Chapter 111
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 111
Chapter Title: The Councilors - [2]
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Who is the greatest figure in Korean history?
Anyone well-versed in history would answer without hesitation: King Sejo.
His great king's achievements are as follows.
Sejo proved that if you have immediate violence at your disposal, there's no need to consider complicated political logic. With a single iron mace, he smashed the head of the most powerful figure in the political world, and leading a gang of thugs, he seized the throne—the most legitimate in Joseon history.
How long Kim Jong-seo had rolled around in the north, how deep his cunning was in Joseon's political arena, or how much military force the king could muster from various places—none of that mattered before Sejo's iron mace and thugs.
In the end, moved by Sejo's virtue and shining achievements, Danjong realized his own inadequacies and joyfully yielded the throne, pleasing all the people. This could truly be called the greatest event in Korean history, surpassing even the creation of Hangul or the Battle of Myeongnyang.
And why is this achievement so great? Because King Sejo's actions are the perfect model for modern Awakeners to emulate.
Whether politicians calling themselves ministers or councilors are shrewd, or how mighty the forces deployed nationwide are—none of that really matters.
If you have overwhelming power right in your grasp to wield, you can resolve everything with it.
Awakeners across the nation must realize this fact as soon as possible.
"Put down the hammer!"
The National Assembly guards shouted, but I ignored them. I was just marching forward, holding a single hammer.
"Please put down the hammer! Why did you even bring that thing here?"
The guards kept yelling, but I paid no mind.
As I kept advancing, not only the guards but also the people coming and going from the National Assembly building turned their gazes toward me.
They looked puzzled, wondering what was going on, but not particularly scared. Faces that couldn't imagine any change to this pastoral scene...
I wanted fear to settle on those arrogant mugs. I wanted them to look at me with the terrified faces befitting non-Awakener trash.
It wouldn't be hard to make that happen. A single hammer would suffice.
Once I'd drawn enough attention from everyone, just as the guards started frantically radioing around, I teleported.
"Where did he—"
The guards, who had lost sight of me in confusion, would soon figure out where I was.
Because I raised the hammer high and brought it down. Boom!
Once. A single hammer strike was enough. To completely destroy the dome of the National Assembly building.
A thunderous roar. A moment of silence, followed by screams.
"What!" "Agh!"
As fragments of the dome flew everywhere, I struck again, and the ceiling beneath it collapsed entirely.
Down below—in and around the National Assembly building—the non-Awakener trash screamed, and the emergency bells blared loudly.
After gates began opening, even near national key facilities, security measures had been tightened since gates could open anywhere at any time. And indeed, they had.
In an instant, squads of security forces burst out from everywhere. But once they spotted me, they couldn't bring themselves to aim their assault rifles at me. They knew those were just toys. Against a superhuman with a force field exoskeleton.
They seemed to be shouting something, but I ignored it. Their voices were drowned out by the screams of the fleeing people anyway.
I scanned the people scattering in all directions.
Yes, run. Run away fast.
That's exactly what non-Awakener trash should do in front of an Awakener. They did it in Sowol, so naturally here in Korea too...
Among the faces rushing out of the National Assembly building, I spotted a familiar non-Awakener trash.
A middle-aged assemblyman. I remembered that face. It was on the list of opponents to the Awakener Anti-Discrimination Law, I think.
I teleported next to the middle-aged assemblyman, who was scrambling away with his aides.
"Huh?"
Grabbing his wrist, I forced his waist to bend, then teleported. To where?
Inside a moving car.
More precisely, into a car racing 3 km from the National Assembly building, teleporting along with the middle-aged assemblyman.
"What the...?"
The moment the surroundings changed entirely, the middle-aged assemblyman hadn't grasped the situation yet and just looked around inside the car.
Only when he saw me right beside him did he freak out. He slumped into the car seat and screamed.
"What!"
"Don't you recognize my face?"
Only after I spoke did he look at my face, then asked in a bewildered voice.
"Kim Geuk? Is this Kim Geuk the Hunter?"
"Yeah, that's me. Anyway, I brought you here because I have something to ask."
"Something to ask? If anything, I want to know what's going on..."
I ignored the non-Awakener trash's words and asked.
"You opposed the Awakener Anti-Discrimination Law, right?"
"Pardon?"
