kscans

Chapter 124 - Interlude: The Ringing Phone

Interlude: The Ringing Phone

Side: None

Kasumigaseki, Tokyo. A certain floor in a central government building.

As always, the Dungeon Agency was holding a meeting, squeezing it in between their regular duties to share information.

A dozen or so people were gathered around a long desk in the corner of a spacious room, staring at the documents and tablets in their hands with grim expressions.

"The impact of the new dungeon in Shibuya is still immense..."

"Indeed. The other dungeons are troublesome, but this one is causing the most significant economic damage."

"We're getting inquiries about compensation every day from businesses within the evacuation zone. Not to mention from the mayor of Shibuya Ward."

"We'll have to discuss that with the governor, but it looks like the Tokyo Metropolitan Government will have to bear the burden for now..."

"However, the entire Tokyo economy is being affected. Most of the train lines and roads that pass through that area are currently unusable, causing traffic throughout the city to be virtually paralyzed. And land prices in the city are plummeting."

"On top of that, Shibuya not only has a huge number of businesses, but it also has residents. The number of complaints and consultations from them is staggering. 'Why did you overlook the dungeon?' 'Will we receive proper compensation?' and so on."

"...Even if the country wanted to support them, our hands are tied with aid to the regional areas. We need to find a way to manage this temporarily with Tokyo's resources, but... all of this is beyond our authority. We'll have to coordinate closely with the other ministries."

"Every ministry is on a death march right now. I don't even know if we can get them to spare the time to read our documents."

"We have to do it anyway. If Tokyo's economy dies, the entire Japanese economy will die with it."

"I'm from a rural area, so I used to hate how Tokyo always got priority... but looking at these numbers, I have to admit that we need to deal with this first."

One of the staff members looked at the documents in his hands with a wry smile. Or rather, the numbers lined up before him were so staggering that laughing was the only option.

To develop the national economy by concentrating it in one place. Based on this idea, power had been centralized in Japan's capital, Tokyo.

Before the Day of Awakening, Tokyo's city GDP was among the highest in the world, accounting for about 20% of Japan's total.

Yes, past tense. Currently, Tokyo, and indeed Japan itself, was in a dire economic situation.

"Repairs are currently underway on infrastructure, including water pipes and cables damaged by the monster stampede, but there is still no timeline for restoration."

"We need to call for support from other prefectures that haven't been affected. Gather people, both public and private sectors. Matsuda, Umejima, can you handle it?"

"Understood."

"I only have my university connections, but I'll see what I can do."

"I'm counting on you. Now, let's move on to the next topic."

Director Akasaka said, turning a page in his documents.

"This is the data shared from the Self-Defense Force the other day. The content is mainly about 'Base Construction within Dungeons'."

"Are they seriously gonna build one?"

"I had heard they were considering how to use attack helicopters inside dungeons, but..."

"Is something like that even possible?"

His subordinates commented freely, their eyes still fixed on the documents or their tablet screens.

"The bottom line is, it will still take a considerable amount of time. The main problem is likely the inability to bring large heavy machinery or trucks inside. Since they can't bring the actual vehicles in, they have to disassemble them and somehow reassemble the parts inside."

"Dungeons with powerful monsters tend to have wider passages, so if we could just get them inside, the width itself wouldn't be an issue..."

"But what's with this weight limit?"

"It's probably the line where the Awakened Person on board can 'treat it as their own belonging'."

The document stated the following:

As an experiment, a truck loaded with a large amount of construction materials approached the gate of a low-rank dungeon teeming with large monsters. However, only the 'Awakened Person driving' was able to enter.

The truck itself, now driverless, continued straight and passed through the gate, stopping only when operated by a remote control from the outside.

Awakened SDF members also rode in the cargo bed, holding some of the materials. When the truck approached the gate in the same way, the truck once again passed through. The Awakened driver and the Awakened in the cargo bed entered the dungeon. At that time, the two were in different locations, and the member from the cargo bed was still holding the materials.

