One week before Nam Ju-hyeon’s kidnapping.
Noticing that Seol Rok-jin’s actions had sped up compared to before, I handed Han Seo-hyeon a list of people to watch.
“You want me to keep an eye on these people?”
“Yes.”
While monitoring Yoo Seon-je, I thought I’d attach eyes and ears to other people if possible.
Even if we can’t save everyone, it would be a pity if they got swept away by something trivial.
Coincidentally, the number of Rat Kids that Han Seo-hyeon could control had increased a lot, so I thought we could spare some to attach to them.
Of course, there was one condition for this surveillance.
“Only if you’re not too tired.”
It would be a problem if Han Seo-hyeon got exhausted from monitoring those guys.
“Just attaching rats isn’t too burdensome, but the signal will be cut off if the targets go too far or enter a Gate.”
“That’s enough.”
Among them, there were quite a few ordinary people who weren’t hunters.
Even using Lee Hye-won this time was like that. In the past, Seol Rok-jin chose Baek Do-san, but now that he can’t eat in the dark, it seems he’s betting on destroying Sirius.
If he messes with Sirius, other large guilds will naturally move too.
Fortunately, we prevented Sirius from collapsing, but the future has changed. If another incident occurs, even Sirius will have a hard time enduring.
We have no choice but to trust Yoo Seon-je and that woman Jin Yeon-hwa.
I know many things, but the future has already changed.
To begin with, I’m not a great strategist or anything. All I could do was flatter, so it’s difficult to save the world in one go.
It’s the same even now that I’ve gained several miscellaneous abilities.
—Can’t we just slash all the bad guys and start from there? With Kim Jae-ho, that guy, it seems like we could manage somehow.
I shook my head at Ray’s words.
It’s not that I haven’t thought about that. But there are several reasons why I haven’t done so.
‘First, the problem is that we can’t deal with Seol Rok-jin through assassination.’
Seol Rok-jin is a representative of the anti-awakener faction. Even without me, he’s actually received several assassination attempts. Some of them were self-staged, but a few were quite dangerous.
After that incident, Seol Rok-jin made various preparations.
‘Bodyguards are always stationed around Seol Rok-jin. As we saw last time, those bodyguards would easily throw away their lives for Seol Rok-jin.’
There’s no need to explain how terrifying humans who disregard their lives and charge in are. The problem is that Seol Rok-jin is a brainwashing ability user. What if he evades the encirclement and blends into the crowd?
We absolutely cannot catch Seol Rok-jin.
Unless we’re willing to accept massive casualties and detonate a nuclear bomb…
‘But if we detonate a nuclear bomb in the middle of Seoul, Korea would be ruined before the destruction.’
Moreover, knowing that guy, he’d probably have prepared a way to survive even in that situation.
Anyway, for the above reasons, an assassination operation against Seol Rok-jin is impossible.
But what if we just cut off Seol Rok-jin’s subordinates while leaving him alive?
Compared to Seol Rok-jin, who is an awakener himself and always prepared, the security awareness of the higher-ups in this country is worse than that of elementary school students.
I was confident I could cook those guys in 3 minutes like retort food if I took Jae-ho and Seo-hyeon right now.
But the aftermath is the problem.
‘Awakeners assassinated members of the National Assembly. The public authority of Korea collapsing by lawless individuals, is this okay? That’s the headline we’d see the next day.’
Seol Rok-jin is the incarnation of propaganda.
It took only eight years for Korea, which was favorable to awakeners, to put a leash on mental awakeners. The situation has deteriorated to this extent just eight years after Seol Rok-jin entered politics.
Assassinating members of the National Assembly in this situation? When I’m the only one who knows they’re rotten to the core?
‘It’s like handing Seol Rok-jin a knife to dance with.’
Even without doing such a thing, within five years, 40% of Korea’s hunters will emigrate elsewhere to escape discrimination and oppression. After the hunters leave, large guilds will gradually leave Korea too.
Wouldn’t Korea be in danger if hunters disappear like this?
That’s why Seol Rok-jin targeted the academies.
