novelraw Chapter 46 : Chapter 46
Chapter 46 : Chapter 46
Chapter 46. The Prodigal Son (2)
Ha Do-yeol.
His main charges specified in the judgment were the formation of a violent organization and the manufacture of illegal drugs.
Actually, in this world of the year 2200, violent organizations are overflowing.
Likewise, there are quite a few technicians for illegal drug manufacturing.
However, not all those who commit such crimes go to Mugan.
Even committing both of those evil deeds isn't enough reason to go to Mugan.
Nevertheless, the reason Ha Do-yeol ended up going to Mugan.
It is because Ha Do-yeol possessed top-tier qualities in both aspects of these two evil deeds.
Usually, those with leadership qualities tend to be negligent in honing their skills, and excellent technicians are often indifferent to the realm of leadership.
However, Ha Do-yeol held both the charisma to instantly rally minor violent organizations and the skill to create the outstanding drug called ‘Red Chips’ in his hands.
The so-called catching two rabbits at once.
A genius who grasped talents placed at opposite extremes in one hand.
His only flaw was his innate malice.
An inherent cruelty that kills even his parents as his mood dictates.
Therefore, he was by far the worst formidable enemy among all the escaped convicts Riman had hunted so far.
“…On top of that, Ha Do-yeol is also a Superhuman possessing superpowers himself.”
At Riman’s words, Inspector Park Jae-il nodded and said.
“That is correct. His personal martial prowess is also known to be quite powerful. Since he doesn't often step into the front lines of combat, the exact principle of his ability is unknown, but…….”
“But Ha Do-yeol’s true terror does not lie in his personal martial prowess.”
“Correct.”
Ha Do-yeol’s true power was exactly the organization and connections he possessed.
Over 300 gang members.
A distribution network capable of circulating Red Chips not only in Korea but also to other countries.
On top of that, even secret collusion with public security authorities.
Striking Ha Do-yeol was a story no different from confronting all these people.
In other words, assassinating only Ha Do-yeol and pulling out was impossible.
Because the remnants of his faction would chase Riman until they died.
Then what if Riman annihilates all these people by himself?
This was also an absurd story.
First of all, it is impossible.
Although he had annihilated Alex Boyman’s gang alone in the past, that was because the scale of that gang was small and weak.
But Ha Do-yeol has 300 people under his direct command alone.
And among those 300, there were quite a number of Enhanced Humans or Superhumans mixed in.
No matter how strong Riman was, confronting all of them and killing them all was an impossible task.
Even if he succeeded by one in a million chance, it was a problem.
Because it would become an incident where over 300 people were killed to catch one wanted criminal.
Plus, strictly speaking, Riman was still a prisoner.
He was only granted limited freedom under the contract of ‘catching escaped wanted criminals.’
However, no matter if the opponents were criminals, if the massacre was too large, there was a possibility of it becoming a problem.
So to summarize, it is like this.
Assassinating only Ha Do-yeol and pulling out?
Not only is the difficulty incredibly high, but even if successful, the pursuit will be insane.
Then killing all of Ha Do-yeol’s gang?
It is nearly impossible, and even if successful, it becomes a problem.
Either way, it’s a problem.
But even so, Riman wanted to catch Ha Do-yeol.
The reason was simple.
Because it seemed like the World Federation side would catch him first if he didn't catch him now.
Currently, ‘Red Chips’ was a situation where it started spreading beyond Korea to foreign countries.
Because of that, even Kyle, a Federation military agent, started to move.
Of course, due to the issue of interference in internal affairs, the Federation military couldn't openly wreak havoc in Korea.
But if the Federation military's intervention began, Riman’s standing in Korea was bound to shrink.
And if his standing shrank, the prey Riman could catch would decrease, and then freedom would drift further away again.
Therefore, he shouldn't give them any excuse to set foot in Korea itself.
So the reason why Ha Do-yeol had to be cut at his own line was certain, but……
‘It’s not easy.’
