Chapter 73
Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Punishment
[???]
[No, fuck, what the hell did I just see?]
[This is fake, right? Some fake documentary?]
After So Hee-ji's confession—not quite a confession—the press conference hadn't even ended before South Korea erupted into chaos.
Countless viewers tuning into the massive YouTubers and corporate streamers present at the venue witnessed the victims turned into dolls, and among them were the victims' own families.
[Isn't that my little sister? That scar on her shoulder—I pushed her when we were kids, and that's the mark it left! No one but her would have a scar like that!]
[Whoa? For real? No way, this is actually real!?]
Not just one or two, but family members of victims kept appearing one after another.
At first, some people were skeptical, but as they continued to show up, everyone started believing.
The internet exploded in an instant, boiling over hotter than hot.
[Heeji Trading's True Chairman Confesses to Murder at Press Conference.avi]
[Crazy Psycho Killer Bitch.jpg]
[Criminal Confesses to Own Murders Live on Air]
Thanks to repost farmers swarming like bees, the press conference footage spread across every community site, complete with screenshots and subtitles. Even those who hadn't watched it learned about it in no time.
[Is what I just saw real? Those people... the ones who vanished after acting so strangely?]
[This is truly horrific and repulsive.]
Those who didn't use communities heard it through public broadcasts.
[Heeji Trading Chairman Revealed as Serial Killer.]
[Experts Confirm: Dolls She Showed Are Definitely Corpses.]
[Fiendishly Evil Act Betrays All Humanity!]
If not that, then newspapers and magazines rushed out by headquarters right after the conference broke the news.
An incident no one in South Korea could ignore.
[Washington Post: Jason White's Disappearance Was Actually a Murder.]
[The Sun: Insane Doll Serial Killings in Korea.]
[Yomiuri Shimbun: Turning People into Dolls? 'Doll Maker' So Hee-ji Had Japanese Victims Too!]
No, the whole world found out.
Even in this era after Gates appeared, overrun by countless villains, this shock was no small thing.
One person—and someone who appeared to be running a company no less—had been a serial killer murdering this many people behind the scenes.
And not just killing them, but turning the corpses into grotesque dolls. It delivered one of the top three most shocking villain crimes in the last century.
[Serial Killer So Hee-ji: Were Her Statements True?]
But there was another reason for the shock.
[Her 'clients' she mentioned? Sounds like skill-based sex trafficking.]
[Upper Class Corruption? All Named Parties Refusing Interviews.]
Because the elites of South Korea had been named from her own mouth.
Their disgusting deeds exposed, and her statements linked them directly to her crimes.
And the speculation turned to truth the moment Millennium Guild Hunters—who arrived right after the conference ended—were met with strangely cooperative behavior from So Hee-ji.
"Yes. That's right. They were all my clients. They commissioned me to abduct targets and make dolls out of them."
Why had the Hunter group Millennium Guild stepped in instead of Heroes?
How had they just happened to pass by the venue, catch the live internet broadcast, invoke emergency disaster authority, and arrest her?
But no one complained about these actions.
Not even the Hero Association, which should have been aggressive in capturing villains.
Because...
"Start the search and seizure immediately!"
The Hero Association had long since been turned upside down by the government.
The current president, with keen political instincts, knew that letting this fester would direct the public's rage at him.
Not wanting to become only the second president in South Korean history impeached mid-term, he swiftly established an emergency arrest unit. He issued travel bans on everyone So Hee-ji named and launched search and seizures against them.
Naturally, that included the Hero Association vice-chairman, and the Association itself became a target, subjected to an exhaustive investigation that left no stone unturned.
"Found it! Dolls are here!"
And it wasn't just the Hero Association.
Searches of major corporate chairmen's private residences and companies themselves.
Ruling party politicians, famous celebrities, top police brass.
Not a single one was spared; searches began across the board, and anyone resisting was subdued without regard for injuries.
"Don't make me hurt you!"
"Let go! Do you know who I am?!"
"That's exactly why we're doing this! You trash bastard!"
Somehow, most of the emergency arrest unit's members were from Millennium Guild, but...
In any case, the president's efforts weren't in vain, and all of So Hee-ji's clients were arrested.
"Pray for Korea."
"Pray for the missing."
Fortunately, the incident wrapped up quickly, and by the time waves of global condolences rolled in...
Once So Hee-ji's clients hiding in the Hero Association were all dealt with, Millennium Guild handed her over from custody to the Association.
