Lee Hwan-cheol's body was discovered the next morning at 8:17 a.m. by a passerby.
It was the same place where he had been talking with me. He read the menu and disappeared, and when he died, was he sent back to Earth?
"You really have nothing to do with this incident?"
I was facing the police. Normally, they would not question a suspect this politely, but perhaps because I was a sanitation worker, even if only an apprentice, they were fairly courteous.
"Think about it. It's true that I met and then parted ways with sanitation worker Lee Hwan-cheol, but that was before midnight yesterday."
Yet Lee Hwan-cheol's body was found today at 8:17 a.m., and the estimated time of death was around then as well.
"And wasn't Lee Hwan-cheol a Grade 7 sanitation worker? I'm just an apprentice."
Does it make any sense for an apprentice sanitation worker to kill a Grade 7? Besides, I was confident. After all, Lee Hwan-cheol had smashed all the CCTV cameras. There was no way for the police to find out what happened while he was with me.
"Moreover, the autopsy results have already been disclosed."
Glass, hydrochloric acid, and gasoline were found in his body. From the injuries, it was determined that he had swallowed them.
"Do you really think a sanitation worker would do something like that?"
To anyone, it was the textbook appearance of someone who had died after being caught in the aftermath of a contaminated zone. A bizarre, incomprehensible death.
"Haa… all right, for now."
The police couldn't think my words were wrong. They couldn't. It wasn't like this was the first time they had seen a case like this.
"Thank you for your time today, and we apologize for the inconvenience."
"No, it's fine. It was reasonable to suspect me. I understand. Thank you for your hard work."
The police couldn't keep suspecting me, and my questioning ended anticlimactically. It could be evaluated as a perfect assassination.
How did I feel?
It wasn't exactly pleasant. In the end, I had killed someone. But at the same time, I had no other choice.
What, was I supposed to endure having my fingernails and toenails pulled out? Even if I endured that, who knew what that bastard would do next.
"…"
More importantly, there was something else I needed to do in this situation.
Ah, Kim Sang-seon.
I contacted Woo Gil-young. I had only one purpose.
"I need to meet Director Oh-min."
"What? Why Director Oh-min all of a sudden?"
"I met a Grade 7 sanitation worker yesterday. He said he came at someone's request to correct my attitude. Do you know sanitation worker Lee Hwan-cheol?"
At my words, Woo Gil-young let out a low "Hmm…"
"Isn't that the guy who died today?"
"Yes. I don't know how things got twisted, but after correcting my attitude, he met with misfortune. But that's not the important part."
As I said that, I looked over the fingers with missing fingernails and continued.
"Sanitation worker Lee Hwan-cheol pulled out several of my fingernails."
"..."
Woo Gil-young didn't respond. He must have been quite flustered. Of course, the truly flustered person would be Director Oh-min when he faced me, whose attitude had not been corrected at all.
"Could you arrange a meeting? Otherwise, I might be so scared that I won't feel safe living in Korea anymore."
If they wanted to see me become a lackey of foreign agencies, I wouldn't stop them. I would just act.
"I'll arrange it."
"I have an appointment this evening, so I'd like to meet before that. I'll be at the sanitation worker training center closest to my place, so please tell him to come there."
With that, I ended the call with Woo Gil-young and headed to the training center.
"Impressive."
It was a massive building, constructed according to standardized specifications. That meant every training center had the same layout.
Inside, there was a cafeteria where sanitation workers could eat for free, and underground, there was a training hall with monstrous durability built using special methods. There were also private training rooms on each floor for individual practice.
Each training room was about 150 pyeong in size and looked almost like a fully equipped gym.
The dumbbells and barbells had dials instead of plates, allowing the weight to be adjusted by turning them.
"Fifty tons."
At maximum, the dial went up to 50 tons. There were many such private rooms, and the building supported that immense weight without issue. Just how sturdy was this place built?
"Shooting is shooting, but…"
Looking at the barbells and dumbbells, I wanted to check something else first.
How much weight could I lift? And how much could I handle freely?
I first set the weight to 10 tons and tried to lift it, but it was impossible. Then I gradually adjusted the weight to find what I could lift.
"Fifteen tons."
If I squeezed out every ounce of strength, I could somehow lift 15 tons. That was by no means light.
A large truck's payload was usually around 5 tons.
That meant the maximum weight I could put into and take out of my inventory was 15 tons.
Anything beyond that, even if I put it into my inventory, I couldn't take it out.
And for someone like me, who had to constantly take equipment in and out during combat, that number wasn't very meaningful.
"I'd lose my head a few times while pulling it out."
Would the opponent politely wait while I struggled? Of course not.
That wasn't what I needed to check.
