The Captives Are Too Strong #2
The basement that had once felt rather spacious now felt cramped in every way with three people inside it. The real problem was that the two women wouldn’t stop bickering at the top of their lungs.
“This water is mine alone. Starve, Yu Yeoleum.”
Seo Gaeul tilted the PET bottle and drank with loud, satisfied gulps right in front of Yu Yeoleum. The scene looked like it belonged in a commercial. Her slender, pale neck really did resemble a swan’s. Of course, her personality was far closer to a vicious fox than any elegant bird.
Ever since Yu Yeoleum’s kidnapping, Seo Gaeul had been oddly giddy. After all, she was the one who had commissioned me to abduct her in the first place, so she made no effort to hide her delight. Come to think of it, hadn’t Seo Gaeul herself ended up kidnapped because she had requested it from me? A sudden suspicion struck me: maybe she had a sexual fetish for the thrill of commissioning kidnappings.
It was possible. There were plenty of middle-aged men who enjoyed being whipped. A kidnapping-request fetish was practically mainstream by comparison.
Anyway. Seo Gaeul was absolutely thrilled at the sight of Yu Yeoleum’s misery. She kept stealing the water meant for her or devouring every bite of the meals prepared for her. A completely wicked little brat.
“And you stink!”
Well, of course she did. Yu Yeoleum hadn’t been able to wash for days since being locked up down here. No windows meant no ventilation either. Yu Yeoleum scowled fiercely, clearly humiliated.
“You… enjoy this?”
“It’s hilarious. I was the only one snatched by some pervert and trapped down here suffering alone. The injustice of it all was driving me insane. But now I have a comrade, so I’m overjoyed.”
Ever since I captured her, Yu Yeoleum had been pure low-pressure. Like a wounded beast constantly growling under her breath. That simmering rage of hers had now shifted its target from Seo Gaeul to me.
“Ha Namjin. Undo these. Why the hell are you doing this? I thought you were a kind, decent person. So everything up until now was all a lie!”
It really was a shocking twist. I, Ha Namjin—handsome enough to eclipse Jeong Uiseon, the class president of 3-D, smart, great with people, and even pleasantly scented—was actually a notorious kidnapper. If my true identity ever got out, the fallout would be on a completely different scale from when the class president was revealed as the ‘Judge.’ People would be so stunned and heartbroken they might break into group breakdance routines and no one would bat an eye.
“So, Yeoleum, you starved again today?”
I had made her ketchup ramen earlier. The bowl was empty, but it looked like Seo Gaeul had devoured it rather than Yu Yeoleum. She seemed to take genuine pleasure in stealing and eating every last bit of her captive’s share.
“I told you. I can’t eat food.”
Yu Yeoleum’s frown deepened. Just as she said, she genuinely struggled with solid food. Chewing and swallowing anything substantial seemed almost impossible for her.
“Trauma? Some kind of food-related trauma?”
“I’m not telling a criminal like you.”
The heart that had once opened toward me as easily as a clam had now become an iron fortress. Still, it was clear she had some deep reason for refusing food. Liquids seemed to be her limit. Normally her Photosynthesis concept let her absorb nutrients from light, so there had been no issue. But ever since being locked in this sunless basement, she hadn’t seen a single ray. Completely discharged.
Which meant Yu Yeoleum had effectively been starving for days. It wouldn’t have been strange for her to collapse or start groaning, yet her Awakened constitution remained stubbornly vigorous.
“Yeoleum, you’re not secretly sneaking food behind my back, are you? Or do you store extra nutrients somewhere in your body?”
“Where would I store it? In those fat sacks on her chest, obviously!”
Seo Gaeul cackled. Yu Yeoleum’s face twisted in fury. She spun around and flopped onto her mattress, clearly done talking to me.
# # #
In a dark briefing room somewhere.
The expression of Kim Jang-dong, section chief of the Superhuman Management Agency, was unusually heavy and rigid. The man receiving his report was simply that important.
Han Seung-gwan, Director of the Superhuman Management Agency.
Everyone knew he headed the newly created ministerial-level department, served as a key power broker in the current administration, and had been the primary architect behind both the constitutional amendment and the president’s re-election. His nickname was “Little President.”
These days, Han Seung-gwan’s face looked as gloomy and depressed as the rainy season itself.
