To avoid being spotted by the reporters, Sa-yoon agreed to the President’s request for a private meeting. He left Geon-joo, who had wanted to tag along, with the other executives and used stealth to make his way to the President’s office. Tap, tap. He knocked on the window with the back of his hand. Inside, a haggard-looking man sitting on a sofa opened the window for him. Sa-yoon slipped inside. Only after the President had closed the window and drawn the blackout curtains did Sa-yoon release his stealth and hop onto the table. It was a gesture devoid of any semblance of respect, but the President didn’t point it out.
He had a mountain of more pressing issues to deal with.
“You’ve seen the public’s reaction, I assume?”
“Of course. And you saw the articles I released, didn’t you?”
“…I did.”
The President leaned back into the sofa, running a hand over his weary face. Though still a vigorous man for his age, he looked as if he might collapse at any moment. Sa-yoon gave him a crooked smile. It had been the President’s own greed that led him to recruit Night Rat into Noah. Since he was the one who had set it in motion, the fallout from the truth coming to light was his burden to bear.
Just as Sa-yoon was now bearing the full weight of his own past sins, which were threatening to sink the Swallow Guild.
In other words, they were both shackled by the choices of their past.
Is this what they call shared suffering?
He and the President were equally foolish, but there was a difference: he was prepared to bear the consequences, while the other man was still just agonizing over them. To be lumped together under the banner of shared suffering felt like a stretch. Deciding to think of it merely as two people getting their karmic dues, he hopped off the table and sat opposite the President, who took out his phone and showed it to Sa-yoon.
“I thought things were improving for a moment with the articles you released, but it was ultimately no use.”
+++
The phone displayed the public’s reactions.
+++
- Isn’t Sa-yoon running around trying to save the world right now? The gods are about to start a war, so I think his past is a minor issue at this point. If we screw this up, aren’t we all going to die?
└ Delete your comment. Could you say it’s a “minor issue” to the face of a victim of the Night Rat guild?
└ Yeah, I could. Learn to separate public and private matters. Is Sa-yoon’s past as the Night Rat leader really what’s important right now? What’s important is that Kwon Sa-yoon is the strongest, and he’s decided to repent and change his ways lol
└ Yeah, and it’s bastards like you who grow up to be criminals. Do you know how many people died in Night Rat’s terrorist attacks? How can you defend that?
└ When did I defend it? I’m just saying we need to judge what’s important right now, you idiot lololol - The people in these comments are so stupid. You think if Sa-yoon says he repents, all his past evil deeds just disappear and an angel descends to declare he’s a good person now? “A leopard can’t change its spots,” but you morons don’t get it lolololololol
└ FR, I agree. It doesn’t matter if Kwon Sa-yoon is rank 1 or whatever lol. What matters is that the rank 1 hunter was the worst kind of criminal and could turn his back on the public at any moment. How can you trust him with our lives? lmaooo
└ You got a better option? People like you will be the first to cry “Where’s Kwon Sa-yoon?” when you’re about to die lol - Hey, I’ll just explain it nicely for you. Yes, we’re fucked with a war coming up. Yes, Kwon Sa-yoon is the strongest. So it’s true he’s the best card humanity has right now, but the problem is WHY is that criminal suddenly pretending to be a good guy? lol. Like the comment above said, people don’t change, and a guy like the leader of Night Rat must have some ulterior motive. The fact that nobody knows what it is, that’s the biggest problem lmfao. How can you just blindly believe the articles and words of a guy whose plan you don’t even know?
└ Maybe he’s just thinking, “The world is ending, so let’s save it first and then commit crimes later?”
└ As if. The scenario where he offers up all the people he’s tricked as a sacrifice to the gods is more believable.
└ This one actually sounds plausible. └ Wow, hearing that makes it feel real. Is he really making some kind of deal with the gods to use us as sacrifices? There’s no other reason he would suddenly turn good. - I don’t know about all that, but I know one thing. We’re all screwed, right?
└ yeah…
└ Royally screwed lmfao - Why isn’t the Association saying anything? It’s been only the Night Rat side releasing articles this whole time lol. Isn’t it just like the whistleblower said, that there’s some kind of collusion between the Association and Night Rat? From the Unity Conference, it looked like most of the top-tier hunters knew Sa-yoon, but they’re all keeping their mouths shut too lol. What is this, really? Feels like I’m watching a puppet show.
└ There’s just no one left to trust. It feels like the era of every man for himself has begun.
└ Every man for himself my ass. Aren’t hunters supposed to protect civilians? That’s why they get tax cuts and we pay part of their salaries lmfao
└ Hunters make more than enough money without those tax benefits. - Let’s sum it up. The world’s top Awakeners, the World Awakeners Association, and Night Rat are all in some kind of conspiracy, and none of us knew about it. Isn’t this a truly screwed-up situation? We need to drag down either the Association President or Sa-yoon. I can’t live with this anxiety.
- I knew he looked shady the moment I saw him lol. Physiognomy is a science, for real. It wasn’t just a feeling.
- What about all the people who followed Sa-yoon because they liked him? TT They praised him as a savior because he rescued them, but it turns out he was just a piece of trash criminal.
└ But he did save them. Why are you lumping in the people who were just trying to repay their gratitude? Just bash Sa-yoon.
