The Returner

Chapter 32: I will protect my own home (2)

Who would be the ones to suffer the most hardship everytime the dang monsters went on a rampage?

Could it be... the soldiers?

Or, could it be... the ability users?

Or, maybe, the police officers trying to maintain the outer perimeter?

The answer was actually right here, in the KSF’s offices.

“This is... this is pure insanity. That’s what this is.”

A man named Kim Jae-Beom was staring at the massive heap of documents piled in front of him with a pair of soulless eyes.

This pile of A4-sized documents had finally exceeded the height of his computer monitor. What was even more scary than this was the fact that, these printed pages only formed a fraction of everything he still needed to go through inside the computer’s HDD.

Kim Jae-Beom’s eyes were watering slowly.

He hadn’t been home for four days already. At this rate, dying from being overworked was a real possibility. That life insurance policy he signed up for at the time he got hired might be bearing fruit soon, the way things were unfolding now.

‘No, no. Wait a minute.’ (Kim Jae-Beom)

His mind was going haywire after not sleeping for the past four nights or so. He almost committed the acts of both filial and unfilial piety there.

Kim Jae-Beom shook his head, his emotions were a mess of accumulated fatigue, dissatisfaction and irritation.

“Ah, oh...” (Kim Jae-Beom)

It was then – all the unhappiness and resentment clogging up his head melted away like snow under the Spring sun’s rays.

Why? Simple. He just took a look.

...At that dignified appearance of a certain bureaucrat in front.

That man was boxed in by the fort-like stacks of paperwork ten times greater than what Kim Jae-Beom had to take care of, yet he had not once showed even a hint of losing himself.

Kim Jae-Beom looked at that man’s elegant appearance, as he drank iced juice out from a tumbler with one hand, while the other hand rapidly sorted each document page like a true professional.

Right away, Kim Jae-Beom inwardly decided to repent for his selfish acts of complaint, and then called out to this greatest salaryman in the world.

“Vice Captain.” (Kim Jae-Beom)

“Yes?” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

“You’re really amazing, sir. Aren’t you feeling tired at all?” (Kim Jae-Beom)

“Huhuh.” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

Choi Jung-Hoon stretched his back languidly.

The sunlight pouring in through the window acted as a bright halo that illuminated his entire being.

“Well, we always end up with lots of work anyways, so this much is just another day at the office, am I right?” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

“As expected of you, sir.” (Kim Jae-Beom)

Really now, the veterans were indeed a different breed altogether to a noob like him. Someone with only two years of experience in this field of work like Kim Jae-Beom couldn’t even hope to emulate such a focused dedication to get the job done as well as the accompanying endurance, at all.

He felt a definite need to become as good as t...

It was then, Kim Jae-Beom’s eyes narrowed to a slit.

Choi Jung-Hoon pulled a certain thing out from the desk’s drawer and poured into the tumbler.

It was a black glass bottle, and that blue and white logo belonged to...

What the... Wait a minute. Haven’t I seen that logo plenty of times before? (Kim Jae-Beom’s inner monologue)

“W, wait a second there, Vice Captain! Just what are you pouring into your juice right now?!” (Kim Jae-Beom)

“Hm?” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

That, isn’t that the famed energy drink?

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Right, that is the bottle of Bacchus-F!!

What the f*ck? Has this crazy guy been slamming back bottles of energy tonic out of a damn tumbler as if it’s fruit juice until now?! (Kim Jae-Beom’s inner monologue)

“Vice Captain!! What are you doing?! You’re not supposed to drink it like that, you know!” (Kim Jae-Beom)

This was already way beyond the substance abuse, and well into the substance addiction now!

Halo? Halo my a*s!

Upon a much closer inspection, those dark circles under Choi Jung-Hoon’s eyes were extending even past the poor man’s chin and threatened to invade down to his neck; his rough, sagging skin was in such a bad state that it could probably substitute a sandpaper without a problem.

The hand that held the tumbler was trembling ever so faintly, and his always-neatly-combed hair was in somewhat of a disheveled state as well.

