When I went out for breakfast the next morning, I was surprised. It was because I saw Edward sitting on the chair I was about to throw away. Han Seo-hyeon, who read my gaze, quickly opened his mouth.
"We only have four dining chairs."
"Well, but..."
Edward smiled brightly as soon as his eyes met mine.
"Isn't that terribly uncomfortable for your back?"
"Ah, it seems to depend on body type. You know, it seems uncomfortable for us Asians because we have longer waists, but it seems to fit him well as a Westerner."
I don't think any of us had particularly long waists though.
But seeing Edward sitting on that chair with a bright smile, it was hard to say it was completely wrong.
"Hmm, so it's good for Westerners?"
"Yes, he even said the occasional tingling feeling is like getting a low-frequency massage and feels good."
"Are you sure he said low-frequency? Didn't he say curse? I heard the translator sometimes spits out meanings in a really strange way..."
The review is so good it's rather suspicious. But Han Seo-hyeon said with a firm expression:
"He really said it was good. Look."
[It's so, so good. This chair, it might be a hit if we export it?]
"Somehow his way of speaking seems strange."
"I told you, he said it feels like a massage. It's because it feels so refreshing, so good."
Edward kept giving me thumbs up while looking at me. Well, if he likes it that much. Maybe it's a bit much to be suspicious.
"Haha, I see! So it was for foreigners."
—Wouldn't nationality be irrelevant for a chair?
'The kids said so! What would you know without a physical body to sit on a chair?'
—How petty, attacking with facts...
To suddenly act wronged when he attacked with facts much more. I ignored Ray's whining.
"Right, there's no reason to throw out a perfectly good chair. Okay, from now on that chair will be Edward's."
[Oh, oh.]
I answered with a smile to Edward who was raising his hand, so pleased.
* * *
Before stopping by IKEA to buy necessary items, I decided to first check what had happened in Korea in the meantime.
I already knew that Jeong Ho-san was alive and well. If anything dangerous had happened to Jeong Ho-san, Han Seo-hyeon would have definitely informed me.
'No matter how much he dislikes Jeong Ho-san, he knows I wouldn't just let his death slide.'
So thanks to that, I knew Jeong Ho-san was alive with all his limbs intact, but even so, I couldn't help but worry.
Why?
Because he joined that damn ACD.
So, how should I put it, I couldn't help but be curious about how my friend was living.
"What is it?"
As expected, Han Seo-hyeon is quick-witted.
"Just wondering if that guy is doing well."
At my words, Han Seo-hyeon frowned without even asking who "that guy" was.
"Didn't you say you wouldn't care about him anymore?"
"Well, since he joined ACD. Maybe, you know, some problem might have occurred there. Ah, I definitely won't go meet him. You know, I can still be curious about how he's living, right?"
—People call that caring, you know.
Han Seo-hyeon, who glared at me, sighed.
"Haah..."
But his closing his eyes quietly means he's going to answer my question. He must be receiving information from the Mouse-stone and Bird-stone scattered around Jeong Ho-san. I waited for Han Seo-hyeon's answer with my hands neatly folded.
How much time had passed? Han Seo-hyeon tilted his head and said looking at me:
"Hmm... How should I put this."
"What is it?"
I was able to hear about Jeong Ho-san's situation from Han Seo-hyeon.
* * *
"What is it."
Jeong Ho-san looked at the kid glaring at him from beyond the detention cell.
Name Kim Hyun-ki. Age 16. A child with D-grade potential ice talent. Currently unemployed, not registered at Hunter Academy. Though it might not be right to call a mere sixteen-year-old "unemployed", that was the occupation written on the report for that guy.
He tried to attend a regular school, but no school would accept him, so he couldn't even become a student, and thus fell to the very bottom without ever having anyone's hand to hold.
The height of the guy who hadn't grown properly due to poor nutrition was barely in the mid-160s, making him look even younger than his age.
No matter how you look at it, it was hard to believe this tiny guy had committed such an act.
But the guy's crime was certain.
Thanks to being caught at the scene, he couldn't even deny it.
The guy robbed a jewelry store, killed one person in the process, injured five people, and occupied and destroyed private property.
The guy's crimes were so certain and clear.
What's uncertain is the story hidden behind this guy.
"Did you sleep well last night?"
The guy's eyes shook at Jeong Ho-san's question.
"You caught me, and you're not here to mock me."
"We found a guardian, but there's no one who will come here for you."
Kim Hyun-ki clenched his fists at Jeong Ho-san's words.
"If I had parents or something who would come to a place like this, I wouldn't have done such a thing in the first place."
"Why did you do it?"
Kim Hyun-ki closed his mouth tightly at Jeong Ho-san's words. Jeong Ho-san sighed.
"Nothing will change even if you keep your mouth shut like this."
"Nothing will change even if I open my mouth, right? Isn't that so? You're going to throw me in an awakener-only cell anyway. And I'll never be able to get out, my, my life is already over!"
