Chapter 71. Why Are There So Many Scumbags?
Chapter 71. Why Are There So Many Scumbags?
The moment the radio call came in, the gravity of the situation was obvious. We gathered our people at once. Those who had been resting, those in the middle of conversations, those who had been working—without exception, everyone stopped what they were doing and rushed into the assembly hall.
"Wh-what's going on?!"
"The powder keg at the research complex has finally blown."
"Blown... you mean...?"
"Some disgruntled executives are holding the chairman's grandson and granddaughter hostage in a standoff."
Disgruntled—everyone knew. They knew this stunt was pulled because they were furious that the martial techniques had been passed only to Chairman Lee, turning him into an Awakened while they were left out of the deal.
The chairman's son had radioed in: Chairman Lee was currently locked in a standoff with them. They'd barricaded themselves on the top floor, sealed the door, and were holding the hostages while making threats. If their demands weren't met, they'd kill the hostages and open every door in the research facility to let the zombies pour in.
"Their demand is to be made Awakened as well. They're under the mistaken impression that Chairman Lee is deliberately hiding the method from them."
"Should we breach, then?"
"But Representative, if we approach, they might feel cornered—and we don't know what they might do."
"Have the helicopter open its hatch at the highest altitude it can manage. I'll jump from there and infiltrate. Don't worry about the noise."
First, I called together the special operations squad members who were used to this sort of thing and we talked it over. Surprisingly, they didn't look that worried. They had faith in me.
"Captain, aren't you worried about jumping out without a parachute?"
"Haha, the Representative will surely see to it that we land safely."
Time was critical, so we loaded minimum weaponry onto the helicopter and boarded. The helicopter immediately set course for the research complex. Naturally, I had Terion cast a soundproofing spell on the way, and for the sake of stealth, only the special ops squad and I went in.
We arrived over the research complex soon enough. We must have climbed to a considerable altitude—the buildings looked as small as peas. They'd seemed fine at first, but a fair amount of tension was written on the squad members' faces now.
"Heh, do you trust me?"
"Sir, yes, sir!!!"
Having heard their answer, I stepped out into the void and floated in midair. Then I dropped my hand as the signal.
"Jump!!!"
The special ops captain and I, plus about ten others, hurled themselves from the helicopter all at once. We plummeted toward the rooftop we had been briefed on, and just before impact, I caught them with mana and brought them down safely.
"Hoo... Representative, never in my life did I think I'd be jumping from that altitude without a parachute."
"Heh heh... If you'd like, I can arrange it for you now and then."
We checked the weapons we'd brought onto the helicopter, quickly loaded rounds into magazines, chamber-checked, and stuffed the magazines into our tactical vests one by one. Then we made our entry, cautious and quiet.
"Representative, the hostages and the ringleaders are currently in the security control room of the research building. Since it's a lab, apparently the door is hard to breach, and the hostages complicate things. Chairman Lee is currently talking to them from the control room."
"At least they won't be able to confirm we're coming. Making contact with Chairman Lee should be our first priority, then."
We had no idea where the rest of their lackeys might be lying in wait, so we kept our presence as quiet as possible and moved cautiously toward the control room. We pressed our ears to the door marked as the control room.
We exchanged glances at the sound of Chairman Lee's voice from inside and nodded. I carefully opened the door and slipped in. Chairman Lee was staring at a monitor, mid-conversation. He definitely registered our presence. I brought my index finger to my lips and gestured for him to keep silent.
As expected of someone quick on the uptake, he understood and resumed talking to them as if nothing had happened. Fortunately, the other side ended the video call first.
"Hoo... Representative, thank you for coming."
"I've heard the general situation. By the way, the people here are..."
I subtly signaled, asking if they were trustworthy. Chairman Lee said they were all reliable, that it was fine. Then he continued.
"We are at a hair-trigger moment right now. They're making absurd demands of us."
"Absurd demands?"
The demands Chairman Lee relayed were truly preposterous. They were telling Chairman Lee and everyone who followed him to leave immediately. After all, they were Awakened—they could survive anywhere, couldn't they? They also said to leave the hostages behind for their own safety.
"Hoo... We're trying to breach the door somehow, but I'm terribly worried about the children inside. Also, they said that if anyone tries anything rash, they'll open all the lab doors..."
The people of the research complex weren't all gathered in one place right now; they were separated by work and living arrangements. Opening the doors would cause massive casualties.
