WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: DereKimchi
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Abandoned Tank is a Disaster-class Awakener ◈
Chapter 53
──────
Korean Awakeners Association Conference Room.
“The time for reentry into the Abyss has not changed. However, we are having difficulty assembling a Raid Party.”
Park Gang-sik flipped through the list of candidates.
After part of Busan had been swallowed by the Abyss, the Association had sent in five Raid Parties.
Every attempt had failed.
Park Jun-hyeok had been the sole survivor of the first raid, and no one who entered afterward had come back out.
“What about healing-types?”
“We have selected seventeen, including those from regional branches.”
“Then why can't we assemble a team?”
The person in charge hesitated briefly.
“No one has expressed an intention to participate.”
The sound of papers turning stopped.
“Not one?”
“Yes. Some say they need to discuss it with their families, but it would effectively be a refusal.”
Park Gang-sik set down the list.
“So they don't want to do it.”
“Many believe survival cannot be guaranteed with our current forces. They say we must first determine why the previous raids failed...”
The staff member watched his expression.
Park Jun-hyeok was the only one to return from the first Raid Party.
Only he could have secured footage from inside the Abyss.
“I told you. There was no recovered footage.”
Park Gang-sik turned another page.
The staff member could not ask further.
“They come running to the Association when they want equipment, and they benefit from the Association when they use healing facilities. But when they're actually needed, they're going to hide behind their families?”
“Mr. Chairman. The danger level is exceptionally high this time, so forcing them would be...”
Smack!
Park Gang-sik pressed his palm against the list.
“Who said anything about dragging them in by force? I'm saying we should let them choose.”
The conference room fell silent.
“Separate out those who refuse to participate. Exclude them all from equipment rentals, healing support, and Raid Party recommendations.”
One executive cautiously spoke up.
“Cutting off support simply because they refused could become a problem.”
“Then prioritize those who show a willingness to cooperate.”
Park Gang-sik spoke coldly.
“Contact the guild leaders too. Ask them whether they intend to keep people who won't cooperate during a national crisis.”
The hands holding pens did not move.
Park Gang-sik swept his gaze over the attendees.
“Citizens are dying in there, and they want to step back because their own lives are precious? Do they still expect to be treated like Awakeners?”
The staff member swallowed dryly.
“Make this very clear to them.”
His voice dropped.
“If they don't want to do it, we'll make sure they can never work as Awakeners again.”
No one answered.
“Tell them to participate unless they want to spend the rest of their lives as Awakeners who turned their backs on the public, unable to receive Association support.”
He turned to the head of public relations.
“Organize the selection criteria and support details. The public should know how much support we have provided.”
“Do you mean we should reveal the names of those who refused as well?”
Instead of answering, Park Gang-sik picked up the next document.
“Have the participant list on my desk by evening.”
“Yes, sir.”
“And have them sign the paperwork as voluntary participants.”
He opened a report.
“So they can't say otherwise later.”
As the meeting proceeded under Park Gang-sik's direction.
“Mr. Chairman!”
An employee rushed in urgently.
“Th-The White House is holding a briefing right now.”
“Why is the White House relevant? Can't you see we're in an important meeting?”
“It's... Kang Seong-un has named you as the one behind the assassination contract.”
“...”
Park Gang-sik's hand stopped.
The employee held out a tablet.
“He released a video as well.”
A White House briefing played on the screen.
Kang Seong-un.
And the video Relic he had activated.
「Should we leave them a possibility of returning?」
「No.」
Crunch.
His grip tightened around the tablet's edge.
But that was not the end of it.
After the video ended, Han Jeong-woo appeared. He had reportedly taken sick leave.
Approval forms for removing Relics from storage.
A revised Raid Party selection list.
Documents bearing Park Gang-sik's signature appeared one after another.
「The approver was Association Chairman Park Gang-sik. I handled the working-level approval.」
Park Gang-sik put down the tablet.
“...”
Everyone in the conference room looked at him.
“Ha!”
He let out a hollow laugh.
“What's with those expressions?”
No one answered.
“You all know Kang Seong-un has a grudge against me. It seems he's dragged Han Jeong-woo into this now as well.”
An executive spoke cautiously.
“The American side says they have already finished verifying the evidence.”
“If America says so, does that make it all true?”
His voice rose.
Park Gang-sik immediately picked up the documents.
“A video can be altered however anyone wants. If you take materials out of context, what can't you make them say?”
He pushed the tablet aside.
A map of Busan beneath it was revealed.
“There are people trapped in Busan right now.”
The executives lowered their gazes.
“If we sit here doing nothing, who will save them?”
Park Gang-sik unfolded the candidate list.
“Continue the meeting.”
The reports resumed shortly afterward.
As usual, he asked questions. He checked the equipment inventory and offered his opinion on the Raid Party's composition.
Once the meeting had regained its normal pace, he rose from his seat.
