M 122

“Actually, this friend here has shared some quite interesting information. It’s a bit embarrassing to bring this up in front of Brigadier General Ki Tae-jeong, but…”

At Colonel Kim’s signal, a soldier waiting in the corner opened a tablet.

“This is a recording of a conversation between Lee Sehwa and this friend from before in the 4th Ring.”

Colonel Kim shrugged, saying everyone would understand what he meant once they heard it. Sehwa unconsciously leaned forward. There’s an audio file? He wasn’t on speaking terms with Maejo, nor did they hang out closely. How could such a trace exist?

– I knew you were shallow all along… but I didn’t think you were the type to just chase after money. Damn, if you’re going to choose someone based on money anyway, don’t go around saying you want to live a normal life.

– Isn’t it obvious? The person who gave me the card is young, handsome, and rich on top of that.

Surprisingly, the voices belonged to himself and Maejo. As he listened, he vaguely remembered when this was. It was probably on the way back after buying ice cream with the card he received from Tae-jeong.

In any case, in the played file, Sehwa was portrayed as someone blinded by greed who switched allegiances to Tae-jeong, while Maejo was depicted as someone betrayed after harboring long-held pure feelings. Of course, any background or context for such talk was neatly cut out, but anyone listening to just this recording would think that way.

“Just hearing this, isn’t Sehwa’s true intentions clear enough? While claiming he’s not physically able to receive men, what’s his reason for actively seducing only male officers like this? Didn’t he have some belief in himself? It’s also ridiculous to see someone with such loose morals as just an innocent victim.”

Curious and sneering gazes poured down. Well, he does look a bit… lower class people can’t help it… Such vulgar evaluations circulated ominously around the courtroom.

Ki Tae-jeong and General Oh Seon-ran’s faces hardened for a moment, but Sehwa himself wasn’t bothered at all. He was surprised that Maejo had appeared in court and had been preparing various things out of resentment for being rejected, but that was all. He didn’t get angry or tear up just from hearing some slander. Isn’t this much more polite than what Lieutenant Park had threatened?

However… He wanted to address the child issue without fail. He wasn’t here to prove his innocence to strangers. He just wanted to end everything for certain and live quietly with Hae-rim.

But could he lose his child to those people for such absurd reasons? He knew they were saying this deliberately to provoke his anxiety, but… his stomach churned nonetheless at that tiny possibility.

“Bullshit.”

As if to comfort Sehwa, Ki Tae-jeong calmly but with quite unrefined content, responded.

The subsequent war of words flowed in the predicted direction. Ki Tae-jeong did not respond emotionally to the baseless personal attacks. Knowing they wouldn’t particularly listen even if he stated the facts, he focused on highlighting issues that the audience would likely be directly interested in, such as the damage to assets caused by the complete burning of the 2-Hwan warehouse.

General Oh Seon-ran also added words craftily, wearing a mask that concealed his true thoughts.

“General, I fully understand your desire to protect your adopted son Lee Sehwa. However…”

“Oh my, that’s dangerous talk. I have no intention of blindly taking his side just because he’s my adopted son. Didn’t Colonel Kim also bring his own child to trial for wrongdoing?”

“Pardon? Haha… With all due respect, there’s a huge error in what you just said, General.”

“An error? It’s a simple proposition. Regardless of rank, wealth, or family history, we are all equal under military law. That’s all there is to it.”

“Well… that’s obvious, but…”

“Whether it’s the General’s adopted son or the Colonel’s son, if they broke military law, they should be judged. The difference is that Lieutenant Kim Seok-cheol is a clear lawbreaker, while my adopted son has been caught up in rumors of uncertain truth, isn’t it?”

“How can you conclude he’s a lawbreaker when the verdict hasn’t even been given yet!”

To Colonel Kim’s protest, General Oh apologized cheerfully, saying, “Right. He’s only suspected of burning down the entire 2-Hwan and extracting confidential documents to produce illegal drugs.”

Colonel Kim gritted his molars hard. After stirring things up about Lee Sehwa having many flaws here and there, he had planned to attack Oh Seon-ran’s suspicious behavior in adopting him, but Oh Seon-ran cunningly made the first move, rendering this card unusable.

