Chapter 105
Translator : M.N 1391
Chapter: 105
He empathized with the loss. He understood the rage. But the murder he committed could not be accepted.
So instead of accepting Heuknoya’s last will as it was, he decided to carry it out in his own way. Murder was not the only way to exact revenge or deliver retribution.
Yet the dictator was dead, and there was no apology to the very end.
He could not help but feel doubt, but he moved out of a sense of duty.
Tragedy is forgotten once the person at its center disappears. But to Heukyeon, that forgetting itself felt like an even greater tragedy.
To accept that no matter what evil one commits there is no divine punishment, that the heavens are heartless, and that there is no justice on this land, this was a horrific thing for Heukyeon, a man who cherished an ordinary, peaceful daily life.
A world without justice, a world where those who do not deceive or sacrifice others for wealth and glory become foolish idiots.
Heukyeon could not tolerate the thought of the family and loved ones he cherished living in such a world.
That was why the voice’s advice gave him much to think about. If daily life was precious, then he should no longer act as Heukyeon. No matter how exceptional his telekinetic abilities were, now that countermeasures existed, continuing activities as Heukyeon was clearly dangerous.
[Thank you for the advice. I’ll think about it.]
[In this unjust world, someone like you, someone capable of anger, becoming unhappy would go against the very purpose for which we started all this.]
With that, the voice closed the channel.
Heukyeon flew through the darkness and returned to the shabby yet precious home where his family awaited him.
= = = = =
Online, there was an abundance of streaming broadcasts of all kinds, as well as countless video-sharing sites. There was a platform with an overwhelming market share, but to maintain that dominance, it inevitably had to pursue mass appeal.
However, the world is full of diverse tastes, and there were sites that avoided mass appeal and dug into niche markets, namely, porn sites. Porn isn’t mainstream, you say? If it’s not suitable for all ages, then it’s not mainstream.
Anyway, even among such sites there were first-tier platforms, second-tier ones, and small fry, but because there were so many, even the state found it difficult to track who was uploading what, and from where.
And across many of those sites at once, a certain villain’s video was uploaded.
[Hello, everyo~ne. Long time no see, right? Yea~h, it’s Death Reporter.]
It was Death Reporter, famous for wearing a Guy Fawkes mask with a Taegeuk symbol stuck on the forehead.
[Lately, I can really feel how famous I’ve become. There are even people making and selling the mask I’m wearing right now. Apparently, this past Halloween, quite a few people even cosplayed as me.]
Cosplaying a villain… are they out of their minds? Some might wonder that, but in a way it was a natural phenomenon. As the saying goes, excessive praise creates excessive backlash, these days, with the media pushing heroes so hard, there were bound to be people who felt resentment.
And then there are always, regardless of era or place, contrarian types who want to do exactly what they’re told not to do, or who pull strange stunts just to stand out. Besides, when you hear “Hero!”, what comes to mind if not “Villain!”?
[Anyway, to those of you who were expecting me to punish yet another trash journalist this time, I’m sorry, but today’s topic isn’t about trash journalists. So then, what~ could it be?]
With a playful voice, the screen changed, revealing a photograph of a man from his youth.
[You know him, right? Young people these days don’t really know because they haven’t experienced it, but those who know, know, this very person.]
The man in the photo was the former dictator who had died not long ago.
[Why bring up someone who’s already dead? Well, because I was quite surprised. I thought he’d live on until he’d been cursed every possible way and smeared the walls with filth, but then he suddenly died of a heart attack, they say? So I checked whether he really died of a heart attack, or whether he was found collapsed after soiling himself.]
The screen changed, showing an elderly man lying on a double bed.
Anyone who knew would recognize the face. He was the one whose obituary had flooded the news, announced nationwide as the passing of a former president. Very few media outlets had described him as a former dictator or former coup commander, but in any case, the whole country had been informed that he was dead.
The old man on the screen looked as if he were asleep. The rise and fall of his chest as he breathed in and out proved that.
But then, a suspicious shadow slipped in through the window. It sprayed something like a mist onto the old man’s face.
The old man clutched his chest, writhed, and then stopped moving.
The screen switched back to the Guy Fawkes mask with the Taegeuk symbol.
[Huh? The media says he died of sudden myocardial infarction, but to me this looks like poisoning. Definitely not a “collapsed-after-soiling” case, but what on earth happened? Could it be that a villain with a different grudge appeared, not Heukyeon? Huh? Oh, but is this aiding and abetting murder? To reveal this now, I’ll tell you, I’ve been keeping an eye on more than just one or two people. That video you just saw was a recording. Even for me, monitoring multiple people in real time would be too much. Anyway, to unravel this mysterious case, I decided to review all the footage I’d recorded in the past as well. And I found a rather meaningful video.]
The screen changed again.
A living room furnished with luxurious-looking furniture. Two elderly men were talking. One was the old man said to be dead, but the other was unfamiliar.
[No! An apology? Absolutely not!]
[Do you know how many months it’s been since my grandson couldn’t leave that damned villa?! How long has it been since you promised you could catch that bastard Heukyeon?!]
[Have you already forgotten the international principle of not negotiating with terrorists?! You were once the supreme commander of the armed forces, weren’t you?!]
[At my age, what use is any of that?! If my grandson can live in peace, what’s the big deal about bowing my head once?!]
[Do you understand what that would mean?! Your grandson’s wealth and privileges could be confiscated!]