He cut funding for all academies except Babel Academy and increased taxes related to hunters, making it necessary to take out huge loans to attend hunter academies.
They’re making even minors take out student loans in the name of education. Moreover, these loans, despite being called student loans, are high-interest. They say they need to receive a lot as a ‘risk premium’ because accidents caused by awakeners are big. I don’t remember exactly what it was, but it was roughly for such reasons.
To get a loan with a normal interest rate, you had to sign a document saying you would become a civil servant for 6-7 years after graduation.
But awakeners can’t go to regular schools either.
They have to either take out high-interest student loans reluctantly or become slaves to the country.
Emigration is a choice only for those with ability, but as minors, they only have those two choices.
‘In a few years, Korea will become a country where being born as an awakener is a crime.’
It’s not for nothing that Seoul ended up like that as soon as the Gate Break phenomenon occurred.
Assassinating members of the National Assembly will only hasten that time.
—So you’re just going to leave those guys alone?
‘Well, there are a few methods, but…’
—What are they?
‘They’re all difficult to implement right away.’
The best approach is a frontal one. Expose all the crimes those guys committed to everyone, and impose lawful punishment. For Weltschmerz, which has already been branded as villains, it’s impossible to even start.
Even if I point at those guys and say ‘They’re all criminals!’, people won’t believe me and will arrest me instead.
Hmm, so that option is on hold.
‘There’s a lot to do besides that anyway.’
It’s about time to start developing Jae-ho’s talent that I’ve neglected so far. Although I haven’t taught him, he’s figured out how to blend with shadows on his own and often hides in them, but it’s still not enough to use in actual combat.
I should visit the Top once too. We can’t leave that escape ability user like that forever. If we can extract him, we might be able to prevent some of the terror attacks the Top committed in the past.
They’re probably furious now for failing to kill Yoo Seon-je, so it would be better to approach after some time. The moment we divert that escape ability user, we’ll be crossing a river of no return with the Top, so we need to move cautiously.
Hmm, this isn’t something we can handle quickly either.
Ah, we also need to dispose of the things we took from the Ice Palace. We gave up the artifact obtained from catching the boss monster, that woman, to Yoo Seon-je (Han Seo-hyeon foamed at the mouth, but it was right for Sirius to take it), but we took various items from the Ice Palace.
I especially took a lot of books. There won’t be many people who can interpret them, but they’ll sell for a high price to researchers. If they’re lucky, they might even gain talents like me.
I should also look at the artifact we took from Park Sang-pyeon. I still have no idea how to subdue the demonic energy, but I need to make a proper weapon for Jae-ho too.
Unlike Han Seo-hyeon, I don’t know Kim Jae-ho’s birthday, but I want to give it to him roughly to celebrate the 1-year anniversary of meeting Jae-ho.
—Is this the time to make such cute plans? The world is about to be destroyed.
Right, this world will be destroyed. In about 10 years, no, 9 years, a Gate that will drive this world to destruction will open.
I’m the only one in this world who knows about that destruction, and can act to prevent it.
But I can’t stop that destruction right away.
I can’t get rid of Seol Rok-jin, or get rid of all the evildoers eating away at this world. I can’t save those I abandoned in the past.
‘Such cute plans are all I can do right now.’
When a wave that will sweep me away comes in, what I need to do is not look at that wave, but strengthen my legs and leave that place.
So for now, rather than worrying about the destruction that hasn’t come yet, I plan to do what I can do right now.
‘That’s making chairs.’
—What?
‘This base needs chairs, doesn’t it?’
Ray, who had been quietly listening to my words, said:
—Just buy some…
* * *
It was when I had just made a chair that could withstand my weight for about 10 seconds.
Han Seo-hyeon, who burst into the workshop, said to me:
“That reporter!”
“Huh?”
“The person you told me to watch! She was being dragged away by some people!”
He says Nam Ju-hyeon was kidnapped.