Kim Hyun-ki spat out curses at Jeong Ho-san. Get rid of that pathetic sympathy and get out of here! Just looking at your face makes me sick! At the guy's words, Jeong Ho-san couldn't even think of saying anything more and had no choice but to turn away.
There was someone waiting for him outside the detention center. Jeong Ho-san's feet stopped at the unexpected face.
"You're showing your rookie colors. Coming all the way here."
Jeong Ho-san smiled sheepishly at Choi Jun-hee's words.
"What brings you here..."
"All rookies come here once. It's not to mock the person you put in, but to ask this once after seeing their face. 'What happened?', right?"
Jeong Ho-san just blinked at the accurate guess, as if she had been watching his actions.
"You weren't watching me by any chance, were you?"
"Haha, no. Just, I did the same thing."
Choi Jun-hee continued with a bitter smile.
"There's nothing we can do. That means our part is over."
"Because we caught the culprit?"
"Yes, what comes next is for the judge, prosecutor, and lawyer to handle. We catch those who have done bad things, that's it."
"But..."
"The evidence isn't lacking, the witnesses are certain. What more can we do in a case like this?"
Thanks to being caught at the scene, there was nothing more to add. All the evidence was at the scene, and it ends with handing over that collected evidence.
"You know, rookie."
Choi Jun-hee, who stood crookedly with her arms folded, continued:
"We shouldn't try to understand the culprits."
"...We shouldn't?"
"Yes. Because that's not allowed for us. Yeah, they had inevitable circumstances. They had reasons to do this. Even if we think like that, it's our loss, you know."
"What exactly do you mean by our loss?"
"It's not like we're going to let them go, right? Even if we understand, even if we think they had no choice, we still have to catch those people."
Choi Jun-hee tapped her head.
"Whether we understand those people in our heads or not, all we can do is throw them in jail. So there's no point in saying we understand them or whatever when that's all we can do."
Choi Jun-hee had seen all sorts of stories doing this job. Her previous words weren't empty talk.
"That kid probably has a pitiful story too. Anyone can see he has no parents and nothing to his name, why else would he rob a jewelry store. At best, it's poverty. So what? Do we let him go? Because he has a pitiful story?"
Choi Jun-hee said.
"That's a choice we shouldn't make, rookie. We don't have the option to let someone go just because they committed a crime for pitiful reasons."
There was a time he let someone go. For Jeong Ho-san. Though it was only for his one and only friend, Jeong Ho-san had made such a 'wrong' choice before.
Of course, he later regretted that choice.
"Even so. I need to hear it. Why he ended up doing such a thing."
"Why? You'll just end up hurt."
"I want to understand why he did such a thing. And I want to take at least minimal responsibility."
"Take responsibility? What responsibility..."
"Anyway, I'm the one who put that kid in there. So, even if I can't defend the choice he made, I still want to hear why he made such a choice."
At Jeong Ho-san's words, Choi Jun-hee made an incredulous expression.
"No way. Where is there a police officer who takes responsibility for such things?"
"Haha."
Seeing Jeong Ho-san's smile, Choi Jun-hee shook her head. For this fool who would use his precious little break time to care about the criminal he put away, Choi Jun-hee had only one thing to say.
"Even if you do that, you'll be the one who gets hurt."
* * *
After receiving all that information, I scratched my somehow heated nape.
"This is really..."
Should I say it's just like Jeong Ho-san.
Well, Jeong Ho-san said he went there to understand me. This not-so-funny farce now is probably because of that too.
Jeong Ho-san will now overlap criminals with me.
'What a fool.'
He's such an honest and upright guy that once he decides on something, he'll try to keep it no matter what.
He fell into the mud saying he would understand me, so he'll sincerely try to understand this mud.
They say those who gaze into the abyss become monsters in the abyss.
I fell into that abyss and ended up becoming the same monster, but you, what about you?
I couldn't bring myself to say welcome to this dirty world.
But you know...
'Maybe the world needs people like Jeong Ho-san. Because no one else tried to understand those people at the very bottom.'
There was no one who tried to understand the circumstances of people at the bottom.
Seol Rok-jin only pushed people down to the bottom, and I condoned it.
There were many people who tried to push back down those trying to climb up from the bottom. They usually said things like 'know your place'.
And there were people who looked down into that bottom and beat them saying they got dirty. Do Chae-hee was like that.
Later, when I realized that abyss was created by someone and looked up, everything was too late.
In that hell created by someone, there was no one who tried to understand those who fell into that hell.
Why?
Because those with understanding, and those with the ability to pull them out of hell, didn't want to understand hell.
The problem is that path will be damn difficult.
'Jeong Ho-san really is a damn friend.'
—Didn't you say you'd ignore him?
'How can I turn a blind eye to someone who fell into this mud because of me?'
It's clear that my top priority has become Weltschmerz activities.
But that doesn't mean I'll neglect him walking towards death because of me.
'In that sense, I should contact reporter Nam Ju-hyeon after a long time.'
—You haven't forgotten what you entrusted to her, have you?
'Hmm...'
I can't forget.
'But there's something more urgent now.'
—I'm not sure if that reporter will agree though.