[If it were that simple, it would’ve happened long ago! Times have changed! You can’t do things like you did in my day!]
[Yes, times have changed. Changed enough that a carefully built tower could collapse!]
Their conversation ran in parallel, never meeting.
The screen changed again, and Death Reporter reappeared.
[Curious who this old man is, right? He’s Heo Dong-se, a former director of the National Intelligence Agency. During the era of military dictatorship, he was one of the true powers-that-be, even the right-hand man of the Most Exalted Leader himself. But why is someone like this arguing so fiercely with the person he once served? Are they just telling each other to mind their own business as fellow old men? But listening to the conversation, it doesn’t seem like that, does it? Rather, he appears to be trying to stop what the man he once served is attempting to do. And I know the whole story.]
Death Reporter revealed the attack incident involving Heuknoya, the emergence of Heukyeon, and the conditions Heukyeon had put forth, then continued.
[In other words, this Heo Dong-se is trying to prevent this former dictator from acknowledging and apologizing for the massacres of innocent people he committed in the past. Why would he do that? I doggedly pursued the reason, and in the end, I discovered a single video.]
The screen changed once more. Heo Dong-se was speaking with several other elderly men of similar age.
[He remained stubborn to the very end.]
[Tsk tsk tsk. He’s grown weak with age.]
[What should we do?]
At someone’s question, the room fell silent. Then, after a moment, one man spoke.
[Persuasion doesn’t seem likely to work, does it?]
[I don’t mind if we take the blame… but this could harm our children as well.]
[That won’t do. Why do you think we did all those things in the first place?]
Their gazes crossed. Without words, a certain consensus formed.
[...Tsk. No choice.]
[Isn’t it our duty, as those who once served him, to stop him before he does something even more disgraceful?]
At one man’s words, most of the others nodded in agreement, saying, “Exactly.”
[How do we stop him?]
[...]
A heavy silence followed. Amid it, someone muttered as if letting it slip.
[...He’s lived long enough.]
[Living until you’re smearing filth on the walls isn’t something to wish for either.]
[Everyone has the right to maintain their dignity until the end.]
Words passed back and forth.
It was a conspiracy to commit murder.
The screen returned to Death Reporter.
[As you can see, there’s far too much evidence suggesting this wasn’t a natural death, but murder. It might seem unbelievable that something like this could happen, but incidents like the “Red Matiz case” are countless. But did the attending physician really not know? What about the medical examiner? I can’t go so far as to track all of their bank accounts, lately, I’ve got too many people under my watch. So then, shall we leave that to the prosecution? They’re prosecutors with the “we’re all family” mindset, but this time, I’d like to try trusting them, just once. I’ve been really exhausted lately. I feel like I’m going to develop a deep distrust of humanity. There are just so many pieces of trash wearing human skins in this world...]
As if acting, Death Reporter sniffed and wiped under his eye with his index finger, then immediately switched to a cheerful tone and manner to bid farewell.
[Well then, that’s all. This has been Death Reporter, the vigilante.]
Death Reporter’s image vanished from the screen, followed by footage detailing the personal information of those who conspired to commit murder, who they hired, and how they planned to kill their former superior.
The video released by Death Reporter spread online and crossed over into Korea, delivering an enormous shock to Korean society.
The first shock was that someone who had long evaded responsibility for massacres had, at the very end, attempted to acknowledge and apologize for them.
The second shock was that this attempt had been dismantled through the horrific means of murder by those who had once guarded him.
The final shock came when the prosecution, after dragging its feet during the reinvestigation, finally announced its findings under pressure from public opinion and the political sphere, declaring that there was no evidence of homicide.
How could it not be homicide when it was clearly captured on video?
But then again, when the suspect’s identity determines whether the prosecution suddenly develops selective facial-recognition blindness, even when the suspect’s face is plainly visible on video, this outcome had been entirely predictable.
Still, the prosecution’s announcement did not serve as a pardon nor as a shield against criticism.
Intellectuals lamented that an opportunity to prevent the nation’s wasteful division had been lost, while the victims of history, who had lost their chance to receive an apology, could not hide their emptiness.
And in the wake of this ironic incident, where a criminal who had committed the insubordination of a coup met his end through insubordination himself, Heukyeon moved busily.
“You’re Heo Dong-se’s son, right?”
“Y-You, who are you?!”
Though he asked who it was, there was no Korean who didn’t know the villain named Heukyeon. The black smoke that served as the medium for his telekinesis was his most unmistakable trademark.
“Direct your resentment at your damn father.”
With Heukyeon’s sharp voice, the black smoke moved at once. Swung like a club, it snapped both legs and both arms cleanly. Then, the black smoke, its end clenched like a fist, delivered left and right hooks followed by a straight to the face, completely shattering the man’s teeth.
The son of Heo Dong-se was reduced, in an instant, to a state where he would have to lie in bed and live on porridge, but Heukyeon had no intention of stopping there.
Heo Dong-se’s grandson and granddaughter were attacked as well. Thankfully, perhaps, the granddaughter at least had her face spared because she was a woman. That didn’t mean she avoided being bedridden, of course.
But it didn’t end there. The children and grandchildren of those who had been present at the murder conspiracy, men who had each held positions during the era of military dictatorship and were now living comfortably as members of South Korea’s entrenched upper class, were also attacked by Heukyeon. Helpfully, Death Reporter had laid bare all of their personal information at the end of the video.
In just three days, roughly forty people ended up hospitalized, requiring implant procedures.