Police officer Park Jun-hyung in his 50s was greatly flustered.
He knew what that badge was, since he’d had continuous training on such matters.
“Wait, a member of the National Assembly?!”
“I’m Shinnoda of the House of Representatives, and you obviously know about my immunity from arrest. Can you handle pointing a gun at me right now?”
Shinnoda frowned as he warned.
The police couldn’t help but be greatly unsettled.
“Where are you getting off impersonating people? What senator are you, you young punk?!”
Park Jun-hyung didn’t believe it.
Common sense dictated that a politician as young as this was absurd, and what’s more, a politician wouldn’t have dyed yellow hair and earrings.
“Ugh, you’re killing me. Just go after the gang of thugs that’s running away. This isn’t the time. Don’t you see the victim?”
Shinnoda was practically fuming.
He pointed at the man who had been impaled by tree branches and had fallen.
“Look…why don’t you check, at least.”
A young officer nearby cautiously approached and advised.
“Psh, don’t give me that. If we verified every claim from lowlifes like these, we’d never get any work done. That’s why you always end up in tricky situations.”
Park Jun-hyung retorted with a dismissive attitude to his subordinate, approaching Shinnoda and pulling on his ear.
Of course, he wasn’t pulled in by the strength of a non-awakened person.
“You’re driving me insane.”
In the end, Shinnoda had to accompany him to the station.
The injured man was taken away by the emergency medical team called by Yang Min-seo.
The police chief’s face had gone white after finishing a call with the former National Assembly Secretariat.
The person brought into the station was indeed a legislator.
The damn old man had caused a major issue.
He quickly stormed down and shouted to his staff.
“Unhand the legislator immediately!”
“What?”
The officers echoed with blank expressions.
They too secretly agreed that there was no way a guy dressed like a punk in a school uniform could be a senator.
“For crying out loud! This is a real member of the National Security Council!”
Shouting at them, the police chief finally made a young officer snap to his senses, who quickly removed the handcuffs and returned the weapon to Shinnoda, who accepted it expressionlessly.
“Seriously, is this really an arrest? Isn’t there immunity from arrest for legislators?”
It was just a quiet threat.
The chief, sweating profusely.
Ding ding.
The phone rang. The caller ID showed “Police Commissioner.”
The “Inner Circle” — the upper house — had barely taken control of the regime, and already there were cases of disregard for the authority of the National Security Council, which made them furious, demanding harsh punishment.
The police commissioner had been chewed out royally.
The call ended with apologies repeated over and over by the station chief, who bowed his head repeatedly, even though the other party wasn’t in front of him.
After the call, the officers watching felt their mouths go dry.
“Hey, do you people even think? Why didn’t you properly verify the person’s identity? And Officer Park, for how long have you had rank but failed at management? Is that why you’re stuck at your current rank?”
The station head publicly humiliated the officers who arrested Shinnoda, knowing that Shinnoda himself was watching.
Meanwhile, the officers who arrested Shinnoda thought in their heads, “Where the hell is the punk senator?”
“I’m sorry.”
“I will be more careful.”
They responded, their faces flushed with indignation.
“But it’s the honorable legislator you should apologize to.”
Shame-faced, Park Jun-hyung felt his pride wounded in having to bow to a young punk-looking man.
“I’m sorry due to lack of knowledge.”
“I’m very sorry!”
Yet, thinking of his family waiting at home, he couldn’t do anything but bow deeply in apology.
“But this isn’t about whether I’m a legislator or not. I was trying to help someone who was being beaten in broad daylight and instead, I was labeled the villain. Is this really how you handle things?”
Shinnoda felt wronged.
It was as if he had gone around beating up innocents and then used his power to act like a tyrant, but the original misunderstanding had come from the police side.
The chief gripped his head in frustration.
He bowed before Shinnoda.
“I am truly sorry. It seems my frontline staff did not do their job properly. This is also a failure on my part for not managing them well. I will demote the officers who were negligent in their duties.”
“In that case, I have nothing more to say. Can I leave now?”
“Yes, sir! If you can tell me your destination, we will even escort you to it.”
“There’s no need. Min-seo’s car is here.”
Shinnoda had walked in as a criminal but walked out with utmost courtesy extended to him. He reflected on this—this was why people wielded power.
“Haha, I’m always amazed by Shinnoda’s power.”
“To be honest, I didn’t intend to use power like this. It was just because of a misunderstanding…”
They exchanged casual chatter on their way to the car, and the chauffeur, who’d observed the events, felt anew the influence of the student in the back seat.
‘That’s a high schooler… What was I doing back in high school?’
