DL Episode 142

#142

Ha-gyeom breathed quietly, enduring the eyes fixed on him. Assemblyman Tak brushed off his jacket and took the head seat, picking up the file lying before him.

“Did you not see it for yourselves? Just because someone is a guide doesn’t mean they can handle this. Starting with this kid, I intend to determine which guides are capable of enduring it. If we can manage that, wouldn’t we finally be able to eliminate the threat hanging over our heads?”

Tak pointed toward the ceiling as he spoke. Everyone was likely imagining the monstrous swarm circling above. But he already knew that wasn’t all. No matter what he claimed about reporting, he had no intention of revealing the full circumstances of the operation or the training. Ha-gyeom, who had witnessed a more aggressive monster and even a strange being inside the anomaly, felt chills run through him.

“I understand your vision, Assemblyman Tak. However, that does not excuse you for conducting the operation alone under the pretext of secrecy and presenting the results as justification for taking that seat.”

The leaders nodded in agreement. Ha-gyeom met Kang’s steady gaze but showed no reaction. Even someone as composed as her likely held ambition. No, it wasn’t just her—everyone was pushing back against Tak’s growing dominance. It wasn’t fair to single her out.

Ha-gyeom recalled what Kang had said earlier.

‘A leader’s influence must be equal.’

If that was the shared agreement among the leaders, then Tak was undeniably the spark that fractured it. Some showed their emotions plainly, others maintained calm… Everyone reacted differently, but once consensus broke, the widening crack was only a matter of time.

And if equal influence among leaders had been the chief’s principle…

Now that the fracture had begun, where was the chief?

“Shall I reveal it, then? What my intention really is…”

Tak bared his teeth in a smile, refusing to be cowed by the leaders’ pressure. Several frowned in disgust. A brief silence passed as everyone waited for his next move. When Kang lifted her hand from Ha-gyeom’s shoulder and returned to her seat…

Tak!

Everything before Ha-gyeom flashed bright.

The glass wall that had been veiled in darkness lit up transparently. Blinking against the sudden glare, Ha-gyeom finally looked through the clear pane.

“……!”

A large room enclosed entirely in white walls. On the white bed—clearly a medical cot—lay someone with hair that had turned completely white. Countless tubes from the surrounding machines ran into his mouth. Medical devices stretched over his body like spider legs, restraining him as if he were bound by them.

“So the chief is currently…”

Tak stepped down from the head seat and walked to the glass front. Everyone grimaced. The distance between the chief and Ha-gyeom was far, yet Ha-gyeom could recognize and remember his face.

“He cannot resist the death approaching him. As you can see.”

Just as it had been known from the beginning, there was no twist. The chief of this place had been the chairman of a corporation that held power long before the invasion. Now he lay under the shadow of death, seemingly unconscious, so weakened it was impossible to guess how long he had been like this.

“……!”

Ha-gyeom felt his breath catch. The chief he had finally come face-to-face with was lying helpless on a hospital bed. And Baek Seung-woo had spent five whole years uncovering the identity of a man who was no threat to anyone…!

“What do you think you’re doing!”

Ji Ui-chan shot to his feet in outrage. The other leaders seemed aware of the chief’s condition, but everyone except Tak and Kang recoiled from the sight as if denying it.

Eyes of wary distrust shifted toward Ha-gyeom, the only one in the room who wasn’t a leader. But he couldn’t look away from the brilliant white bed. His cold, sunken gaze stayed fixed beyond the glass.

How long had the chief been comatose? When had Tak begun dreaming of climbing over him? Was this the reason Tak had plotted his own rebellion?

If the chief’s decline was what made Tak dissatisfied with the equal power given to all leaders and spurred him to seek a higher position, then his unilateral actions without seeking approval finally made sense.

But it wasn’t as if the other leaders lacked hidden motives of their own. Ha-gyeom found himself wondering why they, unlike Tak, had not revealed their ambitions openly.

“Assemblyman Tak. Do you not understand the sanctity of that position?”

At last, Kang lost her composure. Her voice scratched like a rasp, and her fierce eyes held none of her earlier warmth. She rose, trembling as one hand pressed against the table, unable to forgive Tak for revealing the chief’s feeble state before everyone.

