Clash (6)
By the time Choi Yongki had brought down two Dark Alliance executives, Officer Gil Byeongwook of Jongno Police Station’s Gwanghwamun Precinct was already there.
He was the same cop who had been dispatched to the Gwanghwamun red-light district incident.
A few days earlier, orders had come down from above: every officer stationed at Gwanghwamun was to take part in the Firefighters' Rally.
Gil Byeongwook stared at one man without blinking.
So that bastard is the one...
A man who looked like he had stepped straight out of a comic book.
A figure in a purple suit and a purple mask.
Purple Devil.
Gil Byeongwook’s gaze dropped to the ground.
Ma Cheol-hui and Han Gae-seok.
There was no way a cop could not know those two infamous villains. They were S-rank monsters, and no one had ever dared touch them.
...And he took them out by himself.
Then, like a comet blazing across the sky, Purple Devil had cleaned up the entire situation in one stroke.
As the firefighters’ cheers rang out, the remaining police officers lost the will to fight and could no longer advance.
The police commander grabbed the microphone.
"What the hell are you all doing? Hold the line!"
Standing atop a four-meter steel structure, the commander looked down and shouted at them.
The police system was no different from the military.
Obey first, ask questions later.
If an order came from above, it had to be followed without question.
"If we lose ground here, it’s over! I said it’s over! Get your weapons up!"
The riot police had no choice but to tighten their grip on their batons again.
"I’ll repeat this once more. They are illegal rioters! Subversives who threaten justice and disturb the safety of citizens and social order—"
Gil Byeongwook let out a long sigh.
Who exactly is threatening justice here?
Police who took bribes from villains and turned a blind eye to vicious criminals.
Firefighters who protested against that kind of police.
It’s the pot calling the kettle black. No, worse than that.
The riot police re-formed their line.
The firefighters stiffened as well and tightened their grips on their fire axes.
"Damn it. You bastards really want to go at it again?"
At this rate, the street would drown in blood all over again.
Gil Byeongwook bowed his head.
The incident from the Gwanghwamun red-light district came back to him.
Please... save me. Please...
Even after seeing the note from a woman screaming for help, he had been unable to do anything.
No. He hadn’t been able to.
Back then, he had gone to meet Hunter Choi Yongki, but all he got in return was a scolding.
"Don’t go preaching about virtue. You’ve already taken all the dirty money you wanted, and now you want to act innocent? Get lost."
It was true.
Yeah. It was hypocrisy.
The one who had resolved the red-light district case had not been him, but some unknown assailant.
Gil Byeongwook felt an agonizing sense of defeat and helplessness.
...Could Choi Yongki be Purple Devil?
It was a reasonable suspicion, but there was no way to confirm it now.
More than that, though—
His only son’s face kept flickering in his mind.
"When I grow up, I’m gonna be an amazing cop like you, Dad! You’re my hero!"
For just tonight, he wanted to go home and hold his son proudly as a father.
To do that, he had to—
Do something.
Something like—
What I believe is right!
Gil Byeongwook drew something from his belt.
After monsters had appeared in the world, firearms were issued to the police of South Korea.
Before long, one gun per officer had become the rule, regardless of rank or duty.
Gil Byeongwook thumbed off the safety on the heavy, cold revolver.
Just as the riot police and the firefighters were about to collide a second time, he fired his pistol into the sky.
Bang!
The firefighters and police who had been ready to lunge at each other froze and turned toward the sound.
Of course, the first shot had been a blank.
But it was enough to seize everyone’s attention.
"W-what the hell is that bastard doing!"
The police commander standing on the structure screamed at the top of his lungs.
"I didn’t even give the order to fire. Which lunatic pulled a gun—"
"Enough!!!"
Gil Byeongwook shouted back.
"Let’s stop here. Call off this meaningless fight."
He looked at the police and said, "You all know it. We’re not aboveboard. If we keep going from here, there’ll be no turning back."
He lowered the hand holding the pistol.
