Chapter 56
Chapter 56
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Translator : M.N 1391
Chapter: 56
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Of course, religion is indeed a sensitive topic. However, in a modern society, the idea of being killed for criticizing a religion is something that cannot be tolerated in any post-Enlightenment nation, especially in a democratic country that recognizes freedom of expression.
Although only about 6% of terrorism cases in the United States have been confirmed to be related to Islamic extremism, the victim had frequently criticized Islam, so it was impossible not to check whether it was related.
The man named Zach Ohio, whom Kyung-wan met, was wearing a full-body restraint suit.
Only three people entered the interrogation room: Kyung-wan, Kim Joon, and Tom. The others went into the next room to watch through various cameras installed around the area.
Zach looked at the three who entered with a cold expression.
[Good to see you, Zach.]
[....]
[Hey. When someone greets you, isn’t it polite to answer?]
[....]
Even when Kim Joon and Tom spoke to him, he gave no response.
Kyung-wan asked Kim Joon.
“What did you say to him for him to not even reply?”
Kim Joon answered honestly. He hadn’t said anything extraordinary.
Kyung-wan made a strange expression at Kim Joon’s explanation, then gave some advice.
“Ask him if his parents never taught him the basic manners of returning a greeting.”
“.. Uh.. um...”
When Kim Joon hesitated, thinking that’s a bit much…, Kyung-wan simply turned to Tom.
“Ask him. About his parents.”
The English was clumsy, but the meaning was clear enough, both to Tom and to Zach.
“Fuck you.”
Hearing the low muttered curse, Kyung-wan smiled and clapped once. If he won’t react, just increase the stimulus. Unless he’s a corpse, he’ll react eventually.
“There we go. He reacts.”
“Haa… so you’re planning to provoke him again until he blurts out the truth like last time?”
“You know me well.”
At that, Kim Joon gave him a look asking him to tone it down a little.
Pretending not to notice, Kyung-wan stepped toward Zach and placed a hand on his shoulder.
Zach glared at Kyung-wan threateningly.
“Hiss!”
He let out a sound like a cat trying to intimidate someone, while his face twisted into something grotesque and monstrous. He had used his ability to transform his face, apparently a look he had practiced to scare and mock investigators.
But compared to cosmic horror, it was neither heavy nor frightening, more like cute. Kyung-wan simply let out a small snort and motioned to Kim Joon with his chin.
“Let’s begin.”
[Let me ask. Do you have any connection to Islamic extremist terrorist groups, or any organization equivalent to them?]
“Hmph! None.”
At Zach’s answer, Kyung-wan surprisingly nodded.
“Truth.”
Kim Joon moved several sheets of paper aside. Scenario A, which assumed he was linked to an Islamic terror group, was discarded.
[Did you kill Professor Hamed out of personal resentment?]
“Yes.”
Again, Kyung-wan nodded. Kim Joon hesitated. A simple personal-grudge killing? So far, it matched Zach’s previous statements. However, the FBI’s intuition-type ability user had insisted Zach was hiding something.
Kim Joon proceeded with Scenario B.
[Was there compensation involved in killing Professor Hamed?]
“No.”
But Kyung-wan shook his head. There was compensation.
Kim Joon moved on to the next scenario.
[Do you know where the payment came from?]
[I told you there was no compensation.]
“He doesn’t know.”
Kyung-wan answered on Zach’s behalf. Kim Joon continued with the next question.
[You had personal resentment toward Professor Hamed, and during that time, a contract killing request came in. Is that correct?]
At that question, Zach seemed to sense something off and slowly turned to look at the hand resting on his shoulder.
When he met Kyung-wan’s eyes, Kyung-wan grinned.
“Hi~.”
“I know you.”
Zach finally realized who he was. The criminal who had stopped the hijacking from the U.S. The mind reader acknowledged by the FBI as the greatest of the era.
“Aaaugh!!”
Zach twisted his body violently. The reinforced cloth restraints strained and crackled, threads snapping one by one.
Kim Joon and Tom, sensing immediate danger, quickly drew their guns and switched off the safeties. And Kyung-wan?
“Stay still!”
Wham!
He drove an uppercut into Zach’s jaw. A clean, heavyweight-champion-style hook. Zach lost consciousness instantly.
Kyung-wan looked at the stunned Kim Joon and Tom and shrugged.
“What are you staring at? Go get stronger restraints.”
Only then did everyone scramble. After securing Zach with full-body steel restraints, they resumed the Twenty Questions of Truth.
Zach tried to keep his mouth shut and avoid answering, but escaping the Twenty Questions using that tactic was nearly impossible.
One by one, the truth came out, and a shocking fact was revealed: since the early days of the darknet, there had existed a contract-killing marketplace, and Zach had received a job through it. Hamed’s death was simply the result of that request.
That didn’t mean Zach’s personal resentment was a lie, Hamed had abandoned a woman and a child long ago, and that child was Zach.
Normally, a high-priced lawyer would have taken Zach’s case and likely secured an unrestrained indictment, or at least parole. But with superpowers being a national issue and Zach being one of the earliest superpowered criminals, such lawyers avoided him to keep from drawing public attention.
