“This is going to be difficult.”
I clicked my tongue. Judging by how things were going, it seemed Assemblyman Kim Seong-deuk would slip away smoothly this time too.
“Still, she tried hard.”
—Isn’t Do Chae-hee your enemy? Your evaluation is strangely positive.
I don’t dislike Do Chae-hee that much.
As Nam Ju-hyeon harshly evaluated, her vision is narrow, her stubbornness is unnecessarily strong, and she’s frustrating like a brick wall, but still, she threw herself in without sparing her body for justice.
Do Chae-hee is incompetent. That’s not just because Do Chae-hee is inadequate.
Why? Because this fight is one Do Chae-hee can’t win from the start.
It’s as if Do Chae-hee is playing chess against the opponent without knights, bishops, or queens.
While the opponent can do anything to win, it’s nearly impossible for Do Chae-hee to win in this unfair fight where she can’t break any rules.
“Moreover, even Park Cheol-wan, who has been with her all her life, is not on Do Chae-hee’s side.”
—This person Park Cheol-wan, perhaps…
“He’s not brainwashed by Seol Rok-jin, if that’s what you’re asking. He just chose. Between dying while living righteously, or surviving even if he becomes a cowardly bystander, he chose the latter.”
As Nam Ju-hyeon said, the reason Park Cheol-wan could rise to the director position was because he was a coward who chose to run away instead of facing problems.
“Park Cheol-wan is just a safety-first person. He won’t actively collude with those above for his own power, but he’ll gladly stay silent to protect his position.”
When people think of villains, they usually imagine someone like Seol Rok-jin. But in reality, it’s a few villains accompanied by many bystanders.
Evil is widespread.
Staying silent in the face of injustice is evil enough.
—Are you going to deal with that guy too?
“No.”
Unfortunately, there are many worse guys than bystanders. If we eliminate Park Cheol-wan, an even worse person will just take his place.
Anyway, ‘Dealing with Assemblyman Kim Seong-deuk Justice Ver.’ ended in complete failure.
I sought out Nam Ju-hyeon.
“At this rate, Assemblyman Kim Seong-deuk will get away without any problems.”
At my words, Nam Ju-hyeon made a serious face.
“Is that method really the only way?”
“I told you, this is the only way.”
This country is already rotten to the core. It may look fine on the outside, but justice has been dead in this country for a long time.
“Even with so much evidence, and a bunch of witnesses. Still nothing can be done? It ends with just one team leader?”
“They’ll pay a fine too. Though it’ll be a drop in the bucket compared to Hyeonmu Pharmaceuticals’ profits.”
Hyeonmu Pharmaceuticals will still be going strong. Assemblyman Kim Seong-deuk will likewise not be discouraged at all.
I said to Nam Ju-hyeon:
“As promised, we’ll take over from here.”
* * *
After Nam Ju-hyeon disappeared, thick black shadows fell around me. In that pitch-dark darkness, the two people I had been waiting for appeared.
“I really thought I’d go crazy from boredom waiting.”
Han Seo-hyeon, who came down from the sand jaguar, wrinkled his nose.
“You’re riding that well these days.”
“Isn’t it cool?”
His face was full of pride. While I was with Nam Ju-hyeon, he had been making various things with sand and seemed to have become quite accustomed to handling it.
We could leave all transportation to Han Seo-hyeon from now on. At my gaze, Han Seo-hyeon shuddered slightly.
“W-what? What’s with that look?”
“I’m just looking because I’m proud?”
“Really? But why do I feel such a chill?”
Is his sixth sense developing too?
—What sixth sense, do you know what kind of eyes you were looking at that kid with?
‘What kind of eyes did I look with?’
—Eyes that said you want to eat him alive!
‘I have no intention of harming him at all.’
Ray was always harsh on me.
I asked Han Seo-hyeon:
“Where’s Jae-ho?”
At my call, Jae-ho suddenly popped out of my shadow.
“Ah, sh- you startled me.”
I almost swore.
I had told him to practice melding into shadows, but I didn’t expect him to become this skillful.
“You’ve both improved a lot.”
