novelraw Chapter 172 : Prisoner Jae-hee (1)
Chapter 172 : Prisoner Jae-hee (1)
“I was talking with Miss Mu-gung today,” Jae-hee began cautiously. “She said their operations against the Crimson Poverty Front have been failing an unusual number of times.”
For some time now, the New Five Heroes had been clashing with the syndicate behind the scenes. And every time, their targets would slip away like eels.
Almost as if someone had leaked them intel beforehand.
“So I asked if she thought there might be an information leak. Turns out, she’d been thinking the same thing for a while. She said she grew certain only recently.”
“…”
“Then I asked if maybe, just maybe, there was a mole inside the Heroes’ Association…”
Beneath his hood, Rain Man’s eyes grew cold.
Oblivious, Jae-hee kept rambling. “Miss Mu-gung said that was impossible.”
“…”
“She argued that the recent fire suppression incident was more than enough proof that every member of the Heroes’ Association was a true hero, willing to lay down their life for the world.”
“…”
“She thought if there was a traitor, it was more likely to be one of the staff members, not a Hero.”
Jae-hee hummed, stroking his chin. “Still, I figured that as a relative newcomer, I might have a more objective perspective. So I gave it some thought.”
It felt weird to say it himself, but Jae-hee had spent his life rolling in the muck as a petty thief and, until recently, running missions with the Black Parade.
Betrayal was just another Tuesday.
You always had to watch your back, even with your most trusted comrades.
That made it easy for him to discard the premise that the New Five Heroes could be trusted and consider the alternatives.
“This might be out of line, and maybe even disrespectful, but… Miss Mu-gung and I put our heads together and added every one of the New Five Heroes to a list of suspects. We tried to figure out who the traitor could be, if there was one.”
Suspect number one: Chosen One.
“Mr. Chosen One has strong connections to the military, right? He could leak deployment information from their side. And considering how well-armed the Crimson Poverty Front is, it’s totally possible they’ve been supplied with military-grade hardware.”
“…”
“That part was Miss Mu-gung’s idea… but also, just look at him. He runs around in that Joseon armor. Doesn’t their whole image kind of overlap with the Crimson Poverty Front guys? I’d say that’s plenty suspicious.”
Next up, Captain Nerd.
“Captain Nerd can deploy a nationwide drone surveillance network, and he can send a robot in his place even when he’s not there. If he wanted to, he could easily collude with a villain organization and feed them information.”
Then there was Miss Never.
“Miss Never has a super ‘eye,’ powerful enough to monitor the entire Seoul metropolitan area by herself. But the syndicate was never caught. Unless they’re so meticulous they can evade her surveillance… maybe she eased up on her watch on purpose.”
Finally, Death-Medic.
“And then there’s Death-Medic. She has connections to every paramedic unit and hospital, and she’s more active on social media than any of us. She could be leaking encrypted information online… so she’s on the list, too.”
Every single one of the Heroes had the means and opportunity to collude with the Crimson Poverty Front if they so chose.
Having heard all this, Rain Man looked puzzled and pointed to himself.
“What about me?”
Jae-hee waved a dismissive hand. “Aw, come on, not you! Everyone knows you work harder at being a hero than anyone in the world.”
Rain Man let out a sigh.
“That’s not how it’s done,” he said softly.
“Huh?”
“You have to eliminate all bias from an investigation. Put me on the list and think it through.”
Jae-hee hesitated before finally confessing. “Actually, Miss Mu-gung did consider you…”
“And?”
“She couldn’t find a single suspicious thing about you. You just do things too perfectly.”
“…”
“Besides, for the others, it’s just a matter of ‘it’s possible.’ We don’t have one bit of circumstantial or physical evidence. But… if one of the Five Heroes is the mole, it would explain everything that’s happened.”
Jae-hee fidgeted, glancing nervously at Rain Man. “I just thought it would be better to be careful, so I wanted to let you know beforehand.”
“…Boy.”
Rain Man exhaled a shallow breath and lowered his voice. “To be honest, I’ve long suspected a traitor within the team myself.”
“Ah, so you too…”
“But as you said, there was no proof. And, also as you said, I didn’t want to start pointing fingers at comrades who risk their lives to protect the world.”
