Ch.45Villain or Hero

After searching for a nearby soup restaurant, Yu Hye-na arrived and immediately ordered soup for the hungry Han Mu-ryo as soon as they sat down.

“Excuse me, please bring six bowls of soup first.”

“Yes, customer… are four more people joining you?”

“No, just the two of us will be eating.”

“Uh…? Yes… um…? Understood.”

Of course this would be the reaction—blinking in surprise while looking at Han Mu-ryo, wondering if this big man really eats that much.

What to do? Six bowls was actually ordering less, since she was afraid they might think she was joking if she ordered more.

Shortly after the soup arrived, Yu Hye-na immediately ordered five more bowls.

“Could we have five more bowls, please?”

“Excuse me? We just brought these out.”

“Um… wait, would you like to see? You’ll understand when you see.”

“Kuheo…!”

Gulp, gulp, gulp—as Han Mu-ryo downed the hot soup like alcohol and put down the empty bowl, the server’s eyes widened in shock.

Then the next bowl went down just as quickly—glug, glug—taking only about 10 seconds to finish an entire bowl.

For Han Mu-ryo, one bowl of soup was equivalent to one spoonful for Yu Hye-na.

“I-I’ll bring them right away!”

“Kimchi.”

“Yes, I’ll bring some chives too!”

“Haah…”

Yu Hye-na sighed and slowly began eating the soup in front of her.

She felt foolish for having momentarily felt her heart flutter for this man, yet she was also comfortable because Han Mu-ryo seemed genuinely straightforward without any hidden agenda.

“Eat slowly. No one will say anything if you eat until you’re full.”

“I am eating slowly.”

“You’ve already emptied four bowls?”

“Your soup is her—wow, it’s true! Should I clear these away?”

“Ten bowls… no, just keep bringing more until we say stop.”

“Yes!”

A middle-aged man who appeared to be the owner came over with soup, seemingly curious to see if someone could really eat that much.

What a windfall, he must be thinking. As the excited owner walked away, Yu Hye-na looked quietly at Han Mu-ryo and said:

“Do you like soup?”

“Soup is the best food. It’s not expensive, comes out quickly, the portions are large, and the broth fills you up well.”

“Hmm? So you don’t like it because it’s delicious, but because it fills you up?”

“It’s delicious too.”

“Well… if that’s the case, I could have ordered a lot of any other food for you.”

If that was the reason for coming to a soup restaurant, she could have taken him somewhere with a nicer atmosphere.

As Yu Hye-na was feeling slightly disappointed, Han Mu-ryo emptied his tenth bowl and said:

“At every construction site, all foremen say the same thing: The only free meal you can get is soup.”

“Oh…”

“Maximum three bowls.”

Wait, so he knew he ate a lot and chose soup out of consideration, not wanting to eat something too expensive?

Suddenly feeling that soup wasn’t so bad after all, Yu Hye-na glanced at the menu.

“…Do you like boiled meat too?”

“Boiled meat is expensive, so I’ve never tried it.”

“Excuse me~! Could we also have four plates of boiled meat!”

“Do you like boiled meat?”

“I ordered it for you, you know?”

After ordering the boiled meat, Yu Hye-na watched as Han Mu-ryo opened his eyes wide and began devouring the food.

He wasn’t messy—he used his spoon properly, and if you ignored the sheer quantity he was consuming, he looked quite hearty while eating.

Glancing at the growing stack of empty bowls and the bill, Yu Hye-na carefully took out Yu Anna’s card from her bag.

She had planned to pay with her own money if possible, but… this person also ate at free meal centers, and it was her sister who suggested feeding him to use him as a bodyguard.

As Han Mu-ryo was enjoying his meal, he suddenly spoke as if something had just occurred to him.

“I’m curious about something.”

“Hmm? If you’re wondering if I’ll really let you eat until you’re full, as promised…”

“What is just punishment?”

“Punishment…?”

