WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ The Police Do a Better Job Than Heroes

Chapter 31

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Staying Still Gets You Halfway There (5)

Lunchtime in Light City was a war. That was a figure of speech, but few figures of speech fit quite so well.

Boasting the highest population density in the world, the city housed as many corporations as its economic scale demanded.

There was a separate checkpoint process required just to enter Light City, which made it nearly impossible to live outside the city and commute in for work. Every employee at every company inside Light City lived inside Light City, full stop.

With that much established, the rest was easy to picture.

"Excuse me! One Set Two, please!"

"I was here first! One Set Three!"

"Please, please order at the kiosk!"

"You see that line stretching all the way back there? Give me my burger!!!"

Fast food joints looked ready to burst at the seams. The good restaurants, naturally, had no seats left at all.

And the expensive restaurants weren't any better off.

"Lunch service has ended for today."

"Ugh, now what? I've already tried three other places..."

Light City had a lot of people, which meant it also had a lot of rich people. Without a reservation, even money couldn't buy you a meal sometimes.

"Food! I need food!!!"

"There's no time! It's almost one!!!"

"You go get in the coffee line now! I'll buy your lunch and bring it!!"

Mealtime was war. In the sheer desperation to survive, the rich and the poor were remarkably alike.

And in the middle of all that frantic bustling, two people strolled down the street at an easy pace.

"...people are really busy, huh."

"Yeah, they are."

Kang Jin-ho and Park Eun-yeong. Two police officers.

They'd come out on patrol today to the commercial district at the far edge of East Precinct 7's jurisdiction.

For police, patrol was just routine. Not something done for a special reason or toward some particular goal, just a block of time labeled "patrol" sitting in the day's schedule.

The point of patrol was crime prevention. Officers walking around gave people the sense that "this area is being kept safe," which in turn lowered the crime rate.

"Ugh, cops."

"Great, cops."

"Hello there! Cool Guy here! Have a wonderful lunch!"

"Still, it's reassuring to have a hero patrolling. Can't really trust the police for that."

...though in Light City, that effect was somewhat muted. Trust in the police had never run especially deep here to begin with.

"Must be nice being a cop. Some of us have to run around like crazy just to grab lunch, and they get to stroll around all casual and still collect their paycheck no problem."

"They'd all run the second a villain showed up anyway. Acting all high and mighty."

Negative murmurs drifted in from every direction. Nobody said it loudly or directly. Just quiet muttering meant only for their own circle. Except Kang Jin-ho's physical abilities had improved, and his hearing had sharpened right along with them.

"What's wrong? You look upset."

"It's nothing."

Ever since his body had gotten absurdly strong, this had become a real problem. He heard things he didn't want to hear, saw things he didn't want to see.

A yellowed hand that clearly hadn't been washed after a bathroom trip. A mustache still holding onto crumbs from lunch. Someone's TMI about a stomachache and the giant snake that had apparently come out of it, something he really didn't need to know.

And in the middle of all that noise, something that snagged his attention.

Zzzip.

The faint sound of a zipper opening on a bag.

"Sunbae-nim?"

"Yeah. Go on ahead. I'll catch up."

Kang Jin-ho's body moved before his brain caught up. He wove through the crowd, weaving this way and that, and gradually slowed near a woman.

"Yeah, totally amazing, right? That's why I just went ahead and bought it~"

A woman walked along the street, deep in a phone call. Kang Jin-ho closed in on her.

Snatch!

His hand shot out and caught the wrist of a pickpocket who'd been rifling through the woman's handbag right there in the crowd!

"Wha, what?"

The woman, who hadn't even noticed anyone touching her bag, jumped in shock.

"Shit..."

The man who'd been bold enough to pick a pocket with a cop nearby froze up, unable to run or bluff his way out.

Should he bolt? But the grip crushing his wrist wasn't normal at all. Should he play innocent, claim it was an accident?

While the pickpocket's brain short-circuited and he stood frozen in place.

Spin!

His view flipped upside down in midair, and before he knew it, his face was planted on the pavement. Kang Jin-ho had kept his grip on the wrist the whole time and simply folded him down to the ground.

"Broad daylight and this guy's still at it."

Click.

At the sound of the handcuffs closing, the woman and the bystanders who'd been staring blankly finally let their jaws drop.

"Th, thank you so much...!"

The woman clasped her still-connected phone call to her chest and bowed her head over and over in thanks.

"...wait, did the cop just catch a pickpocket?"

"He came running from way over there."

"Superpowered, maybe? Why's a superhuman working as a cop..."

