Chapter 31
Baek Cheon-myeong had said that his master wanted to talk.
Ha Cheol-ryong couldn't hide his confusion.
Just what kind of person could someone like Baek Cheon-myeong call his master?
Just thinking about it made his spine turn cold.
Baek Cheon-myeong had already gone far beyond the limits of an ordinary human.
And someone like that called another person Master.
It almost caused Ha Cheol-ryong's mind to stop working.
All kinds of images appeared in his head.
Something to which the very concept of strength did not apply.
Just what kind of monster is it?
He couldn't even imagine what such a being might look like.
And now that person wanted to talk to him.
Cold sweat ran down his back.
"The conversation will happen through me. Master is already listening to everything we say."
"...Understood. I'll talk."
Ha Cheol-ryong had no right to refuse anyway.
Thud.
Once he agreed, Baek Cheon-myeong sat on the ground and lightly tilted his head.
Ha Cheol-ryong carefully sat across from him.
Baek Cheon-myeong's shadow stretched toward Ha Cheol-ryong.
There was something strangely chilling about that shadow.
"First."
Finally, Baek Cheon-myeong opened his mouth.
"Thank you for agreeing to this sudden conversation."
Ha Cheol-ryong suddenly raised his head.
Baek Cheon-myeong didn't seem like someone who would speak that politely.
But Baek Cheon-myeong merely looked at him with calm eyes.
It was almost as though he were showing that the words he was about to speak were not his own.
"There is only one reason I asked to speak with you."
Ha Cheol-ryong tensed, unsure what would come next.
"I want to give all of you a place to live that isn't on Earth."
"...What?"
Ha Cheol-ryong stared blankly.
He wondered if he had heard correctly.
"Exactly as I said. Your terrorist actions happened because this society refused to accept you."
"If that's the problem, then I'll provide you with a safe place where you can live away from this world."
"W, wait a moment."
The proposal was so absurd that Ha Cheol-ryong stopped him.
His mind wasn't working properly.
He needed time to organize his thoughts.
About a minute passed.
Ha Cheol-ryong finally asked through cold sweat.
"...Are you saying you'll provide a place to live for the people who targeted your subordinate?"
"Yes. In the end, what Returnees need most is safety."
"The place is separate from this world, but entering and leaving is possible, so you don't have to worry."
"No, that's not what I mean. I'm asking why you're showing us this much mercy."
The proposal itself made sense.
The biggest reason the Returnees acted this way was because they had nowhere they could live freely.
The higher-ups of Astra might think differently,
but Ha Cheol-ryong only wanted a place where Returnees could live without hiding.
They had suffered for far too long.
That was why he wanted to accept this proposal.
The problem was that he couldn't understand why such a favorable offer was being made.
"That's because..."
The next words confused Ha Cheol-ryong even more.
"We're all Koreans, aren't we?"
Ha Cheol-ryong opened his mouth blankly.
"Our country has a lot of problems, so people hate each other over many things."
The world had become colder than it used to be.
As society became harder to live in,
people became more cautious of one another,
and fewer people offered help.
Even so,
"At least when someone is in real danger, Koreans usually try to help."
"I don't dislike that part of our culture. I actually think it's a good thing."
A world that was nothing but coldness would be too difficult to live in.
Kang Ha-min thought of his childhood friend who had disappeared during a Dimensional Break.
He hoped for a world where,
just like now,
someone would reach out a hand to help another person.
And if he wanted the world to become like that,
someone had to start first.
Even though I had no choice but to look away in the past.
Kang Ha-min had power now.
He had money.
He even had a space where the Returnees could live.
Maybe helping them is actually just selfishness on my part.
In truth,
he might only be trying to settle the feelings that had remained buried inside him.
But even hypocrisy could become kindness to someone else.
"Mr. Ha Cheol-ryong, you and the other Returnees are still people from our country."
"Going somewhere else and coming back doesn't suddenly mean you're not Korean anymore."
Ha Cheol-ryong continued staring blankly.
Returnees.
How had the world treated them?
Mutants.
Monsters.
Test subjects.
They had suffered every kind of humiliation
and had been pushed away by society.
Even though they were only victims who had been caught in Dimensional Breaks.
The world had never seriously tried to look back at them.
"And didn't you help the other Returnees for the same reason?"
There was a reason the Returnees in the Korean branch followed Ha Cheol-ryong so strongly.
Part of it was because he was powerful.
But the biggest reason was that Ha Cheol-ryong genuinely cared about the other Returnees.
That was why he could tell even more clearly.
These words weren't lies.
If they were lies,
there would have been no reason to talk to him.
Baek Cheon-myeong could simply capture every Returnee by force.
He had more than enough power to do so.
"Ah, of course, it won't all be comfortable for you."
"The place has almost nothing in it, so you'll probably have to build houses and other things yourselves."
Kang Ha-min could take care of buying daily necessities.
But the Returnees would have to create their own living area.
When Ha Cheol-ryong heard that was the problem,
he almost laughed.
He had wondered what kind of terrible condition would be added.
Was that really all?
The offer was so favorable that it almost didn't feel real.
"Returnees are people who survived beyond Dimensional Breaks and returned alive."
"If a place can support life, we can survive there."
Ha Cheol-ryong spoke carefully.
"But..."
"...Could I inspect the place myself before bringing everyone else?"
"Of course."
The answer came so easily that Ha Cheol-ryong almost felt foolish for asking so carefully.
"But I also have one condition."
Kang Ha-min added another requirement.
"I want information about Astra. Even small details are fine."
That wasn't a problem for Ha Cheol-ryong.
