March Novel (Completed) - Chapter 122

“Speaking of which, this friend here just told me something quite interesting. It’s truly embarrassing to bring this up in front of Brigadier General Gi Taejeong, but…”

Lieutenant Colonel Kim gestured, and a soldier waiting in the corner opened a tablet.

“This is a recording of a conversation Mr. Lee Sehwa and this friend had in Sector 4 a while ago.”

Lieutenant Colonel Kim shrugged, implying that everyone would understand what he meant once they heard it. Sehwa involuntarily leaned towards him. A voice file? He wasn’t usually someone who talked on the phone with Maejo, nor did they socialize intimately. So how could such a trace remain?

• I knew you were thoughtless, but I didn’t know you were the kind of guy who’d reveal such things. Damn it, if you’re just going to choose people based on money anyway, don’t say you want to live a normal life.
• Isn’t it obvious? This person who gave me the card is young, handsome, and rich.

Surprisingly, the voices belonged to Sehwa and Maejo. Listening to it, Sehwa vaguely remembered when it was. It was probably on his way back after buying ice cream with the card he received from Gi Taejeong.

Anyway, in the playback file, Sehwa was depicted as someone who, blinded by greed, had switched allegiances to Gi Taejeong, while Maejo was portrayed as someone whose long-held pure affection had been betrayed. Of course, the background and context of such a conversation were completely cut, but anyone listening to just that recording would think so.

“Just listening to this, isn’t it enough to understand Mr. Lee Sehwa’s true intentions? You say you don’t even have a body that can naturally conceive with men, so why did you so actively choose to seduce only male officers? Didn’t you have some hidden agenda? It’s also ridiculous to simply view someone with a history of improper conduct as an innocent victim.”

Curious and sneering glances poured in. Indeed, his appearance… a lower-class person, what can you do… Such vulgar remarks lingered ominously in the courtroom.

Gi Taejeong and Captain Oh Seonran’s faces hardened momentarily, but Sehwa himself was unfazed. He was only surprised that Maejo had appeared in the courtroom and had been preparing various things out of resentment for being rejected, but that was all. He wasn’t angry or tearful from hearing insults. Wasn’t this much more polite than what Lieutenant Park had warned him about?

However… he definitely wanted to address the child issue. He wasn’t here to prove his innocence to strangers. He just wanted to end everything cleanly and live quietly with Haerim.

But could he lose his child to these people for such an absurd reason? He knew they were saying it on purpose to provoke his anxiety, but even at that slight possibility, his stomach churned uncontrollably.

“Nonsense.”

Gi Taejeong responded calmly, as if to soothe Sehwa, but with content that was anything but refined.

The ensuing debate flowed in the predicted direction. Gi Taejeong did not respond emotionally to the baseless personal attacks. He focused on highlighting issues that would be of direct interest to the audience, such as the extent of asset damage caused by the complete burning of the Sector 2 warehouse, as he knew they wouldn’t listen even if he explained the facts. Captain Oh Seonran also added remarks slyly, wearing a mask whose true intentions were unknown.

“Captain, I fully understand your desire to protect your adopted son, Mr. Lee Sehwa. However…”

“Oh, what a dangerous thing to say. Just because he’s my adopted son doesn’t mean I’ll automatically take his side. Didn’t Lieutenant Colonel Kim also put his own son on trial for wrongdoing?”

“Excuse me? Ha ha… If I may be so bold, Captain, there’s a huge error in what you just said.”

“An error? It’s a simple proposition. Regardless of rank, wealth, or family history, we are all equal under military law. That’s all there is to it.”

“That’s… certainly true, but…”

“Whether it’s the Captain’s adopted son or the Lieutenant Colonel’s biological son, if they violated military law, they must be judged. The difference is that Lieutenant Kim Seok-cheol is a clear lawbreaker, and my adopted son is involved in rumors whose truth is unknown, isn’t it?”

“How can you declare him a lawbreaker when no verdict has been reached yet!”

At Lieutenant Colonel Kim’s protest, Captain Oh Seonran apologized heartily and said, “Yes. He’s merely suspected of setting the entire Sector 2 ablaze and stealing classified documents to manufacture illegal drugs.”

