A World for Perpetrators
The world is not fair.
And an unfair world is, by definition, an unjust one.
Han Yuhyeon stared intently at the glowing screen of his smartphone.
The Supreme Court has delivered its final verdict on the five assailants who beat a father to death with golf clubs during a mob assault. The perpetrators were sentenced to prison terms ranging from a maximum of seven years to a minimum of one year. The bereaved family’s pleas demanding severe punishment went unanswered as the court…
Victims of massive rental deposit fraud orchestrated by the so-called ‘Villa King’ continue to surface in droves. In a tragic turn of events, several victims have taken their own lives after losing their life savings. Outraged citizens have taken to the streets, demanding sweeping revisions to housing policies…
What, exactly, was justice?
True justice meant restoring to the victim everything they had lost, taken directly from the one who took it. But the very premise of that idea was flawed from the beginning. A victim could never truly reclaim what was stolen from them. Just as the dead could never return to life, a perpetrator could never give back what mattered most.
All a criminal could ever offer was the spectacle of their own punishment. Yet could such pathetic retribution ever dissolve the suffocating knot of grief in a victim’s chest? Could it ever replace what was gone forever?
“Oppa, what are you staring at so hard?”
Yuhyeon pressed the power button on his phone. His frigid gaze reflected for a split second in the blackened glass before softening into an affectionate expression. Turning his head, he found his younger sister, Han Sia, standing beside him.
Bathed in the warm glow of the setting sun, her uniform skirt fluttered gently in the evening breeze. Yuhyeon spoke in a calm, gentle tone.
“Hm? Oh, nothing. Just reading the news.”
“Ugh, gross. Who reads the news for fun?”
Sia tossed her glossy, long straight hair with a visible scowl.
“You need to know how the world works, kiddo. You should start reading it too. Do you have any idea how ruthless this world is?”
“Whatever. You sound like a total middle-aged ajusshi right now. Well, you basically are one, though.”
“I’m still in my twenties, thank you very much.”
“Once you finish your military service and go back to college, you’re an ajusshi by default. People even call soldiers ‘soldier ajusshi,’ don’t they?”
“Pff. That’s it, no mercy for you. And here I was, planning to buy you the latest smartphone for your birthday. How dare you slander the nation’s finest?”
Sia’s eyes went wide. At the mere mention of the latest phone she had been drooling over for months, she instantly snapped into full-on business mode, putting on a dazzling smile and turning on the sickeningly sweet aegyo.
“Aww, dearest older brother of mine~ Your adorable little sister made a teeny-tiny mistake, that’s all! Pwease forgive meee!”
Yuhyeon physically flinched at the nasal tone, his face hardening in sheer disgust.
“Stop. Seriously, I think I’m gonna throw up.”
“Ehh? But Sia was just being cute! This is my natural charm!”
“…Fine, I’ll buy it for you. Just stop talking like that. Please.”
“Hehe! You promised, okay?! Cross your heart?”
“Yeah, so just…”
Yuhyeon froze. His pupils contracted into pinpricks.
His lips parted slightly, breath catching in his throat. The muscles in his jaw seized with violent tremors. He clenched his fists so hard that his fingernails dug through his skin, drawing blood, fighting with everything he had to keep from shaking apart.
His heart hammered against his ribs like a trapped beast. Blood surged through his veins with such savage speed that it felt as though the vessels would rupture beneath the pressure. A vile, suffocating sensation crept up his throat, choking him from the inside out.
His vision blurred. A high-pitched ringing pierced his ears, drowning out the ambient noise of the street. Deep within the recesses of his chest, Yuhyeon felt something foreign stir—squirming, clawing, waking up.
Sensing his sudden rigidity, Sia tilted her head in confusion.
“Oppa? What’s wrong? Is there something over there?”
As she began turning her head to follow his line of sight, Yuhyeon snapped out of his trance. He grabbed her by both shoulders, physically pivoting her to face him.
“Sia, something urgent just came up.”
“Huh? Like what?”
“Code brown.”
“Ew! TMI, gross!”
Yuhyeon whipped out his wallet, pulled out a crisp fifty-thousand-won bill, and shoved it into her hands.
“So I’m gonna run home first and take care of business. You take this, swing by the supermarket, and pick up some pork belly for dinner.”
“Ugh, why do I have to do that? Can’t we just walk home together? Let’s just eat ramen tonight.”
