The Councilor's Secret
CHAPTER 40 - #22 City Councilor, Kwon Na-hyun
"Damn it, fuck."
A woman with neatly braided hair sat crouched, cigarette dangling from her lips. The image clashed completely with her refined appearance.
"Ha, those fucking old bastards are such a pain in the ass."
The curses she spat out between long drags of smoke felt just as out of place with her elegant outfit.
"……"
And I found her while climbing the hill behind City Hall. To put it simply, I had come to City Hall for a meeting with the township head, stepped out for a smoke during the break, and stumbled across her. I knew who she was. She was the city councilor elected in last year's local elections for Hanasi City.
<Young Woman's Remarkable Achievement!>
<"I believe age has no place in politics" — Hanasi's youngest councilor declares her resolve!>
<Vows to push policies for the youth going forward>
And so on. She had caused quite a stir when I was a new hire last year. Her age was probably… one year younger than mine.
I wanted to live quietly. So I carefully turned my body, making sure not to make a sound.
Crack!
By chance, a branch lay on the ground, and I stepped on it.
"Ah."
"……!"
Our eyes met as she heard the sound. She quickly stubbed out her cigarette with her shoe, then straightened into a graceful, polite posture. A flawless, innocent smile spread across her face like a mask.
"Hello~."
She naturally pulled a business card from her inner pocket and offered it to me with both hands, polite and composed. Not a single trace of hesitation or disarray. So this was what a politician looked like.
"Yes, hello. Well then……"
Wanting no involvement, I tucked the card away and turned to leave as quickly as possible.
The young politician representing the MZ generation! Graceful and quiet, yet sharp with her words! Realistic legislation for the common people! Anyone who only knew her from the news would probably think exactly that. I had too. And I had no desire to know more.
"Did you happen to overhear?"
"Pardon? Hear what?"
I answered with the innocent smile I had picked up from watching Yoo-na.
"The bill to build part of Seoul's waste processing plant here in Hanasi."
"No."
Whatever. As long as it wasn't in front of my house. What gave me chills was the realization that even her first question had been a trap to test me.
"Still, as a fellow resident of Hanasi, you should take an interest."
She smiled that flawless, graceful smile again. Yet I could feel the dissonance hidden beneath it. Why was she being so persistent?
"So……"
Her graceful smile looked strange somehow. Because it was fake, her eyes remained unchanged. To others, she would probably just look like a dignified politician.
"We can't have any silly rumors spreading about me smoking or swearing, can we?"
Ah. I could see the burning ambition in those false eyes. She was a year younger than me? She was nothing like me. Nothing like someone who was content with reality and only wished for a quiet day-to-day life. I had seen that look many times before. The gaze of ambitious people who fought to seize their own future. It had appeared in corporate settings, and sometimes in the arts. Either way, it was that obsessive hunger for their dreams. And now I saw it in this politician younger than me.
Hmm. I was curious. Just how far would she endure to hold onto that ambition?
"Well, everyone smokes and swears sometimes."
I probed once to set up the build-up.
"Hmm, still, it's different when I reveal it myself versus someone else spreading it, right?"
Those eyes belonged to a lioness. My instincts warned me. One wrong step and I'd be devoured. One wrong word and I could be finished. But so what?
"Understood. In exchange."
I pulled out my phone.
"……?"
Her eyes filled with confusion at my action. It was a natural reaction—telling her to keep quiet, then suddenly taking out my phone.
I smiled and held the screen out to her. There was no need to wonder if it would work.
Flicker!
"Just stare at the candle flame for three seconds and I'll keep it a secret."
Her eyes were filled with disbelief. Yeah, of course it seemed ridiculous. A candle flame out of nowhere. Which only made it easier for her to focus.
"I'll trust you this once."
Hah, she was lying through her teeth. One second. Two seconds. Three seconds. Her eyes showed she was ready to eliminate any obstacle for the sake of her dreams. If she knew I was a civil servant, and only a Grade 8 at that, she would probably crush me somehow. After all, she had hidden everything to maintain that graceful, restrained image, only to be caught by someone like me.
— Name.
"……Kwon… Na-hyun……"
Her gaze grew hazy as she stared at the flame.
— State your age, height, and weight in order.