At first, that was all the news I heard. I heard the detailed story of why Nam Ju-hyeon was kidnapped on the way. Since the people around Nam Ju-hyeon were quite loose-lipped, it didn’t take long for Han Seo-hyeon to gather information.
I looked at Nam Ju-hyeon, who was unconscious in front of me, with my chin propped up.
“What are you going to do now?”
Han Seo-hyeon, who had approached my side at some point, asked while pointing at Nam Ju-hyeon.
“Hmm.”
I considered a few things on the way, but that direction seems better after all.
—That direction?
‘Nam Ju-hyeon is someone we should maintain contact with for a long time.’
That’s why I approached wearing Weltschmerz’s mask.
It would be good to have a speaker to represent our side too, though not as much as Seol Rok-jin who controls all public broadcasts and other media.
“First, let’s move her to a safe place.”
At my eye signal, Kim Jae-ho slung Nam Ju-hyeon, whose hands and feet were tied, over his shoulder. Anyone who sees this would think we’re kidnapping this person, but this is clearly a rescue.
—Then why are her hands and feet tied?
‘Because we can’t let her escape.’
It would be troublesome if she ran away before we could have a proper conversation.
It was Assemblyman Kim Seong-deuk’s people who targeted Nam Ju-hyeon’s life.
Kim Seong-deuk, who belongs to the opposition party like Seol Rok-jin, was an evil of evils who was reaching out to various illegal businesses backed by the ruling party’s power.
To think a rookie reporter would mess with that Kim Seong-deuk. Nam Ju-hyeon really had bad luck. After arriving at a quiet mountain valley, I moved the earth to create a temporary cave.
Kim Jae-ho and Han Seo-hyeon agreed to stand by nearby. It’s enough for me alone to reveal myself to Nam Ju-hyeon.
How much time had passed?
“Ugh.”
Nam Ju-hyeon slowly opened her eyes.
“Uh, uuhugh! Uh, uah.”
Nam Ju-hyeon panted with a pale face when our eyes met. Before I could open my mouth, Nam Ju-hyeon shed tears drop by drop and said:
“Please spare me, hic, hic, hic. If I had known it was your business, I would never have touched it…”
I wonder what misunderstanding she has. Sighing internally, I crouched in front of Nam Ju-hyeon. Hmm, how should I start the conversation? Since we’re a villain group, maybe a somewhat forceful attitude would be better.
“Hey.”
“Uuhugh!”
At my words, Nam Ju-hyeon fell backwards. The plan to act forcefully needs some modification. It seems like dialogue won’t work at all with that timid person if I do that.
I showed my palm and opened my mouth in a rather kind tone:
“Don’t worry. I have no intention of harming you.”
“Huh? Huuuh?”
Nam Ju-hyeon said with a surprised face. Her gaze turned to her tied limbs. Ahem, I couldn’t untie those because she might run away! But I didn’t harm her! I even removed her gag.
I felt righteous. I quickly continued speaking.
“The person you messed with was dangerous. Why on earth did you investigate him?”
“Hic, I knew but…”
Nam Ju-hyeon, who was sobbing like that, continued:
“But if I pretend not to know, if I pretend not to see, the truth will just be buried. I became a reporter to reveal the truth, so I shouldn’t do that as a reporter, right?”
At those words, I blinked.
Nam Ju-hyeon was a shining person. Unlike me who threw everything away to survive, Nam Ju-hyeon never broke this belief until the moment of death.
I hope this person’s beliefs don’t break in this life at least.
“I like you as expected.”
At my voice, Nam Ju-hyeon flinched.
“Uh, in what sense do you like, uh.”
Cold sweat streamed down Nam Ju-hyeon’s face. She’s really such a timid person that it’s hard to believe she did such a thing. It’s like looking at a scared hamster or squirrel.
“Well, your intention was good, but it was dangerous. You almost died, you know?”
“Hic, yes.”
“This method won’t work in the future.”
At my words, Nam Ju-hyeon’s eyes widened.
“Do you still want to know the truth? Even if it means you can never return to the world you knew?”
Nam Ju-hyeon swallowed hard at my question and nodded.
“Yes.”