Chapter 138: That Time I Opened a Casino in South America (2)

TL: Skye

Choi City was breaking revenue records day after day.

But once the entire city hit the jackpot, all kinds of problems no one had anticipated began pouring in.

The first to erupt was infrastructure.

“Your Excellency, we don’t have enough hotels. Weekend occupancy has hit 95 percent, and even on weekdays it never drops below 85 percent. Tourists who arrive without reservations can’t find a vacant room and have no choice but to go back to Libertad.”

Hotels weren’t the only problem.

The trains connecting Libertad to Choi City were packed to capacity every single day.

On top of that, as more tourists began renting cars, traffic jams started forming along the coastal highway.

Traffic jams in San Marcos. That was a first.

Water and electricity were problems as well.

Far more tourists were visiting than anyone had imagined, pushing capacity to its limits.

There wasn’t enough water to fill the hotel pools, and the restaurant district had even suffered brief power outages.

The airport had also reached the limits of its capacity.

Direct flights from Miami, New York, and Houston were being added one after another, but Libertad International Airport, built back when San Marcos barely even qualified as a developing country, had only three runways.

As a result, during peak hours, some planes were even forced to circle overhead while waiting for permission to land.

It was a complete mess on every front, but Yu-jin remained calm.

“Let’s deal with them one at a time.”

It wasn’t as though things had ever gone smoothly for long.

Yu-jin was very familiar with situations like this.

“Building hotels takes a lot of time. And unlike when construction on Choi City first began, conditions around the site have changed, so construction has become much more difficult. Which is why... I was thinking, what about starting an RV rental business?”

“...RVs?”

“Yes. We import RVs in bulk from the United States and set up an RV zone near the beach. As long as we hook them up to electricity and water, we can start operating immediately.”

Yu-jin added,

“Sleeping in an RV on a Caribbean beach sounds pretty romantic in its own way, doesn’t it? Americans love RVs. In the meantime, we can build more places to stay. There’s no reason everything has to be an expensive hotel.”

Not a bad idea.

Antonio nodded.

“And as for transportation... we’ll add more trains. We’ll establish new bus routes as well.”

Ramos, the Senior Secretary for Construction, made a note.

“At the same time, begin expanding the infrastructure immediately. Contact Saseong Corporation about the airport as well and press them to complete Libertad Second Airport as quickly as possible. Deploy Tortilla Construction’s idle equipment and manpower to the airport project. Phase One of New Town is almost complete, so they should have personnel and equipment to spare.”

“Understood.”

Infrastructure problems were, in the end, problems that time and money could solve.

Choi City was already bringing in the money, and San Marcos’s construction capacity would shorten the time required.

In truth, the more difficult problem wasn’t infrastructure. It was people.

As Choi City grew explosively, it developed a severe shortage of service workers.

To keep the hotel front desks, restaurant servers, casino dealers, golf-course caddies, marina staff, and everything else operating smoothly, they needed at least a thousand more workers than they had now.

“We’re continuing to hire additional workers, but there aren’t enough applicants.”

“Raise the wages. Make them 20 percent higher than the Libertad average.”

“If we do that, workers may start leaving existing industries.”

“I’ll allow any Venezuelan workers currently employed at the New Town construction sites to transfer if they wish. That should take care of the immediate shortage, shouldn’t it?”

“That could work...!”

Resa, the ministry’s senior aide, raised a hand.

“Language is another problem. Right now, we’re getting poor reviews for service quality because the workers struggle with English.”

“There’s no immediate solution to that. We’ll have to create an English-language training program and teach them as quickly as possible. Put together an intensive three-month course focused on basic conversation.”

Director Alves raised a hand and spoke.

“We’ve received reports that gambling dens have begun appearing throughout Libertad.”

“Hmm...”

The casinos in Choi City were, in principle, for foreigners only. San Marcos citizens were prohibited from entering, but human curiosity was not something the law could stop.

Perhaps inspired by the casinos, small illegal gambling establishments had begun popping up throughout Libertad.

Of course, it was still in its early stages. Most were nothing more than shabby back-alley shops where people played cards or rolled dice for small stakes, usually just for fun.

But Yu-jin knew better. Gambling started small and ended big.

Yu-jin spoke firmly.

“Announce that anyone caught gambling illegally will face severe punishment. And... let’s launch an anti-gambling campaign.”

Yu-jin paused for a moment.

“A campaign?”

“Yes. Posters, television commercials, and so on.”

“It may be difficult to attract people’s attention.”

“Then I’ll appear in them myself.”

And so posters of Yu-jin in a suit, arms folded as he stared straight ahead, were plastered all over San Marcos.

[Gambling is the shortcut to ruin! The only way to protect the family is honest, hard work!]

It was an open secret that Isabella had taken thirty copies of the poster under the pretext of reviewing the design.

*

Yu-jin thought his quick thinking had solved the urgent problems, but the real trouble surfaced later.

Drugs and prostitution had appeared in Choi City.

Originally, the crime rate among San Marcos citizens had been practically zero.

That was the result of six years spent by Yu-jin wiping out gangs, rehabilitating them through Tortilla Farm, and having the SIA establish a comprehensive surveillance system.

But as Choi City came to life, trouble began flowing in from outside.

There were two ways they were getting into the country.

The first was by sea.

The Caribbean was vast, and San Marcos had a long coastline. It was impossible to stop every small boat trying to slip into the country illegally. Most of the illegal entrants came from Colombia and Mexico, and many of them were drug couriers.