“Vice Captain, you might really die at this rate, you know?!” (Kim Jae-Beom)

“Hahahaha, stop joking around, please.” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

“But, but I wasn’t making a joke, though?!” (Kim Jae-Beom)

Choi Jung-Hoon smiled awkwardly before taking a long swig of the iced energy drink.

He looked quite cool, but at the same time, this whole situation was just too ridiculous, as well.

“Well, it’s not like this is the first time, anyway...” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

Choi Jung-Hoon’s refreshingly smiling face was quite handsome, even from the view of another man. Probably that was why it seemed so utterly ridiculous right now.

“Don’t worry, Mister Jae-Beom. You will become an expert at this soon enough.” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

“Vice Captain, you, uh, are bleeding from your nose.” (Kim Jae-Beom)

“Mm? Did I catch a cold?” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

“No, you’re not dripping snot, you’re bleeding! Look, look, it’s going to drip onto your clothes! Vice Captain!” (Kim Jae-Beom)

“Hahaha. It happens often, so you don’t have to worry.” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

“What? At least, you should wipe the blood off first!” (Kim Jae-Beom)

“Well now, did I already take a look at this document, I wonder?” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

‘This guy has lost his dang mind.’ (Kim Jae-Beom)

Choi Jung-Hoon always complained bitterly about the amount of stress he had to endure while getting dragged around by various ability users, but from Kim Jae-Beom’s point of view, well, the Vice Captain had already become an inseparable part of the system now, more or less.

Silently, Kim Jae-Beom resolutely told himself to get the eff out of this joint with whatever means possible soon if he were to enjoy a long life.

Kim Jae-Beom then spat out his dissatisfied voice at Choi Jung-Hoon and his caffeine-addled face.

“Just where is our Team Captain when we have so much things to do right now?” (Kim Jae-Beom)

“Oh, well, she is...” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

Choi Jung-Hoon replied with a slightly regretful face.

“She’s taking care of the toughest assignment at the moment.” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

*

“.....With this, I will conclude this briefing on the urgent need to establish the emergency response bureau.” (Seo Ah-Young)

Seo Ah-Young ended her presentation and raised her head.

There were three people in front of her inside the conference room.

“So, let me ask you something...”

A middle-aged man on the right piped up with an irritated voice.

“Do you know why we have gathered today at this place?”

Seo Ah-Young didn’t hesitate for a moment before making her reply.

“Isn’t it to hold a briefing regarding the establishment of the nationwide emergency response bureau?” (Seo Ah-Young)

“Oh, is that right? I heard that today’s meeting was actually to reprimand you and your team for the disastrous handling of the recent monster incident, but, perhaps I was mistaken?”

Seo Ah-Young shrugged her shoulders.

“Even if you say ‘reprimand’, we did nothing wrong, so that’s that.” (Seo Ah-Young)

“What? Listen here!”

“You must’ve have realised it after this incident has happened!” (Seo Ah-Young)

Seo Ah-Young cut off that man’s words with a low, calm voice that nevertheless contained her strong will.

“Throughout the world, the way Gates appear is changing noticeably. Until now, we played it by the books and did our best to minimise the casualties, but moving on, that will become impossible to do. The number of incidents, where several Gates open up at the same time, is constantly on the rise. The types of monsters appearing each time are also becoming unpredictable and varied as well. Finally, even the time a Gate takes to open up fully is changing at every encounter.” (Seo Ah-Young)

“M, mm...”

“That is why, the methods of response we have developed and stuck to until now will not remain effective in defending us. That is why, we need a small yet well organised team of elites operating in extralegal capacity that will counter any types of Gates and incidents happening throughout the country.” (Seo Ah-Young)

“Don’t you get that being extralegal is the real issue here? It’s a huge problem! Do you have any idea how many cases of court claims have been lodged against the KSF as we speak?! Because of all the illegal things you people committed, we are being accused of violating human and constitutional rights!! But, you’re telling us to grant you even more jurisdictional authority? And we are supposed to handle the fallout from that?”

