouth in shock.
“W-What is this!?”
A small factory with only one warehouse.
However, in front of it, hundreds of porters were lining up to get inside the warehouse, and behind the warehouse, porters were coming out, laughing and leading skeletons.
At that moment, an on-site staff member, who was counting the skeletons, ran up to the head of the Bureau and said.
“Chief! It’s… 300?! That can’t be right!”
We were already amazed that Han Jihyuk had created 32 skeletons, but now suddenly the number had exploded by tenfold.
But that was just the beginning.
The staff member, looking pale, said.
“Actually, we just passed 350!”
The head of the Bureau gasped, unable to comprehend what he was hearing.
“350?!”
Such an immense number that it made him dizzy.
“H-Han Jihyuk, where is he?!”
“He’s inside the warehouse…”
“Let’s go!”
With that, the head of the Bureau and the researchers walked briskly toward the warehouse.
At the entrance of the warehouse, an employee, who appeared to be in charge of managing people, spoke up.
“Please wait in line, one by one.”
“Where is Han Jihyuk? We’re from the Gate Management Bureau.”
“Gate Management Bureau? Uh…”
The startled employee quickly made a call, and after some conversation, he said.
“Please come in.”
The head of the Bureau opened the warehouse door and, upon entering, instantly felt his legs go weak.
“A-Are there more?”
The warehouse was already filled with more than 350 skeletons.
But inside, there were dozens more skeletons registering the voices of porters.
At that moment, Han Jihyuk, who had spotted the head of the Bureau and the researchers, raised his hand and said.
“Let’s take a break, since it’s lunchtime anyway. Kang Chansu… I mean, Manager Kang.”
“Yes!”
“Even though it’s your first task, you’ve all worked hard, so let’s treat you to something good.”
At his words, Kang Chansu, who was standing at attention as if under strict orders, replied.
“Understood! I will!”
Han Jihyuk patted Kang Chansu’s shoulder and said.
“That’s the spirit. Keep it up. The salary increase I promised you? You’ll see it.”
“Of course! I’ll dedicate myself to you and Seron!”
With that, Han Jihyuk declared a break and walked sluggishly over to the head of the Bureau.
“You’re from the Gate Management Bureau? I’m Han Jihyuk.”
The head of the Bureau had originally intended to ask what was going on here, whether this was really the work of Han Jihyuk.
“Ah…”
Words failed him as he was overwhelmed by the sheer number of skeletons that exceeded all reason.
At that moment, the researcher, who had been quiet, stepped forward and said.
“Hello. Do you remember me?”
“Who are you?”
“…I was the researcher in charge of Han Jihyuk’s tests.”
“Ah, it’s been a while. Haha.”
The researcher, looking at the skeletons, asked.
“…Are all of these summons?”
“Yes.”
“Our staff reported that there are already more than 350.”
“Correct.”
Han Jihyuk answered so casually that it made the researcher’s anger boil.
“Don’t you realize what’s going on here? We’re talking about over 350 summons! Do you think this is just normal?! Were you lying to us during the tests?”
Han Jihyuk shrugged his shoulders and said.
“I didn’t lie. I didn’t know how many I could summon either.”
At that moment, the head of the Bureau, who had just regained his senses, said.
“Stop it. Stop everything.”
“Hmm?”
“Even if it was just over 100, it would be shocking, but 350? This is beyond anything an Awakener can do! This is something no F-grade Awakener should be able to achieve!”
Han Jihyuk looked directly at the head of the Bureau and asked.
“Stop it?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
The head of the Bureau, now flustered, said.
“Why? This situation is clearly strange…”
“It’s not strange.”
Han Jihyuk smiled brightly and said.
“I had the law reviewed by a lawyer when I started the company. There are no laws regarding the number of summons.”
The head of the Bureau flinched and said.
“H-How about safety concerns…”
“Safety? Those are the same MK.4 skeletons I used before. Why was there no issue before, but now you’re acting this way?”
The head of the Bureau was left speechless, as Han Jihyuk’s argument came out smoothly.
The head of the Bureau whispered to the researcher.
“…Is there really no problem?”
“Well, according to the law… there isn’t. It wasn’t even expected that a number this large would be made.”
Han Jihyuk, with an air of confidence, continued.
“I’ve already set up a special corporation for using Awakeners’ abilities for profit. And regarding safety, the people who’ve been using them without issue will vouch for that. Is there really any problem?”
The head of the Bureau, looking frustrated, said.
