Chapter 91. Rape.
Chapter 91. Rape.
"Wait, you seriously didn't even give it a name?!"
"Well... I kept meaning to, but I kept forgetting."
"Sihu! That's so incredibly callous of you!"
The truth was, I'd always been terrible at naming things. Even when I had to name a game character, my friends would sometimes tilt their heads at my choices.
"Let's take our time and think of a name."
"Sihu, can I touch it...?"
Come to think of it, it had clearly reacted to both their voices over the radio. If my guess was right, they'd have no trouble touching it. I held out my hand, and it hopped lightly onto it, letting me set it down on the table.
Chaeyeon and Jia cautiously reached out and stroked its feathers. It seemed to like it, letting out a faint, whistle-like sound and thoroughly enjoying their touch.
― Prrrrr...
"Wow... it's so incredibly soft..."
Seeing them pet it, Min-cheol's curiosity got the better of him, and he slyly reached out to touch it too.
"Huh? It's ice-cold and rock-hard, like steel...!"
"Heh heh..."
It seemed to have allowed the girls to touch it, but for everyone else—even my acquaintances—it only permitted this much contact. I explained how it could freely adjust the hardness of its feathers depending on the person.
"Tch... playing favorites. What about noona and Jia?"
"Just a guess, but maybe because I'd let out a bit of mana at home, and they were always by my side."
Still, maybe because I was its master, it kept tottering over and rubbing its face against the hand I'd rested on the table. When I stroked its beak with my thumb and forefinger, it made an even happier sound.
― Pweeee...
"Sihu, isn't it seriously the cutest thing ever?"
The President spoke up as I was watching it with a satisfied smile.
"First, let's have a meal and rest a bit. We'll gather again this evening. I have something to discuss."
* * * * * * * *
We went home like that, and when I mentioned we were naming this little one, the girls, my mother-in-law, father-in-law, and Mr. Chu all showed up.
'My mother-in-law I can understand, but these two...'
I'd never have thought they'd be into animals, but maybe they liked it more than I expected. They kept sneaking looks like they wanted to touch it.
"Anyway, what on earth should we name it..."
"Son-in-law, how about General?"
This wasn't naming some country mutt. As I suspected, my father-in-law's naming sense was just as terrible as mine. I wasn't the only one who felt that way—the girls and my mother-in-law were all looking at him with slightly disgusted expressions.
"Sihu, how about Kkamangi?"
"Oh! Unnie, that name is absolutely adorable."
Well, it was better than the name I'd almost given it last time, something like 'Black...gi.'
'But why couldn't I think of a simple name like that?'
"You're right. I think my daughter's name choice is the best."
Everyone nodded, agreeing it was a great idea. I set Kkamangi, as it was now named, down in the middle of the living room where we were all sitting.
"Your name from today is Kkamangi."
I pointed a finger at it as I spoke, and as if it understood, it spread its wings, swayed its body from side to side, and let out a cry.
― Pweeee! Pweet!
"Oh my, looks like Kkamangi likes it too."
"Yeah, it does look like it understood, just like Mother said."
That sight must have been cute too, because the girls scooped Kkamangi up and started petting it furiously. And just like that, after we finished naming Kkamangi, everyone got ready to eat.
"So, son-in-law, what do we feed Kkamangi?"
Honestly, it didn't need to eat, but we couldn't just let it starve, so I told them it would do just fine if we tore up some meat for it. While we ate together, Kkamangi devoured the meat placed in front of it in an instant, then hopped up onto my shoulder.
"Did anything happen while I was away?"
"Well... there have been some odd rumblings among the people."
"Odd rumblings?"
"You know, groups banding together, talking about ostracizing someone, that sort of thing."
"We'll have to deal with that decisively."
After the meal, everyone spent some free time on their own. The girls and I went outside to start training Kkamangi, bit by bit. If we didn't teach it to control its strength properly, it could easily tear a human body apart.
"Oh, right. Speaking of the East Sea..."
I told them I'd brought back various tools from the casino, since the group's been sorely lacking in entertainment since the apocalypse began. Naturally, just hearing the word 'casino' made them a bit wary, and they expressed their concerns.
"Don't worry. I'll set restricted entry hours and put a cap on betting amounts."
"Well... Sihu, I'm sure you'll handle it well."
A few hours passed, and when dinnertime rolled around, we wrapped up Kkamangi's training and all ate together. Then, we headed back to the assembly hall for the scheduled meeting. The Chief of Staff, who was next to the President, placed a thick stack of documents in front of me.
"What's this?"
