Death Sentence

Only two days remained until vacation.

There were no more exams to take, and no real classes left—just a period of idleness.

Most students only showed up for attendance requirements, but in reality, it was fine not to come at all.

So, I was able to leave early and head home to start my vacation.

“Son… you’re home?”

“You’re back pretty early. I heard there are still about two days left until vacation.”

My parents welcomed me back.

But, despite their smiles, they both looked uneasy.

It was only natural. The house I returned to was a wreck.

Dishes were broken, and the refrigerator looked as if someone had smashed it with a hammer.

Tables and chairs were shattered as well, and even the TV and computer were all destroyed in the same way.

Even my room and my sister’s room—down to the doors—had been ripped off.

“What happened to the house?”

“Well…”

“…”

Luckily, the living room sofa was intact except for a few rips.

My parents sat on it with reluctant expressions.

Seeing them try so hard not to show their despair, after the house had been wrecked like this, looked admirable.

“It doesn’t look like you two had a marital fight…”

“…”

Honestly, a fight between a couple couldn’t cause this kind of destruction.

Especially since both my parents were ordinary people, not awakened ones.

It was clear some punk had broken in.

“The truth is… we don’t really know.”

“What?”

“When we got home today, it was already like this.”

Of course, they hadn’t just sat there and done nothing after seeing the state of the house.

As soon as they checked the damage, they ran to the security office and checked the CCTV.

But there was no footage of anyone entering our home.

There wasn’t even any trace of someone having been there.

“What about the police?”

“They’re investigating, of course.”

“But there’s not a single piece of evidence left…”

Even now, several police cars were out front.

When I came in, they blocked my way, so I had to prove I belonged to this house to get through.

“Oh? Oppa!”

Yunhee appeared at the entrance and, upon seeing me, her expression immediately began to well up with tears.

Then she ran up and hugged me.

“Our house… what do we do…!”

“…”

She was always the sibling who thought of me as an enemy, not as oppa.

But now, Yunhee was clinging to me, on the verge of tears.

She was still only an elementary school kid, which showed just how traumatizing this had been for her.

The more I looked at her, the more I sighed in frustration.

“Dad. Do you have any idea who could’ve done this?”

“You think people like that are only a few for your dad?”

“…”

Dad was silent.

He’s been working as a prosecutor even before I reincarnated to Earth.

So it’s no surprise there are a lot of people he’s put in jail.

“Someone did this to a prosecutor’s household—this should obviously be made public, right?”

“…”

My father fell silent at my question.

We live in an age where even domestic abuse gets in the news. An incident like this should be an even bigger issue.

All the more so considering my father’s social standing.

“Actually, there is one thing I do suspect.”

“What is it?”

“Well… I feel bad for always depending on you, son…”

“It’s fine, just tell me.”

In this world, the man who gave birth to me is Ma Jun-sang.

He should be protecting his family as a father, but now it felt like the roles were reversed.

Even though it bothered me, dad was about to speak up.

“Wait.”

There was something I had to do before listening.

I examined the sofa my parents were sitting on in detail.

Once I confirmed what I needed, I couldn’t help but burst into laughter.

“Did those cops really examine the house properly?”

“What do you mean…?”

My parents looked puzzled, but I tore the sofa cover open.

I can imagine how strange I must have seemed, tearing away the already-tattered surface.

But the moment I revealed what was hidden inside the sofa, my parents’ eyes widened.

“Th-th-that’s…!”

“Shh!”

Dad knew exactly what that small, black device was.

It was a wiretap—a type the police often use.

“You said the police already searched here, right?”

“Yes…”

“Isn’t that suspicious?”

Still, thanks to this, it seemed possible to track where the real culprits were hiding.

No, before that—

*Click—*

First, there was the matter of dealing with the “police” aiming their guns at my family’s heads out of nowhere.

They already seemed odd for Korean police officers.

****

A deserted construction site in the darkening mountain foothills.

Countless young men, armed like gangsters, prowled around the area.

Some had tails, while others had arms made of stone—they were Mutamit.

They looked like thugs you’d see at clubs, and for days, they’d made this place their base of operations.

It was perfect for shady business, as the location couldn’t even be found on a map.

No tracker could locate them.

“Hey, how’s it going? Can you hear anything?”

Inside the site, one thug spoke up.

They were all listening closely to the device installed in the floor.

“At least the bug seems to be working, right?”

“But why can’t we hear anything?”

“You don’t think those cops gave us defective goods, do you?”

They acted like they had no respect for the law at all, yet they had teamed up with the police.

The bug in the floor was provided by those cops.

“What exactly are we hoping to get from this?”

“Obviously it’s better than nothing! Did you forget why we ended up in lock-up?”

“Yeah! It was because of that damned prosecutor!”

Prosecutor Ma Jun-sang. He once handled juvenile crime.

He spent endless days busy with the surging cases.

He’d stood in court against these very kids countless times.

But he’d built his reputation on his thorough work—Ma Jun-sang always presented irrefutable evidence.

Thanks to his efforts, those wicked juveniles all ended up in prison.

And years later… they got released.

“If it hadn’t been for that prosecutor, we wouldn’t have suffered in prison!”

“Just thinking about it makes me wanna smash everything in sight!”

“If we’d caught his daughter, we would’ve kidnapped her, but no one was home.”

As soon as they got out, they immediately hit Ma Jun-sang’s house.

Because they were all awakened, they didn’t need hammers or weapons to destroy thick objects.

At the same time, they stole anything valuable from inside.

“Hey guys! I brought some food!”

A couple of hefty thugs came in carrying boxes.

One had beer and soju, the others contained pizza, chicken, and other food.

