Chapter 150. A Sense of Moral Superiority.
I had come out because I was curious what they were talking about, but it was exactly what I expected. The officers who had been contacted began gathering here one by one.
"And if we refuse?"
He looked flustered, as if he had never anticipated that reply. He was lost in the delusion that everyone would share his views.
"Why on earth..."
"Everyone is equal? Don't make me laugh. Do you think it's wrong for people to get what they work for?"
"But dividing people by their abilities in this situation...!"
He wasn't worth listening to any further, so I turned to head back into the village.
"W-wait...!"
"Cassius, get rid of them."
Cassius gave a crisp nod and began grabbing them by the scruffs of their necks, tossing them out one by one. At this, the president voiced a slight concern.
"Representative, perhaps you should at least hear them out..."
"Why should I?"
"We don't know what they'll say when they go back."
Killing them here felt a bit distasteful too. Fact was, they hadn't shown me any hostility; they'd just been pushy. But if they left and never came back, people would assume we'd done something to them.
"Ha, how irritating."
I wiggled my finger, signaling them to come in. They followed, wearing expressions that said 'we won.'
"I didn't have a chance to introduce myself earlier... My name is Lee Jong-hyun. I lead a group of people from Suwon."
It was a name I had no desire to know, so I just waved my hand vaguely.
"It might be out of place for a visitor to say this, but... shouldn't we store our weapons somewhere?"
"Why, planning to try something?"
"Ah, no... that wasn't what I meant..."
"Because we can stop you no matter what you try here."
They looked into my eyes and swallowed nervously. My confidence stemmed from overwhelming strength. I might actually be hoping one of them would try to cause trouble, just to have a clear example of what happens when you step out of line.
"I'll tell you upfront. I have no reason to help you. Much less any reason to share our supplies with you, like you were blathering about on the radio."
"Why is that? Is it not the duty of all those with power to help the weak? That is justice, and the path we all must follow!"
Lee Jong-hyun's words were intense. His voice, as if he were speaking an absolute truth, held no hesitation. He truly believed it. He was convinced his justice was right, that he walked the righteous path.
But I looked at him with a blank, unsmiling face.
"So the justice you're talking about is that the strong must unconditionally look after the weak?"
He nodded.
"Yes, the powerful must use their strength to protect and help the weak. That is the providence of nature, the only way for the world to become a better place!"
"It sounds plausible, but by your logic, the weak lose even the chance to grow strong themselves. If they become dependent on food someone else brought, how is that any different from livestock?"
Lee Jong-hyun's eyes flashed as he answered.
"They have no need to grow strong themselves. The powerful need only help them and ensure they survive. Wouldn't that create a perfect, virtuous cycle?"
He was spewing nauseating sophistry, half-consumed by a crazed madness.
If you only listened to the words, they sounded wonderful. But the moment the powerful become corrupt, the weak will taste an unparalleled hell.
"The same goes for your power. Do you know how great the power you hold is? If you intend to use your strength solely for your own people, you are committing a sin against this world! You could save this entire world, so why won't you do it?"
Lee Jong-hyun's voice grew steadily more forceful, as if persuading me was some kind of divine mission. He continued his impassioned speech.
"I wish to create a world where everyone can live equally, without fear. The weak always long for the care of the strong. It is those of us with strength who must help them. That is the righteous path...!"
I watched him for a while without saying a word. He spoke with a certain kind of logic, but the dangerous idealism hidden within it grated on my nerves.
"You're seriously unhinged, aren't you?"
On the surface, he pretended to care for the weak, but the unspoken contempt was plain to see—the attitude of 'those creatures can't survive without me.' He had a hypocritical stance, helping the weak to satisfy his own sense of moral superiority while lording it over them.
"After you save everyone according to your ideals, how will you control that many people? What will you do when conflicts break out among them?"
His eyes flashed as he answered.
"We must mediate. We must guide them to live together in harmony under our care, without any fighting."
I glanced briefly at the others beside Lee Jong-hyun. But none of them were as steeped in madness as he was.