"Weight that I can repeatedly and instantly pull out when needed, without burden."
I needed to find a weight I could handle as casually as pulling out a lighter from my pocket.
I turned the dial on a nearby dumbbell to adjust the weight.
Then I repeatedly put it into and took it out of my inventory, running various tests.
About 60 kilograms.
That was the weight I could repeatedly and effortlessly pull out with one hand in real combat. From 5 tons down to 60 kilograms, a drastic drop, but…
"It's actually incredible."
An 81 mm mortar weighs about 40 to 50 kilograms in total.
To me, a full mortar set was basically a lighter.
Determining the exact weight I could handle was a definite achievement. As I headed to the underground training hall to do shooting practice, my phone rang. It seemed Woo Gil-young had arrived with Director Oh-min. They were waiting at the training center cafeteria.
"How should I deal with this guy."
Thinking that, I headed to the cafeteria.
"Director Oh-min, and Dr. Woo Gil-young. I didn't expect to see you again so soon."
I greeted the two who were sitting and waiting.
"Have you eaten?"
Sanitation workers could eat here for free. They provided massive amounts of good food to meet their high caloric needs.
"I, uh… I'm fine."
As expected. I smiled at the subdued Director Oh-min, nodded, and looked at Woo Gil-young.
"I'm fine too."
He didn't look relaxed either. I gave a faint smile and spoke.
"Ah, my hands are like this, so it's a bit difficult for me to get food."
As I said that, I showed Director Oh-min my hand with missing fingernails. I had deliberately not treated it.
"Director Oh-min, could you bring it for me?"
Hey, two-star general, be my meal runner. I deliberately asked Director Oh-min instead of Woo Gil-young to thoroughly grind down his pride.
What are you going to do about it, in this situation?
"Shall I?"
Director Oh-min said that, then awkwardly smiled and stood up. While he was gone, I spoke to Woo Gil-young.
"There's no way Director Oh-min would arrange something like this on his own, right? He wouldn't commit something this reckless by himself."
I was probing him, implying that this came from higher up. Of course, I didn't directly mention any specific person or organization. I wasn't that stupid.
At my words, Woo Gil-young immediately shook his head.
"Director Oh-min already said it was entirely his own decision, a unilateral action."
"Well, of course he'd say that. I'd answer the same way."
Woo Gil-young exhaled and continued.
"This incident has already been reported to higher-ups. To be honest, Director Oh-min will likely be stripped of his position soon."
If that was certain, then his submissive attitude was understandable.
"Director Oh-min wants it to end there."
Ah. So it might not end with just losing his position. And whether it did or not depended entirely on me.
"He could end up on a deep-sea fishing vessel. To avoid punishment, he'll need your agreement."
In Korea, there was a unique punishment. Those who committed crimes above a certain threshold weren't sent to prison, but put on ships and sent to the Bering Sea to catch crabs.
More precisely, they were put on ships under the pretense of crab fishing, sent to the Bering Sea, and then ignored until their sentence ended. They weren't really expected to catch crabs.
These ships were operated remotely, and chips implanted in the prisoners' hearts would send a powerful electric current to fry their hearts if they moved too far from the ship before their sentence ended.
"No wonder Director Oh-min is acting like that."
I hadn't expected punishment to go that far. I had planned to test the waters today and, if the punishment seemed insufficient, push for something harsher.
But that wouldn't be necessary. Sending him off to catch crabs on a ship would be enough.
"Here, I brought your meal."
Director Oh-min set the food in front of me.
"Thank you."
I thanked him cheerfully. Then Woo Gil-young quietly looked at me and said,
"You have no intention of settling, do you."
I answered calmly.
"It's already overwhelming just taking care of the people who help me."
Trying to screw me over… no, maybe I could have let that slide.
Correction.
I have no intention of living my life while also considering the circumstances of someone who already tried to screw me over. A person's goodwill is surprisingly limited, and you have to choose carefully where to spend it.
"Y-you…!"
Naturally, Director Oh-min's face twisted as if he had bitten into dog shit.
I bowed slightly and said,
"One day, I might eat something that you caught, Director. I'll always be grateful when I eat crab."
The punishment Director Oh-min would face was more than satisfactory to me. There was no need to waste more time.
"Please take care."
So leave now. I need to eat and then do shooting practice. Director Oh-min tried to say something, then fell silent.
In his right mind, he couldn't hit me. At full strength, I could lift up to 15 tons.
If he attacked a sanitation worker, he could end up with broken limbs. Even if he tried to draw a gun, it would be snatched away before he could pull the trigger.
"Director Oh-min, it's time to go."
Woo Gil-young said that, supporting Director Oh-min, whose legs seemed to have gone weak, and led him out.