The Gwangju Retribution
“It’s JD!!”
The voice of a college student—a passionate youth of 1980s South Korea—rang out thunderously, echoing through the surroundings.
“What? JD is here? What are you talking about?”
“Wait, now that you mention it, didn't they say JD was being transferred to Gwangju Prison?”
People flocked toward the source of the shout, and at the same time, the student yelled again.
“Over there! JD is in that bus!!”
This time, the crowd’s gaze was firmly fixed on the bus. It was a chilling scene, with hundreds of eyes piercing a single point. JD, startled, instinctively hid his face. But that only drew more attention to the bus. People who had been watching from a distance began to occupy the road, pressing their faces against the glass.
Honk! Honk-! Hooooonk-!
“You crazy bastards! It’s a green light! Move out of the way!”
As one driver honked his horn and stuck his head out the window, a man in his thirties who had been approaching the bus shouted back.
“JD is in that bus! They must be transferring him to Gwangju Prison!”
“What? JD?!”
The driver immediately got out of his car and followed the crowd toward the bus. In the blink of an eye, the crowd grew from hundreds to nearly a thousand people surrounding the vehicle. The road was paralyzed, and the bus couldn't move an inch.
“Ugh... Hey, hey, hey, guard! D-do something!”
JD was in a state of absolute delirium. He had looked at the citizens like insects until now, but seeing them after losing his power, he realized just how terrifying they could be.
“Officer, do something.”
Even the bus driver urged him, but the prison guard was just as panicked.
“W-what do you expect me to do? T-the bus is safe for now... The police will be here soon. They can’t ignore a riot like this.”
“R-right, they will, won't they?”
Listening to the guard and the driver, JD curled up in the bus aisle, wrapping his arms around his head.
“Ughhhhh....”
But the situation didn't unfold so easily.
Someone shouted from outside. And that shout acted like a spark hitting the oil of the crowd.
Thousands of people now swarmed the bus, shaking it violently. Some tried to break the windows with their elbows, and someone brought a rock from somewhere and smashed it against the glass.
Bang-! Bang! Baaaang!
Although it was a reinforced transport bus, no one knew how long it could hold up against such enraged citizens. With thousands of people shaking it, it wouldn't have been strange if the bus had tipped over at any moment.
“U-uaaaah!”
While JD was screaming, one of the windows finally shattered with a loud crash.
“It’s no good. Get to the roof!”
Through the ceiling hatch, the guard pushed JD up. If they stayed like this, the citizens would break in through the windows. JD, the guard, and the driver climbed onto the roof of the bus, but this wasn't a good move either. JD was now fully exposed to the citizens of Gwangju.
At someone's shout, the driver jumped down, sensing his chance, and the Gwangju citizens caught him safely.
The guard hesitated for a moment and looked at JD. JD stared back with desperate eyes, but the guard eventually jumped into the arms of the Gwangju citizens. After all, the guard didn't have any good feelings toward JD either. While it was a dereliction of duty, he decided he had no obligation to risk his life for JD.
“N-no!”
JD screamed as the guard and the driver disappeared from the shaking bus roof. And then.
Thwack-!
“Argh!”
A rock thrown by someone struck JD square in the forehead. In an instant, a two-centimeter lump rose on his brow, turning deep red before blood began to drip down.
It wasn't just one person. Many people shouted in unison to throw rocks, and they began to find stones nearby and hurl them at JD. From pebbles the size of fingernails to cobblestones the size of thumbs, and even massive rocks that were hard to throw—most were aimed at other citizens on the other side of the bus, but the sheer volume meant that the number of rocks hitting JD was far from negligible.
“Argh! Aaaah! S-save me!”
JD had to endure the barrage of rocks from the enraged citizens while curled into a ball. He suffered cuts and bled from various parts of his body, but the citizens never stopped. Even among the citizens, some were injured by stray rocks, but they just stood back up and threw again.
“Ugh! Argh! S-stop!”
It was impossible to endure when rocks were flying from every direction. JD tried to shift his body while huddled to minimize the pain, but it was meaningless as the rocks came from all sides. If anything, his excessive movement caused him to lose his balance after being hit by a particularly large stone.
“Ack!”
JD’s curled body rolled off the bus roof and fell onto the citizens below. The crowd scattered instantly, as if something filthy had fallen among them.
Thud-!
The heavy sound of a grown man’s weight falling from head-height echoed through the area.
