[Taipei City — In front of the Oriental Hyatt Hotel — Ezoe Kazuhiko]
“Dungeon Busters! Go back to Japan!”
“Our dungeon belongs to us!”
“We’ll never forgive you, Japanese imperialists!”
The mob chanted and held up signs as soon as they spotted us. Police officers were trying to stop them while journalists filmed the scene. I couldn’t help but tilt my head in confusion. They were speaking Cantonese. Or perhaps Taiwanese? I wasn’t sure, and I didn’t get anything they said either way. For a split second, I thought about using a dungeon item but didn’t.
“What are they complaining about?” I asked.
“Who knows?” Akira answered, a strained smile plastered on his face.
We couldn’t really ignore them. We had come at the request of the Republic of Sina’s government and, although I didn’t expect the Sinese government to be thankful, I had no obligation to go clear their dungeon after a mob threw stones at me. We hadn’t begged them to let us clear their dungeon, and I didn’t really mind putting this whole trip on the back burner until their citizens calmed down.
“Wanna go home guys?” I asked after a little while.
“I’m so sorry!” the man from the Japan—Taiwan Exchange Association came running, apologizing. “These people are from the Sinese Unification Promotion Party. They used to be supported by the Oriental Republic of Sina, but ever since the Zhou administration changed its politics, they’ve been discarded. Recently, the anti-Taiwanese government factions have been becoming increasingly anti-Japanese instead.”
“I see. So in short, they’re a bunch of civil rights activists, huh?”
“Aniki, what do we do?” Akira asked.
“Well, it would be a shame to just go home like that. I think we should be clear about our intentions and show our stance as Dungeon Busters.”
The government had called in foreign adventurers to clear a dungeon in their country. While some money may or may not change hands in the process, it wouldn’t change the fact that a foreign Buster’s name would be the one written on the Dungeon Core’s window at the end of the day. And that person would control the dungeon. The Buster would be able to change the size of magic stones being mined, the strength of the monsters, and even the type of items being dropped on a whim. Naturally, some would oppose that.
Dungeon Busters was bound to work abroad more and more in the future. We needed to be able to handle people who brought objections to the table.
“First of all, let’s get the permission of the hotel. I want to speak with their spokesperson. We’ll have a live broadcast here and show this exchange to everyone in the Republic of Sina.”
I took out a Translation Jelly card from my pocket.
＊ ＊ ＊
“First, I’d like to ask you something. You are demonstrating and exercising your democratic rights, and that’s great. But what are you trying to say? And to whom?”
We had hurriedly rented out a large conference room inside the Oriental Hyatt Hotel and invited local television stations and journalists to film and report on my talk with the demonstrators’ representatives. Strangely enough, the representatives had first shown some reserve, declining our request. They wanted to be heard but as soon as we gave them a platform to speak up, they hesitated.
Now that I think about it, I’ve seen that happen in Japan as well. A self-proclaimed, far-right activist did the same thing before throwing a torrent of insults at the mayor who offered to hear him out. I guess activists are all the same, regardless of their political beliefs.
“We believe that Taiwanese dungeons should be cleared and controlled by Taiwanese people. Relying on foreigners to handle that job is a mistake, and relying on Japanese people is even worse. You people used to occupy Taiwan! Isn’t it obvious that we’d be worried about you trying to take over our country again?!”
The man who had just spoken seemed to be in his sixties. The leader of the Sinese Unification Promotion Party was an ex-gangster who was also linked to Okinawa independence movement groups. Several of their highest ranking members had already been arrested by the Taiwanese government for being spies for the Oriental Republic of Sina. It was crucial to keep these things in mind when talking with such people.
“Taiwanese dungeons should be cleared and controlled by Taiwanese people... I agree. If it was at all possible, that would be ideal. I’m not sure why you’re asking that of us, however. We received a request from the Taiwanese government, a government that has been democratically elected by the Taiwanese people. Shouldn’t you be directing your complaints to the government?”
I thought what I had just said was perfectly logical, but the man in front of me seemed to have more objections.
“Japan stole the Diaoyu Islands from us!” he yelled, expression sour. “If you want us to let you have our dungeons, give back the land you stole! How dare you feign ignorance, colonizer!”
Hey, hey. This stuff was decided by our governments. What do you want me to do about it?
“Look, if that’s how you feel, you should find a candidate for the next election or discuss your issues with one of the current members of the opposition party. Dungeon Busters does not involve itself with politics. If the Taiwanese government were to change its mind and tell us they don’t want us to clear the dungeons here anymore, we’d be happy to go home. But you’re not the government, are you? There are twenty million inhabitants on this island, and I’m happy to listen to your opinion, but you only represent your own group, not the entire Taiwanese population. When you start a demonstration in front of a hotel—which, may I remind you, is a private business—you also bother all of the clients that have nothing to do with this. Demonstrating is your right, but you should also consider the trouble you cause for others.”
I was pretty sure that these people didn’t actually believe that their opinion would ever be shared by the majority of the Taiwanese nor did they truly think Japan was out to get their country. They were a group that received subsidies from the Oriental Republic of Sina, in the first place, and preached the “One Sina” ideology on their behalf. The appearance of the dungeons had forced the Oriental Republic of Sina to revise its foreign policies. The Zhou administration had decided to ignore territorial disputes and diplomatic issues with Taiwan and other such places, at least until the dungeons had been taken care of for good.
In other words, that meant they had been discarded by Sina. Groups of students that had been putting together rap performances to criticize Urabe had been forgotten in the blink of an eye after the elections in Japan too. No one paid any attention to these types of groupuscules unless they were actively demonstrating. That was the reality of current society.
Either way, this is their problem, not mine. Anyone is free to believe in something and want to advocate for it, but when advocating and demonstrating becomes your goal itself, you’re nothing more than a door-to-door salesman. At this point, they’d be better off starting a business, making money, and then advocating as a corporation...
The representatives were having a hard time articulating their ideas. Maybe the cameras made them nervous. We watched them walk away, shoulders slumped, before the reporters swarmed us. I was asked how I’d felt after they poured cold water on me, and I turned to face the camera, my face perfectly neutral. Why do they care so much about other people’s business?
“To be honest, I think they’re right to some extent. These dungeons did appear in your country, and the natural course of action would be to have a Taiwanese person clear them. I agree with that. We have been asked to handle one by the Taiwanese government, and we will deliver on that promise. I do hope that a Taiwanese citizen will be able to clear the other two dungeons remaining in Taiwan with their own hands though.”
The reporters seemed surprised to hear me defend them. Still, I had only stated my true feelings. Most Japanese citizens also hoped that we, Dungeon Busters, would handle all of the Japanese dungeons. On the other hand, some people only saw the dungeons as some otherworldly existence that had nothing to do with them. That was called normalcy bias. I had heard that the same effect had been at work during the Great Earthquake. Some people had not fled when they heard the alarm, only realizing the urgency of the situation when they saw the tsunami with their own two eyes. If things continued as they were, many would surely not consider the dungeons to be their problem until the Monster Stampede actually occurred and monsters were chasing them.
“No one can ignore the dungeons. This affects every single person on this earth. I have said it in the past, and I will say it again. We need to act. It’s do-or-die. If we don’t get rid of every dungeon, we will die. We are at war with the dungeons.”
Last time, I couldn’t do anything but watch from behind my screen. This time, I’ll stop it, no matter what.