Chapter 51
Chapter 51
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Translator : M.N 1391
Chapter: 51
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In truth, from the perspective of the terrorist organization, they had been utterly ravaged for a full four months, so of course they couldn’t just sit still.
Their network inside the U.S., eyes, ears, recruiters, all those precious assets, had been practically wiped out. And if they were to rebuild that network, who could know how much additional time it would take? They couldn’t simply leave the situation alone without identifying what had caused such a disastrous loss, could they?
What on earth had happened in the United States for them to suffer damage this severe?
Investigating this was only natural, and it was equally natural that Kyung-wan’s existence became known to them through the various individuals he had interrogated.
A Far East Asian-looking telepath.
If his abilities were that exceptional, he must surely be famous, this assumption by the terrorist organization turned out to be correct, and they were able to identify the individual known as Gaengwan Lee. His incident involving the attack on a Korean congressman becoming a global news story also helped.
So, in fact, this airplane hijacking had been planned partly to target him.
Of course, the operatives executing the plan had no way of knowing that. To them, hijacking the airplane was simply a jihadist act meant to testify to their faith.
These facts were uncovered when Kyung-wan interrogated the hijackers, and then used what he learned to interrogate their superiors after the FBI apprehended them. That was why the week right before his return had been extremely packed.
From the perspective of the U.S. government, the security gains they reaped thanks to him were so massive that even awarding him a commendation and U.S. citizenship would not have been enough.
However, because Kyung-wan was a criminal from an allied nation, Korea, and specifically one who had committed an act of terror against a politician, the U.S. had to stay quiet for the sake of their ally’s dignity. But had Kyung-wan said the words, ‘I’d like to make a contract with the United States and become a diligent, law-abiding citizen,’ then the U.S., especially agencies like the FBI, would have granted him citizenship on the spot and whisked him to America under a new identity. They already considered him a major investigative asset.
In short, Kyung-wan had become someone they could no longer treat lightly. Even the warden came out personally to greet him, that’s how it was.
Warden Hong recalled the phone call he’d received from the Senior Presidential Secretary.
‘He may be a criminal, but he has become a significant diplomatic asset.’
‘They call it Twenty Questions of Truth, right? Even if it isn’t admissible as court evidence, his ability will unquestionably benefit the state in investigations.’
‘But the problem is that he committed an act of terror against the National Assembly. Even if the president tried to bargain with a pardon, the Assembly would protest.’
‘And there’s nothing we can offer him that would make him willingly cooperate. It’s not like he has family.’
‘Plus, based on the profiling, he isn’t the type who cares about money, fame, or power. Profilers say his identity is closer to a spiritual ascetic than a criminal. Judicial bargaining isn’t an appealing offer to him.’
‘We have very few negotiation cards we can place in front of him.’
‘One of those cards is the prison he’s currently staying in. Warden Hong, the responsibility on your shoulders is significant.’
Warden Hong couldn’t help thinking it was absurd. Was this not the biggest nonsense he had ever heard? That crazy guy who was now greeting him with that shameless, thick-skinned smile, that guy is an ascetic?
Or were ascetics all crazy people?
However, since that nonsense came from the Senior Presidential Secretary, he couldn’t dismiss it entirely.
“A whole mess has erupted because of you.”
“I know.”
Those so-called YouTube ‘lekkas’ grabbing random foreigners and asking, ‘Do you know Gaengwan Lee?’, the whole spectacle was ridiculous.
Why was he the one who had to feel embarrassed?
“Let’s go in.”
“It’s not dinnertime yet, right?”
“Yeah.”
“What’s for dinner today?”
“Samgyetang.”
“Wow… what’s the occasion? Some higher-ups suffering from heatstroke?”
“Who knows.”
Warden Hong laughed bitterly inside. That lifer who escaped during his furlough had once called Kyung-wan an Untouchable, and now he really had become one.
Not even a conglomerate chairman receives treatment like this. What do you call an inmate even the prison warden can’t treat carelessly?
Warden Hong thought the world truly was a strange place.
= = = = =
07-The Villain Rising
—Aren’t you embarrassed that the scene of you peeing on a criminal has become known worldwide?’
—I’ve got a pretty thick skin.
—Surely there were other ways to attract attention without doing that?
—When the opponent is tense and ready to pull the trigger at any moment, you need not only to attract attention but also to throw them into confusion. And nothing puts a person into greater confusion than witnessing something they never imagined could happen right in front of them.
—So you’re saying it was all calculated?
—Exactly. It’s not like I dropped my pants and peed because I’m a pervert or a psychopath.
“What do you mean, ‘exactly’?!”
Warden Hong shouted after reading the article about Kyung-wan’s interview with the foreign reporter.
Suppose someone had a pitch-black heart. But suppose that person never revealed that darkness and lived kindly their whole life. Then that person wasn’t someone with a dark heart, they were simply a good person.
Kyung-wan is a normal person? If he’s normal, he should behave normally. Why does he keep doing insane things?!
From any common-sense perspective, his excuses were just excuses. As far as Warden Hong was concerned, he was nothing more than a crazy pervert who felt no shame exposing himself and then tried to pass himself off as a normal guy.