“Fine! I understand there’s no legal problem. But the issue is, the number is just too much!”
The head of the Bureau pointed at the skeletons and said.
“This is just way too many!”
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Despite his excuses and attempts to control the situation, the head of the Bureau ended up repeating the same thing.
He mentioned laws, safety, and even classification issues, but the core issue was that there were just too many.
But with no real reason to stop me, he simply kept repeating how many there were until lunchtime ended, and the skeleton allocation resumed. When it surpassed 500, the head of the Bureau was left stunned.
“Just let it happen.”
Bombarding them with a massive amount at once was the solution.
If I had added tens of skeletons incrementally, they would’ve been surprised, but there would’ve been excuses and investigations, and they would’ve tried to interfere in different ways.
But when I dropped 500 all at once, everyone just stared, unable to react.
“When something happens that’s beyond a person’s frame of reference, their mind just stops.”
Having dealt with countless Awakeners over the years, the head of the Bureau was flustered and kept repeating how many there were.
I grinned and said.
“Well, let’s keep going. With 32 plus 500, that’s…”
My daily income would easily surpass 200 million.
Since the production cost for one MK.2 is 700,000 won…
“That means I can produce 300 a day?”
I grinned and said.
“This is the time to really push for it.”
When everyone was confused and fumbling around, that’s when it’s best to move fast and overwhelm them.
“Let’s hold on for a week and then release everything.”
In a week, I should be able to make 2,000.
If 500 was shocking, then 2,000?
That would be game over.
“Alright.”
I raised my lips and said.
“Let’s do this properly!”
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Even though I made a bold declaration with the boost from my business opening, I was now slouched in my chair, speaking in a lazy voice.
“Ugh.”
I had spent four days creating nearly a thousand skeletons.
During that time, various media outlets had made a huge deal about the Awakener who could summon 500 skeletons. But frankly, I didn’t care about that. The important thing was that I was feeling a serious lack of motivation to work.
“I got too excited about starting the company. Making 300 a day isn’t a joke…”
Usually, a combat-type skeleton uses the entirety of a dead body’s bones.
Why? Because it’s convenient.
The reason is simple. each body has different sizes, so the length of the bones varies too.
“…Should I just cut it down to 100 a day? I’m too lazy.”
So, using an entire corpse means I don’t have to deal with the imbalance in bone sizes.
However, the transport-type skeletons are made up of a combination of bones, and I have to manually adjust those mismatched bones.
But even if I only use the long bones like limbs and the torso, a transport skeleton still requires hundreds of bones, and with 300 skeletons a day, that’s a huge labor intensity, far beyond what I was doing with 500 a month.
“Ugh, I don’t want to work!”
Even if each skeleton takes only two minutes, making 300 would mean working 10 hours a day, which far exceeds my personal work limit.
I came here for an easy retirement, but now I’m back to working hard for that very retirement.
It’s a vicious cycle.
I slumped in my chair, staring blankly, and said.
“I should just release the thousand I’ve made so far. That’s twice what I did before. After that, I’ll take a break for a month or two and maybe I’ll get my motivation back?”
Once laziness hits, it starts to snowball. First, I thought about cutting 300 down to 100 a day, but now I just want to quit and do nothing.
“Ugh.”
At that moment, as I sat in my office chair, overwhelmed by the wave of boredom and laziness, I heard a knock on the door.
“Boss.”
It was Kang Chansu, standing outside the door.
“I need to speak with you for a moment.”
“Come in.”
Kang Chansu entered, looking at me slouched in my chair, and asked with a concerned expression.
“What’s wrong?”
“I don’t know. I’m just so tired of everything. I don’t want to work…”
“We just started the company four days ago.”
In those four days, I’d worked for countless hours.
“I guess I got too carried away. But making 300 skeletons a day? That’s no joke…”
“So, what’s the issue?”
“There’s a community where porters discuss things, and there are complaints popping up.”
“Complaints?”
What complaints?
They were all excited when I released 500 skeletons.
“So, uh…”
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“The jobs are disappearing.”
“Yes.”
Kang Chansu spoke cautiously, keeping an eye on my reaction.
“I’m just passing along the feedback from the people. I’m not saying this is my opinion. I just thought you should know.”
He quickly added the caveat, not wanting to get into trouble.
“I understand, don’t worry. I’m not that narrow-minded.”
I just didn’t want to deal with annoying things. I’d reached the peak of laziness.
“Thank you.”