Rain Man looked at Jae-hee intently. “But with you here now, we might be able to shake things up… Boy.”
“Yes, sir.”
“For the sake of the world, will you undertake a classified mission with me?”
A classified mission? The sudden proposal made Jae-hee blink.
Rain Man continued, “I’m going to make you an undercover agent.”
“Undercover? What’s that?”
“A mole we plant on our side. They planted a spy on our team, so we’ll plant one on theirs.”
Rain Man pointed a finger at Jae-hee. “If you agree to this operation, I will frame you and have you expelled from the Heroes’ Association.”
“Wha—?! Frame me?”
“Then, the Crimson Poverty Front will approach you.”
“A-are you sure they will? Those villains?”
“Yes. Without a doubt. A rookie S-Rank Awakened, scouted by the Heroes’ Association only to be unjustly cast aside? What more tempting recruitment target could there be?” Rain Man said with conviction.
“When I kick you out, the Crimson Poverty Front will make contact to bring you into their fold. It’s a certainty.”
He spoke as if it were an inevitability.
“So then I would…”
“Infiltrate the Crimson Poverty Front as a mole and secretly pass their intel to me.”
Clasping his hands together, Rain Man’s voice took on a grave tone. “The world is unstable, teetering on the brink of a coming apocalypse. In a situation like this, the Crimson Poverty Front is an exceedingly dangerous enemy. To say nothing of the traitor in our midst.”
“…”
“To stop them and protect the world… I need someone willing to walk this difficult and arduous path.”
He looked at Jae-hee again. “A lonely and painful path, but the path of a true hero.”
“…!”
When Rain Man—the hero of heroes—made his difficult and desperate plea, his face obscured by his hood, Jae-hee couldn’t stop himself from yelling, “Leave it to me, sir!”
Jae-hee snatched Rain Man’s hand and shook it enthusiastically. “If it’s to protect the world, I’ll put my life on the line! I may be lacking, but I’m a member of the Heroes’ Association… I’m a hero, too!”
“…Thank you for this difficult decision.”
Rain Man gently patted Jae-hee’s shoulder.
“Thank you so much.”
***
The next day.
“There was a traitor within the Heroes’ Association.”
Rain Man, having convened the group, made the sudden announcement.
“And that traitor… was Boy.”
All the Heroes stared at Jae-hee in shock.
“What?”
“That idiot?”
“Boy?”
“No way, our little scrub…”
As the other members turned to him in unison, Jae-hee broke out in a cold sweat.
Wait a minute, bro. This isn’t what I thought you meant by ‘framing’ me!
“Let’s review the data together.”
Beep.
Rain Man projected a newspaper article he had prepared onto the wall.
“The first Gate Core stolen by ‘Brain,’ a suspected member of the Crimson Poverty Front. This item, now presumed to be in their possession, was stolen from a bank on the outskirts of Seoul several months ago.”
The article included photos and data from the bank robbery that Jae-hee had participated in.
“And Boy was the operative on the ground for this incident.”
“Well, I mean, that’s true, but still!” Jae-hee found himself refuting the claim, despite having agreed to be framed. “I was just a pathetic petty crook who got caught up in it and used!”
“And the second Gate Core stolen by the Crimson Poverty Front.”
The next set of data and articles appeared on the wall. It was a report about a Gate that had closed in a small town near Incheon Port.
“That Core belonged to the Gate Lord that Boy defeated, the Phantom Tyrant.”
“Wait, that Core was stolen too?!”
“If Boy had a connection to the syndicate, he could have provided them with information about that core. Next.”
The following article reported the successful takedown of a violent gang in Chuncheon.
“In Chuncheon, you encountered Brain and engaged in combat with a Crimson Poverty Front member—callsign ‘Robbin’ Hood.’”
“Y-yeah. That did happen.”
“A short time later, there are records of you encountering and engaging with the Crimson Poverty Front on the mobile prison ship, Paradise Lost.”
“Ah, right. That happened, too.”
He had encountered and fought Jeon Woo-chi, Iljimae, and Hwang Jin-yi when they invaded the prison cruise.
After reciting the logs, Rain Man glanced at Jae-hee.
“Isn’t it strange how often you come into contact with the Crimson Poverty Front?”
