The Day Washington Flipped Upside Down
The day Washington suffered an unexpected blackout.
By morning, as the sun rose, the outage was resolved — and at the same moment, Washington erupted into chaos.
No, the entire United States erupted.
On its own, that was a staggering event.
Parks was a seven-term senator who had reigned for decades as one of the Labor Party's supreme power brokers. His public popularity had faded, keeping him distant from any presidential run, but within the Labor Party he stood among its most formidable kingpins. The one quietly orchestrating the current impeachment crisis engulfing President Jonathan had been Senator Parks himself.
And he had been murdered?
But an even more shocking bulletin followed on its heels.
The titan who led the Labor Party had been committing crimes against children.
Every country is sensitive about such things, but America was especially unforgiving when it came to crimes against children. If it had stayed buried, perhaps nothing would have come of it — but once exposed, ruin was inevitable. Of course, with Senator Parks already dead, he would never stand in a courtroom to pay for his sins.
Dohyun had killed every single person inside that mansion.
Every one of them had cooperated in the crimes. Not a single innocent soul among them.
No one accused him of excessive brutality. A few Labor Party politicians had tried to raise their voices in criticism, only to be carpet-bombed with accusations of being accomplices themselves before vanishing from the discourse entirely.
Notably, the Hero Police who had been on the scene passionately defended and sung Dohyun's praises.
The truth was, the Hero Police had initially tried to stop Dohyun the moment the blood started flowing. They had, however unwillingly, been protecting Senator Parks — a criminal. Given that their own precinct had spent years doing the senator all manner of favors, one wrong move could have seen them branded as accomplices.
Dohyun had reassured the police with those words, and the officers, deeply moved, were now defending and praising him with all their hearts.
'Well, I did apply a light touch of Mind Control. Just enough to make them testify in my favor.'
Dohyun opened the International Hunter Forum's US boards.
America, being a superpower of awakeners, had its boards subdivided into East, West, South, and Central — and every single one was talking about the case.
Users across the forum's Eastern, Central, and Southern boards were all euphoric over what Dohyun had accomplished.
The Western board alone was silent. Partly because the time difference meant most were still asleep — but also because, these days, the American West operated as an entirely separate country from the East.
'I gained quite a lot.'
For one, his Blood Magic proficiency. By vampire standards, he had now attained a considerable degree of mastery. It was true that he still couldn't compare to the genuinely high-born Noble class, but at this stage of the game, there was no need to worry about such beings yet.
'My Mind Control proficiency rose a bit too.'
Mental domination was one of the vampires' signature arts.
His base stats had also surged dramatically — he had nearly reached the stat ceiling of an Lv. 7 Upper.
'I could ascend to Lv. 8 right now, but according to my plan, staying in the underdog position for now works in my favor. And there's the Hidden Piece, too.'
There was a Hidden Piece obtainable by continuing to accumulate stats beyond the ceiling of an Lv. 7 Upper.
In any case, what Dohyun had gained from this affair went far beyond fame and raw power. Those were mere footnotes compared to the true prize he had claimed.
Smith came looking for him at just the right moment.
"Ready to go?"
Smith's eyes brimmed with admiration for Dohyun. It wasn't a residue of the Mind Control he had once been placed under — he had come to genuinely respect the man.
Beside Smith stood a face Dohyun had never seen before.
"White House Chief of Security, McConnell. I'm here to escort you, sir."
Dohyun had become the savior of the President of the United States.
How did capturing Senator Parks translate into saving the President? Simple.
The impeachment fizzled out into nothing. Thanks to what Dohyun had done, President Jonathan had crossed over his darkest hour.
'Of course, he's hardly in any state for a political comeback.'
Drugs, campaign finance violations, affairs — the President's transgressions had never been fabrications. He had been played by the vampires' schemes, yes, but the crimes themselves hadn't evaporated. A second term was impossible.
'Still, a president is a president.'
"I'm grateful to you. You saved me. No — you saved more than me. You saved America. If it hadn't been for you, whoever sat in this chair would have ended up in exactly the same position, thanks to those creatures."
President Jonathan thanked Dohyun with unfeigned sincerity.
Incidentally, it had been decided, by bipartisan agreement, to bury the whole vampire affair. It was the kind of revelation that could shake the American public's trust in its government to the core — and beyond the Labor Party, quite a few members of the Liberty Party had also joined hands with the vampires.
"So what are your plans from here? Staying in Washington? Whatever you choose to do in America, as long as it's within my power, I'll see that you're helped."
"I intend to go to California."
"California?"
It was the first time Dohyun had revealed his intended destination, and the President's face flickered with faint puzzlement.
"Joining the gold rush yourself, are you?"
California. In a word, America's number one state.
First in population, peerless first in economic scale. Taken on its own, California's economy outranked even Japan's, ranking fourth in the world. After the Cataclysm, its standing had climbed only higher — its rate of Gate appearances was overwhelmingly the highest on the planet.
"At first, we feared California would be annihilated by the monsters. Who could have guessed it would turn into a goose that lays golden eggs."