They’d bought it all with stolen goods.

“Is it okay to buy this much?”

“Of course! It’s not even our money.”

“I mean, can we finish it all?”

“If there’s any left, just toss it.”

They used stolen money without a second thought, acting as if they’d earned it themselves.

This was the same behavior they showed as students, bullying classmates.

That’s what got them sent to court, but they never understood why.

“But hey, do you think those cops were telling the truth?”

“Huh?”

“They said if this all goes well, we’ll get into the Sura guild.”

The Sura guild, China’s largest guild.

Their influence extended all over Asia, and of course, they had strongholds in Korea.

Their membership numbered at least tens of thousands.

To put that in perspective, the Hwasan guild—one of Korea’s four biggest—had 2,000.

That showed just how powerful China was.

And, being the number one guild, every member was a seasoned veteran.

“If we can get in there, that’s a huge win!”

“But would they really take the likes of us?”

“They have to. I heard they suffered massive losses in a past conflict.”

There had been an all-out, unpublicized war with the Hwasan guild.

Their losses there cost them about 2,000 members.

With such unexpected casualties, they were short-handed and needed to fill the numbers quickly.

“Then why not recruit more Chinese? Why us?”

“Maybe they’re desperate and recruiting anyone? Even our police contacts seemed to think so.”

“And the fact that we got out early is…”

They were supposed to be locked up for much longer.

Yet, somehow, they’d been released, and soon after, several police cars came to them.

The police said, “You should thank the Sura guild. If you do as you’re told, you’ll get in.”

“Looks like the Sura guild is up to all kinds of things in Korea.”

“They’re weird—why abandon their own country for Korea?”

“Maybe they got swept up in the K-wave? They’re actually living it out here.”

“Idiot. Don’t talk nonsense.”

The real reason the Sura guild was so active in Korea—

Their symbol, Sura, was attending Hand in Korea.

The thugs, who knew nothing, could only speculate.

“Anyway, once we make it big, that prosecutor’s finished…”

Bzzzzzzzt—

At that moment, a sound came from the bugging device.

A few of them set their beers down and leaned in.

This was the relentless prosecutor who’d locked them up. Who knew what tricks he’d pull to catch them?

Is̑́͋̅͆ the̊̿̑̽͞re—?-

“What the…?”

“Yeah, what is that?”

It was a weird noise—something between a human voice and an animal cry.

Yo👁️👁️👁️👁️👁️’re…-

It gradually changed, turning into a sound that resembled wailing.

Feeling uncomfortable, they backed away from the device.

And then—

*Pop—*

The head of the nearest thug exploded.

“Huh…?”

A human head burst like a balloon, spreading whatever was inside all over the others’ faces.

Faced with this unexpected event, terror began to dawn on their expressions.

“Wh-what is that!!”

“F-f***!!”

They were terrified, but it was too soon to be scared.

Mother’s in the shade of the isle….-

“What’s going on now?”

No, when her son… goes to middle school… and lives in a dorm….-

Suddenly, a song began to play from inside the wiretap.

It was a lullaby sung in that same strange, grotesque voice.

The family’s left alone… watching the house…-

At the same time, a cold wind began to chill the air.

Those who had been showing off moments before started to tremble instinctively.

With an idol’s lullaby…—

*Thud—*

“Eek!”

Suddenly, something dropped from the ceiling.

One of the thugs approached to check what it was.

“Ugh… barf!!”

The moment he saw it was a dismembered corpse, he retched.

And it wasn’t just one—multiple bodies started raining down.

Pieces of bodies, dripping with blood from a ceiling turned black, left some of the thugs wetting themselves.

Pillowing an arm, drifting off…-

“These people…!!”

Some of the bodies had familiar faces.

And their clothing, too, looked all too recognizable.

They were the very police officers who’d offered to get them into the Sura guild.

Drifting… off… to sleep…

―

Suddenly, the lullaby cut off.

The atmosphere became steeped in a freezing silence.

Perhaps it was just an awakened one playing tricks on them?

But for someone’s head to explode—that was far beyond a mere prank.

Choi Younghoon.-

“Wha—?!”

The voice that had been singing suddenly called out someone’s name.

The break in silence startled everyone, but no one more than Choi Younghoon himself.

“Choi Younghoon. Age 21. In first year of high school, caught forcing classmates to eat vomit and rat corpses.”

“What…?”

“Lee Junsu. Age 22. In third year of high school, drove a motorcycle and hit a classmate, resulting in death.”

“How the hell…!”

“Lee Dohyun. Age 23. During his third year of middle school, collected money from classmates to throw alcohol parties. Broke a witness student’s leg.”

“Shit…!”

“Kim Seokhyeon. Age 25. In second year of high school, formed a runaway gang and led a car theft operation. Destroyed a chasing police car with a magic power bullet.”

All incidents were painfully familiar to them.

They were things they’d all done.

“None of these students have shown any remorse to this day.”

Instead of feeling remorse, they all resented the prosecutor who convicted them.

It was a ridiculous situation—guilty parties getting angry.

“Therefore, death sentence.”

“Wh-who decided that we get the death sentence?!”

“Who the hell made that law!!”

They tried to protest in trembling voices, but their faces turned pale and their mouths snapped shut.

A giant shadow started to form on the floor.

From the darkness spreading throughout the space, crimson eyes glimmered.

And then, opening its massive mouth wide, it said:

“I did.”

The moment the mouth opened, everyone standing there was swallowed whole.

It all happened in an instant, and silence returned to the space.

The only trace anyone had ever been there were the beer cans and boxes of food scattered across the floor.

————-= Clacky’s Corner ————-=

Corporal punishment!

【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】

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