Chapter 256 – Tournant Chapter (4)
Looking back, I think I hated that woman from the beginning. I just didn’t like her face on the docuntary programs of TV. Park Jung-ah was similar to a celebrity who beca famous using nepotism, despite having no acting skills. It was despicable.
**E/N: AS DEFINED BY RRIAM-WEBSTER, nepotism is ‘favoritism (as in appointnt to a job) based on kinship’.**
Of course, I’ve begun to hate her more since joining the Tutorial. The docuntary’s narrative was that the leader of the Order of Vigilance may be in a relationship with Ho-jae, but in reality, the woman only fought with him. There were no personal ssages, but they had a good enough connection to confront each other openly in the community. Maybe it was a bit far-fetched to call it a confrontation. They were childishly hanging on to each other’s words, fighting over them, and clinging to each other. It was tough for to like it.
Having read all the articles in the community, I was well aware of what happened in the Tutorial’s early days. It seed to that I was upset to see him talking down on and fighting back on the subject that he had saved .
Watching the couple date and eventually break up, then grow close again afterward, made hate her even more.
And now that we’ve t face to face for the first ti, I hated the woman more than ever. Look at that face. Oh, my God. Was that the face of a woman over thirty? The Tutorial was promoting a scam. Park Jung-ah would look like a high school student if she wore a school uniform.
But dressing in a professional suit made her look pretentious, putting too much effort into her looks.
“Will you tell the reason?” she asked, eyes examining .
“No.”
I wondered if the rumor that the Order of Vigilance was actually a group of whipped guys was true.
**Note from Imagine: in case you don’t know whipped ans in love/infatuated. It’s usually used for the latter**
Maybe Park Jung-ah was tricking people with that face obliviously.
As soon as she saw , she glanced down at the ring on her finger and pretended to hide it behind her back. No matter how much I thought about it, her supposedly subtle movent was a definite ‘f*ck you’ gesture. After being hit on the head by Park Jung-ah’s behavior, my doubts kept piling up.
“I’m sorry, but I need a reason to move you to an integrated server, for the sake of procedures.”
“I have an appointnt. I’m sorry, but I can’t tell you anymore because it’s too personal. And I don’t have much ti, so I can’t follow all the procedures.”
I had a good excuse in store, but I didn’t want to say it. Not to this woman, at least.
“Personal?” she frowned, murmuring the word. Sohow, I took pleasure in her dissatisfaction.
That woman couldn’t force her rules on . It wasn’t because there was a problem with her rules, but I just didn’t want to accept them.
With great power cos great responsibility. It was a famous saying, but it was complete bullshit. With great power cos respect.
The sa went for the rules of the Order of Vigilance. I respected their plans, unquestioningly. But, the Order of Vigilance, who ruled the Tutorial with an iron fist, gave up its control to a strong woman whom the order could not control. The result was, of course, tragic.
In a way, it was good. So things couldn’t be recklessly cut or controlled. If you forced rules on the ordinary people, the rules and those who enforced them would be destroyed.
I was confident that the Order of Vigilance wouldn’t stop , and I was looking forward to forcing myself to the point where I’d have to stop myself. If so, I would be able to show without any regrets, the strength I had.
“I’ll permit you. But if there’s a problem with the integrated server, or if there’s a violation of the rules, we can’t help you,” Park Jung-ah said.
You can’t help , anyway. Even if you could, I wouldn’t need it.
“Rules aren’t made for people to get punished for breaking them. It’s the sa as why you shouldn’t commit a cri, not because you go to jail, but because it is inherently wrong. We’ll tolerate you ignoring our rules, but we won’t help you when you’re in trouble,” she continued,
How ironic. A woman who had committed more cris than anyone else in the Tutorial was giving this advice.
“Isn’t it fair?”
“Yes, it’s fair enough. Thank you.”
I didn’t have any complaints, nor did I need the help of these people anyway. However, I just didn’t like her attitude of teaching, as usual.
* * * *
[Park Jung-ah]
“Am I doing well?” I mumbled to myself.
The mbers talked in hushed voices in the passageway. The committee reacted very strongly to my statent regarding Lee Yeon-hee’s departure to an integrated server. The committee had planned to turn the integrated server zone into an empty area. They had wanted to leave it as empty as possible with exceptions made for public etings and the like. anwhile, my announcent of Lee Yeon-hee’s departure must have sounded irresponsible to them, as I didn’t know her purpose. But all I could say to the committee was that we couldn’t help it.
[You’re doing enough.] Ho-jae’s voice flowed into my head through the ring.
“Ugh. I can’t even mutter this to myself.” I covered my face in embarrassnt. A light laugh ca from the ring.
[It’s just as you said. Rules cannot help you as one cannot be bound by discipline for too long. I thought it was obvious, too.]
What do you an? I got up from my seat.
Entering the conference room, where the Order of Vigilance mbers had gathered, I could see several people moving in a row.
I asked one of the closest people, “What’s going on?”
“I got a report that a Ranker was making a fuss, that’s him.”
The man pointed to a ranker. I had never seen him before, but he was famous enough just by his looks. The man was now sleeping on the floor, reeking of liquor. There was an Order of Vigilance mber who approached and talked to him.
“Mister, mister! Wake up!”
