TRPM 258

chapter 258

The Mutant Team wasn’t trying to resolve things with force if they could help it, but because of that, the guy with the axe only grew bolder.

He was under the firm delusion that he had justice on his side.

How frustrating.

That’s what I thought as I watched.

It wasn’t that the Mutant Team’s response itself was frustrating.
They were doing the best they could, so I had no reason to be frustrated with them.

But if the Mutant Team had chosen to respond with force here…

Things would’ve gotten far more complicated.

This nuisance of a man, who clearly had some kind of backing, would no doubt sue, claiming the Mutant Team had attacked him without justification.

And since technically he hadn’t broken the law, if it went to trial, he’d likely win.

In other words, the Mutant Team was stuck — unable to do anything because of the law.

That was what frustrated me.

“Hasn’t that guy been carrying that huge axe around from the start?”

“If kids see that, they’ll be scared….”

“Even when the Mutant Team speaks up, he’s shameless… doesn’t he have any sense of shame?”

Naturally, the bystanders were on the Mutant Team’s side.

They had always patrolled the area regularly to keep the peace, so they were well respected. And anyone could see the one at fault here was the axe guy.

Not that this nuisance — clearly some kind of awakened-supremacist — cared what others thought.

Beep!
Bweeeet!

Just then, police officers blew their whistles and pushed their way through the crowd.

“What’s going on here?”

“Please step aside!”

The onlookers opened up a path, and the police were able to arrive at the scene quickly.

“Sigh… whatever this is, disperse. Otherwise, we’ll have to take you in.”

No one was hurt; it was just a shouting match.

Realizing that, one of the officers tried to end things with a simple dispersal order.

But—

“Disperse? Why should I leave when I’ve done nothing wrong?”

“?”

“?”

Even with the police stepping in, the nuisance stayed shameless.

“… This is a warning. If you don’t disperse, we’ll use force—”

“Oh, so in a democracy, the police oppress citizens now? Maybe I should record this and upload it online, huh?”

“……”

He even started threatening the police.

That’s when everyone finally realized—

This wasn’t some ordinary guy.

He was a real lunatic.

I knew it wasn’t the right thing to say, but….

“… Did his parents not raise him right?”

The words slipped out of my mouth.

“What?! Who the hell just said that?!”

He must’ve heard me.

Since I had no reason to hide, I stepped out from the crowd.

“Ah… Arti— no, Student Geon-woo?”

The Mutant Team recognized me right away.

They could call me “Artist” if they wanted, I didn’t care.

“So it’s you? You’re the one who said I wasn’t raised right?”

“And what if I am?”

“What if you are? Who do you think you are to speak to me informally…!”

Hmm. Looks like this guy had no idea I was the Artist.
Not surprising — even the soldier I met yesterday didn’t recognize me.

“… Does this guy not even watch TV?”

“Well, they don’t really broadcast much about Geon-woo anymore. He might not know.”

“Still… unbelievable….”

Of course, everyone else around here knew me.
I lived in this neighborhood, after all.

“Uh… Student Geon-woo? You’re not planning to use force, are you…?”

One of the officers cautiously asked.

He was worried that if I stepped in, the nuisance might not die, but he’d definitely be badly injured, and things would escalate.

“… I won’t.”

After a pause, I said I wouldn’t use force.

If I did, the ones most troubled would be the police trying to resolve the situation.

I had no intention of causing them trouble.

“First, cool your head a bit.”

I clapped my hands as I said that.
At the same time, I invoked Word Magic.

Clap!
“Calm (鎭靜).”

My Word Magic spread out with the sound of my clap, affecting the nuisance.

“Huh…? Wh-what…?”

The man, who just moments ago seemed consumed by rage, now blinked in confusion, as if unsure why he was acting that way.

Of course, I hadn’t erased his memory.

I’d only suppressed his anger.

I hadn’t tampered with his mind directly.

Not that I couldn’t, but…

Tampering with the mind was difficult, and since I wasn’t especially skilled in mental magic, I risked destroying it if I lost focus. So I hadn’t used that method.

Instead, I stimulated the secretion of serotonin.

Serotonin… to put it simply, it suppresses norepinephrine, the hormone responsible for negative emotions and stress responses.