"Why oppose it? Does kidnapping and imprisoning underage girls give you some sick thrill?"
Only after hearing my question did the middle-aged assemblyman seem to finally understand the situation. He took a deep breath and lectured in a voice he'd forced calm.
"Kim Geuk Hunter, I have a rough idea why you're doing this... but you can't do this."
"Just answer the question."
"Send me back now."
"Why did you oppose the Awakener Anti-Discrimination Law?"
"Before this blows up... before it becomes irreversible, hurry!"
He shouted but started coughing.
I grabbed his jaw with one hand, twisted his wrist to force him to look at me, and asked.
"Awakener Anti-Discrimination Law. Opposition. Why?"
Releasing my grip after asking again, he finally answered.
"I opposed it because maintaining the status quo was the best option for now. Satisfied? Now send me back!"
"Nah."
"Are you insane? I'm not threatening you—I'm seriously worried. Don't you realize this will cause big trouble?"
Since he asked, I countered.
"What are you gonna do about it?"
"What am I gonna do..."
"If kidnapping an assemblyman is a serious crime, put out a warrant for me right away? I'll quit being a Hunter, switch to full-time terrorist, kidnap and smash everything carefree-like."
I knew that wasn't feasible. No idiot would let a force field exoskeleton terrorist who can teleport loose in Korea. Unless it was that moron Han Hee-seok...
I didn't know exactly which law punished this act, but I knew that didn't matter much either.
With Behemoth having already ravaged Seoul and everything in chaos, they wouldn't escalate things just because the second-strongest Awakener in Korea was causing a scene.
I knew well that laws weren't as important as the will to enforce them. Like how the assault charge applied to me for exposing that violent teacher by name didn't apply to him, despite beating countless students.
The law would discreetly look away from me now too.
Sure enough, the middle-aged assemblyman shut his mouth after starting to say something. Whether he'd reached the same conclusion as me or just didn't want to provoke me, whatever.
The car carrying us kept speeding on. He asked in a grave voice.
"So, what do you want?"
"Promise to vote for the Awakener Anti-Discrimination Law next time."
"Pardon?"
"Promise, and I'll send you back."
The middle-aged assemblyman gauged my eyes.
"Just the promise?"
"Hurry."
"If this is being recorded..."
"Hurry."
I urged him, leaking a bit of infrasound. I saw him flinch slightly despite trying to play it cool.
Finally, he said.
"I promise. That good enough?"
"No, not yet."
"What else..."
"I'll check next time if you vote for or against it. Know that if you break the promise, you'll meet me again."
"Pardon?"
"Next time, even promising won't let you go."
As the middle-aged assemblyman clamped his mouth shut, I continued.
"Got it?"
Even as a national assemblyman, he couldn't easily ignore this ridiculously childish gangster threat.
Because he couldn't stop me if I decided to follow through.
This guy knew that better than anyone. He'd have studied cases from other countries.
That's why, to prevent such situations in Korea, the nation had pulled all sorts of tricks. Hindering Awakeners from gathering, forming laughable outfits like the Special Task Force, blocking ties between Awakeners and high society...
All those schemes stemmed from fear of Awakeners. Right?
They knew intellectually how threatening true superhumans were, but since it hadn't hit close to home, they'd kept acting on inertia.
I hoped to shatter that inertia, leaving room for this to happen again.
I hoped to make this walking legislature realize that all the societal mechanisms protecting him were utterly useless. That in the face of an Awakener's real violence, his status as a people's representative and distant troops meant nothing.
That was exactly what I wanted.
"See ya. Let's not meet again."
After that, I tracked down other assemblymen who opposed the law and repeated the process.
Exactly three assemblymen got the treatment, and then I grabbed the fourth one for the same.
This fourth assemblyman's name was probably Eom Geun-oh or something. I made the same demand to him.
"You'll vote for the Awakener Anti-Discrimination Law next time, right?"
And Assemblyman Eom Geun-oh reacted a bit differently from the previous ones.
"No way, you bastard."
He flat-out refused, then muttered.
"This is insane. How did the country end up like this? It's not even a military dictatorship era—what the hell..."
"Not promising?"
"No!"
I stared blankly at Assemblyman Eom Geun-oh's face for a moment.
