Ch.159158. Crime City (1)

When people typically talk about the police, they could be called “the people’s walking stick,” but in the pre-apocalyptic era when information spread rapidly through social media and YouTube, police were often satirized for their incompetence.

In reality, many people distrusted the police, either because untrained officers had seriously poor physical fitness and couldn’t properly subdue suspects, or because of unnecessary excessive force.

“The police? They’re just masterless dogs now. Do you think cops like them could catch us?”

“The Republic of Korea is just a sign! There’s no real authority! Hahahahaha!”

Many of the looters who appeared this time had emerged because they underestimated the police forces of each faction. They had a misplaced confidence that even if they encountered police, the officers wouldn’t dare subdue or attack people like them who had already tasted blood.

Well, since even the Daegu interim government had fallen to looters, this was considered a proud achievement among their ranks. They used this achievement to intimidate others and make them afraid.

It was essentially mockery of the public authority that had collapsed due to the apocalypse. The looters who went to Gyeongju also thought that no one would be able to subdue them or even dare to confront them.

…However, the looters who infiltrated Gyeongju would soon have the opportunity to experience firsthand just how foolish their choice had been.

“Gack!?”

“What? You’re weak.”

Their opponents weren’t the physically unfit police who couldn’t even subdue civilians—the ones mocked on social media and YouTube—but rather the state’s big, beautiful instruments of violence.

Historically, it seemed like violence was the medicine for criminals. For these looters who had tasted blood, the authorities had prepared living weapons of war who had performed brilliantly in the Ulsan War.

From the beginning, though they had “tasted blood,” looters were by nature opportunistic calculators. Would such opportunists risk their lives against opponents stronger than themselves?

Of course not. Instead, they sought out those weaker than themselves, stealing resources from the vulnerable and taking lives.

Such people couldn’t be expected to have particularly high levels as Awakened, and even if there were high-ranking looters in a faction, they couldn’t stand against true superhumans who had come to eradicate them.

“We’ve established the encirclement. Handle it as you see fit.”

“Got it. They’re really being annoying, holing up inside their base. If I were them, I’d line up in formation. How troublesome, making me go in there.”

The woman who nonchalantly entered the looters’ temporary base head-on was a veteran warrior who could rightfully be called a hero—one who had not only recaptured a region but also performed brilliantly in the Ulsan War.

Above all, the Balhut Cult had made aggressive investments to resolve this situation. The equipment used by the police who had established the encirclement was only nominally “non-lethal”—in reality, it wasn’t much different from weapons used in war.

So, the deployment of these two heavily armed individuals to the scene meant…

“Aaaaargh?!”

“W-what is this strength… this monster woman!”

“Who are you calling a monster woman? Really now. If you’ve been tormenting people, you should be prepared to receive the same treatment in return, don’t you think?”

It was like a high-level user appearing in a low-level hunting ground… no, it was more like stagnant water that had rotted completely appearing to slaughter innocent civilians.

Truthfully, there was absolutely no basis for these looters to defeat Jin A-yeon and Han Seong-geun.

Equipment? As police forces invested in by the state, they could receive virtually unlimited support.

Numbers? Ha, that would be a foolish approach.

Even if they wanted to compete in numbers, the Balhut Cult was an organization that produced new Awakened every quarter thanks to the Awakened project completed by the Dragon God Bahamut.

Naturally, if they had the will, they could deploy all newly Awakened individuals as police forces. Prime Minister Hwang Geun-chul, following the firm orders of Yu-na, the Dragon’s Priestess, had trained all these Awakened and deployed them as police forces.

Even if the looters wanted to compete in numbers, their opponents were already doing the same.

That left only the qualitative difference between Awakened… which would be a truly foolish question.

“This is impossible!”

“Why is a superhuman here?! We fled all the way here!”

“P-please spare me!”

As mentioned just before, these were warriors of reversal who had survived the hellish Ulsan front.

The strength they had accumulated made them among the world’s strongest Awakened at this point in time.

To be frank, at this point, superhumans who had surpassed level 20 weren’t common—only a tiny minority across the world had reached this level.

There was no need to describe the fight.

Jin A-yeon entered the looters’ base. Jin A-yeon roared. All the looters were eradicated. Just these three sentences would be enough to explain all the scenes that would follow.

“Good work, A-yeon.”

“Well, it was easy. These guys were just pathetic.”

Han Seong-geun praised Jin A-yeon, who had single-handedly eradicated the looter organization disguised as a refugee group. Jin A-yeon, as if it were nothing, lightly swung her spear and subdued all the looters in the vicinity.

There was no need for Han Seong-geun to step in. Jin A-yeon alone could defeat all the looters there even if they all attacked at once. The only job for the police forces that accompanied them was to establish an encirclement to prevent the looters from escaping and to clean up the scene after Jin A-yeon’s rampage.