So with more serotonin, anger fades, replaced by happiness.

Of course, too much serotonin causes problems of its own — but let’s leave that aside.

“You. How can you be so shameless, doing wrong and showing no remorse?”

“Remorse? Why should I feel remorse when I didn’t do anything wrong?”

… Even after calming down, he answered like that.

Others grimaced in disgust at him.

I sighed and changed my line of questioning.

If he had no awareness of his wrongdoing, there’d be no end to this.

“Which guild are you from?”

“Me? I’m with the Legionnes Guild… why do you ask?”

The faces around us immediately changed.

“Legionnes Guild…?”

“Tch… so that’s why he’s so brazen.”

“I thought their image had improved lately, but I guess it was all for show.”

Of course people would be angry and dismayed to hear this guy was part of Korea’s second-largest guild.

I was shocked too.

This guy’s from Legionnes?

Just yesterday, I met Legionnes’ guildmaster, Yoo Won-hoon, and thought he’d changed for the better.

I’d just started forming a good impression of the guild…

… No, I shouldn’t judge the whole guild by one man.

Legionnes wasn’t just big — it was enormous.

With so many members, it wasn’t impossible for crazies like this to slip in.

Even the smaller Ironblood Guild had spies infiltrating for my information.

“… Sigh. Just go. You’re tarnishing your whole guild’s reputation by yourself.”

“What? You punk, acting tough for your age—”

“I said, go.”

I let out just a hint of killing intent as I said that.

“Eek?!”

Startled, he stumbled back and bolted, all his bravado gone.

“Sigh….”

“… At least things didn’t escalate. Thank you, Student Geon-woo.”

“Does this happen often?”

I asked the Mutant Team in response.

After a moment’s hesitation, they nodded.

“This is the first time in this neighborhood, but in other places, awakened ones sometimes cause trouble for our Ironblood patrols or even the police, just because of their guild backing.”

“They don’t cross any clear lines, just enough to cause a nuisance. If we try to arrest them, they throw a fit and claim excessive force.”

One of the police officers added,

“Come to think of it, most of those guys are from Legionnes Guild.”

“……”

So, it seemed Legionnes Guild had quite a few awakened supremacists in their ranks.

With over ten thousand members, and supremacism spreading like a disease, it wasn’t surprising.

If even one supremacist was inside, the ideology could’ve spread quickly.

Especially since guilds often relied on non-awakened people to handle chores so awakeneds could operate freely, it was easy for members to develop the mindset that non-awakened people existed to serve them.

“Maybe those troublemakers… are awakened supremacists?”

Someone voiced the suspicion.

But another quickly refuted it.

“No way. Who’d still believe in something as backward as awakened supremacy in this day and age?”

Supremacy was an outdated ideology.

One of the Mutants said so.

… True enough.

The idea that awakeneds should be superior had existed since the appearance of the Black Fog and the first awakeneds.

It resurfaced periodically, but its end was always the same — destruction.

Non-awakeneds naturally hated supremacists, and even among awakeneds, the majority never supported them….

So isolated supremacists were inevitably crushed.

Any student could learn that much in history class.

“But the way that guy acted… it was just like an awakened supremacist, wasn’t it?”

“Well… yeah, but still….”

“And the world’s a big place. It wouldn’t be surprising if some idiot still clung to such an outdated belief.”

The whole thing left a bitter taste, but the nuisance — suspected supremacist — had fled.

With him gone, the commotion died down, and the police, Mutant Team, and spectators dispersed.

I too left, walking off to clear my head.

And I thought about the supremacists.

It’s impossible to completely wipe them out….

Though their end was always ruin, eliminating them all was close to impossible.

Even openly active ones like the nuisance earlier couldn’t all be arrested.

Since the ideology itself wasn’t illegal, punishing them was tricky.

Not that there were no methods at all.

Supremacists were often socially shunned.

Not every supremacist, but many treated non-awakeneds as less than human. That earned them universal hatred.

So once exposed, even close friends — even family — would turn on them.

Though supremacists usually didn’t care about such scorn.

The bigger problem is…

They likely found belonging among each other within Legionnes Guild.

Individually, supremacists were just nuisances.
But in groups, they always caused trouble.

That was why I worried they might be plotting something much bigger.