Chapter 188 – Truth [Lunatic Fringe]

The assassination of Han Changmyeong, the most powerful opposition figure to Nam Hanseok and a strong candidate for the next cabinet prime minister.

The horrific terror attack, which occurred not at night but in the morning, not in some secluded spot but along the bustling Han River where people exercise, drove the public further into frenzy.

“Death to the dogs who treat the people like dogs!”

Regardless of their support for Nam Hanseok, those filled with dissatisfaction and anger towards the current system itself and those who supported Nam Hanseok shouted radical slogans, filling one side of Gwanghwamun Square with placards bearing uncensored photos of Han Changmyeong’s corpse.

“Is this a liberation era? Find the murderer and punish him severely!”

On the other side, those opposing Nam Hanseok, regardless of party affiliation or ideology, condemned the violence and terror, holding candles quietly with placards printed with a portrait of the deceased Han Changmyeong.

However, with two opposing groups entangled in the same space and the police not particularly blocking them, a clash between the two groups was inevitable and predictable.

The pent-up resentment and sense of victimization each held in their hearts were misdirected towards each other, leading to sporadic outbreaks of violence everywhere.

The riot control team of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency’s Mobile Strike Force, commanded by the Seoul Police Commissioner who held full authority, merely stared blankly at the scene.

“What are the police doing? Come quickly and arrest this madman!”

“What? Madman?”

Only when clashes escalated and protesters sought out the police did the officers pick up loudspeakers and issue warnings.

“The current protest is becoming excessively heated. Please everyone calm down and demonstrate mature civic consciousness.”

But such hollow messages failed to quell the anger of individual protesters and the crowd psychology formed on that anger.

Eventually, the violence escalated into brawls, which soon led to arson and riots.

In that situation, the police only guarded the Government Complex, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs building, the U.S. Embassy in South Korea, and the Superhuman Association building, instead creating even more space as if to accommodate the brawling.

And so, day after day, protesters gathered at Gwanghwamun Square as if by agreement to continue brawling, while major hospital emergency rooms busily handled the injured brought in daily.

Amid such circumstances, finally, on Friday, September 23rd.

A vote on the motion of no confidence in the cabinet was held in the Senate plenary session.

Under the spotlight of all media, the no-confidence motion, conducted by secret ballot, was rejected, failing to secure a majority by a mere 10 votes, allowing Nam Hanseok to safely complete his remaining term.

Prime Minister’s Office, Blue House.

Nam Hanseok smiled and took a sip of tea.

Sitting across from him, Samhwa Group Chairman Yong Jaehyung adjusted his rimless glasses and spoke.

“You’ve had a narrow escape, Prime Minister.”

At that, Nam Hanseok let out a light laugh.

“It’s all thanks to you, Chairman.”

“You flatter me. I merely explained to the assemblymen, on behalf of the business community, the impact of political instability on the economy.”

“It seems everyone was impressed by your explanation. Hahaha.”

Watching Nam Hanseok’s somewhat elated demeanor, Yong Jaehyung slightly raised the corner of his mouth before lowering it again.

“Well, it wasn’t solely because of that. After former Assemblyman Han met such a gruesome end, quite a few assemblymen felt a great deal of pressure.”

“Of course. Even my aides are in an uproar, telling me to wear bulletproof vests under my clothes when I go out from now on. Hahaha.”

“Well, would you, Prime Minister, need a bulletproof vest? You’re hardly the type to face unexpected attacks in the first place.”

Instantly, the smile vanished from Nam Hanseok’s face.

“What do you mean by that, Chairman?”

“It’s nothing. I merely meant that since you enjoy such strong public support, you’re unlikely to suffer such unforeseen accidents.”

As he said this, Yong Jaehyung took a long sip of coffee.

Watching him, a flash of madness and murderous intent rose and then subsided in Nam Hanseok’s eyes.

“So, what are your plans going forward, Prime Minister?”

As Yong Jaehyung changed the subject, Nam Hanseok decided to follow suit.

