164 – Each Their Role

164 – Each Their Role

“Damn it.”

Crude language escaped the lips of Nambada, prostrate on the floor like a loser.

It was quite something that he clung to consciousness, looking like he was on the verge of his last breath.

So, what about the others?

I scanned my surroundings to find Bbangdengi, Seogaeul, and Yuyeoreum panting heavily.

“That fox spirit Dalgie! She escaped!”

“The weird monster also disappeared.”

“That was close.”

It seemed I had subdued Nambada at precisely the right moment.

An unforeseen event unfolding in an unexpected situation, yet a feeling of resolution washed over me.

“Alright, alright, everyone settle down now.”

With Nambada, the instigator of the riot during the presidential debate, apprehended, the government’s remaining forces quickly surrendered.

Most were soldiers drawn from civilian life, claiming they were merely following Nambada’s orders, and in truth, they were.

A near miracle, really, that among the almost ten thousand people gathered to watch the debate, no one had died, save for those who had tripped and injured themselves in the chaos.

“Hanamjin, hurrah!”

“Hanamjin, hurrah!”

As the situation de-escalated, the crowd chanted my name repeatedly.

Perhaps it was only natural, with Nambada, who coveted misguided power and authority even at the risk of the spectators’ lives, fallen by my hand.

And so, evening arrived.

I gazed, lost in deep thought, at the conceptual stone of “Immortality,” the symbol of the “Red King.”

“This thing can’t be destroyed, no matter what.”

I’d hammered at it, even scorched it with Yoo Yeoreum’s heat ray, but the conceptual stone of “Immortality” showed no sign of being broken or vanishing, living up to its name.

That’s the problem.

Conceptual stones themselves exert an influence on their surroundings.

‘What am I supposed to do with this?’

I was caught in such contemplation when Bbangdaengyi came rushing into my tent, breathless.

“Nambada’s gone!”

“What? Wasn’t he undergoing treatment at the facility?”

“The nurse said she was taking him! But when I came to, he was gone! I asked at the hospital, and they said there was no such nurse!”

“Bound to be the work of Gye Bok-soon, with her ‘Manipulation.'”

Had Gye Bok-soon, who agreed to cooperate with us, absconded with Nambada?

I thought of Nambada’s condition.

Though he’d expelled the conceptual stone, his body was already damaged beyond repair, teetering on the edge.

Without treatment, it wouldn’t be surprising if he died at any moment.

“Hanamjin, you’re too soft for your own good. Rescuing and healing someone as bad as Nambada leads to things like this. Should I go after him and make sure it’s properly finished?”

Bbangdaengyi, fists clenched, made a rather bloodthirsty proposal.

If I sent Bbangdaengyi, things would certainly come to a conclusion, in more ways than one.

But, after thinking on it for a while, I decided against it.

“Let’s leave this one to those guys.”

“Those guys? Who are those guys!”

“Pangdae-ah, what’s our name? ‘No Leftovers Day,’ right? Just like every side dish has its meaning, everyone has their role to play.”

“……?”

Of course, despite my kind and meaningful explanation, Pangdae looked utterly confused.

# # #

Back when the man was still a young boy, the world wasn’t a friendly place.

The boy had to learn how to earn money from a very young age.

Selling gum, or acting pitiful to borrow money from neighborhood aunties.

The best was jumping in front of moving cars.

When the boy was badly hurt and earned a good amount of money, his father would stroke his head with his large hand.

━Well done.

On those days, the boy’s father wouldn’t hit him either.

So, the boy liked getting praise.

Because that was the only time he could feel warmth while living in the world.

One day, the boy noticed a pitch-black, boxy car driving through the neighborhood. If he could only jump in front of that car, he would receive even greater praise.

Thinking so, the boy threw himself at the car, and that day, the world changed.

━P, please save me. Please save me. I was wrong. I was wrong. Teacher! Please save me!

The sight of that strong, tyrant-like father weeping, kneeling and begging.

The boy felt like his world was splitting and being destroyed that day.

However, Nam Tae-gun, the man who had received an apology from his father, was more interested in the boy than the kneeling father.

━Even if your father told you to, how could you throw yourself in front of a car going that fast? You have amazing guts for someone so young. What’s your name?

──.

━Ho, really? It’s a good name, but it doesn’t suit you. From today on, your name will be Bada. Nam Bada. I was looking for someone with your kind of nerve.

The boy liked being praised.

That was all the good he had ever experienced in the world while living.

But, why were such trivial, old memories surfacing now?

Nam Bada stared at the nurse carrying him and running.

More accurately, it was Gye Bok-soon, disguised as a nurse, who slipped into his ward and pulled him free.

“Bada-ssi, if you stayed there, you’d surely face execution!”

Nam Bada’s sins ran deep.

Once the treatment was complete, he wouldn’t have escaped a death sentence.

Perhaps he’d have been stoned to death by an enraged mob.

Therefore, Gye Bok-soon planned to hide Nam Bada and flee.

However, Nam Bada didn’t particularly feel like hiding or running.

He knew exactly where he wanted to go.

“…To the hospital. Where President Nam Tae-geon is…”

“Bada-ssi! They’ll catch you if you go there!”

