Episode 183

Vroom.

The passenger ferry departed from the harbor, emitting white smoke.

“To prison with the criminals! How can it be Sejong Island?!”

“Hurry, turn the ship around! Why are they sneaking off to Sejong Island?”

“We don’t pay taxes to support you! Cough up my taxes!”

Despite the protesters’ voices being louder than the ship’s horn, the ferry left the harbor, heading for Sejong Island.

Several warships followed the giant passenger ferry, providing an escort. On the deck of the ferry were two S-class heroes in uniform and dozens of hero agents.

“This is Busan Port! Amidst protesters raising their voices about whether the ability loss sufferers are being sent to a resort instead of a prison, the ship has ultimately turned towards Sejong Island.”

A reporter aboard a helicopter relays the live situation, holding a microphone. Beside him, soldiers in a military-colored helicopter keep a vigilant watch, prepared for any unforeseen incidents.

“Ah, there’s the ship! A rubber boat in sight!”

From the direction of the southern coast, a small rubber motorboat, smaller than a fishing boat, appeared suddenly. A man on the boat, shirtless, waved a flag with something written on it.

-Killed my child and now Sejong Island?

The man waved the flag vigorously.

A patrol boat rushed towards the motorboat, but the man, before the patrol boat could reach him, planted the flag on the boat and picked up an object from inside.

“Ah, is that…oil…?”

Whoosh.

The moment the man poured the liquid from the oil can over himself, flames erupted below, engulfing him.

“Self-immolation protest…! Presumably a family member of a victim killed by the Zenros, now performing a self-immolation protest!”

The reporter in the helicopter reported exactly what he saw.

The patrol boat quickly approached the motorboat, but the swift current pushed the boat further away.

“Wh-who’s pouring water…?”

Despite the seawater below, the flames seemed poised to consume the man before the boat could explode.

Suddenly.

Jump!

S-class hero, Lee Jun-young, on the deck of the passenger ferry, leapt off the railing, covering a vast distance in a single bound.

Boom!

Lee Jun-young landed next to the boat, generating a massive splash.

The towering spray resembled an underwater torpedo explosion.

The splash struck the lifeboat, flipping it over instantly.

Splash!

Lee Jun-young springs up again, clutching the man at his waist, and lands on the nearby patrol boat, gently laying the man on the deck.

“Did you see that?! Lee Jun-young saved a man attempting self-immolation! A heroic act of saving someone hundreds of meters away…! Truly an example for all heroes!”

The reporter excitedly continues broadcasting the scene.

“Ah, yes. This was the main reporter on site. Shortly, the President will deliver a special address…”

The situation was broadcasted live worldwide via TV and the internet, with the ship’s image shrinking into a small window as the President appeared.

“Respected citizens. I have been informed of the recent situation while preparing this address. First, I extend my deepest apologies.”

The President, holding the microphone, bows 90 degrees from the podium.

“As a father who has lost a child, I too understand the grief of losing a child. I, too, have lost my child and their spouse to a demon. So, I implore you, please refrain from these extreme actions. Trust in the state.”

The small screen showed the patrol boat.

A healing ability user approached the man who set himself on fire, and gradually his burnt skin began to heal.

The burns were healing.

Through the power of magic.

“The government’s decision to send the ability loss sufferers to Sejong Island is not to treat them as emperors but to confine them in the safest place on our land. The government will dispatch a special court to Sejong Island to try each individual, and they will be punished according to strict laws and order.”

The President’s address was broadcasted nationwide and worldwide.

“The judgments will be fair, the process just, and the trials conducted without succumbing to any external pressure. The executive, judiciary, and legislature will all combine forces to ensure this.”

The President then returned to the podium.

“From now on, I will personally discuss the sentencing guidelines for those suffering from ability loss, organized by the Ministry of Justice and about 100 judges. First, those who have killed someone will be sentenced to life imprisonment at the minimum…”

Subtitles flowed with the announcement of the punishment criteria for Zenros.

“Doesn’t automatic execution apply to all murderers?”

Those who killed someone were sentenced to death.

This was also stated in the Eight Provisions Law of Gojoseon.

As a villain, this was also my principle of action, but even in a world transformed by the great ability cataclysm, sentencing for murder did not immediately result in the death penalty.

“Am I being too conspiratorial to think that this self-immolation was a staged show?”

Being involved in the underworld, seeing a man who came in a lifeboat to perform self-immolation, and the President releasing a statement to match, conspiracies keep coming to mind.

If this wasn’t a pre-arranged scenario, then the President must be exceptionally quick-witted.

Either way, it doesn’t matter much.

The ‘message of warning’ has been properly delivered to Zenros trapped on this ferry heading to Sejong Island.

“Heh, are they blatantly showing this to us?”

The white-haired Zenros girl chuckled while watching the TV monitor.

