Chapter 42
Chapter 42
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Translator : M.N 1391
Chapter: 42
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So Gaengwan enjoyed for a while the peace that made him itchy from boredom just like always. Occasionally, he would carve the painful reality into inmates who couldn’t control their own piss and shit and refused to listen, giving them some proper education.
Of course, besides that, there were also occasional events that soothed Gaengwan’s boredom and his taste buds tormented by prison food.
“Our police officers, especially those in the detective division, do you know how hard they work? They have to deal with criminals high on drugs, they have to wrestle with thugs swinging weapons around, and when they bust their asses to catch a criminal it’s just ‘doing their job,’ but if they miss one, they’re incompetent idiots!”
At Gaengwan’s passionate defense, the reporter sitting across from him wore an awkward expression. It meant he was uncomfortable.
But that was exactly what Gaengwan was aiming for. Since earlier, the reporter had been tossing leading questions, trying to coax Gaengwan into saying something like the police were incompetent, but he wasn’t someone who’d fall for that.
What was the goal? Driving a wedge between Gaengwan and his police connections? Or using Gaengwan’s words to attack the police so they wouldn’t be able to use his abilities for investigations?
Whatever it was, he didn’t care. Smashing the head of anyone trying to use him and sprinkling ashes over the conspirators’ freshly cooked rice was a hobby Gaengwan quite enjoyed.
“But isn’t it also true that there are many corrupt police officers?”
The reporter slyly tossed another leading question, and Gaengwan, as if venting his fury, denounced:
“Corruption? Real corruption is military procurement corruption! What, are we North Korea? Officers committing corruption out of financial need? Is that a joke or a fart? Our country’s war isn’t even over yet! And they commit military procurement corruption? That should be treason and punished with a firing squad!”
“So corrupt cops, ”
The reporter stubbornly wouldn’t give up, but Gaengwan cut him off with a burst of heated words.
“The problem is the National Assembly! The National Assembly! If they hand out budget crumbs, how are we supposed to expand manpower? And in a situation where even personnel expansion is difficult, they eat up the TO slots with public safety paraprofessionals, so of course the field officers groan! Gender equality? Fix the test standards and make them gender-equal before spouting gender equality! It’s all because of those fake feminists pretending just to get female votes!”
Once a sensitive issue came up, the reporter’s eyes began to sparkle. Cops-bashing content hadn’t really come out the way he hoped, but gender equality and feminism were also excellent clickbait.
“But the physical differences between men and women definitely exist, right? So wouldn’t it be fine if female officers mainly handled indoor administrative work?”
The reporter cautiously asked for Gaengwan’s opinion.
Ah, he took the bait!
Gaengwan had been trying to subtly shift away from the police-bashing topic because of the risk of slipping up, and now the reporter had clamped down on the bait.
Gaengwan continued in a calm and persuasive tone.
“What good is it if someone who doesn’t know the field only handles office work? If that happens, female officers will never reach high-ranking positions. What organization in the world places someone who doesn’t understand the field into a senior position? If they go crazy and do that, everything becomes desk-theory and show-off administration.”
‘The police aren’t some entertainment company, so why are they making dance promotion videos? Put that time and budget into public safety. If they can’t even perform their basic duties, how do they expect to get good reactions from people?’
Gaengwan thought of adding that extra line but closed his mouth.
Hmm… that leaned too close to criticizing the police organization, and saying it would give the reporter, who was currently obsessed with beating the police, ammunition with a 100% probability.
He decided to keep silent for a moment.
“I’ll eat a bit first.”
“Yes, go ahead.”
The reporter nodded, his expression bright. His head was already busy drafting a headline that would turn Lee Gaengwan into the enemy of feminists.
= = = = =
[Lee Gaengwan must apologize!]
[Apologize!]
[Lee Gaengwan must reboot his life!]
[Reboot!]
Those were the sounds Gaengwan was hearing beyond the wall.
Naturally, if feminist groups hadn’t gathered to protest, Gaengwan would’ve never heard such sounds.
“Journalists really are amazing.”
[Feminism is the real enemy of public safety! Criminal Lee Gaengwan speaks!]
The enemy of public safety? He’d never said anything that extreme, but the journalist had taken the little bait he tossed and inflated it into an issue-blackhole masterpiece.
Women’s organizations eager to display their organizational power and presence flocked to join the protest.
It wasn’t strange, women’s organizations were still civic groups. Civic groups are another type of public opinion-shaping body, and if they don’t attract attention, they eventually wither. So of course they latch onto issues to make their presence known. Once they secure their place, the laws crafted by our honorable members of the National Assembly ensure a nice steady supply of subsidies.
Anyway, the journalist had successfully stirred massive controversy around Gaengwan. If you listed the most infamous criminals in the country, Lee Gaengwan would definitely win an Olympic gold medal.
Reporters coming to meet this issue-blackhole, fame-sucking dark horse named Lee Gaengwan tried desperately to create a Gaengwan vs Feminism narrative.
“You’ve become the vanguard of anti-feminism, how do you feel about that?”
“Who? Me?”
Gnawing on the chicken the reporter brought as a meeting fee, Gaengwan showed genuine confusion. The reporter who asked the question was more bewildered.