"The people we should be fighting are the villains who torment civilians, not the firefighters."
For a moment, silence fell.
...
...
...
The officers looked at one another.
Gil Byeongwook’s shout struck a chord with them.
Among the thousands of police officers, some were rotten through and through.
But many of them were like Gil Byeongwook—people who still felt the sting of conscience.
There is no absolute good or evil in this world.
Gil Byeongwook clenched his fists.
But that doesn’t mean only evil people exist!
He raised his voice.
"That’s enough. Let’s go home. Let’s stop doing things we’ll be ashamed of in front of our descendants and in history!"
When his brief speech ended, one officer after another lowered the batons and shields in their hands.
No more tear gas was fired.
No more blood was spilled.
"Third Squad, First Platoon, fall back."
"We’re withdrawing too."
The riot police pulled back in unison.
Until just moments ago, no one had known.
Not even Choi Yongki, who had helped Gil Byeongwook.
The horrific Police-Fire War that had left countless civilians injured and caused trillions of won in damage had begun with Purple Devil—
and ended with the sincere persuasion of one courageous police officer.
Most of the police had already turned around, but the commander atop the steel structure continued to struggle until the very end.
"You’re disobeying orders, every last one of you!"
By then, no one was left to listen to him.
"You there—stop right now! Do you have any idea how serious insubordination is—"
Then—
Crash!
Someone brought the steel structure down with a deafening roar.
"Aagh! Which bastard—"
The purple hero seized the police commander by the collar after he hit the ground.
"Shut your mouth. Unless you want me to add one more corpse to the pile."
"...!"
Purple Devil was a wanted criminal on the spot, having killed two villain executives. By all rights, he should have been arrested immediately.
Yet the police commander could not make a sound in front of him.
Instead, he dropped his gaze and bowed his head, avoiding Purple Devil’s eyes.
"S-sorry. I surrender. We’re pulling back."
Once the police formally raised the white flag, the firefighters’ cheers erupted in wave after wave.
After the police withdrew, only firefighters and reporters remained in Gwanghwamun Square.
Because so many people had come from all over the country, it took a long time just to evacuate everyone safely.
We had won the Police-Fire War, but the aftermath was no small thing.
"Ugh... I’m dead."
"Anyone got a stretcher? His leg’s broken."
"Who still needs a med kit?"
The firefighters who had been beaten by a hundred villains lay sprawled along the street receiving treatment unless their injuries were severe.
When that many people were packed together at once, the hospitals would have exploded.
Gu Ja-min was among those sitting down on the asphalt.
"Haha. See? I told you, Captain. I said it’d work out fine."
"Hold still. Damn, just how badly is the back of your head split open?"
"Ouch. That hurts."
"Quit whining! Stay still."
Gu Ja-min had wrapped bandages around his forehead to stop the bleeding.
I, too, let out a relieved breath.
Thank God.
In my previous life, Gu Ja-min had died.
At least this time, he’s alive and well.
On the other hand—
"Help me clean up the bodies over here."
"I’ll go."
The firefighters who hadn’t been injured were busy clearing away the corpses of the hundred villains, including Ma Cheol-hui and Han Gae-seok.
I was still a little dazed.
To think I’d taken down an S-rank Dark Alliance executive single-handedly.
Strictly speaking, it hadn’t really been a two-on-one fight.
Because I had taken out Ma Cheol-hui first, I’d been able to handle the rest more easily.
It had been a sound strategy.
The most reliable way to win against many opponents: take them down one by one.
So Na Sang-min was right after all.
I offered a silent thanks to the Dio Guild senior who had given me such a painfully obvious answer.
The monsters I’d taken from Ma Cheol-hui remained behind me.
"...Are these guys really okay? They look terrifying."
"Weirdly enough, they’re just standing still."
The nearby firefighters hesitated as they passed between the monsters.
Bill Crow, Wild Mole, Kelpie, and Hippogriff.
They no longer attacked anyone.
