Chapter 4
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4. Delusional Disorder
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“Huff… huff….”
Jae-hak let go of the rope. He had pulled so desperately that his palms were raw and red.
Thud. The woman’s corpse slumped to the side. Jae-hak gripped his mother’s hospital bed and pulled himself up, trembling. One knee clicked, and blood kept welling up in his nose….
“You… you….”
He snapped his head up to see the man huddled against the wall, staring at him as if he had seen a demon.
“…….”
Jae-hak scanned his surroundings. The pistol that had skittered away during the struggle lay about five paces off. He took a step to retrieve it. And then, he collapsed.
“Huff….”
His limbs shook, and chills racked his body. His regeneration must have hit its limit; his wounds refused to heal. He was ravenously hungry, and his consciousness felt like it was fraying at the edges.
Come to think of it, something could not come from nothing. If regeneration meant cell division, it was impossible for wounds to heal indefinitely without the nutrients to create new cells….
The man looked back and forth between the collapsed Jae-hak and the pistol lying before him. Could he grab it first? Rationally, yes. Jae-hak was practically a corpse already.
‘Damn it….’
But… the man simply could not, could not find the courage to go near that madman.
After a moment of hesitation, the man struck a match with trembling hands and threw it.
Whoosh.
The room, filled with vaporized gasoline, erupted in flames before the match even touched the floor. Hot air, as if searing his lungs, rushed over him like an explosion.
The man glanced at Jae-hak, who was still lying on the ground, with anxious eyes. Then, he limped out of the house in a hurry.
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It felt like he had fallen into hell, Jae-hak thought. The world was a sea of fire, and his body was as close to a corpse as it could get.
“Mom.”
Jae-hak muttered in a hoarse voice. Dry tears flowed.
“Seong-min….”
It was ridiculous.
Since his father died and his mother collapsed, Jae-hak had never once believed in God. He thought there was no logic more disgusting than the claim that everything happened for a reason.
But in this moment, Jae-hak was praying.
If he were spared just once, he would do anything. He would do anything to… hunt those bastards down and kill them.
At that moment, the curtain, now engulfed in flames, collapsed, and bright sunlight shone through the gap. Jae-hak turned his head to the side to avoid the blinding light.
That was when the corpse of the woman lying next to him caught his eye, like a revelation.
And Jae-hak knew what he had to do.
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Bang!
The man, walking quickly away from the alley, turned back in surprise. The door had been ripped off its hinges and lay in the street.
And that thing had come out.
He could recognize him even from a distance. It wasn't hard. His entire body, especially his face, was drenched in blood. Whatever he had done, it looked like his body was regenerating again….
Bang!
In an instant, a gunshot rang out with a flash of light. Damn it, the man hunched his neck and fled toward the main road at the highest speed his body would allow….
Jae-hak walked with a brisk pace, spitting out a tooth that was rattling in his mouth. He aimed the pistol again. Aaaah! People who had finally grasped the situation began to scream. A siren—whether it was a fire alarm or the police who had arrived in the meantime, he didn't know—wailed.
Either way, Jae-hak didn't care.
Bang!
Argh! The man collapsed, clutching his leg with a single scream.
Jae-hak approached the man. It didn't take long to catch up. The man, who had been crawling desperately even while downed, looked up at Jae-hak, who had reached him, with eyes full of terror.
“…….”
Jae-hak aimed the pistol at the man at his feet. At that moment, someone shouted from behind.
“Officer Seong!”
“Drop the gun!”
Jae-hak turned to see two police cars and officers taking cover behind open car doors, aiming their weapons at him.
Detectives from the Nowon-gu Police Station. They were his colleagues.
“Hands up! Drop the gun and put your hands up!”
“Officer Seong! It’s not too late! Drop the gun!”
The sharp wail of the siren. The voices buzzing in his ears and… the sound of his own heart beating dryly.
Thump, thump, thump, thump.
Jae-hak turned his head. And he pulled the trigger.
Bang! A stream of blood erupted from the man’s chest.
“Damn it….”
“Fire!”
Rat-tat-tat!
