Day 2 in America: The Line Between Man and Beast
Cha Minhyuk boarded a vehicle early in the morning and left the hotel.
His destination was an inspection of Koreatown.
Only two aides accompanied him.
The official schedule as a representative of South Korea had ended the day before, and too large a group would draw unnecessary attention.
"Team Leader, we're approaching the destination."
A large sign came into view outside the window.
Annandale Koreatown
It was the worst area for public safety among the Koreatowns on the outskirts of Washington.
He had chosen this place on purpose.
Because if you check the worst, everything else is at least better than that.
Vroooom—
The Korean signs popping up everywhere felt welcoming.
Was it because of gang activity?
There weren't many pedestrians.
—Surprisingly, all the shops are open for business normally, but the atmosphere is really heavy, Your Holiness.
—Master! Look at the rooftop of that building! People with weapons! Ah! Over there on the sidewalk too!
Some were pulling out tower gear.
Others were standing guard with guns.
They were obviously Korean.
After Korea took first place in the world.
Racial hate crimes had intensified dramatically.
This must be their self-defense force.
Cha Minhyuk said,
"Considering Director Gail's personality, he's probably deliberately letting the hate crimes slide. It makes it easier to rally votes for Killdragon by dividing people into sides."
It was close to a given fact.
America was indeed going all out to promote Killdragon.
Endless praise articles pouring in day after day.
And wasn't it said that true heroes are born when a massive external enemy appears?
Currently in America.
Killdragon was showing overwhelming support that transcended race and religion.
Considering its identity as a prime multicultural nation, it was miraculous.
About 300 million American votes.
They would surely flock to Killdragon.
China and Japan's votes would join the same alliance, securing a significant number.
And then.
Until next event: 11 hours 58 seconds
—It's really not long now!
—I'm so excited and nervous, Your Holiness.
Tension? Not really.
If anything, anticipation was building.
Not just because he knew the event details in advance, but for a bigger reason.
Namely.
Thanks to the classified documents Carmina had gathered while scouting the US Management Agency yesterday.
—Vault free pass! Slip through the shadows into the cracks, easy peasy!
Good grief, well done. Who's such a perfect ally?
3 Top-Grade Mana Stones
—Ah! Lady Yulia! Bullets reloaded! Charge! Smash 'em!
—Hehe, Your Holiness, wouldn't giving them straight to me have the same result?
She always ends up smashing herself in the process.
At this point, he didn't even think to stop her anymore.
Anyway.
These were solid evidence that Killdragon was a hero meticulously manufactured according to plan.
Originally, he was a die-hard white supremacist.
A case recruited by the Management Agency, who erased his past and gave him a new life.
Not a complete erasure, though.
The US Management Agency had preserved these past records for blackmail purposes.
All sorts of hate speech and massacre videos.
Too vile to describe in words or even watch with eyes open.
Truly an extreme case.
He even ranked whites.
His hatred targeted all races except his own group of European-descended whites.
—It's too much...! It turns my stomach...!
—So even Earth has demons?
On the flip side, it was good news for him.
—So wicked today too!
—Looks like I had a demon right beside me?
What was he going to do?
Obviously decided.
Recent records showed he was still hiding it tightly, but his ideology hadn't changed.
He planned to help him shed that suffocating mask for good.
How could he not look forward to it?
The event start?
—Master! But what's this 'Temporary King' keyword in the American stuff mean?
—Promotion from Your Holiness to Pope His Majesty?
At the end of this round, one random nation in the 1st place alliance will be selected as Earth's ──nation.
—And probably.
The voting event is a 'trial' king.
The round-end reward is the 'official' king.
Something like that?
While exchanging opinions with his allies.
Screech. Thud!
Finishing the street patrol, Cha Minhyuk got out of the vehicle and met the residents directly.
"Ch-Cha Minhyuk? The one from TV? The Management Agency hero?"
"Oh my god...! What's going on...!"
"H-Have you ever actually seen the Hitchhiker?"
Maybe because it was a faraway foreign land.
