Chapter 54
Chapter 54
-------------------------------------------------
Translator : M.N 1391
Chapter: 54
-------------------------------------------------
But then Kyung-wan casually tossed out a comment like he was lobbing a bomb.
“Looks to me like we’ve got a human experimentation setup in the making?”
“Human experimentation?!”
Director Hong shot up from his seat. For someone who learned about the painful historical memories of Yoon Dong-ju and the Unit 731 victims, the phrase “human experimentation” was bound to hit a nerve.
Kyung-wan continued.
“What’s the best place to research superpowers? Ultimately, somewhere where you can gather superpowered individuals, right?”
“You can’t be serious. This country calls itself a democracy, would they really go that far?”
“Well, I doubt they’d go as far as dissecting people or injecting weird stuff into them, but I’m sure they’ll try to push research right up to the line of not drawing too much criticism from other countries, especially America.”
“··· And public outrage?”
“There are plenty of people who think of citizens as pigs and dogs, you think they'd care about public opinion? It’s not even election season.”
This is a world where someone who says nonsense like “Why should the government be responsible for the citizens’ lives? That’s their own responsibility,” runs around calling himself a presidential candidate. Then what’s the point of collecting taxes? You can’t say something like that unless you fundamentally see citizens as pig-slaves.
Director Hong rolled his eyes and pretended to let the word “pig-dogs” slide out one ear.
“.. Still, wouldn’t it be difficult?”
“I dunno. With North Korea making a fuss about building some superpowered special forces? They’ll definitely build one.”
North Korea. The perfect excuse to expand military capability.
If Japan or China complain that South Korea is spending too much on defense, just lift your chin and tell them to look at the Taepodong missile!
Director Hong grew increasingly uneasy at Kyung-wan’s speculation. He had thought he was merely taking on some temporary burden from another correctional facility, something to score points with the government, but now it looked like he was about to become the warden of the nation’s first-ever superpowered-criminal prison.
Anything that begins starts with mistakes. And the problems caused by those mistakes? Ultimately, it’s the administrator who takes responsibility. When he remembered how he got a congratulatory call from the Minister of Justice and had grinned ear to ear, Hong felt like the dumbest fool alive.
Of course, there was no proof that things would unfold exactly as Kyung-wan said, but the logic was so convincing that it felt as if reality was already following his words.
And soon enough, evidence that things would indeed move in that direction appeared before Director Hong’s eyes. The government acquired the land next to ○○ Prison and began expanding the facility.
The scale of the land that Hong’s sharp eyes measured was no joke. There was no way they intended to turn that entire area into cells, so naturally Kyung-wan’s words floated up in his mind: a superpower research lab.
Of course, researching S-particles using only superpowered inmates was nonsense. Director Hong soon saw news that the government, and even private corporations, were recruiting and specially hiring superpowered individuals.
Naturally, there was a role model behind such a large-scale movement. Clearly, it was the United States.
Being a country that loves superheroes, America was the fastest in the world to adopt civilian superpowered individuals. And it wasn’t as though the U.S. government just sat back and let civilians with superpowers run around unsupervised.
And in the midst of all this, Kyung-wan received another visit from the FBI.
“You’ve been busy?”
“.. Thought I was gonna die from overwork.”
Kim Jun’s reply to Kyung-wan came with dark rings under his eyes, anyone could see he was completely worn down.
“You guys went so quiet I thought the U.S. didn’t need me anymore.”
“We’ve been drowning in cases. And only now have we reached a situation where we need Mister Lee’s help again.”
“Oh-ho~.”
So that means they were so busy chasing suspects that they didn’t even have time for interrogations?
“Looks like there have been quite a few superpower crimes?”
“Rather than many, it’s more that the abilities involved made arrests difficult.”
There was the guy who could manipulate his skeletal structure, muscles, skin color, and texture to impersonate others and commit murder. Another was a former minor league baseball player who threw an unopened plastic bottle from afar and cracked his boss’s head out of spite. And another had hardened keratin, giving him NIJ Level 4 bulletproof capability, and massacred a drug gang. The number wasn’t high, but if they had followed standard investigative methods, they wouldn’t have identified a single suspect. These cases caused huge shockwaves.
“You managed to arrest all of them somehow?”
“Yes. Thanks largely to a newly established department.”
“What department?”
“A department composed of superpowered agents.”
“Isn’t that classified?”
“It’s confidential, but it’ll be public soon anyway, so it’s fine to tell you.”
Kyung-wan felt a hint of annoyance as he listened to Kim Jun’s explanation. A new unit reporting directly to the FBI Director had been created to deal with superpowered crime, and they had recruited a large number of individuals with special abilities.
In short, espers. Mostly ESP-type, individuals whose senses such as touch, sight, and hearing were developed to a bizarre degree, rather than having superhuman strength or reflexes.
Kim Jun also explained that among them were individuals with special sixth-sense abilities. Their ultra-sensitive perception helped them detect minute evidence and provided leads to track suspects.
