Strongest Deliveryman In The Apocalypse

"You're too early!" The management staff yelled out. "The weapons aren't ready yet!"

Sobin sat opposite the 'person' who spoke with a look of absolute serenity. He had a dead calm expression on his face listening to the man's bullshit.

The two sat on sofas opposite each other, separated by a table at the center that served no purpose but to be a legrest for the robot. Sobin had no idea why a robot that felt no pain needed to cross both legs and rest on this table, but he had a clue.

The man displayed on screen had an annoyed expression, obviously his attempt to make things difficult for Sobin.

He had his arms folded, a sharp contrast with Sobin whose fingers were interlocked as he sat upright and steady.

"The order description clearly said they were ready for transport, though…" Sobin responded with a professional tone, not minding the rude undertones and overtones of this person.

"Huh? Did it?"

"Yes. It did."

"Hmm. I'll have to check with management. But even if the goods are ready, I don't think they've been crated yet. You know how these things get, don't you?"

It was clear that this gruffy man was trying to bully him, but he ignored it all.

As someone with experience, this sort of thing didn't move him.

He simply did his task.

'I'll report their bad behavior to the service delivery app and warn other Riders so they are wary of them next time…' Sobin sighed internally. 'This is the problem that comes with dealing with corporations.'

Indeed, in this apocalyptic world… corporations ran a lot of things.

Of course, they took their hands away from governmental and administrative matters, but capitalism never dies.

Since the government had a lot of focus on security and wellbeing, corporations used their immense contributions to society to secure an absurd amount of Social Credit Points and used it to start businesses even in the Apocalypse.

The most profitable ones were Rider and Delivery Service Providers, naturally.

However, that market was already too saturated and competitive, so most corporations diversified into things like food supply, internet services, soda production, and a bunch of other commodities that people in the Apocalypse craved.

Even Medicine and Weapons were being produced and marketed by corporations!

Normally, the government would have stepped in, but these corporations were very smart with their maneuvers. They decided to use uninhabited zones as their base, calling it Industrial Areas, which reduced the governmental power on them.

As a result, they didn't need to pay taxes, and the government had very little authority on them.

They were also able to get cheap labor by offering remote jobs to a lot of desperate people. These people simply had to get plugged into the system at their respective residences, and they would be in control of the robot workers.

They didn't need to leave the comfort of their homes and would get paid for their shifts.

Of course, the pay was shit… but they didn't have to risk their lives since they wouldn't be leaving the safety of their homes, so most people rushed for job positions.

With such a system in place, the corporations would only get wealthier—even in the Apocalypse.

No Tax.

Paying workers minimum wage—or even below.

Little to no regulations binding them.

Dealing in essential goods and services.

These factors, and many more, made these corporations only rise in power and expand their influence at a fast pace—all of this while the government did its best to help the people of the world.

Naturally, since the corporations offered essential goods and services, even the government had to buy from them. In essence, even the government was partly reliant on the corporations, making them a necessary evil in the world.

But why couldn't the government also make their own Industrial Areas?

Why didn't they also invest in these essential goods and services in order to help the citizenry and cut off the power of the corporations.

… If only it were that easy.

The thing was… the government of this world—particularly Sector E—was broke!

They had no money!

They had even less resources!

Most of their resources had to be redistributed to the people in the Sector in the form of Social Credit. It was the government that gave every single citizen Social Credit, albeit the amount given was based on certain criteria.

In essence, there was inequality in distrubition… but there was distribution regardless.

As a result of this, the government was already pretty strained.

Adding to the fact that Monsters like the Deepcrawler King or Chaos Angel would appear and cause them to expend military might, they had to spend more on weapons and military power.

They truly did not have the time or resources to diversify.

Besides, the things they actually managed were of utmost importance to the entire Sector, and they could not afford to take their hands off them for even a moment. For example, the Regional Industrial Plant that supplied electricity and water—among other things—was being managed and protected by the government.

To protect such a place, they even dispatched all their S Rank Riders, who had been there for nearly a year.

It showed how valuable such a place was.

If it fell, they would have to rely on the corporations for these as well… and that would be catastrophic—if not downright undoable.

The most important thing to note was that Sobin didn't particularly know about any of this.

He also didn't care.

His disdain for corporations was mainly due to experience, but he had no idea of the political and economic state of this world.

He was a capitalist by nature—after all, he sought to get paid, above all else.

But these scummy corporations were always making excuses after excuses, and they often found fault with him and his services. It was quite different from his early days as a Rider, when he was dealing with Outposts and the citizens directly.

Now, he had to deal with these massive industries and the Outposts that requested their goods and services—some of which were also owned by Corporations.

It was a vicious lesson that truly taught him about the state of the world.

'It's likely that the workers here slacked off on their job and delayed the schedule because they didn't expect that I'll arrive this early.' Sobin sighed to himself as he observed the mildly panicked expression of the man before him.

'Right now, they're probably trying to finish off, but it'll take a lot of time, so he's trying to stall me using this tactic. If I'm not smart, he'll even put the blame on me and make it seem like they're doing me a favor by making me wait a few more days before they're ready…'

Sobin knew these people well, so he wasn't too surprised.

He also knew they were being paid very low for their work, so he couldn't completely blame them for slacking off. But—

'This affects me, you bastards!' Sobin rose to his feet while glaring at the man. 'The sooner I get out of here, the faster I can complete this Quest and take on the next one.'

He absolutely wouldn't stand for anyone wasting his time.

Thus—

"I want to speak to your manager!"

—He pulled the Karen move.

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[A/N]

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