Chapter 8: Guilty (8)

“Stay alert, everyone.”

A woman who was much younger than her rank badge on her chest was warning the others.

“You’re going too far.

There are some who have just come from the scene.”

Being a police officer in Stella City was not something you could do with a clear mind.

The fact that she had come from the scene had a big meaning compared to her casual tone.

The gangs in Stella City would just brush off a shootout or two as if nothing had happened.

The police were no different.

Most of the fights were between gangs, but the line between gangs and citizens in this city was infinitely ambiguous.

Even if a business was protected by a gang, if there was no apparent criminal history, they had to be protected.

Even if that wasn’t the case, there were many cases where gangs harassed good citizens.

In the end, getting into a gunfight was like the police’s destiny.

“The Hansan bloodline prince is coming, so what can we do?

But he’s coming to give us new weapons, so keep your mouths shut.”

“If those bastards just get out, this place would be a little more peaceful.”

“…There’s nothing we can do about it.

It’s not that all your thoughts are wrong, but even if one Hansan disappears, nothing will change.

Maybe, it could get worse.”

The companies were the ones who prevented the police from gaining the trust of the citizens, but it was the fault of the ‘company as a whole!’

If Hansan, who somehow occupied the position of the leader of this city, were to disappear, the order that Hansan was maintaining would collapse.

And the result would be another war and destruction.

“The VIP has arrived!”

“Damn, without warning.

Let’s go!”

The police officers who ran out to wait for him outside the door stopped walking when they saw his eyes.

“Oh, are you busy?”

A clean suit that didn’t match his frivolous speech, a confident gait, and arrogant eyes.

The person more important than anyone in this city was standing in front of the police commissioner.

He suddenly entered the police station and looked at her entire body as if licking it.

Although he was handsome as expected of a man from Hansan, the police commissioner couldn’t help but shudder when he saw those eyes.

However, he couldn’t show it.

Even if he suddenly started a fight, or did something worse, he had to endure it somehow.

“Hoh…”

His sticky gaze was fixed on the police commissioner as if he knew him.

She looked away without realizing it.

It was forbidden to bring weapons into the police station, but he walked in, waving his rifle nonchalantly.

“No.

He was ill-prepared…”

The police chief smiled with difficulty.

It was foolish to confront him.

“He just came in without thinking, so don’t worry about it.

It was a prototype, but this time, Hansan officially gave us this weapon.”

It was Hansan’s frequent support for weapons.

Compared to the top-of-the-line weapons and implants used by their private soldiers, it was infinitely inadequate, but for now, the police had to be grateful for this.

If it weren’t for the support of the company, they might have had to use guns from tens, or maybe even hundreds of years ago.

It might be different for companies related to gangs, but the gangs didn’t pay proper taxes.

The companies were a little better, but they tried to avoid taxes by mentioning all sorts of clauses in their own way.

Supporting the gangs with the money they earned was a bonus.

Since the police couldn’t have a comparable number of people to the gangs, they had to have at least a little better equipment.

Even if that wasn’t the case, they had to avoid having poor quality equipment.

In the end, they had no choice but to rely on the company’s goodwill.

In order to receive a little better equipment, they had to bow their heads, even if it meant forcing themselves.

“It’s a rapid-fire item.

Well, I don’t know much about things like the impulse of a bullet or the weight of a bullet.”

Without warning, he handed the gun in his hand to the police chief.

She moved her hand hurriedly and politely accepted the gun.

“I’m just grateful.”

“My goodness, our weapons development lab is really into three-round bursts…

I got this because they were all being scrapped as useless.”

It was a difference in doctrine.

A large corporation like Hansan wouldn’t spend a lot of money on something as primitive as a rifle.

When close combat broke out, it was more efficient to use cold weapons like cybernetic katanas.

When suppressive fire was needed, beam weapons were usually utilized.

The 5.56 bullet was the most common and frequently used weapon.

If it is a situation where you have to prepare for war, then of course you have to modify your body accordingly.

Even if you increase the destructive power of lead bullets by adding a burst function, you will not be able to resist enemies like tanks that have completed body modification.

Naturally, Hansan Group, which creates doctrines tailored to corporate warfare, cannot help but neglect such functions.

“It is sufficient.”

However, the police chief was able to smile for the first time since hearing that he was coming.

That was simply inefficient in light of the corporate war doctrine of ‘if there is an enemy that uses bullets, deploy soldiers who have completed body modification.’

There were almost no gang members who had not received body modification at all, but there were not many monsters that could be ignored while laughing at bullets.

There were many times when you had to fight in close quarters with the enemy, and there were also times when you had to suppress enemies with somewhat subtle firepower.

No, you were grateful just for having a rifle.

You could use the money you would have spent on supplying guns elsewhere.

“Anyway, it will be fine.

100 of them will be delivered tomorrow, and they will continue to be given to you according to the number of people.”

The police chief smiled at the gift, but a similar level of anxiety grew along with it.

“By the way, these days… I have something I want to say about our Stella City police.