In the end, it was Zach’s own fault he was caught, he had simply tried to test his disguise ability in real-world conditions because he knew how convenient it was to impersonate others. Unfortunately, he ran directly into the freshly formed Superpower Crime Investigation Unit.
“Aren’t you surprised?”
Kim Joon expected Kyung-wan to be shocked by the existence of such an international contract-killing market. But Kyung-wan was indifferent.
“In a world where people get ‘suicided’ by being shoved into a red Matiz and ruled as a simple suicide, why would a contract-killing market be strange?”
Similarly, there had been a case where someone “died of asthma while eating instant noodles.” Compared to that, a contract-killing marketplace was nothing. On the darknet, not only murder-for-hire but also snuff films and child pornography were openly traded.
What, you think such things can’t exist? Humans are far more terrifying and capable than you imagine.
Watching the two speak, Zach spoke in a hollow tone.
[And you think you’ll be safe after this?]
“What’s he saying?”
“A threat. Something like that.”
It was a typical thing criminals said after being forced to reveal truths against their will under Kyung-wan’s ability.
Kyung-wan joked.
“So what now, are they going to blow up a passenger jet?”
His tone was joking, but it didn’t sound like a joke. Kim Joon’s face stiffened and he relayed it to Tom. Tom’s expression immediately turned serious.
Kyung-wan asked,
“So it’s not a joke?”
“Well… Tom says the contract-killing market is much bigger than we expected. If the money’s right, they can do almost anything…”
More precisely: you could hire people willing to do anything. Even an assassination attempt on the U.S. President. No one knew how much that would cost, but theoretically it was possible.
Dangerous jobs like that didn’t calculate only the operation cost. They included the risk evaluation, escape fees, and post-execution guarantees. Payment-method fees, too.
What made this market so difficult to investigate was its underground, cell-based structure. Tracking and apprehending affiliated individuals was nearly impossible.
Catching Zach had simply been FBI’s good luck, and bad luck for Zach.
“Well then, now that we know the risks, I trust you’ll handle the rest?”
“There won’t be a repeat of last time.”
Kim Joon answered firmly. To fail twice would disgrace the FBI’s reputation.
“Then shall we start the next interrogation?”
“Another one?”
“It’s still before quitting time, you know.”
There had been some downtime between interrogations, but Kim Joon’s instincts working alongside Kyung-wan were still sharp enough to finish Zach’s questioning quickly. After gathering all essential information, the rest was handed off to other agents.
Kyung-wan checked the clock and shrugged. It was too early to leave, but starting another interrogation would definitely push them past quitting time.
“Make sure I get overtime pay.”
Kim Joon conveyed this to Tom, and Tom’s reply was brief.
“Yes.”
The next subject after Zach was a Black man named Charles Ahmed. He had been arrested for killing entire drug-dealing gangs while protecting himself with a keratin-hardened skin strong enough to stop armor-piercing rounds.
Unlike Zach, who had resisted and tried to escape, Charles had barely resisted. As if he had already accepted everything, he silently wore the steel restraints meant for superpowered detainees.
[What’s this about? I thought the interrogation was already over.]
Charles asked when he saw the new faces (Kyung-wan, Kim Joon, and Tom) entering the interrogation room.
Tom answered.
[He confessed, but he’s still refusing to explain his motive.]
[Didn’t I tell you? It was personal.]
[Well, that’s something we can verify.]
Kyung-wan placed a hand on Charles’s shoulder. Charles clearly disliked being touched and activated his ability. His face became coated in scales like a lizard. It was a high-strength keratin-gelatin composite created by his keratin hardening ability.
Seeing this, Kyung-wan raised a thumb.
“Oh! Cool~!”
He had lived in America long enough, his exclamations should be in English.
Charles looked baffled and turned to Tom.
[This guy’s FBI?]
His attitude was so different from every investigator he’d ever met that he couldn’t help questioning it.
Tom shook his head.
[He’s a mind reader we specially brought in for people like you who can’t be honest.]
[Mind reading? Isn’t that supposed to be nonsense?]
[Look at your own ability. In today’s world, does mind reading really sound impossible?]
[.. Let me warn you now. There are things you shouldn’t touch in a man’s heart.]
[Charles, do you know what I’ve realized while doing this job? People who make it their profession to find the truth must always be prepared to cause someone pain. Whether that someone is the other person, or themselves. Kim.]
“Let’s start.”
When Tom called his name, Kim Joon signaled to Kyung-wan. Kyung-wan nodded.
The questioning was relentless. They needed to confirm whether Charles had killed the gang members out of personal motives or whether someone had requested or contracted him to do it.
But Charles had told the truth. His reason was personal, his younger brother had become a drug addict and died. That was why he had done it.
[That shitty homie culture. A guy works hard and succeeds, and then all those people who never helped him cling to him like parasites, calling themselves friends and family and sucking him dry. Do you know why Black Americans can’t succeed in this country? Because that shitty culture drags even the successful ones back into bankruptcy. Sure, the useless ones who can’t hold down a job, fine, call it charity and help them. But gangs? Selling drugs and turning their own people into addicts, and they call themselves friends? Family? I’ll never accept that! One guy even tried to tell me they ‘only sell to white people’. What, the drugs they sell to white people don’t work on Black people? What a joke.]