The older man sitting to the left side carried on from there.

“Isn’t this all because of you ability users don’t know how to control yourselves?! You can’t even rein them in properly! And, how difficult is it for you to block the Gates in the same manner as how you handled it the last time? If things are getting tougher, can’t you just simply increase the number of soldiers? Am I wrong, huh?”

Seo Ah-Young let out a long sigh.

These fools had no idea.

No, maybe they just wanted to pretend nothing was wrong.

“Do you know what is protecting our planet right now?” (Seo Ah-Young)

“What? Are you trying to earn some brownie points by saying it’s you ability users?”

Seo Ah-Young slowly shook her head.

“You’re wrong. Things protecting this world are actually the Gates and the monsters.” (Seo Ah-Young)

Suddenly, the conference room fell in silence.

Because, she had pointed out that one thing no one in this room wanted to acknowledge.

“For now, monsters are appearing everywhere and ability users are managing to block them, somehow. And that has helped to suppress all the worries and dissatisfaction accumulated by them until now.

“But, surely that won’t continue on forever. Already, anxiety and fears of the non-ability users have reached a dangerous peak. The dissatisfaction felt by the ability users also is getting dangerously high as well. When the walls of this proverbial dam burst open... Well, instead of seeing monsters, we might end up seeing the situation where humans are slaughtering other humans.” (Seo Ah-Young)

“Aren’t you getting a touchy dramatic here?”

Seo Ah-Young chuckled mirthlessly.

“Do you really believe that?” (Seo Ah-Young)

“Ke-heum.”

“From a normal civilian’s point of view, an ability user is a whole different threat compared to a regular person carrying a loaded gun. It’d be unimaginably stressful just to talk to, walk down the same streets with, and share a meal in a same place with a being that could kill you in less than a second. Already, there are countless anti-ability user groups gathering momentum online, and we know that some of them have initiated ominous movements offline as well. However... The bigger issue here is...!!” (Seo Ah-Young)

Seo Ah-Young’s voice progressively got louder.

“...The dissatisfaction among the ability users are overflowing right now. They have been suppressed through surveillance and the law, but the fact remains – the number of crimes committed by the ability users are fast approaching the level of regular criminals. If we take into consideration those crimes that are not reported for some reason, then that number could even be higher. We have no idea when they will rise up and revolt.” (Seo Ah-Young)

“No, that is why...!”

The middle-aged man sitting in the centre wordlessly raised his hand. His gesture stopped the other man from continuing on.

“So, you’re saying the only solution to that problem is to establish a new organisation? To ‘centralise’ the combat force?” (The man in the centre)

“Yes.” (Seo Ah-Young)

“You want to gather the top ability users and quickly dispatch them to all corners of this country whenever a Gate appears, all the while using their powers to suppress and police other ability users, stopping them from committing crime. Am I right so far?” (The man in the centre)

“Yes, you’re correct.” (Seo Ah-Young)

“How naïve. It is truly a naïve approach. But, since we can’t think of a more effective alternative, it is what it is. All the support you require will be provided to you. However, failure will not be tolerated.” (The man in the centre)

“You don’t have to worry. That won’t happen.” (Seo Ah-Young)

“Then, dismissed.”

“Well, then, excuse me.” (Seo Ah-Young)

Watching Seo Ah-Young turn around and leave the room, the middle-aged man in the centre narrowed his eyes.

‘A scene of humans slaughtering other humans...’ (The man in the centre)

To this man, that sounded like an interesting statement. And a funny one, too.

‘Can we really call you things human beings?’

Of course, he knew not to say that aloud.

*

“What a bunch of stuck-up morons.” (Seo Ah-Young)

Seo Ah-Young loudly grumbled as she entered the office.

Choi Jung-Hoon handed a cup of coffee over with a smile.

“Here, take this.” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

“Before that, please do something about that dried blood on your face first. Did someone hit you or something?” (Seo Ah-Young)

Yep, the work hit me. The bloody work!