He had to catch him, but the method to catch him was severely lacking in the situation.
However, Riman recalled the mindset he had when playing
Headhunters was a difficult game.
But in Headhunters, there was no impossible.
There were only difficult paths and fucking difficult paths.
So Riman eventually devised an operation.
And what was needed first for that was……
‘I need an organization that will become my side and move together. At least while the operation is in progress.’
That was why Riman had approached Inspector Park Jae-il.
Currently, the upper echelons of the police station he belonged to were practically in collusion with Ha Do-yeol.
In such a situation, the only person who rebelled against this was Park Jae-il.
Of course, he couldn't rebel openly.
Because if he openly clashed, he could be assassinated if things went wrong.
The maximum resistance he could offer was merely not getting involved in work with Ha Do-yeol’s side using various excuses.
Of course, in return, he was excluded from promotion targets and couldn't receive bribes either.
But he was rather comfortable with this.
Because he was a person who was severely policeman-like, whether in a good sense or a bad sense.
His private life wasn't clean, and his personality wasn't on the good side, but he was a police officer.
He knew well what kind of job a police officer was, and the sense of duty that the job should possess was also ingrained in his body like a habit.
Therefore, he couldn't even conceive the idea of compromising with a criminal like Ha Do-yeol.
However, choosing resistance was also impossible.
Because that was something he had to risk his life for.
So his heart was slowly drying up and dying.
In a situation where he couldn't do this or that, in a gray zone where he could become neither a villain nor a righteous person.
And Riman precisely dug into such feelings of his and attempted appeasement.
-You said you were Inspector Park Jae-il. I have heard a lot about you.
Riman knew all the personality, trajectory, and achievements of the character called Park Jae-il.
So persuading him was easy.
-We have been keeping an eye on Inspector Park Jae-il’s achievements for a long time. So……
Something like this.
Riman persuaded him giving off a nuance as if he was ‘a secret agent dispatched from the World Federation Government.’
Well, honestly, it wasn't entirely wrong either.
Of course, at first, Park Jae-il didn't withdraw his suspicion either.
But when his entire past history popped out of Riman’s mouth, his gaze changed.
On top of that, a speech style that subtly flattered him.
There was no way not to be persuaded.
So Riman established up to a temporary alliance with Park Jae-il.
Additionally, even his trusted subordinates under Park Jae-il’s command.
However, an alliance achieves nothing by itself.
The important thing was what to do with this alliance.
Park Jae-il asked.
“So Mr. Leman, what on earth is the method to bring down the Ha Do-yeol gang.”
After organizing sentences in his head for a moment, Riman opened his mouth.
“Borrowing a knife to kill a person.”
A strategy of killing the opponent by borrowing another's hand.
“If it’s borrowing a knife to kill a person, do you intend to borrow another Headhunter’s hand or something?”
“No. I intend to use Ha Do-yeol’s people.”
“That means……!”
“I will cause internal strife.”
Park Jae-il’s expression became a bit more serious.
“…But don't you know how solid the organizational power of that organization is?”
“It is solid, tight, and heavy. Therefore… once it starts to collapse, it will be uncontrollable.”
Park Jae-il gulped without realizing it.
Riman continued his words.
“I will make a mess. Making them suspect, badmouth, and be at odds with each other so that every member becomes everyone's enemy.”
“How in the world…….”
“That is something I will do, so you don't have to worry.”
“Hm…….”
“There is only one thing you need to worry about, Inspector. Timing.”
“Timing?”
“Because you have to rush in and clean up the situation at the timing when the mess becomes chaos and the conflict reaches its peak.”
“……!”
“And if luck is good, in that process… the chief might meet with an accident.”
“…Be careful with your words regarding that part.”
“Who told you to kill him? I just wanted to tell you that there is a possibility of any accident happening during a melee.”
“…….”
“You have to get promoted too, Inspector.”
Saying so, Riman got up from the bench.
