M 90

“Um, my name is Sehwa, Lee Sehwa.”

Sehwa slowly raised himself and leaned against the wall. It was still difficult to refer to himself as “dad.”

“Before… I’m sorry.”

When he had struck his stomach wishing the baby would die, Saessak was just an embryo with a barely formed heart, but still…

The gesture of patting his own stomach felt incredibly awkward. Having given the baby a name, he wanted to try talking to it properly… but now that he’d settled in, he couldn’t think of much to say.

If he’d known it would be like this, he should have at least paid attention to the tidbits of information in the pregnancy handbook. Now he regretted deliberately acting cold and refusing to even look at it, too busy blindly ignoring everything.

“From now on, I’ll really be careful. I’ll stop saying bad things too…”

Ki Tae-jeong used to chuckle, saying Sehwa’s way of speaking was peculiar. Though he said that, he seemed to find it cute in his own way. When Sehwa told him he actually cursed a lot and had a blunt way of speaking, Tae-jeong had just stared at him in disbelief, pausing mid-cigarette. It’s true. I swear a lot too. When I’m angry, I shout “fuck” and call people bastards all the time.

Come to think of it, he hadn’t cursed once since meeting Ki Tae-jeong. Partly because he was self-conscious, but… at some point, he just wanted to show only his good side to him. He had unconsciously figured out what words to choose and actions to take to make Ki Tae-jeong more lenient.

“…I guess I liked him much earlier than I thought.”

Sehwa’s clumsy caress of his abdomen gradually slowed. At some point, Ki Tae-jeong had started soothing him like this too. On nights when they slept without sex, pressed close together like lost animals with only each other, he would gently stroke and caress any part of Sehwa he felt like. In a low voice, he’d ask if anything was uncomfortable, if anything was sore, what Sehwa wanted to do tomorrow, where he’d like to go together… such trivial things.

“…Ah.”

There had been someone who poured out affectionate warmth to him, as if singing a lullaby. Ki Tae-jeong had taken that away. Since it was he himself who had taken it, Sehwa couldn’t even throw a tantrum asking for it back.

“Ah, ugh…”

Sehwa covered his mouth with his hand. The hotel room wasn’t very soundproof. It was time for people who woke up late to leave for work, so he couldn’t make noise.

“I’m sorry, hic, just for today…”

Holding back his tears, Sehwa tried to comfort the child. It’s okay, Saessak. I really won’t cry anymore. Making a promise to he wasn’t sure who, Sehwa collapsed face-down onto the worn-out mattress. The sobs that had been rattling in his throat finally turned into wails that filled the room.

It was the first time he had cried out loud since fleeing to 2-Hwan several days ago.

***

“I am well aware that the mistake my son committed is not a small one.”

The middle-aged man, who was both the CEO of Gyeonghan Pharmaceuticals and a retired soldier, but who still regularly showed his face at the Ministry of Defense as an elder statesman and still introduced himself as Colonel Kim outside, bowed politely in apology.

“However, the claim that my son, Lieutenant Kim Seok-cheol, engaged in illegal experiments because he habitually used drugs… well, I think that might be too much of a stretch. Of course, Brigadier General Ki Tae-jeong did present several pieces of evidence, but…”

Ki Tae-jeong snorted at Colonel Kim’s rebuttal, his eyes narrowed to almond-like points. Too much of a stretch? Fuck, he should just insist on what he wants to insist on.

“Isn’t the only thing supporting the connection between the new drug Lieutenant Kim allegedly tried to develop and ‘The Harvest’ the fact that the constitution of Lee Sehwa, a drug distributor from 4-Hwan, changed? Moreover, I don’t think the witness Lee Sehwa and his testimony can be considered legally valid.”

It was a typical rhetoric meant to obscure the main point. But blindly criticizing Colonel Kim now would only be to Ki Tae-jeong’s disadvantage. The other party was familiar with this kind of public opinion manipulation and had multiple experiences of gaining the upper hand.

Ki Tae-jeong just shrugged his shoulders with an indifferent expression, as if it didn’t bother him at all. There was no need to get excited. Bullshit should be met with bullshit.

“Besides, isn’t this Lee Sehwa currently pregnant with Brigadier General Ki Tae-jeong’s child? Given the potential for coercion in that process, I apologize to that lower-class individual, but doesn’t this severely lack fairness and impartiality?”

Colonel Kim lowered his voice slightly at this point, as if even calling Ki Tae-jeong a brigadier general was humiliating.

In principle, it didn’t make sense for a retired colonel to casually call someone “Brigadier General” without the honorific. But this was a court centered around elders who ignored all such hierarchies. Even old men inferior to Colonel Kim would chirp, “Hey, Ki Tae-jeong,” so… he thought it was something that at least he attached a rank when addressing him.

“That’s true. It’s not that Kim Seok-cheol is innocent, but it seems a bit much to blame him for things that haven’t even been confirmed, right? We all know what it means to lose your rank insignia.”

