Chapter 581: The Conspiracy Begins (14)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 581: The Conspiracy Begins (14)
My consciousness, which had sunk into a deep abyss, slowly began to surface.
My senses gradually returned.
The first to awaken was my sense of smell.
The sharp scent of antiseptic brushed past my nose, mingled with the rich, sweet fragrance of skin.
I knew who it was without even opening my eyes to see.
I had smelled that scent, held that body, so many times.
A cool sensation spread across my body.
It seemed she was wiping me down with a wet wipe or a damp towel.
I extended my slowly moving arm as fast as I could and pulled her into an embrace.
“Oh my!”
Her startled voice echoed in my ear.
I slowly opened my eyes.
A soft light, gentle on the eyes.
With the light behind her, I gazed at her as she lay pressed against me.
Her pupils trembled.
Her nagging followed.
“…If you keep sleeping in like this, you’ll be reborn as a cow in your next life, you know?”
The rims of her eyes were slightly red.
It seemed I’d been asleep for quite some time.
I asked Jeong-hee, whose expression was a curious mix of relief and annoyance.
“How long was I out?”
“Four days.”
“Good grief.”
Four days. No wonder she was worried.
I turned my head to look out the window.
It was silent and dark, so it must have been the middle of the night.
“Were you here alone for all four days?”
“Mm… no. I took turns with the other girls.”
“I see.”
The others must have been worried sick, too.
Just as I thought that, she shot me a sharp glare.
What is it?
Did I do something wrong?
“Do-jin… just how many girls have you been fooling around with out there?”
“…”
Yep. I messed up.
I’d completely forgotten.
That a woman’s intuition can sometimes be more accurate than even the senses of a transcendent.
She must have read something in the eyes of the women who watched over me while I was unconscious.
I was a little flustered, but I didn’t let it show.
This was something I’d have to face eventually.
And more than once.
Apologizing now would be the worst possible move.
So, what was the best move?
“So? Are you disappointed?”
Acting completely shameless.
Isn’t that what a total son of a bitch would do?
That’s right. A son of a bitch.
The moment I got involved with multiple women at once, that much was already set in stone.
And to do all that and still hope not to be called a son of a bitch would make me something even lower than one.
So I have no intention of sinking any lower. I’ll stop right at being a son of a bitch.
“Honestly, it would be a lie to say I’m not disappointed, wouldn’t it?”
Her tone was calm.
But it was tinged with a faint disappointment.
Or maybe betrayal.
Suppressing the urge to pat her shoulder, I asked again.
“Do you hate me now?”
“That’s…”
Jeong-hee hesitated.
Then, she answered.
“I don’t think so.”
A self-deprecating smile played on her lips as she spoke.
“What am I supposed to do if I still don’t hate you? An old ajumma like me is being so foolish, isn’t she?”
“Foolish? Not at all.”
I tightened my embrace and continued.
“Who would look at your face right now and call you an ajumma?”
“But my age is still that of an ajumma.”
“That’s just an excuse. If you live young, you become young.”
I was living proof.
There was a stark difference between living in the broken body of a 40-year-old and now.
Back then, it felt like I was moving cautiously within a predetermined frame. Now, it felt like I was roaming everywhere without a care for any frame at all.
In short, it was a difference in vitality.
To pour your passion into something, you need the physical and mental fortitude to back it up.
“Don’t be trapped in a frame. This is a youth and a life you’ve regained, isn’t it?”
“Yes… you’re right.”
Jeong-hee nodded, her expression heavy as if she’d realized something.
Then, a smile bloomed on her lips, as bright and fresh as a flower on a warm spring day.
“Then should I be like you, Do-jin, and go meet other men?”
“Absolutely not.”
“Oh, why? You’re allowed to, but I’m not? That’s so selfish.”
“Yeah, you’re right. I’m a selfish person.”
If I do it, it’s romance. If someone else does it, it’s an affair.
I’m a classic example of that.
The kind of guy who fools around with this woman and that woman, but stops his own woman from doing the same.
But what can I do?
This is my nature.
Do you think I, the Apostle of Greed, was chosen by Gula for no reason?
She pouted and asked.
“So you’re telling me to just stay by your side like this? Loving you unconditionally even if you meet other women?”
“That’s right.”
A truly selfish answer.
Even Jeong-hee would be left speechless and unable to respond for a while…
“Okay, fine.”
“…?”
What was that?
That answer, without a hint of hesitation.
Did I hear her wrong?
“…You did just say ‘fine,’ right?”
“I did.”
I was curious, so I asked.
“Why…?”
Even I thought my demand was trashy, so how could she agree so easily?
Then, she answered.
“I’ve thought about it for a while. That something like this might happen one day.”
“…”
“I worried a lot back then. About what would happen to me if you found another woman.”
It seemed this wasn’t an answer she’d given without thought.
Was this an answer she had been pondering and holding onto for a long time, only to release it at the right moment?
She continued.
“At first, I thought about stopping before I got abandoned. I also thought that if you ever left me, I should let go without pathetically clinging to your leg.”
Her gaze met mine.
She was smiling, but she didn’t look particularly happy.
That’s why it looked sadder than a crying face.
A face stained with deep contemplation.
“I tried to convince myself that this much happiness was enough, that I shouldn’t be foolish at my age… but I couldn’t.”
As the saying goes, you can know the depths of the water, but never the depths of a person’s heart.
I never knew.
I had no idea she was wrestling with such thoughts when she was alone.
My eyes were fixed on her lips.
