Bypassing the Gates
Baek Hyeong-guk might seem like an incompetent fool, but the power he wielded was formidable.
The head of a local government with a population under 500,000 is accorded the rank of a Grade 2 official.
In military terms, that was equivalent to a division commander.
It was hardly easy for a civilian to just stroll into any military base and demand an immediate audience with the division commander.
But now, with an enraged parents' association backing Lee Yun-hyeok, even the mayor could not run away.
However...
"We can't get to the sixth floor using the elevator."
The mayor's office was on the sixth floor, but the public elevators were programmed to bypass it. How did Baek Hyeong-guk commute, then? The man took a private elevator straight from the underground parking lot to the sixth floor.
The building had been structurally designed from the start to block access from ordinary citizens.
But...
"Let's get off on the fifth floor."
Yun-hyeok already knew the layout of Mir City Hall inside out.
He had visited it countless times across his first, second, and third lives. He had also frequented the place back when he served as Representative Park Dae-man's strategist.
Like this.
"We can just take the emergency stairs."
Yun-hyeok ran up the emergency stairs connecting the fifth and sixth floors. Behind him followed the reporters, practically buzzing with excitement at the prospect of a sensational scoop, straight toward Mayor Baek Hyeong-guk's office.
"Tell them I'm not here!"
Baek Hyeong-guk's voice leaked through the office door.
"Mayor! You can't do that!"
Followed by Kim Min-cheol's exasperated reply.
Knock, knock!
Yun-hyeok knocked on the door.
"Mayor, I've come to have the ordinance reviewed."
The door wasn't locked.
Stepping inside, he was greeted by a cavernous office that looked easily twice the size of the house Kim Si-jun's family lived in. Inside stood a flustered Kim Min-cheol, the chief of staff, and a few political appointees.
And there was Baek Hyeong-guk, his face pale as a ghost.
"Wh-What... Uh..."
Completely losing his composure, the mayor stammered before finally squeezing out a greeting.
"W-Welcome..."
Caught between a rock and a hard place.
That was the only way to describe the situation.
If he approved the review on the spot, it would look as though the mayor was folding to "mob rule" without proper due diligence. But if he dragged his feet here, he would face an even greater public lashing.
So that's why he's paralyzed.
Yun-hyeok clicked his tongue inwardly as he watched Baek Hyeong-guk break out in a cold sweat, completely breaking down.
He really is third-rate.
What if one of those political monsters from Yeouido were sitting in that chair instead?
For instance, a three-term lawmaker like Park Dae-man?
He would have grinned like a sly old fox.
They brought national broadcast cameras?
Even better!
Any chance to get on the airwaves was almost always a good thing!
Park Dae-man would have embraced Yun-hyeok the moment he walked through the door.
Then, turning to the cameras, he would have spoken with an expression of profound, theatrical grief.
"I read this ordinance the moment it was submitted! It truly broke my heart! My throat tightened to learn that there were students in our city facing such desperate hardships. Mr. Lee Yun-hyeok! Thank you! Thanks to you, our city can take one step closer to justice!"
"However, as mayor, I must fulfill my duties. I must thoroughly review this ordinance before passing it to the city council's plenary session. That is my obligation! In return, I have already ordered swift measures to ensure the administrative process moves as quickly as possible."
He would have spun a yarn like that.
By doing so, he would preserve his image as a mayor who kept his cool under emotional pressure to do his job, turning a crisis into a political victory.
A man of Park Dae-man's caliber might even drop hints about recruiting Yun-hyeok right then and there.
Then, he would quietly pass the ordinance to the plenary session. The parents' anger would be appeased, the mayor would keep his honor, and that would be that.
But a third-rate politician like Baek Hyeong-guk was utterly paralyzed by a single unexpected variable.
"Mayor. Even at this very moment, there are runaway youths left completely neglected. Since this is an incredibly urgent matter, I'm sure you reviewed the ordinance as soon as I submitted it."
Yun-hyeok decided to throw him a bone. He had a separate card to finish this man off anyway—the embezzlement card. For now, he needed to focus on passing the validity review of the ordinance.
"So, you must already know there are no issues with it."