After this, an Awakened on a motorcycle successfully entered with the motorcycle. When three people rode in a large vehicle, touching each other, and approached the gate, only the car passed through. The three of them appeared in the same location inside the dungeon.

From these and other various tests...

- If the vehicle one is riding touches the gate, the Awakened person on board will be thrown into the dungeon, even if they are not touching the gate themselves.
- At that time, the law of inertia does not apply; they simply appear in the dungeon.
- They can only bring in items of a size and weight that the Awakened person recognizes as 'their own belongings' and can carry on their own. This rule is highly likely to apply to the person holding the steering wheel.

"It's looking more and more like we'll have to use Awakened Persons as heavy machinery inside dungeons."

"Apparently, that's how it's always been in the SDF. With a level of just '10', they have the power of a horse or a bear. They said that's how they built the structures at the entrances."

"But they're still human. They can't transport large quantities of materials as efficiently as heavy machinery, and it will affect construction."

"Plus, securing materials for base construction is tough. There's reconstruction happening everywhere, and there's a global shortage of goods right now. It would be better to use resources from within the dungeon..."

"Should we request cooperation from Civil Engineering Magic users after all...? We'll discuss it with the SDF and put out requests at each Dungeon Store. If we use the know-how from building the facilities around the entrance gates, we should be able to build them in a short time, as long as we can fend off monster attacks."

"A request? Do we have the budget for that? Civil Engineering Magic users are in high demand everywhere."

"Considering the current market rates, it should be cheaper than using materials from outside the dungeon. If that's still not enough... we'll have to recruit volunteers."

"You can't get blood from a stone, after all."

A male staff member holding a tablet shrugged his shoulders slightly.

"But if the plan to build bases inside dungeons moves forward, couldn't that be a ray of light in this recession?"

Another staff member next to him spoke up.

"I heard that just having a police-box-type building would be a significant advantage during stampedes and culls. If a proper base is built, we might be able to further reduce the risk of stampedes."

"'Safety' is the most important investment. If we see a clear decrease in stampedes, investors who left might come back."

"Couldn't we even apply this technology to 'cultivation' inside dungeons?"

"It's too early to think about that. More importantly, we should consider 'turning dungeons into prisons.' The Awakened criminals we've captured are putting a considerable strain on the regular prison system."

"That would be a human rights violation. Putting people in dungeons without their consent is illegal, as stipulated in the Dungeon Law."

"...What if we just sold the 'land' inside dungeons to Awakened Persons?"

As the staff continued their rapid-fire discussion, that single muttered sentence brought a few seconds of silence to the room.

The relatively young staff member who had spoken looked around at the others in a panic.

"Ah, no. I wasn't being serious or anything."

"...We may have to consider that option as well."

"Director."

Another staff member next to Director Akasaka, who had nodded with a frown, objected.

"That's far too dangerous. If something were to happen inside, who would be held responsible...? Above all, it would lead to the 'privatization of dungeons.' There's a strong possibility that it would empower criminal organizations even more."

"Yes. It would be a last resort, but we should still consider it. Even if it's an idea that should be discarded... no, precisely because it's an idea that should be discarded, we must think about it. I'm sorry, but could you prepare a few proposals in case we have to implement it?"

"Y-Yes, sir!"

The staff member who had spoken earlier straightened his back and nodded.

"The best-case scenario is for the government to handle everything on its own. But the very reason for the 'Dungeon Law' is that we can't. Everyone, always assume the worst-case scenario."

"Yes, sir."

"Uh, can I say something too?"

A male staff member raised his hand while looking at his tablet.

"It's about Awakened Persons and dungeons. We've received some data on 'level reduction in Awakened Persons'."

"Let's hear it."

"I've just sent the data to everyone's terminals, so I'll explain as you look at it."

As the staff members looked at their tablets and smartphones, he continued.

"It's about an Awakened Person who raised their level to '14'. Apparently, they hadn't been in a dungeon for a year. As a result, their level dropped to '13'."

"...According to this document, this kind of natural level decrease only seems to happen to those with a level of '10 or higher'."

