WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ The Police Do a Better Job Than Heroes

Chapter 40

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Life Is Like a Railroad Track (7)

"Hahaha, so then yesterday I..."

"You know that guy, by any chance? I ran into him last week, and get this..."

The reception hall hovered somewhere between lively and rowdy. As the drinks flowed and the conversations ripened, everyone traded stories with easy, contented faces.

Wherever there's drinking, though, trouble tends to follow. Every so often a voice rose too loud, a face flushed too red.

"You two. Settle down."

"...Silver Knife-sunbae."

"What's this over nothing? Go on outside and cool off a bit."

"Yes, sir..."

"Sorry about that..."

These small flare-ups got smoothed over cleanly, courtesy of the elder hero Silver Knife's mediation. The ease and warmth that came from years in the field. Other heroes watched him and felt a quiet swell of respect.

"Guess that's what being a first-generation hero does to you..."

"Mm. No question. He's just different."

An older hero wasn't a has-been, he was seasoned. There was a vibe that only came from time served, everyone thought, nodding along, until.

"Ah, fuck this. Is this idiot out of his mind. You not gonna keep your eyes down?"

A voice boomed from a corner of the hall.

"What's this all of a sudden? You even know me?"

"Oh, I know you. I know you're a piece of shit, that's what I know."

"Wait, why are you suddenly..."

"Don't talk back! You little punk, where do you get off mouthing off?"

The chatter in the hall went dead silent in an instant. Every head turned toward the commotion.

"Excuse me..."

Eun-yeong approached without anyone noticing and leaned in to whisper to Silver Knife, her expression troubled.

"Silver Knife-nim. Magic Muscle-nim said if you needed help, to just ask you. Since we're police, as you know... could you help us out a little?"

"...Hm."

The eyes of Silver Knife, who'd been watching quietly from the sidelines, flickered.

Honestly, he didn't want anything to do with that cop. Rumors were already circulating among villains lately, something about a weird cop, and heroes here and there kept hyping the man up as some kind of genius.

That drink earlier? He hadn't put anything in it. Honestly, he'd rather not get tangled up in this at all. Once tonight's social wound down, Silver Knife had planned never to exchange another word with that cop if he could help it.

"...I'll go calm him down."

The other heroes were already sending him bright, expectant looks, like sunbae will handle it! It was too late to just sit there pretending not to notice. If only he'd gone to the bathroom, or stepped out of the hall on some errand like Magic Muscle had...

"Now, now, Hell Fire. Calm down. Everyone's having a good time here, what's all this ruckus about?"

The one saving grace was that the other party was the rookie hero Hell Fire. Fire-type heroes flared up fast, but they cooled down just as fast, so if Silver Knife said a few gentle words...

"Sunbae! Help me out!"

Right then, Kang Jin-ho came sprinting up to Silver Knife's side.

"This lunatic's trying to kill me!"

"Why would I kill you? Maybe your mom, sure."

"You hear the way this bastard talks!"

"Want me to kill your dad too?"

By any measure, Hell Fire looked like the one entirely at fault here. Silver Knife opened his mouth to smooth things over with a few reasonable words, but.

"Ahh, fuck it. I can't take this anymore!!!"

Before Silver Knife could get a word out, Hell Fire drew up ether like an absolute madman, and blazing red flame erupted from both his hands!!!

"Sunbae! Block it!"

Kang Jin-ho ducked behind Silver Knife in a flash.

This was the moment for the elder hero, the one carrying a dagger that suppressed other abilities, to split the flames clean in half. But when the fire surged toward him, Silver Knife went white and lurched backward, dodging out of the way.

"Uh, uh oh!!!"

Left suddenly and naturally exposed alone, Kang Jin-ho took the fire full on.

"Wait, wait!"

"What? Huh?"

Right before a scream full of shock and confusion could tear loose.

"Now, now, everyone calm down. It's nothing serious."

Where the flames cleared, Kang Jin-ho stood unharmed, not a single thread of his clothes singed. Because from the start, Hell Fire's flames had been pure visual theater, WWE-style, so to speak.

Kang Jin-ho brushed a few sparks off his shoulder, then turned a steady gaze on Silver Knife, standing well off to the side.

"Sunbae, abandoning your junior and running like that. Honestly, I'm hurt."

"...Sorry. I was so startled, I didn't even realize I was..."

"Isn't that strange, though?"

Kang Jin-ho's voice dropped, cold.

"Doesn't your dagger suppress other abilities, sunbae? You could've just erased the flames with the blade and protected me. So why run first?"

Right.

Silver Knife had been active long enough that his ability was fairly well known. His dagger could erase not just visible flame, but even invisible forces like telekinesis.

