War on Crime (5)

In truth, Jo Jihak and his executives didn't have many options left.

Surrender?

That meant execution, one hundred percent. The crimes they'd piled up over the years were practically those of an anti-state organization.

Flee, then?

That didn't look easy either. Judging by everything Baek Jinwoo had done so far, his intelligence-gathering capabilities seemed to exceed the state's own.

Which left only one answer!

"All of you, hit him at once!"

Jo Jihak deployed his summons without a moment's delay.

Baek Jinwoo, I know you're strong.

But. Charging in alone against his gang's executives? That wouldn't turn out to be such a brilliant choice either.

"Get him!"

"Die!"

In an instant, countless summons encircled Baek Jinwoo. True to gang form, every last one of them was a summon built for player-versus-player combat.

Baek Jinwoo's side wasn't about to sit still either.

Shring! Hungyo's sword cleared its sheath. Whum! Doldori's scythe rose.

And then—

The speed at which those weapons had come out was absurd. Not merely fast — uncanny. Wrong, somehow.

What was that?

How is it that fast?

I couldn't even see it.

It was as if the two of them existed in some different spacetime. Which, in a manner of speaking, they did — Ramba had spent over two hours stacking her buffs on each of them.

Shunk!

The grim reaper's scythe bit clean through one summon's skull.

"……!"

The instant a few executives' eyes went saucer-wide—

Whirrr!

The scythe swept a full circle.

SPLURT!

The entire space filled with blood and shorn flesh.

I-Is he insane?

What is with that speed?

With that single strike, the HP of the thirty-odd summons bunched up to charge caved in, hard.

Right. Enduring one hit like that wasn't difficult — Doldori wasn't even wearing his graduation runes, just ordinary high-grade ones.

That wasn't the problem.

Thwack! Whirrrrrrrrr!

The rhythm of stab-and-spin was monstrous. Most of the summons couldn't react at all, and the afterimages came so thick and fast it looked as if eight or more Doldoris were on the field at once.

It was over in a flash. The time it took for more than ninety percent of the attacking summons to be reverse-summoned: a mere twenty seconds.

"This doesn't make any sense."

Jo Jihak, watching it all unfold, muttered without meaning to. Here was a man who had never once called the World League impossible, never once said it of the world rankers. But watching Baek Jinwoo's summons...

This truly made no sense.

"……It's just absurd."

The world was unfair. Search the entire globe and where else would you find summons like those? Even the famous Rachel would shake her head at the sight.

"If I'd known a monster like that was going to pop up, I never would've run a gang."

He'd have just enjoyed his comforts and lived out his days quietly.

Whoosh!

While Doldori whirled his scythe, Hungyo was hardly idle either. If anything, he went hunting — seeking out enemy summons one by one and clearing them away.

Swish, shk! Shk!

Weaving through the space, slipping past attacks, finding vital points and severing them — his movements looked for all the world like a dance.

The gang's executives. The gang's finest. Being cleaned up by the footwork of just two summons. And in a matter of minutes, no less.

Most of their shields had already shattered, and the Fire Dragon Mage's firepower meant they couldn't even run.

As if that weren't enough—

Snap!

Whenever Hungyo spotted a player whose shield had dropped, he gave a light flick of his finger and pressed their pressure points. Five minutes' worth of tendon-severing, bone-wrenching discipline. He made them pay the price for daring to defy his lord's word and raise a hand against him.

"K-Kuaaaaargh!"

"Kkeheeeeaargh!"

One by one, they crumpled to the floor, then rolled about kicking up dust.

"Ha."

Jo Jihak let out a short breath. There was nothing anyone could do against an oncoming natural disaster. All that remained was to wait for one's turn.

"Fuck."

Fwoooosh!

The flames of the Flame Grand General scorching the perimeter of the abandoned building felt hotter than ever.

Ten minutes after Baek Jinwoo's arrival, HQ personnel, the police, and Assemblyman Park Chang-seok all reached the abandoned building.

The situation had already been wrapped up. The gang members lay bound tight with the tape Ramba had thoughtfully fetched, drooling and shivering.

Baek Jinwoo handed them over to Park Chang-seok.

"Truly... 'insane' is the only word for it."

Assemblyman Park Chang-seok was in awe. Jo Jihak, who had evaded capture despite three years of concerted effort, had been taken in less than a week.

And that wasn't all. Even the gang members hiding across the country had been forcibly uprooted, like tearing the roots out of an old tree. By a single player, no less.

"I'll leave the cleanup to you, sir."

"Of course!"

Park Chang-seok clasped Baek Jinwoo's hand in both of his. This man was now, in name and in fact, the nation's greatest talent — a supreme hero who deserved to be designated National Intangible Heritage No. 1 and showered with every support the state could muster!

"Thank you."

Park Chang-seok was an assemblyman. An assemblyman elected by the people's votes — and so, on their behalf, he conveyed the nation's gratitude.

"Thanks to you, South Korea is that much healthier."

Today, the very byword for crime in Korea — the gangs — had been swept away.

The people breathed easy again.

With the gangs caught and HQ declaring the total eradication of crime, everyone was giving a thumbs-up. Even the timid souls who had barely dared leave their homes began eating out again, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and shopping too. The ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠domestic economy had started turning over at full tilt!

"Heh heh heh."

The Player HQ conference room. The Director's smile simply would not leave his face. With Baek Jinwoo soaring ever higher, the public had even started tossing the HQ an occasional word of praise.

"Heh heh heh heh."

The Director broke into a goofy grin, forgetting his age and every ounce of decorum. The mood in the conference room was excellent.

