Chapter 2168 – 2168. Eternal Eden
I pretended to lead the Awakened ones to Catherine, wandering around the hospital and heading towards the security room.
“The monster rats are all dead in droves. Judging by the electrocution… it must be Seong Yu-jin’s doing. As expected of Seong Yu-jin. It’s no exaggeration to call her the strongest Awakened in Korea.”
Han Doo-ho had been praising and flattering me since earlier. I knew it was blatant flattery to get my attention… but I didn’t feel bad about it.
“Haha. You’re overpraising me. It was just a good match-up. Monster rats are bigger than regular rats, but they’re still only about 50cm, so electrocution was effective.”
“Monster rats are indeed weak to electricity. Mr. Ban Ho-sung here also took down dozens of monster rats at once. I thought Thor had descended upon this world.”
At Han Doo-ho’s banter, Ban Ho-sung’s lips curled up.
“It was nothing. Hahaha.”
Han Doo-ho was the center of the Awakened here. He was controlling the atmosphere among them. Most of the Awakened seemed to like him. Han Doo-ho was steadily approaching his goal of an Awakened Federation.
‘Han Doo-ho. That bastard is someone to watch out for too. If he blocks my path, I’ll kill him without hesitation.’
It didn’t seem like Han Doo-ho was my enemy, but the future was uncertain. What if Han Doo-ho runs for president using the Awakened Federation as his support base in the future? I wouldn’t stand for that.
“Oh? There’s a door that’s particularly messed up over there. It looks like the security room.”
I naturally led them to the security room. Everywhere else was fine, but the security room was a mess from the entrance. This was strange.
“As Yu-jin said, it’s particularly messed up. Everywhere else was fine… It seems we need to go inside the security room to check.”
It was obvious, but I was the one who messed up the security room. It had to look like something was there. It took some effort to smash it up as naturally as possible.
“…Isn’t Catherine inside the security room?”
One of the Awakened voiced his concern.
“Our goal is Catherine. This is good news. I’ll go in first.”
I took the lead and entered the security room.
“Catherine isn’t here. The security room… it looks like someone deliberately trashed it.”
Han Doo-ho and the Awakened rushed in. Still, the security room didn’t feel small. It was quite large, as it was the security room of a large hospital.
Han Doo-ho looked around and said,
“There are working CCTV cameras too. I can see the locations of the monster rats… but I don’t see Catherine.”
“It seems the footage is automatically saved. If we rewind the footage, we might find out where Catherine escaped to.”
“That’s right. Let’s take a look.”
I took a step back. Han Doo-ho naturally took the lead. Of course, there was an Awakened with a camera next to him.
‘Surely he won’t pretend not to know after seeing the footage.’
If he did pretend not to know, there was a high chance that Han Doo-ho was a puppet of Ilwoo Group. He was a guy who dreamed of creating an Awakened Federation. He wouldn’t grit his teeth and ignore it for his own safety. It was the perfect situation to draw aggro.
He checked the footage and his face hardened. A look of anguish flashed across his wavering eyes.
‘What are you going to do, Han Doo-ho.’
Gulp.
He swallowed hard and spoke to the camera with a determined expression.
“Everyone. I’ve discovered some shocking footage. I never imagined such a conspiracy was happening at Sunwol General Hospital. I’m confused and suspicious of everything right now. I need time to think. Ah, of course, you all have the right to know. Please watch this footage.”
Han Doo-ho was not a puppet of Ilwoo Group. The camera started filming the monitor. Han Doo-ho, who wasn’t caught on camera, grinned. His tense expression from earlier was all fake.
‘He’s quite the actor?’
The Awakened also looked curious as they checked the footage.
And the situation turned into chaos. The Awakened were all furious.
“Catherine and the monster rats were brought into the hospital by people!”
“It looks like they were bringing in the variants and mutations after anesthetizing them… Who the hell are they?”
“I doubt they were even anesthetized. The monster rats have their eyes open. It’s like they’re being controlled by something… Could it be… a psychic ability user?”
Han Doo-ho stepped forward.
“Okay, okay. Calm down and let’s think this through.”
The camera focused on Han Doo-ho.
“Someone released the variants and mutations into this hospital a week ago. So, what was their goal? If their goal was to destroy the hospital, the variants and mutations would have already gone wild. The Gwangju military and police did reconnaissance with drones but didn’t even attempt a proper suppression. The Gwangju mayor immediately requested the Awakened to take action. Don’t you find something strange here? Is it just my imagination that it feels like the Gwangju mayor is trying to gather all the Awakened to deal with them at once?”
Han Doo-ho glared at the camera with a furious expression. Or rather, at someone who was watching this through the camera.
I deliberately stayed silent. It was important to be careful when touching Gwangju. There were quite a few citizens in Gwangju. If I wanted to get their votes in the future, I had to stay quiet for now.
