Hour of Judgment (4)

Just as I was about to open my mouth and fire off a reply to the Constellations dumping messages on me in bulk, the sound of approaching footsteps reached my ears.

"Oh, Dokja-ssi! Jinwoo-ssi! Perfect timing."

Cheon Inho spotted us and smiled our way. He glanced at the people around him, then put on an arrogant little smile and continued in a loud voice.

"Come to think of it, Dokja-ssi, Jinwoo-ssi. You two seemed to have quite a lot of coins on you… How much was it again? I believe you were the richest among us, weren't you?"

The crowd that heard Cheon Inho's words scrambled to look our way.

"C-Coins?!"

"Who has a lot of coins?!"

It didn't take long for every gaze in the crowd to lock onto me and Kim Dokja.

Looking into those bloodshot eyes staring straight at the two of us, I felt a chill crawl down my spine.

Are those bastards trying to shake me down for my coins right now?!

I wanted nothing more than to pull out my gun that very second and put a round into Cheon Inho's crotch, but I forced the boiling rage back down by reminding myself of one of the famous scenes from Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint I was about to get to watch.

"D-Dokja-ssi, was it? P-Please save me! Please…!"

"J-Jinwoo-ssi! I'm begging you! Please, just a hundred coins! I don't want to die yet!!"

"Just a hundred coins…! Just give me a hundred coins!"

"I-I'll pay you back, I swear! So please, just a hundred coins!!"

People who'd fallen for Cheon Inho's instigation came gasping and desperate toward me and Kim Dokja, grabbing our arms and pant legs and pleading for just a hundred coins.

Roughly twenty people had crowded around the two of us. Even handing out a hundred coins each would mean a clean loss of two thousand. Split ten and ten between Kim Dokja and me, and we'd still be out a thousand.

"Haha, Dokja-ssi, Jinwoo-ssi. I don't have enough coins myself to help these poor people… but you two are different, aren't you? Are you just going to stand there and watch?"

At Cheon Inho's words, Kim Dokja gritted her teeth and glared at him. Then she turned her head, looked once at the people clinging to her arms and pant legs, and sighed.

"Save me!"

"P-Please save me!"

They came at us with the most wronged, pitiful faces in the world, crying and wailing.

Bihyung was chattering away like he was having the time of his life, while our companions stared at us with expressions that said they had no idea what to do.

Kim Dokja let out a short sigh, slowly closed her eyes, opened them again, and turned her head to look at me.

"Shall I handle this?"

"No…. I'll do it. If you do it, Jinwoo-ssi, things will only get bigger."

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"That's a shame. I could rule this situation better than anyone, like a proper tyrant…"

"…That's exactly why I'm saying I'll do it."

Hearing that, Kim Dokja heaved a deep sigh and looked around at the people.

"I see. You want coins?"

She spoke to them in a flat voice.

"But why should we?"

Looking down on them with contempt in her eyes and a cold sneer on her lips, Kim Dokja went on.

"Wow… Dokja-ssi's eyes, smile, and voice are incredible. You'd be a huge hit with people who love getting verbally destroyed."

"…This is an important moment, so please shut that mouth of yours, Jinwoo-ssi…"

She ground her teeth and glared at me fiercely. At some point she'd clenched a fist, and I could see the hand trembling. Judging that one more tease would earn me another punch, I clamped both hands over my mouth. Watching me, Kim Dokja let out a deep sigh.

"What do you mean, why?!"

"You said you have a lot of coins! Can't you spare a little?!"

Thanks to me cutting in, the people had missed their chance to get angry — and the second I covered my mouth, they turned their criticism on Kim Dokja instead.

In the middle of that chaos, Cheon Inho burst out laughing.

"Pu… Puhahahahat! I knew you'd say something like that if it was Dokja-ssi!"

"…………."

"Dokja-ssi and Jinwoo-ssi have been like that from the moment they first showed up here. Selling the food they brought for coins. Do you know how many people could still be alive right now if you hadn't made everyone pay coins for their food back then?"

"That's right! He's right!"

"You son of a…! Give me my coins back!"

"Fuck! Hand over the coins right now!"

Worked up even further by Cheon Inho's words, the crowd started cursing Kim Dokja. Strangely, though, nobody said a word to me.

"What the fuck? Am I just scenery? Hey, why aren't you saying anything to me? Discriminating against people?"