And that Silver Knife had backed away without so much as drawing his dagger? Wasn't that far too strange?

That was exactly what the other heroes had started wondering too. Wait, wouldn't it have been better for sunbae to just erase the flames with his ability? Why did he retreat?

"When I asked around, other heroes told me the same thing. Silver Knife-sunbae has changed. His personality's gotten a lot better lately. But is that really a person changing? Or is it a different person entirely?

Magic Muscle-nim told me there's a spy hiding their identity here tonight. I believe that spy is Silver Knife... no. That man pretending to be Silver Knife."

"..."

Silver Knife, no, the 3-rank villain Metal Mayhem, stood frozen without a word.

His ability was to generate and manipulate steel. That let him conjure a dagger out of thin air in an instant, which let him pass himself off as Silver Knife. But.

This was checkmate. He'd already fallen for that cop's design.

Any moment now, that man was going to say show me you can erase abilities with that dagger. And he wouldn't be able to prove it.

Even if he cleared out of here right now, he couldn't dodge an interrogation from the Hero Association. He'd already handed over the pretext.

Where had he gone wrong? Was it when he saw Hell Fire acting up and didn't think, oh, that's just how he is, and let his guard down? Or when he heard the cop was coming to the social and did nothing about it? Or maybe it went back further, to the moment he'd first tried sneaking into the Hero Association at all.

One thing was certain. Escape was impossible in a hotel crawling with heroes. So the best move left was.

"Die!!!"

At the very least, take that crazy cop down with him!

With a venomous roar, countless hunks of steel shot up like lightning in the air around the fake Silver Knife.

Daggers, longswords, maces, throwing stars, all of it. A shower of steel dripping with unmistakable killing intent surged toward Kang Jin-ho all at once.

Other heroes tried to react somehow, but their timing had already been stolen, and Silver Knife's sudden turn had come so fast that there seemed no way to save Kang Jin-ho.

"Hup."

But Kang Jin-ho's response was instant.

He rolled across the floor, dodging the first mace by a hair, then bent his waist back to let a longsword slide harmlessly past. It wasn't just superior physical performance. He didn't realize it himself, but it was the product of thousands of hours spent watching how heroes fought in the game.

"...What?"

The fake Silver Knife, whose surprise killing blow had missed, stood there with his mouth hanging open.

"Take him down!"

"You piece of garbage!"

In that opening, the heroes rushed in and pinned the impostor down thoroughly.

"Are you okay?"

"You all right?"

"Yes."

People crowded around belatedly to check on Kang Jin-ho, but he genuinely hadn't taken so much as a scratch.

"Whoa... what was that just now?"

"You dodged all of that?"

"They said he was an information-type hero..."

Once they confirmed he really was fine, the heroes kept exclaiming in awe. No information-type hero had ever shown off that kind of nimble footwork before.

"..."

But Kang Jin-ho had seen it.

One dagger, one he'd had no way of dodging, had suddenly been dragged down to the floor as if pulled by a shadow.

"..."

He silently thanked Eun-yeong. Villain or not, she'd helped him out, and gratitude was gratitude.

**

After the fake Silver Knife, no, the 3-rank villain Metal Mayhem, had been subdued.

Heroes and hotel staff gathered to handle the belated cleanup. A chandelier smashed to pieces by a mace, a buffet table split clean in half, throwing stars and daggers embedded in the luxury wallpaper...

Watching this genuinely chaotic scene, Kang Jin-ho thought to himself.

"...Not very efficient."

This was a thought that only came to him after the fact, but couldn't he have just told Hell Fire to set things on fire right from the start and skipped straight to arresting the fake Silver Knife?

For now, he was just a lowly cop, and the other party's rank was high enough that it worked out, but later, once his fame built up more and his name started carrying real weight, wouldn't it just be easier to bluster through with I had a hunch?

"Jin-ho, did you see his face earlier?"

"Yes. I saw it too."

Of course, that would only be after he'd sidelined Eun-yeong first.

While Kang Jin-ho quietly dreamed of coasting on reputation alone, Magic Muscle, who'd stepped out briefly and missed the whole thing, came back late and kept showering praise on Hell Fire.

"Hell Fire, I've really got to reconsider you! Not only was that a magnificent performance, but you dove into such a dangerous plan without hesitation! You've got real guts, kid!"

"...Yes! Thank you!"

In truth, it hadn't been a performance at all, just something he said all the time while gaming, and there'd been no thought of cleanup or consequences, he'd just done it because it looked fun, but.

"When I commit, I commit! Hahahaha!!!"

Hell Fire puffed out his chest and laughed proudly. Well, so long as the outcome was good, that was fine, wasn't it?

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