Wasn’t Lee Gaengwan supposed to be an attention-seeker? If not, why would he have caused that huge incident?
Experts who had appeared on various media outlets analyzing Lee Gaengwan, the congressman attacker of the century, had argued that he was starved for public attention.
His constant appearance in the media, his shamelessness toward cameras, his bold manner of expressing his opinions, all of that was enough to diagnose him as an attention-seeker.
So they expected him to enjoy fame as an anti-feminist… but this indifferent reaction was unexpected.
Of course, Gaengwan wasn’t completely free from attention-seeking tendencies, but he wasn’t desperate enough to say something false just to get attention.
“Uh… what do you think about feminism?”
The reporter, rolling his eyes, asked directly. Gaengwan took a bite of chicken and replied.
“I don’t think anything.”
“Uh… but in the previous interview, you strongly criticized feminism…”
Watching the reporter trail off, Gaengwan calmly clarified.
“Read it again. I criticized politicians. I never insulted feminism.”
“Then you mean you support feminism?”
“No, that’s not it. The most accurate way to put it is I see it as an uninteresting tool. Like a brush lying before a woodsman, or an axe at the feet of a scholar, that’s the closest analogy.”
Gaengwan tried to explain as clearly as possible out of courtesy for the reporter who brought chicken, but the reporter, whose only interest was views, persistently tried to link Gaengwan with feminism.
“How can an ideology be considered a tool?”
“Because it is one, obviously.”
At least for him, the infinitely reincarnating one, that was true.
Cunning and greedy politicians elected by incompetent masses give rise to dictatorship that worships a mighty, merciful, immortal super-AI emperor; democracy rises to resist hereditary dictatorships that destroy nations after three generations; feminism arises from women fighting for their rights when they didn’t even have suffrage; anti-feminism arises in nations where if a woman reports a man to the police, he’s thrown in detention first regardless of context.
The rise of every ideology comes from the need to break unjust realities. But whether it actually fixes those realities, or whether it’s a viable blueprint for an ideal society, those things are irrelevant.
History moves through endless dialectical cycles, and ideologies are just materials consumed by that dialectic.
Each person chooses their ideology based on background, benefit, or belief. And an ideology survives only if it’s helpful to people. Leninism failed and the Soviet Union collapsed; the Great Depression brought forth reform-capitalism instead of pure capitalism. Ideologies that don’t help people ultimately perish.
That was what Gaengwan meant by the tool-nature of ideology.
The reporter smiled awkwardly yet nodded along. This was an interview showing another side of the criminal Lee Gaengwan, but since it wasn’t provocative or exciting, he didn’t seem to like it.
Still, the interview continued.
“Still, isn’t it true that you caused the protest happening outside?”
“Idiots misread what they wanted to see and misunderstood.”
“No sense of responsibility?”
“I’d like to ask why they’re blaming me for them being illiterate idiots.”
Hmm… it was still hard to peg Gaengwan solidly as anti-feminist. But the interview time was almost over. The reporter asked one last question.
“What is feminism to you?”
“Honestly, I don’t know and I don’t want to know. Whether feminist or anti-feminist, they can fry each other all they want. But if they spew bullshit or act like animals in front of me, they’d better be ready to get beaten.”
“Ah, I see.”
The reporter left looking puzzled, and two days later, the protest noise over the wall grew louder.
Gaengwan learned the reason through the internet. The interview had taken over the news portals with the headline:
[True gender equality is equal beatings! The violence of notorious criminal Lee Gaenghwan!]
“Wow~. Seriously amazing.”
Even an infinitely reincarnating being couldn’t help but laugh at the journalist’s prowess.
= = = = =
06-Do You Know Gaengwan Lee?
Just when the protests against Lee Gaengwan, the enemy of feminism who refused to study feminism and ignored it, were fading, Warden Hong received a phone call.
“Yes, this is Hong Changyeong, warden of ○○ Prison.”
[It’s the Minister of Justice.]
“Yes, Minister!”
Warden Hong shot up to his feet, responding sharply like a fresh private. As the minister spoke, he repeatedly nodded and answered.
“Yes! Ah! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes, understood! I’ll do that! Yes!”
After the call ended, Warden Hong gathered the chiefs of every department.
“What’s going on, sir?”
“I just received a call from the Minister of Justice.”
“The Minister of Justice?”
Everyone’s eyes widened. Even though correctional facilities fall under the Ministry of Justice, it was extremely rare for the minister to call directly.
As eyes filled with curiosity, what matter could make the minister call?, the warden continued.
“He said a VIP from the U.S. will be visiting.”
“A VIP?”
“A VIP, why, ah!”
Someone blurted out in realization, and the same name flashed across everyone’s minds.
Warden Hong nodded.
“Yes. Because of that bastard Lee Gaengwan.”
Someone from the U.S. coming to meet Lee Gaengwan? And if the Minister of Justice called directly, it had to be a legal agency. Considering Lee Gaengwan’s special abilities and the kidnapping case where he assisted the investigation, the visiting guests were obvious.
“So an investigative agency will be coming.”
“Exactly. So the General Affairs Chief and the Security Chief will have to work hard. The other departments should support them well. The Minister also said to maintain secrecy, so everyone keep your mouths shut, and no company dinners for a while.”
Someone asked: …