10th May, 2023
It had been a few days since the last episode. The three high ranking officials who had been sent to prison were not been given much time at all. One of the three guys actually passed away while incarcerated. He apparently felt betrayed and intended to use his attorney to leak more information. He couldn't, of course. These wealthy individuals regularly bought off the guards of these high-ranking officials, and just like Jeffrey Epstein, they killed him.
Naturally, this was done more spotlessly than Jeffrey, and the guards made sure he would get food poisoning to perish. Robin was aware of what was happening but did nothing to halt it. The person who passed away deserved it in any case, and those responsible would soon be on their way; it was only a question of time.
His other two businesses had grown organically in the previous few months. After introducing the data compression technology, Henry Liang was able to expand the company's reach significantly. After their initial, enormous triumph, they launched a JARVIS-aided, partially developed AI. Recently, the open source AI had been the talk of the town, but after Henry's team released their own AI that could successfully filter out content from the internet, the open source AI gained more momentum.
Similar to the last time, Henry was approached by a slew of IT giants who begged to use his technology. Henry naturally concurred, but for some reason he declined to do business with Amazon. Henry hadn't forgotten that Amazon had been unprofessional the last time they had visited. He therefore made the decision to wage war against Amazon after receiving the all-clear from his covert boss.
As soon as the current CEO of Amazon, Andy Hassy, learned what had happened, he chose to double down and use bullying tactics against Henry and his business rather than looking out for his own workers and conducting an investigation.
"Amazon seemed to be going out of hand." Sigret reaffirmed what had occurred as she said.
"Tell Henry not to care about Amazon. His shouldn't be stressed about what had happened. Let them bully, I would like to see how far they would go." Robin answered. Sigret gave a gesture and relayed the information. Bully in this context refers to making threats to sue the business for breaking prior agreements. They might not be able to prove anything, of course, but it would certainly drag them through the mud and slow down their company.
Robin also faced a crucial decision today because the Nien Studios had completed the game he had requested from them. A small game that had the ideas of Robin. It didn't take long to complete it because it was a classic Aladdin-style game.
When he opened the game, he noticed that the inventory was showing a lot of goods. He went on to reach out from the screen, but gravity intervened and prevented him.
"What?" Robin got scared for a second because he thought he had lost his power. He then tested his ability in other games and discovered that everything was in working order.
"Your worst fear thus came true. In no way your power would allow you to cheat." Sigret cracked up when she saw Robin seated like a duck. Before, Robin attempted to use cheat codes to pull things out, but that didn't work.
Later, when he made the decision to create his own game with the aid of others, even that failed. His power seemed to be omnipotent and strictly followed the ethics.
"This is bullshit." Robin became a little irritated. Although it now seemed impossible, he had wanted the gaming company to create games that catered to his power.
"It's okay. We already possess sufficient power and information." Myrene made a remark.
*Sigh*
Robin got another massive block in his power. Although it wasn't really a problem for him, he did have ambitions like any other individual. He hoped that one day he would be able to create a game based on Naruto or another fantastic, high-level anime that would let him acquire incredible power by doing something similar to eating a Chakra fruit.
Dream may always remain a fantasy!
As he was drowning a bit on self pity, his phone rang. It was Cathrin. Due to work in Taiwan, she had been gone for the previous few days, but she would soon be back. She officially became Robin's girlfriend after their 3rd date which they went after coming from the island.
Robin asked her to be his girlfriend and she happily accepted. She phoned to let them know she was returning to Malaysia. Robin made the decision to meet her when she arrived at the airport. His other house in Amsterdam had almost completely slipped his mind because he was living quite comfortably here. He rarely went to that house and instead spent most of his time watching the progress EVE was making in North Korea.
The North Koreans who sucked on other people's lives were already aware of their destiny. After they observed how the nation was transforming, there was no turning back. They only prayed that when the change was finished, the Premier wouldn't kill them. As a result, they were working as hard as they could to support the Premier rather than fighting the shift.
Of course, none of this mattered to Sigret because she had been gradually robbing them of their powers and rendering them worthless. Robin had made the decision to govern the nation for 20 to 30 years with the aid of AI once the country had undergone its full transformation. By then, the populace would be well-educated and capable of forming their own opinions. After that, he would permit the nation to adopt democracy and enable them to lead their own lives. He never gave much thought to governing a nation indefinitely because that would be absurd.
—————
While Robin was enjoying himself, something else was going on near the tiny, recently renovated city of Chungga-Dong on the western coast of the DPRK. The coast of the neighbouring city was where a boat had drifted. One of the fishing vessels responsible for maintaining EVE's seaweed output discovered a boat with an unconscious man inside. As soon as EVE learned of this situation, they she alerted the Novus that an unidentified boat had drifted to their shore. Soon, some Ohm bots arrived to transport the unconscious guy to the Chunnga-Dong hospital.
The man was quite dehydrated and was very near to suffering from hypothermia. The doctors from the Arks were quite competent and was able to help the man recover in a day's time. When the guy opened his eyes, he noticed a few individuals standing nearby and glancing at him suspiciously.
The guy who had drifted looked almost like a typical Korean with mono-lid eyes, plump face and a small nose. Nobody would have given a damn if it had been any other period in the nation. North Korea, however, wasn't the same nation it was a few months ago. It was different. And the people who were gazing at him with suspicious eyes were Robin, Sigret and Myrene themselves.
When the guy noticed these individuals staring at him, he became alarmed. He spoke Korean with the usual North Korean accent.
"I.. Where am I?" The man asked taking a cursory glance at the things around which seemed like a hospital.
"Chunnga-Dong, DPRK's South Western Province."
"Chungga-Dong? It's so far from Songang-Ni.. I apologise. I headed out to sea to capture some fish for the family, but I wound up getting caught in a storm instead. Thank you for taking care of me." The guy spoke as he continued to feel extremely uneasy while being observed. Robin made a head motion.
"Why did you go out into the ocean? Didn't the city announce for the men not to go to the sea?" Myrene enquired.
"Uh.. I am sorry.. I didn't hear any such announcement. I merely needed some food to sustain my helpless kids and wife." The guy said that with a very sad expression. When he said those words, one could see the suffering in his gaze.
"Hmm.. You're fortunate that some sailors noticed you. We are the supervisors here that the Premier engaged to train the North Korean soldiers. You would have been killed for breaking into a military base if it were anywhere else. Fortunately, there are no classified documents in this location, so you are free to leave." said Robin. When he realised he had entered a military base, the man became frightened. He then began to thank Robin profusely for saving him and made a pledge to assist him again if he was ever in a position to.
He received some cash from Robin, who also advised him to tend to his family at home because they might be concerned about him. As he said farewell to Robin, the man almost broke down in tears as he expressed his gratitude to Robin.
---
Read 20 chapters ahead on my p@treon.com/thelightedghost