Chapter 92

EP 15 - An Extra in the Political Arena (6)

"Over there, below Seogwipo, there's a cliff called Sonammeori next to Jungbang Waterfall. It's a beautiful place where you can see the large ships entering and leaving Seogwipo Port and the blue South Sea."

Jung Yeop's story began atop Sonammeori Cliff, with the old tales his grandfather used to tell, and ended with how much his grandfather loved Korea.

A former Communist Party official who fled to Korea after being pushed out of political strife in Shanghai, he fell in love with a simple country girl from Jeju Island and started a family. He established a small canning company and lived a harmonious life until he died of liver cancer.

His grandfather's favorite food in life was doenjang stew, and he helped countless Jeju Island poor through his business. Jung Yeop's resolve to follow in his footsteps. And so on.

As the story drew to a close, Jung Yeop, with his handsome face, bit his lip and shed hot, tearful tears of indignation.

"My grandfather was executed by Won Ok-bun. I was arrested by the prosecution because my grandfather was Chinese. My secretary has been under investigation for 16 hours in the prosecution's underground interrogation room. My wife is trapped in our house, surrounded by reporters, and my children are being pointed at as the children of a traitor."

And then he dropped the bomb.

"...I will withdraw from the National Party presidential primary. Acting President Won Ok-bun, please stop now."

South Korea was a country that was ambiguously sensitive to political retaliation. There had been a precedent of a massive backlash. Moreover, that faction had been the mainstream, having produced the government twice.

Former President Moon Jae-in and former President Yoo Jae-gwang were both pro-Noh. This was a shared sore point for about half of South Korea's voters and the political sphere.

Jung Yeop, very cunningly, had struck at that point.

He had succeeded in his escape.

Now, the fact that Jung Yeop's grandfather was a corrupt official who colluded with the Triad and that Jung Yeop had inherited his network and used it in politics would be buried in the dark.

* * *

Politics was truly a double-edged sword.

Even the use of the word was such.

Authoritative distribution of social values,

Ruling justly,

Adjusting interests and maintaining order, etc.

All sorts of plausible meanings were packed into the two characters 政治, yet no one used the word in that sense. Typically, it was used to mean incitement or a stab in the back. How could one deny this duality when even the politicians themselves used it that way?

This is what Lee Ho-jeong thought—

"This election is too political."

"Of course, elections are political."

Lee Ho-jeong sighed, stirring her mugwort tea with a spoon, as Han Seung-moon, who was sprawled on the sofa, looked at his phone.

How could he be so relaxed when even Jung Yeop had been eliminated? Still, she had a firm belief that this guy would somehow pull through, so her frown didn't deepen.

She just felt a bit uneasy and deflated.

"......Not that kind of politics."

"I meant it that way."

Ugh. Han Seung-moon got up from the sofa.

"Rather, I wish this election didn't involve money."

Then he grinned.

"Can you even imagine what happened in the last general election with the Democratic Party?"

He had been the chief of staff to the Democratic Party's public relations committee. Lee Ho-jeong, who had been a chief of staff for the Progressive Party, chuckled.

"Ours was similar, just a different amount."

Yang Il-ho, who had entered the office with a wrapped lunch, muttered.

"Our senior was sent to jail while transporting the money in a truck."

Incidentally, Yang Il-ho was a chief of staff for a Republican Party legislator. He was now preparing to run for the National Party, and he set up the lunch and chopsticks on the table for that purpose.

Despite their constant ideological rhetoric, it was a rather unromantic political arena.

The National Party's floor leader, who had been lounging on the constituency office sofa, bit into a rice roll after peeling back the aluminum foil, and Yang Il-ho neatly broke the wooden chopsticks after laying out the rice rolls.

Then he said to his girlfriend,

"Ho-jeong, rice roll."

"......"

"Ho-jeong?"

"......"

"Want to leave out the pickled radish?"

Ignoring Yang Il-ho, Lee Ho-jeong, with bloodshot eyes, was flipping through her iPad and phone simultaneously, sticking several Post-it notes on a piece of paper and scribbling something. The two men, knowing that she sometimes got absorbed like this, quietly ate their rice rolls and passed the time.