Though he was a sort of prodigy himself, he mostly spent time studying in school and occasionally visiting PC game rooms.
In an entertainment district, the office of a detective agency.
Several thugs burst in with sweat drenched all over their bodies, their hair sticking to their faces.
They looked around nervously even after entering.
“What’s wrong?”
The head of the action squad of the Fiesta Group, Park Chan-hyuk, frowned, asking what the issue was.
They apparently had just come from a major fight.
“That, that one crazy lunatic.”
“Which guy? How many?”
“One guy, though I don’t think he has a normal job. But he’s, um, not a hero but rather… an awakened one. Wielding a sword while…”
The hasty words of the thugs.
Park Chan-hyuk’s face grew serious.
“You mean a clash with an awakened one? The others? Are they all dead?”
“Um, their hands and feet were cut off…”
“Damn it, you cowards.”
“But we saw the police coming at the end!”
He decided to hear the entire story.
The thugs began from the start: they had been trying to scare someone into repaying debts when someone charged in, swinging a sword.
“Based on how mercilessly he used his weapon, he doesn’t seem to be a real hero. Maybe just someone pretending to be a hero?”
After assessing the entire situation, Park Chan-hyuk made a decision.
He would give them a taste of their own medicine.
It was unthinkable for the organization to overlook someone picking a fight with their members.
‘Under normal circumstances, we wouldn’t have been able to do anything against awakened ones, let alone villains.’
Fiesta Group had been completely absorbed by a Chinese organized crime syndicate that recently entered Busan.
This organization, which previously managed a few D-rank awakened people, met its expected fate.
The organization that absorbed them was the Hwasan Group.
The violent organization based in Shaanxi, China, had to look abroad for operation due to the crackdown on organized crime by the Communist Party.
Most organizations branched out to Japan, Taiwan, and Southeast Asia, while the Hwasan Group came to Korea.
‘They say that the boss of the Hwasan Group is S-rank, and also has many A- and B-rank followers. Dammit. We’re not Fiesta Group pushed around anymore.’
They used to tremble whenever a C-rank or higher awakened person emerged from another organization.
They lost their businesses without being able to do anything but watch as fingers were cut.
But before relying on Hwasan Group, there was something to confirm.
The captured person’s identity.
“Hello, this is Park Chan-hyuk. How’s the missus?”
He called an acquaintance officer.
In the underworld, after a long career, having a few cops who cooperate is natural.
Cops found them useful for investigating this world, and they, in return, could get inside information on large crackdowns.
“Yeah, Park Chan-hyuk, huh? Your wife’s doing okay. Still haven’t retired?”
“No, I haven’t. I have responsibilities towards the younger ones, right? Anyway, was there an arrest related to an awakened person today?”
“Yeah, there was one. One punk kid was stabbing people left and right, so we arrested him, but then there was some… other stuff…”
Park Jun-hyung recalled being humiliated in front of Shinnoda today and the 2nd lecture from the station chief on the matter.
The station chief considered the incidents a result of Park Jun-hyung’s failure to manage himself properly.
To explain all of this to a mere hoodlum like Park Chan-hyuk would hurt his pride.
“So, uh.. The chief knows him. It’s corruption, yeah. The system’s messed up!”
He lied vaguely, throwing shade on the station chief.
In his 50s, having received numerous disciplinary actions, Park Jun-hyung harbored inferiority towards the police chief, who was an elite from the academy.
“Hmm, so you mean you let him go after he messed with your guys?”
“Yeah, the victim was one of yours, so we let him go.”
“Is he from Busan? Do you know where he’s staying?”
“Hey, don’t mess with him. He knows the chief. If I got involved, you guys would be in trouble!”
Park Jun-hyung lied about covering his tracks to avoid any issues with the legislator getting involved in a gang conflict.
Announcing war on crime might be declared if the legislator got attacked.
“Ah, Mr. Officer. No, I just wanted to file a lawsuit for damages. You know we’re not into violence anymore. We’ll handle it legally. Don’t worry.”
Park Chan-hyuk wanted to use this opportunity to assert his authority to his underlings this time but lied calmly.
“Yeah? His name’s Shinnoda. He’s staying at H Hotel in Haeundae, here for some kind of research seminar, I think.”
“Wow, thank you Mr. Officer! That’s enough! I’ll definitely repay this favor. Take care! Yes, next time for drinks, uh!”
The call ended.
Park Chan-hyuk smiled.
“Shinnoda… you’ve meddled in the wrong thing.”
Fortunately, the H Hotel was managed by an organization that the Hwasan Group had taken over. With cooperation, he could get the registry.
*