“Keep the change.”
“Deal!”
With a broad grin, she snatched the cash from his grip and darted down the side alley toward the supermarket before he could change his mind.
The instant she vanished around the corner, every trace of warmth vanished from Yuhyeon’s face. His expression set into a mask of pure, murderous frost. Slowly, deliberately, he turned his head forward.
Down the sidewalk, a drunken man was stumbling about aimlessly.
“Agh, fuck me. Life really is a piece of shit.”
Spitting curses with every staggering breath, the man wore a stained yellow sleeveless undershirt that barely contained his bulging gut. A garish dragon tattoo coiled around his right arm, which clutched a liquor bottle that he tipped back repeatedly, guzzling the contents in loud, messy swallows.
Yuhyeon strode toward him without blinking.
A searing agony burned through his gut, as if someone were pouring boiling oil directly into his stomach. He reached out and clamped a hand onto the drunkard’s shoulder.
“Huuuh? What the hell?”
The moment Yuhyeon laid eyes on the man’s face, the frayed thread of his sanity nearly snapped clean in two. His lips quivered with an uncontrollable, violent wrath. Forcing the words out through teeth ground tight enough to splinter, he smothered the urge to kill right there on the pavement.
“…You. What the hell are you doing out here?”
“Whazzat? Who the fuck are you? Hic! You know me or something?”
“…You don’t know who I am?”
Fresh blood trickled down from Yuhyeon’s clenched fist, dripping steadily onto the asphalt.
Reeking of stale liquor, the man shoved his bloated face into Yuhyeon’s personal space.
“You deaf, boy? I asked who the fuck you are! Never seen your ugly mug in my life, so how the shit would I know you?!”
The man scowled in annoyance, spraying flecks of spit. Yuhyeon held his gaze, his voice chillingly level.
“Han Mina.”
“Huh? Who?”
“Han Mina.”
“Han Mina? That’s a chick’s name. You’re a dude, why the hell are you walking around with a bitch’s name? Puwahaha!”
As the drunk snorted in open mockery, Yuhyeon fought with every fiber of his being to leash the volcanic fury threatening to consume him. He articulated each syllable with razor-sharp clarity.
“Do you really not remember?”
“Aish, I told you I don’t, you little prick! Do you have any idea who you’re messing with? I oughta—”
The man cocked back a fist in a theatrical threat, then paused, his brow furrowing.
“Wait a second. Han Mina? That does sound kinda familiar.”
He rubbed his stubbled chin, muttering the name under his breath over and over.
“Han Mina, Han Mina, Han Mina… Ah! Oh, ohhh, now I remember! That girl—”
The man smiled faintly as if pleased with his own memory, humming the name on his tongue.
“That fucking bitch.”
In an instant, his features crumpled into an ugly, hateful sneer.
“If it weren't for that goddamn bitch, I wouldn't have had to suffer through all that shit! What kind of cunt suddenly jumps out into the crosswalk like that?!”
Yuhyeon snapped. He lunged forward and seized the man by the collar.
“You piece of human garbage! You murdered my sister, and this is what comes out of your mouth?! You should be groveling on your knees in repentance for the rest of your miserable life, yet you dare stand there and spew that vile filth?!”
“Hic—!”
Staring into Yuhyeon’s eyes—eyes brimming with sheer, unadulterated murder—the man jerked back in sudden terror, an involuntary hiccup escaping his throat.
“What… you’re that bitch’s family? Now that I look at you, yeah, you kinda ring a bell. But so what?! I’m a victim here too! If that fucking whore hadn’t thrown herself into the middle of the road, I wouldn’t have gone to prison, and I wouldn’t have lost my damn job!”
A memory flashed violently to the surface of Yuhyeon’s mind.
A phone ringing shrilly in the dead of night.
His sister’s body at the morgue, mangled beyond recognition.
His younger sister weeping until she choked on her own breath.
The surveillance footage that captured the final moments of Han Mina’s life.
She had been heading home across the crosswalk after a grueling late shift when the truck slammed into her. Her body was launched into the air before crashing down onto the asphalt with a sickening, wet crunch.
The truck paused. The driver’s side window rolled down.
The driver took another swig from his bottle, glaring coldly at the bloody heap on the road.
Han Mina’s broken, crimson-soaked body twitched faintly.