“Gwangju Mayor Kim Kwang-seok. You must explain this. The military and police are the same. Especially the police, who tried to stop the filming with flimsy excuses. I suspect it was to prevent this moment. Ah, one of the viewers just gave me a new tip. The truck belongs to S Tech, a medical device manufacturer and a partner of Ilwoo Group. Sunwol Hospital is affiliated with Ilwoo Group… Doesn’t this also feel strange?”
Han Doo-ho trailed off at the end, but it was a jab at Ilwoo Group. Han Doo-ho didn’t stop there. He slowly turned his head and made eye contact with the Awakened. And then, as if he had made up his mind, he declared.
“I’m going to stop the operation. No matter how much I think about it, this whole thing is strange. I will stay in Gwangju until the truth is revealed. And I hereby declare the creation of the Awakened Federation to protect the rights and interests of the Awakened. In the name of the Awakened Federation, I promise to do my best to uncover the truth of this incident. Ah, of course, the opinions of the other Awakened are also important. What will you all do?”
The Awakened welcomed it without exception. They were already afraid of Catherine.
“I will follow Mr. Han Doo-ho.”
“I will join the Awakened Federation.”
Everyone agreed. Han Doo-ho asked me last.
“Seong Yu-jin. What will you do, Seong Yu-jin?”
“I can’t join the Awakened Federation because I have Seongak Elementary School, but I agree with Mr. Han Doo-ho’s opinion. We need to stop the operation and find out the truth.”
And so, the Awakened retreated. Naturally, the whole of Korea was in an uproar.
• • •
Jin Seong-hwa, who was watching the broadcast, screamed and called for Oh Ha-baek.
“Secretary Oh!!!! You said there was no evidence?!! You said you erased all the traces?!! Are you playing with me?!!”
“I deleted all the CCTV footage! And all other traces too!”
“The footage is still there! Seven million people watched that footage!! What are you going to do about this?!”
Oh Ha-baek was sweating profusely. The important thing wasn’t how to make excuses. It was how to fix it.
“We’ll pin everything on Gwangju Mayor Kim Kwang-seok. Kim Kwang-seok has a history of disliking the Awakened, so it will definitely work.”
Cutting off the tail. Kim Kwang-seok would admit to all the charges. He had taken so much bribes. His family was also in the hands of Ilwoo Group.
“That’s not the point! People know that variants and mutations can be controlled. What are we going to do about that?!”
“We can only insist it was done with anesthesia or by a psychic ability user.”
“Insist it was the work of an Awakened. It’s actually being controlled by an Awakened’s power, isn’t it?”
Unfortunately, Ilwoo Group didn’t have the technology to control the minds of variants or mutations. Instead, they had a psychic ability user. They would brainwash the variants and mutations, and then give them instructions through a brainwave signal device. Detailed control was impossible.
“Tell the hitmen to kill Seong Yu-jin. Dispose of Catherine.”
“Understood. I will inform the disposal team to proceed with Catherine’s disposal.”
An hour later, Oh Ha-baek rushed in, panting.
“President!! Big trouble! The hitmen mentioned Ilwoo Group’s name!”
“…What?”
• • •
I felt something strange as soon as I returned to my accommodation.
‘I feel like I’m being watched. It’s not just my imagination, is it?’
Having been assassinated so many times, I had a strong sense for this kind of thing.
Brain Thunder Style Electromagnetic Wave.
I closed my eyes and used the electromagnetic wave. The surrounding structures and shapes were imprinted in my mind.
‘There are four people in the next room, armed with rifles. They even have bombs. Wait… look at these bastards.’
There was a bomb installed in my room. It was closer to terrorism than assassination.
‘They’re being so reckless. They’re going to take me out as soon as the order is given.’
Instead of leaving the room, I took out my smartphone. I started recording. First, I took a selfie of my face. I spoke quietly to the camera with a serious expression.
“Everyone. This is the accommodation provided by Gwangju City. Please understand that this is not a live broadcast. They might notice. I feel like my life is in danger right now.”
I opened the drawer of the bedside table next to the bed. I took out a book and put the smartphone inside. There was a bomb attached to the inside of the drawer.
“Do you see that? It’s a bomb. Not only here, but there are bombs installed all over my room.”
Under the bed, inside the toilet bowl, behind the living room sofa, inside the air conditioner, and so on.
“There are a total of 11 bombs installed in this small accommodation. And I saw suspicious people entering the next room earlier. Since the next room is suspicious, I’ll go check it out.”
Knock knock knock.
I knocked politely on the door of the next room. A gruff male voice echoed from beyond the door.
“The door is open. Come in.”
Creak.
The moment I opened the door, a man with his face covered in black cloth was aiming a rifle at me. The man pulled the trigger with cold eyes.
