Chapter 132

4:40 PM.
A rented luxury car sped toward the center of Kilikia. Densely packed buildings and flashing neon lights of every color. It looked like the Times Square of the future.
I look up and see a steep rise of buildings that makes my neck ache. I wonder how many companies are housed in just one of those buildings, and how much money I’d have to spend to get a small office.
A new realization. The astronomical value of a city of people.
To the powerful men of the streets, Dustborn is a tiny thing. Kim’s personal wealth is in the hundreds of millions, but that’s hardly significant here.
I don’t feel deprived by it.
“Am I being too hard on myself?
In Kim’s eyes, the main street wasn’t grand or imposing, just precarious. Like a castle of jewels built from faded pearls.
It can fall apart overnight.
By catastrophe. By human malice.
“Hey, Dean.”
Assam’s call interrupted his thoughts. Kim rested her arms on the armrest of the passenger seat, jaw clenched, and turned her head. His eyes were twitching with anxiety.
“You know, what we’re going to do now is.”
“Isn’t that mean?”
“…….”
It was a silence of affirmation. In Kavarati, the twins sold the identities of corpses. It was a way to make a living, but it was clearly immoral.
This time, the results were similar.
Assam now knows that Kim is not an agent of the Shiran Empire. The truth doesn’t disappoint. Dustborn has always had a soft spot in his heart for Celbrox Labs.
On the one hand, he feels indebted. After all, Rap has embraced him and his family, he deserves something in return. Why else would he have picked just the three of them from Kabarati?
It can’t be pure goodwill.
Assam found that society was not kind. In order to survive, he had to listen to the old people. Still, he couldn’t get rid of the feeling.
Assam’s feelings were readily apparent to Kim.
“Good guy.
He muttered to himself.
“No offense, but let’s get the facts straight.”
“False or true?”
“First of all, the defining charge for which Allen Iver was arrested is drug trafficking.”
I turned around and saw Pep behind the wheel.
“Pep. What about authenticity?”
“Why would a chief of police sell drugs, unless he’s crazy?”
“So it’s a frame-up. Why did Johanna Feltner target Allen Iver?”
“Because it’s annoying, I’m sure you’ve taken a lot of bribes, and if an investigation comes in, you’re screwed.”
“You’re an asshole.”
“The problem is, he’s a powerful son of a bitch.”
Asam, listening to the story, asked cautiously.
“So you’re trying to punish me?”
“No. I don’t get to punish anyone.”
It was the same from the beginning. Kim never served as a judge; he did not have a sense of justice that seized up at the sight of the wicked.
“It’s none of your business, but you’ve already thrown shit at us, and I’m not about to let my company go down the tubes.”
“…….”
“And don’t worry too much. Nobody’s going to get hurt, nobody’s going to die. Well, one person will have a hard life ahead of him-”
Kim said, “I’m sorry.
“Self-help.”
An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.
* * *
-PM 5:54.
Sylenia Grand Palace.
A black sedan pulled up to the front door of a large 34-story hotel. A bodyguard opened the back door and a middle-aged woman in an evening dress stepped out of the car.
So the assistant who got off followed her.
“Mr. Councilman. The second son of Mr. Perez, Chairman of the Citi Group, is attending this party.”
“Mario Perez? That asshole?”
“It’s like I half-assedly snatched the invitation from my brother.”
“He’s got his hands all over the place, and he must be in a hurry.”
Johanna Feldner snorted. Mario Perez. The debt-ridden guy who couldn’t run the one company he inherited. Even at the party, I could see the picture clouding the water.
‘President Peres is not going to let this go on.’
Mario’s brother will take over the reins. Preferably with a kite, if possible. She’s been in and out of parties several times a week, making connections.
With each passing day, Johanna realized that her position had changed since the captain’s dismissal. It was time to row. Push the Paneros partisans out of the way and rise to a higher position.
Even the minister could stare. The thought of a brilliant future made him smile. In order to succeed, he had to refrain from secret hobbies.
“Let’s go.”
With her bodyguard and secretary in tow, Johanna headed to the hotel.
Only after they entered the lobby did the driver take the wheel again. Now they have to spend time in the parking lot and wait for another call.
“I don’t know what’s going on here.
I shouldn’t have said it, even to myself. The driver sighed.
Smart.
A knock on the car window. Chapter looked up in surprise to see a man standing in the direction of the road. He’s got a stern look, and he’s dressed in a classy suit.
A master somewhere. I honestly don’t want to get involved. It’s annoying, but I can’t ignore it.
Lower the window.
“What’s going on?”
“Alas, it’s no different.”
A hand slipped into the car out of nowhere. The driver was about to point out the rudeness. His jaw dropped at what was happening in front of him.
A gun appeared in his bare hand.
“Uh, uh, uh, uh…!”
“Shh, shh, shh! Don’t make a scene.”
The man instructed, keeping a smile on his face.
“Open the door. Quietly.”
-PM 6:41.
Alcohol and food. Laughter and music.
Capitalists with good values, surrounded by people with good values, having a worthwhile conversation. For Johanna Feldner, it was all business and all love.