“At that level, shouldn’t you NOT be telling me?”
Kim Jun shrugged.
“There’s a reason we’re telling Mister Lee. We want to ask if you could teach our agents your ability, your Twenty Questions of Truth.”
“Mm.. if that’s the case, wouldn’t it be faster to teach things that already have an established system? Like hot reading or cold reading? I’m mostly talent-based… I’m weak on theory.”
A lazy genius is ultimately beaten by theory. Civilization is great because theoretical systems allow many to match or surpass a genius. No matter how infinite his reincarnations, Kyung-wan knew that human civilization and academic achievement held the potential to catch up to, or even surpass, his individual ability.
Of course, Kyung-wan’s reluctance was simply because he found teaching annoying. Why bother if a well-built academic and training system already existed?
Failing to see the laziness behind the humility, Kim Jun nodded.
“Of course, we’re teaching them that as well. But practice and experience are still necessary.”
“Couldn’t they do that without me?”
Again, Kyung-wan expressed skepticism. This should count as a polite refusal, right? Please take a hint?
But Kim Jun smiled. A bit awkward, but trying hard to look natural.
“No one in the world can use mind-reading techniques at Mister Lee’s level. That’s the conclusion our division reached.”
“Hm..”
Seeing Kyung-wan react skeptically, like “Yeah right”, Kim Jun grew anxious.
It wasn’t until they tried to train their own mind-readers that the FBI realized how extraordinary Kyung-wan truly was. Their agents tried to imitate his so-called “Twenty Questions of Truth” technique, but the difficulty made them shake their heads. Even their prized sixth-sense users collapsed after the tenth question and had to take the rest of the day off.
Some even began asking cautiously if Kyung-wan might have been influenced by S-particles long ago, perhaps he was secretly an esper.
If you thought about it that way, his bizarre behavior became more understandable. People with different senses perceive the world differently, and thus think differently.
Kyung-wan responded to Kim Jun’s excessive praise with a hollow, soulless voice.
“That’s amazing.”
Sir, he is talking about YOU.
How could someone have so little interest in their own praise? Kim Jun swallowed the urge to comment and stuck to his duty.
“··· Anyway, we’ll arrange a schedule.”
“Sounds like a hassle...”
“You’ve had a hard time in Japan. We’ll schedule it so you can rest before you come.”
Now that is a different story.
“Well, in that case, I’ve got no problem with it. But this time there won’t be any hijacking incidents, right?”
His tone was playful but carried real concern. You’d think the odds were low, but life loves screwing people over. The last hijacking practically targeted him. Who’s to say it won’t happen again?
Beating the crap out of stupid trash was fun, but dealing with fanatical lunatics was exhausting. Trash cried and sometimes even repented when crushed like worms, but zealots never reflected on their actions and might even be turned into martyrs.
To Kyung-wan’s question, Kim Jun answered with a firm expression.
“There won’t be anything like that this time.”
After Kyung-wan’s debut as the Urine Hero, airports and airlines underwent massive security reform. X-ray scanning databases were upgraded so that anything that could possibly be a weapon was banned from cabins.
Visa screenings became stricter, security checks intensified. The inconvenience caused people to develop prejudices toward Muslims.
Kim Jun continued.
“When you go this time, things will be very different.”
“Well, the whole world has changed, hasn’t it?”
Superpower awakenings. S-particles. Considering that, the FBI had surely changed too.
But that wasn’t what Kim Jun meant by “different.”
[Mister Lee!]
[Look over here, Mister Lee!]
The moment they entered the airport, a barrage of camera flashes exploded.
Kyung-wan turned his head and stared at Kim Jun with a cold, irritated expression.
“What is this?”
He thought the Urine Hero meme was over already.
It was fine when the whole thing ended as a silly incident, but having a sticky label that won’t fall off was different. If some human trash later got beaten down by him and mocked him by yelling “Urine Hero, Hero Pee!” it might have unpredictable effects on his sensitive, delicate mental state (...)
Kim Jun defended himself.
“I told you a lot has changed.”
The context wasn’t much different from why the escort girl he slept with once had appeared on a talk show.
Though Kyung-wan did an interview about the hijacking incident, it was just text. The public, addicted to video, wanted to see his face and hear his voice on TV, phones, YouTube.
But Kyung-wan was locked in a South Korean prison and was the infamous man who humiliated a member of the National Assembly. The high-ranking officials would never allow him on video. The only reason his interview even appeared in print was because it was text-only.
“And recently CNN did a piece on the FBI.”
During that coverage, Steven, the calm, elite-looking Black man in charge of International Operations Division, said, “Unfortunately, at present there is no mentalist in America who matches Mister Lee’s capability.”
And David, the head of Counterterrorism and an absolutely fiery guy, declared, “That fucking good badass is the world’s greatest mind-reader!”
Thanks to them, public interest in Kyung-wan reignited.
But Kyung-wan couldn’t accept it.