The work you abandoned behind has hit me, obviously! (Choi Jung-Hoon)

Choi Jung-Hoon swallowed back down the rising resentment and changed the topic.

“So, what happened back there?” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

“They have made the decision to support us.” (Seo Ah-Young)

“Oh?”

Choi Jung-Hoon tilted his head as if he found this rather unexpected.

“I thought they wouldn’t greenlight it no matter what, after what happened this time. That’s a surprise.” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

“I’m pretty sure they have felt the urgency after the thing with Mexico.” (Seo Ah-Young)

“Mm, most likely.” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

Many nations often referred to as ‘developed’ had put into practice a system of managing their ability users, but there were also just as many that haven’t done that.

The most obvious examples were from Africa; countries there were inadequate in governance to begin with, so when the Black Monday happened, the abilities of those governments to rule its masses were lost completely. Now, the situation had devolved to the point where several powerful ability users were ruling different regions as warlords.

These ability users, possessing powers unthinkable by the normal populace, raised their own private armies and waged war amongst themselves, which meant the monsters popping out of the Gates were not killed off in time at all. The continent had been, quite literally, swallowed up in a complete pandemonium.

However, the situation in Africa was the results of the nations there originally lagging behind in terms of building a firm foundation for the society to exist, something that crumbled spectacularly and quite thoroughly by the advent of the Black Monday. So, this didn’t cause much alertness and awareness from the rest of the world.

However, the world’s attention was now focused on the development in Mexico.

Before the events of the Black Monday, Mexico was already in the middle of a war between the government forces and the brutal drug cartels. Recently, the balance had tilted almost completely in favour of the cartels and less than a fortnight ago, a cartel with its central power structure solely consisting of ability users, carried out a surprise coup d’etat and seized all power.

It was a small relief that they hadn’t done anything since, thanks to the might of the USA keeping a very close eye on them, but still, the ripples of repercussion felt from that event was nothing to scoff about.

Most important was the fact that a precedence has been set, where a group of determined ability users could easily overthrow their government.

“They can’t dismiss that story because it happened on the other side of the planet. Pretty much every nation on earth is walking on a tightrope already. No one can predict what might happen if that balance is broken.” (Seo Ah-Young)

“Isn’t that why we’re getting prepared as we speak?” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

Choi Jung-Hoon did his utmost best to suppress a sigh that tried to leak out of his mouth.

Actually, he was the one who suggested the formation of a brand new organisation that could police the Gates that were increasingly acting out of the norm, as well as the ability users who were getting more and more dissatisfied everyday.

However, even he was not entirely convinced that this new organisation would be enough to solve the various crises they were facing.

‘We will need a greater power if we are to effectively enforce control.’ (Choi Jung-Hoon)

Sure, it could be seen as a sort of discrimination. However, no one would be able to tell just what the ability users, unbound by such discriminatory measures, would end up doing.

“So, then, our next headache to solve is...” (Seo Ah-Young)

Seo Ah-Young frowned deeply as she spat her words out.

“Yi Ji-Hyuk, isn’t it....” (Seo Ah-Young)

“Ha-ah...”

“Uh-whew.”

Everyone in the office groaned and facepalmed.

“Just what should we do about that guy?” (Seo Ah-Young)

Wordlessly, Choi Jung-Hoon popped the lid off another bottle of that energy drink and poured it into the tumbler.

Instead of a human being, that guy was more like a walking, talking stress generator.

Kim Jae-Beom stared at the two superior officers for a bit, before opening his mouth.

“How about, we do it like this?” (Kim Jae-Beom)

< 32. I will protect my own home -2 > Fin.

(TL: Yes, I’m back. Yesterday was my birthday, but instead of relaxing and having a good time while receiving presents, I ended up spending a lot of my own moolah, got a lousy new mousepad as a sole present, and could only relax for a bit. Not that I’m complaining....Nope. Not complaining. Just stating fact.)