Ch.149148. Kim Suho’s Survival in Seoul (2)

In truth, one couldn’t claim that Kim Su-ho’s policy of saving people was evil, and from a moral standpoint, it wasn’t necessarily wrong.

The problem was that Kim Su-ho’s policy was too idealistic for this apocalypse.

While he could be certain it was the right thing to do, the apocalypse was too blood-soaked to survive on righteousness alone.

“Foolish boy. Are humans such rational creatures?”

“Once the apocalypse happened, Kim Su-ho became the perfect scapegoat.”

Unlike what Kim Su-ho thought, humans weren’t such rational beings.

Rationally speaking, it was an undeniable fact that in this situation, they should cooperate and focus on survival as Kim Su-ho suggested.

However, rationality alone couldn’t explain this apocalypse, and with no way to explain it, people were desperate to vent their accumulated resentment on someone.

It was an extremely emotional reaction and essentially an escape from cruel reality, but humans were the ones who could become crueler than anyone else to explain the apocalypse.

Even among those who maintained their sanity while understanding the situation…

“If ordinary citizen Kim Su-ho can do it, can’t I do it too?”

“The Han River defense line? I could handle that.”

They felt that if civilian Kim Su-ho could do it, they could do it too.

Yes, these were the self-proclaimed geniuses of Luanox who thought they could obviously do it themselves, rejecting Kim Su-ho’s proposals and even insulting the gods.

“Why should civilian Kim Su-ho be the leader?”

Before the apocalypse, they had been ministers or representatives in high positions, and they didn’t want to bow their heads to Kim Su-ho, who was just starting his career.

If they could overthrow Kim Su-ho and take his power for themselves, they thought they could solve everything. They were involved in all the political conspiracies arising in Gangnam.

Especially in this apocalypse, rumors and fake news were extremely effective, allowing them to establish a foundation and incite public opinion against Kim Su-ho.

“Do they have no conscience?”

The problem was that these people had benefited the most from Kim Su-ho’s policies.

In other words, Kim Su-ho had protected their interests to secure their cooperation, but they were now betraying him and trying to take control of Gangnam and the Han River defense line for themselves.

They were unworthy of being called human but qualified as beasts, so Kim Su-ho had chosen the wrong people to save.

But who could have known that the people he saved would be unworthy of humanity yet qualified as beasts?

If Kim Su-ho had known this, he would have been appalled.

“Not a single person is helping me…!”

In fact, he deeply regretted saving these human-unworthy beast-qualified people.

Gangnam was now aflame with left-right conflict as self-proclaimed representatives incited those looking for someone to blame for the apocalypse. Even Kim Su-ho, who had no interest in politics, could quickly understand the reason and cause.

Perhaps he was forced to level up enough to understand it, but Kim Su-ho quickly realized that this situation was a side effect of his idealistic policies.

“I failed. I completely failed.”

Normally, people might not want to admit their failure and would cling to their policies, but Kim Su-ho didn’t have that luxury.

He immediately acknowledged that his policy had failed and needed to find a solution to these side effects.

‘The problem is that I don’t have a political advisor.’

The problem was that Kim Su-ho didn’t have someone specialized in these matters… a political advisor.

Unfortunately, most people under Kim Su-ho were field workers, with almost no political commentators. The absence of political advisors could be considered one of the causes of this situation.

If Kim Su-ho had had a practical politician beside him who could implement his ideals, he might not have fallen into this difficult situation through a compromise between ideals and reality.

But unfortunately, from Kim Su-ho’s perspective, there was no sign of the practical politician he so desperately needed at the Han River defense line.

“Why should I follow Kim Su-ho?”

“This is a national crisis, but if we can use Korea’s power again, we can overcome it.”

“Isn’t this an abuse of authority? That’s why I should do it! I can do it!”

Rather than reality, all he could see were beast-qualified people engaged in dirty politics to seize power.

But now Kim Su-ho knew.