Han Mu-ryo stuffed a bunch of chives into his soup and the sound of him chewing and swallowing—crunch, crunch—overlapped with the memory of him crushing the robbers’ hands.

Suddenly, last night’s events flashed through her mind. Han Mu-ryo was asking Yu Hye-na again, in more detail, why she had stopped him from crushing the criminals’ hands.

“I thought about it while sleeping. Was crushing their hands unjust because I’m not human?”

“Superhumans are humans too, Mr. Han Mu-ryo.”

“I am different from humans.”

“Well, that may be true… but still, because you’re human, the same laws apply to everyone.”

“Laws.”

“Yes, so even if the criminal is a villain, and even if the person who arrested them is a hero, the same standards always apply to both. If a non-powered person had crushed someone’s hands during an arrest like that… that would be excessive force, so you shouldn’t do it either.”

Suddenly, Yu Hye-na recalled what her sister had experienced recently.

Even if they’re a villain, a criminal, or a citizen who doesn’t follow a hero’s instructions.

Because heroes must protect citizens, they cannot rashly kill.

If the opponent is a villain, the law becomes somewhat more lenient as both sides are essentially armed against each other… but even then, killing is the last resort.

After arrest, those who can be rehabilitated are guided, and only those who cannot are punished.

Frustrating as it may be, that’s the law.

“Why must I follow such things?”

“Do you perhaps not know what laws are?”

“I know roughly, but I haven’t heard about them for long.”

“Were you locked up somewhere…?”

“Something like that.”

What kind of life has this person lived to speak this way?

She had met many people while going to District 4, but this was the first time hearing someone talk like this.

“Well… a law is a rule by which people live. For example, with this soup, if you wanted it, you could just hit the owner and take it, right? But why don’t you do that?”

“Because the owner would get hurt.”

“Exactly! So, laws are agreements we make to live happily together.”

“H-here’s your soup… sir.”

The owner nervously set down the soup while glancing around cautiously. Han Mu-ryo blinked as he pondered deeply.

After a moment, having emptied another bowl, Han Mu-ryo spoke as if confused:

“What if the other person broke the rules first?”

“You don’t know the circumstances of why they broke the rules, right? The people we saw yesterday might have been bad criminals, but there are also those who have no choice.”

“What do you mean by ‘no choice’?”

“Some people commit crimes to survive.”

“If they want to survive, they can go to a construction site.”

That’s true.

As long as society exists, a normal person can earn money by sweating if they just have the courage to work.

So why do criminals not even do that, and instead commit robbery and theft?

“Some people might find even that difficult, right? If they’re really hungry and can’t find work.”

“As you say, there are children who steal to survive, and people who are forced to commit theft and robbery against their will.”

“Exactly. Giving the same punishment to such people… doesn’t seem fair to me.”

“Support programs.”

“What…?”

“You mentioned it. Government support programs.”

That’s right, Yu Hye-na had told the residents of District 4 exactly that.

That the government has welfare programs to help those in need. If they apply, they’ll receive support funds to start with, and can gradually begin working.

“Those who have strength but break rules don’t even try to find solutions—they just pick up knives. They bite their own kind and lick their blood.”

“That’s… just that some people don’t know the right methods.”

“Even animals hunt when hungry rather than choosing to eat weaker members of their own species. Only monsters naturally make such choices.”

“…People who choose crime of their own will should be punished for their wrongdoing.”

Yu Hye-na agreed on this point.

If someone knows there are other paths but chooses crime for their own convenience, they must be punished.

Like a child learning that hot fire burns, criminals need to learn that committing crimes doesn’t benefit them but incurs others’ anger.

“Then why do you say they shouldn’t be punished?”

“Because we don’t know. We don’t know what those people did.”

“They held a knife to you.”

“Yes, those people did, but others might have different circumstances. Some people might pick up a knife hoping no one gets hurt, just to earn money for baby formula for the day.”

“Then shouldn’t we just not punish those people?”