“I'll be back in a moment.”
His steps remained steady outside the room.
He walked down the hall, returning employees' greetings.
He passed the restroom and entered the emergency stairwell.
Click.
The moment the door shut, he took out his phone.
The first number he dialed was the leader of the opposition party.
Ring, ring.
Normally, he would not have needed to wait long.
That person had always contacted him first, whether they were discussing the Association's budget or resolving Tower problems in their constituency.
Ring, ring.
But this time, there was no answer.
Park Gang-sik dialed another number.
The chairman of a major corporation with whom he had pursued an equipment supply contract.
A former minister.
A legislator who had looked after the Association's budget.
Not one of the people in his network, those who had served as his shields, answered.
『This is urgent. Please contact me immediately.』
There was no reply to his messages either.
Creak.
A door opened at the bottom of the stairs.
Park Gang-sik lowered his phone.
An employee spotted him and bowed.
“Good afternoon.”
“Yes.”
Once the employee was gone, he looked at the screen again.
There was still no contact.
That alone was enough to tell him the gravity of the current crisis.
Park Gang-sik loosened his tie.
At that moment, his phone vibrated.
He hurriedly checked the screen.
It was not a call.
『America demands that Park Gang-sik be taken into custody and extradited.』
Park Gang-sik dismissed the notification.
A moment later, he dialed his son's number.
“Jun-hyeok.”
「I saw the news. Father, what should we...」
“Don't speak. Listen.”
He checked the upper stairwell.
“Prepare as I taught you before.”
The line went quiet.
「Now?」
“Yes.”
Crunch.
He gripped the phone hard enough to crush it.
“Now.”
* * *
「Breaking news. Park Gang-sik, chairman of the Korean Awakeners Association, has held an emergency press conference and completely denied the American announcement.」
The screen changed.
Park Gang-sik stood before dozens of microphones.
「The released video has been manipulated.」
Click! Click!
「We will respond firmly to this attempt to damage the honor of both myself and the Korean Awakeners Association.」
Questions poured in from reporters.
「Are you saying the approval forms for removing Relics were forged as well?」
「Will you comply with America's extradition request?」
「Have you ever met with anyone affiliated with La Mortaja in Mexico?」
Park Gang-sik adjusted his grip on the microphone.
「We must first confirm how these materials were obtained and whether they are authentic. I will cooperate fully with the investigation to prove my innocence.」
「Please answer whether you met them!」
「My legal representative will provide further details.」
He bowed his head.
The bodyguards stepped forward.
「Mr. Chairman!」
「We have more questions!」
Park Gang-sik did not look back.
* * *
Click!
The final lock on the Association's underground vault was released.
Before the open vault, Park Jun-hyeok was putting boxes into a black bag.
As a box touched the bag's opening, it warped slightly and disappeared.
The Infinite Bag.
It was a spatial Relic with more than enough room to carry away assets that had been siphoned off over a long period.
“Is that everything?”
“Yes. This is the last one.”
Gold bars and jewels.
High-grade Relics and consumables.
Even documents granting access to overseas assets.
Park Jun-hyeok pushed in the last box.
Park Gang-sik took out two passports and thin masks from an inner drawer.
The faces in the passports looked nothing like either of them, but they soon would.
【Mask of Deception】
A Relic that changed one's face and build.
The passport photos had been taken while wearing the masks.
“Use it as soon as you arrive.”
“Yes.”
Park Jun-hyeok received his share.
The press conference from moments earlier played on a phone sitting on the desk.
「I will cooperate fully with the investigation to prove my innocence.」
Park Gang-sik stopped the playback.
He turned off the phone as well.
He had no intention of submitting to an investigation.
All he had needed was time to pack.
“Carry the bag.”
Park Jun-hyeok slung its strap over his shoulder.
Park Gang-sik took a scroll engraved with a silver pattern from his pocket.
* * *
Screech!
A black vehicle stopped before the Association's main gate, and team members in protective gear climbed out.
The Special Awakener Crimes Task Force.
The team leader presented an ID and a warrant.
“This is an arrest warrant for Association Chairman Park Gang-sik. Confirm his current location.”
The security chief's face stiffened.
He immediately opened the entry gate.
“He went underground after the press conference. His vehicle is still in the parking garage.”
“Any records of him leaving the building?”
“Nothing has been confirmed.”
The team leader turned around.
“Secure the entrances and the parking garage. Have the security office preserve the footage and verify the target's movements.”
The team members dispersed.
The security chief took out an access card.
“I'll lead you there.”
As they waited for the elevator, the team leader asked, “Have you contacted the chairman?”
“Not yet.”
“Don't. No internal announcement either.”
“Understood.”
The security chief lowered his radio.
“Normally, we were instructed not to contact him whenever he entered the underground storage area. We also don't know what he does inside...”
“Just tell us where he is now.”
The elevator doors opened.