"Director, what did I tell you?" Park Chang-seok said. "Didn't I say that backing Player Baek Jinwoo alone would get us halfway there?"

"Hahahaha! Halfway? At this rate we'll fly clean past halfway and out into that universe of his!"

"That reminds me, sir."

"Hmm?"

"Shouldn't we be paying him a reward?"

Baek Jinwoo had perfectly cured the Republic of Korea of the sickness the gangs had infected it with. And when you receive treatment? Naturally, you pay the medical bill!

"A reward! Of course! We absolutely must!"

The money HQ had been pouring into fighting the gangs was considerable. Baek Jinwoo had slashed that expense, which made for ample justification. Park Chang-seok had put his finger right on it — and besides, the public mood these days was such that withholding a reward would have sparked a backlash.

"How much should we give?"

"Why even ask? Pull every won left in this year's HQ budget and spend it on him."

"……The entire budget?"

The Director's expression said that might be going a touch far. An organization needed money to keep the lights on, after all. He couldn't help but react sensitively.

"Player Baek Jinwoo is already single-handedly doing everything HQ exists to do. How about we set aside only the minimum needed to keep running and channel the rest into supporting him? HQ regulations make direct cash payments difficult, so it would take the form of procuring runes and items on his behalf."

"Hmm... really? Then let's do exactly that."

"A decisive call, sir. I'll consult with Yubaek's CEO and resubmit the paperwork."

Park Chang-seok held a five percent stake in Yubaek. Not in hand yet, naturally — shares he would receive upon eventually leaving HQ. Bound fast by a system contract with Yoo Jia, it was a rock-solid stake with no room for second thoughts!

And Baek Jinwoo was a Yubaek asset. Support Baek Jinwoo with a trillion won, and fifty billion of it landed in Park Chang-seok's own pocket! From here on out, he intended to leverage HQ to its fullest and grow Baek Jinwoo's value.

"Jia-ssi."

With everything settled, Baek Jinwoo returned to headquarters and found Yoo Jia.

"Oh, Jinwoo-ssi. There you are." She looked up from the documents she was sorting and greeted him warmly.

Yoo Jia had been swamped lately. With Baek Jinwoo constantly making the news and lighting up the community boards... she was busy building a management team and a rapid-response team to handle it all.

"Yes. There's something I'd like to say."

"What is it?"

"You did well, but from now on, when it's a real crisis, don't hesitate to use it. Desperate Call."

Baek Jinwoo had pieced together the whole situation. And he understood why Yoo Jia hadn't called him at the moment of utmost urgency, too — for Ahyeon's sake. To spare the girl the confusion of feeling Desperate Call tug at her from both sides at once. Her reasoning was admirable. It was also unnecessary.

"Hungyo has grown stronger. He can answer a call from both sides now... so if anything feels even slightly off, use it right away."

In a situation like last time's? He could have gone to Ahyeon first and released Hungyo there, then crossed over to Yoo Jia's side and unleashed Doldori. It would have ended far faster, and far more safely. Baek Jinwoo wanted her to know that.

"Understood. Thank you for telling me."

"I'm the one who's thankful. Ah, and... those rankers from the other ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠day?"

In the moment, his fury at the gang had been such that he'd shoved everything else aside and thrown himself into crushing them. In the process, quite a lot had simply been left unaddressed. Especially the four rankers — Hong Ari, Oh Seon-young, Ki Jaehyeok, Kang Jiho. Without them, it could have been a genuine catastrophe. Yoo Jia, or his parents, might have been kidnapped. He couldn't just let that slide.

"Ah! Them!" Yoo Jia clapped her hands. "As it happens, they came that day to meet you, Jinwoo-ssi."

"Me?"

"Yes. From what I hear, they still want to see you — but you have been rather busy lately, haven't you?"

"……Well. I have, yeah."

"So I lent them a few apartments in the building. Somewhere to rest while they waited."

In truth, this was a stroke of Yoo Jia's own cunning. With Baek Jinwoo forever roaming beyond HQ, she had put the rankers up in apartments to keep a standing force of them stationed close at hand.

"I'd wager they're still waiting right now?"

"They are?"

What could this be about? Guess I'd better go see for myself.

He had the contact information of everyone selected for the national team on file. Baek Jinwoo came to the training ground and called the four of them, and they came running the moment the message landed.

"Hyung-niiiiim!"

"We heard the news! As expected of you, hyung-nim!"

Ki Jaehyeok and Kang Jiho, though they'd known him barely any time at all, had all but become his kid brothers, treating him with the easy warmth of sworn brothers.

"……Hm. Well. It was pretty cool, I guess."

"……."

Hong Ari and Oh Seon-young hung back a step, ears all but perked.

"First of all, I'd like to thank all four of you."

Baek Jinwoo bowed his head first.

"No, hyung-nim!"

"There's no need for that! Bowing to your juniors!"

The two high schoolers practically bounced in place, and Hong Ari waved her hands, flustered and at a loss. Oh Seon-young, especially—

"Fighting crime when you see it is simply what one ought to do. I have no wish to be thanked for doing what is only natural."

She stepped forward and lifted his bowed head back up with her own hands. Then she traded looks with Hong Ari, Ki Jaehyeok, and ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Kang Jiho. Gazes flew hotly back and forth between the four of them.

In the end, Ki Jaehyeok stepped forward first.

"Hyung-nim!"

Eyes squeezed tightly shut, he blurted it out.

"If you're truly that grateful! Then take us on as your disciples! We beg you!"