LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 44
044 – Ying
The area around my abdomen and thighs, where the fountain pen had jabbed me, throbbed with pain every time I took a step.
Back when I was fighting with the class president, adrenaline had filled my body so much that I could even forget the pain.
But now that the fight was over, the pain clung to me like a debt collector seeking payment.
“Nam-jin-ah, can you move already?”
As I left the infirmary and stepped into the corridor, Geum Tae-seong was waiting for me. He scrutinized my complexion from different angles and then placed a hand on my shoulder.
“I can help heal your injuries.”
Geum Tae-seong was our group’s healer. I had often wondered why he held that position, and it seemed the time to find out had finally come.
“How can you heal me?”
“My ability is Reversal. I can switch my condition with the opponent I touch.”
Swish—
A faint light seemed to emanate from Geum Tae-seong’s palm, and soon, the pain tormenting my abdomen and thighs felt like it had been washed away.
“That’s amazing!”
He had the ability to transfer one’s injuries to another and vice versa.
It was the perfect embodiment of the concept of reversal.
As I was astonished by this miraculous act, Geum Tae-seong broke out in a cold sweat.
“Ouch, that hurts more than I thought—”
Thud—
He plopped down onto his knees.
“Ugh, how could you think to walk around in that state?”
“The pain is familiar to me. Tae-seong, thanks to you, I got to see something incredible. But just return my wounds to me. I can’t pass my injuries onto someone else.”
“What? But….”
“A person must be able to affirm and love themselves. Even those wounds and pains are a part of ‘me’ that deserves love.”
Perhaps due to the pain, Geum Tae-seong frowned as if he couldn’t grasp my lofty sentiments. I grabbed his hand to help him up, and he reluctantly reversed my wounds back to me.
“…I really don’t look good at all.”
“Don’t feel down. I’m just too awesome.”
My abdomen and thighs throbbed again, but it was bearable. In fact, the moderate pain felt like it was waking up my senses that had just been asleep.
“Tae-seong, I have something for you. Someone said to give you this.”
I handed him the cross necklace I had received from the Billunners’ short-haired girl. Recognizing it, Geum Tae-seong went pale, even more so than when he had received my pain.
I had never seen him so flustered before.
“Who gave you this?”
“A girl who looks like Menhera. Tae-seong, you seem to have a lot of popularity with strange girls. I can sympathize with your troubles. I’ve got my share of popularity with girls too.”
“…….”
Geum Tae-seong stood holding the cross necklace in his hand for a while. Just as I was starting to think about leaving him, he spoke behind me.
“Nam Jin, you said my concept is amazing, but actually, there are many limitations. I can only switch conditions among awakened individuals.”
That was the end of our conversation.
I headed toward the “Special Detention Center” located underground in Yeongsa High School.
# # #
“Hanam-jjin!”
“My friend! Are you okay?”
“…….”
In front of the “Special Detention Center,” my friends from No Leftover Day had gathered. They approached me, circling around as if checking my condition, looking like they had a lot to say.
Especially, Bang-daeng seemed particularly eager.
“I caught the class president! Aren’t I amazing?”
It seemed Bang-daeng had played the biggest role in this capture. He was the one who had tied up the class president with the restraints.
Life sure throws unexpected situations your way.
I brushed past my friends and headed downstairs, where I spotted the detention center with its sturdy, transparent acrylic walls. The captain and Section Chief Kim Jang-dong were talking when they noticed me and the captain spoke first.
“Hanam-jin. You don’t have to force yourself.”
“They said he would only speak to me.”
I was curious about what the class president wanted to say to me. So I walked over to the detention center where the class president was locked up and encountered him, bound like a madman behind the transparent wall.
Just half a day ago, he had been popular with everyone, and now he was being treated like a cannibalistic serial killer!
“You came.”
The class president greeted me casually, as though we were old friends.
“Press the power-saving button on your smartwatch. It will deactivate all functions for ten minutes. If our conversation is overheard by others, it could be problematic for both you and me. Until then, we won’t talk.”
High expectations for a captured rat, I see.
Beeep—
I turned off my smartwatch. The class president smirked behind his mask.
“Good. There’s not much time, so let me get straight to the point. The school won’t publicly announce that they captured the judge.”
“What?”
“They won’t because I’m still young and attractive, and there may be some who’d sympathize with me. They’ll bury it until everyone forgets.”
Was he suffering from paranoia or something? But upon reflection, there was some truth in his words. The “judge” was indeed an elite class president from Yeongsa High School, good-looking like Hanam-jin, and well-regarded.
The background story of the son of a senior prosecutor becoming the embodiment of retribution was certainly exciting for people.
“They might even announce some fool as the ‘judge’ to make everyone laugh at him. But even that isn’t possible. I have a perfect successor.”
“Who’s that?”
“It’s you, Hanam-jin. My role is now yours to carry on. You’re the only one. You’re just like me. You have the qualifications and motives. I can trust you.”
Class president Jeong-ui-seon seemed to feel something similar to himself in me, a serial killer and judge.
We faced each other across the thick acrylic wall.
From his handsome looks to his articulate speech, and his reputation for being friendly with everyone, there wasn’t a single point where we differed.