“Damn it, if he’s not innocent, he should be punished. He admitted it himself, didn’t he? After burning down the whole warehouse, he even yelled at Ki Tae-jeong.”

When an elder close to Colonel Kim added his thoughts, another person immediately cut him off with a sneer. This was someone who normally had no particular connection to either Ki Tae-jeong or the Kim family, but was one of those who had suffered considerable damage due to Lieutenant Kim setting fire to 2-Hwan this time.

“The drugs that those… who were they, anyway, the looters who stole from the 1-Hwan shelter, those were also drugs that Lieutenant Kim had hidden, right? Their bodies were also found in the burned warehouse in 2-Hwan. Everyone knows Kim Seok-cheol was going around singing about ‘The Harvest,’ but you’re saying he had no such intention? You should insist on what you want to insist on, but isn’t this going too far?”

“Ah, I can’t believe that video either. Did you see how those terrorists were moving? One of them looked more like a robot than a human, honestly that…”

The elder who had been passionately speaking suddenly glanced at Ki Tae-jeong and subtly trailed off.

“…Ahem, anyway, there’s a lot we can’t trust in the evidence Ki Tae-jeong presented. Especially that video, let’s watch the original again, not the edited version.”

“No, I’m telling you it’s definitely not a doctored video. Are you doubting our department now?”

“That’s not what I meant…!”

It was a scene no different from what he had expected. The old men, entangled in various vested interests, continued their childish arguments that even kids wouldn’t engage in, while key figures from each faction were keeping their eyes peeled like snakes, ready to pick up on anything that could be used as a counterargument. Kim Seok-cheol sat in the middle, silent as a sack of barley.

“…So what I’d like to propose to you all is.”

Colonel Kim, who had deliberately ignited this chaos, spoke in a soft voice.

“Since it seems we won’t reach a conclusion today anyway, how about we summon this Lee Sehwa person to the next trial?”

Ki Tae-jeong, who had been flicking his fingernails with a bored expression, suddenly stopped. Oh Seon-ran, sitting far away with his  arms crossed, reacted similarly.

“There are discrepancies between Brigadier General Ki Tae-jeong’s accusation and Lieutenant Kim Seok-cheol’s statement, so it might be good to directly verify that person’s constitution here.”

“Verify? Now you want to bring in a lowborn and seat them here? Isn’t that unnecessary, Colonel Kim?”

“I hear he has a constitution that nullifies the effects of any drug. Couldn’t we check if we can manufacture the drug exactly as described in the documents Lieutenant Kim referenced, and if he really shows no abnormalities after taking it?”

It sounded plausible when said calmly, but it was nonsense without any context. It was obvious from the start that they were trying to shift the conclusion from proving Kim Seok-cheol’s wrongdoing by calling Sehwa, to determining whether his constitution was real or not. They were likely aiming to frame it as a crime committed by a 4-Hwan resident with a unique constitution for social advancement, a deliberate approach to the drug-addicted Lieutenant Kim… that kind of narrative.

“What do you think, Brigadier General Ki Tae-jeong? About what Colonel Kim just proposed.”

The problem was… although their purposes differed from Colonel Kim’s, there were people who wanted to hear directly from Sehwa, the living evidence. Moreover, in this military trial where results were determined by majority vote, the moderates who needed to be won over to secure victory mostly showed positive reactions.

“As Lee Sehwa’s legal guardian, I refuse his appearance as a witness. He is not in a physical condition to do so. Above all, what proper testimony would be possible by calling out the victim in front of the perpetrator, Lieutenant Kim Seok-cheol?”

“Heh heh… No matter how close you two are these days, that’s too much. This Lee Sehwa, he’s a criminal too, isn’t he? He can’t be called a victim. Selling drugs his whole life,”

“Bring evidence.”

Ki Tae-jeong sneered and sank deep into his chair back. Unable to contain his long, crossed legs, the heavy wooden chair creaked as it was pushed back.

“Show me the crime scenes Lee Sehwa has committed, even as a hologram. You’re framing an innocent person as a criminal without any evidence.”

“What? You call that an argument?”

“What’s implausible about it? Even Lieutenant Kim Seok-cheol is insisting on his innocence despite clear evidence.”

Even as he defended Sehwa’s innocence, his mouth felt gritty as if he’d swallowed sand. When he first discovered Sehwa, he too had planned to use and discard him for the same purpose. The only difference between Colonel Kim and himself was the outcome they were trying to lead to.

Of course, even if Sehwa hadn’t secretly run away now and was quietly staying in his quarters… he would never make him do such things. He doesn’t want to push Sehwa, who is carrying his child, to make dangerous drugs again, to insist that his body would be fine no matter what he ingested as long as he didn’t wear a patch. He won’t sit Sehwa in front of this pack of hyenas and make him endure their sneers.

Ki Tae-jeong decided to acknowledge that in some aspects, he had already become unable to win against Sehwa.

“…As you know, in the process of investigating this case, the witness Lee Sehwa and I came to understand each other.”