"Hmm... didn't I mention there was some discord?"
"Yes, you told me over the radio, more or less."
"I don't think we can just gloss over it."
Apparently, led by a middle-aged man we'd brought from Busan, a group had been banding tightly together, voicing complaints and agitating others. In the process, they had been staging a sort of pseudo-strike.
"The biggest problem is that they're throwing their weight around and lording over others by flaunting their supposed closeness to you, Chief."
"Closeness?"
"It's hard to believe, but they're subtly pretending to be close to you while harming other people. We've actually been receiving a steady stream of complaints about it."
"Do you have solid evidence?"
The President gestured toward the pile of papers in front of me. There were more documents than I expected, so I took my time and started reading from the beginning.
As I read, I summarized the contents:
- Promised to arrange a meal with the Chief to help people get early access to better supplies.
- Promised to write letters of recommendation for executive positions that were about to open up.
- Extorted small amounts of comfort food from others through veiled threats.
- Collected "protection money," promising to put them on the priority rescue list during emergencies...
"Protection money?"
Startled by the sheer absurdity, I blurted it out loud.
"Yes. Amazingly, it's all true. We've already finished a second round of verification through interviews with the complainants. The list of actual distributed goods and the quantities were mismatched."
'So it's all undeniable fact, then...'
I was so dumbfounded that I just kept flipping through the pages, reading quickly.
- Attempted physical violence against our women.
This was probably a complaint filed by Ms. Lee So-eun, who was in charge of managing the women.
- Assaulted a manager who tried to stop him from taking supplies from the warehouse without permission.
- Sexual assault, sexual harassment...
"This bastard is pure fucking trash..."
As rage began to simmer within me, my comrades asked if we should drag the bastard in and interrogate him immediately.
"No. Just give me any other documents you've organized. I'll review all of this today."
Then, a sudden question arose in my mind. For the first time, I felt a bit angry at my comrades.
"But why didn't any of you put a stop to this? You could have easily shut down that ridiculous bullshit about him being 'close to me.'"
"The truth is..."
They said it wasn't done out in the open. He'd subtly spread the rumors little by little while working, or during meals. And the biggest problem was my absence. As those rumors spread, people had no choice but to cozy up to the Chief's 'acquaintance' or just endure it.
'Hah, they say three people together can conjure a tiger into existence...'
Indeed, as those rumors spread by word of mouth, the bastard had essentially become the 'Chief's acquaintance.' At that point, no one could openly voice any dissatisfaction.
"It's too late tonight. I'll meet him personally, alone, tomorrow."
Moments like this made me miss Titan. Conflicts there were resolved just by killing.
"Chief, then I'll leave this matter to you. As for the rest, I need to meet with the naval commander to discuss what to do about Busan."
"Anyway, these incidents just keep coming, don't they."
"And in fact..."
They said a satellite communication had come in from the U.S. for the first time in a while. The current movements of North Korea and China were unusual.
"North Korea? Didn't they collapse?"
"They actually handled the situation faster than anyone else."
Apparently, if any bite or scratch wound was found, they immediately eliminated the person without even checking the cause.
"But is their top brass intact?"
"Yes, unfortunately..."
The fortunate part was that only the top brass were intact; their military and weapons systems hadn't been restored yet. So any potential military provocation was unlikely. For some reason, both China and North Korea were currently not responding to any external communications at all.
"Good. Then bring the commander in tomorrow and have your discussion. I'll go meet that bastard myself."
As night fell, the meeting concluded, and everyone returned to their own homes. We also showered and went to bed, the three of us lying together in harmony.
'Is it four of us now?'
"Sihu, but what do we do if Kkamangi gets super huge?"
"That's a good point. Sihu, should we let Kkamangi run loose and raise it like those country mutts?"
I was petting Kkamangi's head. Whether it knew our worries or not, it just buried its face and kept making happy sounds.
"Well, it'll work out somehow."
"See, sometimes you're totally without a plan..."
She put on a mock-stern expression and said it playfully.
"Plans are for weaklings!"
"Pffft..."
"Anyway, it's gotten really late. Let's sleep now."
I carefully placed Kkamangi, who had been on my stomach, onto a cushion above my head, and we all fell asleep. But I'd barely dozed off when a frantic noise came from outside.
― Bang, bang, bang!!!
"Chief!!! Are you in there?!"
At the sound of banging on the front door, we all woke up and rushed to the entrance.
"What's going on...?"
"I'm sorry for waking you. A rape has occurred in the village...!"
At that heavy crime, the drowsiness I'd felt vanished in an instant.