What he probably thought was steadfastness looked to me like brazenness, believing a lofty assemblyman like himself wouldn't get roughed up.
A non-Awakener trash daring to...
Well, fine. I'd prepared Plan B for stubborn cases like this. I said.
"Then buckle your seatbelt properly."
"What?"
"Buckle your seatbelt properly."
His eyes widened as he looked ahead where I pointed.
The car we were in was speeding toward the Han River ahead. Those saucer-sized eyes must have reflected the river water.
"What, can't buckle it yourself? Want me to do it?"
Only then did Assemblyman Eom Geun-oh frantically buckle up.
By the time he finished, our car was leaping toward the Han River. There used to be a railing ahead, but I'd smashed it beforehand for this stunt.
The next moment, the river swallowed our car.
The riverbed began pulling our vehicle down.
With only water visible outside the car window, Eom Geun-oh plugged his nose and mouth, trembling violently. Trying to hold out as long as possible before the water filled the car?
I stopped even that pathetic struggle. Gripping both his wrists firmly, I pried his hands away from his nose and mouth and asked.
"Promise?"
"Aaaagh! Fuck, you fucking bastard!"
An ugly scream burst from his mouth, but I wasn't satisfied.
I wanted a specific surrender like "I surrender! I surrender! I'll vote for that damn law, just spare me!" or something. But this guy just screamed.
He screamed pretty amusingly, entertaining enough, but still far from the surrender declaration I wanted.
Feeling the failure, I sighed.
Meanwhile, Eom Geun-oh stopped screaming after a while. Only then did he snap out of it and realize no water was seeping into the car. He looked around the underwater scene outside the window with a blank expression.
I didn't bother explaining that I'd coated the car with my force field exoskeleton when we plunged in, making it fully waterproof. I just grumbled.
"What a letdown? Is he acting like this because he believes he won't die, or is he so scared he can't even answer properly? Damn..."
And the driver chimed in.
'Does it matter? We're busy. Even if this one failed, grab the next assemblyman quick and keep going...'
The characteristic mental waves of a spirit echoed directly in my head. That driver's sturdy frame wasn't flesh but made of ice.
And Assemblyman Eom Geun-oh, even amid the shock and chaos, seemed to have overheard our conversation and pieced it together. Proof: he interrupted to ask.
"You're doing this to other assemblymen too?"
"Only the ones who didn't vote for it."
"There are 240 of them...?"
"I haven't been doing Hunter work lately. Got time."
Assemblyman Eom Geun-oh froze up. He stared at my face, blinking for a while. Then he muttered.
"No. That really can't happen..."
"Can't?"
"The country's already going to hell in a handbasket, and now you wanna make it worse? Setting a precedent of Awakeners extorting assemblymen? That'd make Korea just like other countries..."
"Why's the country's mess my fault? It's those who bugged the walking hydrogen bomb's house and tried planting spies who made me snap."
"When that anti-discrimination law passes, what's your alternative? Got a plan to stop it turning into a shitshow like in America?"
"Why would the guy whose sister was kidnapped prepare alternatives? It's like asking the kidnapper's family if they have an alternative when he won't release your sister without money—our family starves. Should kidnap victims' families care about the kidnappers' side too?"
"Sister kidnapped? You mean your sister rotting in prison? I heard there was a proposal for early release..."
"I don't deal with kidnappers."
I cut him off sharply, and Eom Geun-oh fell silent again.
After a brief silence, something like a plea slipped from his mouth.
"Don't do it."
I furrowed my brow. Eom Geun-oh kept pleading.
"Please, don't do it. I'm begging you..."
I was getting annoyed and scowled.
Damn, this guy was more serious about everything than expected. Seeing him take this so gravely meant getting even a rubber check promise was hopeless, and mixing words was tiring.
"I don't get why you're so worried. I even made you buckle up so you wouldn't get hurt—clearly I'm not trying to go overboard."
As I grumbled, Eom Geun-oh stopped pleading and stared blankly at me.
"Not trying to go overboard?"
"I'm not some rage-blind idiot who doesn't consider consequences. If I wanna keep Hunter-ing, I can't cross lines—gotta hold back, right?"
"You consider consequences? And this isn't crossing a line?"
"What's this."
"After all this?"
Eom Geun-oh stared at me blankly again. Then muttered.
"You're completely insane..."