“Then I will contact you again. Since the groundwork will take a few days, please wait with some leisure.”
“…Understood.”
After Riman left the park.
Park Jae-il looked down at the ground.
There, about ten thugs were rolling on the park ground.
“Ughhh…….”
A gang that made this park their base and committed violence in the surrounding neighborhood whenever they were bored.
Riman cleaned up such guys with a single hand gesture.
That was a kind of performance shown to Park Jae-il.
Words were a powerful means of persuasion, but there were things that couldn't be shown with words alone.
However, he didn't kill them.
Although he made it painful enough to die.
Park Jae-il handcuffed the guy who was like the leader among them.
“Let’s go, you punk.”
“Ugh…….”
Park Jae-il thought about Riman.
‘Leman White. His martial force is certain. Especially his information power is even more certain.’
Of course, there were uneasy points too.
Actually, it was strange not to be uneasy.
Because it was a task to bring down a giant evil called Ha Do-yeol with only a few people.
But he couldn't quit.
If he continued the ambiguous stance of being neither a villain nor a righteous person like now, he would definitely die quickly.
He had to see it through to the end.
Will he collude with evil, or crush it.
He bet his stakes on the latter.
* * *
Doban Distilling.
Of course, unlike the signboard, they no longer make liquor now.
They only stamp out terrible items with stronger addictiveness than liquor.
And at the center of that process was Ha Do-yeol.
Bubble bubble……
This is the distillation room.
Ha Do-yeol alone was looking down at the mixture boiling inside a huge cauldron.
For a long while, he just gazed at it.
That was all.
Through this extremely simple process, the mixture eventually transforms into ‘Red Chips.’
This was the method by which he manufactured Red Chips.
Therefore, it was something no one could imitate.
Knock knock-
Just then, someone knocked on the door of the distillation room from outside.
“What is it?”
“Preparations are finished.”
“Understood. I’m going out.”
Ha Do-yeol took his eyes off the cauldron and went out of the distillation room.
As he left, the cauldron started to cool down slowly again.
Doban Distilling backyard.
Thirty men were kneeling there with their hands tied behind their backs.
Ha Do-yeol looked at them and said.
“It’s you guys.”
The thirty men said to Ha Do-yeol with trembling voices.
“P-Please…….”
“Why didn't you just do as told, how good would that have been?”
“We will do it! We will do as told!! So please…….”
“No.”
The mana around Ha Do-yeol began to fluctuate.
“People aren't meant to be fixed and reused.”
Ha Do-yeol’s eyes began to shine red.
The execution began.
“Aaaaaah!!”
“Huack! Huaaaaaah!”
The thirty men all rolled over on the ground.
Their postures twisted, faint steam rose from their bodies, and their skin began to be covered with blisters.
Even after a while, body fluids began to flow out from the holes in their bodies.
Ha Do-yeol was just looking at them with his hands in his pockets.
“Gurgle… Geck…….”
“Kuruk…….”
In an instant, thirty people became thirty corpses.
There was no agitation in Ha Do-yeol’s eyes looking at the scattered corpses.
Ha Do-yeol said.
“Little brother.”
“H-Huh?”
Ha Myeong-yeol, who was standing behind Ha Do-yeol, flinched.
“Could you clean it up?”
“O-Okay……!”
Ha Myeong-yeol hurriedly started cleaning up the corpses.
Ha Do-yeol asked another subordinate.
“What happened to the shipment to Vietnam?”
“It is scheduled to be shipped at 1 AM today.”
“Good.”
Leaving only a short answer, Ha Do-yeol went back to the distillation room.
* * *
12:40 AM.
A dock in Incheon.
That place where numerous containers are stacked.
Three men closed the door of a container and said.
“Inspection ends with this. Sending it to Vietnam as is.”
“Yes, sir.”
They were Ha Do-yeol’s gang members.
They moved busily somewhere for something else.
At that time when the front of the container was empty.
‘They went.’
Riman’s [Detection] was chasing their movements.