How did it end up like this?
Si-ah glanced at Seo-hyun, who had sat her on her lap and was now gently squishing her cheeks.
She hadn’t meant to do it, but seeing Seo-hyun looking somewhat unstable had made her act instinctively—and this was the result.
“Is it uncomfortable?”
By now, Seo-hyun was speaking informally, and she gave Si-ah a small smile, looking a bit more relaxed than before.
“No, I’ve gotten used to it after all the times it’s happened… but, um, what are you planning to talk about with the Governor?”
“Remember how I said I’d build a village for mutants once the World Tree was fully grown?”
“Yes.”
“Well, I was thinking… what if we made it a bit bigger than originally planned?”
Si-ah tilted her head at that.
She was curious why Seo-hyun was suddenly bringing this up.
“Why expand it?”
“Well, this whole mess started because of how mutants are treated in the U.S., right?”
“…That’s true.”
“And from what I’ve seen, the conflict between mutants and ordinary people here is already beyond the point of no return.”
“You’re right. There’s no going back now.”
Si-ah thought back to when she had first arrived in America.
Korea hadn’t been a good place to raise the World Tree.
The country didn’t have trees suited for it in the first place.
So, she had no choice but to leave her homeland—where she had lived her entire life—and travel all the way to this distant place.
When she first arrived… the hostility was impossible to ignore.
The only reason it hadn’t been worse was likely because of her appearance.
If she had looked even a little less attractive, she would’ve probably been met with nothing but discrimination and aggression.
Later, when she met the Governor of California and he asked why she’d come all this way, she revealed her vision and demonstrated her abilities.
That’s what brought her to where she was now.
If she hadn’t had those abilities or that vision of the World Tree, the governor probably wouldn’t have supported her at all.
She would’ve had a much harder time—she was sure of it.
America was a nation of many cultures, but beneath that, there was a constant undercurrent of prejudice and hostility.
And in the middle of that hostility, Si-ah had struggled with what she was supposed to do.
That’s when she came up with the idea of a village for mutants.
And now, Seo-hyun had brought it up again.
“So anyway… before, you said you were planning to keep some level of exchange with the outside, right?”
“That’s right. We need at least enough money to keep the village running, after all.”
“What if… what if we cut ourselves off completely?”
“Cut off? Wouldn’t we all starve to death?”
How did it end up like this?
Si-ah glanced at Seo-hyun, who had sat her on her lap and was now gently squishing her cheeks.
She hadn’t meant to do it, but seeing Seo-hyun looking somewhat unstable had made her act instinctively—and this was the result.
“Is it uncomfortable?”
By now, Seo-hyun was speaking informally, and she gave Si-ah a small smile, looking a bit more relaxed than before.
“No, I’ve gotten used to it after all the times it’s happened… but, um, what are you planning to talk about with the Governor?”
“Remember how I said I’d build a village for mutants once the World Tree was fully grown?”
“Yes.”
“Well, I was thinking… what if we made it a bit bigger than originally planned?”
Si-ah tilted her head at that.
She was curious why Seo-hyun was suddenly bringing this up.
“Why expand it?”
“Well, this whole mess started because of how mutants are treated in the U.S., right?”
“…That’s true.”
“And from what I’ve seen, the conflict between mutants and ordinary people here is already beyond the point of no return.”
“You’re right. There’s no going back now.”
Si-ah thought back to when she had first arrived in America.
Korea hadn’t been a good place to raise the World Tree. The country didn’t have trees suited for it in the first place.
So, she had no choice but to leave her homeland—where she had lived her entire life—and travel all the way to this distant place.
When she first arrived… the hostility was impossible to ignore.
The only reason it hadn’t been worse was likely because of her appearance. If she had looked even a little less attractive,
she would’ve probably been met with nothing but discrimination and aggression.
Later, when she met the Governor of California and he asked why she’d come all this way,
she revealed her vision and demonstrated her abilities. That’s what brought her to where she was now.
If she hadn’t had those abilities or that vision of the World Tree, the governor probably wouldn’t have supported her at all.
She would’ve had a much harder time—she was sure of it.
America was a nation of many cultures,
but beneath that, there was a constant undercurrent of prejudice and hostility.
And in the middle of that hostility, Si-ah had struggled with what she was supposed to do.
That’s when she came up with the idea of a village for mutants.
And now, Seo-hyun had brought it up again.
“So anyway… before, you said you were planning to keep some level of exchange with the outside, right?”
“That’s right. We need at least enough money to keep the village running, after all.”
“What if… what if we cut ourselves off completely?”
“Cut off? Wouldn’t we all starve to death?”
“We’ll have to make a deal with the Governor for that. The money the U.S. is currently burning on maintaining public order and dealing with mutant-related incidents—we redirect that toward the village you’re building, in exchange for keeping the mutants from causing problems outside.”
“…Hmm. Personally, I’d be more comfortable with that setup, but do you think the U.S. will agree to it? They probably prefer maintaining the status quo.”
“I’m going to apply a little pressure. The part where I wiped out those liches and Dullahans—that got recorded by drones, right?”
“Uh, probably…? San Diego has all kinds of military facilities, so for a battle that big, drones are almost always deployed.”
“Then let’s show them that footage. Use it to negotiate. I’ll offer to take care of mutant-related problems.”
“In exchange, I want them to redirect the budget that was meant for controlling mutants into funding the mutant village. And I’m willing to bet that budget is astronomical.”