Before, the reason the porters had set traps for me was due to the overwhelming cost-effectiveness of the skeletons.
Then I hired the porters, and since it turned into a profitable business, their complaints went away.
But after I released 500 transport-type skeletons, things had changed.
“One skeleton replaces six porters, and we’ve got 266 skeletons, so… that’s 1,600 porters?”
Mathematically, if I just consider the skeletons I’ve already released, that means 1,600 porter jobs have been eliminated.
Before, the number was small enough that the price competition was the main concern. But now, with the skeletons increasing in hundreds, it’s reached the point where the existence of porter jobs itself is in danger.
“The more skeletons we produce, the more the porters, except for the small number of team leaders, are worried they’ll lose their jobs.”
“…”
I had known that some porters would lose their jobs due to the skeletons, but now that I saw it in numbers, the seriousness of the situation hit me.
‘If I release another thousand… that’s nearly 5,000 jobs lost.’
I can hear it.
Loud and clear in my ears.
“This… this is going to be a huge backlash.”
The issue is not the 5,000 porters who would lose their jobs, but the families of those workers, the people whose livelihoods would be threatened by the skeletons.
If I plan to reach my goal, I need to create at least 10,000 more skeletons, and once I get there, the number will easily surpass 100,000.
Would the media and political circles just sit idly by then?
Of course not.
“Damn. This is serious.”
If that happens, not only the porters, but everyone will start blaming me.
I’ll be blamed for making thousands of people jobless, and their families will struggle.
I might end up with a reputation that will follow me forever, making it a nightmare.
“I’m so tired of being blamed.”
I’ve had my fair share of criticism in Seron, and I don’t want that anymore.
I don’t care about the attention now. What I want is peace and quiet, living in my hometown, enjoying retirement.
I’d like to hear some good things for once.
After a moment of contemplation, I said.
“Well, I’ll stop here. No more additional supply for now.”
“Yes?”
No matter how much I think about it, this just doesn’t add up.
I can’t ruin my retirement life just to make a little more money.
If I keep pushing this, I’ll end up being hated by the public.
Yeah.
Actually, this works out perfectly.
Even though I’ve already made a thousand, it’s not a waste, but transport means aren’t only needed by porters. I’m sure there are other places I can put them to use.
“The whole reason I started with porters was because they were visible, but I don’t have to stick to just that. There are other ways to make money.”
“I don’t have to keep releasing them and getting criticized. Instead, I’ll just stop at 500.”
“Boss…”
Kang Chansu said, looking at me with admiration.
“I didn’t know you were so considerate…”
Hmm… It’s not really consideration, I just don’t want any more annoying things.
I didn’t feel like explaining it, so I just let it slide.
“Alright, go ahead.”
“Yes!”
With that, Kang Chansu left, and I was alone in my office.
“Right. Why should I force myself to get hated and make more money when I can just do something else?”
I’ve already verified the potential of the skeletons, so I don’t need to worry about that anymore. I can find an easier job that won’t get me hated.
“Let’s see… what should I do?”
I pulled out a notebook and started jotting down ideas.
“First, it needs to be easy to make.”
If I just raise the bones from one corpse, I don’t have to worry about the imbalance. It’s simple.
This means I can make dozens at once, not just one every two minutes.
So, making simple two-legged walking monsters is doable too.
“Forget about combat types.”
Even though I dropped 500 transport-type skeletons, the main reason people accepted them relatively calmly was because they had no combat power.
And to be honest, making combat types and creating macros for them is too annoying.
I need to find something simple.
“Also, it shouldn’t harm the current workforce.”
If I was a violent man in Seron, then now I’m a pacifist.
As long as they don’t mess with me, I won’t mess with them.
“That’s the key, right?”
But it’s surprisingly hard to come up with something that fits all these conditions.
The two-legged walking skeletons would eventually replace or assist human labor, meaning they would naturally take away jobs.
“This is trickier than I thought.”
Maybe the conditions were too strict.
But if I don’t do this, it’ll be way too annoying.
I spent four days making transport skeletons and I’m exhausted already.
I can’t just give up on my peaceful retirement life.
As I was thinking, my eyes landed on a pen with the words “Made in China.”
“Wait…”
I started checking all the items around me.
“Everything’s from China…”
“Made in China, huh?”
I realized the problem was that these were taking jobs away from people in my hometown and my planned retirement location, Korea.
I smiled and said.
“I don’t have to worry about China, do I?”
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