Chapter 27: That Time I Distributed Food Rations in South America.

TL: Skye

Deep into the night, Yu-jin woke from sleep and was crying like a little child.

Isabella found this bizarre and asked him.

"Did you have a frightening dream?"

"No."

"Did you have a sad dream?"

"No. I dreamed that San Marcos became prosperous, with everyone well-fed and living comfortably, enjoying the leisurely life of a FIRE movement follower."

"Then why are you crying so sorrowfully?"

Yu-jin wiped away his flowing tears and said quietly.

"Because that dream can never come true."

"......"

I embellished it a bit (about 50%), but it actually happened.

When I realized I could never go home, the shock was just too much.

But not anymore.

Where is this? San Marcos, where America provides aid and Korea invests.

Who am I? The Acting President of San Marcos, where America provides aid and Korea invests.

With two economic superpowers backing me, fifteen years is far too long!

I set a new goal: retire within ten years.

'Once I retire, I'll build a nice house overlooking the ocean, fish day and night, and slice up sashimi from my own catch. Add a glass of soju on the side? Oh, perfection!'

Just thinking about it made my mouth water.

Of course, I'd never been fishing and never sliced sashimi before, but surely I'd figure it out with practice.

'Heheh.'

And so, while I was dreaming of such a beautiful tomorrow and a bright future...

"Your Excellency, we have a crisis."

First thing in the morning, Isabella burst into the office, her face drained of color.

The iron lady who hadn't batted an eye even during the civil war was visibly shaken, and I shot to my feet before I even knew it.

"What, what is it?"

"Please look at this."

Isabella held out a tablet. CNN breaking news filled the screen.

[BREAKING NEWS: US Government Shutdown]

"The US federal government has shut down."

"A Government Shutdown?"

"The budget failed to pass Congress, so administrative operations are paralyzed. And as a result..."

Isabella swallowed hard.

"The disbursement of the 500 million dollars in aid that was promised to us has been postponed indefinitely."

"......"

What kind of bolt from the blue was this?

I'd just barely ended a civil war and negotiated a good deal, thinking I was finally about to get my hands on some money, and now the government had closed up shop.

"...When is this supposed to be resolved?"

"At best a week, at worst it could take over a month... And even after it's resolved, there are still problems. Budget disbursements will be backed up across the board, so there's no telling when ours will even be put on the agenda, let alone executed..."

"Hah..."

A deep sigh escaped on its own.

'I knew things were going too well.'

Of course, it wasn't as if there was no money at all.

Of Juan Marcos's slush fund, the remaining 6.3 billion dollars was still sitting in the Tortilla Company's accounts.

Honestly, how much could it cost to buy a few ships and purchase corn seed?

The only real expense had been drones during the civil war.

Still, I was uneasy. This wasn't just anyone; it was Drump.

There was no telling when he'd change his mind again.

"I didn't see this one coming..."

This wasn't going to work as things stood.

I'd have to settle for receiving goods instead.

I picked up the phone immediately.

Ring... ring...

A moment later, before the phone had even rung more than a few times, Ellen's voice came through.

[So you've heard the news. I'm so sorry about this. Those old men in Congress are being stubborn and the funding...]

Ellen's voice was a mix of urgency and apology.

And no wonder. She must have been terrified that San Marcos, which they'd gone to such trouble to court, might get offended and blow the lid off the Chevron affair again.

"I saw the news. So listen, let me make a proposal."

[A proposal?]

"Take your time with the loans. But that 500 million in aid you promised us, is there any chance you could give it to us in kind?"

[In kind... you say?]

"I was going to use that money to buy goods anyway, so since things turned out this way, I was thinking we could just receive it as food supplies."

Just like how Korea once received wheat flour and cornmeal from America.

A brief silence came from the other end of the line.

Then Ellen's voice rose a full octave.

[Are you serious?]

"There is one condition, though. Make sure it arrives at the San Marcos port by the end of this week. And cover the shipping costs on your end. That much is doable, right?"

At that, Ellen burst out laughing.

[Hahaha! Of course! As a matter of fact, the Department of Agriculture has been racking its brains over how to deal with their surplus grain reserves, and if you'll take it off our hands, we'd be more than grateful!]

"Is it a sure thing this time?"

[Even during a shutdown, emergency relief supply exports and inventory management can be carved out as exceptions. And since no cash is leaving the country, there's no need to worry about Congress. I'll arrange transport ships right away!]

"Oh, and please don't send it all at once. I'd appreciate it if you could split it into five shipments, once every three months."

[Don't worry! I'll handpick items with plenty of shelf life and ship them out!]

The call ended. I set the receiver down and looked at Isabella.

"Problem solved."

"......"

"Actually, this worked out even better. If we'd bought it ourselves, we'd have had headaches dealing with shipping and everything else, but they're handling delivery for us."

At the mention of free shipping, Isabella gaped with a blank expression.

"I never imagined you'd resolve this so easily."

"Just a bit of quick thinking, that's all. And..."

I set down my coffee cup and spoke.

"Since things turned out this way, how about we go big with this?"

"I'm not sure what you mean by 'go big'."

"We've just secured a full year's worth of food for every citizen of San Marcos, for free. So what should we do with the money we were originally going to spend on food?"