The argument raged on for thousands more comments. If this was the reaction on just one community site, the combined response from many more would be even worse. And that was considering the President was likely showing him one of the tamer reactions.
Some comments were filled with pure, malicious vitriol. Others were just fanning the flames, enjoying the chaos. Some expressed disappointment, and some, hostility. Whatever the case, less than twenty percent of the comments were favorable. Sa-yoon clicked his tongue and came to a simple conclusion.
“This is beyond saving.”
For now, there was no way to turn this public opinion around, no matter what he did. The President knew that, which was why he had remained silent until finally calling him. Sa-yoon looked at the man, who looked devastated but also seemed to have already made up his mind, and a wry smile touched his lips.
Now, he looked a bit like a comrade. In other words, he was starting to feel a sliver of pity for him.
“It’s time to take off your clothes, Min-cheol.”
“……”
“You, and me.”
It was time for Min-cheol to shed the title of President, and for Sa-yoon to shed the mantle of Noah. Understanding the meaning behind his words, Min-cheol let out a deep sigh, rubbed his eyes, and looked up.
“It won’t end with just that. The people are waiting for your punishment… Do you intend to give them what they want?”
He was asking if Sa-yoon would let himself be captured by the Association. Sa-yoon thought of the politicians who would charge him with all sorts of crimes, chain him down, and use him to fill their own pockets, and snorted.
“There’s a limit to how much I’m willing to concede.”
“You intend to disappear.”
“I do.”
As expected of a man who had held the President’s seat for so long, Min-cheol was sharp. As if he’d be crazy enough to let himself be captured, have his abilities sealed, and thrown in prison. Disbanding Night Rat, leaving Noah, and stepping back from all heroic deeds to lie low and avoid the public eye—that was the best he could do right now.
Of course, he knew he would have to pay for his sins someday.
But that day was not today. With a war on the horizon, was he supposed to just sit quietly in a cell and let everyone die?
Unacceptable.
The President sighed as he looked into Sa-yoon’s unwavering blue eyes.
“It’s shameless of me to ask, but please do what you can to minimize the damage to the Association. At the very least, make it so we aren’t accused of colluding with Night Rat to hide you.”
“Well, that won’t be difficult.”
All he had to do was backstab everyone and disappear. When he readily agreed, the President picked up his phone and said he would prepare a press conference. As Sa-yoon tapped his foot, telling him to do as he pleased, the President, after a long moment on the phone, ended the call with a ragged breath.
“It’s in ten minutes.”
“That was fast.”
“Do you have any idea how many reporters are on standby? I could have done it in one minute, but I pushed it to ten, figuring we should at least maintain some semblance of formality.”
The President spoke with a tone of lament. Sensing that the man had prepared himself to let go of everything he had built, Sa-yoon finally brought up the question he had been holding onto.
“Why did you recruit me into Noah?”
It was a question that had lingered from the past until now. It seemed excessive if it was simply for the Association’s benefit. Min-cheol must have anticipated that a moment like this would come. Considering the current situation, hadn’t the benefit the Association gained turned into a net loss?
Especially for Min-cheol.
Knowing this, why had he done it? At his probing question, the man let out a soft laugh, closed his eyes, and undid the top button of his shirt. As if he could finally breathe, a long sigh filled the office.
“I wanted a hunter with your skills to become a hero.”
“……?”
“Everyone knows you’re not as evil as the rumors say. At least, everyone who has met you and survived knows. And yet, you’ve committed so many evil acts. I thought if it was simply because you couldn’t find the right path, then I wanted to create one for you. Isn’t it better to be a hero, the strongest of the good, rather than being called the strongest of evil?”
At the question that was more of a monologue, Sa-yoon, having heard an unexpected truth, blinked slowly and then spoke.
“That’s a ridiculous idea.”
“Well, I suppose it might seem that way. Still, I hoped that you, as a hero, would become a light that would draw Korea’s scattered talents together, so that we would no longer lose our people to other countries. Furthermore, I hoped you would become the central pillar for the world’s hunters and elevate Korea’s national power. In the end, well, I failed.”
The man laughed with a sense of emptiness, pulled off his tie, and sighed. He ran a hand roughly through his hair and checked the time. There were only five minutes left until the press conference.
“And what a grand dream it was, looking out for the good of the entire country.”
“One must have a grand dream to sit in a grand seat, no?”
“And now you’re stepping down from that grand seat because you dreamt too big, aren’t you?”
Min-cheol clicked his tongue, as if there was nothing more to say. Sa-yoon stared for a long moment at the man who had wanted him to be a hero. With one minute left, he stood up.
“It was a stupid idea. I’m not nice enough to be a hero.”
“Would someone who isn’t nice enough cough up blood while saving people in a Gate Break?” the President retorted, as if finding the very notion absurd. With nothing to say to that, Sa-yoon checked the time and began to move. A hollow laugh escaped him—at the absurdity of it all, at the ridiculousness of the truth he had learned, at the realization that there was one more person standing with him at the judgment block he had thought he would face alone. He shrugged off the robe he was wearing.
Thump. The garment fell to the floor, revealing a tailored black suit.
“We were both just being foolishly sentimental.”
“In the end, that’s what it came to.”
Min-cheol smiled emptily and opened the door to his office. In the next instant, the flashes of the reporters who had crowded the doorway exploded in their faces.
It was time to pay for their sins.