“Yes, but if we go around excessively punishing theft and robbery, excessive punishment becomes the legal standard. Severe punishment might be handed down before understanding why the crime was committed.”

“I see.”

“…Do you understand?”

“Cutting off a thief’s hand isn’t a bad punishment, but if that punishment continues, even those with no choice will lose their hands. One must consider that the other person might be vulnerable, before biting.”

“R-right, so… thieves should first receive a common light punishment, and then after investigation, if it’s confirmed they had bad intentions, additional punishment.”

“The police do the investigation.”

Nodding, Yu Hye-na was struck by a strange feeling.

Huh? I thought this person was simple-minded, but maybe he’s actually quite smart? Maybe his comment about being locked up somewhere wasn’t a joke?

Han Mu-ryo stopped drinking his soup and muttered quietly, as if writing new information on a blank page.

“The reason for investigation is to confirm intent.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“If intent is already known, punishment is acceptable.”

“That’s why superhumans with mind-reading abilities testify in final judgments in court.”

“So if one knows the other’s true intentions, punishment doesn’t matter?”

“No, no, no, that’s not… right. Multiple people need to know that intent. An individual can’t determine if it’s the correct answer. The person claiming bad intent might be lying, right? That’s why we have courts.”

“Monsters are immediately exterminated, but humans who are like monsters are not?”

“Extermination? Heroes shouldn’t talk like that.”

“I’m not a hero.”

Yu Hye-na was shocked by those words, though it was a small but significant revelation.

True enough, strictly speaking, the man before her was an illegal superhuman.

Neither hero nor villain.

“Those who aren’t human benefit humans by dying. So why not kill them?”

“That’s not… wrong, but… w-wait, Mr. Han Mu-ryo, have you ever killed someone?”

“Yes. Those who kill children like trash, and… those who asked me to kill them as they were dying.”

Crunch, crunch—Han Mu-ryo chewed through meat with bones in the soup and spoke with the same attitude as when discussing how delicious today’s meal was.

How could words be so blood-soaked? It felt like talking to a beast rather than a person.

The thought that this must be a misunderstanding gradually faded as the smell of blood grew stronger, making the greasy smell of the soup before her start to feel nauseating.

“You neither seem surprised nor run away even though I’ve killed humans.”

“That’s, well… even if you say so, it doesn’t feel real, and in times like these… a world where people easily die to monsters…”

“Yet you say killing humans is wrong? Why?”

“That’s…”

“If fruit has a rotten part, you cut it out before eating. Eating it together causes stomach upset. Why shouldn’t humans cut out what’s rotten?”

“Humans aren’t germs.”

The more they talked, the more Yu Hye-na felt that Han Mu-ryo’s standards were somewhat misaligned with those of ordinary humans.

However, that didn’t mean Han Mu-ryo was simply a crazy serial killer going around killing people.

The very fact that he was asking these questions to Yu Hye-na proved that.

“Mr. Han Mu-ryo? May I tell you my thoughts on why we shouldn’t arbitrarily kill criminals?”

“Go ahead.”

“Of course, the people you killed… seem beyond that, yes, if they were serial killers targeting children, they probably wouldn’t have escaped the death penalty even if handed over to the police. But what you’re wondering isn’t whether such people should live or die, right?”

“Mm.”

“They don’t seem to have done something deserving death, but they should be punished, right? If you cut out everything that’s rotten, you might cut out healthy parts too.”

“That’s right.”

“Then first, let me tell you why they shouldn’t be killed. It’s because people can change. Even criminals can be rehabilitated, so they shouldn’t be killed.”

“Rehabilitation…?”

Once again, Han Mu-ryo reacted as if hearing the word “rehabilitation” for the first time.

Like a nearly blank slate, a strong child who knows nothing.

His methods are cruel, but the reason behind his actions stems from a good intention—seeing trash that harms others and wanting to clean it up.

In this moment, Yu Hye-na realized that depending on her words, Han Mu-ryo could become either a villain or a hero.