Chapter 13

Medical Student Im Seong-bin (3)

“Name, affiliation, and everything you did in the restroom on the third floor of the Bupyeong Daewoo City shopping center, from beginning to end, in detail. Recite it all. Don't leave a single thing out.”

I thrust the smartphone camera toward Im Seong-bin's face as he lay sprawled on the ground in the dark alley.

His face was covered in blood pouring from his broken nose and mouth. Breathing heavily, he glared fiercely into the lens.

“Y-you know filming this won't do any good. A confession recorded under duress can't be used as evidence in court anyway.”

“Did that wonderful father of yours teach you that?”

“That's just common knowledge······. Wait a minute. You're planning to kill me. So you're planning to make some kind of snuff film.”

He swung his hand and struck the hand holding my smartphone.

Of course, my hand holding the smartphone didn't budge an inch.

“Fuck off!! You're planning to kill me anyway, so why the fuck would I dig my own grave with my own words? If I'm going to die anyway, then I'll just······ AAAAAAGH!!!”

Before he could even finish speaking,

—CRACK.

I grabbed the index finger of his right hand, the one he'd used to strike mine, and bent it backward.

The joint gave way with a sickening crack. I looked down indifferently at the bastard rolling around like an animal, banging his head against the ground, and spoke.

“So. What exactly can you do?”

My hand moved toward his next finger, his middle finger.

“Nine fingers left. Ten toes. All the joints you have left besides your broken knee. Are you going to talk? Or are you going to keep screaming until you die?”

“P-please, spare me. I swear I'll repent and pay for all my crimes. I'll go to prison, so please!!”

Overwhelmed by the pain, he pleaded through his tears.

“Fine, I understand. Now recite it.”

“My name is Im Seong-bin. I'm a second-year medical student at Yeonseo University······.”

His trembling voice filled the alley. He confessed how he had strangled Kim Minju to death in a fit of anger because she had insulted him.

“······So I carefully wiped off the blood, went home, and went to sleep.”

“So you're saying you had nothing to do with framing Kim Jin-hwan? Or pouring bleach over Minju's body?”

“I swear I really don't know anything about that. All I did was confirm she was dead, get terrified, and call my dad.”

I stopped recording.

Then I opened the accounts linked to his smartphone. KBC Broadcasting Station's tip-off email address, the crime and incident departments of major news portals, and YouTube channels. I sent the video I'd just recorded to all of them simultaneously.

—Transmission complete.

After confirming the message on the screen, I threw the smartphone onto the ground.

Hearing the notification that the messages had been sent, Im Seong-bin's eyes darted around rapidly. Even through the excruciating pain, he was desperately searching for a way to survive.

“Y-you sent it, right? You just sent that to the media, didn't you?”

“······.”

“Fine, my life is over now. I'll get expelled and end up in prison. You've achieved your goal. But······ you can't kill me here.”

A truly desperate argument.

“If they find me dead like this, that video will be nothing more than a confession extracted through threats for a snuff film. It'll look like I only confessed because I couldn't endure the torture. My father's no ordinary man. Public opinion? He'll turn it around completely. And that delivery bastard will just keep rotting in prison.”

It was a fairly convincing argument.

Gasping from the pain, he continued desperately trying to persuade me.

“So keep me alive. Just dump me at a police station like this. I'll turn myself in and testify to everything in court. Everything I said in the video is true. I'll even reveal how my father destroyed the evidence and make sure justice is served. That's what you want, isn't it? Saving an innocent man and making the world a more just place.”

“You'd even sell out your own father to survive? That's quite rational.”

“Exactly!! Bringing down a high-ranking police officer would be far more valuable to you than killing some college student!!”

“But you've seriously misunderstood something.”

—CRUNCH.

“AAAAAAAGH!!!”

“I don't give a damn about serving justice.”

“Th-then what the hell do you want!!”

“I'm simply angry. Why do people commit crimes and then escape punishment? Why do they grant forgiveness on their own when the victims haven't forgiven them? Who the fuck decided what the law should be, anyway? How can they arbitrarily claim that someone has paid for their crimes when 'I,' the victim, can't accept it at all?”

“Th-that's······.”

I grabbed Im Seong-bin by the collar and forcibly hauled him upright.

That was when I noticed a tattoo on the left side of his chest through the gaps between the torn buttons of his shirt.

“ORGAN DONOR? An organ donor?”

“Y-yeah. I really have repented. I wanted to help the world even at the moment of my death······.”

