WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ The Police Do a Better Job Than Heroes

Chapter 34

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Life Is Like a Railroad Track (1)

Morning sunlight was always more or less the same, but somehow it felt warmer on weekends.

"Ngh..."

Kang Jin-ho savored the sunlight slipping through the curtains and stretched, thoroughly satisfied.

Technically, officers working out of a precinct didn't experience weekends as such. The usual cycle ran day shift, night shift, then a day off, so whether today was a weekend mattered a lot less than whether today happened to be his day off.

Still, when a day off landed on an actual weekend, the feeling was somehow doubled. Good for spending time with friends or family, and weekends just felt better suited for having fun anyway.

"..."

Of course, Kang Jin-ho had no friends or family here.

Even so, he loved doing absolutely nothing. Lying in bed, staring at his phone, no sense of accomplishment or pride to speak of... but there was a strange, quiet happiness in it all the same.

"Alright."

That version of Kang Jin-ho kicked the blanket off and went straight to wash his face. He wanted, more than anything, to crawl back under the covers and soak in that warmth a little longer.

"...guess I should get going."

Because today, he had plans to meet Eun-yeong.

**

"Oh, you're here?"

10:30 AM. A fairly early hour to be meeting up, and Eun-yeong showed up in a pure white dress.

"Did I keep you waiting?"

"Nope. Just got here myself."

Eun-yeong controlled darkness and shadow, and yet the white dress suited her almost comically well. Looking purely at appearance, she leaned distinctly toward the innocent, pure side. It was only the flashes of murderous intent and that mischievous glint in her eyes now and then that ruined the effect.

"So, where are we headed today?"

Kang Jin-ho asked, rolling his shoulders idly. Eun-yeong grinned and said,

"Actually, there's somewhere I wanted us to check out together. Turns out it only opens in the evening."

"...it's ten in the morning right now."

"Yeah. Forgot about that. So let's just hang out until evening, then go. Sounds good, right?"

"..."

The words "couldn't you have just suggested meeting in the evening then" climbed all the way up his throat, but Kang Jin-ho held them back with superhuman restraint. Just because he'd gotten a little sharper lately didn't mean he should get cocky. There were exactly two people in this world who could stand toe to toe with this woman.

"Then, well. What should we do for fun?"

"Already scoped it out on the way here. C'mon, follow me!"

The worst, most dreaded villain in Light City. Name the three strongest people in this city and she'd always make the list, the ruler of shadows, Eun-yeong.

And the place she led Kang Jin-ho to was...!

"Here we are. How's this?"

"...nice."

An entirely ordinary weekend street festival.

Out on the outskirts of Light City, in the district with the park. A limited-run festival was underway there, food trucks and event booths lined up in rows, and the street was so packed with couples and families that walking through was a challenge.

Normally Kang Jin-ho found these festivals a hassle and didn't much care for them, but today he gave it his all.

Truly, his absolute best. And Kang Jin-ho's best meant putting every scrap of knowledge he had to use.

"Wow! Jin-ho, look at that. A huge rabbit doll."

"Yes! I'll go win it right now!"

A booth run by a speed-type ability user who shuffled five cups at blinding speed, the challenge being to find the ball hidden inside. An ordinary person's dynamic vision couldn't even track what was happening.

"Here. This one, right?"

"...how did you get that right?"

Kang Jin-ho had memorized the pattern of this game. He tracked where the ball had landed for every previous attempt, then jumped in at the exact right moment and called it correctly.

"Here, one rabbit doll."

"So soft. Thanks, Jin-ho~"

But that was only the beginning.

"Look at that ugly duck doll. Isn't it cute?"

"Yes! I'll be right back!"

Next was the shooting booth. Rubber bullets, and the challenge was popping a row of balloons.

"Excuse me, sir? Come here a second."

"Huh? What is it?"

"This gun. You've rigged it, haven't you? Here and here... I can see marks where it's been tampered with."

"...what? This punk's accusing an innocent man of running a scam? Who do you think you are?"

"I'm a police officer. Here, take a look at the badge. Is running a business like this even allowed?"

"...please, just this once."

"Letting it slide is one thing. Close up shop. Oh, and give me that duck doll too."

"Yes sir..."

And so the ugly duck doll got added to the pile.

"Oh? Look, a paper lottery board. Grand prize is a giant fish-shaped taffy."

"I'll go right now!"

The last stop was a booth where paying got you a lottery draw. Around 300 tickets remained, and since the grand prize hadn't come out yet, the giant fish taffy still hung proudly from the stall.