"And right now, they're also under extreme psychological pressure. No matter how many hostages and how much food they have in there, they can't stay there forever."
Suddenly, a loud siren began to blare.
— Waaaah-eeeeeng!
— Clang! Clang! Clang!
Chairman Lee's group began to murmur in alarm.
"Th-those crazy bastards actually went and did it...!"
After the siren and the sound of doors opening, another call came in from them. From a spot out of the camera's view, I gestured that it was okay to take the call now. As soon as Chairman Lee picked up, he shouted in fury.
"D-do you have any idea what you've just done?!"
"Calm yourself, Chairman Lee. We only opened the outer doors—not the doors to the research building itself. If you don't want something even worse to happen, you'll agree to our demands."
"I told you, I truly do not know...!"
"Then go to Gimpo and find out somehow. Wouldn't our group become far more solid if intellectuals like us gained power as well? I'll give you a little more time. If you can't find out within that time..."
Making the unspoken threat to open the doors, he hung up. I ordered the special ops squad to move quietly and approach that location in advance. The outer doors were already open, and people were likely dying at this very moment. But if we intervened, they would realize we had arrived.
We were caught in a dilemma.
Save all those people and sacrifice the chairman's grandson and granddaughter?
Or save the grandson and granddaughter and sacrifice those people?
Honestly, I couldn't speak for the others, but in my heart I leaned more toward the latter.
I laid out both options for the people present. No one could bring themselves to answer first.
"Capturing them first is the priority. Because there could be additional casualties."
Probably because I took the lead, the others only then began to fall in line with me.
"Y-yes, that's right... We have to remove the cause quickly..."
"C-cough... The Representative has a point..."
They were probably rationalizing it, telling themselves they were following my decision and that it somehow lessened their own guilt.
"Keep taking the calls when they come in."
I handed them a walkie-talkie, and we moved cautiously toward where the bastards were holed up. We hadn't been waiting there long when a sudden radio call came through. I heard Chairman Lee's desperate voice for the first time.
"Representative...! Jiyun, she's...!"
Jiyun was likely the chairman's granddaughter... I locked eyes with the squad members, and we smashed down the door and entered at once. Inside, half of the young girl's clothes had been roughly torn off. The bastards were gathered around her.
"Get down!!! Any funny moves and we will open fire."
The bastards hadn't even imagined we would raid the place, so they weren't holding their guns. A few tried to grab their weapons, but the squad's fire quickly subdued them.
Fortunately, the chairman's granddaughter hadn't suffered the worst of it. The man, the grandson, had only been restrained; aside from some minor bruises, he had no serious injuries.
'Is this all of them? No way...'
Right then, another radio call came in for Chairman Lee.
"Those guys were their underlings. The ringleaders are likely hiding in the vault where the classified documents are kept."
Suddenly, a voice began to blare from the building's speakers.
"Chairman Lee... I didn't want to do this, but you leave me no choice..."
Then a tremendous siren rang out from every speaker, and all the doors in the research building began to open. Naturally, drawn by the noise, a massive horde of zombies began flooding in.
"The people are all dying because of you, Chairman Lee. And you won't break through as easily as you just did. Not unless you have a massive amount of explosives—and where in this world would you find something like that?"
With that, he chuckled smugly and finished speaking.
'Not only do they do something like that to a girl young enough to be their granddaughter, but they even dodge responsibility...'
I told the squad members to keep these two safe, and once again, I summoned 'her'.
"Paura, subdue them all. Leave only the leader. Do whatever you want with their souls like last time... No, so long as you don't kill them, I don't care how you play with them."
An eerie wail sounded, and Paura phased through the wall and flew off. The squad members, who had seen the fate of traitors before, swallowed nervously and tensed up.
"Let's head to where they are."
Just then, the chairman's grandson, Lee Geon-ho, who had come to his senses, asked me a question.
"Representative, thank you for saving us... But what about our grandfather and father...?"
"They're in a safe place right now, so don't worry."
It was hard to believe that zombies were storming the building, but we—or rather, I—walked slowly toward where they were hiding.
'Why are there so many scumbags like this...'
No.
It was that the world had collapsed, law and morality had vanished, and those who had been wrapping themselves in a facade, living like human beings, were finally shedding that cover and reverting to their original state.
Lost in thought, I arrived at their location before I knew it. I casually sliced the door open with my sword, and we entered.
The scene that greeted us was nothing short of hell itself.