Episode 155
As the day dawned, Jo Jin-hui began to publish the special articles he had prepared as ordered.
Among them were video interviews.
The interview video began with a scene at the entrance of the Daehan Veterans Hospital, followed by the image of a young hunter sitting blankly on a bed with one arm and one leg cut off.
He said this, biting his lips as if recalling the nightmare from that time.
“I shouldn’t have entered that gate back then. I couldn’t even repair all the equipment that was damaged during the previous gate raid, but I had to follow the order to deploy… .”
Afterwards, a soft female voice narration was added.
About how unsystematic and unreasonable the system run by the Constitutional Court at the time was.
And about how hard the life of the man I interviewed earlier is.
Other video interviews followed one after another.
Videos of people who suffered extreme mental trauma inside the gate, or people who entered a raid party consisting only of warriors without any support from healers and returned alive alone.
That’s why at the end of the video interview, everyone said the same thing.
“If only there had been a little more support from the association… … .”
“… … I don’t want a high salary. I think they should have just provided equipment support or support staff.”
“At least you should have given us some of the spoils. If the subsidy was too little, you should have let us earn it ourselves… …!”
Voices full of resentment.
It wasn’t acting for an interview.
They were all actually civil servant hunters who worked in the early days of the Daeheonhyeop.
And at the end of all the interview videos, the video ended with a fade out shot of Suho, covered in blood and wounds, wearing rags and looking extremely tired, in front of the Dark Canyon portal.
This was the alpha and omega of the special article prepared by Jo Jin-hwi, and as a result, the article was published and Jo Jin-hwi’s interview videos turned the entire country upside down.
– No, they were not just anyone else, they were national hunters fighting for their country. Is this the kind of treatment they deserve?
– This country has been like this since the old days, f*ck.
└ The Im-o Incident was right.
– Soldiers, firefighters, hunters… Do you know these professions as pigs and dogs?
– Who the hell created the loot return policy?
– Wow… … But is it true that you still don’t take care of me even after I ended up like that?
– If this is how national hunters are treated, who would sacrifice their lives for this country?
– What’s creepy is that the treatment is still the same lol
– In the end, what’s left in this way are only private hunters who go around choosing gates to satisfy their own greed…
└ But I don’t think it’s right to criticize private hunters. The gate is being attacked because of those people.
└ Yeah, don’t be sneaky and try to ride the wave. Private hunters don’t fight with patriotism like state hunters, but it’s a fact that we should still be grateful to them.
A torrent of criticism.
The first target of those arrows of anger was naturally the Korean Hunters Association.
That’s why the association was in chaos.
As soon as the sun rose, Jo Jin-hwi’s special feature article shook the world with the already controversial issue of Su-ho’s rise and the all-out offensive of the guardian priests, which soon led to strong criticism of the government.
The government was embarrassed.
Because they too were suddenly struck by lightning.
Of course, it was a rotten pus that could have burst at any time, but I didn’t know it would burst like this now.
That is why the person who was most embarrassed among them was none other than the head of the Constitutional Court, Jang Gyeong-hwan.
Jang Kyung-hwan was crazy.
Until last night, I clearly thought it was just a commotion over Hunter An Su-ho’s injury.
However, the public opinion that had been building up throughout the night was turned into a sword and poured down on the Constitutional Court in the form of a special article on PBS this morning.
“If this continues, my next position will be… …!”
It was dangerous.
I didn’t want to retire already while I was still in my prime.
So I rolled my head.
But no matter how much I racked my brain, no answer came to me.
In normal times, it would have been normal to punish the person who caused the problem and throw him/her into public opinion, or to ignore him/her and not pay any attention to him/her at all, but in this case, neither of those two options were possible.
‘If we punish An Su-ho, it will be like pouring oil on a fire, and if we just sit back and ignore it, I will be attacked… …!’
That was when.
dripping!
A knock.
The visitor was Park Gyu-min.
Jang Kyung-hwan asked with a serious expression after seeing Park Gyu-min.
“What happened?”
“It seems like it’s a one-sided situation.”
“External communication?”
“Yes, for now, I don’t think we can punish An Su-ho, nor can we ignore public opinion.”
“Then what should I do? Should I take responsibility and take off my clothes?!”
A call to quickly come up with a solution.
Park Gyu-min, who was quick-witted, spoke to him, trying to calm him down.
“No, please… How about this? There’s a saying that says to turn a crisis into an opportunity.”
“opportunity?”
“Yes, the core of the issue that is being raised now is the lack of support from the field hunters belonging to the Daeheonhyeop, so let’s first use the issue of returning the spoils.”
“How can I use it?”
“The issue of loot return is, strictly speaking, referring to the loot attribution law, but isn’t it true that we didn’t create this policy?”
“That’s true, but… … Uh, really?”
“Yes, you should rather point the arrows at the people who created it. We are not hunters, and we did not know the hardships of hunters well. That is why we did not recognize the problem until now and thought that adhering to the existing rules was a virtue, but it turns out that was not the case. In my opinion, this is the best we can do for now.”
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“Well, that’s not bad. But even so, how can you change the rules overnight?”
“Isn’t this a special law created when the Awakened were born? And aren’t there provisions that allow for flexible changes to laws related to the Awakened depending on the situation? Of course, it would require approval from the National Assembly, but let’s use this opportunity to give the public what they want and secure some breathing room. Maybe this opportunity will allow the association president’s popularity to rise in an instant.”
“What is my popularity?”
“Yes, in that sense, would you like to take a look at this?”