* * *
At the end of the underground corridor, the security chief placed the access card against the reader.
Beep!
A red light came on.
He tried the card again, but the result was the same.
“Why won't it open?”
“The regular storage rooms open. Only the chairman and designated administrators can access this inner section.”
“The administrator?”
The security chief urgently dialed a number.
It did not connect.
The team leader did not wait.
“Force it open.”
Two team members stepped before the door.
Blue patterns spread over the steel surface.
Boom!
Dust poured from the walls after the first impact.
“It's reinforced with Relics.”
“Keep going.”
The team leader pressed a communicator.
“What about the spatial movement blockade?”
「The vehicle equipment cannot cover part of the underground area. We are sending down a relay device.」
“Hurry!”
The plans obtained before deployment had identified it only as a regular storage room.
They showed neither a separately reinforced area nor a blind spot in the blocking equipment's coverage.
They tried to activate the Association's own barrier, but only the chairman's exclusive account remained on the control terminal.
Their initial judgment that the vehicle equipment could block the entire building had been wrong.
Boom!
The doorframe bent after the second impact.
A radio message came in.
「We have confirmed the targets' movements. They went underground together. There is no interior footage of the area in question.」
“How many minutes ago?”
「The chairman entered twelve minutes ago. His son entered before that.」
The team leader looked at the door.
“One more time.”
Boom!
The steel door folded inward.
The team members entered through the gap.
“Secure the left!”
“Nothing unusual on the right!”
The vault stood open.
The shelves were empty, and drawers had been pulled out.
“Over here!”
A forensic team member knelt on the floor.
A faint light flowed from torn pieces of a scroll.
When equipment was brought close, its readings dropped rapidly.
“The residual mana is strong. They left not long ago.”
Then the radio sounded.
「The blockade range is secured. Activating it now.」
The team leader looked down at the floor.
The silver glow remaining on the scroll faded.
“...Too late.”
One team member held up the phone from the desk.
“It is powered off.”
Park Gang-sik had publicly said he would cooperate with the investigation.
While they coordinated an attendance schedule and considered the need for an arrest, he had completed his final preparations.
「Report the situation at the scene.」
“Two targets fled using a Teleportation Scroll. We are confirming the destination.”
The other end of the radio went silent.
The team leader immediately gave orders.
“Collect every fragment of the scroll. Identify the person who submitted the facility plans and the administrator of this area. Secure the security office's access logs as well.”
The team members moved.
The empty vault was photographed, and markers were attached to the remaining Relics.
Association employees began bringing the requested records.
No one waited for the chairman's approval anymore.
* * *
Park Gang-sik opened his eyes.
Fzzzt.
The silver light around the transport sigil beneath his feet faded.
Emergency lights and cool air.
It was the underground arrival room he remembered.
He looked to the side.
Park Jun-hyeok and the bag were unharmed.
Only then did his shoulders relax.
“...We're here.”
Park Jun-hyeok smiled.
“Let's go up.”
When they opened the door at the top of the stairs, warm air rushed in.
Splash.
The sea stretched beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows.
An isolated island in the Pacific.
It was land Park Gang-sik had purchased under borrowed names long ago.
A place prepared for the possibility that he would be pushed from his position as Association chairman or that his hidden dealings would be exposed.
He had built a grand mansion in the island's center and gradually moved in the things he needed.
Relics siphoned from the Association's storage.
Power generation facilities and water purifiers recorded as discarded.
There was even a food warehouse underground protected by a preservation barrier.
There was enough food left to last two people a hundred years.
That was not all.
A treatment room, training ground, swimming pool, and private dock.
It had everything needed to live without outside help.
The Association had always claimed its budget was insufficient.
It said the same to Raid Parties waiting for equipment and regional branches requesting support.
The money it saved that way, and the items that disappeared, had filled this island.
It was a kingdom for Park Gang-sik and his son alone.
Park Jun-hyeok drew a deep breath.
“This is much better than Korea.”
He looked out the window.
“Let's not watch the news for a while either. What else is there going to be besides people cursing us?”
Park Gang-sik nodded at those words.
They had taken everything worth taking.
Now they only needed to enjoy a rest using the things they had accumulated through all their hard work.
The Abyss in Busan and the Association's Raid Parties?
Those were for others to deal with now.
The people who had abandoned him could take responsibility.
“Change your clothes first.”
“Yes.”
Park Gang-sik stopped as he was about to pass through the living room.
There was a teacup on the table.
A thin stream of steam rose from it.
His gaze slowly moved.
A sofa facing the sea.
An arm rested over its back.
“Father...?”
Park Gang-sik did not answer.
He slipped a hand into his sleeve.
His fingertips touched an emergency scroll.
Then the man sitting on the sofa turned his head.
The man in black armor, carrying a massive greatsword over his shoulder.
“You're late.”
He wore a relaxed smile, as though greeting a friend late for an appointment.
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