Strangely Quick Response.

 

One week after Tia ceased her activities.

An incident occurred.

A stalking crime from two months ago.

A man who had been following a woman for months finally used his ability to break into her home.

Fortunately, a hunter living next door heard the screams and saved her, so she wasn’t injured, but the court’s ruling was problematic.

The stalker received 5 years for breaking and entering.

The hunter who helped received a sentence of up to 2 years in prison or a fine of up to 5 million won for assault.

The reason was that self-defense wasn’t justified because the opponent wasn’t carrying any weapons.

It was natural for people to be outraged upon hearing this news.

-Do we have to wait until they use their abilities?

-Would you wait until someone with a gun pulls the trigger?

-They wouldn’t say this if it happened to them.

And among the angry comments, one stood out with an unusually high number of likes:

-The guy Tia caught got 20 years and had to wear a mana restriction bracelet.

The stalker that Tia had caught.

He was subdued by Tia just before he could use his ability to kill Fran, and was punished for attempted murder and forced to wear a mana restriction bracelet for life.

Some argued that the situations were different, but they couldn’t answer the question of whether that stalker truly had no intention to kill.

If the hunter had arrived late, the situation could have easily been the same.

Many also questioned whether a lighter sentence made sense just because he was stopped earlier, and mentioned the high likelihood of retaliation after 5 years.

As people naturally began looking for Tia during this time.

Problems arose elsewhere as well.

♦♦♦

Even in Korea, where little was known about Tia, there were naturally people who kept an eye on her.

Entities that cared more about her than the government or her family.

Villains.

Korea is a place with not only many outstanding hunters but also high-level villains.

10 years ago. When the aftermath of the Gates had subsided.

As crime became rampant again, the government declared a war on crime.

Since there had already been successful precedents, people didn’t think it would fail.

However, the war on crime didn’t end even after several years.

Back then, they could subdue gangsters with knives because they had guns, but now gangsters also had Awakened among them, making suppression difficult.

One major reason was the significant influence of gangsters due to the uniqueness of the post-war period.

In the end, the government decided to temporarily suspend the war on crime.

The reasons were that they couldn’t further reduce the number of Awakened when dungeons could appear at any time, and that the economy needed to be revived more than crime needed to be addressed.

Gangsters also stopped extortion and gradually transformed into corporate-type gangsters, understanding that they could only make money if the country prospered.

And though not directly, the existence of Tia had the most significant indirect influence.

No matter how little interest she showed in Korea, no one knew when the regime might change and she might enter the country.

Those who knew that she had tried to follow repatriation procedures when she first came to Korea did not put the possibility of her coming to Korea at zero.

In fact, she came to Korea a month ago.

However, her actions in Korea were very passive.

She broke a congressman’s leg and burst an actor’s testicles, but she didn’t kill them, so by her usual standards, it was indeed very passive.

In the end, she chose to take a month off due to public backlash.

Or so it was known.

‘She’s lost affection for Korea.’

Kim Du-il, the leader of the Yangdong-i faction of gangsters who had been dissatisfied with the corporate-style villains.

He was a person who recalled the era of romantic fists (not really) and wanted to enjoy that glory again.

Days spent fantasizing about people avoiding him as he walked down the street and being called a hero in people’s mouths.

He decided to make that fantasy a reality.

First, he went to find other gangsters in the outskirts of Seoul where he operated.

“Boys, crush them all!”

“Yes, boss!”

He absorbed all visible organizations from small to medium-sized.

Since Kim Du-il was S-rank, he wasn’t afraid even if there were A-ranks.

As long as they weren’t also S-rank, he would go anywhere and take down the organization’s leader.

It was a violation of the unspoken rules among gangsters, but he acted recklessly, saying that other gangsters who had lost their romance wouldn’t stand up like him.

After growing his organization, he went to poor neighborhoods or old buildings and intimidated the owners.

His goal was to demolish buildings and grow new businesses.

Illegal gambling dens, adult establishments, etc. He planned businesses indiscriminately, as long as they were profitable.

Finally, he went into nearby shops, caused trouble, and extorted money under the guise of protection fees.

What were the police doing all this time?

There were departments specifically managing Awakened, but they had jurisdictional issues, insufficient personnel, and poor quality.

Even if the police and gangsters were of the same rank, it’s obvious who would win when one charges with killing intent and the other needs to subdue without killing.

Legally, shooting to kill is possible, but no one follows it considering the aftermath.