"……26… 160… 51……"
I looked over Kwon Na-hyun as she recited while staring at the flickering flame. Her relaxed face still looked graceful and dignified. She must have put in tremendous effort to maintain this image. The neatly braided hair, the elegant makeup, even the expressions and gestures. So why had she stopped me when I was just passing by? I had never intended to mess with politicians or anyone who could cause controversy. She was the one who approached me first.
— If he had spread word of your indiscretions, what would you have done?
"……Sue him……"
Huh? I really could have been screwed. Cold sweat ran down my back. I didn't bother asking what she would sue him for. Either way, Kwon Na-hyun was a city councilor. A city councilor filing a lawsuit? I had never even been sued before. If a pro came after an amateur like me, I would be finished no matter what. Even a suspended sentence would get me fired from my civil service job.
Ha. Ridiculous. To think she would go this far just to test me. I pieced together several setups Yoo-na had designed for me.
— Even though he is your sponsor?
"……Spon…sor……?"
Her voice rose at the end, as if she didn't understand. I had no intention of building this up slowly and carefully.
— Yes. He is your sponsor.
"……Who……"
Kwon Na-hyun's reaction reminded me of Han So-jeong last time. Strong willpower. She was asking me who could possibly be her sponsor. But so what?
TIP: The more the suggestion is repeated, the deeper and stronger it embeds in the mind.
I lifted the veil of her consciousness and whispered repeatedly.
— He is your greatest sponsor.
"……My… sponsor……?"
— He has given you the most support.
"……Gave me… a lot of… sup…port……"
— He is your one and only personal sponsor.
"……One and only… spon…sor……"
Sponsor. I hammered the word into her mind for three full minutes. Hypnosis was the power to make lies into truth. A truth she could never escape.
Whoosh!
The flame went out and I put my phone away. Either way, all memories of the candle flame would be erased both before and after the hypnosis.
"Of course I'll keep it a secret for you."
"……Ah."
Kwon Na-hyun was still struggling to pull her mind back together. I didn't wait and simply turned away. Our next meeting? I had her card, so I could contact her anytime. And when I did, she wouldn't be able to ignore me. Ignoring a sponsor who knew her secret would only bring trouble.
§
Kwon Na-hyun
Her head felt dizzy.
"Haa."
She rose from her seat and headed to the kitchen. After gulping down a full glass of cold water, she ran a hand through her disheveled hair.
"Sponsor……"
Ha. Ridiculous. Me, receiving sponsorship? I had ignored every offer because I never wanted to be controlled. Yet the memory in my head insisted it was real.
"Even the acting I hid……"
Smoking and swearing. Depending on the perspective, it might not seem like much. People could think that any adult could do that much. But I had hidden everything to avoid giving anyone leverage. The way I spoke, how I controlled my expressions, even how I moved my hands.
And of all days, yesterday. Those damn old bastards had voted against the <Hanasi Waste Processing Plant Opposition Motion> I had proposed. Just how much had those old fossils been bribed?
The sudden spike in irritation had made me crave a cigarette, so I had headed to the hill behind City Hall where no one would see me.
"Haa."
Fuck. And of all people, my only sponsor had to catch me. It was already annoying enough to receive sponsorship, but now my weakness had been exposed too. Who the hell was that guy? I had never seen the face of this so-called sponsor before. Then again, he had been the shady type who had been supporting me 'secretly' all this time.
"But why yesterday of all days! That fucking bastard."
Bang!
She slammed the desk while spitting out a sharp curse. Stress welled up inside her.
Buzz!
Her phone vibrated.
— Your swearing was quite refined. I enjoyed it.
"Ha?"
Even his tone was irritating. The guy who had only supported me quietly until now was finally contacting me.
"So you've got leverage now, huh."
She flipped her phone over, intending to ignore it.
"……"
Soon she frowned deeply and picked it back up.
— My apologies. Either way, you're the one at a disadvantage.
"Why don't you just stop sponsoring me altogether?"
Honestly, she had nothing to lose.
— Let's meet for a moment.
Meet? Was he insane? Did he want to end my political career? He had no idea how hard I had worked these past two years at such a young age.
