WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ The Police Do a Better Job Than Heroes

Chapter 52

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Luxury Is In the Details (1)

Light City had countless police substations. Just counting the precincts themselves, there were four under the central headquarters, East, North, South, and West. And beneath each of those precincts sat a web of smaller substations.

If you asked an ordinary officer working one of those substations which day was busiest, most would say Friday. The next day was the weekend, so people drank, and where drinking happened, fights tended to follow.

Today was Tuesday morning. Ordinarily one of the quietest days of the week.

"...Ma'am. We can't go out and find the dog ourselves. But if someone spots it, we can give you a call..."

"You lost your wallet... huh? You want us to go find it personally? No, no. That's just not something we can do. We only have so many officers..."

"You had a bit to drink, and when you woke up your phone was cracked... and you're sure someone else did it... I'm really sorry, but is there any chance it was you?"

East Precinct 7 was packed shoulder to shoulder today. Phones rang without stopping, keyboards clattered nonstop, and the crowd of complainants brought with them every smell imaginable.

The officers stationed there kept darting between desks, throwing constant glances toward the locker room.

"Hey, where's that Kang Jin-ho guy?"

"If it's Mr. Kang Jin-ho, maybe he can find my wallet?"

"Kang Jin-ho! Where'd Kang Jin-ho go!"

Every single citizen crowding the station was looking for the same person.

-[BREAKING] 2-rank villain 'Lethe' captured alive... who is the rookie officer who reportedly dominated the scene?

-EXCLUSIVE) The genius cop who left even A-rank heroes stunned... England's queen says 'I want to make him my knight.'

-Every officer before him was just cashing a fake paycheck... the birth of Light City's first real police officer...?

The news that a lowly substation officer, not some flashy hero, had captured a 2-rank villain and recovered ten billion won for the national treasury felt like something out of fiction. It dominated breaking news segments and the front pages of every online community, and the three syllables of "Kang Jin-ho" burned themselves into the minds of Light City's citizens.

Some might wonder why all the fuss. In truth, this level of fuss was ordinary life for a B-rank hero or above. Strictly speaking, the fame Kang Jin-ho gained from this incident placed him somewhere between B-rank and A-rank.

But in an era where heroes had replaced celebrities and doubled as advertising models, B-rank status alone carried enough weight to draw crowds to a police station on a weekday morning.

The reason people flocked to Precinct 7 came down to one thing: they wanted to see the now-famous face of Kang Jin-ho. And while they were at it, they hoped, if possible, that he might solve their problems too.

Call it a kind of pilgrimage, if you wanted to be generous about it. The motives were a little impure, sure.

"Jin-ho. Everybody out there's looking for you."

"Go find that lady's wallet already."

"...I think I'll stay right here. How am I supposed to find a lost wallet?"

"Heh, want me to tell them you already went home?"

"No, that's not necessary either..."

Holed up in the locker room, well away from the crowd outside, Kang Jin-ho sipped coffee with a few fellow officers. Thanks to Precinct Chief Raphael's consideration, he'd been given a moment to hide from the mob.

"This coffee's good."

"Free coffee's always the best kind."

"Officer Kang, thanks for this."

"Ah, it's nothing."

Part of the warm mood in the room probably had to do with the fact that Kang Jin-ho was the one who'd bought the coffee.

Fame aside, what he felt most clearly was the shift in how people treated him personally.

Inside the Metropolitan Police Agency, his performance review and salary had shot up in ways that broke every precedent. The notebook Lethe had carried was packed with details of memories she'd sealed away through her transactions.

The government, not about to let this opportunity slip, had been running wild with the notebook's contents on both the political and financial fronts. And the more the government ran wild, the higher Kang Jin-ho's name climbed.

'We promise unlimited support for Officer Kang Jin-ho. Whatever you wish to pursue, so long as it does not run counter to the national interest of the Republic of Korea, we will spare no resource in supporting you.'

Word had started circulating that Kang Jin-ho's standing within the police now outranked even Light City's chief of police. And really, from the president's point of view, wouldn't Kang Jin-ho look far more favorable than a police chief who hadn't produced results?

'We're from the Hero Association.'

