Chapter 73: The Government’s Question
The emergency briefing was held in the Blue House’s underground situation room, and Jake hated every second of it.
Not because of the room—though the fluorescent lights and lack of windows made him feel like he was back in a dungeon. Not because of the people—though the collection of generals, ministers, and advisors packed into the space had the collective warmth of a refrigerator. He hated it because they were asking the wrong question.
“Can we weaponize it?” said the Minister of National Defense.
Jake closed his eyes. Counted to five. Opened them.
“The mana-adapted bamboo is a naturally occurring ecological phenomenon,” Dr. Yoon Sera said from the seat beside him. She had been invited as the scientific expert. She had not been told that “scientific expert” meant “person who justifies whatever the military wants to do.” “It is not a weapon. It is not weaponizable. It’s a plant.”
“A plant that generates an energy source capable of powering abilities that can level buildings,” the Defense Minister replied. “That sounds like a weapon to me.”
“Sunlight can cause skin cancer. That doesn’t make the sun a weapon.”
“Dr. Yoon—”
“The correct question,” Jake interrupted, “isn’t whether we can weaponize it. The correct question is what happens when it spreads beyond the exclusion zone. Because it will. The bamboo’s mana production is increasing exponentially. Within a year, possibly sooner, it’ll outgrow the Gwangju perimeter. Within five years, mana-adapted ecosystems could appear at every former rift site on the Korean peninsula.”
The room went quiet. The kind of quiet that happens when powerful people realize they’re dealing with something their power can’t control.
“And then?” asked the Prime Minister, who had been sitting at the head of the table saying nothing, which Jake had learned was his preferred method of governing.
“Then we have a choice. We can try to contain it—burn the bamboo, sterilize the soil, treat mana ecology as a threat to be eliminated. That’s the fear response.”
“Or?”
“Or we study it. Understand it. Learn how mana-adapted ecosystems work and how they interact with existing ones. And we prepare for a world where mana isn’t just a leftover from the apocalypse—it’s a permanent part of the environment.”
“A permanent part,” the Defense Minister said, as if tasting something unpleasant.
“The rifts are closed. The System is gone. But mana is still here, and nature has found a way to make it its own. We can fight that or work with it. Those are the only two options.”
The Prime Minister stood. The room stood with him. “Mr. Park. You saved this country—arguably this planet—during the apocalypse. Your judgment has earned a significant amount of trust.” He paused. “Establish a research institute. Gwangju. Fully funded. You and Dr. Yoon will co-direct. Military oversight, but civilian-led. I want answers, not weapons.”
He left. The generals filed out. The ministers shuffled their papers and avoided eye contact, which was the bureaucratic equivalent of a tantrum.
Sera leaned over. “Did we just get a research institute?”
“We just got a research institute.”
“I’ve never run a research institute.”
“I’ve never run anything that didn’t involve killing monsters. We’ll figure it out.”
“Jake.”
“Yeah?”
“The Defense Minister is going to try to sabotage this.”
“Probably.”
“And the military will want to control the mana output.”
“Definitely.”
“And other countries will notice what’s growing in Gwangju and want access.”
“Absolutely.”
“So we’re not just running a research institute. We’re running a political minefield.”
Jake stood up. His knees popped. Forty-five felt different after twenty years of combat—not old, exactly, but aware of itself in ways that twenty-five never was.
“I fought gods and monsters for three years,” he said. “Politicians can’t be worse.”
“They’re exactly the same. Except politicians don’t have health bars.”
Jake laughed. The sound echoed in the empty situation room, bouncing off concrete walls that had been built to withstand nuclear strikes and were now, somehow, hosting conversations about magical bamboo.
The apocalypse was over. The next chapter was weirder.