Lieutenant Colonel Kim gritted his teeth. After stirring up rumors about Lee Sehwa’s many flaws, he had intended to attack Oh Seonran’s suspicious actions in adopting him, but Oh Seonran, being cunning, had preempted him, rendering that card unusable. He had underestimated Oh Seonran, thinking him easy because he had been out of the loop for so long, but a Captain was still a Captain.

“That’s right. What do these additional stories matter now? The problem is that Lieutenant Kim Seok-cheol arbitrarily disrupted military order and completely ruined Sector 2.”

Gi Taejeong, who had been observing the short squabble between the two, also subtly added his words. The old men who had been suspicious that the lower-class person from Sector 4 might be hiding something immediately forgot everything when the asset issue was brought up. Even those who hadn’t actually suffered damage subtly tried to get involved, claiming they had invested in Sector 2.

“Now, once Lieutenant Na presents the materials he’s gathered, it’ll pretty much be over.”

His head felt like it was bursting with thoughts of the child, no matter what others chatted about, but Gi Taejeong gently wrapped his hand around Sehwa’s, as if to comfort his complex feelings. The large hand swept over his fingers, then fluidly changed direction. Their palms met in an instant.

“It’s really over.”

His whispered voice held a faint hint of joy.

Had he ever… held this man’s hand? Apart from when they were intimate, he didn’t recall ever engaging in such a close act. He couldn’t tell if the throbbing pulse against his skin was his own or Gi Taejeong’s.

“Although it deviates somewhat from the topic, I don’t want unpleasant rumors to spread, nor do I want to create public opinion in this way to make this person an innocent victim, so I will refute Lieutenant Kim’s claims one by one. Lieutenant Na, please come forward.”

“An innocent victim!”

Maejo, his eyes sunken as if they might fall out, shrieked. It was an audacious act that could only be committed under the influence of drugs.

“Someone, take that Sakura bastard away! He’s a guy who’s sold drugs and his body his whole life using his unique physique, but he’s acting as if he was forcibly subjected to something bad…!”

Maejo’s sudden outburst caused people’s brows to furrow. Even Lieutenant Colonel Kim, who had brought him, reacted similarly.

“Lieutenant Colonel Kim, are you still going to keep him as a witness?”

“No matter what, how can you bring someone so obviously drugged to a place like this?”

At the audience’s irritable protests, Lieutenant Colonel Kim quickly shook his head.

“No. I have confirmed the submitted evidence, so I will dismiss the witness.”

“H-hold on, just a moment!”

Maejo, his face pale, clung to Lieutenant Colonel Kim. Even in his deranged state, he seemed to instinctively realize he had messed up.

“Why isn’t that bastard being dragged away, and I am? I said everything you told me to! Why are you only dragging me!”

“What nonsense is this bastard spouting! Hey, get him out of here.”

Maejo flailed his remaining hand, grabbing Lieutenant Colonel Kim.

“You said you wouldn’t send me to jail! You said you’d give me drugs! I was going to sell that recording file to Director Ki or Brigadier General Ki, but…! You said you’d give me drugs for life! You said you’d save me! That’s why I gave it to you!”

“Hey, Lieutenant Colonel Kim. Can’t you just kill that bastard? He’s so loud I can’t do anything.”

Someone sitting in the front row, playing a game on his phone, shook his head. Lieutenant Colonel Kim stepped a few paces away from Maejo as if to say, “Of course,” and at the same time, the soldiers standing guard swung their batons menacingly. With a few forceful blows, Maejo howled like an animal and collapsed to the floor.

“…Did Maejo ever approach you, Brigadier General?”

“No.”

A few people turned back, sneering, wondering what reaction the lower-class person who had taken the title of Brigadier General Gi Taejeong’s wife would show. To their regret, such a dog’s death evoked little emotion in Sehwa. However, he felt a tiny bit of pity for Maejo, who was treated less than human until the very end, as his own future seemed to overlap with Maejo’s… and he was only concerned about Maejo’s words about handing over the voice file to Gi Taejeong.

“I killed all the House workers back then… and I assigned people to the players. Not all of them, but some.”

“……”

“I thought it would seem more natural to others if they suspected each other, devoured each other, and slowly perished together.”

“Why…?”

