WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ The Police Do a Better Job Than Heroes

Chapter 27

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Staying Still Gets You Halfway There (1)

"So. That blond punk, did he actually use a brainwashing ability?"

Officer Ahn Seong-sil asked, arms crossed, sounding irritated.

"Tell me quick. If we know now, we can actually clock out on time. If he's really a mind-control type, we've got to request backup from the Hero Association or headquarters."

"No, no. That's really a misunderstanding. I just got a vague feeling, that's all, nothing's confirmed. We don't even have evidence yet."

Kang Jin-ho denied it hastily. His memory really was flickering somewhere just out of reach, so it wasn't exactly a lie either.

"Really? You didn't already figure out who did it and now you're playing dumb because I got annoyed?"

"Really not! I'm not that kind of guy!"

"...Fair enough. That was too far."

Officer Ahn Seong-sil apologized, a little sheepish, and behind him the boy, who'd been shifting his weight anxiously, started explaining again.

"So, my sister works at Courage Bank, okay? She's got a cute face, a good personality, honestly the best sister in the whole world."

The boy's sister was apparently a quiet, diligent type, an introverted homebody whose hobbies were reading and listening to music.

"After work she comes straight home instead of Mom, who's always busy, and cooks dinner, and on weekends she takes me out. She's barely ever gotten angry at me, not once that I can count on one hand."

"Sounds like you've got a good sister."

"Yeah. But last week. I saw her walking side by side with some scary-looking punk! The kind of guy she'd normally never even cross paths with!"

The boy said, his voice full of grievance.

"At first I thought it was just a coincidence, or maybe a shady acquaintance. But that guy kept hanging around her, so I started following her."

"Wait, wait."

Officer Ahn Seong-sil cut in, flustered.

"So just now you said you followed... your own sister?"

"Yes. Is that a problem?"

The boy tilted his head, genuinely confused.

"It's a family matter. If it's necessary, of course I'd follow her."

"...Right. Keep going."

"Yes. So after tailing them for a few days... it really looked like they were in that in-between stage, right before officially dating. They ate together, went to an escape room cafe, saw a movie..."

The boy gripped his own knees, trembling.

"It doesn't make any sense! There's no way my sister would fall for a guy like that."

He looked back and forth between Kang Jin-ho and Ahn Seong-sil, eyes burning with conviction.

"My sister's saved up a decent amount working at the bank. It's obvious. He must be using some brainwashing ability to get at that money. Please arrest him right now!"

"Well, here's the thing."

A voice, cold enough to douse the boy's heat on the spot.

"Isn't it possible your sister just... likes the guy? Even if he's not her usual type, that's kind of how love works."

Eun-yeong, who'd been watching the whole time with a bored expression, chin propped on her hand, spoke up.

"Do you even know how rare brainwashing abilities are? You could count the mind-control heroes and villains active in Light City on one hand."

"...But still!"

"And even if he really were an unregistered mind-control user, wouldn't he go after someone richer than a diligent bank teller with some savings? Light City's full of rich people."

Eun-yeong kept firing without letup.

"Kid. Do the police look like they've got so little to do that they need to butt into citizens' love lives? Heroes catch villains, sure, but the cleanup afterward is our job. Got it?"

"..."

The boy wanted to argue back, but he had nothing, so he just stood there trembling.

"Senior. Don't be too harsh on him."

Kang Jin-ho cut in calmly. Back when he'd first encountered Light City as a game, he himself had once said something like "I don't get why we even need police."

So the comment struck a nerve, and it came out before he could stop it.

"Since Courage Bank happens to be near the ability testing center anyway, why not swing by? If it's nothing, we head straight from there to our shift's end, and if it's actually a case, we save a citizen. Doesn't hurt to take a look, does it?"

"Hmm..."

Eun-yeong's expression turned subtle, and Officer Ahn Seong-sil sighed.

"Hey, Kang Jin-ho. Honestly, dispatching over this makes no sense, alright? We should just cut it off and send the kid home. But do you actually think there's something to it? If so, we go."

Normally, responding to a report like this would be absurd, but there'd been word from up top to give Kang Jin-ho some latitude, and given everything he'd delivered so far, Officer Ahn Seong-sil backed off a step.

"Hmm..."

Kang Jin-ho thought it over.

"I think it'd be best to go take a closer look first."

Truthfully, this wasn't like before, where the case snapped into focus the instant he heard it. But something nagged at him, faint and deep down, and he figured it'd be better to see it firsthand and judge from there.

"If that's the case... hurry up and go."

Officer Ahn Seong-sil nodded, and.