Park Gyu-min took out a pile of prints in front of Jang Gyeong-hwan. Then he showed him one sheet that he had organized separately.
“what’s this?”
“It’s the income from the spoils that the hunters belonging to the association brought from the gate… … At first, there was a lot, but it gradually decreased, and now it’s almost disappeared.”
“Oh, really? Why is it like this?”
“This is a phenomenon that has occurred because there is little support, so no one takes risks and enters the gate. If you enter the gate and damage your equipment or get hurt, you usually have to pay for it yourself.”
“Tsk tsk, then just tell them to take the loot. It’s almost like we didn’t have any income anyway, so even if we tell them to take it now, our tax revenue will just be the same.”
“Yes, that’s right. Then shall we draft the briefing script right away?”
“Ha… … But it’s funny that they’re suddenly pushing for a policy change like this just because public opinion is like this… … They’ll probably hear people complaining.”
“I’ll listen to the mob’s complaints, but is that important right now? With the president’s term not long, it’s right to put out the urgent fires first.”
“… … I guess so?”
“Yes, I would have done the same.”
“Okay, then can you just change this?”
“For now, that seems to be the case. I will prepare the rest as the situation changes.”
“Okay, then get ready right away. I’ll give in to what people want when public opinion is at its hottest and use this opportunity to solidify my image. But… what if the National Assembly rejects the bill change?”
“If that happens, it might actually be a good thing.”
“why?”
“Because you can just blame it on the National Assembly.”
“Hmm, then those gentlemen won’t stay still… … .”
Jang Kyung-hwan narrowed his eyebrows and started calculating in his head. After a while, he nodded and said.
“No, that would be better. Then why don’t you bring Ahn Su-ho too? If you’re going to do it, you should definitely show some showmanship. But where is Ahn Su-ho right now?”
“I am currently working at the association.”
“How about the body?”
“I’m fine.”
“Huh? Why are you okay? I heard you were badly hurt?”
“Isn’t that friend’s class a healer?”
“What? So you’re saying that even though it can heal itself, it still walks around with that kind of crap?”
“haha…….”
When Park Gyu-min laughed awkwardly, Jang Gyeong-hwan frowned and said.
“Can’t you at least wrap it up with a bandage and dress it up a bit? I think that would make for a better impression at the press conference later.”
“… … I think that would be a bit counterproductive. It’s not that people don’t know about An Su-ho, but rather, how about we write a script that makes them feel more genuine and have them memorize it and read it?”
“Hmm, that sounds good. Let’s go ahead with it for now.”
“Yes, I understand.”
As soon as Park Gyu-min received the okay sign and left the association president’s office, he let out a sigh of relief and cleared his chest.
And then he immediately called Suho and reported the conversation he had with Jang Kyung-hwan.
Suho nodded after hearing the report and said.
– Well done. I’ll bring you the script right now, so please pass it on to me when you have some time.
“Okay.”
Everything went according to Suho’s plan.
In the current situation, the only person who could give Jang Kyung-hwan some encouragement was Park Gyu-min.
‘Rather, Pi Seong-yeol will just sit back and watch.’
It is best to avoid going near sewage as much as possible.
Because just being nearby can cause something dirty to spread.
Safety first.
Pi Seong-yeol was that kind of person.
That’s why it was easy to handle this matter.
Suho ended the call and stood up from his seat, holding the script he had placed on his desk.
It was to give it to Park Gyu-min.
As Suho got up from his seat, Jeong Cheol-min and the other members of the exploration team who had been waiting with him had sparkling eyes and clenched their fists at Suho.
“go for it.”
Team members lower their voices to send a fighting signal.
Despite the dark circles under their eyes from the hangover, everyone managed to go to work as normal.
Because that’s what a ‘office worker’ is.
And even though they didn’t know what Suho was going to do, they started cheering him on because they felt a sense of belonging and solidarity as if they were on the same boat, and because they had faith in Suho.
Suho also smiled silently and clenched his fist at their silent cheering.
And just as I was about to pass through the gate corridor, I bumped into someone who was just turning the corner.
It was team leader Oh Bong-sik from the team next door.
“Oh, I’m sorry.”
“Soo, Soo-ho? Oh, no. It’s okay. I, I’m sorry.”
The one who got bumped into was Suho, but instead, Oh Bong-sik apologized and left.
It can’t be helped.
That’s also the case with Byulstar Gundo, and after that, Oh Bong-sik was called by Park Gyu-min on Su-ho’s orders and got robbed a lot.
So I was trying my best not to get involved with the people from Special Forces Team 2, including Suho.
Among them, Suho tried to avoid it almost as if he was having a seizure.
That’s understandable, because there were still malicious comments from guardian priests on Oh Bong-sik’s SNS.
‘You reap what you sow.’
Suho smiles faintly and moves to the vice president’s office.
***
A few hours later.
Jang Kyung-hwan said.
“egg plant.”
“Yes, Chairman.”
After hours of preparation, Jang Kyung-hwan decided to hold an emergency press conference.
Of course, Suho was there too.
Everything went according to Suho’s script.
Suho accompanied Jang Kyung-hwan as his aide, and the two headed to the briefing room, where they entered amid a barrage of reporters’ shutters.
Suho took a step back and waited for his turn.
And after looking around the press box, he met eyes with Jo Jin-hwi, who was sitting in the middle, and exchanged smiles and grins.
The host said.
“Then, we will now begin the emergency press conference.”
It’s finally begun.
The first step toward change that will change the deeply rotten Constitutional Court.
The Return of the High-ranking Civil Servant
