Interview
Interview
The public mindlessly took the one hundred thousand won without caring whether the bridge collapsed or people died.
A special event to wake them up and prick their consciences!
I would interview the people who would die if you took the one hundred thousand won!
I walked toward the first subject, a car.
The camera, levitated by my telekinesis, was following me and recording the whole scene.
All right, the preparations were perfect. Probably.
"Knock knock. Would you mind rolling down your window?"
When I tapped on the window, it smoothly rolled down.
Through the open window, I saw a sturdy-looking man in his twenties.
Whew, at least he wasn't a total weirdo. If some Northern Sea Ice Maiden type had randomly been in there, things would've gotten awkward. Lucky.
"Hello there! Sorry to bother you. Could I ask you to introduce yourself?"
I kept the interview moving naturally, like an event host.
Threatening or intimidating him would only kill the mood. The trick was to keep everything moving as though nothing were strange.
Fortunately, the man answered my question.
"Yes, hello. My name is Choi Young-jin."
The man answered with confidence.
Huh... but.
Why did he seem so confident?
He looked completely out of place in a life-or-death hostage situation at the center of a terror attack.
Even with a terrorist who might kill him standing right before him, his body did not tremble in the slightest.
There was not a trace of fear in his eyes.
If anything, why did his eyes look so bright and alert?
I decided to zero in on that point.
It was strange.
"Mr. Choi, nice to meet you. But you do not seem frightened at all. Are you not anxious?"
"Haha. Anxious?"
The man laughed heartily, as if I'd said something absurd.
Then he stared straight into my eyes, his own gleaming, and spoke clearly.
"What's there to be anxious about? Unless five million people take the money, both this bridge and I'll be safe, will we not? I trust the people of South Korea. My beloved country is bound by the deep solidarity of the Korean people, who would never abandon their humanity for a little money. There's no chance I will die, so why should I be afraid?"
The man answered with clear eyes.
Ugh, those eyes.
They were so pure! Far too pure!
It was like a halo was shining from his eyes. Stop it!
What is this, some kind of hymn to humanity?
I squeezed my eyes shut.
No... maybe in my previous life, but the people in this South Korea definitely did not seem like that...
As both the planner of this terror attack and a fellow South Korean citizen, I felt my conscience pricking at me.
To think there was such a pure person in the world.
And looking at the chat window, I wasn't the only one feeling that pang of conscience.
[Ah lol]
[I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry]
[Huh... watashi, why is there a pain in my chest?]
[The triangle in my heart is just prodding me—is this cancer?]
[No. That's a guilty conscience. It means you're becoming human again.]
[The 100,000 won... I already took it though...]
[I was debating whether to take it, but I just decided not to.]
[Fuck it, I'm not taking it. That chump change isn't worth a human life.]
[Why aren't you taking it? You're making those of us who did look like the bad guys.]
[Fact: The people who took it really are bad guys.]
[I'm sorry...]
Still, the mood wasn't bad.
I had expected to see people trembling in fear of dying.
I'd hoped the citizens watching would feel guilty seeing that...
Well, either way, both reactions ended with people deciding not to take the money, so did it really matter?
Honestly, the fewer people who took the money, the better it was for me.
Why? Because regardless of whether the number reached five million, I was simply going to claim it had and blow up the bridge.
...
Well.
It couldn't be helped. I couldn't gamble with people's lives.
If the number did not reach five million, I could not exactly stand there and awkwardly say, 'Ah... only four million people applied? Then I will be going...' If I did not destroy this bridge, the world—or rather, Korean society—would collectively plunge into a grimdark storyline. The bridge had to come down either way.
Besides, who could make me prove whether the number had passed five million? Were they going to demand the account list of everyone who had taken the money? The millions who had accepted it would protect me—or, more precisely, they would be trying to protect themselves.
Honestly, it also felt like a waste of money.
Of course, it was true that I had an unimaginable amount of money. How much? Put simply, roughly one country's annual budget. After falling into this world and getting my bearings, I'd spent every day until meeting Seo-eun making money with my knowledge of the Original Work. I'd shaken down corrupt American companies and recovered money hidden by dead villains in other countries. Later, Seo-eun had helped too, but anyway.
I had an enormous amount of money, but burning through more than 500 billion won in one shot was still a burden.
Capital would become fairly important later, so perhaps I was spending too much here.