"Fine, got it. We've gotta go get tested anyway, so let's just go together."

Eun-yeong said, pulling on her jacket.

In truth, Eun-yeong hadn't meant to snap quite that hard, but she'd been irritated that their plans to go get tested together had been interrupted.

**

In front of Courage Bank.

Past closing time, several women in bank uniforms walked out. One of them spotted the boy and her eyes went wide, apparently his older sister.

"Just a second, my family's here... yeah, go on ahead!"

Breaking off from the group, the sister approached her brother quietly.

"What are you doing here? And who are these people... police?"

"So, here's the thing..."

The brother, thoroughly worked up, launched into the whole story. How he'd been tailing her for a week, how he'd gone to the police station to report it, and how the officers had come to check it out.

"Sis! Wake up! That punk brainwashed you to get at your savings, don't you get it?!"

The moment he finished explaining, the boy nearly went off the rails, but his sister laughed awkwardly and took his hand.

"Ha ha, you and your antics. Following me around like that. It's not brainwashing or anything. I'm just... carefully getting to know him."

"Getting to know him, my foot! He's the exact opposite of your type!"

Kang Jin-ho found himself wondering, "Is she not mad about the stalking part?" even as he watched the exchange between the siblings closely. No matter how he turned it over, something about it felt familiar, but the memory wouldn't come into focus.

"I thought he was pretty terrible at first too, you know? I met him as a customer at the bank, his hair color was so loud, and the clothes he wore had this flashy vibe..."

The sister continued, cheeks flushing slightly.

"But once we actually started talking... somehow my heart just kept racing."

"That's the brainwashing!"

"It's not, I'm telling you. Every time that customer came into the bank, my face would just heat up for no reason, and my heart would pound... I couldn't stop thinking about him. Then he asked me out first, so I gave it a shot."

Only then did the sister seem to notice the police were listening, and she looked embarrassed.

"Ahem. Anyway, the more I got to know him, the more I realized he's really sweet, a genuinely good person. So I'm seriously considering dating him now."

"Si, sis? Have you lost your mind? What are the police doing? If you're taking taxpayer money, do something already!"

The boy's eyes darted around like he'd gone cross-eyed, and.

"Our bank's security is airtight. If he used any kind of ability in there, the alarm would've gone off instantly, so that's not it. Ah, officers. My brother seems to have gotten the wrong idea... I'm sorry. He's just always been a bit much."

The sister bowed to the two officers in apology. Family looking out for each other was only natural, but she hadn't expected him to go this far, dragging the police into it.

"...Well, that was boring. Should we head off now? We've got the ability test to get to."

"Hold on a moment."

Eun-yeong, stifling a yawn, jabbed Kang Jin-ho repeatedly in the side, but he was still lost in thought.

'I feel like I'm about to remember...'

Kang Jin-ho had gone through plenty of changes after accumulating a massive amount of karma, and the most obvious one was the enhancement to his physical abilities. Lately, after his shifts ended, he'd been running various little experiments to figure out exactly how, and how much, his body had improved.

And what he'd discovered through those experiments was that gaining karma didn't just strengthen his body, it sharpened his mind too, to some degree.

'The cases I saw in the game are coming back to me clearly now.'

Thanks to that, he could recall the game's cases, big and small, with reasonable clarity. Without any kind of wiki-lookup ability, that turned out to be a considerable advantage.

Given that even Kang Jin-ho couldn't quite place this one, it was clear this wasn't a major case, but even so, he could dredge up a few roughly similar cases.

"Hmm..."

After mulling it over the whole time, Kang Jin-ho finally looked at the sister and asked carefully.

"Ma'am. If. If, hypothetically."

"Yes? Go ahead."

"If that man really did... use some kind of ability, what would you think?"

"What???"

The sister startled, and the brother's eyes lit up. Kang Jin-ho stroked his chin and kept going.

"It's not confirmed. I'm not saying he definitely used an ability. But there's a way to test whether he did or didn't. So, what do you think? Would you be willing to try it?"

"...Give me a second."

While the sister mulled over what Kang Jin-ho had said.

"Big bro!!!"

The brother, who'd been badmouthing the police just moments ago, suddenly grabbed both of Kang Jin-ho's hands, eyes already brimming with tears of gratitude.

"I knew it, right?! You can lock that punk up... no, actually, just shoot him! I'll take the fall and go to prison instead, I don't care...!"

"Now, calm down."

"Please, please just get that bastard arrested!"

The suspicion in his eyes was gone without a trace. The boy already saw Kang Jin-ho as the greatest cop of the era!

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