He had underestimated his thinking he’d grown soft from being outside for so long, but a General was still a General.

“That’s right. What’s important about these additional stories now? The problem is that Lieutenant Kim Seok-cheol arbitrarily disrupted the military order and completely ruined the 2-Hwan.”

Ki Tae-jeong, who had been watching the brief squabble between the two, also chimed in subtly. The old men who had been eyeing the 4-Hwan commoner with suspicion, wondering if he was hiding something, quickly forgot everything when the asset issue was brought up. Even people who hadn’t actually suffered any damage started to chime in, saying things like they had investments in the 2-Hwan too.

“Once we present the materials Lieutenant Na has selected, it’ll be pretty much over.”

While his head felt like it would explode thinking about the child regardless of what others were saying, Ki Tae-jeong gently enveloped the back of Sehwa’s hand as if to comfort his complex emotions. His large hand stroked down, covering his fingers, then smoothly changed direction. Their palms met for an instant.

“It’s really all over.” His whispered voice carried a faint hint of joy.

Had he ever… held hands with this man? Except when they were intimate, it seemed like they had never engaged in such an affectionate act. He couldn’t tell if the pulsing sensation running through his skin was his own or Ki Tae-jeong’s.

“Although it deviates somewhat from the main topic, I don’t want unpleasant words to circulate, nor do I want to create public opinion in this way to make this person an unfair victim, so I will refute Lieutenant Kim’s claims one by one. Lieutenant Na, step forward.”

“Unfair victim, you say!”

With a gaunt face that looked like his sunken eyeballs might fall out, Maejo screeched loudly. It was an outrageous act that could only be committed while intoxicated.

“Arrest that Sakura bastard! He’s been selling drugs and his body his whole life using his unique body, and now he’s acting like he’s been forced into something bad…!”

People’s brows furrowed at Maejo’s sudden outburst. Even Colonel Kim, who had brought him, was the same.

“Colonel Kim, are you going to keep him as a witness?”

“No matter what, bringing someone clearly high on drugs here of all places…”

To the irritated audience’s protests, Colonel Kim quickly shook his head.

“No. We’ve confirmed the submitted evidence, so I’ll dismiss the witness as well.”

“W-wait a minute!”

Maejo, turning pale, clung to Colonel Kim. Even in his unsound state, he seemed to sense that he had messed up.

“Why is that bastard not being dragged away while I’m getting arrested? I said everything you told me to! Why am I the only one being taken away?!”

“What nonsense is this bastard spouting! Hey, get rid of him.”

Maejo flailed his one remaining hand, clinging to Colonel Kim.

“You said you wouldn’t put me in prison! You said you’d give me drugs! I was originally going to sell that recording to that Director Ki or Brigadier General Ki or whoever…! You said you’d give me drugs for life! That you’d let me live! That’s why I gave it to you!”

“Hey, Colonel Kim. Can’t we just kill that bastard? It’s so noisy we can’t do anything.”

Someone sitting in the front row playing a phone game shook their head. Colonel Kim stepped away from Maejo as if there was no other choice, and simultaneously, the soldiers standing guard like bodyguards swung their batons fiercely. With a few strong blows, Maejo fell to the floor, howling like an animal.

“…Did Maejo ever approach you, Brigadier General?”

“No.”

There were a few people who turned around snickering, wondering how the lower-class man who had claimed the title of Brigadier General Ki Tae-jeong’s wife would react. Unfortunately for them, such a miserable death didn’t evoke much emotion in Sehwa. He only felt a little sorry seeing Maejo, who wasn’t even treated as a human until the very end, as his own future overlapped with his… and he was also concerned about Maejo’s words about handing over the audio file to Ki Tae-jeong.

“I killed all the House servants back then… and I assigned people to the players. Not all of them, just some.”

“…”

“I thought it would look natural to others if they slowly destroyed each other by being suspicious, taking everything from each other, and gradually perishing together.”

“Why… did you do that?”

Sehwa couldn’t understand. Ki Tae-jeong could have easily dealt with them like the soldiers who were now swinging batons at Maejo. Why did he leave the players alone after killing so many people that the smell of bleach couldn’t mask the smell of blood? Wasn’t it thanks to that that Colonel Kim was able to pick up Maejo like this? It was unlike Ki Tae-jeong. Especially considering that it was before he had become so soft on him, it was even more incomprehensible.