"That's right. Regarding this, a report from a cooperating research institute suggests the 'possibility of atrophy similar to muscles if not used.' Similar data has been obtained from other 'adventurers who have stopped going to dungeons'."

"Atrophy, huh. Should we take this as good news or bad news?"

"If that hypothesis is correct, could it be that continuously defeating monsters weaker than oneself might also hinder level-ups?"

"Maintaining muscle requires a certain amount of load, after all."

"It's dangerous to get too caught up in hypotheses. It's still in the research stage."

"You're right. But if this is correct, it means you can't just 'kill Matangos to reach level 100,' huh..."

"We haven't received any such reports from active adventurers yet, so it's unclear to what extent levels will naturally decrease. But at the very least, the burden on prisons may lighten, even if only slightly, in the future."

"The next question is whether or not we should inform the public about this. I'll take it upstairs for now. Can I use this document as is?"

"I prepared it with speed as the priority, so it might need some revisions."

"Understood. We'll handle that on our end."

"Roger that."

After that, the discussion continued at a rapid pace.

The topic shifted to the attack on Turohorse.

"Now, regarding the attack on Turohorse... how much information have we gathered?"

"We've been tracking it online, but we've come up with nothing. The police can't openly investigate either, since Turohorse itself denies any wrongdoing."

"From the footage of surveillance cameras on the roads, it's certain that three trucks were on the move. The trucks, believed to have been abandoned, have already been found on the border between Saitama and Yamanashi prefectures. However, we haven't been able to track them since."

"Apparently they were abandoned right on the prefectural border. I wonder if there will be a turf war over this."

"In this case, it's more likely they're trying to push it onto each other. No one wants to deal with anything related to Turohorse."

A female staff member, with her laptop open, continued her report.

"It seems one of the attackers has a skill that can conceal people and objects. The camera captured something like a black haze, but we can't identify whose skill it is from that alone."

"What about the whereabouts of the 68 missing people?"

"That's still unknown. It's a large number of people, so it shouldn't be easy to hide them..."

"Did they use magic or something? Well, in this day and age, I guess they really could have used magic."

"...In any case, the police will be the main ones pursuing this matter. We'll be in a support role. Since we don't have a grasp of the situation, we can't rule out the possibility that the attackers are dangerous terrorists."

Ignoring the pain in his stomach that he unconsciously felt, Director Akasaka stated firmly.

"Also, we will continue to question Turohorse. Something definitely happened. We need them to tell us what's going on."

"We understand, but please, refrain from going to see them in person, Director."

"That's right. There are few skills that can be activated over the phone for now, but some Awakened can even brainwash you if you meet them face to face."

"Yes. I'll be very careful."

"Excuse me. I have something to report regarding Turohorse as well."

One of the staff members, holding a smartphone, raised his hand, and the director nodded.

"Go ahead. Any little thing will do."

"We just received a report from a Dungeon Store. Apparently, 'monster poaching' is rampant, and the number of victims is increasing. And it's been happening since the day of the Turohorse attack."

"I've received similar reports. They say they were blindsided during a battle and had their drop items stolen."

"Ah! I have a report from a store in my jurisdiction too! It's not just poaching, it seems 'monster trains' are also happening...!"

As the staff members looked at their smartphones and reported one after another...

—Riiing!!

A shrill electronic sound echoed.

It was the landline phone on the desk.

—Riiing!!

—Riiing!!

One after another, the phones began to ring. And then, the work smartphones they carried also began to chime with incoming calls.

Their faces twitched at the abnormal situation, as the phones suddenly began to sing in a grand chorus.

"Everyone, don't stop. First, gather information. Move!"

"Yes, sir!"

The director's voice snapped the staff out of their stupor, and they all rushed to their desks. He himself answered his own ringing work phone.

"Director Akasaka! It's an emergency, there are troubles in dungeons all over the country...!"

"Calm down. Take your time. Tell me the details."

Speaking gently to the person on the other end of the line, he rubbed his own stomach through his slightly wrinkled suit.

The night at the Dungeon Agency would be a long one.