It was too trivial a task for police who had steeled themselves to subdue criminals and restore public order, but…

‘She’s a monster.’

‘A monster.’

‘A monster indeed.’

The group of rookie Awakened who had joined the police forces could not even think of opposing or rebelling against Jin A-yeon’s prowess they had just witnessed. They just silently cleaned up the scene of her rampage.

After all, they weren’t from Gyeongju but from outside. According to rumors, they had been appointed as police chief and deputy on Jeong Dong-geon’s recommendation, like parachute appointments.

Inwardly, they had participated in the Awakened project to become Awakened themselves and had obtained their police positions through bloody efforts with promises of good treatment. Compared to them, these two appeared to be parachute appointees who had reached top positions instead of their veteran instructors or seniors just for some achievement on the battlefield.

Naturally, there was dissatisfaction, and they had shown an attitude of testing how capable these appointees were… but after witnessing that scene, they were now rookie police officers who vowed never to act up or rebel.

“Wow. She’s a monster. So that’s what a superhuman is.”

“It’s my second time seeing it, but she seems stronger than before. Looking at her again, she’s still a monster.”

Kim Tae-hyun, who had come along as a civilian collaborator, called Jin A-yeon a monster and expressed his fear, saying she was a completely different being from himself. Kang Jae-wan, who had interviewed various Awakened, also commented that she had grown stronger since last time and was still a monster.

Well, unlike those who had expected a fight like something out of a police movie, it had ended in just three concise sentences: Jin A-yeon entered. Jin A-yeon roared! The looters fell.

But to say these looters were weak would be absolutely wrong.

“Those guys. They gave us so much trouble.”

“Right?”

“But with just one rampage, they all went down. Is she made of water muscles?”

“That’s not it. Superhumans are just that amazing.”

Their infamy had reached its peak among civilians, and the damage they caused was severe.

Especially Kim Tae-hyun, who often went outside for work, had suffered terrible losses from looters disguised as refugees—damaged trucks or, in worse cases, losing the trucks entirely. Because he knew their viciousness and strength well, he couldn’t believe this scene.

He had heard about the greatness of superhumans, but he never dreamed they would be this impressive.

“Hey, you guys. Stop your local broadcast and bring the magic suppression handcuffs now. We’re arresting all these guys for flagrant offenses.”

“Yes, ma’am!”

But their local broadcast ended there.

With a bang, Jin A-yeon struck the ground with the tip of her spear and shouted at them to stop playing around and get to work. At her command, the rookie police officers carried out her orders with clear discipline, and Kim Tae-hyun and Kang Jae-wan were swept up in it too.

As for Jin A-yeon herself…

“You look old enough!”

“Yes, big sis!”

“Good grief.”

She didn’t like how they addressed her and made a truly annoyed expression, but with that, Jin A-yeon could be said to have taken control of the police organization.

There were no more questions directed at Jin A-yeon, and any police officers who had thought of not following her orders had all disappeared.

In fact, with such an overwhelming difference, they would feel reverence rather than jealousy, and it would be strange not to follow her.

“The cleanup operation isn’t as easy as I thought.”

“This isn’t easy?”

“Yes. With our forces dispersed separately, efficiency is lacking. We’ll need to request high-ranking officers to work in the field.”

However, Han Seong-geun wasn’t satisfied with this cleanup operation, evaluating that the work wasn’t progressing efficiently because the looters were dispersed.

Therefore, high-ranking officers in the field—that is, high-level Awakened—were needed. The problem was that many such high-ranking Awakened had joined the Balhut Cult from the beginning and had been working there until now.

For the Ulsan front, there was no problem because they knew Han Seong-geun, but there were plenty of high-ranking Awakened who didn’t know him. The Balhut Cult couldn’t divert forces from the Ulsan front, so they had to draft high-ranking officers working in Gyeongju to join the experienced police forces.

This naturally brought along their dissatisfaction and suspicion, but…

“What are you looking at, eyeballs?”

“I’m sorry!”

The solution was simply to deploy Jin A-yeon as mentioned earlier and make them all submit.

Han Seong-geun preferred to deploy Jin A-yeon rather than step forward himself, ending their suspicions and establishing a clear hierarchy.

Considering the war against crime ahead, he had provided the driving force to move forward despite some complaints or side effects.

Moreover, Han Seong-geun himself had one solid advantage that made it hard to call him just a parachute appointee.

“Where to next?”

“There’s a criminal organization that the NTS has identified in advance. They’ve been diligently paying their taxes, so the NTS hasn’t touched them, but they’d be good results for our newly launched police organization.”

If Jin A-yeon excelled in force, Han Seong-geun had excellent administrative and command abilities that allowed her force to be utilized to its maximum potential.