“…To the hospital.”

Nam Bada wanted to see Nam Tae-geon.

The reason was simple.

He’d thrown himself in front of a speeding car on his orders, so he deserved a compliment.

However, Gye Bok-soon couldn’t understand Nam Bada.

Why was Nam Bada trying to meet Nam Tae-geon?

But Gye Bok-soon loved Nam Bada.

Loved him, worshipped him.

She, who should have crawled in the gutters and died a wretched death, could even pretend to live a decent life because Nam Bada had taken her in.

To love each other, get married, have children, and live happily ever after—she didn’t even dare to dream such an excessive dream.

Just to be near him in some form, that alone was enough.

And so, they arrived at the hospital on the outskirts of D City.

Nam Bada, his vision blurring, groped for the door to the room where the old man lay.

Beeeep, Beeeep-.

Hssssss-.

“…….”

The old man was wearing a breathing apparatus, his eyes closed.

Utterly still, as if dead.

Like this, he couldn’t praise him.

“Ha…. Doing all this dog’s work for something that’s not even gonna make money….”

Nam Bada slumped against the bed in the hospital room, back aching.

He was lost in memories of a distant past.

The days he was treated like a dog by Nam Tae-gun.

Even those around him had scorned him for it.

—Nam Tae-gun’s dog son-of-a-b*tch.

—Look at him, wagging his tail even as he’s treated like a mutt. Doesn’t he have any pride?

But truth be told, Nam Bada hadn’t cared what anyone said.

Before meeting Nam Tae-gun, he was less than a dog himself.

If he could repay the man who took him in, he would gladly be one.

Seeing him like this, Gye Bok-soon spoke.

“We have to go! The pursuit team will be after us!”

But Nam Bada was exhausted.

He didn’t have the strength to move a finger, let alone walk.

He just wanted to surrender to the endless tide of sleep washing over him, right here.

“Mr. Bada, you saved my life. Just as you followed President Nam Tae-gun, I admire you, Mr. Bada. So, please, you have to live. Please—”

Gye Bok-soon hoisted Nam Bada onto her back.

She started moving somewhere, a path that tasted like slow death in Nam Bada’s mouth. So, he decided to close his eyes for just a moment.

He became eerily still, like a dead man, and the fact scared Gye Bok-soon half to death. So she kept talking to Nam Bada.

“Mr. Bada, I found an abandoned building. We can hide there and then go abroad together. We’ll go overseas, get new names, new identities, and then we can emigrate to the moon….”

How long had she been rambling to a silent audience?

Abruptly—

Gye Bok-soon stopped.

There was a guest already inside the abandoned building she’d chosen as their hideout.

“Nam Bada, your so-called operation failed spectacularly, didn’t it? You got China to betray ‘The New Order,’ and this is the result? How are you going to take responsibility for this?”

It was Dang Dalgi, a top-tier Chinese operative.

Gye Bok-soon was an Awakened, but she was no match for Dang Dalgi, a professional assassin trained for one thing, and sweat beaded on her brow.

Could she escape?

Dang Dalgi spoke.

“From the beginning, it was my promise to capture Ha Nam-jin, wasn’t it? My plan was to give him water laced with this poison during a break, and then grab him while he was dazed. But you rushed things and messed it all up. That wasn’t like you, Nam Bada.”

Dang Dalgi drew a projectile from a mechanical device at her hip.

The moonlight painted the clinging mist a cruel, sharp silver.

“Looking back now, everything felt clumsy, awkward. Everything was so rushed. Like I was trying to fail on purpose. I did it on purpose–. Could it really be?”

Gye Bok-sun knew she had to run.

But the dagger flew swift, piercing her chest.

“Agh!”

Thump. Roll, roll–.

Because of that, the man on her back tumbled to the ground.

Gye Bok-sun felt his fall more keenly than the hole in her chest.

“Could it be you did it on purpose? To solidify Ha Nam-jin’s succession in this small land, Nam Ba-da, you willingly took on the role of villain. An antagonist to be struck down by Ha Nam-jin. Old man Nam Tae-geon, that sly fox, asked you to, didn’t he?”

“Cough, Ba…Ba-da, sir…”

Gye Bok-sun crawled, inching forward to embrace the man.

To shield him with her own body.

Dang Dal-gi, watching her, only lifted the corner of his mouth, as if amused.

“Of course, no matter Nam Tae-geon’s orders, throwing away your life would be impossible. Who would willingly take on such a losing role? But, just in case–.”

Thwack–! Thwack–!

Dang Dal-gi raised his foot and stomped on Gye Bok-sun’s back and waist.

“Just in case you were trying to deceive us, to deceive me? Hmm? Don’t think you’ll die easily. You–.”

Bone snapped, followed by a terrible agony, but Gye Bok-sun did not even scream.

She was used to pain.

Gye Bok-sun thought her miserable, pathetic life had been for this very moment.

She was born to protect Nam Ba-da, right here, right now.

“Vicious wench–.”

Dang Dal-gi, about to hurl the words at Gye Bok-sun, realized something was amiss.

The curse that should have burst from his lips was cleanly, eerily erased.

As if someone had pressed a mute button.

He raised his head to see a strange boy and girl standing there.