They simply waited for my orders, quietly scanning their surroundings.
If I were to compare them to animals—
a crow, a mole, a water horse, and an eagle.
"Hey."
A voice came from behind me.
When I turned, I saw Han Jong-il, the overall commander of the fire brigade, standing there.
"Thank you for your help."
Han Jong-il continued, "If it hadn’t been for you, something far more terrible might have happened. Our firefighters owe you a tremendous debt. Thank you, truly."
He held out his hand.
It was a strange sight.
The representative of firefighters, branded as illegal rioters.
And the alliance with Purple Devil, marked as a first-class wanted criminal.
The reporters left at the scene were already hammering their shutters toward us.
"Is this really okay? I’m a criminal, you know."
Han Jong-il gave a snort of laughter and replied, "If that’s how we’re talking, then I should’ve been locked up a long time ago."
I took his hand.
We shook hands—one man with rough, thick palms, the other with an equally rough grip.
Then, all at once, something on Han Jong-il’s uniform caught my eye.
At the top of the Taeguk hexagon insignia, a peculiar animal sat emblazoned on the badge.
It looked vaguely like a monster.
My curiosity got the better of me.
"What’s this, exactly?"
At my question, Han Jong-il answered, "Ah, this is the symbol of a spirit beast that suppresses fire—"
Then an explosion sounded from far away.
"Huh? What’s going on?"
"Wasn’t the protest already over?"
Before long, thick black smoke began to rise into the sky.
I let go of Han Jong-il’s hand and turned my head.
This sense of foreboding—
Did the villains come back?
Impossible.
The Dark Alliance would already know that two of its executives had been killed.
Black Bear wasn’t stupid enough to rush in for revenge right away.
They’d be terrified, if anything.
Then what was happening over there?
Pop! Pop-pop!
The sound of fireworks going off echoed one after another.
"F-fire!"
One firefighter shouted.
"I’m sure of it. There’s a fire over there!"
Only then did the memory finally surface.
Something I had failed to think about because I had been focused only on the Police-Fire War.
A big event, or a small one depending on how you looked at it.
The fire at the Maseok factory in Jongno District.
It was the worst fire in the past ten years.
There had been 120 dead.
More than fifty of them had been foreign workers.
Firefighters stationed in Gwanghwamun had rushed out at the time, but they had been unable to bring the blaze under control.
On the second floor, there had been 57,000 cylindrical Maseok batteries.
Once they ignited, the fire spread violently, making suppression almost impossible.
And on top of that—
Three firefighters die in that fire too.
I frowned beneath my mask.
After all that effort, I had finally gotten through the Police-Fire War safely.
My hands and feet were still tingling from the strain, but after Dirty Kraken, I had made up my mind.
Never again would I let an innocent person die right in front of me.
I let go of Han Jong-il’s hand.
"I have to go. Something came up."
Han Jong-il seemed to grasp my intent and stopped me.
"Wait."
Then he drew in a deep breath and said, "All personnel! The time has come to fulfill a firefighter’s duty. It’ll be hard, but anyone who’s still fit to move, get up now."
Han Jong-il pointed at me.
"We’re going to support this man and help him secure the scene as much as possible! Everyone, move out!"
No sooner had the words left his mouth than—
"Well, guess it’s time we earned our keep."
"Let’s move! Back to work!"
One by one, the firefighters rose to their feet.
"Your arm’s broken. Sit down."
"I said I’m fine! I can still walk!"
Gu Ja-min, with a bandage wrapped around his forehead, threw his hand into the air.
"I’m going too!"
Everyone’s eyes burned with fire.
No matter how you slice it, a job is just a job.
But to face the flames with your own life as the price...
That’s nobler than a hero.
I turned and raised a hand.
"Follow me. I’ll go first."
I kicked off the asphalt and leaped.
At the perfect moment, Pippi swooped in on the signal, scooped me up, and carried me into the sky.
The rest of the monsters trailed after me at their leisure.