The fact that Jeong Dong-geon had chosen Han Seong-geun, who had just joined, as his proxy instead of his deputy Son Sang-hui, guaranteed his command ability. Having lived as a resistance fighter against the Cult of Immortality for a long time, his practical and administrative processing abilities could also be considered excellent.

Using the internal information network available through the cult’s support, Han Seong-geun identified each group of refugees heading toward the Balhut Cult’s territory and dispatched appropriate police forces accordingly.

And the police forces dispatched in this way were steadily building up achievements by arresting looters disguised as refugees without a single loss.

“Compared to the Ulsan front, this is an easy fight.”

Considering that the hellish Ulsan front could lead to the annihilation of a unit with just one mistake, the current refugee problem was very easy for Han Seong-geun—just collect appropriate information and then dispatch suitable units.

“Isn’t this person scarier?”

“Watch your words. It will definitely be reflected in your personnel evaluation.”

“That’s exactly why he’s scary.”

Honestly, there were many Awakened who had reached Han Seong-geun’s level, and even with Jin A-yeon present, the fear was directed at her—they could still rebel against Han Seong-geun.

However, Han Seong-geun appropriately used his position as police chief and utilized his authority over personnel evaluations to take control of them.

Sure, they could rebel if they wanted to, but accumulated rebellions could block their career advancement.

Having come this far, nothing would be sadder than having their advancement blocked, which is why they couldn’t harbor thoughts of rebelling against Han Seong-geun.

In this way, Han Seong-geun quickly took control of the police internally, successfully establishing himself as a reaper-like figure more fearsome than Jin A-yeon to the high-ranking officers by seizing command, administration, and personnel evaluation authority.

“There are really a lot of criminal organizations, by the way.”

“Well, criminal organizations that have tasted blood won’t easily return to society. Above all, there’s not enough time to reestablish the same level of public order as before.”

Nevertheless, they couldn’t stop the proliferation of these looters.

The fundamental cause was that Kim Su-ho in Seoul had essentially abandoned the group project he was responsible for, causing all control to disappear.

No matter how active they were in just Gyeongju and Pohang, the proliferation of looters wouldn’t weaken—rather, it was growing fiercer as they entered operations to grow as a kind of warlord.

“The Ulsan front is busy, but it’s extremely busy here too. I’m starting to enjoy beating up criminals.”

“Don’t use excessive force. You could be called to a cabinet hearing for human rights issues.”

However, there were those who put the brakes on the police’s actions.

Naturally, their method of subduing criminals would have been unimaginable before the apocalypse—it was so violent, with blood flowing freely, that it would immediately be subject to censorship if broadcast on TV or YouTube.

In a pinch, they might even fire the Balhut Cult’s secret weapon, the Bahamut Bullet, making it a suppression scene where the word “human rights” would naturally come up if it were pre-apocalypse.

So, in the cabinet, a meaningful member who put the brakes on Jin A-yeon’s actions…

“Really? Are there people talking about human rights issues now, in this apocalypse?”

Rather than existing, to be honest, it was clearly pre-apocalyptic logic—in the current apocalypse, even this was considered moderate.

In any case, they ended with subduing rather than killing, and even if someone was disabled during subduing, they could quickly recover with the Awakened’s regenerative abilities and Divine Arts.

Moreover, in this world where death itself was commonplace, discussing human rights… wasn’t the world too harsh for that?

“Well, there are. Surprisingly many. I was quite surprised. I don’t know if they’re insensitive or if they’re thinking differently because life is comfortable enough.”

But put differently, the fact that the word “human rights” naturally came up indicated that life in the Balhut Cult was comfortable enough.

The fact that people could think about things other than survival could be evidence that reconstruction had succeeded, but that was limited to scenes in Gyeongju or Pohang—outside was still close to a dark hell.

“I’d like to show those guys the scene. Cripple a looter or two, and then we can subdue them comfortably. Anyone who thinks we should go easy on Awakened is an idiot. We’re calling them criminals. Do they think they’re just subsistence criminals?”

Jin A-yeon criticized the cabinet members for perceiving the Awakened criminals they were hunting as subsistence criminals.

She said if they directly saw what these criminals had done and understood the scale, their thinking would change.

“In America, they call Awakened criminals ‘villains.'”

“That fits perfectly. Then are we heroes?”

“Just police, I guess. Anyway, institutional improvements are needed. Since I have a position where I can directly meet with Yu-na, I should report it myself.”

In America, they separately classified these individuals as “villains,” and Han Seong-geun expounded that the Balhut Cult’s system needed improvement.

His argument was that the looters emerging from the current situation should not continue to be perceived as subsistence criminals but as villains threatening society.

“Well, hang in there, Mr. Han. As someone whose only tool is force, I can’t offer much help.”

Jin A-yeon just encouraged him but said she couldn’t help beyond that.

What would happen next was Han Seong-geun’s responsibility, not related to her as a field worker.

Oh really? Nothing to do with you? Sure about that?