Once the police showed results, the crowd started casting curious glances their way. Kang Jin-ho savored the surprised looks while finishing up the handcuffs with extra care.

"Excuse me, what's going on here?"

Just then, two more officers pushed through the crowd toward them. Unfamiliar faces, likely from a different precinct, though given how crowded this district was, patrol zones apparently overlapped somewhat around here.

"Caught him in the act. Attempted pickpocketing."

At Kang Jin-ho's brief answer, the other officer glanced at his name tag and their eyes went wide.

"Kang Jin-ho, Kang Jin-ho... are you by any chance from East Precinct 7?"

"Yes, that's right."

"Wow... I'd only heard rumors. Didn't think I'd actually run into you in person."

They seemed to recognize the name, exchanged a nod between themselves, and smiled.

"Are you taking the thief in yourselves?"

"Yes, we're heading there now."

"We'll walk you to the patrol car. Guys like this usually have an accomplice or two."

The other precinct's officers, volunteering to escort them without even being asked, carried a note of quiet respect in the gesture.

'Hmph.'

Kang Jin-ho kept his expression calm and unbothered on the outside. Inside, though, he was fighting hard to keep the corners of his mouth from creeping upward.

Up until now, he'd been a complete ordinary person. If some deranged villain suddenly went on a rampage, he'd have been dead meat without a fight.

But look at him now. Thanks to karma, he could catch a run-of-the-mill pickpocket red-handed, and other officers actually treated him with consideration. Keep growing steadily like this, and someday he might actually live comfortably, throwing his weight around a little. Hope bubbled up inside him!

He'd finally reached a point where he could at least protect himself!

"Hm? What's up, Jin-ho?"

...on second thought, maybe that was overstating it. Kang Jin-ho took one look at Eun-yeong and promptly rediscovered his humility.

Right around when the group of officers reached the patrol car parked on the main road.

"Aaaahh!!!"

"What is this?!"

A scream suddenly rang out from the direction of the district's center, from the busiest, most crowded stretch of the commercial area.

"I, I'll take this one in myself. Go on, hurry!"

"Thanks. Jin-ho, let's go."

"Yes!"

They left the pickpocket with the officers who'd escorted them.

Kang Jin-ho and Eun-yeong took off running toward the source of the screaming. Figuring out where to go wasn't hard, since thick white smoke was billowing hard from the direction the screams came from.

"Move! Move!!!"

"Excuse me, coming through..."

"I said move!!! Run!!!"

But knowing where to go didn't mean they could just get there.

So many people were fleeing that direction, and it was such a high-traffic area to begin with, that the sheer number of people running the other way was overwhelming.

Still, some citizens made way at the sight of the police uniforms, and since they were moving against the flow of the crowd anyway, they eventually reached the spot.

"...what is this."

Kang Jin-ho looked around, trying to piece together what had happened.

This was clearly where the outdoor luxury brand popup had been set up. A temporary platform-like structure bore the "Teddy Bear" brand logo scattered here and there, and around the huge bear statue, staff in sharp suits were sprinting around in a panic.

"Ah, come on!"

"Where did it go!"

The staff were tearing the place apart looking for something, and judging by their pale faces, the search wasn't going well.

"Jin-ho, watch your step."

Just then, Eun-yeong picked up a cylindrical can off the ground. White smoke was still trickling out of the hole in the can.

"...a smoke grenade?"

It looked exactly like the smoke grenades from HiCiSi.

A smoke grenade set off in the middle of the city. Staff thrown into chaos. Citizens fleeing and screaming, and other people pressed against store windows, phone cameras flashing away nonstop.

But out of everything, the thing that drew the most attention was.

Fwoosh!

A massive ring of fire, blazing up right next to the Teddy Bear popup.

Flames roaring up from bare ground against the backdrop of a bustling city, so wildly out of place it was almost surreal.

"Hm?"

A man stood in front of those flames, arms crossed, and turned around at the sense of someone approaching.

"Oh, cops? Got the culprit already. Come check it out quick."

The B-rank hero, Hwa-yeong. He'd been hired as the security lead for this popup event, and while there was clearly a problem, he seemed satisfied at least that he'd caught the culprit.

"You caught the culprit?"

Kang Jin-ho asked, stepping closer.

"Yep. Villain was skulking around nearby, so I nabbed him right away. Want to see?"

Hwa-yeong let part of the fire ring die down, just enough to reveal what was inside.

What emerged from between the flames turned out to be a surprisingly familiar face.

"Hot, hot... huh? You, you know me, right? I really didn't do this. I swear!"

The reformed villain he'd met before.

Clayboy. Do Jin-hyuk.

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