“Chief Kim, have there been any new developments regarding the disappearance of Miss Seo Gaeul and Miss Yu Yeoleum? If you’re just here to apologize again, you can turn around and leave right now.”
“……”
“Chief Kim! This is an unprecedented crisis! The daughter of the opposition leader and the daughter of the ruling party’s biggest sponsor have vanished! This has never happened in the entire history of South Korea! Consider every single possibility!”
Bang! Bang! Bang! Han Seung-gwan slammed the table, but the corners of his mouth secretly curled with satisfaction. None of this was bad for him.
The Seonam Group, a major ruling-party sponsor, had grown far too powerful over the last decade to control. They had split the group and cultivated the affiliate “Emperor” precisely to prevent the dog they raised from biting its owner’s throat, but even that hadn’t been enough to stop Seonam from turning into a megacorp.
Yet ever since Seo Gaeul’s disappearance, every single one of their projects had ground to a halt. The private security team they’d been building around her was now floating in limbo.
If that security team had been completed, our necks would have been on the chopping block.
Han Seung-gwan had learned through bitter experience with the Villains just how terrifying a group of elite Awakened could be. If a corporation possessed such power, their influence inside the country would become unstoppable.
Yu Yeoleum’s disappearance was also perfectly timed.
Opposition leader Yu Dogwan opposed the current regime at every turn. On top of that, his adopted daughter “Yu Yeoleum” was hailed as the “Invincible” prodigy among Awakened. The fact that the opposition leader held an asymmetric force capable of striking national facilities and key positions single-handedly had been a massive threat.
That threat, too, had been neutralized by her disappearance.
Everything is working out too perfectly. Could someone on our side have given direct orders? It’s strange how every single development benefits only us.
Director Han Seung-gwan removed his glasses and pressed his tired eyes hard between his thumb and index finger. His conclusion, as always, was purely formal.
“Chief Kim. Continue the investigation as before. Contact me immediately if any new information emerges. You may call my personal line anytime except in the morning.”
“Understood.”
“Ah, and that student you’ve been watching. What was his name again? The boy from the N-Mart victim’s family who’s been struggling. Singer-like name.”
“Ha Namjin?”
“Yes, Ha Namjin. He’s been making quite the stir lately, hasn’t he? Defeating both Yeomra and Pinocchio. Thanks to him, the prestige of the Youngsa High School we worked so hard to establish has risen as well. How about entrusting this matter to him?”
“…Entrusting him with what, exactly?”
“Good grief, how can someone be this slow on the uptake! No wonder you’re still just a chief!”
“My apologies…. So what exactly would you have Namjin do?”
“Finding the missing students, of course! Doesn’t it paint a beautiful picture? Schoolmates connected by friendship and love. It would make for excellent drama. Hiya, it’s perfect. Proceed exactly as I described.”
“Ah…”
“I heard he even captured the prosecutor general’s son and threw him in prison? Hiya, that kid’s the real deal. The real deal. When he graduates we should recruit him immediately. Should we invite him here outright?”
“However, Director… that friend Namjin is a specially managed individual. Bringing him here might prove difficult for security reasons…”
“Specially managed? Why? Are his parents communists? Is he a North Korean spy? What possible security issue could there be?”
“If you could lean in for a moment…”
Whisper, whisper.
At Chief Kim’s quiet words, Han Seung-gwan’s face crumpled completely, as though he had heard something he should never have been told.
“……Besides you, who else knows about this matter?”
“Now that I’ve informed you, Director, there are three.”
“Speak of this to no one else. Regarding that student… maintain the current approach. Exactly as it is.”
Bow.
As Chief Kim withdrew, Han Seung-gwan wiped the cold sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief. It felt as if all the blood in his body had turned to ice. Like a sharp blade was already pressed against his throat.
He opened a drawer, pulled out a document hidden deep inside, and dropped it into the trash bin.
Whoosh.
The lighter flared. The document began to burn.
Many letters were swallowed by the red flames and vanished.
“So fate really does exist.”
# # #
“Ha Namjin, congratulations. You will never die a peaceful death. You kidnapped two daughters of powerful figures. They’ll stuff you in a drum barrel without anyone noticing and turn you into a concrete cake.”
Evening. Seo Gaeul mocked me with everything she had. She said I was going to die. How hilarious.
“Gaeul, no flower stays red for ten days.”