“So I decided to just become shameless. I was so worried about what I’d do when that day finally came, but hearing you say that actually makes me feel great.”
Jeong-hee wrapped her arms around me.
“This ajumma is fine. It doesn’t matter how many women are by your side, as long as there’s a place for me there. And…”
She twisted out of my embrace, climbed onto my waist, and looked down at me with an incredibly seductive gaze as she continued.
“Honestly, aside from my age, I don’t think I’d lose to them by much…♥”
She leaned forward and gave me a light kiss.
Smooch!
For a moment, I smiled helplessly at the sticky sensation on my dry lips.
“In fact, there might be more I can do for you than those girls can…?”
“…”
Perhaps she had reached the true realm of maturity a woman could attain.
A youthful body and a ripened mind.
A harmony of diverse experience and overflowing vitality.
Mesmerized, I was about to blankly reach for her large breasts.
Smack!
She lightly slapped my outstretched hand away, smiling sweetly as she shook her head.
“That’s all for today♥”
“Wait, why…?”
This is absurd.
The mood was so good, why suddenly…?
Then, her expression shifted back to that of a mother, and she began to scold me.
“What do you mean, ‘why’? What could you possibly do with someone who’s been unconscious for three days from an injury?”
“I’m fine, though…”
“Oh my, listen to him. Don’t you know that people who are overconfident in their health when they’re young suddenly collapse when they get older? You need to take care of yourself now so your joints don’t ache when you’re old…”
“…”
She really is a difficult woman, that’s for sure. Yep.
* * *
A disaster that had suddenly unfolded across all of Seoul.
No, in reality, this incident—a large-scale act of terror—was brought under control with surprising speed.
The news and articles repeatedly cried miracle.
【An Unprecedented Global Catastrophe. And Yet, Seoul Stood Firm?】
【The Greatness of the Republic of Korea’s Hunters, Reliable Even in the Face of Catastrophe.】
【Seoul’s Value Skyrockets! Tourists and Immigrants Increase After the Disaster, City Rejoices.】
A significant number of buildings had collapsed, resulting in considerable economic losses.
Dozens of Hunters on the front lines had died, hundreds were seriously injured, and thousands more suffered moderate to minor injuries, requiring care from hospitals or healers.
But this was merely a drop in the bucket.
Especially when compared to the immense losses that would have been incurred had the disaster not been stopped in time.
The crisis had, instead, become an opportunity.
Seoul was highlighted as a safe city, and as the number of overseas immigrants grew, housing prices soared.
Politicians used this to promote their own competence, and just as their efforts were about to bear fruit in the form of the highest approval ratings since the inception of Hunter society…
One politician appeared and began to deny it all.
The joyful atmosphere in Seoul, the cheers of the citizens, the arrogant attitudes of the politicians.
He criticized everything.
“Everyone, we must once again reflect deeply on this disaster.”
He spoke with fiery passion.
He warned people not to be deceived by the positive atmosphere created by the news, internet articles, and cyber wreckers.
“In the end, we successfully stopped the disaster. But if you look at the process, that was not the case at all.”
Hunters who joined him on the podium testified.
“…Shamefully, we were pushed to the brink of defeat.”
“It was overwhelming to face the monsters pouring out from dozens of rifts.”
“If a miracle hadn’t occurred, Seoul right now would be…”
It was a battle where the tide of defeat had grown stronger with each passing moment.
The number of monsters swelled endlessly, while the Hunters’ stamina rapidly dwindled.
“The barrier, installed at a cost of trillions of won, failed at the critical moment. The Hunters were also cornered, and many died or were gravely injured, barely surviving after being rushed to the hospital.”
Defeat and death.
Just as those two words were about to become reality.
A miracle occurred.
Kim Do-jin.
No one knew how he did it, but his power was transmitted to everyone. Thanks to him, the reinvigorated Hunters succeeded in their counterattack and closed the rifts.
“If it weren’t for his power, I am certain we would all be dead by now.”
He expressed his gratitude to him.
At the same time, he warned the people.
“My fellow citizens, this is fundamentally wrong. This is about protecting the capital of our nation. Can we truly call our current reality—where such a task depends on a single individual—hopeful?”
He criticized.
“The politicians who are posturing now did nothing. They just continued their useless, desk-bound arguments, wasting time without a single one of them preparing a realistic countermeasure.”
He brutally and nakedly exposed the true faces of the posturing politicians and urged for change.
“My fellow citizens, we stand at a crossroads.”
Will we entrust ourselves to an unstable defense system swayed by a single person?
Or will we enjoy safety under a defense system created through everyone’s combined efforts?
The former requires doing nothing.
But the latter requires change.
A change so monumental that one or two people could never achieve it—a change that deserves to be called a revolution.
The change he proposed was this:
“I strongly advocate for the establishment of a new government department to prepare for such disasters or acts of terror—a new department composed of personnel with extensive field experience as Hunters.”
The surging joy subsides.
The cheers die down.
And the approval rating for the man rises sharply.
The tide begins to shift dramatically because of him.
Watching this blankly from his hospital room, Kim Do-jin’s lips twisted.
It was because he had realized.
“…I was wondering what the hell they were after. So this was it.”
What they sought to gain through this terror attack.
What they wanted was a so-called clean sweep.
To brand those who disagreed with them as incompetent politicians, remove them, and fill those seats with people who shared their views.
And in doing so, they intended to devour this country, and eventually, the world.
I succeeded in stopping the terror attack, but I failed to prevent the enemy from achieving their goal.
In other words.
“…So I lost?”
In the grand scheme of things, this battle was his clear defeat.