#40 Dreaming of Justice (3)
At Do Chae-hee's command, Kim Yongwon rounded up the entire team and swept the site clean.
The Gakbeombu team that arrived on scene numbered barely five, Do Chae-hee included.
Controlling the area was a stretch with so few hands, but the huddled crowd fell silent under her fierce glare, obeying her orders without a peep.
They gathered evidence methodically and rescued the victims. Ambulances were even called in for those in critical condition.
The once-quiet lab vicinity erupted into a bustling chaos as crowds poured in.
Kim Yongwon raised his voice amid the throng.
"Everyone! Please follow instructions! Exit slowly! Ah, watch your step!"
Dozens had been trapped in Hyeonmu Pharma's basement alone. Among them, as N had said, were confirmed awakeners. Far from posing a threat, they looked utterly broken, ground down by their ordeals here—but that still left room to invoke the Awakener Special Law.
Park Cheol-wan arrived pale-faced just after Do Chae-hee had secured all the evidence and isolated every victim.
"What the hell have you done?"
"I didn't cause a mess. I cleaned one up."
Do Chae-hee lifted her chin defiantly under his interrogation.
If this was a mess, it was a glorious one. She deserved praise for it, didn't she?
Her gut still churned. N's words rattled her mind. Was Park Cheol-wan really one of them?
Suppressing the doubt gnawing at her, she addressed him.
"How did you get here? I was planning to file a report later."
"How could I sit this out? And handle something like this without a report...?"
"It only worked because I went in alone."
As he'd said, any prior report would've given them time to prepare. Bringing a team would've been the same.
She'd turned the place upside down without warning—that's what made this haul possible.
"Good results are what matter, right?"
"Good results? Do you even grasp what you've done? Storming in here on a whim—this won't end with a slap on the wrist. Why'd you even bring up the Awakener Special Law? And why was Gakbeombu even deployed here?"
Strictly speaking, the Awakener Special Law applied only when perpetrators were awakeners. Everyone here who could be labeled a perpetrator was a non-awakener—researchers, managers, the works.
"Well, I thought the ones exploiting and tormenting people down there were awakeners. And there were awakeners on site, so it wasn't a total lie."
Do Chae-hee spun the falsehood without batting an eye.
"But thanks to it, we uncovered Hyeonmu Pharma's true face."
The captives' conditions were dire. Several showed mana poisoning symptoms, and some bore clear marks of experimentation.
Details would require deeper investigation, but as N had claimed, Hyeonmu Pharma's operations were inhumanely cruel. They'd violated dozens of laws, no doubt.
Korea's top pharmaceutical giant, exposed for such atrocities behind closed doors.
It was the kind of scandal to rock the nation—but Park Cheol-wan's face showed anxiety, not pride in the revelation.
"Aren't you happy?"
"What?"
"We caught the bad guys. Doesn't that make you glad?"
Park Cheol-wan's expression froze like ice at her words.
Only then did Do Chae-hee admit it to herself.
Park Cheol-wan might not be the good man she'd believed him to be.
"Chief."
"What."
"Let's blow this wide open. Properly."
"Blow it open? What do you mean?"
"Too late to cover it up."
"Hah."
"And I won't let you anyway."
"What?"
Hostility laced her words, hardening Park Cheol-wan's face.
Witnesses abounded already—her Team 1, officials on site. Unbeknownst to him, N had live-streamed her raid. Even if she stayed silent, they would talk. This couldn't be buried.
No one would let it be buried.
"With the Bomnal Orphanage incident, was announcing it to the world really for the people's sake?"
Chaos would ensue, he'd said. Best to keep it quiet.
That's what Park Cheol-wan had told her when it broke.
The public knew only of a disappearance at the orphanage.
The human modifications, kidnappings inside— all classified. Known only to insiders, shielded from the masses.
She'd bought his line about preventing public panic.
Back then, she had.
Now she saw it.
Hiding it might've protected the true culprits.
"Same with the Kang Ishin case. Illegal mining orchestrated by someone, yet you never pursued them. Even with deaths on site—mere underlings. The real developers behind that gate? Someone else."
No one suggested chasing them.
Sensational photos and reports bled into Han Jo-hee's murder. Then the public manhunt flowed seamlessly.
