Chapter 23: An Absurd Country

The press conference shook the nation.

Choi Boksoon checked the news on her phone every day.

How would her son’s death be handled?

“In a sensible country, if someone dies defending the nation, they should be honored as a fallen hero!”

Choi Boksoon said this in anger every day, thinking of her deceased son, Seo Youngchul.

She closed the doors of the restaurant she ran and spent her days hoping her son would be recognized as a fallen hero, the people responsible would be punished, and her son would be buried at the National Cemetery.

But things did not go as she wished.

After the shocking press conference by Hunter Kim Sungho, the situation started to turn strange.

“Isn’t this all the fault of the Yellow Progressive Party? When the gate first opened ten years ago, it was the Progressive Party that made the special gate law, wasn’t it?”

Opinions calling for mourning Seo Youngchul’s death and recognizing it as an honourable sacrifice were hard to find.

“Is it a problem with the law? Or the administration that enforces it? No. Who is the final commander of the military? Isn’t it President Yoo Myunghak? This is clearly the president’s issue, so why is it being twisted into a progressive party story?”

Instead, people began to fight.

Conservatives and progressives clashed.

It turned into a political battle.

And slowly, there were whispers that hunters themselves were the problem.

[“Stray dogs of the nation. Are their actions justified?”]

[Hunter Kim Sungho’s interview became a hot topic in town.

He claimed that he wanted fair treatment for the two deaths while invoking South Korea’s common sense.

But we cannot simply agree with this press conference.

Their actions are shaking the very foundation of national security.

The duty of a soldier is to protect the nation.

Even if there are accidents and people fall, soldiers must defend the country.

No matter how angry they are, actions that jeopardize the nation cannot be condoned.

Considering the fear and anxiety felt by the public due to the Suwon rift incident, Kim Sungho’s remarks don’t come across as entirely just.]

• It’s ridiculous. Didn’t people die when I was in the military? Soldiers of previous times were loyal to the country even in far harsher conditions. It’s tragic that people died, but that cannot be an excuse to shake the entire nation.
• They’re just selfish bastards profiting from corpses! They ran off to the US because elixirs were expensive. They should be ashamed!

Even though people died.

Even though there was anger over unjust treatment, taking the entire nation hostage and shaking it is not justifiable.

Gradually, the atmosphere of mourning for Hunters Lee Sangmin and Seo Youngchul faded away.

Choi Boksoon watched the news tirelessly.

She turned on the TV to see what people were saying.

But there was nothing on the news she wanted to see.

People were busy tearing each other apart.

Conservatives blamed the progressives for shirking responsibility, and the progressives claimed the root problem was President Yoo Myunghak’s fault.

People were divided, saying Kim Sungho shouldn’t have acted that way even if he was angry, calling them selfish for running off to America, and criticizing them for using the deaths of two people as an excuse to shake national security.

What Choi Boksoon wanted to see, the mourning of her deceased son, was nowhere to be found.

In the midst of all this, the issue became so big that even the Ministry of National Defense began an internal investigation.

Thanks to the reporters digging around, the Ministry of National Defense could no longer cover things up as they wished.

It was found that Cho Geunsung, the post commander, was the direct cause of the deaths of Hunters Lee Sangmin and Seo Youngchul.

He had a lot of dirt on him, and although he was announced dead after an accident in the gate, further investigation revealed that someone higher up than Cho Geunsung was the real culprit.

“There are rumors that Division Commander Ji Jacheol, who commanded the military unit and hunters in Daejeon, colluded with Post Commander Cho Geunsung. What do you think about this?”

“We are currently investigating.”

“It’s said that Division Commander Ji Jacheol embezzled various supplies and medicines meant for hunters, causing Hunter Lee Sangmin to die without proper treatment. Is this true?”

“As I said, we are investigating.”

Despite various circumstantial evidence pointing to Ji Jacheol as the real problem, the Ministry of National Defence repeated that they were investigating and dragged the investigation on as long as possible.

They knew well that even if an incident occurred, it would only receive brief attention.

They knew the public would forget with time.

Moreover, the timing was perfect.

The public was not very interested in the Ministry of National Defense’s announcements.

“The conservatives created the stray dogs! Isn’t that your responsibility!!!”

“Wasn’t it the progressives who created the laws and systems that provided the cause and foundation? How is this our problem?”

Instead, the public was busy arguing whether the conservatives or progressives were at fault.

Voices purely mourning the deaths of the two hunters were drowned out by provocative political statements.

The Ministry of National Defense’s sluggish investigation.

The divided public opinion.

In the midst of this, Division Commander Ji Jacheol, the root cause of the problem, was quietly reassigned to a remote, quiet location.

A month passed.

Nothing had changed.

The discussion of Seo Youngchul’s honorable death and burial at the National Cemetery was barely addressed.

One day, Choi Boksoon stopped looking at her phone and watching the news.

She went to find Hunter Kim Sungho.

“This isn’t right. My son died, but this isn’t right.”

She cried.

She vented her anger while crying.