— Where should we meet? Since it's come to this, I'll tell him in person that I don't need his sponsorship anymore. And if any rumors spread……
Then it's mutual destruction.
§
Kyah. I could feel the emotion in those texts. It was palpable.
This hadn't been my intention at the start. I had no interest, and I didn't want to get involved. But now… my interest had been piqued.
Thud, thud.
From a distance, someone approached wearing a hoodie pulled low and a mask. Like a celebrity or something. She wasn't even a famous politician. Just one of many city councilors in this new suburban city.
"What did you want to see me about? I'm quite busy with official duties."
Kwon Na-hyun slightly lowered her mask and smiled as she asked. How did one even learn to act like that?
"Official duties, huh……"
I had looked up a bit about Kwon Na-hyun last night. Her mother had left home when she was young, and her father had raised her alone. Then he died in an accident, and due to some legal technicality, her estranged mother had claimed the insurance money in her place. That was why she had entered politics—to change the law.
"But… did you fail?"
I'll give you the setup later. Work hard at it. I'll just enjoy a little taste quietly.
"What do you mean by that?"
Her posture was polite, her tone gentle. But I saw her eyebrows twitch.
"Huu."
After letting out a sigh like punctuation, I stared at her.
"The waste processing plant opposition motion."
The moment I said that, her left eyebrow furrowed. Ah. Of course. She must have done it herself. But not in this world.
"Did I ask for something difficult? You took my sponsorship without a word, then failed from the very beginning?"
It wasn't hard to find out what Kwon Na-hyun did. A city councilor's work was easy enough to look up. I was only helping with the memory alteration.
"That is……"
She wore a complicated expression. I couldn't give her time to think.
Thud. I walked right up to her and looked down.
"Councilor Kwon Na-hyun."
I used honorifics, but my tone was endlessly sharp.
"Was what I ordered too difficult?"
"Huu, of course not. It's only the beginning, after all."
I smiled inwardly as I heard her answer. The memory alteration had taken hold.
"I'll trust you one more time."
"……Thank you."
Kwon Na-hyun maintained her smiling mask as she spoke.
"Then may I go now? I still have a lot of work left."
Since it was only the first floor, I had no intention of holding her back.
"Huu, fine. Before you go, let me tell you what you need to do."
Her eyebrows trembled at the ends, as if she thought I was interfering.
Flicker!
"A candle……?"
Kwon Na-hyun looked back and forth between me and the flame.
"Stare at it for three seconds. It's to maintain confidentiality."
"Yes~, of course."
Wow. Look at that, not even her expression changed. Wanting to get it over with quickly, she stared intently at the candle flame. One second. Two seconds. Three seconds.
— Without his sponsorship, you will fail.
"……Fail… without… spon…sorship……"
— Without his sponsorship, you will fail.
"……Fail… without… sponsorship……"
There was no room for ambiguity in the suggestion. I repeated it strongly, as a single clear meaning. I heightened and imprinted the anxiety that she would definitely fail without me.
— What will happen to your ambition without sponsorship?
I asked one final time.
"……I will… fail……"
Your greatest sponsor is me. Without me, you will fail. Those two suggestions would become shackles that bound Kwon Na-hyun.
Whoosh!
§
Kwon Na-hyun
"Haa, this fucking sucks."
Leaning back in her chair, she lit a cigarette. Somehow…
"I knew something was off from the moment he started sponsoring me without a word. That shady bastard."
She had none of the typical sources of power—school ties, blood ties, regional ties.
"I shouldn't have accepted it back then. I should have returned it right away."
She had gone yesterday to say she would stop receiving sponsorship, but things had gotten twisted. In the end, all her anger was directed at the old bastards who had opposed the motion.
"No, if a waste processing plant was going to be built in front of their own houses, why the hell would they vote in favor?!"
It was absurd. Those were the same people who would oppose it more fiercely than anyone if it were in front of their houses.
"Aah, this is so annoying."
She frowned as she watched the smoke spread emptily through the air. The light makeup she had applied to emphasize her grace was now creased.
"But I can't just stop accepting it now……"
Failure. That word had taken root deep in her heart. It felt like a hundred-ton weight had been added. After everything she had built up until now.
"Dad…. I miss you……"
Today, more than ever, she desperately missed her father in the sky.