If you die during duty, it’s treated as a line-of-duty death, but if you shoot a criminal and survive, human rights organizations or the criminal’s family might sue, and you might face inspection or disciplinary action.

Even if they wanted help from hunters, two major guilds were in the middle of gate raids, and those who had just returned weren’t in a condition to help.

From the beginning, hunters were in a similar, if not worse, position than the police.

At least police could be unified as a group, but famous hunters could face all criticism alone.

In the end, the failure to suppress led to other criminals also beginning to stir.

As a result, the government received tremendous criticism, and a week later, they announced a special law.

The name of the law was the Hero Special Law.

A law that would shake Korea from now on was born.

♦♦♦

Time goes back to the day after an entertainment establishment was raided.

A secret meeting took place with the President, ministers of each department, and members of the National Assembly from various parties.

The topic was to discuss a new law to prevent Tia’s independent actions.

Since the contents of meetings must be shown to all, there are times when they meet separately like this.

Especially since this content was a law to stop Tia alone, it was even more important not to show the appearance of discussion.

“So, do you have any methods in mind?”

“First, we need a way to stop her actions. Currently, there’s negative public opinion, but as she continues to catch criminals, public opinion supporting her will increase.”

They also know what the citizens want.

They just don’t do it because it doesn’t benefit them.

“We need to manipulate public opinion about her and create a law that citizens want.”

“The reason she came originally wasn’t to catch criminals. If we establish a law, she’ll have to leave.”

“I don’t feel good about things going her way, but now isn’t the time to be picky about methods.”

A problem that existed 20 years ago as well.

It wasn’t as problematic as it is now.

Korea wasn’t a country where guns were legal, and it wasn’t that they couldn’t subdue people with knives.

People’s main criticism was about the severity of sentences.

But now it’s different.

The dangerous substance called mana is spread around.

Even without holding a gun, people can kill at any time.

But it’s not feasible to mark everyone who is an Awakened.

In the end, strict measures were needed for crime prevention.

‘It would have been better if she had only caught Awakened.’

The problematic issue here is the entertainment establishment incident.

This incident also needs attention.

If they only caught Awakened, there would definitely be comments from Awakened organizations.

Since it includes members of the National Assembly, corruption could also be suspected.

“The law will be in effect within a month. Take care of it well until then.”

“Haa… Why did that woman have to touch a member of the National Assembly.”

“She must think she can do whatever she wants. She needs to learn a hard lesson.”

“It would have been better if she had come under us from the beginning. Don’t you agree, Association President Park Mu-jin?”

Grind-

Park Mu-jin, who had been sitting on pins and needles since Tia’s entry into the country, had no choice but to grind his teeth to the point of breaking at the President’s words addressing him.

He wanted to express his anger immediately.

How could he have known that a newly returned Awakened would become such an important figure?

Weren’t these things that all of you had been tacitly approving until now?

It’s just one failure. Does he deserve to be treated like this?

He had a lot to say, but he had to endure.

Currently, he was a major criminal, and the people in front of him could replace him at any time.

They’re not killing him only because Tia is there.

‘If only that bitch wasn’t around.’

Yet, without acknowledging his own mistakes, he only cursed Tia once more.

“I have a good idea.”

To escape this situation, he decided to bring up the countermeasure he had been thinking about since Tia arrived.

“How about establishing a new department to prevent Awakened crimes? Heroes to stand against villains. Creating a group of Awakened who listen to the government.”

“Park Mu-jin. Did you forget that the police already have a department in charge of Awakened?”

The police director expressed his discomfort at the statement trying to take away his rice bowl.

“Where would you get the personnel in the first place? We’re already dying from lack of police personnel.”

“The Hwaryong Guild has expressed their intention to support. All their subsidiary guilds have agreed to cooperate. We just need to create a good law.”

Hwaryong Guild.

One of Korea’s top three guilds, led by the Fire Emperor, ranked 10th among hunters.

“They seem to want to improve their image as well.”

The chairman of the Hwaryong Group, which the Hwaryong Guild belongs to, has a gangster background.

Originally, he was the leader of the Hwaryong faction, and through connections made then, he expanded his business.

As a result, he rose to the ranks of major corporations, but still hasn’t shed that stigma.

Their goal was to wash away this stigma through hero activities.

“If Hwaryong supports, then neither personnel nor quality will be an issue.”

“Hwaryong’s popularity is good these days, so we can utilize them sufficiently.”

“Good. Prepare a meeting with Hwaryong. And expedite the law enactment.”

“Understood.”

And as time passed.

The National Assembly submitted the Hero Special Law.