He didn’t understand. Gi Taejeong could have easily dealt with them just like the soldiers who were now wielding batons at Maejo. He had killed so many people that even bleach couldn’t remove the smell of blood, so why did he leave the players alone? Because of that, Lieutenant Colonel Kim was able to just pick up Maejo like this, wasn’t he? It was uncharacteristic of Gi Taejeong’s way of handling things. It was even more incomprehensible considering it was before he had softened towards Sehwa.

“Why, you ask? If everyone related to your past suddenly disappears…”

Gi Taejeong, who had been replying calmly, then realized his own contradiction, stopped speaking, and chuckled.

“…if they disappear, more attention might be drawn to you.”

“……”

“Now that I think about it, even then, I unconsciously thought I didn’t want to see that kind of thing. Without knowing my own heart, or yours.”

“……”

“Of course, there’s also the reason that I calculated that players like that wouldn’t be a big variable.”

Sehwa hunched his neck like a turtle and covered his ears. Gi Taejeong’s voice, whispering closely so others couldn’t hear, tickled various parts of his body. Around his heart, in his bones… secret places he couldn’t reach out and touch, places he couldn’t control.

“Alright, then, let’s stick to the facts without adding any side stories.”

A white-haired old man sitting in the front row stood up and waved his hand. Gi Taejeong whispered that he was Lieutenant Colonel Kim’s uncle. It seemed he was doing this on purpose, seeing Sehwa stiffen whenever he whispered.

“Since the witnesses’ usual conduct and Lieutenant Kim’s actions don’t seem to have much connection, let’s stop here, but…”

Lieutenant Colonel Kim’s uncle suddenly turned to Sehwa. His bare eyes, briefly revealed as he adjusted his glasses, overflowed with ominous interest.

“Separately, I do have questions about that lower-class person’s constitution.”

“Director Cha!”

“You know, Captain. This old man is very interested in this kind of thing. I’m not saying I’m going to take that lower-class person, no, your adopted son, and conduct experiments. But we definitely need to examine the child Mr. Lee Sehwa recently gave birth to.”

The person named Director Cha slowly looked around.

“According to Brigadier General Gi Taejeong’s claim, Lieutenant Kim stole military documents and illegally created a dangerous drug, and this child was definitely born as a result, wasn’t he? Naturally, we must also regulate the outcome to prevent such incidents from happening again in the future.”

“Hmm… that’s true. Anyway, the child was born thanks to the manufacturing method created by the military. We should examine him.”

“How many months old did you say he was? Will drawing blood be enough?”

Sehwa clenched both fists tightly. The conversation had returned to this topic. This time, it was even more specific and persuasive than when Lieutenant Colonel Kim first brought it up. Director Cha’s argument wasn’t exactly wrong. After all, Haerim was indeed a child born from the drug manufacturing method described in the classified documents.

Sehwa swallowed his silence. Gi Taejeong’s initial plans probably included using and discarding him, but not erasing his past or ensuring the child’s safe birth.

Judging by his recent actions, Sehwa was confident that the man would at least spare his life. But Haerim… he wasn’t sure. If he didn’t hand over the child here, all of Gi Taejeong’s claims would be shaken… Would he really sacrifice that much? If he could win the case and Sehwa could be safe, he seemed willing to give up the well-being of the child in the incubator.

“As the Captain said, everyone is equal under military law. To be precise, it’s more accurate to say that everyone is an insignificant creature under the Marshal. Just as no special privileges apply to Lieutenant Kim, the same should apply to Brigadier General Gi Taejeong’s child. Isn’t that fair treatment?”

Director Cha’s argument differed from Lieutenant Colonel Kim’s tactics. Unlike Lieutenant Colonel Kim’s attempt to sway public opinion for entertainment, knowing it was illogical, Director Cha’s rhetoric created the illusion that his consideration was quite logical. Even though it was still a topic unrelated to Lieutenant Kim’s criminal actions.

“……, No.”

He gnawed at his dry lips, then finally couldn’t hold back and blurted out the words. His voice was squeezed out, but it was loud enough for the people sitting in front and behind him to notice. As those around him began to turn to Sehwa one by one, all eyes in the courtroom soon focused on him.

“My child… is ordinary, just like other children. That’s a test result guaranteed by the best hospital in this country. So, if you need confirmation of a drug reaction…”

Gi Taejeong pulled him so urgently from the side that one of his shoulders slumped. Still, Sehwa stubbornly continued speaking.

“Take me, instead.”