Can I?”

[Of course, I’m fine with it.]

That was the problem.

The only philanthropist who would give something to the police was the owner of a donut shop that sold hard, if not dry, donuts.

If there was this much support, he would get something in return.

He would accept anything.

As long as it wasn’t like the other company’s suggestion last time, sending a female police officer dressed as a hostess to an unhealthy party was fine.

Hansan was one of the more respectable people, so at best, it would be an order to stop a few investigations.

It was something that should never have been done, considering the honor and trust of the police, but it was better than the police being killed right away.

The police chief knew that such petty power-based crimes create new criminals who make a living.

However, he had no choice right now.

“This time, I almost died on the streets of Stella City?”

“What do you mean?”

The police chief’s face turned pale.

If there really was an assassination threat targeting him, it wasn’t something he could just laugh it off like this.

He probably wouldn’t die, but if he did, it would be a bigger problem.

The Hansan Group, whose eyes were turned upside down, would turn Stella City into a battlefield.

Hansan’s children were not only their members and subjects, but also, above all, precious and valuable resources.

There was probably no organization in the world that would want to fight Hansan in anger.

It wasn’t even a country, it was too much of a force for a mere city to fight against.

And that wasn’t all.

He was an incompetent man.

He didn’t do anything properly, and he just left the annoying tasks to his subordinates and went around playing around.

He sometimes showed his son-like side, saying that even if he rotted, he would still be a good person, but basically, what he wanted was to maintain the status quo.

Naturally, the people of Hansan Group also had no choice but to lose their venom.

If they had risked conflict and tried to rule this city, it would have happened that way.

However, they didn’t.

The leader, Hansanwoo, was a man who was greedy but not ambitious, and his subordinates didn’t easily take responsibility either.

The next person would be different.

Hansanwoo was an unusually incompetent man within the family.

He would be more aggressive and greedy, trying to suck up the people of Stella City.

“Oh, when and who did that…”

“It wasn’t aimed at me.

Last time, General Techina’s aerial vehicle exploded, right?”

“That… I remember.”

It was an incident where the people of General Machina rushed like dogs to find the culprit.

The investigation was not over yet.

However, there were limits.

It was an incident where a person was shot with an anti-tank missile that no one knew who bought.

There were CCTVs installed in every alley, but the police had no authority to look into them.

They had to ask permission from each store and each company.

No matter how much pressure there was from the companies, the police did not have enough manpower to go that far to find a single person.

Furthermore, there was a more important issue than all of those things combined.

“That aerial vehicle went over my head at that time.

It felt… really bad.

The smoke was so bad that it was getting into my nose.”

“…I’m sorry.”

The police chief wanted to snap at him, asking what he wanted, but the words just mumbled in his mouth and did not come out.

He was a dirty person by nature.

He could have made a slip of the tongue and been hurt.

Furthermore, his words that it wasn’t that simple weren’t necessarily wrong.

“If I was lucky, that criminal had sprained his hand and my car was hit by that anti-tank gun.

What would have happened?”

“I have nothing to say.

But…”

The biggest reason they couldn’t start a proper investigation was, without a doubt, Hansan’s pressure.

It wasn’t just the death of an ordinary person, it was the disappearance of corporate assets.

It wasn’t something they could just ignore.

However, as soon as they learned that the other party was General Techina, the police naturally assumed that Hansan was involved.

Several Hansan executives who had close ties to the police also didn’t seem to want the police to invest much time in the case.

“Are you really going to investigate this case?”

“Not just this case, but investigate every incident that happened in that area.”

It was the Macheonpa’s area.

The police chief’s mind became complicated.

‘Do you know nothing about the relationship between Hansan and Macheonpa?’

They might be trying to throw the gang out of business, or they might be fighting with other forces within Hansan.

There were many variables, but it was an opportunity to enter the territory of the Macheonpa, which was a semi-sanctuary.

“Then…”

If he had thought of that, it would explain why he didn’t come to the Stella City Police Department for an official event.

Since it was a statement that could be harmful to Hansan, he would want to bring it up in a relatively private setting.

No, it didn’t matter if he just pecked the police because he was upset without knowing anything.

No matter how much he was despised, he was Hansanwoo of the Hansan family after all.

The employees of the Hansan Group wouldn’t be able to easily respond to an order he gave directly.

“Understood.”

At that moment, his hand went up to her shoulder.

He casually patted the police commissioner’s back.

“Yes, it would be nice if you listened to me like this.

Keep doing this in the future.”

The anticipation and hope that had been lingering in her eyes disappeared in an instant.

As expected, he was a fool.

“Then, I said everything I had to say.

I’m going?”

After poking the police commissioner’s forehead with his finger, he immediately turned around and left the police department.

“What kind of kid is that…”

“Fine.

This isn’t the first or second time I’ve experienced this kind of shit.

Anyway, did you hear what I said?

Try untying all those cases you’ve been tying up.”

But that couldn’t break her will.

The police chief, having endured the humiliation, returned to her post and got back to work.