The authority of a nation appears weak because it does not trouble most upstanding citizens.
Conversely, for those who cause problems, it is something that acts as tremendous pressure.
If this is difficult to understand, one need only look at the economic news closest to daily life.
“Did you cheat on your taxes again? Corporations... you've grown large enough, so isn't it time for a harvest?”
“Moneeeey--!! I was a slave to capitalism who tried to turn a profit without paying proper taxes--!!”
Even a fairly large corporation has its arm twisted by a single “tax investigation,” squealing up to soprano high notes.
“I have nothing to say... I will do my best to cooperate with the investigation...”
They call them corporations, but in truth, every time the chaebols—who possess economic territories—are investigated, they ride in wheelchairs to score sympathy points.
It means the sunlight of national authority has two faces, simultaneously providing vitamins and skin cancer.
“Has the Minister arrived? Haha, I was greatly indebted to you last time.”
“Come now, must we nitpick over trivial matters with those who contribute so greatly to society? Hahaha!!”
Well, thanks to that, those who obtained the authority to show even the shade of that sunlight have been deeply respected since ancient times.
“No, you said it was possible back then! What are you saying now?!”
“I said it ‘might’ be possible. Who told you to erect a building without confirming properly?!”
“This won't do. I shall press the ‘start coverage’ button and end your short civil servant life.”
“Uh... uh?! No, wait! Sir! Sir!”
There are times when someone who does not know the proper way to use it messes around, and the enraged solar heat converges through the magnifying glass called a reporter to burn an insect.
Just look at a business going under because a civil servant, not knowing any better, spoke ambiguously to avoid taking responsibility.
At the point where even mere powder that cannot form a fragment can ruin a person’s life, what a fearsome power that is.
“A country where centralization is taken for granted, where citizens being treated like numbers is everyday life... a nation that would make cyberpunk weep.”
Because the era of being a nation of absolute centralization, where the state ought to command everything, had lasted too long.
It was an acrobatic feat possible only because people too accustomed to its workings could sense nothing strange about the system.
The nation itself passed through eras of monarchy, repeating total wars time and again.
After passing through the dark history of losing the nation itself entirely.
Because it possessed a long history of civil war, cleaved in half and hating one another.
A nation of Control Freaks¹ that not even the spiciness of ordinary communism or totalitarianism could match.
Thus, the authority of this Korean Peninsula shone today as well, protecting this nation and countless people.
Of course, it would be a lie to say there were no people trying to ignore that authority in the midst of this.
“Damn it, you fucks! You want to screw up your life?! Do you know how massive the penalty is once you get blacklisted in this country?!”
Just as even the most renowned scholar became eternal garbage preserved in history the moment they fell out of the king’s favor.
The higher one has climbed, the greater the damage from the drop into the abyss below—this is nothing unusual.
“‘Fall from the power line and you're dead, and no matter how popular you are, one line of controversy erases your career! Live righteously!’”
Because it is a society where “second chances are rarely given,” one must not create situations that cause scandal.
Is it not a country where countless celebrities scream today from behind bookshelves at their failure to do so?
And among these sins, the greatest became “failing to fulfill social duties,” based on a certain point in time.
“What?! Dodging the army?! Why do you get to dodge it! Who are you! I got dragged there by force and suffered, who are you!”
Celebrities who dodged it by abandoning the other meaning of creative work never stand on live stages again.
A “sensation of an era” who gave up citizenship becomes the owner of a “Military Service Pizza” shop.
How immense the angry energy of ordinary people is, those who had to crawl at the very bottom when they should have been at their brightest.
Electric current flowed through the heads of the high-ranking figures who wished to maintain conscription, as they watched this blazing active volcano.
“If we use it just a little, we can definitely solidify the perception² that ‘if you have Korean citizenship, you must go to the army!’”
A completed system that gives its people nothing, yet redirects that vortex of anger toward others to maintain the establishment!
Therefore, when they politely dispatched someone to half-threaten with “do you want to fall into the abyss too?” and notified him of a “military service extension,”
The high-ups expected Gim Chomok to crawl over, saying, “Aigo... it can't be helped! It’s filthy and disgusting, but I’ll follow, haha!”
“Fuck this country! You used me once, and now what damn extension?! Eat shit!”
Ptoooey—!!
“What, this man?! What kind of fugitive comes out this boldly in front of a camera?!”
The first reactionary figure going around looking only for broadcasting live cameras, asking, “What can you bastards even do?”
It was the moment ordinary citizen Gim Chomok shoved the nation’s authority into a cesspool.
