Chapter 55
Chapter 55
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Translator : M.N 1391
Chapter: 55
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“Why bother reheating bait that’s already gone cold? What for?”
At that sharp remark, Kim Joon unconsciously swallowed dryly, once again reminded that this kid wasn’t someone to take lightly.
“Mm… I’m not really sure myself.”
“Want me to guess? I bet it has something to do with the Psychic Crimes Investigation Unit, right?”
“.. Why do you think that?”
“Well, they need to promote it if they want to gather more talent. And I’m perfect bait for promoting the Psychic Crimes Investigation Unit. When it comes to psychic crimes where clear evidence is hard to find, nothing’s more useful than mind reading. And mind reading looks blatantly superpowered, doesn’t it? Exactly the kind of ability the Psychic Crimes Investigation Unit would want to use.”
“....”
“And the reason they’re promoting it like that… is it maybe because they’re competing with private companies? Is it hard to recruit psychics these days? Classic America, where people love heroes, so private hero organizations must have already popped up, right?”
Kim Joon often found Kyung-wan frightening, and the biggest reason was precisely that insight of his.
He nodded.
“Pretty similar. Something calling itself the National Association of Superpowers was established recently, and they’re recruiting psychics.”
“Let me guess, private capital is behind it?”
“Yes. Everything from pharmaceutical companies to PMCs, famous manufacturers, even Wall Street is entangled in the organization, and it’s ballooning rapidly.”
As massive investment poured in, the organization recruited highly capable marketing experts, and one of them happened to be the former head of marketing for the presidential campaign that won the last election.
Truly befitting his high price tag, he was swiftly increasing the number of psychics joining the association with provocative and effective marketing. His basic strategy was the classic carrot and stick.
For example, things like this:
[The public likes the “special,” not the “strange”! If we psychics don’t unite now, the government will use and exploit us, and the public will discriminate against us!]
…instilling fear,
and then:
[We must show the world that we’re not strange, but special! We need to tell them we’re not different, we’re just regular people who got lucky and awakened a unique trait!]
[Our Association operates programs to confirm psychic awakening and to teach proper use and development of abilities! Do you suspect you may have awakened? Call us without hesitation! You too can become special!]
…offering reassurance and the hope of becoming someone special, basically, the carrot.
What captured the public’s explosive interest was that the cost of checking whether someone maybe had latent powers and the training program was currently completely free. A free policy to boost early membership, meaning no one knew when it would become paid, so join right now.
A tactic straight out of a shopping host urging the customer to buy before stocks run out or a sale ends, but this was America, where such methods felt almost natural.
“Does joining the Association impose any restrictions?”
“Not exactly, but the personal information they collect eventually ends up with the companies investing in the Association.”
Unlike government agencies, which need to go through Congress when special budgets are required, private companies can invest quickly if the executives or shareholders want it. And to prove it, the Association’s ability-testing technology and know-how were advancing so fast that national agencies were requesting observation and cooperation.
“The real problem is, the kind of psychic talent corporations want and the kind we need overlap significantly.”
Of course they would. Take, for example, a psychic whose strength is boosted. More ammo, heavier equipment, and rapid mobility would revolutionize tactics. Naturally, both the military and PMCs would drool over such talent.
And espers overlapped even more. A psychic with a sense of smell as developed as a dog, or even better, would be invaluable to U.S. Customs, where drugs were flooding in, while also being useful in any industry involving scent: perfume, cosmetics, or even pharmaceutical research.
Kyung-wan nodded at that.
“Good thing there are jobs out there for them. I was thinking the National Association of Superpowers might start producing villains just to manufacture heroes. Sounds like an American conspiracy theory, doesn’t it?”
You know the type, from the shadows, intentionally creating evil so that light can shine brighter. A secret society stirring up villains so heroes can stand tall. Heroes and villains are a sort of antagonistic symbiosis, the more intense the hostility, the more convincing the need for heroes becomes. Just like far-right extremists screaming about communists or anti-immigrant sentiment.
Frankly, villains don’t need heroes to exist, but heroes lose their purpose without villains. In a world without disasters, firefighters have nothing left to do but retire.
At Kyung-wan’s words, Kim Joon’s expression hardened.
“Even as a joke, don’t say things like that.”
“Why? Don’t tell me something like that actually exists?”
“The thought alone is horrific. If a rapidly growing megastructure like the National Association of Superpowers ever did something so villainously conspiratorial behind the scenes, it’d be a nightmare for America, no, for the entire world.”
“Ehh… don’t you think adding ‘the entire world’ is overkill? Terrorist organizations have psychics too.”
Rather than acknowledging that the National Association of Superpowers wasn’t doing evil, Kyung-wan instead implied there were bigger obstacles to becoming a world-class villain. At that attitude, Kim Joon shook his head.
Every conversation with this kid only seemed to create more headaches… He was already drowning in domestic issues, he had no room to also worry about foreign psychic terrorists. That was for people with much higher positions than a trainee investigator awaiting special agent status.