“If not for him, we would never have been able to share equal strength. Because of the chief’s existence, we maintained perfect balance. Because there was stability, District 0 could prosper more than anywhere else. Surely you aren’t planning to claim ignorance of that!”

Every leader except Tak nodded in agreement.

“Thirteen years ago, if the chief had not personally led us while he was still in good health, we would never have been able to enjoy the strength and peace we have now. Even if the chief could not avoid the misfortune of illness, no human being should ever forget such grace.”

When Assemblywoman Kang spoke each word with force, Assemblyman Ji added on.

“We twenty leaders were gathered not only from the chief’s closest people who survived the invasion, but also from the nation’s finest talents. And among them, we five—who were entrusted with greater responsibility—go without saying. The chief waited patiently until the chaos settled and stability was finally achieved. And he reminded us countless times. That in this unstable world, nothing was more important than unity among leaders to prepare for a greater future.”

“When the walls of District 0 were completed, we all made an oath that carved itself into our bones. That desire only leads to ruin, so let us become one body and drive this utopia forward.”

Assemblyman Chae added weight to Ji’s words. Tak’s expression twisted with displeasure. Kang drove the final nail in.

“Instead of getting swept up in pointless power struggles, we vowed to devote ourselves to our assigned duties. That was possible only because the chief and every leader put in the effort. Thanks to that, we enjoyed stability for thirteen whole years, did we not?”

“……”

“The chief worried about us constantly, even up until the moment he chose to sleep to recover his strength. He feared more than anything that his decline would provoke desire inside one of the leaders. Because if our pact were ever broken, chaos would sweep through this place we struggled to build, and every person in District 0 would be placed in danger.”

Everyone except Tak nodded in agreement.

“He could not even let go of life peacefully because he feared the balance between the leaders would collapse because of you! We all respected the chief for his noble convictions. Have you truly forgotten the vow we made before him when he first entered that room?”

It meant the core leaders had known of the chief’s poor health, yet upheld his will and promised one another never to covet his position. Because that was the balance that prevented chaos.

Though Kang’s argument was logical, the fervor in her eyes made her seem almost strange. To Ha-gyeom, who knew nothing of the leaders’ inner workings, she looked no different from a zealot defending a cult leader. No matter how devoted one was, blind worship was never normal.

Not just Kang but all the other leaders seemed convinced the chief’s request was a noble creed…

Suddenly, a thought flashed through Ha-gyeom’s mind—the Espers in this place, abducted just like him, yet too frightened to resist. Just like the Espers in the detention center, were the leaders too subtly brainwashed by the chief over more than a decade?

Human history had always seen cult leaders who captured people’s hearts, and a world devastated by disaster would only strengthen the bonds among survivors. If the chief had instilled ideology under the guise of “conviction” and they came to believe it as absolute truth, it explained why none of the leaders had ever attempted rebellion.

Perhaps the chief built this massive fortress called District 0 and hid his identity from the public eye precisely to invite such devotion.

At last, the ever-silent and visibly irritated Tak spoke.

“Do you think I don’t remember the ten years when the chief was well? I sincerely wished for his recovery too!”

When Kang failed to continue speaking, he raised his voice even more.

“But three years have passed, and instead of improving, his condition has only worsened. Everyone believes he’ll wake up any day now, but what about reality? If we stop the medication, do you truly think the chief will open his eyes?”

Silence passed, a silence that only made their unwavering faith seem stranger. Then Kang broke it.

“Even if the chief were to pass away like this, that seat will remain eternal. It is a place no one can replace!”

Her voice rose, unyielding. Unlike her, Tak responded in a voice thin and sharp like a snake’s whisper.

“Is that so? Do you truly believe that, Assemblywoman Kang? How can you be so certain no one can take the chief’s place, that no future could surpass this? Tell me, Assemblywoman Kang.”

“What exactly is your intent, Assemblyman Tak?”

“How many times must I say it—I’m about to tell you now.”

While Kang raged, Tak simply crossed his arms, leisurely. Only his eyes shone with an eerie light.

“I intend to break the perfect balance of our five points, like the five tips of a star, and take the lead in guiding all of you.”

Every leader froze like ice at Tak’s declaration.

“I do not intend to settle for our peace. I plan to expand our rule beyond this earth to other worlds.”

The eyes that flicked between the chief lying beyond the glass and Tak standing before them overflowed with undeniable confusion.