Hiding his churned-up feelings, Tae-jeong exaggeratedly took off and put on his cap.

“I’m grateful to Lieutenant Kim Seok-cheol for this part at least.”

Kim Seok-cheol’s crumpled eyes suddenly blazed. As he tried to speak, Colonel Kim loudly cleared his throat. It was a warning to keep his mouth shut. Startled by the sound, Kim Seok-cheol trembled his shoulders in frustration and dropped his head again. At this foolish behavior, displeasure clouded the faces of several elders. Some even clicked their tongues as if in contempt.

Colonel Kim frowned as if in dismay. It was already a trial that didn’t give a damn about proper procedures anyway. The swing voters who could provide decisive support often had their voting intentions swayed by such trivial matters.

“However, setting aside personal feelings, I have no intention of putting Sehwa, I mean, my wife, on trial. Not only is he  not in a physical condition to do so, but there’s no reason to, is there?”

“What? Wife? You even married that lowborn?”

“Not yet, but I intend to soon.”

This time, Kim Seok-cheol couldn’t hold back and cursed loudly, while Colonel Kim kept coughing as if uncomfortable.

“You always hated the idea of marriage… and you chose someone like that of all people?”

“I guess a lowborn from 4-Hwan was better than your brat kids. What’s there to ask?”

“What? Hey, Colonel Choi!”

Marriage.

It was something he had thrown out there to upset those bastards, but now that he’d said it, it didn’t seem like a bad idea.

While there might be records somewhere in the military’s servers, the pregnant person’s guardian registration is canceled simultaneously with the child’s birth registration.

But marriage registration was different. If Lee Sehwa’s family registry was pulled, the name Ki Tae-jeong would remain permanently, even after he died. If he had the legal authority to completely own and control him…

It didn’t sound so bad. Should he do that when he caught Lee Sehwa this time? Ki Tae-jeong rubbed his chin with his thumb. He didn’t place much importance on marriage anyway, so giving up a spot in the corner of the registry wasn’t a difficult task. Of course, Lee Sehwa would cry and say he didn’t want to.

“But Colonel Kim’s words have a point… I’ll consider making a hologram where my wife makes various statements, with a trustworthy person as a reference.”

“A reference?”

“Yes. For example…”

Ki Tae-jeong smiled brightly at Oh Seon-ran, who had been looking stern since the moment he referred to Lee Sehwa as his wife.

“I think General Oh Seon-ran would be fine.”

Colonel Kim’s plump cheeks quivered at this unexpected development.

“Since you were closer to Lieutenant Kim Seok-cheol than I was, you won’t give a biased opinion on my side… and you have a high rank. Isn’t this a fairly fair compromise?”

It was already widely known in the military that General Oh Seon-ran had talked with Lee Sehwa, a lower-class citizen, for quite some time in the Ministry of Defense building. There were even rumors that the person he  had been searching for during his  long stay abroad was actually his  illegitimate child, and that it was Lee Sehwa.

It was unclear whether Oh Seon-ran had deliberately fueled the rumors, or if his  influence in the country had weakened that much.

Whatever the case, it wasn’t Ki Tae-jeong’s concern. The important thing was that now Oh Seon-ran had no choice but to confide in him about Lee Sehwa’s escape. If he doesn’t want to see Lee Sehwa, whom he supposedly regarded as his own child, dragged into court, he must cooperate with him. So that Lee Se-hwa can come out of hiding on his own.

“It would be troublesome, but if General Oh Seon-ran agrees, I’m willing to compromise to that extent.”

People’s gazes busily moved back and forth between Ki Tae-jeong and Oh Seon-ran standing opposite each other. Everyone seemed to be calculating so hard that numbers seemed to be popping up everywhere every time they rolled their eyes.

“…Ah, well. It’s not impossible.”

Oh Seon-ran, who had been looking at the young and arrogant officer with an unreadable expression, soon nodded briefly with a sneer.

“…Haha, General Oh.”

Colonel Kim tried to stop Oh Seon-ran, forcibly smoothing his crumpled face.

“What meaning does the testimony of a witness who didn’t even attend have? No, where is there such a law in the first place? It’s not like he’s the Supreme Leader, giving such preferential treatment just because he had a child with a mere officer.”

“Is there a problem? The witness is unable to move right now. Don’t you think that if the person vouching has the rank of General, it might create meaning where there was none?”

Oh Seon-ran’s indifferent reply carried a clear hostility. Even Colonel Kim was startled enough to pull back his chin and retreat.

The exchanged glances of the jurors became even more meaningful. This was the first time Oh Seon-ran had spoken out so clearly. His attitude just now seemed to indicate that he would completely cut ties with the Kim family from now on.

“It seems we’ve been repeating the same conversation, so let’s wrap up for today. I hope the trial will proceed in a more productive direction next time.”

As Oh Seon-ran stood up as if he had nothing more to say, the others also rose hesitantly.

“Brigadier General Ki Tae-jeong, see me for a moment.”