It felt like looking into a mirror!
If even one choice in my life had gone awry, I could very well be on the other side of that wall.
“Hanam-jin, it may have come to the point where you are the only one who can do this. I told you about who benefited the most from the N Mart arson incident.”
“Who?”
“Seo Nam Group. The N Mart fire incident stirred fear among the public and bolstered the inhumane ‘Awakened Regulation Act.’ Everything went just as planned by the ruling party and Seo Nam Group.”
“Intended? Are you saying a corporation intentionally set fire to the mart?”
“I can’t say the details. If I do, I’ll definitely be dead, and you too for hearing it. I’m not afraid of dying, but I still have things to do.”
“Locked up like this, it doesn’t seem like there’s much for you to do besides eating and waiting.”
“If you visit my ‘secret base,’ you’ll discover a lot. Here are the coordinates.”
After giving the coordinates, the class president fell silent. Soon, the smartwatch powered back on.
“What did you talk about? Can you tell me why you did all this?”
As I came out from underground, Section Chief Kim Jang-dong was curious about our conversation’s content. Beside him, Officer Jin Ramyeon stood like a specter, watching my lips closely.
“Just some crazy talk.”
I decided to dodge the question. I had no clue how the Seo Nam Group and the ruling party were connected in this incident.
Jin Ramyeon scrutinized me with a frown.
“If you’re thinking of lying, I won’t let you.”
“Ri-hyun, enough. What are you planning to do to someone who’s injured and in pain? For now, just go back and rest.”
Section Chief Kim Jang-dong stepped in front of Jin Ramyeon, showing favor towards me. Thanks to that, I could finally leave school.
Should I head over to the coordinates the class president mentioned?
“…….”
Luckily, the judge’s hideout coordinates weren’t too far from Yeomra’s abandoned factory, so I saved some time.
An old container warehouse. Inside, there were all sorts of photos and documents.
They seemed to contain important information.
Staggering—
However, my legs felt weak, and my vision started to blur. I touched my forehead and found I was burning up with a fever.
# # #
“You’re late.”
Seoga-eul decided not to hold back today.
The male student was too late coming home.
She was hungry and bored.
When he came, she would sharpen her nails and give him a good scratch.
Just as she made that vow, the iron door swung open.
“Hey, do you know what time it is?”
“I don’t know.”
“What? You little punk, are you trying to defy me?”
Swish—. Seoga-eul grabbed the male student’s wrist.
But she quickly pulled back, startled.
“What’s going on? Your body feels like a furnace—.”
“Seoga-eul, you….”
The male student seemed to want to say something but then collapsed—thud.
He was burning hot and appeared to have lost consciousness.
“What the….”
Seoga-eul laid the male student on the mattress and placed the cool Ying-ing on his forehead to bring down his fever.
“Is it okay for a kidnapper to be this sloppy? Why do I have to clean up after you? I haven’t eaten since last night, and I’m starving!”
Really hungry, Seoga-eul decided to find a lunchbox in the male student’s bag.
Ziiip—
As she rummaged through his bag, her face turned a shade of brown like a fallen leaf.
“‘Awakened Information Registration Law’ and profit expectation reports from other companies.”
“The variables controlled for ‘Second Awakening’ – Seedling Foster Home.”
For some reason, classified documents from Seo Nam Group were in Hanam-jin’s bag.
‘Why are these Level 0 confidential documents with this kid? Did a company approach him? No, they wouldn’t just give him these documents. Then how…’
Feeling puzzled, Seoga-eul operated the male student’s smartwatch and checked the GPS of the places he had visited. She noticed he had stopped at a suspicious place before coming home from school.
“This is nearby.”
Creak, clang—!
Seoga-eul tightened her grip to snap the chains constraining her body.
Without hesitation, she dashed out of the basement.
If Seo Nam Group had contacted the male student, surely there wouldn’t be much ‘time’ to spare, so there was no time to hesitate.
Whoosh—.
The scent of the outside world felt exceptionally refreshing after so long, but Seoga-eul didn’t indulge in nostalgia as she sprinted toward the GPS coordinates.
Soon, she found an abandoned junkyard and an old container warehouse.
‘So, the company didn’t contact Hanam-jin. Then what’s going on here?’
Clunk, swish—. As she opened the warehouse door, she was met with heaps of documents and photos. While she was rifling through them, a particularly familiar photo caught her eye.
Below the photo, someone had written:
“N Mart parking lot, mysterious woman, an hour before the arson.”
The photo captured a woman exiting the underground parking lot of a large mart.
The quality was poor, most likely printed from a CCTV screen. The woman’s face was hidden under a hat and mask, but Seoga-eul recognized her immediately.
‘I need to get rid of this photo right away!’
Had it been about an hour?
Seoga-eul returned to her basement and reverted her hands and feet from the chains to the concept of ‘restoration.’
As if nothing had happened.
As if she had never vacated this place.
But the curious cloud Ying-ing, observing the entire process, gazed at Seoga-eul and let out a strange sound, almost as if interrogating her.
—Ying-ying.
“Ying-ing, you didn’t see anything. You know what would happen if you told Hanam-jin about what just happened, right? If you understood me, let out a ‘Ying.'”
044 – Ying
END