“One murder equals life imprisonment? So, two murders lead to hanging, three to beheading, and four to being quartered?”

“…….”

“What about me? Am I going to die? I haven’t killed anyone but did cause harm.”

“The judges will decide.”

“Ah, really? Which judges? Korean judges? Are they trustworthy?”

“You’ll find out when you’re tried.”

Disguised as an E-grade agent, I positioned myself beside the girl to prevent her from doing anything foolish, pretending to be on watch.

“Hmm, really? Will they dare to kill us when our abilities might resurface?”

The girl lay on the bed with an air of confidence.

Her demeanor seemed as though she was showing off to the CCTV, as if citizens watching this video would immediately call for her death.

Of course, it wasn’t her.

The white-haired girl’s eyes, not visible on the CCTV screen, sparkled red.

That’s right.

On the day the ship left, we had already switched places on the ship.

How?

We had a space transporter, a spirit body user, and two others who could possess the spirit body user - plenty of methods.

Despite the 24-hour surveillance, they didn’t monitor the restrooms in the rooms, and we managed to switch places with Zenros in the restroom in an instant.

So now,

Yumir and I were disguised as agents - the original agents were sleeping somewhere - and Gunggi and Doul had become the Zenros girls, locked in the room with white hair.

“Hey, how long are you going to stay here?”

“I’ll be here until my shift changes.”

“Sending a man into a girl’s room? Are you crazy? I’ll report this to the Human Rights Commission.”

“We don’t have the luxury to care about gender.”

Gunggi tried to act like a 15-year-old girl, but even then, her words felt more like those of a 25-year-old.

I sent her a glance.

Instead of fussing about the CCTV, a single curse word seemed the most effective.

[Expletive].

Perfect.

She showed the temperament of a Zenros youth, once a devil, now human, at the age of 15.

The rest was just waiting quietly for time to pass.

“…It’s almost time for the shift change. Don’t do anything foolish. You will undergo a physical examination on Sejong Island and then stand trial.”

“…….”

After leaving the necessary words as an agent, I followed the manual I had learned from the agent and stepped outside.

[Ah, shift change. Each agent will take a 15-minute break, then return to their post.]

A signal came through the Taeguk Watch.

Not mine, of course, but the watch of the agent whose uniform I had taken.

…I felt a bit sorry for him, but while he was asleep, I scraped a bit of skin from his wrist.

Doul healed it with magic, so he got new skin without any pain.

‘I wonder how Yumir is doing.’

Assigned to a completely different area, I couldn’t just casually contact Yumir.

We only exchanged casual greetings when we met during breaks.

‘I’m feeling nervous.’

It’s not the worry of being disguised as someone else.

Nor was it the concern that it’s Yumir’s first time in disguise.

I just hoped that everything went as planned, that this passenger ship safely reaches Sejong Island, a few unsuspecting Zenros are taken to the devil’s laboratory, and we follow them.

If the Zenros that Gunggi and Doul transformed into simply went to the lab and received a trial in a relatively safe place, we could just switch them back to their original places.

‘I hope it turns out that way.’

What worries me was if Yumir’s plan was ‘realized’-

Bee-bee-beep!

My Taeguk Watch rang.

Simultaneously, an emergency alarm started sounding throughout the ship.

“What’s happening?!”

“Look over there!”

Agents heading to the lounge pointed towards the southeast sea.

Looking out the ship’s window, I had a foreboding feeling that Yumir’s plan might actually be happening, and my vision darkened.

“That can’t be…!”

“It’s [Susanoo]!”

S-class.

Hero.

Susanoo.

“Why is he here?”

A purple shimmering giant, tens of meters tall, was walking across the sea.

Approaching rapidly.

I turned on the translation app on my Taeguk watch.

“Why isn’t the Japanese Hero Association doing anything? An S-class is trespassing in another country’s waters without permission!”

“Hey, they say he’s only 15 years old.”

“……He’s not here to pick up a friend, is he?”

Why.

[Orenoㅡㅡㅡ]

-My.

My foreboding feeling.

[Tomodachio kaeseㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡ!!]

- Please return my friend.

Couldn’t it be wrong?

“Even if he’s 15, doesn’t he know this could become an international issue?”

Indeed.

“Hey, the Japanese Hero Association responded!”

“What did they say?!”

“They said they did their best.”

If they understood that, they wouldn’t be doing something like this.

“Wow, that’s crazy.”

An agent chuckled and pointed at the approaching purple giant.

“If he can’t save his friend, isn’t there a chance he might become a devil…?”

“That’s a threat…!”

Exactly.

I deeply sympathized.

“Boys’ comics are cool because they’re comics, but in reality, it’s just a nuisance!!”

“Kids don’t understand that.”

Unintentionally, I responded to the agent who was venting his frustration.

“He thinks he’s the protagonist of a boys’ comic.”