The residents' reactions were extremely enthusiastic.
Legally a US citizen, sure.
But system-wise, they still retained Korea as their nation.
"I'm so touched! Korea in 1st place!"
"Aigoo! You're way handsomer in person than on TV!"
"Tell this to the Hitchhiker for me!"
The shop owners showered him with all sorts of gifts.
Cha Minhyuk carefully loaded them into the trunk one by one and broached the subject delicately.
"Everyone, are there any problems with your daily lives?"
A question loaded with many implications.
The residents answered nonchalantly.
"Problems? Not completely none. Gunshots echo around when they're bored. Haha."
"Some folks sincerely congratulate Korea's 1st place, but plenty harbor grudges and try to mess with us. Aigoo, so annoying."
Cha Minhyuk glanced around.
Shattered glass windows. Toppled poles.
Bullet marks embedded in walls, and more.
Clear signs they were targets of hate crimes.
He steadied his breath and said,
"Under current circumstances, immediate support is limited. However, if desired, we can aggressively push for a repatriation program to the homeland—"
The residents stared at each other.
Then burst into laughter.
"Repatriation? That'd make us look like we're running away. Don't worry. We're doing fine!"
"We've got a decent number of A-rank Awakeners too. Especially thanks to the achievements Hitchhiker racked up breaking towers—our stats are stacked."
A completely unexpected response.
—The spirit of Imjin Why Retreat!
—Even here, His Majesty's glory...!
He meant unyielding in battle, right?
Anyway, it seemed he could worry a bit less than anticipated.
Continuing the inspection, they boarded the vehicle to head to the next Koreatown.
Vroooooom—!
The desolate highway stretched ahead.
How long had they driven?
"Team Leader, suspicious vehicles are tailing us. Glimpses of guns inside suggest local gangsters."
「Those bikes up ahead. From the auras, all S-rank Awakeners! Levels at least 50+! 」
Cha Minhyuk couldn't see the bikes.
Probably wrapped in stealth skills.
But his proxy's senses wouldn't be wrong, and grasping the situation was easy.
"Hah."
Director Gail.
Is this your conclusion?
People really don't change, huh?
His heart sank. Even if harsh reality's politics couldn't be elegant.
「I'm truly sorry. No excuse—my oversight. I should have anticipated Director Gail's extremes and secured the route...」
Cha Minhyuk bit his lip.
But inwardly, he thought the opposite.
No, it's fine. Really.
The intel haul from the US Management Agency yesterday had been a tad disappointing.
And now they were delivering more themselves.
Plus.
—Master! Preemptive strike! Preemptive! They struck first, right?!
His kid loved it.
Though, that aside.
Separate from the promising gains, a hollow laugh escaped.
Gail Crafton.
—Dug into his past, and it's flashy and noisy, Your Holiness?
Suspected silent assassinations.
Stock manipulation allegations.
Illegal tax evasion suspicions.
—He must be confident he can cover this up too. Arrogant challenge to Your Holiness's divine authority—if he were before me, I'd smash his skull with a hammer right now. Ahh, just imagining it thrills me...!
Don't say that in such a reverent tone.
Anyway.
Can't find Korea's Hitchhiker, so carve out other key figures first, huh?
Probably succeeded so far.
But this time, they picked the wrong opponent—way wrong.
—Master who buys chicken well!
—Omniscient Pope His Majesty.
—Warm human who plays fetch!
—Preemptive! Death strike! Tiger bread! Fish bread!
—Preemptive! Kill! Ho-bread! Bungeo-ppang!
Somehow the orders got relayed.
Cha Minhyuk's face lit up.
"Understood!"
America was offering gifts.
Any reason to refuse?
Plans on how to milk this opportunity started forming rapidly.
*
Albert Rothart.
Boss of the region's No. 1 gang.
"Kuh hah hah."
He was in an extremely good mood.
Because once this job was done, a retirement-level fortune would be his.
Last night, he got the commission.
「Make the man in the photo 'disappear.' We'll provide the target's route.」
He peered at the photo.