"I'd think we should spend it on other urgent needs."

"No, see, that's how nothing ever changes."

"Then..."

"Let's buy cattle and build ranches. Slaughterhouses and processing plants too. Let's get some meat flowing across the country."

The people of San Marcos deserved meat toppings on their tortillas.

***

With a GDP per capita of 2,800 dollars and an average urban worker's monthly income of 300 dollars, the meals of San Marcos's citizens were mostly the same.

Tortillas made from a mix of cornmeal and wheat flour, and burritos stuffed with various fillings. The only difference was whether the fillings were meager or generous; they got through at least one meal a day with these.

But recently, the people of San Marcos had been facing serious hardship.

When the civil war broke out, food importers, wholesalers, and grocery stores had all raised their prices in unison.

Some particularly shameless merchants had even hiked prices by five times.

Since the country was so poor that most people only kept enough food on hand for the immediate term, the people of San Marcos had no choice but to go hungry.

After the civil war ended and sales resumed, prices did come down, but the citizens who had watched their children cry from hunger were understandably furious.

"What the hell is the government doing?"

"When President Juan Marcos was around, this kind of thing never happened..."

"Shh, keep it down! You want to get dragged off to the gulag?"

"Life is this hard and we can't even speak up?! God, honestly!"

But when that day came, the voices of criticism vanished in an instant.

The same Asian man appeared on TV as always. And his voice began spreading across every corner of San Marcos through the airwaves.

[My esteemed citizens.]

A gentle voice. One that did not suit an iron-fisted dictator at all.

[Amid the civil war and chaos, prices have risen far too much. I believe a reality where people are afraid to buy even affordable cornmeal is a clear dereliction of government duty.]

[Therefore, I have made the decision to cut food prices in half.]

People began to stir. Cut food prices by how much? Half? How on earth?

Soon, the method came pouring out of Yu-jin's mouth one after another.

[Tomorrow afternoon, 250,000 tons of cornmeal and wheat flour will arrive at the port of Libertad. The government plans to release it at half the market price.]

First, he announced a plan to crush the food merchants who had profiteered during the civil war.

[Additionally, we will import large quantities of livestock such as cattle, pigs, and chickens, and construct ranches and processing plants. The meat produced there will be sold at low prices to make our citizens' tortillas bountiful.]

He announced a plan to supply the people with protein.

[The government will never turn a blind eye to its people's hunger. Please bear with us just a little longer.]

After the broadcast ended, a brief silence fell.

People could not believe what Yu-jin had said. It made no sense that a dictator who had sent countless people to the gulag would suddenly become Santa Claus.

But when the government's half-price flour began hitting the market the very next afternoon, their doubts vanished in an instant.

"Is this real? I can buy cornmeal at this price?"

"A buy-one-get-one-free policy? Buy one sack and get another free?"

Once the citizens confirmed the abundance of food flooding the markets, they finally realized it.

That the dictator they had feared was, in truth, a savior who would save them from starvation.

"Viva Yu-jin! Viva Presidente!"

"That man is our father!"

"Thank you, God! Thank you, Yu-jin Choi!"

It was the moment when fear turned to reverence, and reverence turned to fanaticism.

And at that same moment, Yu-jin in his office heard the report that the public response was excellent and smirked.

"That's great."

"It's more than great. At this rate, even 100% approval isn't out of the question."

Isabella reported in an excited voice. Yu-jin nodded and took a sip of coffee.

"The ranches and processing plants are being built properly?"

"Yes, large-scale ranch construction has begun on the southern grasslands of the Central Basin. The foundation work is already finished, and the main construction has commenced. It's expected to be completed by early next month, and we'll bring in cattle and pigs from the US to match that timeline."

"Are there enough workers?"

"More than enough. Corn farming turned out to require less labor than expected, so there's quite a surplus of idle manpower."

"Good. Farming during the busy season, tending livestock during the off-season... Still, we'll probably need dedicated personnel, won't we?"

Isabella answered with a subtle smile.

"I've already assigned people with prior experience in the livestock industry. There were surprisingly quite a few."

"No complaints?"

"When they were told it was for the good of the country, everyone reportedly jumped at the chance."

"Oh, is that so? Seeing things like this, nature really must have a healing power for the soul."

Yu-jin smiled warmly.

"Where will the slaughtering and processing be done?"

"We've secured land on the outskirts of Libertad."

Isabella held out her tablet PC and showed him the factory's aerial rendering.

"By building a factory like this, we plan to produce not just simple butchered meat but also processed meats like ham, sausages, and bacon. Once the factory is complete, it's expected to create approximately 3,000 new jobs."

"3,000 people... That's quite substantial."

"Yes. It will be a great help in alleviating unemployment."

"Good. Very good."

And so, with everything falling into place, a happy Yu-jin was...

Ring ring~

"Hello?"

[It's Drump. I heard the news. I was pulling my hair out over this shutdown, and you went and made the very smart choice of taking food instead of cash! And unlike all those other countries that only think about milking America dry, you even used your own money to buy our soybeans and livestock? Excellent! Absolutely excellent! This is exactly what I want! Keep doing exactly this. Then I, Donald Drump, will personally make sure I've got your back! Hahahaha!]

"...?"

He had received a phone call of unexpected praise.

*****

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