"Y-Yes, of course..."
"Once it goes to the plenary session, it will take the city councilors quite some time to review it. I assume you've already been personally negotiating with them in advance to ensure swift administrative implementation."
"Pardon? Ah... Ah, yes..."
"But you don't have to worry too much about that. The citizens are already putting pressure on the councilors as well."
"I-Is that so?"
"Yes. So, please pass this ordinance to the city council's plenary session now."
He pressed for the approval of the validity review in an exceedingly polite tone.
"Haha... Well, then... there's nothing to worry about..."
Wiping the sweat from his forehead, the mayor approved the validity review.
Though he had forced the validity review through with aggressive tactics, that wasn't the main event.
After all, that step was merely a check to see if the ordinance submitted via the Ordinance Enactment/Abolition Request Right was fit to be introduced to the plenary session.
The real battle was the city council's plenary session. This was where they would dissect the ordinance, look for areas of revision, and examine any conflicts with higher laws. If more than half of the city councilors voted in favor, the ordinance would be promulgated.
The maximum time allowed for that process was sixty days.
An agonizingly long time.
He couldn't afford to let things move at a leisurely pace.
"Hello there."
Yun-hyeok paid a visit to the Hanmin Party's local district committee. This was essentially Representative Park Dae-man's local office. Of course, Park Dae-man himself was away at his Yeouido office, so he wasn't present.
"Y-Yun-hyeok...?"
They were familiar faces.
After all, they had worked together during Yun-hyeok's time on Representative Park Dae-man's general election campaign.
Park Dae-man had taken the highly capable ones to his Yeouido office, leaving the B-tier staff behind here.
Since Yun-hyeok had been offered a position as Park's secretary but turned it down, he belonged to the group destined for Yeouido.
"It's been a while. How have you all been?"
"We've been... fine."
The policy director spoke up. In his early forties, the policy director had a strained relationship with Yun-hyeok. He had originally coveted the secretary position that Yun-hyeok had casually rejected.
"Where is the secretary-general?"
The head of the local district committee was the chairman, a role usually filled by the National Assembly member themselves.
However, since the lawmaker spent most of their time working in Yeouido rather than their local district, the secretary-general usually acted as the practical head of the local committee.
"Well, look who it is. Yun-hyeok?"
A man in his fifties recognized Yun-hyeok as he walked up the stairs. It was the secretary-general. His hands were wet, suggesting he had just come from the restroom downstairs.
"I've come to request the convening of an extraordinary session to quickly pass the ordinance submitted via the Ordinance Enactment/Abolition Request Right."
Yun-hyeok laid out the draft of the ordinance on the table.
"First you tear the mayor to shreds, and now you're coming for us?"
The secretary-general chuckled as he picked up the document.
"Come now, Secretary-General. You and the city councilors are my allies. Though I suppose the current mayor will be your rival in the next election."
"Are you really planning to run for mayor as an independent?"
"Yes."
"Why not rejoin the Hanmin Party? With your talent, Representative Park Dae-man would easily secure a nomination for you."
A three-term lawmaker wielded immense influence; securing a mayoral nomination in his own district was child's play.
"I truly appreciate the offer, but I'll pass. That doesn't mean I want to make an enemy of the Hanmin Party, though."
"I see what you mean."
The secretary-general quickly scanned the ordinance.
"I'll see what I can do. Gathering just the Hanmin Party councilors should be more than enough to pass an ordinance like this," he said.
"Thank you. I'm counting on you."
City councilors were no different from mayoral candidates when it came to walking on eggshells around the National Assembly member for nominations. If they wanted to be re-elected in the next local elections, they couldn't afford to cross Representative Park Dae-man.
If more than one-third of the sitting city councilors signed a petition to convene an extraordinary session, the council speaker would approve it. The Hanmin Party alone had more than enough seats to meet that threshold. Since the speaker was also a member of the Hanmin Party, there was no reason to refuse.
Next would be the standing committee review.
And then, introduction to the plenary session.
There were no procedural hurdles.
If it were up to his usual thoroughness, Yun-hyeok would have visited every single city councilor to explain the ordinance and secure their votes in advance, but he held back.
