Cutting Out the Rotten Flesh - 4
The conference room was more crowded than usual. Even though some council members had stepped down, no one could immediately fill their spots. They were still participating under the pretext of handover procedures. They were mere observers with no real authority, but they watched Yeonhyeon with tense smiles—not genuine relaxation, but the forced kind they had to muster just to hold themselves together.
"Did you have a good trip to Anseongu, Captain Yeonhyeon?"
"Did you find anything to criticize them for?"
Two council members directed their questions at her, then scowled at each other.
"I told you, even if that man allowed an audit of his organization, actually criticizing him would be suicide!"
"Haven't you figured out his intentions yet? He's using that flimsy excuse as a weapon to suppress us!"
"If someone with that kind of power wants to suppress Seven Seed, we should accept it! Resisting would be idiotic!"
"Even so, when that man starts meddling in our internal affairs, don't we need to be in a position where we can say, 'Your organization isn't exactly spotless either...?'"
It wasn't unusual for the council to fracture and bicker like this.
"Morality? What nonsense! We're the ones who tried to kidnap him without any justification and swallow up the settlement in one go. And now we're going to nitpick about morality and pretexts in front of him?"
"The past is the past. We don't know how he'll take it, but at least we need to find elements to counter his words—"
"That's the stupid thinking that got us into this mess!"
"It was entirely Kim Chaeyun's misjudgment and mistake!"
Kim Chaeyun, in the corner of the room, calmly accepted the glares directed her way.
"You'll have to take responsibility for this... you."
"I'm preparing to take responsibility in my own way. Don't worry."
"Shameless... Stepping down from the council and some self-reflection won't be the end of it."
"I didn't handle this alone. If you're thinking of holding me to a certain level of accountability, there wouldn't be many of you left here either..."
Chaeyun mocked them with a sneer-tinged smile.
"But this meeting isn't about discussing my punishment. Let's get back to the main topic. Yeonhyeon. Did you find any meaningful information?"
"No. I didn't."
Yeonhyeon shook her head firmly.
"That's strange. In any place where people live together... even if the man himself is above reproach, it's unlikely there'd be no petty conflicts or disputes."
"Well... the settlement's history isn't that long. With not many people inside, I think that kind of environment is possible."
"Hmm..."
"Besides, everyone in that settlement faithfully follows their leader, Kim Sunwoo's orders. It's not definitively confirmed, but I could ascertain that at least the majority of them are his slaves."
"Impressive."
Chaeyun nodded slowly.
"Then next... we need to stay on guard. Solve whatever problems we can right now—"
"Shut your mouth if you don't even have speaking rights, you bitch."
Another council member glared at Chaeyun.
"From the start, that audit was just a formality anyway. Why would a man who could kill us all on a whim bother with an audit?"
"Then why do you think he's coming back here?"
"What else? Sex! He'll use the audit as an excuse to scout around for pretty girls and then fuck them."
"I see."
"No need to worry too much. At times like this, we need to stick together more!"
"Stick together?"
"That man could kill us with a snap of his fingers. But he hasn't. Instead of being grateful for that luck, we should analyze why he can't kill us."
"Hmm..."
"It's not that he doesn't want to—it's that he can't. Why? Even if he wipes us all out in this district, he doesn't have the manpower to manage and defend it!"
"Quite a reasonable hypothesis."
"It's not reasonable—it's the truth. So no need to be so scared. Just toss a few women his way and dodge the issue."
Kim Chaeyun sighed.
"I don't agree with that opinion... but fine. Let the people with speaking rights discuss and share the responsibility."
"Of course."
"I'm sorry..."
After bringing the women here, I had them apologize first and foremost. Seohee and her subordinates, along with the merchants, knelt before the bereaved families of the dead, offering their apologies. Even if they had reasons to kill her, murder couldn't be justified. The moment I decided not to wipe out Seven Seed, I needed to mediate the anger between them.
The woman who had been a council member glared at them, holding back tears tightly. This situation itself might feel like violence to her. I'd essentially occupied Seven Seed. Before I turned the place upside down, she could have vented her rage as she pleased, but not now.
According to the treaty, I planned to conduct the audit to guide Seven Seed onto the 'right path.' It wasn't strange for her to worry that my attitude might become unfair if she acted too aggressively. Still, she needed a chance. Even once, she needed to feel like she was in control—from a position of receiving comfort, deciding their treatment.
"...I knew my little sister wasn't a good person."
"..."
"After our mother died, she went really off the rails. I always took the good stuff, and she got the leftovers."
No one is born a villain. Their circumstances wouldn't justify their crimes, but the survivors needed to know the causes and processes.
"I understand. There must have been reasons. Good reasons..."
She couldn't hold back the tears anymore. Other Seven Seed members approached her, but she waved them off.
"If possible... just stay out of my sight. Just..."
Seohee's subordinates and the merchants bowed their heads again. It wasn't forgiveness. Unless someone was deeply religious, they couldn't easily forgive the killer of their own flesh and blood. They just endured. She knew well the wrongs her sister had committed, so she turned a blind eye, rationalizing that there must have been reasons. She probably lacked the courage to properly judge right and wrong, to confront what her sister had done.
She left. I turned to the other council members present.
"Let's take a break and continue."
We needed to change the atmosphere. Nothing could proceed with the victim crying and us fumbling around. I intended to thoroughly excise this settlement's apocalyptic selfishness and self-preservationism.
"First order of business. We need to address this accurately right away."
I'd gathered all the council members. Seohee sat beside me.
"I heard quite an interesting story from Seohee."
I let a faint hint of killing intent slip. I wasn't some master who could terrify people with a mere glance, but they could at least sense this wasn't a laughing matter. Since I'd been all smiles until now, just dropping that would unsettle some of them.
"There was an incident where one of Seohee's subordinates was about to take the fall for an accident and get exiled... and it blew up into the whole group getting chased out."
No sooner had I finished than one council member slammed the table.
"That couldn't be glossed over! There was an explosion! Whether accident or intent, we had to exile the culprit!"
Others started voicing their complaints too.
"I get that Seohee serves you well, but dragging up the past like this is abnormal, isn't it?"
"Don't believe Seohee anyway! She's not trustworthy."
I looked at Seohee. She snorted at me.
"Me, lying to Master? What a joke."
That was the most solid proof. Seohee couldn't lie to me, and what she claimed either happened or she truly believed it did.
"I'm a patient person. And I'm willing to wait a bit to uncover the truth here."
I gazed at them calmly.
"Not a single one of you knows anything about this?"
Seohee's cold sneer poured toward them.