Even then, the macros were draining tens of billions of won per minute. I supposed I'd gone too far.
Ugh. Seo-eun's nagging about how I spent money like water still rang in my ears like tinnitus. Ha-yul had passed out while trying to count how large several quadrillion was. Hmm.
Anyway, the point was that it was fine if a reasonable number of people took the money.
Honestly, I hadn't expected the total to reach even one million. I'd given them such a short time that reaching a million would've been impressive.
But the people of this world, as always, effortlessly surpassed my expectations.
[Big bro, more than three million people have already taken the money.]
[...What?]
I recalled the message I'd gotten from Seo-eun earlier.
Good grief, people! Had they truly thrown their consciences to the bottom of the Han River?
Why were people only this hardworking at times like this...?
Anyway, that was why Choi Young-jin's innocent words had struck me so painfully.
Sorry! The South Korean people he trusted so much had already betrayed him and happily pocketed the cash!
But I couldn't tell him that, not to the guy standing right in front of me with his eyes sparkling with faith and confidence.
I simply couldn't bring myself to do it...
"Ahem. I see. Thank you for sharing your faith in South Korea, Mr. Choi. Do you have any final words?"
When I said that, he looked at the camera and spoke with firm conviction.
"Fellow citizens of South Korea, I believe in you. You'll help me return home safely, will you not? I love you all. Go, Korea!"
He even struck a triumphant cheering pose toward the camera.
Ugh, my head was spinning.
It was time to bail.
"Yes! Thanks for that. Shall we go meet the next person now?"
Just as I was about to beat a hasty retreat.
The man inside the car shouted after me.
"Wait!!!"
"Yes?"
He suddenly called me to a halt.
What was it?
"What's the matter?"
"Mr. Villain. You said your name was Egostic?"
"Yes, why?"
"I've been starving for 4 hours now. I hear I'll be stuck here for another 4, so do you happen to have anything to eat?"
Now he was boldly demanding food from me.
I... I'd seriously never met a character like him in my life.
But the funnier part was this.
Come to think of it, I had brought food to hand out. I had simply forgotten.
"Ah, just a moment."
I teleported to the bundle I'd left somewhere on the road.
Yeah, there it was.
The Ego-bag contained everything I needed: a gun, tear gas, a microphone, and so on.
Picking it up, I teleported back in front of the car.
"Just a moment... Ah, here it is. Have a cream bun."
"Oh, thank you."
The man took the bread, grinning from ear to ear.
What a character.
[What is this lol]
[Lol a hostage asking a terrorist for a meal, and the terrorist actually handing over bread he had prepared—is this for real?]
[My head is spinning wtf lol]
[Is this even a villain? lol]
[No matter how you look at it, Mangostic is a hero doing villainy as a hobby]
[fr everything, even destroying the bridge, has a deeper meaning lol]
[The friendly neighborhood villain who feeds you lol]
Anyway, my business with this car was really over now.
I trudged over to the next car.
Whew... we'd barely even spoken, but I was drained. Completely drained.
"Alright, now we'll go meet the next hostage. I'm also quite looking forward to seeing what kind of person will greet me this time."
I said that to the camera as I walked toward the next vehicle.
I really hoped it would be a normal person that time.
Someone who acted scared. If you were held hostage by a terrorist in a life-or-death situation, shouldn't you have been at least a little tense and frightened?
With that hope in my heart, I walked toward the car.
Unlike the sedan with the previous man alone inside, this one was a large SUV.
My hopes rose slightly.
Maybe the people inside were a family on an outing. Parents trying to protect their children while trembling in fear themselves... It would've been perfect for tugging at people's guilt.
I just hoped they would let me save some money.
But as I approached the SUV, I couldn't help but realize how futile my hope was.
As I drew closer to the car, faint music became audible.
It was some kind of rousing rock music.
...Something felt deeply ominous.
But I was a professional, so I knocked on the car door anyway.
"Knock knock. Hello there. Would you mind rolling down your window?"
As soon as I knocked, the window whirred down.
At the same time, heavy metal blasted into my ears, followed by—
"Aaaah!!! Mangostic!!!"
"Oh my God, it is really him in the flesh! This is insane!"
"I'm a Mangostic fan!!!"
"Mango! Mango! Mango! Mango!"
—the piercing screams of college girls.
...I was seriously going crazy.