If You Don't Like It, Don't Commit Crimes
If you're upset, you know why, right?
What is a Homunculus?
Its history and origins are unique from the very conception, but to put it bluntly in a single phrase: it is an artificial human.
By administering a portion of a human along with various materials and complex processes, one creates a new human. As it is a technology by which humans create humans, it is of course a theory that draws enormous criticism for being unethical.
I had spent a long time discussing that very point with Charlotte, and only when lunchtime arrived did I leave Research Building 12. Then, right after finishing lunch, I went straight to find Sayulcheon and explained the plan I had in mind.
"So, you're saying you'll create one of those?"
That grand and delightful plan of making a Homunculus to toy with Johar, that is.
"Doesn't it sound fun?"
When I asked with a smile lingering on my lips, Sayulcheon looked at me with a gaze that said what kind of guy is this. Her subtly sour expression carried a hint of contempt. But my eyes could not be deceived. Sayulcheon felt reluctance toward my opinion, yet at the same time harbored curiosity and expectation.
"Power and technology are not evil in themselves. What matters is how they are used."
"…Does the gentleman truly believe the plan he has devised himself to be a righteous act?"
Come now—someone who knows perfectly well shouldn't act like this. I heaved a great sigh and shook my head as if to protest my frustration at Sayulcheon.
"Instructor Sayulcheon, who are our enemies?"
"…Johar, and those dogs of theirs."
"Exactly. Irredeemable criminals and the sort who still suck the lifeblood from countless people while rotting the world."
To put it bluntly, I am a retributivist. Except for a handful of unavoidable cases, I place little stock in rehabilitation. Humans are clever beasts, after all. Exactly like any other wild animal—only with exceptionally high intelligence.
"Instructor, if monsters come down into a village, devour several people, and flee, what would you do?"
"Naturally I would track them down, kill them, and settle the matter."
"Then do the same with Johar."
A predator that has tasted human flesh thereafter hunts people with relentless focus. It learns that humans are numerous and can be hunted with little effort. That is why people strive to find and kill such beasts as quickly as possible—because a predator that knows the taste of human meat will keep devouring people.
Criminals are no different. Just as beasts lust for meat, people lust for money. A beast that labors to hunt for meat and a person who labors to earn money are scarcely different when one looks at the act and the result. Just as a predator that has once easily hunted a human continues to target people, criminals who have once obtained great wealth through crooked means keep listening to the temptation of crime.
"They too must pay the price for their sins. It's far too unfair to simply lock them in prison, let them serve their time, and then release them meekly."
If someone has killed a person, kill that one in turn and make an example of them. If someone has stolen another's property for illicit gain, make them repay ten times its value. That is part of the law of ancient Joseon—the primitive old Joseon that is said to be the beginning of my spiritual homeland, Korea, and which later came to be called Old Joseon because a later nation after Goryeo also styled itself Joseon.
Some may call it excessively harsh and merciless punishment, but honestly I fail to see why that should matter.
"In any case, these are the sort who commit murder and robbery—and every unspeakable atrocity imaginable—as routinely as they eat."
In the end it is the action they chose, the crime they committed by their own judgment. Therefore they must take responsibility for their judgment and their actions. The punishment is too heavy? If you don't like it, don't commit crimes. The vast majority of people in the world live that way, and that is the world's standard. If you insist on living however you please and rise up, you must also be prepared for the head that rose up to go flying.
"The humans who become materials for the Philosopher's Stone and the Homunculus are all criminals connected to Johar, and the targets we will attack with those Homunculi and Philosopher's Stones are likewise those same bastards."
I persuaded Sayulcheon. She too was a hero and a bold spirit who preferred the rewarding of good and the punishing of evil, so my words could not sound entirely bad to her.
"But…"
Sayulcheon bit her lip and let out a low hum of thought. Her slightly bowed head and furrowed brow plainly revealed the torment my questions had stirred. She was wavering. That meant if I shook her just a little more, she would come over to my side. Hiding a smile deep inside so she would never notice, I continued in a tone that was earnest yet soft, but firm.
"The Johar lot aren't merely strong. They're cunning and thorough."
Johar was an organization like the king of the underworld, one that held sway over nearly every force in the shadows. Such people would never have left politics and various corporations alone.
"No matter how thoroughly you throw them in prison, they'll be free again in no time. Their hands will already have reached the government, the press, and countless companies."
And Sayulcheon herself knew that fact well. She had diligently locked up criminals connected to Johar for a long time, yet had seen little lasting effect. It was so bad that fully half the enemies who appeared in the story as Johar-related figures had a history of being caught by Sayulcheon at least once.
"We keep the lines a person ought to keep—but we only cross the lines of common sense that the criminals themselves expect."
In my eyes it was astonishing that Sayulcheon had not already gone mad and started grabbing high officials and business leaders of every nation to thrash them. As I patiently explained, Sayulcheon, who had been lost in silent thought, raised her head. She looked ready to say something, but I did not give her the chance to ask whatever it was—even if it had been an answer rather than a question, it was better not to hear it now. She needed to think and agonize on her own until she decided for herself to trust me. So I promptly steered the conversation elsewhere.
"With this, you've already taken two headaches from me."
"Indeed. You seem to take great pleasure in making a fool of this officer."
Sayulcheon smiled bitterly, yet that smile was steeped in countless conflicts and torments. The fact that she stopped at a bitter smile without saying more suggested she had more or less grasped the precariousness of Charlotte that I had mentioned earlier. That alone was a solid achievement. It would serve as a small button that would let her believe my words were not pure nonsense.
"Actually, I came today because there is one more thing I wished to ask. One might even say this is the main topic."
"…There is still more?"
To the Sayulcheon who sighed as if fed up, I deliberately drew the sword at my waist and gave it a shake. The sword she had tried and failed to seize when she first met me after leaving the Destroyed Kingdom, the one she had continued to show interest in time and again afterward—my sword, received from Albedo, the one in which the Ominous Star Dragon Antares, once struck down by her, now dwelled.
"That sword…"
As usual, Sayulcheon showed interest in my blade. Yet the moment I drew it from its sheath, her eyes blazed and she radiated a menacing aura. Unlike every previous occasion, the presence sealed within the sword was now awake. Sayulcheon had probably believed my sword to be a blade forged from a portion of the Ominous Star Dragon. After all, fashioning weapons from parts of monsters was common enough, and powerful monsters left their own unique aura when turned into weapons, so it would have seemed all the more plausible.
Antares addressed me in a displeased voice, clearly finding the sight disagreeable. It was still Albedo's voice, which made listening feel strangely uncanny.
"Instructor Ryu Seojun. I will ask only one thing."
"I have a rough idea, but go ahead."
"That sword—is it Antares?"
She did not ask whether Antares was sealed inside the sword; she referred to the sword itself as Antares. And to Sayulcheon's question I nodded readily.
"Yes. Having seen it yourself, you know well. It is fair to regard this sword as Antares itself."
To be precise, the Antares that had merged with the sword was said to be roughly half of its original self. The remaining half currently resided in Albedo's body—I had heard it directly from Antares the previous night.
"That said, you need not worry overmuch. This fellow has no intention of running wild just now."
"You speak as though you have conversed with it."
"Because conversation is possible?"
So saying, I held the sword out to Sayulcheon. Antares had been urging me for some time to let her grip the hilt, and I myself thought it better that she speak with it directly. After a low hum and a brief hesitation, Sayulcheon took the sword. Unlike when she had seized it in the Destroyed Kingdom, an enormous pressure of aura now battered her, as though determined to kill a person.
What the hell—that crazy lizard cannon.