The driver rolled the window back up, shifted into reverse, and hit the gas.
The rear heavy wheels aligned directly with her head.
Thump-crack—!
The massive chassis jounced violently.
And Han Mina never moved again.
…Although the gravity of the defendant’s crime cannot be overlooked, the court considers that he is a first-time offender with no prior criminal convictions;
That following the commission of the act, he has displayed an attitude of remorse and reflection;
That a substantial monetary deposit was made to the court toward restitution for the damages, and he has continually submitted letters of repentance acknowledging his culpability;
And that, as established in the preceding arguments, it is difficult to conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that there was premeditated intent to commit murder.
The defendant, Kim Jeong-sik, is hereby sentenced to 4 years of imprisonment.
Yuhyeon slammed Kim Jeong-sik violently against the brick wall. The man flailed, thrashing desperately to break free, but an inhuman strength pinned him in place, rendering him entirely helpless.
“Aaargh! That hurts! Let go of me! What you’re doing right now is an assault, a real crime—”
The words died in Kim Jeong-sik’s throat. Never in his entire wretched existence had he encountered a pair of eyes like the ones boring into him now.
It was not merely the murderous intent of a man looking to kill. It was pure, unadulterated madness—the gaze of a predator that wished to slaughter him so brutally, so meticulously, that he would scream until his vocal cords tore to shreds and he had no voice left to beg.
“You butchered a human being. You dragged my family into a living hell. And now, you dare stand here and insult my dead sister?”
Yuhyeon pulled his fist back. Kim Jeong-sik felt it in his bones.
I’m going to die.
This bastard isn't bluffing. He’s going to beat me to death right here.
“E-Eeeek! W-Wait! Hold on! I—I paid my debt! My slate is clean! I did my time in prison, so it’s over! We’re even!”
Garbage.
Irredeemable, irrecoverable trash.
And trash needed to be disposed of.
Yuhyeon drove his fist straight toward Kim Jeong-sik’s repulsive face.
“Excuse me! What do you think you’re doing?!”
A firm grip clamped down on Yuhyeon’s wrist, arresting his punch mid-air.
“Heeelp! Officer, save me! This psycho is trying to murder me!”
“What? Is that true? Step back and look at me, young man.”
Yuhyeon lowered his fist. Slowly, he turned around to face the patrolling police officer.
“Ah, I’m so sorry, Officer. This guy is a close older friend of mine, but as you can see, he’s been day-drinking so heavily that he’s completely out of his mind. I was just about to slap some sense into him, and I guess he panicked and thought I was trying to kill him.”
Yuhyeon flashed an innocent, polite smile as he spoke. Kim Jeong-sik recoiled in horror, screeching at the top of his lungs.
“What kind of bullshit is that?! He’s lying! That bastard really was trying to murder me!”
The officer’s eyes shifted with heavy suspicion between the two men.
“Listen to me, dammit! He’s got a grudge against me, he—”
“Ugh, the stench of alcohol. Sir, just how much did you have to drink?”
“H-Huh?”
“Enough of this scene. Go home and sleep it off.”
The officer pinched his nose in disgust, clearly taking Yuhyeon’s side over the belligerent drunk. Yuhyeon offered another pleasant smile and patted Kim Jeong-sik lightly on the shoulder.
“That’s right, hyung. Put the bottle down and get home safe. I’ve gotta get back myself, so I’ll see you around.”
Giving a respectful bow to the officer, Yuhyeon turned on his heel and walked away. Behind him, Kim Jeong-sik’s frantic protests grew louder, but the officer’s irritated dismissals drowned them out.
Screeech—
Pushing open the creaking front door of their old apartment, Yuhyeon was greeted by his sister.
“What took you so long? I thought you said you had to go right away! I was scared when you weren't home.”
“It was an emergency, so I had to use a public restroom on the way.”
“Ew, those places are filthy. You’ve got a stomach of steel. Anyway, I put the pork belly in the fridge. Hurry up and grill it, I’m starving!”
“Alright, alright. Just give me a few minutes.”
Yuhyeon offered a gentle smile and went straight to the stove to fry the meat. But while the savory strips sizzled to a crisp, golden brown in the pan, inside his chest, Han Yuhyeon was burning to pitch-black ash.
And the very next morning.
Kim Jeong-sik’s mangled corpse was discovered in a secluded alleyway.