Chapter 36: The Military Commander

“What kind of person is this commander?”

“You don’t know him?”

According to Dogani, the military commander was also a psychic.

Dogani began rambling about the commander’s exploits.

“They say when the commander casually said one word, those parliament bastards ran away with their tails between their legs.”

For some reason that seemed incredibly amusing to him, because Dogani burst out laughing.

The commander, Jo Jun-cheol, had originally been nothing more than a major.

But the moment he gained psychic powers, he defied the orders of his superiors and seized the position of Chief of Staff.

As if that wasn’t enough, he even drove all the members of the National Assembly out of the parliament building.

He seemed to be someone with an extremely strong lust for power.

“We’re above the law. Kill people, take women—anything goes. You two should come see the commander sometime. Want me to introduce you?”

It seemed the commander was forming alliances with psychics by sharing power with them.

And the way this guy laughed was downright vile.

Dogani kept spewing vulgar nonsense without any sense of shame.

The commander granted psychics authority over regions and gave them power.

And whatever those psychics did within their territory was allowed.

As long as they received his approval, they could rule like kings with absolute authority.

That was why Dogani had asked earlier which faction we belonged to.

He thought we were psychics from another district.

Or possibly rogue psychics trying to seize territory without the commander’s permission.

He also threatened us, saying that if this story reached the commander—who was cooperating with nearly fifty psychics—we would become targets hunted by them.

“So if you apologize, I’ll generously let this go just this once. I’ll even release my men. I’m forgiving you because you didn’t know. Aren’t you afraid of what will happen if the commander gets involved? Huh?! People much stronger than me will come and beat you senseless!”

Because he believed he had backing, he was becoming more and more arrogant.

I glanced at Han Jun’s expression.

As expected, it didn’t look good.

If Dogani kept talking like this for a bit longer, Han Jun looked ready to rip his head off.

“Hyung.”

“Yeah?”

“Are you done talking?”

“Uh… yeah. More or less.”

“Then I’ll finish this?”

Han Jun clearly didn’t like that these people were abusing others under the excuse of governing the region.

He seemed eager to teach them a lesson.

But if these people disappeared, would the people here really be safe?

I had thought they were just gangsters occupying a mart, but their scale was larger than expected.

Driving them out alone might not solve the problem.

The commander would simply send another psychic here.

And then everything would go back to square one.

“Will that really be okay? He said he knows the commander. If these guys disappear, who will deal with the monsters here?”

Dogani, who had apparently been listening closely to our conversation, jumped in immediately.

“Exactly! I manage this region too! Do you think it’s easy to find a responsible manager like me who goes out two hours every day to kill monsters?! Managers in other regions don’t care whether the remaining civilians die or not!”

If only he would stay quiet.

I shot Dogani a glance and continued speaking.

“Let’s run a rehabilitation program here for a while.”

“A rehabilitation program?”

Han Jun tilted his head in confusion.

Meanwhile, Dogani—who had been hoping we would just leave—looked completely devastated.

It would probably be better to learn more about Commander Jo Jun-cheol before making any moves.

And there was something else troubling me among the words that had been flashing before my eyes earlier.

The future that worried me the most.

The appearance of a giant monster.

Soon, a colossal monster would appear and destroy several shelters.

A monster as large as a skyscraper would devastate the Yeouido area.

Until then, it would be best for us to conserve as much strength as possible.

This wasn’t the time to exhaust ourselves fighting Commander Jo Jun-cheol yet.

We boldly decided to seize the place where the Dogani gang leader, Shin Doong-ho, was staying.

Shin Doong-ho had taken over the top floor of a tourist hotel right in front of Garak Market.

As expected from someone with a gangster background, his personality was rotten.

He kept people who couldn’t enter shelters as if they were his servants.

He called it legitimate employment.

Since he protected them from monsters and distributed rations, he claimed it was only natural for them to work for him.

But his brief reign was over now.

There was no way Han Jun would tolerate that kind of behavior.

“We’ll be staying here. Don’t harass people and do your work properly. We’ll be watching.”

Shin Doong-ho gritted his teeth through a face covered in blood.

Judging by the way he kept glancing at us, he was clearly dreaming of revenge.

“That look in your eyes seems very disrespectful.”

“Me? Surely not.”

He stretched his neck and smiled slyly.

Anyone could see the mocking attitude.

If we didn’t establish authority early, it felt like he would cause trouble later.

Thinking that we’d properly deal with him tomorrow since we were tired today, we headed toward the elevator to go up to the top floor.

But then—

“Don’t act arrogant just because you trust your friend. You never know what might happen.”

When Han Jun stepped into the elevator first, Shin Doong-ho whispered ominously in my ear.

Then he lightly smacked my butt.

Does he think my butt is some public punching bag?

I frowned in annoyance.

Seeing him whispering to me, Han Jun pulled me toward him.

“What’s that? I told you not to go near him.”

When both of us stepped into the elevator, Shin Doong-ho turned his head and smiled.

Then the elevator doors began closing.

He must have pressed the close button quickly.

“Wait.”