“W-well, now that you mention it, I guess I have run into them a lot.”
“Is it so unreasonable to suspect a connection?”
“Whoa, no, that’s a stretch! That’s ridiculous!”
Genuinely feeling wronged, Jae-hee waved his hands frantically, but Rain Man continued mercilessly.
“Do you remember the Hunter you fought during the Cheongnyangni Gate incident, the Vice-Commander of The Knights, ‘Chevalier’?”
“Huh? Chevalier? Of course I remember him.”
“The Crimson Poverty Front also broke that man out while he was being transferred for his sentencing.”
“What? They got Chevalier, too?”
“Perhaps he was in league with the Crimson Poverty Front from the very beginning.”
Rain Man shot a look at Jae-hee. “And you are on close enough terms with him to call him ‘bro.’ It’s possible you made some kind of deal with him inside the Cheongnyangni Gate.”
“No…”
“And as soon as Boy became an intern for the Heroes’ Association, classified information about that man’s sentencing was leaked. The Crimson Poverty Front then abducted Chevalier and vanished with him.”
Flustered, Jae-hee’s mouth hung open as he stammered, but even he had to admit his connections to the Crimson Poverty Front were suspiciously numerous.
From the moment he, a mere petty thief, had been suddenly dragged into the center of a storm, it had all been Brain’s—the Crimson Poverty Front’s—doing. And he had been entangled with them ever since.
From an outsider’s perspective, it wasn’t strange at all that he would be under suspicion.
“Most importantly, I investigated Boy’s past…” Rain Man continued coldly. “He’s from an orphanage called ‘Heaven’s Home.’”
“…!”
The prison of his youth.
Jae-hee’s shoulders trembled at the sudden mention of that name.
“And it is known that ‘Brain,’ a member of the Crimson Poverty Front, was deeply involved in the establishment of this orphanage.”
“What…?”
Jae-hee’s face froze.
Brain was connected to that orphanage?
Then, during that bank robbery, Brain and I…
Was that not the first time they had met?
“Considering all the circumstances, we are forced to strongly suspect that Boy is connected to the Crimson Poverty Front.”
Strangely, of everyone in the room, Jae-hee had the most ties to the syndicate. So many, in fact, that even Jae-hee himself was starting to think, Damn, it’s true.
Facing the suspicious glares from everyone at the roundtable, Jae-hee finally realized the severity of the situation.
This wasn’t just a process of being framed on purpose.
Crap! I’m being suspected for real…!
“Boy.”
Jae-hee dazedly met Rain Man's clear, steady gaze.
Rain Man spoke in a clear, deliberate voice. “I want to trust you. But the circumstances leave me no choice but to be suspicious.”
“…”
“Therefore, for the next few months, while the Crimson Poverty Front remains a threat, I intend to place you in custody to prove your innocence.”
The Crimson Poverty Front had declared war on the nation.
“We cannot keep a suspected risk factor on the team.” With that, Rain Man made a unilateral declaration. “This is my decision as the chairman of the Heroes’ Association. I will not entertain other opinions.”
The words had barely left his mouth when uniformed soldiers entered the conference room, seized Jae-hee by both arms, and began to drag him out.
“Wait a minute! This is unfair! Unfair!” Jae-hee screamed, looking at the other Heroes. “My bros! Sisters! I’m innocent, I tell you!”
But they were all too stunned by the sudden turn of events to step in and defend him. His history was just too deeply entangled with the Crimson Poverty Front.
As Jae-hee was dragged out of the conference room, his eyes welling with tears, Rain Man approached and gripped his shoulder.
Then, he whispered in his ear, “I’m sorry, Boy. The classified mission… I’m counting on you.”
“…!”
Jae-hee beamed and nodded, then mouthed his reply. Yes, sir! You can count on me!
He then gave a series of determined “fighting!” gestures with his hands.
I will complete the mission and return safely…!
Rain Man waved calmly as Jae-hee was dragged away.
Watching this exchange from outside the circle of the roundtable, Mu-gung’s eyes narrowed.
***
“…So, what the hell.”
Back in the present, aboard the prison cruise, Paradise Lost.
In the Deck 1 Leader’s room.
Razor’s voice was dripping with disbelief.
“You’re telling me that’s how you ended up back in prison?”