“Good. Let's give it a try. I'll help you.”

“N-no.”

I tightened my grip around his neck slightly.

A heavy pressure precisely compressed both carotid arteries.

“Ghk, ghuugh······!”

In an instant, the flow of blood to his brain was completely cut off. His eyes bulged grotesquely as his face turned bluish. He struggled desperately to pry my arm away, but his fingernails couldn't penetrate even a single millimeter of my skin, which possessed transcendent durability.

“Exactly four minutes without blood flowing to the brain. Considering how long it'll take the paramedics, who should be tracking your phone's location by now, to arrive, that's just about right. Your heart will still beat, and you'll still breathe, but you won't be able to think. Just a piece of meat. The perfect condition for becoming the light and salt you always wanted to be.”

Im Seong-bin's violently thrashing body gradually began to convulse.

And finally, it went completely limp.

[Incomplete Judgment has been completed. Karma will be partially calculated.]

[Weight of the sins punished (Murder): Base value 500 Karma]

[Physical Restraint (Permanent brain damage and vegetative state) Ratio (50%) applied: 250 Karma]

[Resonance of Sin Bonus (x1.1) applied ➔ 275 Karma]

[Final Calculation: 275 Karma acquired]

A perfect state of brain death, guaranteed by the system.

I released my grip on his neck.

The chest of the body lying on the ground rose and fell faintly.

A hollow shell that was still breathing but whose consciousness would never return.

In the distance, the faint sound of sirens approached through the night air.

“Now then, let's see. Will your father donate those precious organs to others as you wished? Or will he put you on an autopsy table to secure evidence?”

_____________

The VIP funeral room at the National Police Hospital.

A heavy scent of incense hung in the reception room. Inside a private chamber where outsiders were strictly prohibited from entering, a cold silence prevailed.

“Chief Im.”

The voice of the head of the National Investigation Headquarters of the Korean National Police Agency was low and heavy. Seated deep in a sofa, he looked toward Im Gi-man, the chief of Bucheon Police Station, who sat before him with his head bowed, dressed in mourning clothes.

“You understand that things have gone completely to shit, don't you?”

“······I have no excuse.”

“Of course you don't. Ha······. Here I am, talking like this in front of a father who's lost his son. What the hell am I even doing? This is driving me insane.”

“I'm sorry.”

“So what's your plan? Have you thought of anything?”

Im Gi-man slowly raised his head.

The grief and anger of a father who had lost his child. And at the same time, deep concern over how to navigate the situation.

He opened his mouth.

“Director, that video is a fabricated work of fiction produced through torture.”

“Fiction?”

“Seong-bin's body has already been examined by the National Forensic Service. That bastard broke my son's nose and teeth and shattered his shin. As if that wasn't enough, he even broke his fingers. Anyone can see those are unmistakable signs of torture.”

A cold venom filled Im Gi-man's voice.

“Director, do you really believe this was done to expose crimes committed by me and my son?”

“······.”

“This is the dirty work of some gangster or ex-convict with a personal grudge against me. A member of a police officer's family has been killed. If you give in to this, you'll be surrendering to a criminal's challenge against our police force. Please establish a nationwide Special Investigation Headquarters. I'll personally tear that bastard limb from limb and show everyone what happens to moths foolish enough to fly into the flames when they challenge our organization.”

The director silently fiddled with his teacup.

“······Fine. As you say, this is a direct challenge to state authority. Our police force cannot allow itself to be swayed by nonsense coerced out of someone by a mere criminal.”

“Thank you.”

“The special investigation headquarters will be formed immediately. But you won't be commanding it.”

“Director!!”

“Im Gi-man, you fool!! You're directly involved in this case. Does it make any sense for you to lead the investigation? You know Gu Dae-cheol, right? I'm putting him in charge. You just focus on your role as the chief mourner.”

The director's eyes gleamed sharply.

“And I'm only asking this as a precaution, but there's absolutely no chance that video could be telling the truth, is there?”

“Director!!”

“Fine. But if any physical evidence surfaces proving that the video's contents are true······. Then, Gi-man, you won't be the only one losing your job. It won't stop at my level either. If that happens, there's no telling what will happen to you. You understand what I'm saying, don't you?”

“I'll keep that firmly in mind.”

“Good. Go take care of things. We'll make absolutely certain that your nephew, the promising medical student, is avenged.”

The brief meeting ended, and the director left the private chamber.