Just as they had incited extremist supporters in Gangnam and absorbed them into their forces, Kim Su-ho had used his field workers to identify who these people really were.

‘Taking advantage of the apocalypse. A non-mainstream faction seizing opportunity. Not even actual representatives.’

They weren’t elected representatives, nor had they legitimately succeeded proportional representation seats.

They were merely opportunists who belonged to a party seeking to seize power during the apocalypse.

But how could they claim to be Korean representatives…

‘Because they were actually in that party. They were a non-mainstream faction. They took advantage of the party’s incapacitation to seize control and now claim to be the party’s legitimate successors.’

The National Assembly met the same fate as South Korea during the Great Flood, and naturally, many representatives were wiped out.

Both the conservative and democratic parties had lost their leadership, and these people had seized the vacant positions in both parties.

So it was natural that formal complaints to the conservative or democratic parties still existing in name would be useless.

Both parties had essentially been devoured by these beast-qualified people in their corpse-like state.

Frankly, it was questionable whether they could still be considered the traditional democratic or conservative parties.

“Kim Su-ho is not the president.”

“Isn’t this actually illegal?”

“It’s illegal! The National Assembly should impeach Kim Su-ho and suspend his authority. Kim Su-ho is an enemy of South Korea! Yes, an enemy of democracy! The hero is an enemy of democracy!”

The fact that South Korea maintained its name, though nearly dead, had become a dagger stabbing Kim Su-ho.

These people were parasites on the name of South Korea, attacking Kim Su-ho, and despite knowing this, he couldn’t fight back.

After all, the democratic and conservative parties represented South Korea, at least in name, didn’t they?

They had originally been party members who survived the apocalyptic disaster and now claimed the authority of representatives under the pretext of maintaining a control tower.

Kim Su-ho, who had never been skilled in political battles, was gradually overwhelmed by their logic and could only sigh more and more.

“I’m clearly not the president. I wasn’t originally someone who did this kind of work. But isn’t this an emergency situation—the apocalypse? Please follow my instructions.”

“Are you threatening me?”

“If necessary.”

With eyes full of emotion, Kim Su-ho essentially delivered an ultimatum, begging them to follow his words given the circumstances.

No matter how much of a pushover or idealist Kim Su-ho was, he was a capable fighter who had realistically judged and successfully defended against zombie waves in this apocalypse.

This fighter judged that the situation would worsen if he left these people alone, and he considered using force to stop them, but…

“Follow my instructions. I am a five-term representative.”

“But the command…”

The problem was that a real representative had joined this mess.

When a genuinely elected representative survived and demanded command authority, Kim Su-ho was taken aback and questioned how the command would be handled.

“I am also an Awakened.”

The representative countered Kim Su-ho’s objection by arguing that he too was an Awakened.

After all, surviving until now and reaching the Han River defense line meant either using an ingenious method or surviving through one’s own strength.

Especially to gain the strength needed to survive, becoming an Awakened was the fastest way, and this representative had taken that quick path to gain power.

“I understand.”

When a real representative appeared, Kim Su-ho felt he lacked the justification to suppress their outrageous behavior and had to back down.

Though tattered, the name of South Korea was maintained, and he respected that authority.

However, this action led many to mistakenly believe that Kim Su-ho couldn’t dare defy the solemn laws of South Korea.

In other words, he lost prestige by weakly backing down against the authority of a representative.

“You are indeed not our president.”

Starting with those who had been dissatisfied with the command of Kim Su-ho, who had no official position, to the ministers of South Korea who had absorbed these dissatisfied people.

With just one confrontation, the situation had completely reversed, and Kim Su-ho sighed as if his head hurt.

“So what do you want me to do? You know how urgent the situation is, don’t you?”

If he had confronted the real representative more firmly when they appeared, he might not have lost his prestige.

If he had strongly emphasized the apocalypse and mentioned the northern region that was still like hell, those who were secretly dissatisfied might not have questioned his leadership despite the politicians’ sophistry.