“Why, you ask? If all the people related to your past suddenly disappeared…”

Ki Tae-jeong, who had been responding calmly, seemed to realize his own contradiction and stopped speaking, chuckling.

“…If they disappeared, more attention might be drawn to you.”

“…”

“Come to think of it, I think even back then, I unconsciously thought I didn’t want to see such a sight. Without knowing my own feelings, or yours.”

“…”

“Of course, there’s also the reason that I calculated that players like that wouldn’t be a significant variable.”

Sehwa shrank his neck like a turtle and covered his ears. Ki Tae-jeong’s voice, whispering close to him so others couldn’t hear, tickled various parts of his body. Places like around his heart, or in his bones… intimate places that couldn’t be touched or moved at will.

“Well then, let’s summarize just the facts without any side stories.”

A white-haired old man sitting in the front row stood up and waved his hand. Ki Tae-jeong whispered quietly that this was Colonel Kim’s uncle. It seemed like he was deliberately doing this every time he saw him stiffen up when he whispered in his ear.

“Since the usual behavior of the witnesses doesn’t seem to have much to do with what Lieutenant Kim did, let’s stop here, but…”

Colonel Kim’s uncle suddenly turned towards Sehwa. His bare eyes, briefly revealed as he adjusted his glasses, were brimming with ominous interest.

“Separately, I do have questions about that lower class person’s constitution.”

“Director Cha!”

“You know, General. This old man has always been very interested in this area. I’m not saying I’m going to take that lower… no, your adopted son away for experiments. However, we definitely need to examine that child Sehwa supposedly gave birth to recently.”

The person called Director Cha looked around leisurely.

“According to Brigadier General Ki Tae-jeong’s claim, Lieutenant Kim stole military documents to illegally make dangerous drugs, and the child that resulted from that is certain, right? Naturally, we should also control that product to prevent such incidents from happening again in the future.”

“Hmm… that’s true. After all, it’s a child born thanks to a formula made by the military. We should examine it.”

“How many months old did they say it was? Would drawing blood be enough?”

Sehwa clenched both fists tightly. They had returned to this topic again. Moreover, this time it was much more specific and persuasive than when Colonel Kim first brought it up. Director Cha’s argument wasn’t particularly wrong either. After all, Hae-rim was indeed a child born from the drug formula written in the confidential documents.

Sehwa swallowed hard. Probably in the various plans Ki Tae-jeong had initially made, there might have been using and discarding him, but not erasing his past and ensuring the safe birth of the child.

Judging by his recent actions, Sehwa felt certain that man would at least save him. But Hae-rim… He wasn’t sure. If he didn’t hand over the child here, it seemed like even the claims Ki Tae-jeong had made so far would be shaken… would he really sacrifice that much? It seemed like if he could win the case and ensure his safety, he would gladly give up one other thing, like the well-being of a child in an incubator.

“As the General Oh said, we are all equal under military law. More precisely, we should say we are all insignificant creatures under the Supreme Leader. Just as no special treatment is applied to Lieutenant Kim, the same should be true for Brigadier General Ki Tae-jeong’s child. Isn’t that fair treatment?”

Director Cha’s approach was different from Colonel Kim’s. Unlike Colonel Kim’s public opinion manipulation that made people want to consume it out of interest despite knowing it wasn’t logically sound, Director Cha’s rhetoric made one fall into the illusion that considering his argument seemed quite logical. Even though it was equally irrelevant to Lieutenant Kim’s criminal acts.

“…No, that’s not right.”

After chewing on his dry lips, Sehwa finally couldn’t hold back and blurted out a chunk of words. Though his voice was strained, it was loud enough for those sitting in front and behind to notice. As people around him started to turn towards Sehwa one by one, soon all eyes in the courtroom were focused on him.

“My child is… normal, no different from other children. That’s… the result of tests guaranteed by the best hospital in this country. So, if you need to confirm some kind of drug reaction…”

Ki Tae-jeong urgently pulled him from the side, causing one of his shoulders to droop. Still, Sehwa steadfastly continued speaking.

“Take me instead.”