“Anyway, let’s just get moving.”
“Oh! They’re selling cup-bap over there?”
Only after Kim Joon shoved a cup-bap into Kyung-wan’s hand, pointing at a food truck, were they able to keep walking.
When they arrived at HQ, the two immediately met David, exchanged greetings, then got into a car guided by Tom. The three were headed toward some facility on the outskirts of Washington.
“Feels like we’re heading to some world-defense-force headquarters. My heart’s kinda pounding.”
“Please stop exaggerating.”
Kim Joon answered flatly. They were simply driving through a deserted road toward a newly built rectangular building with no windows. Its appearance had nothing to do with dreams, justice, or hope, nothing like a world-defense-force HQ. If anything, it looked more like a CIA black site.
Yet Kyung-wan still called it a world-defense-force HQ, was his sense of aesthetics broken or was he just teasing? Kim Joon couldn’t tell.
In any case, as the car approached the building, the steel gate rose automatically, as if some recognition system were in place, and the vehicle entered the central courtyard. From inside, the building felt like a mix between a Chinese tulou and the Pentagon.
In short, it was heavily fortified against external attack.
“When did they even build something like this?”
“It originally belonged to the Department of Defense, but since the Psychic Crimes Investigation Unit was formed, we’ve been using it jointly.”
“Are you allowed to do that?”
“Well, psychic crimes investigators inevitably incur the resentment of psychics.”
At the explanation that it was for safety, Kyung-wan smirked.
“If that rumor spreads, your applicant numbers are gonna plummet.”
“Please don’t ever say that. Seriously.”
Half-joking yet half-serious, Kim Joon pleaded. Kyung-wan shrugged with a mischievous smile. Honestly, if a candidate for the job thought they wouldn’t earn the resentment of psychic criminals while arresting them, they deserved to be rejected for low intelligence, or at least monitored closely as a potential future problem.
Anyway, sensing the gaze of numerous CCTVs, Kyung-wan entered the building with Kim Joon and Tom. They walked down a quiet hallway and entered a room, where unfamiliar faces awaited.
Kyung-wan instantly recognized that these were the psychic investigators who had solved the earliest psychic-crime cases.
As Kim Joon later explained, they were chosen from former police officers, security guards, detectives, or civil servants, people who already knew the basics of investigation procedures and paperwork.
It was natural for such people to become the first members of the Psychic Crimes Investigation Unit. No matter how gifted a psychic was, someone who knew nothing about investigation or administration would only overwhelm the early response efforts. There was no time to babysit rookies from scratch.
Meaning: the people in front of him were the seeds of the Psychic Crimes Investigation Unit.
Kim Joon introduced Kyung-wan to them. He waved.
“Hi! Nice to meet you!”
The gazes of the Unit’s 1st Team toward Kyung-wan mixed wariness, curiosity, and even a bit of welcome.
Naturally so, he was both a foreign criminal and the person who stopped a hijacking originating in America. And most of all, their curiosity must have centered on his mind reading.
Kim Joon introduced them one by one. Though their abilities weren’t explained yet, Kyung-wan quickly guessed them and assigned nicknames.
A Latino man named Vince, constantly sniffling like he had chronic rhinitis, Bloodhound.
A Black woman named Jessie, eyes half-closed and ears twitching, Dolphin.
A white young man named Vince wearing thick sunglasses, with his eyelids drooping more than they stayed open, Owl.
He heard there were more members, but for now, these three were the ones introduced to him.
Kyung-wan whispered to Kim Joon:
“So what exactly am I supposed to do now?”
Honestly, he didn’t see the need to meet them. Naturally, he was a criminal, and they were investigators!
Kim Joon replied:
“It’s simple. Just show them what you do best.”
In other words, demonstrate the ‘Twenty Questions of Truth.’
Kyung-wan nodded readily. After all, that was what he came to America to do originally.
With Tom, Kim Joon led him toward an interrogation room. The three investigators followed closely behind.
As they walked, Kyung-wan saw soldiers, fully armed, standing guard with a grim atmosphere.
“Pretty intense vibes.”
“Well… honestly, there have been several escape attempts.”
Psychic criminals who didn’t understand their own abilities were one thing. The real threat was those who fully understood the strengths and weaknesses of their powers and optimized them for criminal activity.
“For example, the shapeshifter who committed murder, if he fully understood the limits of his ability and prepared the right identity, we would’ve lost him.”
Zack Ohio, the Mask Artisan. In English, Many-Face. He was the psychic Kyung-wan would interrogate next.
According to Kim Joon, there was a high likelihood Zack was associated with a terrorist organization.
The professor he murdered had long stated in lectures and speeches that the pre-modern nature of Islam and its resulting conflict with modern society was the essence behind the formation of Muslim terrorist groups. That because Islam had not gone through a Renaissance or Reformation, its religious culture remained medieval, and thus conflict with the humanist modern world was inevitable. And naturally, since the U.S., as the leading modern nation, represented modern civilization, it was only logical for Islam to see America as its enemy.