***
Refusing conscription when the nation calls is a crime that could be criminally punished at any time without surprise.
Therefore, as a friend, on top of seeing that friend appear on the TV in the barracks where he had collapsed exhausted after work,
—This is breaking news. One Awakened who refused the law recently enacted has appeared at the National Assembly. Reporter?
—“You pieces of garbage, too busy shoving tax money into your snouts, passing that retarded law while drunk and pressing the approval button...”
—...Cut! Cuut!! Ahem, there was a brief accident. Our station will do its utmost to follow the Korea Communications Standards Commission’s guidelines...
If one were to see a crazy bastard who displayed every possible hand gesture insult live toward a certain building in Yeouido,
There was no option not to answer the shared barracks phone³ that this crazy bastard walked in to find, saying, “The world has gotten better...”
—Are you crazy?! No, no matter how much the law is shit, what the hell are you doing right now?!
“Hey, calm down, man. No matter how much my head hardened in the army, I’m not that stupid.”
—Your career starting point is Ground Zero of the abyss, what kind of damn calm...
Click!
Regardless of what one is thinking, law and order can only stand when you teach manners to a young man filled with anger who only talks over others.
When he firmly pressed the end call button on the twice-ringing call.
—...You crazy bastard. So what are you going to do. If your plan makes no sense whatsoever, turn yourself in.
Such a gentle, calm voice that cleanly grasped the situation flowed into his ears.
“Why are you worried about me? Let me ask you: if your military service got extended and someone told you to do a suicide mission, would you do it?”
—I’d probably half-ass it, or run if it’s even a little dangerous. You think I’m crazy enough to go die in there?
Realizing that the overt tiredness in his voice was not the tone of someone lying, Gim Chomok smiled.
The will of ordinary soldiers in the current Awakened unit has broken past zero, a redder minus than a liquidated stock account.
You want to take people this unmotivated to catch fellow Awakened while risking their lives?
He’s already annoyed to death running around risking his life in front of monsters, and now you want him to go toe-to-toe with the bastard who beat a monster to death with his bare hands?
Weren’t they already something other than enemies the moment they enacted a policy to extend military service like hell?
There are plenty of contrarian mules who put diesel instead of gasoline when told to refuel, or dig elsewhere or even fill it in when told to dig.
“You want your military service more fucked?! I’ll catch you right now... what, where did everyone go?!”
If you oppress them by threatening demerits to make them do something, what returns are empty barracks and an increasing number of second Gim Chomoks.
The other side could not be unaware of that, so Jeong Ilhwan would never have to face him.
—...They might say they’ll give tons of leave? They might offer discharge as a prize.
Our innocent friend Jeong Ilhwan still thinks some will fall for sweet talk if they coax gently, but...
“Sure, and the moment your operation fails once, they’ll cut you down in chunks. It is the army, after all.”
—Wow... that’s totally convincing. I already don’t want to do it.
No matter how much they entice with sweet honey, there is no answer before the uniqueness of a rigid society.
After that, there would be scenarios of using regular soldiers or counter-terrorism units to catch him, but...
“Now then, allow me a random question.”
To capture or neutralize Sergeant Gim Chomok here, how much firepower must be concentrated?
—...Who knows? It depends on how strongly his ability is manifested... but you'd need to fire at least a howitzer to get a neutralization call, right?
“I’m in downtown Seoul? You’re going to fire a cannon that erases fifty meters? In a metropolis with a population of ten million⁴?”
—...Wow. This crazy bastard. He took ten million hostages. And randomly at that.
Even if you tried to fire regular assault rifles, normally you would have to evacuate people first just in case.
A normal person would have to block that and become a “real hostage-taker” to barely get a chance to beg for their life, but...
Gim Chomok, who worries about the well-being of bullets and knives that hit him head-on, had no need for that.
“If I see people being evacuated from my eyes? Then I just boldly mix in with them and leave.”
If he mixes in with those citizens and goes to another downtown area, isn’t that just an endless hostage drama?
—What about public resentment? If you really try that shit, you'll get cursed so richly that even the reaper will remember your name.
“Well, I might get cursed at for now... but the root cause of this incident isn't me, right?”
If the social atmosphere gets ruined thanks to him, he could deflect some arrows, but...
The excuse many criminals use, “society made me this way,” actually holds real legitimacy this time.
“Rather, won't they be incredibly grateful later that I'm only going this far?”
—...Well, a guy who beats monsters to death with his bare hands is better than one currently destroying everything and going on a rampage.