“Well, first, we must prepare for next year’s election, right? As soon as the no-confidence motion was rejected, there are those talking about splitting the party and such; we need to deal with them first.”

“The political landscape isn’t very favorable.”

“Favorable or not depends on how we handle it, doesn’t it?”

“I think we need to address the protesters who are on the verge of riots first.”

“That will be resolved as well.”

Yong Jaehyung quietly observed Nam Hanseok.

He then gave a slight smile, finished his coffee, and stood up.

“I’ll trust in you, Prime Minister.”

Nam Hanseok, still seated, gave a light wave towards Yong Jaehyung.

Yong Jaehyung gave a slight bow and left the office.

As soon as he left, Nam Hanseok’s expression turned serious as he downed his tea.

“He seemed to know something, didn’t he?”

A man emerged from the shadows.

Nam Hanseok shook his head lightly.

“No. I was just testing the waters.”

“That’s problematic considering the other party is none other than the Chairman of Samhwa Group.”

A woman descended from the ceiling like a feather and landed.

The two stood on Nam Hanseok’s left and right, looking at him.

“Do you think they know we sent Han Changmyeong?”

In response to the man’s question, Nam Hanseok shook his head.

“We used an old NIS route for the escape; it was perfect. There are no witnesses who saw our faces.”

“Still, it’s unsettling. Should we go kill him too?”

At the woman’s words, Nam Hanseok glanced at her.

“Yong Jaehyung is different from Han Changmyeong. Yong Jaehyung getting hurt would be bigger news than Han Changmyeong dying. Wait for now.”

At Nam Hanseok’s words, the woman and man briefly looked at each other and merely shrugged.

Meanwhile, Yong Jaehyung quickly returned to his car.

As he sat in the back seat, his executive secretary in the passenger seat played the audio recorded just moments before.

『Do you think they know we sent Han Changmyeong?』

It was the conversation between Nam Hanseok and the mysterious man and woman right after he left the office.

“As you suspected, Chairman. Former Assemblyman Han Changmyeong was assassinated by Prime Minister Nam Hanseok.”

At the executive secretary’s words, Yong Jaehyung nodded.

“Go analyze the recorded voices and check if they match anyone among former convicts.”

“Understood.”

“If there are no matches in the ex-convict interview files, search through old NIS and Superhuman Association data, even among Villains.”

“I’ll do that.”

“And… arrange a meeting with Lee Dongseok and Yeo Jeongyeon soon.”

“Yes.”

As if the instructions were complete, Yong Jaehyung sank into the seat and closed his eyes.

Finally, as the last Man-Faced Monster fighting the unseen enemy died, all the monsters gathered in the Signiel Tower plaza perished.

Only Kim Yanggi remained, silently looking down at the scene from mid-air.

Siguk, having slain all the monsters, revealed himself.

In both his hands, he held the arms of the Man-Faced Monster, the boss of the mantis humanoids, like blades.

His entire body was covered in green bodily fluids, presenting a rather grotesque appearance.

“Well now… that’s impressive.”

Kim Yanggi spoke in a stiff tone.

Siguk lightly shook his weapons in response.

“What do you want with me now?”

“I told you. Revenge on those who killed my grandson.”

“…Are you messing with me now?”

“Does it look like I’m messing around?”

“…What are you?”

“As you can see. Lee Siguk. Quite young.”

“I definitely saw. The news said you died in Japan. Even when I checked through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, you were definitely dead. No, even if you hadn’t died back then, you couldn’t possibly be alive now, 130 years later.”

“……”

“So what are you? What are you, that you appear before me with a young face and slaughter my offspring?”

Siguk lightly flexed his wrists.

Green fluid splattered from the weapons.

“And what about you?”

“What?”

“To my knowledge, you were clearly just a C-Rank, an ordinary human, but somehow you’ve become A-Rank? And now you’re an A-Rank monster.”

“After you died, there was significant technological progress. The kind of progress you wouldn’t understand.”

“Does that progress turn people into monsters?”