Si-ah tilted her head at Seo-hyun’s idea.
No matter how she looked at it, she couldn’t imagine the higher-ups in the U.S. agreeing to that.
More importantly, any group that couldn’t sustain itself would become a serious problem later.
People are greedy. Mutants are no different.
“So how would we generate income? That budget alone won’t be enough to support and manage the whole mutant population. No matter how huge the budget is, it has its limits. Mutants still have human-like desires, and a village alone can’t meet them all.”
“You mentioned it before, right? The World Tree premium. That’s one option. But it doesn’t have to stop there. We can also sell specialty goods produced by other mutants—like tools made by Dwarf-type mutants.”
“Encourage each type to produce based on their unique traits. And for mutants skilled in combat, we assign them to protect the production-oriented ones.”
“And then distribute all of that globally? And if a mutant needs to go outside, they go through a strict process?”
“Exactly.”
“…That’s not a bad idea.”
Si-ah found Seo-hyun’s proposal fairly solid.
Not perfect, and it could cause problems down the road, but at the very least, it was a way to minimize mutants rampaging against ordinary people.
And if mutants fought within the village?
Well, that wasn’t her concern.
Let them sort it out among themselves.
As long as they didn’t destroy the facilities, it was fine.
If someone was about to be killed, then of course, they’d step in.
But for smaller disputes, she had no intention of policing every little thing.
Of course, it would be a hassle to set and enforce all the rules…but that was something to discuss with California officials.
Si-ah now had a general plan in mind.
Of course, whether it would move forward depended entirely on whether the Governor accepted Seo-hyun’s proposal.
Still… if the Governor was someone who could do a quick cost-benefit analysis, he might just go along with it.
If they could create a village capable of housing all mutants in the U.S., they could request substantial financial support from the federal government.
If it was for a national mutant policy, the federal government might throw its full support behind it.
After all, one of the biggest domestic issues in the U.S. right now was mutant-related crime fueled by discrimination.
She hoped—truly hoped—that the plan would move forward according to both her wishes and Seo-hyun’s.
The negotiations with the state government went surprisingly smoothly.
The Governor of California respected Si-ah and Seo-hyun’s vision and agreed to fully support their proposed mutant village project—tentatively named Paradise Plan.
“Then we’ll proceed with that direction. Thank you for your cooperation, Governor.”
“Haha. Don’t thank me too much. This comes with its own benefits for us, after all.”
The reason the Governor so readily accepted their deal was because of the profits it would generate.
He was already well aware of the stir Seo Jin-ha had caused in the fashion industry.
Mutants were essentially walking goldmines.
The world may hate them, but it was also obsessed with their uniqueness.
Tools made by Dwarves?
Swords?
As ornamental items alone, their value would be astronomical.
The premium they’d fetch would be no joke.
Tea made from the leaves of the World Tree?
Say no more.
Tea masters from all over the world might start flocking to California.
In short, the Governor had not even the slightest intention of killing the goose that laid golden eggs.
Besides, the budget for establishing a mutant village could be pulled from federal funds under the guise of mutant policy support and disaster recovery.
And considering they had even taken down the hordes of monsters that marched into San Diego…
As governor, he had no reason not to respect their opinions.
There was also the need to formally thank South Korea’s Mutant Crime Eradication Agency for responding so quickly to their call.
If things had gone even slightly differently, not just California, but the entire United States might have been devastated.
The negotiations wrapped up smoothly.
Just the way I’d hoped.
Ever since I gained this power, I’d never once lost control of a negotiation like this.
Well, to be fair, I did present a deal that made complete sense from their perspective.
I’m sure they crunched the numbers thoroughly.
In any case… the business here is more or less settled, so I should take a break.
I’m not physically tired, but mentally, I’m exhausted.
The Deputy Director should be arriving soon too, so once she gets here, maybe I’ll do a little sightseeing around the U.S. with Si-ah.
Dropping formal speech with her… that was a bit impulsive.
But I did the same with Ha-rin, so I figured Si-ah wouldn’t mind either.
Thankfully, she seemed to understand.
I think she could tell that I was emotionally on edge at the time.
To be honest, I was really angry, and just as much, really sad.
Because deep down, I’m an idealist.
The kind of person who dreams of a world where everyone laughs and gets along.
A hopelessly unrealistic ideal.
And that’s why…the more I experience situations like this, the sadder I feel.
I never wanted a world where people fight, divide, clash, and disasters like this erupt as a result.
“Who do you think you are?”—people might say that.
But what’s so wrong about talking about ideals?
I was just an ordinary Korean Literature major.
And the poetry and novels I studied in literature?
They often quietly expressed the author’s ideals.
There was no way I could remain unaffected by that.
Maybe Si-ah noticed the state I was in, because she went ahead and perched herself on my lap again, cheeks puffed out, waiting for me to squish them.
…Honestly, this girl really seems to know—instinctively, how to get people to treat her kindly.
When I thought of a High Elf, I imagined someone cold, aloof, even noble.
But Si-ah felt more like someone who made herself easy to approach.
She once told me it was her way of helping the World Tree.
That if she let pride or ego get in the way, it would only put the World Tree at risk, so this was her survival strategy.
Smoosh smoosh.
And even now, with the negotiations wrapped up, I was still squishing her cheeks.
It really does help me understand her better, you know?