A man in his 40s, East Asian.
Anyone with even slight interest in tower competitions would recognize him.
「This is that Korean Management Agency guy, Cha, Cha...?」
「Cha Minhyuk.」
「Right, Cha Minhyuk! Are you insane? Asking me to touch something this dangerous?」
The mysterious client silently placed briefcases on the table.
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
They piled up endlessly.
Instinct warned him.
Way more dangerous than imagined.
「Who the hell are you...?」
「Double the pay on success.」
He couldn't refuse.
Worth betting his life on.
This gangster life was all for the money anyway, right?
Like the recent project he was pushing.
Razing Annandale Koreatown.
Funded by anonymous politicians and businessmen.
Redevelopment, speculation, ideology.
Complicated interests tangled up.
He didn't care much.
As long as the money was solid.
But separately, he really didn't like Koreatown.
"These guys who flew in from a tiny land, freeloading, now strutting because their country hit 1st. Tsk."
"Exactly. Makes you grimace."
They had backers, sure.
He tried to bulldoze them, but it wasn't easy.
Because Annandale residents were buffed to max national bonuses.
Thanks to Hitchhiker's tower-smashing achievement chain.
Crunch.
And today, of all days?
The target Cha Minhyuk visits, and they get all emotional, hugging it out.
"So fake, aren't they?"
"Right. All for show. Put a knife to their throat, and they'll sell out country and all—that's the Eastern way."
Right then.
"Boss, target changed course! Heading toward the abandoned warehouse off the road!"
Albert smirked.
"Trying to resist somehow, but no chance. Tail them!"
Digging their own grave.
All the better for us.
Cha Minhyuk's sedan vanished deep into the warehouse's darkness.
Screech! Screeech!
Gang vehicles stopped in front.
Gangs disembarked quickly, scouted around, and reported back.
"Boss, no other exits besides this entrance."
"Hidden from main road view. Safe to proceed."
Dozens armed up and melted into the warehouse darkness.
And shortly after.
─────.
Space near the warehouse rippled.
Ten bikes materialized.
Riders in helmets and tights dismounted, signaling each other.
「Burn the warehouse.」
「Wipe out the gang. Spare only Cha Minhyuk for intel agency transfer.」
「Frame as local gang hired by far-right group. Final cover-up.」
「Support vehicles waiting outskirts. Plant evidence. Road secured.」
「If possible, test new weapon and collect data.」
US intel agency's S-rank agents.
They donned see-through goggles, reactivated stealth for wait time.
And then.
────.
They stealthily stepped inside.
Two waited near entrance for escape attempt.
The other eight spread wide to block variables.
Vision pitch black.
Only faint light from upper small windows besides entrance.
Seethrough ON.
Gangs with lit lighters surrounded the sedan stopped in the center.
"Not in the car?"
"Scared and ran? Still trapped in here."
Mockery and sneers.
Typical of those certain of victory.
But sensing something off, agents whipped around.
Where? No proper cover nearby?
Cha Minhyuk and two aides.
Just physical enhancement Awakeners.
No variables possible, yet inexplicable unease rose.
Right then.
Screeeeech!
Eerie sound, incoming light rapidly dwindled.
They jerked back.
Cha Minhyuk slowly closing the door.
Two comrades, stealth broken, collapsed motionless before him.
Screeeeech—!
"Do you all know the key difference between humans and beasts?"
Korean, incomprehensible.
But the chill transmitted fully.
"It's courtesy. Courtesy between human and human. Of course, in this cutthroat competitive society, you can't uphold it every moment, but there's a bare minimum line."
Incomprehensible situation.
Irresistible dread.
"Cross that line, and you become a beast."
Knew he should charge, but body wouldn't move.
"Beasts who abandon humanity."
Screech! Clang!
Shrinking light vanished.
"Can only be put down."
Gang and intel agents.
The last sight they etched: their own shadows writhing grotesquely at their feet.
Whirrr!
──────!
In horrific agony.
Screams that could never spread anywhere echoed through the warehouse darkness.