Dozens of reporters had already gathered in the first-floor lobby of the funeral hall. With a stern expression, the director stood before the press line alongside the police agency's spokesperson. The fact that the head of the National Investigation Headquarters, the second-highest official in the police organization, was personally delivering the briefing made the police's attitude toward this case unmistakably clear.

Dozens of camera flashes erupted simultaneously.

“I stand before you today with an extremely heavy heart.”

The director's voice, amplified through the microphone, was low and resolute.

“The late Im Seong-bin was a student who had devoted himself solely to his studies throughout his school years without ever straying from the proper path. Even after entering university, he remained an upright and diligent young man who quietly spent his weekends volunteering in impoverished hillside neighborhoods, driven by nothing more than a desire to help the sick. He was an extraordinarily admirable and conscientious member of our society who dreamed of becoming an excellent doctor, someone who could be the light and salt of the world. Mr. Im had even registered as an organ donor in accordance with his personal convictions. Yet even his noble wish to save the lives of others was ultimately thwarted by the harsh necessity of an autopsy to establish the truth. This atrocious crime mercilessly trampled even the beautiful final wish of a young man.”

His voice gradually grew louder as he continued.

“The statements made in the video currently circulating online are by no means the truth. According to the National Forensic Service's autopsy findings, Im Seong-bin's leg was shattered and his fingers were broken. He was nothing more than a helpless victim who, in the midst of extreme terror and pain, had no choice but to utter the lies demanded by an unidentified murderer.”

The barrage of camera flashes intensified.

“This incident is not merely a murder. It is a grave provocation and an act of terrorism directed against the public authority of the Republic of Korea. Effective today, the police will immediately establish a nationwide Special Investigation Headquarters under the National Investigation Headquarters, and we will ensure that this vicious murderer is brought before the judgment of the law.”

Anger, mourning, and the firm resolve of a man defending judicial authority.

It was the kind of statement that would leave anyone who watched it convinced that Im Seong-bin truly was the victim.

Of course, not everyone believed his words.

“Two years ago, the key pieces of evidence the police used to frame Kim Jin-hwan as the true culprit were the GPS records from his motorcycle, which remained on the building's first floor, and fingerprints found on a bleach container recovered from a nearby trash can.”

On the television screen, a man dressed in a black suit stood before numerous microphones and spoke in a firm voice. He was the court-appointed attorney representing Kim Jin-hwan.

“However, the investigation at the time contained enormous gaps that defied common sense. There was the police's suspicious explanation that lightning had conveniently disabled the shopping center's CCTV system at the exact time of the crime. And then there was the utterly absurd sequence of events they alleged: a delivery worker supposedly committed an impulsive murder, meticulously destroyed evidence at the scene using bleach, then walked through the rain to dispose of the bleach container in a nearby trash can several minutes away, only to return to the shopping center, get back on his motorcycle, and resume making deliveries.”

The attorney's piercing gaze looked directly through the camera.

“I will not attempt to determine whether the statements made by the late Im Seong-bin in the video are true or false. However, the murder case against Kim Jin-hwan was pursued aggressively based on an account riddled with inconsistencies. Our law office has continued investigating this case, and based on the evidence we have gathered, we intend to petition the court for a retrial.”

The screen switched back to the news anchor in the studio.

[The police have characterized this incident as an act of terrorism against state authority and established a Special Investigation Headquarters, emphasizing the devastating autopsy findings that even forced them to abandon the deceased's long-held wish to donate his organs. However, with Kim Jin-hwan's representatives unexpectedly announcing their intention to seek a retrial, controversy surrounding the police's alleged coercive interrogations and fabricated investigation has also begun spreading uncontrollably. Is this the tragedy of a noble medical student, or the exposure of an ugly truth? With the two sides' claims sharply conflicting, public suspicion is unlikely to subside anytime soon······.]

Click.

I pressed the remote control and turned off the television.

The living room fell dark as the light from the screen vanished.

“So in the end, you really were a bastard who couldn't contribute even the slightest thing to the world.”

A dry, mocking laugh faded into the dark living room.

And at that very moment.

[The Scales of Karma have corrected their balance.]

[You have cleared a virtuous person's false accusation and delivered the rightful retribution befitting him.]

[Karma will now be calculated.]

From the empty space before my eyes, brilliant golden text, slightly different from what appeared when I punished evildoers, rose across my vision.

[You have acquired a First Limit Breakthrough Rune Fragment.]

[Current Holdings: 2/3]

It was the moment my hypothesis was proven correct.

© Myoyeop#12ipk

Author's Note

Thank you!!