Chapter 85

EP 14 - Clams Are Supposed to Be Eaten by Idiots (4)

"Tell me. I'll listen to everything. Hehe."

"......It's disgusting."

"You're saying that because you're drunk, you little brat!"

I don't know what was so funny, but Yeo Doyeon giggled. I stared at her with a cold, deadpan expression, then sighed and poured out my thoughts.

I knew I would probably black out the next day.

"Back... when I first won the election. I thought politics would be really interesting, you know?"

"Hmm."

"But it wasn't."

* * *

A member of the 20th National Assembly. A solid position, and even connections with the next party leader.

I thought I was lucky. Until a monster fell from the ceiling while I was taking the oath of office.

"......I thought life would be great. No need to be a pushover anywhere. Always the boss. I thought I'd live a smooth life, like I was on a highway."

Getting polite greetings from tired civil servants as I walked around. Climbing the ladder and succeeding on the edge. Using my staff during election season.

Of course, there would be tiring and headache-inducing moments, but power was such an attractive thing that it was worth enduring.

In a democratic society, happy people don't do politics. Only those who want to change something, or those who are thirsty for power, jump into politics.

I was clearly the latter. And most people are the latter.

"Even after the scandal broke, I only saw it as an opportunity. I wasn't particularly averse to power."

After ingratiating myself with the upper echelons of society. Bullying people, getting involved in national affairs, and boosting approval ratings.

Going to alumni gatherings and showing off in front of ex-girlfriends, managing my image by eating a bit of local food during election season. Walking a smooth path as the youngest, most popular, and promising member of the 12 remaining precious National Assembly members.

"......I thought I would live like that."

"Would a guy like that get dragged to court for treason by the Republican and Democratic parties?"

Something welled up inside me for a moment.

How did I end up like this?

It would be so much easier and better to just live a comfortable life.

Ignoring everything and living luxuriously in Busan. Hiding among the many privileged and bullying people. Just. Like that.

If I had lived like that, this wouldn't have happened—

"Because of that crazy bastard, Cha Jae-gyun...!"

A world without goodness.

Everything mixed up, plunged into chaos,

A world that needs a line to be drawn.

Once you see such a world, you can't turn a blind eye.

"......You're just giving people false hope."

Thankfully, I drank the elixir; otherwise, I might have aged and died in my thirties. Besides, I've gotten my hands dirty several times.

Yeo Doyeon stared at me intently. She probably looked like a neurotic 30-something with a few strands of white hair.

"......So?"

The answer came out immediately.

"I hate politics."

No, that wasn't the right expression.

"......I hate power. Now."

"......Are you scared?"

She hit the nail on the head.

"So you're not going to do politics anymore?"

Avoiding the question, I fidgeted with my damp, creaking prosthetic leg, and Yeo Doyeon blurted out,

"Ho-jeong was worried you might quit politics."

"......Even to the point of worrying you?"

"Just, you know, while giving her a spam gift set, she subtly asked. Ah, you're not a troublesome kid. Just, you know. Right? She must have been worried about you too."

"......Damn. Me."

Yeah. They've been supporting me from the sidelines, and now they're finally seeing the light. I brought these young, pitiful kids to the light, and I have to take them all the way.

I can't use them and throw them away. They're on my shoulders. I can't act recklessly anymore.

I have to carry them.

I fell silent for a long time, trying to organize my thoughts. I kept wondering if I was saying too much under the influence of alcohol, if I was being too harsh with my family.

Meanwhile, the rain continued to stream down the edge of the roof, and Yeo Doyeon stayed by my side.

"......I thought power would be great, fun, and light."

"Uh-huh."

"Really, it was. Yeah."

"Uh-huh."

"I didn't know how heavy and scary it was, and I just went crazy trying to grab it."

"Isn't that what most people do?"

"It's because they don't take responsibility."

And it was a world where you could get away with it, a world where it was easy to do so. Billions in election funds were carried by underlings who served time and were quickly pardoned, and sexual scandals or personnel corruption could be covered up by celebrity scandals.

That's why being a National Assembly member in South Korea is such a comfortable job. If you have the will, if you're a bit quick-witted, if you're smart,

You can live happily,

By not caring about others and only taking care of yourself.

That's why everyone wanted to do it, and I was one of those people, and I eventually managed to do it.

But.

"If a kid who doesn't know responsibility grabs power, the country will fall apart."

"So you have to do it?"

"That's why I've been going crazy all this time."

"But now it all seems like shit?"

"Yeah."

"Is the responsibility too heavy?"

"......I think I've become someone who moves because of a sense of duty."

"Is the conclusion that you want to do it? That you have to do it?"

"I don't want to, but I have to."

"Damn, you bastard."

"What...?"

"Now what am I supposed to be?"

Yeo Doyeon frowned. The smell of alcohol was particularly strong.

"I've lived my life as I pleased and messed it up! Damn it. Do you know? Don't you know?"

"......I know."

A 29-year-old high school graduate who chased dreams and wasted his youth. That was her resume.

She pointed at me.

"There's a misconception. I didn't mess up my life by going crazy with gambling. I failed because I lacked the ability."

"......What?"

"I couldn't navigate the world. I didn't have the talent. I, I, damn, didn't work hard enough to fail!"

"......"

"So I have fewer regrets."