"Th-That's not… I-I don't know anything about this. Why are you suddenly doing this to me…"

When I grabbed the shoulder of the person right next to me and demanded to know why they weren't coming at me, they avoided my eyes with tears welling up and quietly protested. It was absurd.

"Everyone, wait! What you're doing right now is…!"

"Dokja-ssi and Jinwoo-ssi aren't that kind of people!"

The people immediately around me stayed silent, watching my reaction — but the ones by Kim Dokja kept tearing into her.

As the crowd around her continued to condemn her, Yoo Sangah and Lee Hyunsung belatedly tried to defuse the situation, but the people at Kim Dokja's side had already lost their reason. They ignored the two of them and kept raging at her.

"Dokja-ssi, Jinwoo-ssi. I'll give you one last chance. Return the coins to the people."

"And if we refuse?"

"…Then the worst will happen."

When Cheon Inho finished speaking, the twenty people in the crowd began stepping one by one toward Kim Dokja. Even if they were scared because I was holding a gun, the way they only went after her really pissed me off.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

"FREEZE——!!!"

At the gunshots ringing through the subway car and my voice, the crowd approaching Kim Dokja, the Mainstream Group people nearby, Cheon Inho, and even our companions all froze in place.

"I'll share the coins."

"R-Really?!"

"H-He's going to share the coins?!"

"But there's a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠condition."

Cheon Inho and Kim Dokja both looked startled at my offer. The twenty beggars without even a hundred coins started murmuring among themselves, looking at each other — then at my next words they stopped and all stared at me at once.

"There are about two guys I don't like right now. I'll point out one of those two. Whether you cripple him or subdue him, I don't care as long as he's alive — just drag him in front of me."

First three people to haul the designated target in front of me each get a hundred coins.

When I finished speaking, I quietly pointed my index finger at one of the Mainstream Group guys who'd been humiliating the women earlier. The moment I pointed, all twenty people in the crowd turned their heads as one and looked at that man.

"Wh-What the fuck…?"

With twenty people staring at him at once, the Mainstream Group man panicked and stumbled backward.

"If we just bring that bastard, we can live?!"

"Get that bastard!!"

All twenty of them started running to catch a single person.

"D-Don't come! You sons of bitches?!"

"I-It's not like I have a grudge or anything! I'm taking you so I can live too…!!"

"D-Don't resist! Come quietly, you fucking bastard!!"

"Guh…! S-Save me! Ch-Cheolsoo hyung-nim!!"

The Mainstream Group man swung the tool in his hand, threatening the crowd closing in on him.

But the crowd, already blinded by coins, kept coming despite the swinging tool — and when his resistance grew fierce, their patience ran out. They pulled tools from their pockets and swung ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠them right back.

The man screamed desperately, calling for Bang Cheolsoo. But Bang Cheolsoo squeezed his eyes shut and stayed silent at the voice of the man calling for him so desperately.

Eventually, beaten with tools until one arm and one leg were broken, the man was dragged in front of me.

"Th-That… th-the coins…?"

"Hmm? Ah, good work. Here."

To the man fretting over when he'd get his coins, I handed a hundred each to the first three people, just as I'd said. The ones who received them from me let out sighs of relief and broke into wide grins.

"U-Ugh…. Wh-Why me? Why me?!"

"Ah~ so you're curious about the reason, our friend?"

The Mainstream Group man with one arm and one leg broken looked up at me and screamed in a voice like a shriek, demanding to know why it had to be him.

Bang!

"Just because you're a piece of shit."

"G-Gueeeugh…!! K-Kehek!!"

I put a round into the Mainstream Group man's crotch. The man who'd lost his precious little buddy in an instant started foaming at the mouth, then his body shook and convulsed as if he were having a seizure.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Four more shots into the same spot, and the man who'd been trembling from the pain of losing his little buddy finally stopped moving.

"Oh? He died? Huh. But when I killed him, I got coins? What a strange thing. Right, Cheon Inho-ssi?"

At my words, Cheon Inho and the Mainstream Group people all flinched as one. Looking at their faces, they were staring at me in pure panic.

"Dokja-ssi. I can leave the rest to you, right?"

"Huu…. Leave it to me, Jinwoo-ssi."

"Ah, right. Gotta finish things properly."

"What? Jinwoo-ssi, what do you mean…"

Bang!

I lightly ignored Kim Dokja's question and put a round through the head of the other bastard who'd been humiliating the women earlier. The guy who'd taken a bullet to the skull collapsed limply backward.

"Trash cut."

With those last words, silence fell over the interior of Geumho Station.