Chapter 21: Ugh! The Red Elf?

It’s an unfamiliar ceiling.

A hospital?

Don’t tell me… I fainted?

“General… are you okay?”

It’s Ion. She should be in Pyongyang.

“Ah, yes… I think I’m alright…”

I was lying on a hospital bed.

Familiar faces surrounded me.

From my beloved Ion, to Jeonghun, the first person I talked to after returning home, Grandpa Chunshik, and… who was that…

A familiar red-haired elf… a commie…?

“I’m Elena Vladi. Since we’ll be working together, I figured I should at least visit you while you’re sick.”

What she means by working together is…

***

Major General Kim, who had been dumped with all sorts of documents and administrative tasks by Fride.

Let’s look at a tiny fraction of the tasks assigned.

1. Codifying the administrative measures for the formation of the Territory Reclamation Command’s direct combat unit.
2. Reinstating the administrative system of the defunct Korean People’s Army General Political Bureau to plant political officers in each unit and applying it to the Pyongyang Defense Force.
3. Testing all soldiers for the awakening of ‘This Ability’ and preparing for it.
4. Codifying the administrative measures to transfer soldiers identified as Powered Individuals from the above tests to the ‘This Ability’ Combat Unit under the direct combat unit.

And he began doing things Fride hadn’t even asked for.

Of course, he wasn’t up to any strange tricks. If he were, his limbs likely wouldn’t remain attached to their original positions.

What he proceeded with was the deification of Fride.

As they say, you stick to what you know; he decided to score points using the skills he had learned his whole life.

He tracked down and rehired all the people who used to produce propaganda materials like paintings and song compositions under the past Kim dynasty regime.

As a result, portraits of Fride’s face were hung in every possible space within military unit offices, administration sections, and barracks.

Her image was even painted large on the outer fence of the command headquarters.

The catchphrase her propagandists wracked their brains to create was ‘Eternal Life’. It wasn’t exactly wrong, as from an ordinary human’s perspective, she practically was immortal.

Meaning it wasn’t an exaggeration or false advertising like the Kim dynasty’s.

Having lived three times longer than ordinary people, with still a long lifespan remaining, how could she not be considered immortal?

Thus, the soldiers of the Pyongyang Defense Force began chanting praises for Fride instead of the Kim dynasty slogans they used to shout.

Given the choice, wouldn’t praising Fride be better than praising those fat, pot-bellied guys?

Anyway, one of the tasks Fride assigned was planting political officers in each unit.

This was a relatively manageable task.

The former Korean People’s Army also had a political officer system, and the organizational foundation for it was already in place.

Major General Kim simply took the organization of the Korean People’s Army General Political Bureau, where the political officers belonged, and placed it under the Territory Reclamation Command.

He even changed the name to sound respectable.

Thus, the Pyongyang Defense Force Territory Reclamation Command Military Security Bureau was born.

Its officers would be called Safety Officers.

Nominally, their job was literally military safety.

In reality, their job was to transmit Fride’s will to every corner of the Defense Force, like capillaries.

Of course, most political officers were gone, either fired when the Workers’ Party collapsed, imprisoned, or killed by someone holding a grudge.

Therefore, Fride needed to secure new personnel.

There are the strongest bonds in the world.

Blood ties.

Regional ties.

School ties.

Smoking ties… pass.

And Fride decided to use species ties, so-called ‘Species Kinship’.

Of course, since elves were few in number, she would have to accept ordinary humans as well.

Fride first contacted Grandpa Chunshik, who could be called the king of elf connections, to find willing elves.

She also searched for former political officers who had only been fired, without committing major crimes.

And finally…

She posted recruitment notices on communities frequented by Elf Lovers.

Outside ‘Elf Gallery’

Naver Cafe ‘ILikeLongEars’

Youtube ‘ElfLoverChannel’

She searched for people across various other communities as well.

Of course, Park Jeonghun’s help was significant in this.

Though Jeonghun constantly wondered if this was right while helping.

Furthermore, Fride wanted the Military Security Bureau to also function as a comprehensive intelligence agency.

So, Major General Kim tracked down everyone who had worked in the intelligence agencies of the former Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, regardless of their military or party affiliation.

Most were imprisoned, so he could only bring those who submitted letters of conversion. However, releasing them was under Chairman Kim Pyongjin’s authority, so he had to beg and plead just to get the personnel.

Why did Fride want to create the Military Security Bureau? Naturally, it was to control the military more effectively.

If the tool for control is itself uncontrolled, the first button is fastened wrong.

But this was a very easy problem.

Just change the target from the method used in the past!

Thus, the new Safety Officers would undergo about a month of joint training before being assigned to their respective units.

If the ordinary soldiers were Fride’s hands and feet, they were Fride’s nervous system.

***

Elena Vladi, she was an elf from another world, a pure Otherworlder, not a Returnee.

And….

A hardcore communist.

She was born in the Albheim Empire.

Backward, feudal, and barren, her homeland was a place filled with cold and hunger.

Most elves eked out a living on one meal a day. In contrast, the nobles, the so-called High Elves, extravagantly devoured four meals a day.

It was clearly wrong.

They were surely the same elves, yet why did some clutch their starving bellies and suffer through hard labor, while others stuffed four meals a day into their greedy mouths and fattened their pockets?

Her parents always said.

“That we can live even like this is all thanks to His Majesty the Emperor’s grace. His Majesty the Emperor is the agent of the World Tree and the descendant of the World Tree.”

It was nonsensical talk.

The Emperor was the same kind of being as us.

Eating food, breathing air, feeling joy, feeling anger…

-Bang!