Before the doors completely closed, I stopped them with my hand.

At first I thought I was annoyed because he whispered to me.

But when I looked more carefully, that wasn’t it.

I could see his yellow aura slowly creeping into the elevator.

Since only I could see that energy, Han Jun didn’t notice anything.

While we let our guard down for a moment, he was trying to play tricks again.

I had forgotten for a second that he controlled electricity.

I smiled brightly at him.

“Why don’t you ride with us, Mr. Shin Doong-ho?”

“…I already told you the top floor is upstairs…”

“You should guide your guests properly to the end. It would be rude not to.”

At my words, a thick vein bulged on Shin Doong-ho’s forehead.

His face turned red with anger.

Of course it would.

His plan had failed.

Grinding his teeth, Shin Doong-ho stepped into the elevator.

The way he glared at me became even more vicious.

Han Jun watched his expression blankly.

Then the moment the elevator doors closed—

He forced Shin Doong-ho to his knees.

THUD!

Shin Doong-ho was pressed against the elevator floor like chewing gum, choking.

Han Jun stared down at him coldly before looking at me.

It seemed he had noticed my earlier behavior was strange.

“What did that bastard do?”

“Huh? Oh… nothing much. He smacked my butt.”

If only the two of us had been inside the elevator, he probably would have tried to drop it.

Since he controlled electricity, it wouldn’t have been difficult.

But if I told Han Jun that Shin Doong-ho had tried another trick to kill us, Han Jun might not spare him this time.

So I just made a vague excuse.

“He won’t come to his senses unless he dies.”

“Huh?”

Han Jun became even angrier.

He looked ready to kill Shin Doong-ho right then.

Shin Doong-ho’s already red face turned even redder, as if someone were choking him.

At this rate he really might die.

What’s the point of coming to your senses after you’re dead?

“Cough…!”

“No, wait! Why kill him? Stop!”

Panicking, I shook Han Jun quickly to stop him.

Instead, Han Jun stomped on Shin Doong-ho’s back to vent his anger.

“Bastard.”

I had seen Han Jun kill monsters mercilessly many times.

But this was the first time I had seen him direct such hostility toward a person.

Since he usually behaved politely toward adults, it felt even stranger.

Still, was touching my butt really worth getting this angry about?

He touches it whenever he wants.

I hugged Han Jun from behind and patted his chest to calm him down.

“Relax, relax.”

Most power plants in the city had shut down because of monsters.

Emergency generators were supplying electricity, but it was very limited.

Other people could only use electricity for two hours a day.

Yet this market controlled by Shin Doong-ho had electricity running all day.

“What will we do if there’s no power? Do you want to walk up and down twenty floors every day?”

Climbing twenty floors repeatedly would be exhausting.

Honestly, I thought it would be a waste to get rid of this ugly Pikachu.

Han Jun looked at me like he didn’t understand at all.

But eventually he relaxed his power.

Ding—

Just then, the elevator arrived at the twentieth floor.

Looking at Shin Doong-ho collapsed on the floor, he probably wouldn’t dare say a word for a while.

I crouched down and whispered to him.

“Even if you dropped the elevator, we wouldn’t die. He can lift this much weight easily. But if you tried that, do you think he would have spared you? I’m the one who saved your life.”

Shin Doong-ho’s half-unconscious body trembled slightly.

Assuming he understood enough, I brought Han Jun into the hotel room.

The room was large and clean.

But the night view outside the hotel’s wide window wasn’t very beautiful.

The city that once glittered like a Christmas tree was now completely dark.

Far away in the black night, I could faintly see flames burning somewhere.

Why was there a fire?

Was it another monster?

While I stared at the city, Han Jun came up behind me.

“Hyung, are you okay?”

“Me? Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Are you hurt anywhere?”

“…No.”

As Han Jun pressed closer, I suddenly remembered the promise I had forgotten earlier.

His body pressed against mine, and I could feel him against my backside.

“That bastard really touched your butt?”

“No. He didn’t.”

“If you lie, someone dies.”

Who dies? Me, or him?

When I stayed silent, Han Jun asked again.

“I listened to you well today, right?”

Handling Han Jun was really exhausting.

On the way to the city, the day we almost had our car stolen because he helped that man on the road, I had exploded with anger.

‘If you won’t listen to me, we’ll sleep separately from now on!’

Even though we were basically sleeping outdoors without rooms.

After three days of sleeping apart like that, Han Jun finally apologized.

Ever since then, it’s been like this.

Every time he listens to me, he demands a reward.

Like some gangster demanding payment.

Between him not listening at all, and him listening but demanding rewards like a thug—

I honestly don’t know which one is worse.

“…Fine. Good boy.”

I gently stroked Han Jun’s head resting on my shoulder.

At that, Han Jun tightened his arms around my waist.

He squeezed so hard my breath caught.

“Just with words?”

That sly bastard.

He always has a motive.

“D-do you want me to… suck it?”

“Yeah.”

He didn’t even hesitate to agree.

Look at him answering immediately before I can change my mind.

Even without seeing his face, I could tell Han Jun was smiling.