The Hero Association wasn't about to be outdone. In recognition of his role in capturing the 2-rank villain Lethe, they'd handed over a reward of ten billion won. Since Kang Jin-ho was police, he'd lost ownership of the notebook itself, but Lethe's symbolic weight as a villain was worth that much on its own.

'Have you considered working as a hero?'

'Not at the moment.'

'I see.'

Along with the money came a subtle scouting attempt, but Kang Jin-ho's body currently belonged to the police force. At least until something changed with Eun-yeong.

So Kang Jin-ho, having received ten billion won from the government and another ten billion from the Hero Association, walked away with tax exemption on the whole windfall, not a single won owed. With that much money, he could have lived the young-rich life he'd once dreamed of.

'You're donating it?'

'Yeah, well...'

Kang Jin-ho barely got to smell the twenty billion won before giving most of it away.

'He donated everything he's earned so far?'

'Oh, my God.'

'We should elect this man president!'

The steady stream of donations had done its own part in growing Kang Jin-ho's fame. In truth, it was mostly to clear his karma and boost his physical abilities, but hey, good outcomes were good outcomes either way.

And even if he'd decided not to donate, Kang Jin-ho didn't really have anywhere to spend the money.

His entire life radius amounted to the commute between the substation and his apartment. He'd recently found a place just a five-minute walk from the precinct, so he didn't need an expensive car, and he had no reason to buy some grand house either.

The closest he came to spending money was eating a slightly pricier meal now and then, or buying coffee for his coworkers like today. Since he couldn't just quit the police force on a whim, holding onto cash meant nothing more than watching a number sit there.

Besides these big, dramatic shifts, there were smaller changes too. Small, but noticeable.

"Oh, Eun-yeong. You finish what I asked?"

"Yes. Just wrapped it up."

"Wow, you're always so on top of things."

"HiCiSi. Of course~."

"..."

Ever since the Lethe incident, Eun-yeong's laugh had changed. Subtly, but strangely.

"Um. Have you always laughed like that?"

"HiCiSi. Isn't it cute?"

"..."

Whether to read this as pressure or as a joke, Kang Jin-ho still couldn't say.

"You seem to be in a good mood."

"You think so?"

"Yeah..."

"If you say so, then I guess I am."

Digging any deeper felt risky, since there was no telling what kind of answer might come back, so Kang Jin-ho let his sentence trail off and buried his face in his coffee cup instead. Keeping quiet was the safest move here.

Things went on in a way that wasn't quite normal, but was, in its own fashion, peaceful enough.

"We got a rookie? There he is."

Precinct Chief Raphael wore an unusual expression as he spotted Kang Jin-ho and let out a long sigh.

"You don't look too happy, Chief. Something wrong?"

"There's something, alright."

Raphael set something down on the table from inside his jacket. Expensive-looking stationery, the kind that practically screamed money at first glance. Kang Jin-ho understood now what people meant when they said paper could smell like cash.

"Got a request from the Hero Association. Want to hear it?"

"A request?"

Besides dispatching heroes when incidents occurred, the Hero Association also handled requests from citizens and connected them with heroes. But that service was, as far as Kang Jin-ho knew, meant strictly for heroes.

'...Another scouting offer?'

Not long ago they'd shown up with a stack of cash trying to sweet-talk him. So Kang Jin-ho assumed this was more of the same and skimmed through the letter.

"...This request came from the core district?"

"Exactly."

Kang Jin-ho's expression hardened as he read on. This wasn't a scouting offer. For one thing, the letter had come from Light City's innermost core, the district even most heroes couldn't casually enter, the place reserved for genuine VIPs.

The request was asking Kang Jin-ho to travel to the core district and resolve an incident there.

"...Why me?"

His shoulders drew in slightly. No matter how much his name had grown lately, the core district of Light City was a different world entirely. Surely there was a line of top-tier heroes waiting for a chance like this. Why him specifically?

"There's one condition attached to this request."

Raphael nodded and tapped the letter.

"While you're solving this case... you're not allowed to use ether."

"Ether?"

"Right. Meaning you can't use your ability. I wasn't given the details, but they were very clear that you absolutely cannot use any superpower."

"..."

Kang Jin-ho's shoulders, which had drawn in a moment ago, straightened right back out. The uncertainty in his eyes gave way to a sudden gleam.

"That, I can handle!"

Deduction without ether was, after all, his true specialty.

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