'Is this the influence of awakening...?'
"So now you're talking about stripping people of their free will and controlling them... You're truly insane."
"Consider why the heavens granted you such power! Do you think it was by chance?"
I closed my eyes and stood still with my arms crossed, listening to him. The others around us were fidgeting anxiously, as if a bomb might go off at any second. 'Power gained by luck.' The words I hated most.
Memories of the past began to surface in my mind. Many may look at their awakening as a blessing, but I clawed my way to this point with no protection whatsoever, tearing into animal carcasses for food and pouring everything I had into every moment. My power was never handed to me by luck.
"You dare spout that shit when you don't have a clue what I went through to build this strength?"
A voice laced with disregard and contempt escaped me, and with it came a killing intent they could barely withstand.
"Kugh..."
He barely managed to cling to his senses as he forced the words out.
"But power must be used righteously... You must share everything you have achieved through that power with others, and fulfill your responsibility!!!"
I let out a scoff and said,
"Do you even have the right to talk about responsibility? If you want to know the price I paid to build this strength, you'd have to walk my path first."
He could no longer form words, as if it was too hard to endure. The pressure he felt must have been beyond imagination. The people around us watched with bated breath, feeling the tension between the two of us rising.
"Two weeks should be just enough time for you to get a quick taste of my experience."
I poured my memories into him just before he passed out. The flood of massive memories overwhelmed him and he collapsed, frothing at the mouth.
"Take this trash and get out. He probably won't die, but if he's still sane two weeks from now, I might listen to that fucking sophistry one more time."
The group who had come with him heaved him onto their shoulders and fled the village as fast as they could. With the sudden commotion over, everyone let out a sigh of relief.
"Commander, why did you let a man spouting such nonsense go free?"
"He reminded me of a bastard I once knew. Made me curious."
"Could it be... from the Empire..."
"You got it."
A long time ago, there was someone just like Lee Jong-hyun. He was also a man who preached the justice of the strong helping the weak. But that man wasn't trying to fill a petty sense of moral superiority—he was the very embodiment of 'justice,' genuinely looking out for the weak.
Out of sheer boredom in those endless days, I had thrown countless trials at him. But he never broke, and he cleared every single one I set. So I ended up granting a single request of his.
'That was the first and last bet I ever lost...'
"I wonder what will happen to this one."
"He is completely different from that man. He will likely not be sane."
"Whether good or bad, he'll come looking for me after two weeks."
Truthfully, I hadn't planned on doing anything to him at first, but I realized it as we spoke. This guy is more dangerous than he looks. He'll do anything to uphold his own values.
'If sacrifices happen, he'll just rationalize them.'
If the people sacrificed happen to be from my village, I fully intend to eliminate him without a second thought.
"Cassius, we might need the kids who used to handle assassination missions."
Cassius immediately caught on to what I was implying.
"In a world overrun with undead, accidents are a very common occurrence."
As Cassius said, we could pretend to cooperate and then disguise his removal as an accidental death. At this, the president and the others expressed a slight concern.
"Wouldn't that carry too much risk?"
"I'm not so kind that I can afford to worry about everyone else."
Cassius picked up where I left off, answering.
"Since the founding of our mercenary company, our mission failure rate has been 0%. We only recruit the most exceptional individuals. Please do not worry too much."
"Even so..."
"We never accepted just any contract either. If we determine they will bring harm to us, we will execute the plan."
The others nodded as if that was enough to convince them.
"For better or worse, we have two weeks before that bastard returns. Until then, we can all continue living as usual."
"Representative, in that case, the matter with China..."
There's no telling what that extremist might pull. While the squad members or Terion alone would be more than enough to handle it, every final decision came through me, so I'd better stay here until the matter with those bastards was finished.
Two weeks felt both long and short, more so than I'd thought. As the days passed, he came to visit once more.
The surprising thing was that the guy who'd had an overwhelming flood of memories crammed into his brain—far beyond its processing capacity—was far more coherent than I'd expected.