“That… you’ll have to go to the afterlife and ask that bitch Fenrir.”

Whoosh-!

A poison stinger rapidly shot out from Kim Yanggi towards Siguk.

Thud-!

The stinger embedded itself deep into the spot where Siguk had been.

But Siguk easily dodged the attack and instead, stepping on the embedded stinger, leaped and flew towards Kim Yanggi.

With a slightly flustered expression, Kim Yanggi soared high into the air to evade Siguk.

Swish-!

By a hair’s breadth, Siguk’s weapon grazed Kim Yanggi’s tail.

“Kgh-!”

A suppressed groan escaped Kim Yanggi’s mouth.

“Stop acting cowardly up in the sky and come down to the ground, won’t you?”

At Siguk’s words, Kim Yanggi smirked.

“If you were me, would you fight on the ground?”

“If you stay up there, you won’t be able to attack me anyway, right?”

“Anyway, my reinforcements are on their way now, so you rest there a bit and play with them later.”

Siguk frowned slightly.

There was no issue with his Life Force, but his Mana was halved, and his Concentration was barely maintained at 70%.

If Kim Yanggi’s reinforcements arrived like this, he wouldn’t be able to fight as skillfully as before.

‘What to do?’

If he used his Atomization Skill now to escape with Byeoli, what would Kim Yanggi do?

‘He’d probably keep chasing.’

After all, Kim Yanggi killed the offspring Siguk sired in his first life, and Siguk killed Kim Yanggi’s offspring, or creations, or Summoned Creatures.

‘Getting to Ganghwa Island is tough too.’

Unless he had crows, moving to Ganghwa Island on foot with Byeoli would be quite difficult.

The hellish road stretching from Seoul to Incheon, seen from a crow’s back—moving along it with a child who was practically no different from an ordinary person without the Assimilation Skill wasn’t a normal idea to begin with.

‘Even if we go, could they stop Kim Yanggi?’

Either way, Kim Yanggi is A-Rank.

If he shot a venomous stinger from the air at the Division Commander, the commander would die in one hit, and afterwards, soldiers losing morale due to command chaos and lowered spirits would obviously become food for the insectoid monsters following Kim Yanggi.

Caw-! Caw-! Caw-!

Amid the crows’ cries heightening the desolation, Siguk’s worries deepened.

“Well now, some impatient folks are flying in from afar. Don’t know if they’re cicada friends or what. They should give us a little break time, but it’s gotten a bit troublesome.”

Kim Yanggi showed a nasty smile.

‘Damn it….’

Siguk gritted his teeth.

Caw-!

At that moment,

“What, what are these!”

Thud-!

As if teleporting, five giant crows appeared simultaneously and rammed into Kim Yanggi.

The sudden, instantaneous impact caused Kim Yanggi to lose his balance.

Caw-!

One crow flew low, lowering its back enough for Siguk to leap onto.

• Get on quickly.

And Siguk, catching the Telepathy from the Druid grandmother ringing in his mind, smiled wryly.

Siguk immediately climbed onto the crow’s back.

Caw-!

The crow shot like an arrow towards Kim Yanggi.

Kim Yanggi, who was using his six legs to fend off the four crows, widened his eyes upon seeing Siguk on the crow charging towards him.

At that moment, Siguk leaped from the crow’s back and flew at Kim Yanggi.

Simultaneously, the crows held by Kim Yanggi’s legs reversed their grip, weakening his mobility.

Thunk-!

The mantis humanoid arms wielded by Siguk plunged accurately into Kim Yanggi’s abdomen.

“Gyaaaah!”

Kim Yanggi screamed.

The strength left the legs holding the crows.

Immediately, the crows began pecking intensively at Kim Yanggi’s wings, while Siguk used the mantis arms to slash Kim Yanggi’s abdomen and chest.

With his wings torn, Kim Yanggi plummeted.

And just before he completely collided with the ground, the crows and Siguk detached from his body and landed safely.

Crash-!

With a loud impact sound and a cloud of dust, Kim Yanggi finally fell to the earth.