He only had one body, and his time was limited. Besides, with fifteen thousand parents backing him and the national media picking up the story, no city councilor had the guts to oppose it. There was neither justification nor political benefit in doing so.
Therefore, what Yun-hyeok needed to do now was...
"I would like you to begin administrative preparations before the ordinance officially passes."
Laying the groundwork before the ordinance was even enacted.
In principle, estimating or executing a budget at this stage was impossible. In reality, however, civil servants commonly made quiet preparations in advance when the direction of a policy became obvious.
It made their own jobs much easier in the long run.
"That way, we can execute it immediately once the ordinance is passed."
Though it was an unemployed civilian with zero administrative authority making demands at the Welfare Department, the working-class civil servants received him warmly. After all, Yun-hyeok was the very author of the ordinance.
"We were actually looking into it ourselves, but..."
As expected, the Welfare Department staff were already making preliminary preparations, but they had hit a snag.
"We're having some trouble because we can't get an accurate grasp on the actual number of runaway youths..."
"There are seventeen in the area around Tanseo High School alone."
"Seventeen?"
"Yes."
That was the count from just the four runaway families Yun-hyeok had identified through Kim Si-jun's group.
"I don't have an official roster, but I can persuade them to move into the shelters."
"R-Really?"
The Welfare Department employee was relieved that an unemployed civilian was doing her job for her, but she also felt a twinge of shame. An awkward expression crossed her face.
But the Welfare Department's real work would only begin from there.
"There are bound to be many more runaway families throughout Mir City, not just near Tanseo High School. You can use the seventeen I found to track down and connect with the other groups."
To do that, they needed to secure spaces where these students could be protected, along with the necessary administrative staff.
"Take this."
Yun-hyeok handed over a document containing an implementation roadmap he had prepared in advance.
1. Review vacant public spaces prior to ordinance passage.
2. Request an emergency supplementary budget upon ordinance passage.
3. Renovate interior spaces and prepare for occupancy.
4. Establish a guardian registration system.
5. Pre-contact food supply contractors.
6. Pre-recruit counseling personnel.
7. Conduct post-occupancy operational rehearsals and prepare case reports.
Each item on the list was accompanied by a thick stack of supporting documents.
"How on earth did you put all this together..."
"There are just two crucial points we need to address," Yun-hyeok said.
"First, regarding Kim Si-jun and his siblings. Under no circumstances should Kim Si-jun be registered as their legal guardian. You understand what I mean, right? He's a minor himself. A dedicated social worker must visit them regularly to check on them, and you need to establish a hotline for emergencies or nighttime contact. But I'm sure you know this better than I do."
"...Of course!"
"And second, we cannot blindly accept just any runaway youth."
"Pardon?"
"Some of those runaways might be actual, hardened criminals. We must execute two administrative actions simultaneously: strict punishment and genuine rescue. That is the only way to pull this problem out by its roots."
"I understand completely."
"Now, about the housing we'll be using for these shelters."
Yun-hyeok was ready to suggest properties the city hall could readily supply.
"You know those properties the city hall purchased due to the jeonse rental fraud crisis?"
"You want to use those?"
"Exactly."
"But the city spent a massive amount of budget purchasing those properties. Of course, city hall isn't a profit-seeking entity, but we still have to prevent the reckless spending of administrative funds. Providing them to runaway youths completely free of charge is..."
"You're saying the houses are too nice?"
Yun-hyeok finished the sentence the welfare official couldn't bring herself to complete.
"..."
The Welfare Department staff nodded, looking embarrassed.
It was entirely understandable. Many of those fraud-ridden properties were brand-new villas. The city's budget was limited, and there was a cap on how much support could be given to those in need. Handing over such nice homes for free would raise issues of fairness. People would inevitably protest, claiming the city was recklessly wasting taxpayer money.
Furthermore, giving things away so easily was not beneficial for the students' self-esteem or their financial literacy.
Yet, the housing had to be decent enough to actively draw the kids in and rescue them quickly.
"What should we do then?"
"It's simple."
Yun-hyeok had brought the solution for that as well.