“A person died… Imagine if it was your own child! Would you still be fighting over politics if your child died? How can this not be recognized as an honorable death!!!”

Her legs gave out, and she collapsed.

Her burning will.

Her belief that justice would surely be served.

Seeing the actions of this country, all turned into disillusionment.

“I want to leave this country! I won’t live here anymore!!”

She cried out.

Kim Sungho did not hug her.

“Mother, please rest.”

He left the room without a word, leaving the crying Choi Boksoon behind.

Choi Boksoon had given up, but Kim Sungho had no intention of giving up.

“From now on, I’ll do things my way.”

The landlord ignored the demands of the stray dog.

What can you do?

Bite.

During the month that South Korea outside the Gate was boiling over with my press conference, inside the Gate, we had built the walls of our base.

These were massive and tall walls made of solid cement and reinforced steel.

The American hunters who helped with the construction were paid fairly and returned to their bases in their own territory.

We, on the other hand, were busy setting up the necessary facilities inside the newly built walls.

And right in the middle of that base’s guild building.

Younghak , and I were silently listening to the wizard, Go Jaewan.

“Just as hyung said yesterday, I packed several mana potions and visited the military unit where the division commander, Ji Jaecheol, was. After using ghosting and optical camouflage magic, I entered the lodging where Ji Jaecheol was sleeping and read the memories in that bastard’s head using psychometry.”

“And the result?”

“The content that the journalists were talking about was true. This bastard. While colluding with the base commander, Cho Geunsung, he was taking kickbacks. If Cho Geunsung was colluding with merchants in the restricted area, this bastard was meddling with supplies. Do you remember Sangmin, who died because there were no medicines to treat him? This bastard was responsible for that.”

“And then there’s that damn woman, Kim Yejin, who killed Youngchul. This bastard tried to do her a favour by giving her a leave of absence to return to her hometown. He was very interested in treating female soldiers well. Despite that, he was reassigned several times due to sexual harassment.”

I could hear the grinding of teeth.

Younghak hyung started smoking a cigarette.

Suppressing my rising anger, I looked at Go Jaewan.

“Good job, Jaewan. First, we’ll add this bastard, the division commander, Ji Jaecheol, to our list of revenge targets.”

“Yes, hyung. And one more thing.”

Go Jaewan laughed incredulously.

“According to Chairman Volkov, Sangmin had a mother.”

“He had a mother?”

“Didn’t he have no parents?”

“His father died of cancer when he was in high school, and his mother left home when he was very young. They were practically strangers. But this bitch took the 10 million won compensation money that came out after Sangmin died.”

The atmosphere turned cold.

We had heard similar stories often.

Scumbags who only carried the title of parent would rush in like bullets to take the 10 million won compensation when a hunter died and then squander it frivolously.

“In my personal opinion, hyungs, this bitch is no different from those who exploited Sangmin’s death. Let’s add her to our list of revenge targets as well.”

After looking around and seeing that most of them agreed, I nodded.

“Alright. This woman is also a revenge target. So.”

Younghak hyung spoke up.

“What do you plan to do?”

“We can’t make it obvious, right? So we’ll quietly kidnap her and take her to Eldorado. I’ll come up with the kidnapping plan. After that, I’ll leave the detailed revenge to you, hyung.”

Hyung clenched his fist tightly.

“Just leave it to me, Seongho.”

“Yes. The kidnapping plan will go something like this.”

I placed a pencil and eraser on the table.

“That woman, who claims to be Sangmin’s mother, is an ordinary person. She won’t attract much attention. So, Jaewan, you handle her. Use magic to knock her out, then ghost and make her invisible. Take her out and put her in a waiting vehicle nearby, and drive straight to Daejeon City and back. Got it?”

“Understood.”

“And Ji Jaecheol. This bastard is in the middle of a military unit, so it’s a bit complicated. But it’s not impossible.”

I pointed to a large glass jar placed in one corner of the room.

Inside was something wriggling like a slime.

It was similar to slime but wasn’t slime.

“It’s a doppelganger. Jaewan, did you bring Ji Jaecheol’s hair?”

“Of course.”

Jaewan carefully handed over the hair.

I took the hair, opened the glass jar, and fed it to the doppelganger inside.

“In about a day, this guy will transform into an exact replica of Ji Jaecheol. Then, one wizard will take the doppelganger, use ghosting and invisibility magic, sneak into the military unit, and set fire to Ji Jaecheol’s room. The important thing is that there must be no casualties other than Ji Jaecheol.”

“We have a flame wizard in our party who can control flames with precision. We can use him.”

I nodded at the words of the leader of Party 41.

“Set fire to Ji Jaecheol’s room and throw the doppelganger in there. While the doppelganger is being burned to a crisp, we’ll kidnap the real Ji Jaecheol. That’s my plan. Then.”

I looked at Younghak hyung.

A sinister smile was spreading across hyung’s face.

He already seemed to have thought of a way to make the two of them suffer unimaginably.

Yes.

If it’s hyung, he’ll handle them in a way they can’t even imagine.

“Younghak hyung will take care of it.”