The drunk Ranker managed to open his eyes, but he couldn’t regain his senses.
“Mister, can’t you drink a bit less?”
“Oh, no,” the drunk Ranker answered. The Order of Vigilance mber laughed at the sight.
“Who in the community would have known that such a reputable man could be so weak. Hahaha.”
“I never thought he’d be like this when he’s drunk.” Everyone started laughing loudly at what soone said. To be honest, I couldn’t comprehend why this was so funny.
“What about the victim?” I asked impatiently.
“No one was hurt, but he was so drunk that people around him reported feeling uneasy.”
It was dangerous. If that man had used his power on people while he was drunk, there could have been a massive accident. It occurred to that I should have banned drinking in this tournant.
“Then we’ll go out again.”
“Yes. Have a good day.”
The field personnel of the Order of Vigilance left the conference room. I looked back on my mory, but I couldn’t rember where they had been stationed. Now everyone was doing their job well, even though I didn’t know everything.
I hesitated. The mbers were asking if this situation was funny or serious, and whether or not punishnt should befall the man.
“Are you hurt?” I noticed an Order of Vigilance mber with a towel on his face.
“Yes, I’ve got a slight cut,” the mber replied.
No matter how drunk the Ranker was, injuring a person was going too far.
“This is...” I trailed off.
“It’s fine. When he wakes up, I’ll ask him for a al as an apology.”
I couldn’t get used to this way of speaking. It wasn’t like this before.
“Don’t think about getting fed. Think about treatnt. It’ll leave a scar,” I warned.
“Hey, it’s not like I can’t live with a scar. What’s wrong with getting a al from a Ranker like him? He’s going to live like a king when he goes out on Earth.” The mber shook his head.
I decided not to pressure him anymore when he said he was okay. I delivered so instructions and ca out.
The Order of Vigilance’s atmosphere has changed a lot, and I was well aware of it.
Tis had changed. People were clearing the Tutorial faster and going outside. The shorter the spent in the Tutorial, the smaller the problem.
The Earth was slowly stabilizing and awakened people gained wealth and honor. The higher the reward after the clearing, the more steadily the Tutorial’s challengers engaged in growth. The challengers, who used to resemble rcenaries and adventurers running for their lives, now looked like test-takers preparing for the exam.
The Order of Vigilance changed accordingly. The problems had diminished, and the atmosphere had softened. Rather than punishing people, it was full of things that helped them avoid any inconvenience or difficulty in clearing. Now that several generational shifts have taken place, the Order of Vigilance, which was in a position to control and govern the first Korean Tutorial servers, had turned into a supporter of the challengers.
That was what happened before. Initially, a fitting punishnt for the drunk man should’ve been carried out. No matter how drunk he was, the penalty for attacking an Order of Vigilance mber trying to guide him had to be made clear, and it was a proper incident to publicize it to the outside world. But now that the Order of Vigilance had changed, I couldn’t make them move the way I wanted them to.
[What are you thinking?]
“The world is changing these days.”
The advent of the Tutorials and the ergence of monsters was like opening a new world. People who had fallen into the new world had created all sorts of problems and confusion. But it has been stagnant ever since. At least for , it was. No matter how turbulent the outside world was, it had always been the sa routine for .
I watched for cris, made sure that the Order of Vigilance didn’t have any accidents, took care of the new arrivals, and sorted out the items and information they had gathered and distributed to the people. And I spent the rest of the ti cheering for Lee Yeon-hee.
I rembered that Kim Min-hyuk cared a lot about his life in the Tutorial. He predicted that a lot of people would settle down in the Tutorial and that they’d create a lot of problems. In response, I told him that a decent society was needed for the settlers. But contrary to his expectations, the number of people left in the Tutorial was now minuscule. Naturally, since this problem had diminished, his arrangents had beco aningless. Now, I could see why he left.
Many things had changed, but I was still the sa.
“Do you rember when the vice-captain went outside?” I asked.
[Rember what?] Ho-jae questioned.
“You told that I should be the mother of the Order of Vigilance, but it turns out I was completely out of sync with them.”
[Sorry. That was a bit of a hassle. After Kim Min-hyuk left, it’s apparent that it would be more trouble.]
“Nobody asked,” I snapped
Whoo, I had almost lost my temper again. I needed to calm down.
[But you’ve been doing great.]
“You can’t convince .”
Everyone expected to do everything well. I should take care of the internal affairs that Kim Min-hyuk was in charge of, beyond my public appearances, but I didn’t get the job done correctly. The remaining Order of Vigilance mbers led the change on their own, and I could only tolerate and watch it.
The Order of Vigilance had changed a lot from when Kim Min-hyuk and I took charge of each other’s roles. Just as there was no problem with the Order of Vigilance, even when Kim Min-hyuk was gone, it seed that there would be no problem with the Order of Vigilance without now. No, I think it would be better without .
Sohow I lost my energy and sighed. I took a seat on the bench by the roadside. I used to suffer from the threat of assassination, and I couldn’t even co out alone like this during tournant days, but now, sitting here made feel refreshed and empty at the sa ti. While sitting here on the streets, I sohow understood the feelings of those who beca jobless overnight.
[Just relax and say what you want to say.] Ho-jae whispered. [Speak out about how you feel.]
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