Without a political advisor, Kim Su-ho hadn’t thought of such a strategy, and so he found himself challenged by the government of South Korea that he had saved.

“Then return our authority.”

“I’ll return it. Can you cooperate?”

Still, Kim Su-ho wanted to say that they could take all the authority they wanted if they would just cooperate.

The Han River defense line was a fierce battlefield, with zombies and survivors pouring in every day.

They needed as many fighters as possible and administrative personnel who could handle the work.

If these people could take over Kim Su-ho’s duties, he would gladly hand over authority to them.

“We’ll see how you do.”

The problem was that even after handing over the authority they wanted, cooperation was not easy.

The reason they were so dissatisfied with Kim Su-ho was that he, an ordinary civilian with no position, had arbitrarily used their authority.

If he had originally been a government employee or related to them, they might not have openly complained about the abuse of authority.

However, Kim Su-ho was a complete outsider to them, and they felt their authority and power had been forcibly taken by an outsider, which is why they expressed their dissatisfaction.

“What do you want me to do?!”

But Kim Su-ho had too many counterarguments to their complaints.

At that time, he had no choice but to use that authority because there was no other way to manage the chaos. Even though Kim Su-ho recognized it as an abuse of authority, he had no choice but to use it.

The fact that he had managed to bring some order was because he had used what they called “authority.”

“You’ve been through a lot.”

“NIS agent.”

Of course, not all South Korean government agencies refused to follow Kim Su-ho, and some agencies began to emerge that faithfully followed him.

Especially the field workers who were directly involved in operations could all be considered Kim Su-ho’s loyal allies.

“What crazy thinking. Do you still not understand reality?”

“Our country’s elites have always been disconnected from the people and criticized for their authoritarianism. But to ignore reality even in this situation?! Do you think we’re pushovers?!”

“Kim Su-ho is a hero! But the elites are stealing the many achievements that Kim Su-ho… no, His Excellency has built up!”

Working in the field, they knew the reality of this country well.

Every day without fail, they had to rescue survivors with Kim Su-ho on the hellish battlefield and guide those survivors to the Han River defense line that Kim Su-ho was defending.

They had to fight the undead they encountered, and when the undead blocked the way to the bridge, they had to break through at the risk of their lives.

As NIS agents deployed to such fierce battlefields every day without fail, they knew the reality better than anyone.

“It’s already a fallen nation. A fallen nation.”

“South Korea has essentially collapsed.”

“It’s essentially just maintaining its name through Kim Su-ho’s abilities alone!”

They lamented that South Korea had essentially collapsed.

It could be considered a fallen nation, merely maintaining its name by parasitizing on Kim Su-ho’s individual abilities.

It was truly ironic that they themselves were agents who had worked for South Korea, but now these agents were disappointed in the country and had given up on it.

“Do those guys have any thoughts or not?! They’re throwing away all our chances of survival for that kind of power?!”

“Can the Han River defense line be maintained if they take away His Excellency’s authority?! No way! Even if they’re Awakened, how many of them do you think have reached even level 5?! I guarantee not many! They’re cowards who can’t jump back into that hellish battlefield!”

That’s why they were greatly angered by the contradictions of South Korea that had exploded with this apocalypse.

They even openly cursed these people, asking why they were still clinging to their former positions when the situation was like this.

“In that case, let’s abandon them.”

“It’s impossible to go with them.”

Some radical agents even proposed a coup d’état to Kim Su-ho.

That’s how disappointed they were in these people’s behavior, recognizing that South Korea should rightfully perish and be reborn as a new government.

Their thinking was that South Korea had reached the end of its life, so it should be reborn as a new country and overcome the apocalypse with that vitality.

“No, I can’t do that. They are also citizens of South Korea. If I sincerely persuade them, eventually they will all understand my intentions.”

“Do you think that’s possible?”

“I’ll try.”

However, Kim Su-ho’s response that a coup d’état was going too far managed to stop their rampage for now.

No matter how difficult, violence cannot be justified—that was Kim Su-ho’s belief.