They say children grow up quickly when you’re not looking. I narrowed my eyes looking at Han Seo-hyeon. No, wait. It’s not just a saying…
“You, have you gotten taller too?”
No joke, your eye level has really become quite similar to mine now. At this rate, you’ll catch up to my height soon.
—You’re only about 178cm, aren’t you?
‘It’s 180cm if you round up.’
I grumbled internally like that. In no time at all, he’ll really catch up. Surely I won’t become the smallest in this Weltschmerz?
“You’ve grown a lot.”
“Really?”
His face that momentarily looked happy instantly crumpled.
“Don’t say things like that relative you meet once every few months!”
“Well, have you made many friends? Are you doing well in your studies? Do you have a girlfriend?”
“Ugh! I hate it!”
I chuckled. The laughter stops here. I spoke seriously to the two:
“You know what we’re going to do, right?”
At my question, Han Seo-hyeon nodded and said:
“I know, we’re going to catch a bad guy, right?”
“Yes, a very bad guy.”
I slowly explained the crimes Assemblyman Kim Seong-deuk had committed. The human experiments that took place at Hyeonmu Pharmaceuticals and the profits they took.
I felt sick thinking of him living extravagantly without any remorse on the golden tower built by taking the lives of innocent people. His crimes aren’t just that.
“And that person is also the one who created Bomnal Orphanage.”
At my words, Han Seo-hyeon quietly looked at Kim Jae-ho. Though Kim Jae-ho, who was actually involved in this incident, had a face without any thoughts, Han Seo-hyeon looked like he couldn’t bear how worried he was about Kim Jae-ho.
Still, they’ve grown quite attached over time.
I said to Han Seo-hyeon:
“We can’t bring that person down by righteous methods.”
“Why?”
“Because this world is wrong.”
Do Chae-hee, Nam Ju-hyeon alone cannot deal with Kim Seong-deuk.
How difficult is it to carry out justice?
While the enemies employ all kinds of illegal methods and dirty tactics, justice alone is said not to do so.
“Winning righteously is an extremely difficult thing. Having to face someone who commits wrongs at will while not committing any wrongs yourself. There’s no game more unfair than this. Moreover, the ones who made this game are precisely those who should be judged.”
Member of the National Assembly.
Kim Seong-deuk was a person sitting in a position that should be the most righteous.
He, who should have worked for the people, instead used his power to fill his own greed.
“It takes an average of 7 years to make laws for people who are being harmed. Even when a law that will really save people is devised, it takes an enormous amount of time for that law to pass through the National Assembly and actually function as a law. But unlike that, some laws always pass at the speed of light.”
Laws that benefit members of the National Assembly.
“Like raising the salaries of members of the National Assembly, or improving the treatment after their terms end. Laws that cater to their convenience always pass in an instant.”
Why? Because they’re the ones making the laws.
Are there only one of such laws? No, there are tens, hundreds. Since the appearance of awakeners, members of the National Assembly have made countless laws to secure their own rice bowls.
“Do Chae-hee can never beat Kim Seong-deuk.”
No matter what she does, the result was predetermined.
“Justice has too many weaknesses.”
People say justice is right. So they think it’s natural for justice to win.
But at the same time, they are stricter than anyone on the victory of justice.
If even a tiny speck of soot gets on pure white justice, they condemn it saying this isn’t true justice, that you’re just the same human after all despite talking about justice.
Must justice be perfect to be justice?
Why do they only point fingers at the soot splattered on justice while ignoring the truly black things?
While saying they want justice to win more than anything, why do they apply harsher standards to justice than anyone else?
“That’s why we have to step in.”
* * *
“Of course I’m not indicted! It’s not because you’re great! There’s no one in this Korea who can put me, Kim Seong-deuk, in the courtroom! The problem is this. That there’s someone who dared to target me, no, should I say a woman?”
Assemblyman Kim Seong-deuk was spewing curses into his phone. His face, covered in greed, was trembling with anger.
“Cut her off, or get rid of her. No, it’s troublesome if it’s too obvious. We should deal with it after some time… I don’t care if she’s an awakener or whatever. Who am I, I’m Kim Seong-deuk! Since she dared to target me, she should pay the price. Look at her running around like a thundering fool not knowing what process and procedure are! We need to cut off the roots completely.”