“Ughhh....”
JD, slightly lifting his body, naturally ended up in a crawling position. He looked up, meeting the faces of the enraged Gwangju citizens. Because so many people had gathered, they were almost right on top of him despite having scattered.
“P-please, save me...”
JD begged for his life, even resorting to groveling, polite language. But...
The Gwangju citizens surrounding JD began to trample him underfoot.
“Kyah! Ack! Argh!”
JD’s screams were truly pathetic. But did JD know that the people who had suffered because of him had to scream even more sorrowful cries in even more miserable situations? The Gwangju citizens, who had experienced those situations firsthand, did not hold back their kicks.
“Let me kick him too! My uncle died during 5·18!”
“My sister was raped by the military during 5·18 and suffered a miscarriage! It’s all because of that bastard!”
“My younger brother was shot to death that day! He was only in the first grade of elementary school! What did a child who was just coming home from school do wrong?! Ughhh...!”
The deep-seated grudges were poured into every kick, and JD had to absorb them all with his own body.
How much time passed? Whether it was intentional or unavoidable, JD was only pulled away from the citizens after the police arrived, albeit late.
“Indeed. History is truly ironic.”
Yoon-gi had not intervened in JD’s transfer at all. The same went for N, DJ, and YS. And every other person Yoon-gi could command. JD’s fate had been sealed solely by the detention center director’s personal, impulsive decision. If someone higher up had managed the transfer, they would have certainly used a convoy of police cars. But because of the director’s unilateral decision, the transfer to Gwangju Prison was set with only one bus, one driver, and one guard.
And the result? JD was left effectively disabled for life. Furthermore, the Gwangju citizens faced no punishment. There was no way to identify "who threw which rock." Thanks to this, spontaneous festivals were held in Gwangju for a while. It was, in every sense, the perfect realization of justice.
“You’re eating popcorn?”
At Yoon-gi’s feigned look of surprise, Choi Deok-bae nodded.
“Wow, you’re even keeping it in storage now...”
“Hmm, then what about bowing to spoiled food?”
Though the topic had briefly veered off, Yoon-gi returned to the original subject.
“In the original history, JD lives a long life, doesn't he? Maybe that’s why he survived.”
“That’s true. But isn't him not dying right now helpful to us?”
Indeed, JD’s survival had a profound impact on the final cleanup regarding the Manse Welfare Center.
JD was hospitalized with severe injuries. Normally, a suspension of the execution of his sentence might have been granted, but it was rejected. The reason was simple.
[You can still talk, can't you?]
If this were the 2010s and the criminal were an ordinary person, it might have caused a social outcry. But this was the 80s, and it was JD himself who had requested the suspension. Even if it was rejected, the public didn't care at all. Therefore, JD had to go through the second and third trial schedules as planned, and even those were dismissed. The "selected ANSP agents" had prepared the materials so meticulously that they had completely blocked any grounds for JD to appeal.
Furthermore, because a large number of charges related to incitement to murder regarding the Manse Welfare Center were recognized, there was no chance of his sentence being reduced to life imprisonment. JD was sentenced to death, and now that his trial was over, all the evidence used in this case could be used in other courts as well.
The case, dubbed the "Welfare Center Gate," proceeded rapidly, and the first trial concluded. Baek Seo-hong and Go Yu-seung, the directors of the Manse Welfare Center, were sentenced to death; Choi Bu-seok, the Busan Metropolitan Police Agency Commissioner, was sentenced to life imprisonment; and Im Seong-uk, the Chief Prosecutor of the Busan High Prosecutors' Office, also received life imprisonment. Additionally, the prosecutors, police officers, and civil servants deeply involved in the case received prison sentences or fines, and since they were all dismissed, Busan effectively faced a massive administrative vacuum.
‘How can I utilize this administrative vacuum smoothly?’
Yoon-gi had already thought of a way to exploit this gap. The problem was how to apply it. Since there were clear risks depending on the situation, Yoon-gi fell into deep thought.
As Yoon-gi reached for the bowl of plum extract on his desk, Choi Deok-bae grimaced and vanished from the room. However, Yoon-gi, ignoring him, picked up a plum and was about to bring it to his mouth. But suddenly, a red hand grabbed his wrist. Or rather, it seemed to be trying to.
“Huh?”
The vibrator, which had turned red at some point, was holding Yoon-gi’s wrist and shaking its head back and forth.