Swamped by tips, the real issue faded.
Like a pup chasing a truck. Or a blinded racehorse, galloping doubt-free down its track.
N was right.
Park Cheol-wan wasn't the man she thought. And she'd been a fool.
"Why cover everything up? For whose sake?"
Despair weighed her voice as she demanded answers.
Park Cheol-wan had been her rock, the pillar letting her endure after losing her family. Her sturdiest guardian, most trusted superior.
Today, his face looked alien. A face seen daily, now utterly strange.
"Calm down first. You're worked up. Spouting nonsense in the heat."
He rubbed his face, placing a hand on her shoulder. Appeasing her came first, it seemed.
"Fine, fine. Those trapped here—tragic, yeah. Good work, you did good. But the world runs on process and procedure. You can't just bulldoze that. And those old cases? They're closed..."
But his words only stoked her fire anew.
"Closed cases? Process and procedure? For whose benefit? Victims locked here—who speaks for them while you drone on about that? Kim Seongdeok ran this place. A lawmaker, tasked with making and upholding laws, did this. The law's on their side..."
"Do Chae-hee!"
Park Cheol-wan bellowed.
"Enough. Know your limits."
Feeling her glare, he lowered his voice to a whisper.
"We'll talk later."
As he turned to leave, Do Chae-hee grabbed his wrist, gripping tight.
"Promise me. Handle this right."
Please.
One last chance to believe in you. Don't disappoint me.
After all our years—don't make me abandon you.
She poured her heart into the plea.
"If you won't, I will. Somehow. Bad guys pay. So please, just this once—see it through properly."
Park Cheol-wan stared at her with a conflicted look, then turned away.
* * *
Do Chae-hee had spoken boldly, but the investigation hit walls from the start. Despite her plea, Park Cheol-wan offered zero help. That he didn't obstruct her was a mercy.
She bit her lip.
They'd cornered Hyeonmu Pharma with raid evidence, but failed to link Kim Seongdeok.
He'd long stepped down as chairman: "What's that got to do with me?" Plus, he cut ties, blaming overzealous staff.
Dragging a sitting assemblyman? Near impossible.
Parliamentary immunity.
No arrest without National Assembly consent.
He could stonewall any summons too.
"Kim Seongdeok's fingerprints are all over this!"
N's "illegally" obtained evidence? Unusable.
Her options were razor-thin.
She'd tried weaving in Bomnal Orphanage, but evidence insufficiency killed it.
Public sentiment favored Gakbeombu, but the lead investigator wasn't on their side.
He dismissed her raid haul as tainted— no proper probe preceding it—and turned the attack on her.
She escaped charges only thanks to the Awakener Special Law.
Still, Do Chae-hee didn't quit.
She'd finally achieved something real—no way she'd retreat over hurdles.
Hope lingered.
Witnesses from the raid could testify. A few solid statements would upend Hyeonmu Pharma.
Concrete ties to Kim Seongdeok? Parliament would drop his defense.
But witnesses clammed up.
"Oh, this? Accident, my bad."
"No experiments."
"Nothing happened!"
Just days ago, they'd been different.
What happened in that gap? They were terrified.
"Scared of retaliation?"
No answers.
The old her would've promised protection: "Speak up, I'll keep you safe."
Now she knew better. She had no right to such vows.
She'd lost a witness before.
Han Jo-hee...
Kang Ishin or a third party—didn't matter. She'd failed to protect him.
Despite Hyeonmu Pharma's stature, media stayed eerily quiet.
As N said: press and capital entwined.
SNS and forums buzzed for punishment, but TV and portals? Not a whisper of "Hyeonmu."
Instead: drugs, affairs, dating scandals. Distractions exploding daily, engineered to divert eyes.
As interest waned, they showed their hand. Kim Seongdeok escaped charges unscathed. Blame fell on one "lab team leader."
Tails cut clean.
A mere team leader orchestrated all this? Do Chae-hee screamed of higher-ups, but the refrain: "No evidence."
Her mountain of proof? Rejected for contamination, vagueness, unclear liability.
Excuses aplenty, outcome singular.
Real villains walked.
If effort couldn't jail them...
"What the hell do I do?"
Do Chae-hee gnawed her lip.