A monster that hunts monsters who, the moment he turns into an enemy, cannot be killed by ordinary means and would cause a guaranteed great disaster if he rampaged.
They should slowly realize how lucky it is that he is just silently conducting a “peaceful protest.”
Later, when it is confirmed that even the reason the normally docile young man turned violent is because of the evil law,
won’t the “bastards who enacted the law” that created this dangerous situation end up hanging from poles instead?
As if they know this event is a total bust, noise had been audible from the surroundings since a while ago.
“Hey, you watching? I’m being treated like such a dangerous guy. I’ll tell you the story when we meet later. Keep running around.”
—...Sigh, crazy bastard. See you when I go on leave.
Click!
Helicopters buzzed overhead, and police forces and soldiers armed with countless shields and batons swarmed in.
From among the troops that had formed an encirclement before he knew it, a weathered man came out with a megaphone.
“Don't move! You are completely surrounded...”
He suddenly shouted, offering negotiations to surrender and settle things nicely, but...
“Now, coming through! Person coming through!”
Even faster than that shout, one person who dug into the center of the formation gave a light touch like pushing dominoes.
Crash---!!
“Uwaaack! I'm crushed! I'm being crushed!! Move, you bastard!”
“No, I told you how many times what meaning surrounding me has, why are you doing this...!!”
In an instant, a straight path opened wide between troops toppling to both sides while screaming.
Naturally, it was vividly captured by the broadcasting cameras—a 21st-century style miracle splitting the crowd in half instead of seawater.
No matter if one major broadcasting station had relocated, Yeouido is where the main body of the national broadcasting station exists.
With an incident of this magnitude breaking out near such a place, how could it not be live?
After being stuck in Gates all this time and used only to stop monsters, the shocking display of brute strength shown by an ability user appearing in public for the first time
made countless ordinary people, just about to take their first spoonful of dinner, drop their utensils.
- ...They’re going to forcibly mobilize these monster-labeled bastards? Is their intelligence even real? [551]
ㄴ Aigoo, there go our taxes melting away... and the hearts of those soldiers’ parents are melting too...
ㄴ From the look of it, he just gave it a casual shove... If he’d hit it with full force, the broadcast would’ve cut out.
ㄴ What are you even saying, JigsawJigsaw...
And, naturally, utensils weren’t the only things that dropped.
A group responsible for guaranteeing people’s safety had failed to stop his movement for even a single second, and the whole thing had been caught live.
Naturally, there was no stopping the divers in the sea of information from tearing the comment section to shreds.
“S-stop him!! Stop him somehow!! Hey! Get up!!”
No matter how much some high-ranking person, clearly with his own feet on fire, tested his voice through a megaphone,
“Now then, friends! I’ll see you on the next stage! Citizens of Korea! This is where your tax money is flying off to!”
the monster had already kicked off the ground, sucking the nearby roadside trees dry and killing them as he vanished at high speed.
A helicopter hurriedly tried to follow, but its target had long since slipped naturally into the bustling forest of buildings.
“Ugh, going down there while risking a collision is a bit much. We’ll land.”
Unable to pursue any farther, it circled briefly in the air before heading dejectedly for the landing pad.
As for the ground grunts, left hollow by the sight of a bird that had never come down from the roof in the first place slipping under the eaves of the house next door,
“...Damn it, do we have to move again and follow that thing?”
they began spitting every curse imaginable while once more gathering up their weapons and loading them onto their transport.
“Hey, don’t pack everything in too tight. Judging by what he’s doing, we’re probably going to have to repeat this crap again.”
“Haa... I wish the vehicle would just break down completely so we couldn’t even load the equipment. What kind of cursed lot in life is this?”
Unlike the people who had already climbed into the command vehicles and disappeared, the armed troops, who only became able to move after quite some time,
sighed as they loaded themselves into an old two-and-a-half-ton truck so decrepit that this was elder abuse of the highest order.
“...Agh, all the good stuff gets sent to the Gates, so we’re always stuck riding these antiques.”
The soldiers opened the rear bed of the steel truck, a thing so old it was beyond elderly and belonged in a longevity village, never knowing when it might simply stop.
With no foothold to help them up, they miserably rolled their way onto the ancient truck, rubbing dust all over themselves.
Kim Chomok, northbound past Yeongdeungpo-gu toward Mapo-gu...!!
“All because of one crazy troll bastard—what the hell is all this!!”
To call it a crisis created by a single troublemaking troll was an understatement of absurd proportions.