The officers’ muzzles erupted in unison. Jae-hak felt the hot bullets shredding his body. And before he could even collapse to the ground, he lost consciousness.
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“…Meanwhile, a murder case that occurred in a residential area in Nowon-gu, Seoul, this morning is shocking many. Reporter Oh Seong-wook is on the scene….”
Click.
“What you are seeing is the studio apartment where the crime took place. Officer Seong of the Nowon-gu Police Station, exhausted from long-term nursing care, murdered his ailing mother with a pistol, then pulled the trigger on a fellow officer who tried to stop him….”
Click.
“Officer Seong even displayed the behavior of a monster, brutally murdering a newlywed couple from the neighborhood who came to investigate the noise. He strangled the wife to death in the room, and chased the husband who had barely managed to escape for over 20 meters before shooting him again, showing a vicious….”
Click.
“What is particularly shocking is that there are traces of cannibalism on the corpse of the neighbor woman whom the perpetrator, Officer Seong, strangled to death. ….”
Click.
“Meanwhile, Mr. Seong, who was an unregistered Awakened, is reported to have regained consciousness three hours later despite suffering four gunshot wounds during his arrest. Consequently, voices are being raised to point out the authorities’ insufficient supervision of the Awakened….”
Beep.
“A clean sweep of all three terrestrial networks. A clean sweep. Impressive, isn't it?”
The detective who turned off the TV threw the remote onto the interrogation room table and sneered.
“Who was it back in the day? Yoo Young-something. I never thought I’d see something like this again. Maybe they’ll even make a movie about it later.”
“…….”
Jae-hak did not answer. Five layers of special handcuffs were locked on his wrists, and his ankles were fixed to the floor with shackles. He was completely restrained, tied to the interrogation chair.
His eyelids felt gritty. His whole body ached, and his mouth was dry. It felt as if his mind was wearing away after hours of interrogation….
“Let’s say the mother was one thing… but why did you tear into the corpse of that poor woman? Why did you kill Officer Kim Seong-min? Weren't you two partners?”
“……I told you. Those people aren't ordinary people. I didn't… kill my mother or Seong-min.”
“Oh, boy.”
The detective, with a look that said ‘here we go again,’ picked up Jae-hak’s statement and began to read it.
“Right, so… you’re saying that newlywed couple were actually assassins from somewhere who were trying to steal a gemstone you possessed? And that you suddenly Awakened and ended up killing them all, is that the story, now?”
“……Yes.”
The detective shook his head. The psychiatrist sitting next to him wrote ‘Delusional Disorder’ in the file he was holding.
“Officer Seong. No, Mr. Seong Jae-hak.”
The detective leaned forward and said.
“Do you think that makes any sense?”
“…….”
“There’s CCTV and witnesses for you suddenly running away during traffic duty! There are records and witnesses for you taking your mother from the hospital! And there are only your fingerprints on the gun!”
Jae-hak bit his lip. Something hot surged up in his chest, then slowly, very slowly, subsided. It was blatant. The coercion, as if they had decided he was the culprit from the start. The evidence that suspiciously never appeared.
“Mr. Jae-hak. Do you not grasp the current situation?”
The detective lowered his voice.
“Murder. Parricide. Arson. Desecration of a corpse, and even failing to report your Awakening… at this rate, this is the death penalty. Not life imprisonment, but the death penalty! You know our country is executing the death penalty again, right? Huh?”
“……Please call my lawyer.”
“Mr. Seong Jae-hak. Don't be like that, let’s do this. Huh? One way or another, you’re in big trouble, so just put your stamp here. Then I’ll write that you were very cooperative during the investigation and are deeply remorseful for your crimes.”
Jae-hak stared down at the paper the detective held out. It was a confession admitting to the crime.
“Then it will probably be reduced to life imprisonment. Do you want to die? That’s not it, is it?”
“Please… call my lawyer.”
Bang! The detective glared at Jae-hak for a moment, slammed the desk, and walked out of the interrogation room.
Left alone, the psychiatrist looked at the closed door with a slightly flustered expression. When he made eye contact with Jae-hak, he slowly looked away.
Ah, Jae-hak realized. In the eyes of others, Jae-hak was a psycho killer who had eaten a corpse….