I snorted listening to Kim Seong-deuk’s arrogant words. Well, he has reason to be so confident. He probably still feels like this world is his.
I listened to the guy’s words while leaning back in a chair.
Oh, why is there a chair in the air, you ask?
It’s a sand chair Han Seo-hyeon made. It sticks right to the wall and supports me comfortably, the seating comfort is the best.
I sat there listening to Assemblyman Kim Seong-deuk’s nonsense. Even while Kim Seong-deuk was raising his voice and making a fuss, the security guards inside were falling one by one to Kim Jae-ho.
Infiltrating Assemblyman Kim Seong-deuk’s office was easier than eating cold porridge.
There were bodyguards, but awakeners were few. Even those few awakeners were below 5-Circle. They weren’t even a snack for Kim Jae-ho.
‘As expected, these people have no sense of crisis at all despite committing such acts.’
Well, things might be a bit different after today.
I pressed the radio in my ear and spoke to Kim Jae-ho.
“Don’t kill them, Jae-ho.”
[…Understood.]
We decided to just knock out all the bodyguards. They’re not involved in crimes for now anyway. They’re only guilty of working as bodyguards for money, right?
Well, if they’re involved in other crimes, I’ll cut their necks right away.
—How do you know they’re not involved in other crimes?
‘I asked Ms. Nam Ju-hyeon. I don’t know what she did, but she said she could access the database of those bodyguards.’
The people here were all innocent people from a security company. Well, the stock price of the security company might plummet after this incident breaks out, but that’s not my concern.
Even as his shields around him were disappearing one by one, Kim Seong-deuk didn’t notice a thing.
While I waited outside the building until the neutralization of the bodyguards was complete, Kim Seong-deuk tirelessly made calls here and there.
Seol Rok-jin wasn’t among them.
In the past, Seol Rok-jin and Kim Seong-deuk were quite close.
It was Kim Seong-deuk who brought Seol Rok-jin in his early 20s into the opposition party and opened his political career, so they had to be close.
‘He even met his wife through Assemblyman Kim Seong-deuk’s introduction.’
Ray asked in surprise at my muttering.
—What, that guy? He was even married?
‘Yes, though it was a thoroughly show window couple. He even brainwashed his own wife.’
That woman is really pitiful when I think about it now. It seems she tried to love Seol Rok-jin sincerely. As soon as Seol Rok-jin noticed her feelings, he turned her into a puppet.
It was heartbreaking even for me watching from the side.
‘I knew he was that kind of person from the start, but I didn’t know he would do that even to his own wife. Though it was a political marriage to begin with.’
Still, if you went as far as marriage, shouldn’t your feelings change naturally?
It was behavior I absolutely couldn’t understand as someone who had fantasies about marriage since childhood.
Having lost my parents at a very young age, I couldn’t remember the time when I had a family. I only knew from hearing that my parents were caught up in a Gate accident. As such, I had many fantasies about family.
My dream was to marry a foxy wife and raise rabbit-like children.
Though my determination to get married completely disappeared because of Seol Rok-jin.
—Well, I would lose all thoughts of marriage too if there was a person who didn’t even treat his own wife as a human like that.
‘Well, it wasn’t particularly because of that. There was another incident.’
—What incident?
‘I’ll tell you about that later.’
—Why do you always stop talking when you make people curious! Why do you always say you’ll tell later!
‘Well, because it seems our kids have finished their preparations.’
A crow that had sat beside me at some point was signaling with its wings that all preparations were complete.
I slowly lowered my body. The sand chair moved softly as if sensing my intention.
Sand that entered through the window gap released the lock. I lightly placed my foot on the windowsill and carefully opened the window.
Assemblyman Kim Seong-deuk was still in the middle of spewing curses at someone.
Assemblyman Kim Seong-deuk, who turned his head at the cold air rushing in from behind, opened his mouth looking at me.
Before he could say anything, I threw the dagger attached to my thigh and pinned Assemblyman Kim Seong-deuk’s hand to his cell phone like a skewer.
“Hello there.”
Assemblyman Kim Seong-deuk’s face turned pale blue as he looked at my mask.