"Huh? Wh-what? What's going on? Why... why me!?"
Up until then cooperative, So Hee-ji went berserk the moment she was transferred to the Association.
Fortunately, all her dolls had been destroyed, leaving her no different from a powerless civilian with no skills. Her resistance crumbled futilely.
"We hereby sentence the defendant to death."
The judiciary, perhaps wary due to some of her clients, delivered a verdict at near-wartime speed—the fastest in South Korean history.
Of course, that didn't fully quell the public's anger...
"That company's the one, right? The psycho bitch's exec who commissioned dolls."
"Ugh, fuck, my food tastes like blood now. Boycott time!"
"Ruling party's fucked. No winning next year's election."
"Ha! Fuck, Taim Entertainment stock's in the toilet. Dogmama's hot and loaded—why the hell do that shit?"
It left massive ripples across society in various ways.
But one certain fact remained.
"We mourn the victims."
"Jason oppa, be happy there."
So Hee-ji herself and all criminals connected to her had been punished.
＊＊＊
'What the hell? Did I lose my mind or something?'
South Korea's most secure prison, where only the worst villains—those evil enough for death sentences—were held.
In the deepest solitary cell there, So Hee-ji squeezed her eyes shut.
'Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!'
Whether eyes open or closed, only darkness in the isolation cell.
Her body fully restrained, unable even to move, gagged to prevent suicide—she vented impotent rage.
'What the hell is this!!!'
She remembered everything she'd done since the press conference.
It had clearly been her own will, but after transfer to the Hero Association, she couldn't comprehend her actions at all.
'It felt just like... I was turned into a doll and controlled.'
Was there a skill that controlled people?
She racked her brains, replaying memories for suspicious figures.
'...There was one.'
Before the trial, a famous South Korean she knew.
A man who came with EX-Rank Hunter Choi Yu-ra.
She still remembered him patting her shoulder and saying, "You'll have a rough time ahead."
'No, that guy showed up after I was arrested?'
And there was no way that man had such a skill.
Did a skill like that even exist?
'Then what...'
Just then, nutrients injected through the IV tube connected to her veins.
Meals twice a day, morning and evening, directly into her bloodstream as nutrients. Morning included stimulants, evening sedatives.
This was dinner. Naturally, she drifted into sleep.
'What...'
That was when it happened.
The world brightened again.
[Every time you fall asleep, you forget reality and dream sweet happiness.]
"Huh?"
"Miss, are you awake?"
A soft bed.
The reality from moments ago felt like a dream, and the dream became reality.
"You're sweating cold. Are you unwell?"
"No. Must've had a nightmare. Can't quite remember what it was."
What a happy world.
The servants tending to her were all dolls made from people she'd killed.
Just as she'd dreamed, they moved on their own—not by skill—and served her loyally as living dolls.
"You look tired today. Give me a massage, everyone."
"Yes, miss."
The male dolls carefully undressed her and slowly massaged her entire body.
'Yes, this is happiness.'
Her happiness wasn't in fancy food.
Or lavish vacations.
It was being pampered by living dolls that moved independently without her control.
'But... is this even possible?'
Plunged in bliss, reality crashed in.
"Gasp!"
Her ragged breath caught behind the gag.
Eyes open, but only darkness greeted her again.
Back in reality, her breathing grew labored.
"Huff, huff!"
In dreams, she could forget reality.
Such blissful dreams she wanted to live in forever.
But upon waking, the dreams lingered vividly, contrasting her horrific reality and making her miserable.
'I want to sleep again! Let me sleep again!'
If she hadn't dreamed such happiness, it wouldn't hurt this much.
She could have adapted to reality, given up, awaited execution.
But every sleep brought indistinguishable-from-reality happy dreams, delivering her daily doses of hope-named despair.
'Please... let me sleep again...'
She wanted to sleep, but stimulants coursing through her veins forbade it.
Just like this, in the dark, regretting her deeds over and over.
Reliving happy dreams like a cow chewing cud, despairing endlessly.
'Please!!!'
That was all So Hee-ji—who had abducted and horrifically murdered people—could do.
'Or... stop the dreams altogether...'
Death row inmates aren't told their execution date.
It's tradition, to make them tremble in uncertainty. She was no different.
So, So Hee-ji wept and waited, and waited.
"Hic..."
Only for the day death would free her from this hell.