“You should leave, too.”
Jae-hak said calmly.
“I won’t say anything until my lawyer arrives.”
At those words, the psychiatrist, looking rather relieved, gathered his documents and followed the detective out of the interrogation room.
Click.
As the door closed, silence fell. Jae-hak took a deep breath and let it out. When he closed his exhausted eyes, a swamp-like sleep soon followed.
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Time passed relentlessly. Jae-hak had to endure five more interrogations. He was allowed a cold shower every two days, and meals were just enough to barely stave off hunger.
With no TV or exercise allowed, he stared blankly at the wall during the day and had nightmares at night. They were mostly dreams featuring his mother and Seong-min. He was told his mother’s remains had already been recovered and cremated. The detective had sneered that he couldn't even hold a funeral for the person killed by her own son. After that, Jae-hak couldn't swallow a meal for two days.
During that time, three lawyers visited Jae-hak. One was a public defender, and the other two were lawyers from small-to-medium firms trying to gain some notoriety.
They all advised Jae-hak to admit to all the charges and avoid the death penalty. Considering the situation, it might have been a rational judgment.
And Jae-hak sent all three of them away.
A few days later, Jae-hak’s case was transferred to a higher investigative agency. They said it was because Jae-hak was an Awakened. Accordingly, Jae-hak’s custody was also to be moved to a detention facility exclusively for the Awakened, far from the metropolitan area.
“Prisoner 103.”
As the haggard Jae-hak blankly raised his head, a guard was standing outside the iron bars.
“We’re moving.”
Jae-hak turned around and held out his hands, a posture that had now become familiar. *Click, click, click...* The sound of five layers of special handcuffs being locked into place followed. The guard placed a black hat and a mask on Jae-hak.
As he stepped out of the detention center, a piercing sunlight surged toward him. The vast sky and the air he hadn't seen in days. And...
"...at this very moment, the suspect, Mr. Seong, has appeared! It is known that Mr. Seong is being transferred to a detention facility today, and..."
*Pop, pop, pop!* Camera flashes exploded from all directions. For a moment, Jae-hak felt as if he had been struck by something, his mind reeling. He had never known that light could be so violent.
"Mr. Seong Jae-hak! Please, say something!"
"Is it true that you are denying the charges?"
"Mr. Seong Jae-hak! Why did you eat the body of the newlywed wife? Was there some sort of sexual implication..."
"Mr. Seong Jae-hak!"
Jae-hak lifted his head. The densely packed crowd. The flashing lights. The buzzing noise ringing in his ears.
But before Jae-hak could even open his mouth, a stone flew from somewhere and struck him in the head.
*Thwack!*
A spray of blood painted the air. Jae-hak staggered, reeling. For a moment, the reporters went quiet, only to erupt into even more frantic shouting.
"Hurry! Get him out of here!"
The guards began to shout back. Two police officers pushed through the crowd, grabbed Jae-hak from both sides, and shoved him into a police car. With the sound of a siren that threatened to tear his eardrums apart, the police car pushed through the clinging reporters and sped away from the detention center.
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After driving for a long time, the police car stopped at a train station in the suburbs. It was a makeshift military train station built after the Gates had opened, so there wasn't a single civilian in sight.
*Clack.* The police officer opened the door. Jae-hak blinked. The wound from the stone had already healed, but the blood that had already flowed remained. The dried blood along his temple and near his eye felt unpleasantly sticky...
"Get out."
A massive train was pulling into the station. It didn't look like a passenger train; it appeared to be a special transport train consisting mostly of cargo cars.
And unexpectedly, it seemed Jae-hak wasn't the only one being transported on this train.
Four prisoners wearing blue transport uniforms were standing in a line at the station, waiting. They stood there in handcuffs, and as Jae-hak walked past, they glanced at him with unpleasant glares.
*They must have seen the news,* Jae-hak thought.
As Jae-hak took his place at the very end of the line of prisoners, the police officers went through a procedure of verifying each other's affiliations and ranks before they began pushing the prisoners into the train.
Jae-hak looked up at the blue sky one last time before boarding the transport train. He had no idea what was about to happen inside.
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