But the comment section of the article was full of remarks that nearly made the warden’s chest burst.
—Bro! Bro always has a plan!’
—The belief that dignity is worth less than innocent lives! So cool!’
The most liked comment was this one:
—I knew from the moment he wrecked Yang Seung-tae that he was meticulous. They say geniuses always look like lunatics, right?’
A lunatic is just a lunatic, what genius?!
In his decades of correctional work, Warden Hong had never seen a genius who behaved like a lunatic. Only lunatics pretending to be geniuses.
He closed the irritating main news page and moved to the sports section. He wasn’t the only one curious about how Korean athletes were doing at the Olympics.
Reading the articles, he found that the number of new world records was astonishing, almost as if some paradigm-shifting revolution had swept through sports science. In the 100m sprint, a new world record in the 8-second range had been set. Even more shocking: that most iconic event, long considered the exclusive domain of Black athletes, had been won by a white athlete.
And that wasn’t all. High jump, long jump, javelin, shot put, events determined purely by objective numbers with no room for subjective judging, were overflowing with new ties and new records.
Korean archery had even gone head-to-head with the U.S., and a Korean archer had shot three arrows into the exact same spot, twice in a row, splitting the arrow already lodged in the dead center. This Olympics had produced one astonishing moment after another.
They hurried to investigate whether all this was due to doping, but couldn’t find a single piece of circumstantial evidence.
Warden Hong clicked through the highlights of the extraordinary games, clicking his tongue in amazement. Human limits apparently existed only to be surpassed.
But those ‘surpassed limits’ didn’t apply only to athletes.
[Serial thefts at jewelry stores!]
[The suspect’s physical strength comparable to a gorilla? What about the credibility of security systems?]
[Rapist who climbed in through the window of a 10th-floor single woman’s apartment!]
[Mother-daughter duo who owned 400 rental-gap units disappeared after stealing deposits, later found as brutalized corpses.]
Warden Hong didn’t know it yet, but local police were in a state of emergency: suspects seemed to be growing stronger.
Were they on some special drug? Crimes that defied conventional understanding were increasing. First-response investigations were becoming critical, if mishandled, cases could end up unsolved.
The case most tormenting frontline investigators was the murder of the mother-daughter duo with 400 rental-gap units. Graphic images of the gruesome crime scene had gone viral, and with related articles multiplying, they had no choice but to pour manpower into the case.
And understandably so. If some inhuman criminal capable of tearing off limbs and twisting a neck three-quarters around was roaming free, wouldn’t the public be terrified?
The police suspected the killer might be someone the pair had stolen rental deposits from, of which there were more than 400. They had used other people’s hard-earned deposits to buy 400 properties on leverage, then failed to keep up with the interest and simply ran off with all the money.
As frontline stations investigated the 400 victims as possible suspects in a murder case, chaos erupted. Journalists gleefully swarmed the scene.
“You cops bastards! If I’d been the one to rip those bitches apart, it would’ve been great, wouldn’t it?!”
“They’re dead? What about my money?! What? They were broke anyway? You sons of bitches!”
With runaway housing prices and skyrocketing rents, with every lease renewal turning ordinary people into would-be homeless wrecks, that mother-daughter pair, who gambled with 400 units using other people’s deposits, were nothing but wretched scum who deserved death.
[This is all because of the government’s failed housing policy that reduced supply!]
[Stop fabricating things! Housing supply has increased steadily under every administration, conservative or progressive! The real issue is polarization! In the provinces, housing lotteries go unfilled, while in the capital region everything sells out instantly. Every year, the number of people with 3, 4, 5+ homes grows faster than those with only 1 or 2!]
[If you supply more, market forces will naturally lower prices! But because of regulations everywhere, supply can’t meet demand, so prices skyrocket!]
[Everyone wants redevelopment because that’s where the money is. But if you recklessly raise floor-area ratios, how will you handle the traffic congestion later? And during redevelopment, the displaced residents become another group adding pressure to the rental market, won’t that spike rent prices again? Removing regulations isn’t always the answer! And what good is redevelopment if speculators jump in and raise prices so much real residents can’t afford homes?!]
[Speculators? By that logic, stock trading is speculation too, should we ban stocks then?! In a capitalist society, how can you say stock speculation is okay but housing speculation isn’t?!]
[If that’s your reasoning, then why does the government crack down on panic-buying of food before disasters? Isn’t it because such food speculation causes chaos and harms society? What don’t you understand about ‘food, clothing, and shelter’? You can live your whole life without stocks, but without housing, you live every day fearing eviction! Even stocks disclose financial statements, do apartments disclose construction costs? Compare what’s comparable! If young people aren’t dating, marrying, or having children, isn’t it because they’re broke and homeless?! Multi-home landlords only want unearned income from rent. They don’t care about the future of the youth or of this country!]
[And now this hatred toward landlords has led to people dying, hasn’t it?! The murder of the mother-daughter landlords is the government’s fault for stirring up anti-landlord sentiment!]
On debate programs, so-called experts argued endlessly, while protests criticizing the government and complaints against the police surged.