At first, I thought she was just talking nonsense.

In a way, she was. Yeo Doyeon had hardly ever drunk alcohol in her life. So now, after three cans of beer, she couldn't even stand up straight.

I thought so.

So, unfortunately, I tried to brush it off.

"But, you're different, aren't you? Seung-moon."

Those words pierced my ears.

"You're smart. You, you've done things others can't. You can't just give up now."

"......Isn't it too late for us to have this conversation?"

"You can't just light a fire in someone's heart and then back out!"

"......What?"

On a rainy spring night, Yeo Doyeon pointed at me.

"Why am I saving people because of someone!"

"......!"

"At the Shinbundang Line...! In that, that dark tunnel filled with smoke and that monster, leading thousands of people, because of that. That's why...!"

"......"

"Auntie with the kid, she thanked me for saving her. I, I...! That's why I started saving people!"

Yeo Doyeon waved her finger at me like a lunatic.

"It's because of you, you brat! You showed me the taste of saving people! You!"

She choked up as she spoke to me. Her voice started to crack.

"But...! If you back out now, what am I supposed to do...?"

"......Uh, uh?"

"Is my help not enough?"

"......"

"My goals and dreams are all turning to nothing! I've spent 28 years in the mud, and I really...! I wanted to quit martial arts and commit suicide...! Yeah!?"

I,

thought she had wasted her youth chasing dreams.

"Hey!"

No, she hadn't.

"You gave me a new dream, you brat!"

Yeo Doyeon,

was still wasting her youth.

She glared at me, pounding her chest with her fists. The rain was being blown by the strong wind, and I couldn't tell if the drops on her face were tears or rain.

"......! I, I, I want to save this fucked-up world. What you've shown me so far, isn't that it?

Saving people, beating up bastards, driving away monsters, to save this country! Isn't that what you've shown me through your actions? But if you back out now, what am I supposed to be!"

"......"

"Answer me, you bastard!"

"Uh, uh...?"

This crazy brat, not even caring that her clothes were getting wet, ran out into the rain. It was her hometown by the harbor, and it was early morning, so there was no one on the streets.

"Ah! Damn it!"

She screamed like a madwoman, cursing. Her angry kicks shattered the pedestrian bollards, and deep footprints were left in the asphalt.

She suddenly looked out at the churning black sea. When she ran over and leaned on the railing, I panicked and shouted.

"If you drink and go into the sea, you'll die, you crazy woman!"

"Shut up!"

Even the most skilled Awakened would drown if their lungs filled with water.

Especially the night sea on a rainy night, the night sea with strong winds and rough waves, the notoriously dangerous sea in front of Tongyeong. It was no different from a man-eating catfish.

As my face turned pale, the crazy woman on the railing turned to look at me.

"Hey! Damn it! Are you going to do politics or not?"

"I, I'll do it! I'll do it!"

"I can die right now!"

"I'll do it, I will!"

"Promise, you brat!"

"I promise, damn it!"

"Uh, damn...!"

She fainted and rolled down to the bottom of the breakwater. Fortunately, it was low tide, so she hit the mud instead of her head.

"Uncle!"

"Uh, uh?"

"Come out! Hurry!"

"Why? Why!"

"Do-yeon fell down!"

In our bare feet, my uncle and I ran out and pulled Yeo Doyeon back to the house with all our might. Yeo Doyeon got slapped fifteen times by her aunt and was scolded.

And her aunt's finger was broken and had to go to the emergency room.

*

After the chaotic and terrifying morning, the breakfast menu was a salty fried egg.

We sat around the brown table, picking up the fried egg with our chopsticks and placing it in our rice bowls.

Everyone was too exhausted to speak. It was so quiet that we absentmindedly turned on the 8 AM news.

[Next news. Y, a key member of the Awakened Mercenary Association and a blood relative and close confidant of Assemblyman Han Seung-moon, attempted suicide by jumping at around 5 AM this morning—]

Pfff - !

My uncle, who was drinking water, sprayed it all over the table like a spray bottle.

My aunt, who was eating with her left hand because her right hand was in a cast, threw her wooden chopsticks at Yeo Doyeon with all her might.

- Smack!

"Ouch...!"

The chopsticks hit Yeo Doyeon, who was kneeling at the head of the table, on the forehead and rolled to the floor.

And I heard my aunt's dialect for the first time in seven years.

"If you drink again, I'll kick you out of the family register."

"......"

"I got it!! I didn't know!!"

"Ah, I got it...!"

Silence returned to the table. Thanks to this, we could hear the news clearly.

[According to police CCTV, Y was known to have damaged property on a nearby road during an argument with Assemblyman Han Seung-moon. During the Seoul incident, he was one of the seven martyrs—]

My aunt foamed at the mouth and convulsed.

"Turn off the TV!"

"Let, let me watch a bit. It's about me."

"That's a disgrace to the family!"

Fortunately, Seol Jin-woon had been sent home early in the morning, so he didn't see our family's disgraceful state.

Of course, he had already seen everything. I wrapped the fried egg and rice in kim and ate it while holding onto the remote.

And.

I doubted my eyes and ears.

[...Breaking news! Hunter Seol Jin-woon was attacked with sulfuric acid in Busan. The perpetrator is a 50-year-old woman, Park, who was arrested at the scene—]