Yeouido's Power Struggle
Yeouido Safe Zone. In one office inside a high-rise building that symbolized the once-bustling financial district and now served as the temporary headquarters of the Management Department, a middle-aged man was leisurely gazing out the window at the panoramic view of Yeouido. Urgent footsteps echoed behind him.
Knock knock, click—! An agent in a suit pounded on the door and flung it open without waiting for permission. The middle-aged man's brow furrowed in irritation.
"Do you always burst in like that without any regard for hierarchy...?"
"S-sorry! But it's such urgent news that I thought I had to report it right away..."
At the agent's pale face and gasping breaths, the man suppressed his annoyance for a moment, his eyes flashing sharply.
Urgent news. There was only one kind of urgent news that would come to him.
"What is it? Did you finally track down Signal?"
"N-no, sir."
The middle-aged man scowled. He'd gotten his hopes up for nothing.
"Then did you find someone new with a useful skill?"
"N-no, that's not it either."
As his expectations were dashed one after another, the man slammed his desk in frustration.
Bang!
"If it's neither of those, then why the fuss!"
"It's... Elder Lee Han-yeon has arrived."
"What?"
In an instant, the middle-aged man's expression froze solid. His eyes began to tremble like there was an earthquake.
Why does that name have to come up now, of all times?
"You mean the Lee Han-yeon I know...?"
"Y-yes... it has to be him..."
Lee Han-yeon. The weight of those three syllables was anything but light. Before the apocalypse, he was a heavyweight politician whose influence no one in the party dared to trifle with. The man himself had only exchanged a few passing words with him. For such a titan, presumed dead, to show up in Yeouido right now—especially when the Management Department minister position was vacant and politicians were starting to jockey for it.
And the agent's report didn't end there.
"He's not alone, either. Elder Lee has Chairman Park and a group of awakeners with him, heading into Yeouido."
"...What the hell is going on...!"
The middle-aged man's lips went dry. Lately, as Yeouido's infrastructure was gradually restoring—electricity, water, daily necessities—public sentiment among the survivors, who were starting to feel a bit more secure, had swung toward them. That's how they'd established the Management Department. The Awakener Alliance had been quiet recently, too; they were on the verge of claiming the minister position.
But now, at this exact timing, Lee Han-yeon and Chairman Park show up. Both had good public images and were former military men who'd entered politics and business. Not just survivors—even half the military personnel in the current Management Department might line up under them just on the news of their arrival.
Don't throw sand in the finished rice...!
The man wiped cold sweat from his brow and roughly loosened his tie with a hand.
"For now, just quietly bring Elder Han-yeon to my office alone so we can talk..."
He was about to issue a secretive order to the agent when—
"Bring him quietly?"
Screeech—The heavy office door, half-open, swung fully open, and a deep voice boomed through the room.
At the end of the frozen man's gaze, two elderly men with neatly combed silver hair strode in with their characteristic upright posture. Their clothes were a bit worn, but their aura and expressions were exactly the same as before the apocalypse.
"H-how did you get in here...?"
The middle-aged man rose hesitantly from his seat. Chairman Park swept a cold glance over the luxurious furnishings in the office and snorted.
"You think I can't come here? What, is this room yours now?"
"...N-no, it's not."
As the man averted his eyes with a groveling voice, Lee Han-yeon chimed in.
"You've really climbed the ladder, huh? Got yourself a private office in the tallest spot in Yeouido."
"..."
The middle-aged man held his breath, unable to retort. Was it a habit? Or a survival instinct etched into his body. Stay silent when someone higher up speaks. Even though logically, he outranked these two now—
His gaze slyly shifted to the agent standing beside him. The pointed look, meant only for the agent, was clear: Do something about this. Quick.
Of course, "do something" didn't mean talk them down. It was an order to deal with these annoying old men by force if necessary.
The agent swallowed dryly.
Is this really okay? The opponent's Lee Han-yeon...
This wasn't the first time, of course. But the opponent was different this time. Could he really take out Lee Han-yeon here, when word of his arrival was already spreading?
Hesitation gripped him, but crushed by the anger in that gaze, he hesitantly reached for his back pocket.
That was when—
Crash!
"Wh-where do you think you're going! Stop!"
"Damn it, let go!"
Sudden commotion erupted outside the door. Dull thuds of heavy objects colliding, followed by more heavy footsteps rushing in, mixed with desperate shouts from Management Department agents trying to block them.