Kang Jin-ho walked straight up and asked the owner,

"About how many tickets are left?"

"Roughly 300 or so~"

"I'll take all of them."

"...excuse me?"

Startled, the owner flailed both arms out to block the lottery board.

"No, no, that's not how this works! There's a ten-ticket limit per person!"

"Where does it say that anywhere?"

Kang Jin-ho narrowed his eyes, then leaned in and whispered into the owner's ear.

"Here. There's no grand-prize ticket in there, is there? Normally you'd have one mixed in. You really have no shame."

"...w-what nonsense are you..."

"If I buy up everything that's left and the grand prize never turns up, that'd be a problem for you, wouldn't it? That's why you won't sell them all. I'm a police officer. Here's my badge."

"..."

"Let's not make a scene on such a nice day. Hand over the fish taffy. And you should probably shut this stall down now."

"Yes sir..."

And so the fish taffy, too, came home without a single won changing hands.

"Wow, that's huge~"

Eun-yeong's hands were already full with the rabbit doll and the duck doll, but through some baffling feat of balance, she made room and hugged the fish taffy in too.

"Thanks, Jin-ho~"

"Yep!"

But... that was as far as Kang Jin-ho's best could take him.

At every other booth, he came away with nothing.

It wasn't a matter of skill or money falling short.

"Excuse me, sir? I'd like to try."

"Sure, ID please."

"...my ID? Why?"

"Gotta check if you're an ability user. Here, insert your ID."

The small machine, shaped like a card reader, had a notice printed on it: "This device only verifies ability-user status and collects no other personal information."

"Well, I am technically an information-type ability user, but..."

"Oh come on! You trying to put me out of business! Off you go!"

"..."

The earlier stalls had let ability users play only because they were run by fellow ability users, or because they were confident enough in their little tricks to keep prizes out of reach anyway. Ordinary festival stalls flat-out refused to serve anyone with powers.

Light City had, of course, a fairly high proportion of registered ability users overall, but anyone whose power was too weak or too limited in impact never got formally classified as an "ability user" at all.

The baseline for classification came down to the body's "ether" level, and weaker abilities simply didn't produce enough of it. So running a database check on someone like that turned up nothing unusual.

Then why was Kang Jin-ho, who had no ether in his body at all, treated as an ability user? Because he was in a pre-awakening state. Get strict about the legal definition and he technically counted as a non-ability-user, but festival stalls like these didn't exactly enforce the law down to the letter.

"No good again?"

"No..."

"Well, can't be helped then."

Eun-yeong patted the shoulders of a thoroughly deflated Kang Jin-ho. He noticed the warmth of her touch, and in the same instant, noticed himself getting chills from it.

It wasn't that Eun-yeong meant him harm, or even that she simply scared him.

It was just the thought that, even right now, if she decided to turn on him, she could kill him without effort. The thought that his life hung on nothing but her mood, that was what sent the chill through him.

'Well, so what if it's chilling. Not like I can tell her to stop.'

But thinking it over, there wasn't much he could actually do about the chills anyway, so he decided to just accept it.

"If the booths are a bust, let's just grab something good to eat. I heard the park over there has a nice view."

"Yes! Just say the word and I'll go buy it right away!"

"...just come with me, is what I meant."

"Yep!"

**

As the sun went down and sunset light started peeking shyly between the buildings.

"Ahh, that was fun."

Eun-yeong, looking thoroughly pleased with herself, spread both arms wide and spun in a full circle.

"Jin-ho, you had fun too, right?"

"...yes."

"That answer sounded a little iffy."

"Yes! It was fun!"

"Good, good. Feels nice to have spent a weekend properly for once."

She said that with a playful laugh, then her expression shifted slightly as she turned to Kang Jin-ho.

"Alright, should we head out now?"

"Where to?"

"The place we were originally headed. Said it opens in the evening, remember?"

Eun-yeong grabbed Kang Jin-ho's wrist and started leading him off somewhere.

"Um, could you at least tell me what we're going there for..."

"Huh? Did I not mention it?"

She stopped mid-stride and tilted her head.

"Remember when you got tested, and they said they couldn't tell your actual ability because you're in a pre-awakening state?"

"Right?"

"So we're going to find out exactly what your ability is. There's this really gifted old fortune-teller, apparently. Ask her and she'll tell you."

"...excuse me?"

"You were curious too, weren't you? What exactly your power is."

"..."

Kang Jin-ho had a feeling.

This, he realized, was about to become a very serious problem.

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