"Ah, Il-ho, did you go to the prosecution?"

"Yes, I was indicted for election law violations, but I don't know how the verdict will turn out."

"Ouch. How did that happen?"

"Brother made me throw chicken."

"Such......"

"Brother, are you teasing me now?"

"Did you just figure that out?"

Lee Ho-jeong's eccentric behavior ended when Yang Il-ho started to seriously consider stabbing Han Seung-moon with his chopsticks.

"Take a look at this."

Lee Ho-jeong pushed her iPad towards Han Seung-moon and Yang Il-ho. It was the result of her all-night internet analysis.

"It's clear that the public perceives this election as too negative. The results are showing it."

"......"

"The support rates for all candidates have decreased."

Yang Il-ho started to nervously bite his nails, and Han Seung-moon began to smile like the Buddha.

"It's all karma, really."

It was an expected outcome.

In less than a week, numerous battles had been fought.

Jung Yeop had framed Won Ok-bun as a "puppet of Cha Jae-gyun" and stabbed her in the back. Taking advantage of the weakening of both sides, Han Seung-moon, who had kept his distance from the central political scene, brought in hunters and planted a flag in the central region.

He then built a defense by framing the issue as a national security conspiracy, threw a bomb at Won Ok-bun, and launched a two-front battle against Jung Yeop and himself.

At this point, Won Ok-bun lost her "national security president" image and was cornered with the image of a "besieged leader." However, by manipulating the prosecution to send Kim Jo-in, she neutralized Han Seung-moon and Jung Yeop, who lost their supply base like generals without resources.

However, when Jung Yeop staged a tearful withdrawal, the issue of Won Ok-bun's excessive use of public authority came to the surface.

The main argument was:

"Even if we dig into the National Security Party, they wouldn't be any better. Why is the prosecution only targeting the National Party? Has it become Won Ok-bun's dog? Is this not an unfair intervention by the prosecution in the election?"

"It's a favorable narrative for us."

"It's not a good trend, though."

Tick. The Monami pen, which had been spinning elegantly on her white fingers, stopped. Lee Ho-jeong, frowning, bit the pen and chewed it.

"It means that the 'both sides are bad' theory is starting to take hold......"

The 'both sides are bad' theory (兩非論).

They are all the same.

Both are bad.

While it might seem like a good strategy, it was one that was never tolerated in the big waters of South Korean politics. This was proven by the failure of the 'People's Party' in the 19th presidential election.

On the other hand, there are times when the 'both sides are bad' theory works.

"......It means that the public is starting to see both sides as the same."

"Not 'the same,' but 'exactly the same.'"

This was also proven by the success of the 'People's Party' in the 20th general election.

In other words, the 'both sides are bad' theory taking hold was a red alert for the established political sphere. It also meant that the National Party was now seen as an established party by the public.

They had lost their image as a new reform party.

Lee Ho-jeong clutched her head.

"The negativity was too intense......"

Han Seung-moon, with a slightly stubbled chin, stroked his chin, and Yang Il-ho, tilting his round-framed glasses, approached as Lee Ho-jeong continued to explain with a frown.

"Basically, negativity damages both sides. It's a structure where there's no winner. And it actually had a negative effect."

Lee Ho-jeong enlarged her phone screen to show a downward graph.

"The support rates for all candidates have dropped."

"Jung Yeop is out, but Won Ok-bun's support rate has dropped...?"

"It was over 50% at first, but now it's in the high 30s. And the legislator's support rate has dropped from 15% concrete to 12%."

In response to Lee Ho-jeong's relentless criticism, Yang Il-ho smiled and offered his opinion.

"Seems like the public's political aversion has increased. 30% of people don't know who to vote for, so they might want a more moral candidate. If we push retired hunters and hold out, we might see a way forward. I think the legislator's support rate dropped temporarily because of the connection with the Kim Jo-in faction of the National Party—"

"No."

Lee Ho-jeong frowned and countered.