But the blockade was futile. Squeezing through the open door, they stormed into the room and immediately bowed their heads to Lee Han-yeon and Chairman Park.
These were the awakeners from Suwon who'd escorted them. Armed to the teeth like special forces with geared-up equipment and sleek black rifles. And it wasn't just good gear—even as agents clung to them, they were dragging them along effortlessly, clearly far beyond normal human strength.
At the intrusion, the two elders chuckled and scolded them lightly.
"Come on, I told you to wait outside nicely."
"Sorry, sir. We got a bit anxious."
The Suwon awakeners bowed politely, but their eyes glinted sharply toward the middle-aged man and the agent in the room.
"Wh-what the hell is this! How dare you barge in!"
Enraged at his territory being invaded again, the middle-aged man shouted. As the agent moved to eject the Suwon intruders at the yell—
Click!
The cold click of a gun being readied sounded as the agent's hand touched one.
"...This is—"
Lee Han-yeon and Chairman Park smiled thinly at the frozen agent and middle-aged man.
"Don't touch the guns carelessly. They're dangerous."
"Our kids' guns are loaded with real bullets."
"...!"
The middle-aged man bit his lip and swallowed hard.
That line just now—how much do they know?
During the initial securing of Yeouido Safe Zone, they'd nearly depleted their ammo stock. A top secret that they'd hushed up when rumors spread about soldiers carrying empty guns. Did these two even know about that rumor?
"Just one question."
Lee Han-yeon took a step toward the rigid middle-aged man.
"How exactly were you planning to select the Management Department minister?"
"That's... we'll decide through internal Management Department meetings later—"
The man tried to speak calmly, but Chairman Park cut in.
"Heh... Minister in name only, right? Basically picking Yeouido's mayor. You think you can just huddle up and choose among yourselves for a position that important?"
"Th-that's not—!"
"We vote for it. A vote with all Yeouido survivors participating."
The middle-aged man's facial muscles twitched at those words.
His original plan was a strict internal vote. He'd been diligently building his faction within the department for that—
"But sirs, it's already decided. You can't just show up suddenly and—"
"Should we ask the survivors outside directly? What they want? Post it on the Gallery right now?"
"No... wait..."
He didn't need to ask. They'd all want a vote, obviously. He didn't want to be dragged along, but—
In the end, the middle-aged man had no choice but to nod.
"...Understood. As you say, we'll hold a full Yeouido vote."
Forcing out the declaration, the man's mind raced furiously.
Still, zero chance isn't right.
Restoring Yeouido's collapsed electricity, water, and daily infrastructure was ultimately their achievement—the Management Department's. If he could leverage that public support and narrow the candidates internally—
After dropping off the two elders and the awakeners from Suwon, I stood in an open lot on the outskirts of Yeouido, facing the man from the Awakener Alliance who'd commissioned the transport from me a few days ago.
"You have our deepest thanks. Thanks to you, we got those two here safely."
The man bowed repeatedly in gratitude and handed over the promised additional reward credits.
"I had no idea you'd even fought battles on the way from Suwon. The elders praised you highly. Said they survived thanks to you."
"I didn't do much... But what happens now?"
At my question, the man gave a faint smile.
"Now we wait for those two to bring the change. Yeouido will surely see some shifts."
"Hope it goes well."
"Yes, I'll be in touch."
After sending him off, I called someone via the Gallery messenger.
A reply came almost immediately, and soon someone approached the train.
"Kids!"
The person walking from afar was none other than the siblings' mother. The train door opened, and Jiwoo and Sua came running out, throwing themselves into her arms.
"Mommy!"
"You weren't hurt, right? Did everything go okay?"
It was clearly a family reunion, but the mother's expression was awkward. I could guess why.
She let out an embarrassed chuckle, her face flushing.
"I thought the kids were taking the train far away and I wouldn't see them for a month... If I'd known you'd come right back, I wouldn't have made such a fuss."
Grumbling like that, her hands never stopped stroking the children's cheeks and hair.
As I watched the heartwarming scene of mother and children chatting and playing, Haseon's voice rang out from Car 1, where she was tapping on her laptop.
"Huh?"
"Something wrong?"
"Th-there's this... unique post up..."
Her voice sounded oddly excited. I gave the mother a quick nod and boarded the train, peering over at the laptop screen Haseon was pointing to.
There was a post by someone using the nickname Magic Girl.