The second route was much more brazen. They simply flew in.

Women coming to engage in prostitution and members of American gangs posed as tourists and entered the country legally.

Low-ranking gang members with no criminal records entered on tourist visas, then distributed drugs in Choi City.

“We’ve detected small-scale drug transactions inside Choi City. No large distribution network has formed yet, but it’s only a matter of time.”

“And prostitution?”

“Women calling themselves hostesses have begun appearing in bars near the beach. Most appear to have entered illegally from Colombia and Mexico.”

Yu-jin rubbed his forehead.

Frankly, prostitution was difficult to stamp out when illegal entry wasn’t involved.

As long as a woman had entered legally and was working voluntarily, it was difficult to crack down, and trying to punish a foreign national could easily develop into a diplomatic dispute.

Americans in particular were even more troublesome.

Even so, drugs had to be eradicated.

‘Maybe there’s nothing I can do about prostitution, but drugs are absolutely out of the question.’

Drugs ruined countries.

Colombia had shown that. Mexico had shown that. Once a drug cartel took root, even deploying the military wasn’t enough to tear it out.

In the end, Yu-jin called Drump through the hotline and asked for his cooperation.

“American gang members are entering Choi City disguised as tourists. They’re trying to distribute drugs as well. If this continues, it could eventually have a negative impact on business at the Drump Casino & Resort.”

The moment Yu-jin mentioned the Drump hotel, Drump’s voice changed.

“What?! Drugs in my hotel? They dare? Absolutely not!”

“That’s why I’m considering creating a provision allowing American citizens who commit crimes here to be punished under San Marcos law.”

“Of course! There’s no need to show mercy to garbage like that!”

With Drump’s cooperation secured, Yu-jin moved on to the next step.

“We’re enacting two laws.”

Yu-jin placed a draft on the table.

“Foreign nationals who commit serious crimes within San Marcos territory, including human trafficking, robbery, theft, and murder, will not be deported to their home countries. They will be punished under San Marcos law.”

Teixeira, the Senior Secretary for Legal Affairs, widened his eyes.

“If they’re punished under our laws...”

“Yes. Just like our own citizens, they’ll receive coal mine sentences ranging from a minimum of ten years to a maximum of one hundred years, depending on the severity of the offense.”

The conference room fell silent.

One hundred years.

It was a sentence longer than the human lifespan. In practical terms, it amounted to life imprisonment, but the number carried far more psychological weight than the words life sentence ever could.

“And drugs.”

Yu-jin continued calmly.

“The same applies here. Just like our own citizens, there will be no distinction between distribution and personal use. Seventy years in the coal mines.”

Sophia asked cautiously,

“Won’t that cause diplomatic friction? If we sentence an American citizen to seventy years...”

“I’ve already discussed it with President Drump. The United States doesn’t want its own gangs distributing drugs overseas either. He agreed to cooperate.”

Yu-jin looked around at everyone.

“There is no mercy for crime.”

And so the laws were promulgated.

Less than twenty-four hours later, the provisions appeared in the Official Gazette and were posted throughout Choi City.

Then, forty-eight hours later, the Homeland Security Agency moved.

4:00 a.m.

A rundown warehouse on the outskirts of Choi City.

Thirty Homeland Security Agency agents surrounded the building.

“Go!”

The door shattered.

Boom!

A flashbang and tear gas grenade went off simultaneously.

Bang! Bang bang bang!

Amid the sharp cracks of rifle fire, the six people inside hit the floor.

Piles of white powder wrapped in plastic sat stacked on the table.

Approximately five kilograms. Several hundred thousand dollars’ worth at street prices.

A Security Agency agent grabbed one of the distributors by the back of the neck and said,

“You are under emergency arrest on suspicion of drug distribution. You have no right to retain an attorney, and if you refuse to make a statement incriminating yourself, you may be executed by firing squad. As the evidence of your crime is overwhelmingly clear, you are hereby informed that summary disposition will be carried out without trial. Take him to the coal mine!”

San Marcos-style law enforcement, making it clear that criminals had no such thing as human rights.

At the same time, an operation to shut down an illegal-entry route was underway near the Port of Libertad.

“Fire!”

Ratatatatat!

The machine gun mounted on the patrol boat spat fire.

“Aaaagh...!”

“Run!”

The boat attempting to sneak into the country was riddled with holes. Moments later...

Boom!

The engine caught fire with an explosive blast.

Once they’d shot the hell out of them, going over to arrest them was only common courtesy.

The Security Agency officers aboard the patrol boat seized three small boats, and drugs and weapons were found aboard them.

“Trying to bring drugs into San Marcos? You’ve got some nerve.”

The next day, reports of the Security Agency’s exploits spread across public television.

[San Marcos Homeland Security Agency Wipes Out Choi City Drug Distribution Ring]

[All 14 Arrested Sentenced to 70 Years Under San Marcos Criminal Law!]

[San Marcos Government: No Compromise in the War on Drugs]

As the news spread, crime in Choi City plummeted.

The fear inspired by the number seventy had worked exactly as intended.

The understanding spread that dabbling in drugs on a whim in San Marcos could end a person’s life. Among the cartels, word began circulating that messing with San Marcos meant getting royally screwed.

And in the midst of all this, Yu-jin...

“Excellent work. We should give a bonus to the Security Agency agents who worked through the night.”

He sat in his office listening to Director Alves’s report, smiling with immense satisfaction.

There was no mercy for crime.

That was San Marcos.

*****

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