“Senator. You’ve done a great job.”
“Yes, indeed. The behavior of the riot police recently was clearly out of line.”
“What a city Kilikia is! The Capitol, the MetroCity, nothing is beyond the reach of entrepreneurs like us. Even the leagues that the citizens love are sponsored by corporations, and yet you ignore their efforts and treat them like thieves.”
“He’s lost sight of his duties, and if he’s the chief of police, he’s so rotten to the core that he’s willing to turn his hand to crime, and you’re going to have to fix that.”
The resentment was not small. It was the karma of the Guard and the Paneros partisans. How many companies had been sent to their deaths by uncovering their easy corruption. There was no way they could complain.
“I’m just standing up for what I believe in.”
Johanna was sometimes disgusted by their attitude, but she also recognized the necessity. Corporate favors were enriching. Not just for the city, but for Johanna herself.
It’s up to you to decide which you value more.
In the past, I’ve heard people say that Kilikia has gone too far outwardly, or that we need to address the growing gap between rich and poor – but politicians’ ideologies change.
Politics is like that.
Because there is no right answer, anything can be the right answer, and conversely, anything can be the wrong answer. And right now, it’s always been the former. In the end, it’s all about influence.
“Haha, I didn’t think politicians could be trusted, but then I saw you…….”
The clichéd greeting didn’t end there.
─Bam!
A sharp sound of destruction erupted. Heads snapped around, including Johanna’s. A relatively corner position. The champagne tower had collapsed, shattering glasses.
“What, what!”
Fortunately, no one was nearby and no one was injured. The guests scrambled away from the window in horror. The music stopped and tension filled the room.
Wow!
“Gahhhhhh!”
“Té, terrorism! Call the riot police!”
One after another, chandeliers and glasses shattered.
The bullet holes in the glass grew one by one.
The commotion didn’t stop there. The fire alarms in the hotel began to blare. Security guards rushed to assess the situation.
“Senator. You need to evacuate!”
“Uh, yeah. And the car?”
“I’ll put in a call right away, follow me.”
The bodyguard led the way, shouting instructions over his communicator, and I felt my heart sink a little. The other guests were also being escorted out of the party hall.
Same time.
Chelsea, who had been sniping from a building far away from the hotel, lowered her mounted gun. The semi-automatic rifle [Garand] Kim handed me. She switched between the gun and my hand.
His hands were shaking slightly.
“Gee, I feel better, ah….”
At first, I was definitely reluctant. But then I realized that this was new to me, so I stopped grumbling and followed the instructions, and when I did it myself, I realized that it was a crime.
I’ve never seen anything like it. The ruling beasts of the capitalist society were roaring. It was a day when I faced the dark desires that had sprouted in my heart without even realizing it.
-PM 6:54.
The secretary shielded Johanna as if she were a bulletproof box, while the bodyguard walked warily around her. Thanks to their split attention, Johanna made it out of the hotel unharmed.
The car was parked on the street in no time at all. As soon as the secretary opened the door for her, Johanna hurriedly slid into the seat.
“Whoa, ha ha.”
I breathed a sigh of relief.
In fact, it was pretty crude for terrorism. Its purpose was unclear. But the word terrorism was enough to paralyze people’s thinking.
So.
They were all rigid in their thinking. Under normal circumstances, I might have noticed the discomfort. Instead, the bodyguard in the car narrowed his eyes at the driver’s seat.
A slimmer physique. Unnatural color, as if dyed in a hurry. A slightly longer length of hair. Upon closer inspection, there was not a single similarity except for the forehead.
It was a realization that came too late.
“Damn it. Senator…!”
Tada tada tada!
Suddenly, the needle in the bodyguard’s body emitted an electric current. The big man’s body twitched violently, then drooped limply. Johanna and her assistant’s eyes widened at the sudden realization.
Ding, ding, ding!
Unsurprisingly, the door didn’t open.
“Da, who are you, no, you know who I am and you’re doing this!”
Instead of answering, the driver rummaged in his seat. He pulled on a gas mask, and soon afterward, the car began to spray gas.
“Hey, hey…. How dare you…….”
An irresistible surge of energy washed over Johanna. For a moment, her focus wavered and her vision blurred. In her fading mind, she heard one last sound.
“Hmmm, hmmm. Hmph.”
A cheerful hum.
-AM 03:11.
The police are called to an urgent call in the wee hours of the morning. A back alley considered a hotbed of crime. The story was that drugs were being dealt in a darkened warehouse.
“It’s a riot police! Drop your weapons and surrender!”
Armed with searchlights and riot guns, the law enforcement team stormed the underground warehouse. The intense light pierced the darkness, and panic spread like a poison among the officers as they realized what was inside.
“Uh, Senator?”
“……?”
Johanna Feldner.
The councilwoman who had accused the captain stood up, her eyes staring blankly at the raiders as they burst into the warehouse, then dropping to follow the direction of the searchlight’s movement.
“Huh…?”
There were a lot of suspicious looking pill packets rolling around underfoot.