“The Emperor is dead! Death to the Imperial family! True equality for the people!”

A being that would die if a bullet pierced its head.

Elena Vladi, as soon as she came of age, joined a political group called ‘Ersheviki’, roughly translating to ‘Revolutionaries’.

She held key positions and became a revolutionary among revolutionaries.

And… the time for revolution ripened.

The Emperor had been waging a meaningless war with humans for years. The people’s discontent pierced the heavens.

But who would voice their discontent? It was the order of His Majesty the Emperor, who was like the heavens.

Even the heaven-like Emperor’s orders were useless on the battlefield where bullets flew.

A mass insubordination incident among frontline soldiers. It was the trigger for the revolution.

The time to harvest the fruits of revolution had come.

She too participated in a scene of history.

With numerous comrades, she went out and fought, a rifle in one hand and the revolutionary manifesto in the other.

It was a long, cold civil war.

And finally, they captured the Imperial family alive as they were fleeing the abandoned capital.

A trial? Such luxury.

The soldiers were the judges.

The judge’s gavel was replaced with a rifle.

The defense attorney was the Emperor himself.

And….

In summary execution.

Numerous individuals distributed their bursting bellies to the people.

The capitalists, the imperial family, the High Elves, the high-ranking military officers.

The redistribution of wealth using bullets was more effective than any administrative measure or judicial ruling.
It was faster too.

As a veteran revolutionary, she moved through many key positions.

The military.

The party.

The cabinet.

Every day was incredibly busy.

But working for the happiness of the people was itself a joy, so it wasn’t hard.

It should have been like that.

“Comrade Chairwoman, I apologize.”

“Who… who the hell is it…?”

“It’s the Generalissimo’s order.”

“Is that so… Damn revisionist bastard…”

She was a hardcore communist and, at the same time, a proponent of permanent revolution.

She, advocating for permanent revolution through international cooperation of the proletariat, constantly clashed with the Generalissimo who opposed it.

And the conflict ended when the political police, acting on the Generalissimo’s orders, ended her breath.

Her story ends there.

More accurately, Act 1 ends.

It was the beginning of Act 2.

The place she opened her eyes was the forest where a hole had been put in her head.

But something was different.

There was definitely no snow when she died, but now wasn’t the landscape covered in snow?

Had she been unconscious for a long time? Perhaps she hadn’t died?

She held onto hope. Of course, it was nonsensical.

Anyone would leave this world instantly if a bullet passed through their head.

“■■■! ■■■■!” (Sound of Orcish speech)

A loud voice struck her ears. And she came face to face with.

An Orc.

‘Orc…? This shouldn’t be Orc territory?’

But the Orc’s behavior was somehow strange.

The Orcs she knew were a primitive race living by hunting, roughly clad in leather.

But the Orc before her wore old blue jeans and a plaid shirt, holding a chainsaw in his hand.

He was even wearing safety goggles!

“Chwiik Pointy-ear, asked if you’re okay.”

“Y-Yes?”

“Foreman! Come quick! Call an ambulance too!”

A civilized appearance, different from the Orcs she knew.

Was she dreaming?

Vladi closes her eyes, trying to wake up.

“Damn it! Chwiik The pointy-ear died!”

‘Shut up…’

She grasped the situation only after being loaded into an ambulance and arriving at the hospital.

“Another world…?”

“That’s right. Welcome to our world, Ms. Dimension Traveler.”

The place she fell was a logging site in Siberia.

It was surprising enough that she survived, but to even come to another world.

Fortunately, adapting was quick. The country she fell into was quite similar to her homeland.

A socialist state founded through revolution. The difference was that socialism here had collapsed.

Learning the history of this place, she thought. Indeed, the end of corrupt revolutionaries is ruin.

After the adaptation period, she traveled to several countries calling themselves socialist states.

‘Is this really a socialist country? This is no different from capitalist pigs.’

‘A socialist state that exploits its people, that’s as funny as a cultured Orc.’

The ideal nation she envisioned didn’t exist. The socialist people’s paradise did not exist.

Then, she saw news that someone had planted a World Tree.

The World Tree.

‘Achieving equality under the World Tree is true equality.’

It was a typical elf thought.

The place where the World Tree existed was the capital of a country called Korea, or rather, what used to be.

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, North Korea, which she looked up, was a people’s hell wearing the mask of a socialist state.

‘It’s truly regrettable that scum like these falsely claim socialism.’

Still, it was fortunate that it collapsed. A monarchy disguised as a republic couldn’t last long.

Thus, she settled down in Pyongyang.

After that, nothing particular happened.

Working for the Pyongyang Reconstruction Government and living as a salaried employee, that was the path she chose.

And much later, she heard from Grandpa Chunshik that a newly transitioned elf had arrived.

Her first impression of that elf…

She wore a black military uniform reminiscent of politicians colluding with capitalists, like the armies of fascists.
Her sharp eyes looked like they could expertly squeeze the lifeblood out of the people.

Their brief meeting ended when a Gate opened. The elf left, heavily drunk, carrying Ion.

She returned to her daily life.

It seemed the elf she saw before had taken some high position, but it didn’t concern her much.

Until recently, that is.

“Yes, Grandpa Chunshik. What is it?”

“Miss Vladi, would you be interested in a job perhaps?”

“What kind of job?”

Grandpa Chunshik’s explanation followed.

This might be an opportunity. An opportunity to create the truly equal world she envisioned.

“I’ll do it.”

“Alright, I’ll put you on the list.”

Working under that elf bothered her, but wouldn’t it be okay?

‘Maybe I misunderstood her.’