In a world that would collapse in a year anyway, what did it matter if someone was a chairman’s daughter or a lawmaker’s daughter? All of it was meaningless. The only thing that truly mattered was that my ketchup tube was rechargeable, meaning I could enjoy virtually infinite ketchup. That was real power.
Seo Gaeul, knowing none of this, simply shook her head and insisted.
“There might be flowers that stay red for a thousand or ten thousand years. Look at President Nam Taegeon. After amending the constitution for re-election, he’s clearly planning to make the presidency hereditary.”
“Hereditary presidency?”
Yu Yeoleum, who had done nothing but grumble irritably for days, suddenly showed interest in the conversation. A hereditary presidency was, admittedly, a fucking ridiculous concept. Was this North Korea?
With that atmosphere lingering, the night grew pitch black.
Shaaaaaaa—
Rain began to fall, and even the moonlight was hidden behind thick clouds. I decided the opportunity had arrived.
“Then Yeoleum, let’s go take a bath.”
“What? Fuck, what did you just say?”
Surprisingly, Seo Gaeul protested even more fiercely than Yu Yeoleum.
“You said she smelled! Since the moonlight isn’t out, I’m thinking of giving her a proper shower and changing her clothes. I plan to wash her every night if possible.”
“Hey! Since when is that a thing?! You never did that for me! You son of a bitch! Hey! You discriminatory bastard! If you’re doing it then take me too!”
Seo Gaeul thrashed about like a fox caught in a trap. Even her tantrum was strangely adorable.
“Gaeul, you have the Lady concept. Thanks to that you don’t need to bathe or use the bathroom, right? But Yeoleum doesn’t have any such convenient concept, so it can’t be helped.”
“Then give it to her! Give the concept you have to Yu Yeoleum!”
Give Lady to Yu Yeoleum? Now that was interesting.
“Then what will you do afterward?”
“I can just awaken a new concept, can’t I? Something like ‘Angel’ or ‘Celestial Maiden’ this time. Anyway! I’ll give my concept to Yu Yeoleum, so don’t wash her!”
It wasn’t that she wanted to be washed because it was unfair—rather, since she couldn’t wash, she was trying to stop Yu Yeoleum from washing too. A perfect lose-lose situation. Just like crabs in a basket: the moment one tries to climb out, another grabs its leg and drags it back down.
Still… if Seo Gaeul transferred her concept to Yu Yeoleum, then awakened an even stronger one to fill the gap, and this process repeated—wouldn’t she end up training herself into an even more powerful person?
“You can give away concepts?”
Yu Yeoleum’s eyes narrowed. Come to think of it, the fact that Seo Gaeul could transfer concepts had been a secret between the two of us. Now Yu Yeoleum knew it too.
“I can’t give them to just anyone. I have to know the person well. Well enough to trust them completely. Therefore, Yu Yeoleum, you’re disqualified.”
Disqualified? So Yu Yeoleum wouldn’t be receiving the Lady concept after all. Which meant we really did have to go up to the surface once a day for bathing.
“Yeoleum, let’s go.”
“……”
“Yaaaaaaaak! Ha Namjin, you crazy bastard!”
Leaving the thrashing Seo Gaeul behind, I took Yu Yeoleum up to the surface. I had been slightly worried that Super Girl Yu Yeoleum might break her handcuffs and make a run for it, but the poor girl who hadn’t seen sunlight or eaten proper food was completely drained. She didn’t have the strength.
For reference, the handcuffs had been a gift from the Jjampong Lady. Since I kept running into Level 3 wanted criminals, she said I should keep them for the next time.
━Ing-ing-ya-ing.
When we entered the house, Ing-ing was sitting in the living room. Yu Yeoleum flinched.
“……”
Ziiiiing—
Her eyes flashed red the moment she saw Ing-ing, but the light faded quickly.
“Yu Yeoleum, he’s a good monster, okay? Don’t bully him.”
“There’s no such thing as a good monster. Kidnapping people wasn’t enough—you’re secretly raising monsters too. Weirdo Ha Namjin, you really are a terrible person. You’re more vicious than the Villains terrorists.”
She used to call me “Jin-ah” like a nickname. Now it was “Weirdo Ha Namjin.” I had clearly earned her thorough hatred.
Well, since I was already hated, I might as well fully embrace the role of the villain.
“Then Yeoleum, go into the bathroom and take off your clothes. I’ll wash you myself.”
“……!!!!”