Political Statement (8)
‘No way he escaped?’
Ju Kang-rim quickly scanned the bloodstains around him. It was a fortunate amount of blood if the guy was still alive, but Ju Kang-rim was certain he hadn’t died.
He surveyed the surroundings without releasing the Blood Rain infused into his Saingeom. Luckily, he didn’t have to search far. Park Tae-hyeon was wedged near a drainage ditch, not far from the wrecked car. He must have been flung out the window since he hadn’t been wearing a seatbelt. His body was a mangled mess. It was hard to find an intact spot, but he was still breathing.
“Yeah, of course you’re still alive.”
Ju Kang-rim crouched by the ditch, peering down at Park Tae-hyeon as he muttered.
Even amid the crushing pain racking his body and his hazy consciousness, Park Tae-hyeon could hear Ju Kang-rim’s whisper. And he realized that this man was behind everything that had happened recently.
‘A ploy to draw me out.’
Hated by awakeners as he was, Park Tae-hyeon kept his movements hidden or traveled with heavy security for official schedules. Meeting Park Ha-yuri this time had been a schedule only he knew about. Yet the enemy had smashed even the streetlights in preparation for the ambush, and the moment he appeared, they flipped the car like they’d been waiting. That meant they knew he was coming to meet her.
If an assassin had tracked his movements, death was the only thing left.
“Killing a congressman is no easy feat, huh?”
“You…… who the hell are……”
“Grim Reaper.”
Ju Kang-rim answered flatly.
Park Tae-hyeon had no interest in entertaining such ridiculous jokes.
‘I need to find a way out.’
Despite the agony that felt like death, Park Tae-hyeon knew he wouldn’t die easily. The assassin just stood there watching him die slowly, as if savoring it, so maybe he could use that. If he let the guy think he was dying, he might just leave.
Ju Kang-rim gazed down at Park Tae-hyeon, rambling on.
“You’re probably dying to say something like this right now: Who are you? Who sent you? Do you know who I am? The people behind me will hunt you down and tear you apart. You think I’d die from some cheap stunt like this?”
Of course, those were exactly the questions burning in his mind. But Park Tae-hyeon had to play dead with everything he had.
He struggled to vomit blood, his body twitching feebly. But contrary to his hopes, Ju Kang-rim sloshed right into the ditch.
“Threats won’t work, so now you’ll try bribery? I’ll pretend I didn’t see anything, just go. How much are they paying you? I’ll double it. Hell, I’ll disappear altogether, so just report me dead.”
Park Tae-hyeon listened, then heaved up a gush of blood and collapsed limply. His pupils fixed on the distance, his body utterly still.
But Ju Kang-rim kept talking.
“Bribery won’t work either, so now you’ll play dead? Make me think the mission’s done. You figure if you just survive this moment—whether I burn your corpse, chop it up, or toss it in the river—you’ll live.”
Ju Kang-rim’s cackling laugh sent chills down Park Tae-hyeon’s spine. Then Ju Kang-rim yanked his tattered ear and whispered.
“Because you’re actually an immortal, after all.”
Park Tae-hyeon’s shoulder twitched involuntarily.
The moment Ju Kang-rim saw it, he whispered the death sentence.
“Park Tae-hyeon.”
Reaper's Soul Revival has begun.
The Reaper's Soul Revival began ripping the soul from Park Tae-hyeon’s mangled flesh. He tried to scream as it tore him apart. But in that instant, Ju Kang-rim sliced his throat long and deep, punching a wind hole through it.
All Park Tae-hyeon could manage was frothing blood and the hiss of escaping air. Blood flooded his lungs, putting him in peril of drowning before blood loss could kill him. But as an immortal, even drowning was impossible. He was simply condemned to excruciating pain that wouldn’t heal.
But that pain felt trivial compared to another agony crashing over him.
Ju Kang-rim whispered his name again.
“Park Tae-hyeon.”
Park Tae-hyeon’s body convulsed, bloody foam pouring from his mouth. It was a horrific sight, but Ju Kang-rim was quietly amused.
Park Tae-hyeon was one of the VIPs Ju Kang-rim remembered. Of course, the man thought they were equals, but to Gerald, he was just a tool to be used and discarded.
Not all VIPs were treated equally. Gerald tossed them aside the moment they outlived their usefulness—even if they were VIPs. Park Tae-hyeon had been dumped after being sucked dry, his fate unknown.
Ju Kang-rim leaned to his ear and whispered his true nature.
“If you can’t avoid it, enjoy it. This is a unique torment only immortals endure.”
Ju Kang-rim gripped Park Tae-hyeon’s hair, waiting for his soul to separate. Reaper's Soul Revival forcibly tore the soul from the flesh, so it didn’t happen quickly. The body crumbled, the soul frayed, leaving only the essence: the black core.
‘Killing him might’ve been less useful than using him.’
Park Tae-hyeon was Gerald’s puppet and a sitting congressman. Having him underfoot to command would be handy. But even without his immortality, Park Tae-hyeon topped Ju Kang-rim’s ‘must-kill’ list.