"Expecting voters to have a good memory is the stupidest thing! Too many political battles happened in too short a time, and the excessive injection of negative stimuli prevented any frame from firmly capturing the public. Especially since a political realignment has taken place, almost all voters have become centrist. They are very indifferent to provocative incitement."

"The public has become indifferent to provocation?"

"Whereas before, they didn't know who they aligned with because they didn't care about politics, now they are so used to being whipped that they can't feel the pain. They will flip their eyes at the first carrot they see, no matter which side it comes from."

And in such a world, expecting moral sensitivity or judgment is unrealistic—

Lee Ho-jeong added briefly.

"One in five people have died. Almost all citizens have lost at least one family member. They are very vulnerable to fear and hate politics, but both sides have been so impulsive with fear and hate politics that they have become indifferent."

"......It seems the flavor is fading."

"Now is the time for people to forget what the National Security Party and the National Party said. They will just feel that 'both sides are wrong because they are fighting each other.' The world is too complex for complex ideas to sink in. Besides, monsters are coming down with their mouths open in real time."

Han Seung-moon slowly lowered the iPad Lee Ho-jeong handed him. The neatly organized charts and graphs supported her argument.

Lee Ho-jeong's statements were not based on conjecture but on numbers. Han Seung-moon, convinced, asked her.

"Is my support rate drop due to the 'both sides are bad' theory?"

"More precisely, you've overused your image. The reason for this 'both sides are bad' theory is excessive political fighting, and whether the legislator is right or wrong, getting involved in political fighting itself is tied to negativity."

There is no winner in a negative fight.

This was true for Han Seung-moon as well.

"Your criticism of Won Ok-bun on TV is the problem. Your support rate dropped just by the act of criticizing someone on TV."

"Hmm."

"From now on, I and Il-ho will handle the negativity. The legislator has become too big."

"This is interesting..."

Lee Ho-jeong was thinking very similarly to 'someone'—

Han Seung-moon couldn't hide his cunning feelings.

He listened to her opinion with a gentle smile, showing no sign of tension.

By this point, Lee Ho-jeong was starting to get angry. She was also indicted for election law violations.

Of course, the probability of Yang Il-ho and Lee Ho-jeong getting badges was very high. They were deeply ingrained in the public's mind as Han Seung-moon's close associates, especially after this incident.

Han Seung-moon probably brought them to the Chungcheong defense line and involved them in the election law violations to create an image of his left and right arms standing with him through the crisis.

"......Um, legislator. No, brother."

"Uh-huh?"

"Do you realize how dangerous the current situation is?"

"Uh-huh."

But, badges and all.

With Won Ok-bun's likely victory,

If the court sentences him to actual imprisonment for election law violations after the government changes, he will lose his seat.

Even if Yang Pan-seok's network delays the judgment as much as possible, the court will certainly rule in favor of the election winner.

"Even if we win the general election, if we lose the presidential election, we will lose our seats."

"Right."

"Is there a way?"

"Uh-huh."

And Lee Ho-jeong was confident that Han Seung-moon, who had made them carry both honey and a bomb, had a way to defuse the bomb.

He was very good at sucking up honey.

Yang Il-ho, who kept biting his nails at home, seemed unable to control his anxiety, but at least she had confidence in this cunning guy, Han Seung-moon.

Although he was unshaven and sprawled on the constituency office sofa, smearing his mouth with rice powder, this guy had accomplished feats worthy of being recorded in South Korea's textbooks, and the character of Han Seung-moon, as she had observed, was far from easy to handle.

However, the reason she was scolding Han Seung-moon now was.

"Ugh... I know you're a cautious person. But, um, what is it......"

"Hmm?"

"Phew....... I'm not usually like this.... I'm not usually a socially awkward kid. But looking at the current situation, I'm a bit anxious. To me, it seems like we're definitely going to lose this election. Of course, I believe you will find a way, but to me, this situation is too dangerous."

"What's the matter?"

"Please listen as calmly as possible. I'm not trying to confront you or anything. I'm just a bit whining."

"What's the matter, so scary...?"

It was because she was disappointed.

"Do you not trust us, brother?"