As mentioned, Gates were no longer a threat to humanity — rather, they were the wellspring of the new era's wealth. Countless awakeners had flooded into California to clear its overflowing Gates in pursuit of the Gold Rush, and thanks to that, California had become the most developed hub of Arcane Business in the United States.
"I'm not particularly interested in the gold rush."
"Then perhaps you're going to hunt down California's villains? I know you're a great hero, but think it over carefully. California is the most dangerous place in America right now."
The flood of awakeners had also produced an enormous side effect: it had become a paradise for villains.
"It's no exaggeration to say that LA and San Francisco are already half-conquered by the villains. Do you know why the National Guard hasn't been deployed? Because even with them deployed, we have no confidence we could root the villains out."
Dohyun already knew the truth of it.
'It's not that they lack confidence in wiping them out — it's that they'd be annihilated by the villains instead.'
No wonder the federal government was edging toward outright abandoning California, its single most economically powerful state.
"I'm not going to catch villains. Well — I will catch villains, but that's not the goal."
"...Then for what reason are you going to California?"
There were many reasons to go to California. Its nightmarish state of affairs was, to Dohyun, a colossal opportunity.
Honor. Power. Money. Strength.
All of it could be seized there.
There was no need to lay out the finer details in this room, so Dohyun spoke only what needed to be said.
"To start — I intend to become the Mayor of Los Angeles."
President Jonathan fell silent for a long moment.
Because he had heard something he never could have imagined.
"...Mayor? Of Los Angeles, of all places?"
Los Angeles. A city deeply familiar even to Koreans — home to several of Korea's famous baseball players, and the site of the largest Koreatown in America.
But while everyone knew LA was America's second city, few knew its true face. It boasted the worst public safety of any major American metropolis. That tendency had existed even before the Cataclysm, and now it went without saying.
'And he wants to be its mayor, of all things?'
Not a single naturalized awakener in America had ever aspired to a political career.
"...Why do you want to be mayor?"
"Because I wish to serve America."
A pat, rehearsed answer.
'Because it's the easiest path to taking everything I want.'
He had no intention of remaining Mayor of LA for long. It was a fleeting position — a stepping stone passed through on the way to what he desired.
"You know better than anyone what kind of place LA is, so I won't lecture you. But you becoming Mayor of Los Angeles is impossible. Not because you're an immigrant. LA is the Labor Party's absolute stronghold."
Thanks to the Parks affair, Dohyun had become persona non grata with the Labor Party. Granted, the party had shown no particular inclination to retaliate against him — with their own sins laid bare, they would most likely keep their heads down. But they would never sit back and let him become Mayor of LA.
"The Mayor of Los Angeles, the Governor of California, California's senate seats — only the Labor Party's most core insiders can occupy them. It's regarded as a stepping-stone course toward the next presidential race."
"It doesn't matter, since I won't be running as a Labor Party candidate."
"...Then as what?"
"As a member of the Liberty Party. Mr. President, I ask you to throw your weight behind me within your party so that I may run as the Liberty Party's candidate in the next LA mayoral election."
"!!"
'It's not that I have any love for the Liberty Party — but whatever's usable right now, I use.'
In the long run, Dohyun planned to become an absolute authority answerable to neither the Liberty Party nor the Labor Party. But for the moment, lacking any base in American politics, he intended to exploit the Liberty Party.
"Besides, from the Liberty Party's standpoint, the LA mayoral race is a lost cause anyway, isn't it?"
"...That is true."
"A special election will be called before long. When it comes, please exert your influence within the party."
"...Sorry?"
President Jonathan tilted his head.
"The LA mayoralty currently runs on independent elections. There are more than three years left until the next one is held."
"Under normal circumstances, yes. But under Article 409 of the Los Angeles Municipal Code, if the mayor dies or becomes unable to perform his duties, a special election must be held."
"True enough, but that's only in the event something happens to the LA mayor."
"The LA mayor will be unable to perform his duties before long."
"How could you possibly know th—"
President Jonathan's mouth snapped shut.
He had just realized he'd asked a question he should never have asked.
Dohyun merely kept smiling, feigning deafness to the President's question.
"I trust you understand what I mean. I'll be leaning on you often from here on. It's a pleasure working with you, Mr. President."
At Dohyun's smile, gooseflesh crawled across President Jonathan's skin, and he swallowed dryly.
'Is Kim a hero... or a demon?'
The President, of course, knew full well the strong likelihood that Dohyun was the Genocider. But Dohyun was no mere vigilante.
Whether Dohyun was hero or devil, one thing was certain.
The moment Dohyun arrived, California would be turned upside down — root and branch.
Dohyun did not depart for California right away.
The 'settlement' of this affair was not yet complete.
The next people Dohyun met were the Director of the CIA, the Director of the FBI, and the Director of Immigration. Men who had already held unrivaled positions in the federal government — and who, in the age of awakeners, had come to wield power greater still.
"I know that you gentlemen, on Senator Parks' orders, tried to pin a false charge on me."