‘Because of this bastard, when Korea turned into a dungeon later, hundreds of thousands of refugees died.’
It hadn’t happened here yet—years away, even. But when the gates finally overwhelmed the peninsula and the great exodus began, Park Tae-hyeon signed the maritime blockade treaty. He’d incited the assemblymen to flee first. The president, out of contact at sea, belatedly declared it void, but dozens of refugee ships sank or were trapped at sea.
Ju Kang-rim, Gerald’s subordinate then, couldn’t kill him. But not now.
“Park……”
As Ju Kang-rim moved to complete the final Reaper's Soul Revival, bluish veins bulged across Park Tae-hyeon’s body. Ju Kang-rim felt his hand burn hot and yanked it free. His palm stung. But in contrast, an intense chill poured from Park Tae-hyeon’s body.
‘Frost burn?’
The kind from handling dry ice barehanded. Not serious, but Park Tae-hyeon himself was becoming the problem.
Black smoke billowed from his entire body. Ju Kang-rim gripped his Saingeom and leaped back.
Park Tae-hyeon’s mouth gaped wide, his eyes, nose, mouth, and split skin spewing smoke. His body seemed to crack under pressure. But before it shattered, the rampant black smoke halted.
Enveloped in the black smoke, Park Tae-hyeon’s body rose from the ground. Jerky, puppet-like movements. The smoke still circulated through his split skin, eyes, nose, and mouth.
He snapped his neck toward Ju Kang-rim, bluish flames flickering in pitch-black pupils.
‘No wonder he wandered around with just one aide. He had something to rely on.’
Grotesque as it was, Ju Kang-rim knew this power well.
‘They called it Death Knight…….’
Death Knight, or Knight of Death. One of the abilities held by Gerald and his core subordinates.
It wasn’t flashy for public display. Its grotesque, ominous form lived up to the name. Even Gerald hadn’t shown it until humanity was on its last legs.
This form emerged abruptly in mortal peril, forcibly dominating the flesh to repel enemies. A classified awakening ability: necromancy, controlling corpses.
Not like zombie control, so it couldn’t turn the tide. It superficially resembled possession. But a Death Knight dwarfed possession or ghouls in power.
In other words, as an enemy now, it was a tricky foe. Tireless stamina, endless regeneration, superhuman strength. But the name came from that mist and its power.
‘I prepared for this, at least.’
“────!!”
The Death Knight spat an incomprehensible roar amid frigid black mist, lunging at Ju Kang-rim. A bone-chilling gale pierced him to the marrow.
Ju Kang-rim hurriedly activated Uniform Purification. His suit beneath the rider jacket morphed into black armor and helmet. The chill no longer seeped in, but the glacial cold gripped his movements, frostbite blooming blue over the gear. Water and trees around froze white.
‘They stuck that on a congressman, huh.’
Whether a control measure or the secret to immortality, he’d figure it out later.
“Congressman versus voter—Phase 2 begins!”
Ju Kang-rim bellowed to shake off the cold, stomping hard. He shot toward the Death Knight like an arrow, aiming to strike before it fully manifested.
But even unposed, the Death Knight countered. Whoosh. As Ju Kang-rim swung his hand axe, it threw a crude punch—back arched, feet misplaced, impossible form.
Yet the grazing fist’s wind pressure shoved Ju Kang-rim back. His axe tore the Death Knight’s side, but it barely registered.
‘Just a tickle to an immortal.’
Ju Kang-rim rolled away, checking the wound. Black mist writhed, filling it. That mist massively boosted durability, strength, and agility.
But from the recovery speed, he gauged its level.
‘Not insanely strong, thank God…….’
Death Knights inherently outclassed average awakeners, but varied by individual. This one was strong. But compared to those with Gerald, it felt insignificant.
‘If it were one of those, no prep would’ve mattered.’
But this level? Manageable.
Ju Kang-rim distanced himself and pulled out his prepared item: Kangryeong Daegun’s black core.
When he’d captured Kangryeong Daegun, he’d seized countless talismans, sacrifices, and spellbooks. Perfect for Ju Kang-rim, who wanted to study spirit power. But lugging them around like Kangryeong Daegun was a hassle, and mastering them was impossible.
Studying full-time? Too annoying.
So he’d chosen to use Kangryeong Daegun’s black core.
“Emergency Spirit Deployment—arise!”
Ju Kang-rim held the black core aloft and intoned its true name.
The core shuddered, manifesting Kangryeong Daegun as a translucent figure in inky blue mist. No longer in his dignified suit, he wore a tattered crown and frayed dragon robe. The spirit forcibly summoned via the core.
Kangryeong Daegun
[Aaaahhh! Aa! A!]
Kangryeong Daegun was as mad as ever. The trauma of his life still drove him to insanity in death.
His spirit form was twice the size of his living self, poised to crush Ju Kang-rim. But Ju Kang-rim just grinned and thrust out his Saingeom.
“This is a conscription from the underworld. Kangryeong Daegun. The sinner obeys the grim reaper.”