WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ The Police Do a Better Job Than Heroes

Chapter 54

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Luxury Is In the Details (3)

People tended to assume the rich lived free of worries, but the rich had their own hard lives to live, in their own particular way.

"..."

To be honest, this was just Kang Jin-ho's own speculation. They were people too, so surely they had their own troubles. It wasn't as if being rich guaranteed some happy fairy-tale existence.

"Hmm... where should I even start..."

As if to prove Kang Jin-ho's guess right, Gallon spoke with an expression drained of all energy.

"Not long ago... we held a family party."

The Gallon family, who valued blood and family above all else, held a gathering once a year where every single member came together. A day when everyone scattered across the world reunited under one roof to spend a warm, cheerful time together.

Naturally, on a day like that, far more people passed through the mansion than usual. Family members who'd been away for work or business returned, and running the party itself required plenty of hands.

Staff to carry the food, staff to decorate the venue, staff to haul in every kind of ingredient.

But all of that only applied to the preparation period. This mansion had cutting-edge technology built into it, and once the party actually began, not a single staff member remained inside. Only family, gathered together to catch up on lost time in a warm, harmonious setting.

Good food, expensive liquor, good company, a good time... After the lively hours wound down and the sun began to set, the family, having let off some steam, lingered to share the afterglow, chatting away happily.

"Up until then, the youngest was perfectly fine."

The eldest sister had seen it with her own two eyes, the youngest sipping a drink in the central hall.

Then, the next morning.

The family finally realized. The youngest had vanished without a trace.

More precisely, the youngest's traces had disappeared from the biometric data system. There were only two ways a person could vanish from that kind of system. Either someone had physically erased them from it, or they were dead.

"We searched for the youngest. The whole family spent an entire day tearing through the mansion, hunting for any sign of the child."

But all they'd managed to find were the youngest's torn clothes and a small bloodstain in the bedroom.

At that point, the situation was clear. The youngest was dead.

But how? By whose hand?

"...This matter is deeply troubling for us."

Gallon swirled the liquor in his glass, his words heavy.

The Gallon family valued blood ties above all else, in name if nothing else. And the youngest of such a family had vanished without a trace, right in the middle of their own mansion.

That alone was already humiliating enough, but if they couldn't even catch the culprit on top of it? The family's reputation would end up in the trash.

At the very least, they had to catch whoever did it. Only then could the Gallon family hold their heads up.

"So we put in requests with several heroes."

All of them turned it down. Even with an enormous fee on the table, the reason for the refusals was, well, obvious.

"As you know, this place is saturated with an excessive amount of ether. That's precisely why we came here in the first place."

Because the ether was so dense, using any ability inside this space "always" triggered some kind of anomaly. The power didn't manifest the way the ability user intended, it came out twisted into something strange instead.

For instance, say some ability user tried to create a small shard of ice. The moment they did, the temperature across the whole area would plummet. Or if someone used a mind-reading power, everyone nearby would suddenly hear their own thoughts humming out loud in the air.

The source of any ability was ether itself. The ether flooding this space amplified powers uncontrollably, and that distortion spilled over into the surrounding environment.

Which meant using a power carelessly in this mansion risked wrecking not just the crime scene but the entire estate. The stronger the ability user, the greater that risk. That was exactly why the Gallon family had specifically requested Kang Jin-ho. He was known to be the most likely to crack a case without relying on any power at all.

Of course, where there was an advantage, there was also a drawback. The sheer density of ether here behaved like thick, sticky jelly, meaning any use of a power in the vicinity "always" left a trace behind. If someone thrashed around violently inside a space filled with jelly, wouldn't the jelly tear and leave marks where it snapped?

"Then couldn't the investigation just start from whatever traces are left behind?"

"...That's the second problem."

That was exactly the second problem. Every single member of the Gallon family was an ability user. All of them could feel and sense the flow of ether.

"There's... simply no trace of any ability being used at the scene."

"...Hm."

Which left only two possibilities. Either the youngest had been killed without any power being used at all, or someone had found a way to use a power without leaving a trace.

"Please, uncover the truth."

Gallon said this and extended a hand to Kang Jin-ho. Kang Jin-ho shook it, but felt nothing through the thick hazmat suit. It was little more than a formality.

There was only one thing Kang Jin-ho needed to do now. Whatever it took, he had to uncover the truth of what had happened to the youngest.

"First, let me take a look around this central hall."

"As you like."

"..."

Starting from the beginning, then. As Kang Jin-ho looked around, he felt a strange sense of unease.

The atmosphere was, somehow, calmer than expected. Gallon, who'd asked him to uncover the truth, and the other family members sipping drinks beside him. All of them looked far too composed.

The youngest child of a family that supposedly prized blood above everything might well be dead, and yet no one in the room seemed to be grieving. If he had to guess, they seemed to care less about the fact that the youngest might be dead and more about the damage to the family's reputation, the loss of face the disappearance had caused.

'For a house in mourning... the mood here is way off.'

Just as Kang Jin-ho tilted his head and was about to resume his search.

"You must be exhausted."

A woman approached and offered him a glass. It was the eldest sister, the one who'd last seen the youngest.

"I suppose it'd be hard to drink in that suit."

"...That's true."

The eldest sister took the glass back. Then, lowering her voice, she spoke in a suggestive tone.

"You don't need to try so hard. Just kill some time and head home, that's fine too."

Even if he never solved the case, they'd still make sure he got paid handsomely, so there was no need to push himself. That kind of sweet, gentle suggestion.

"Anyway, good luck."

Watching the eldest sister walk away after that, Kang Jin-ho got a rough sense of what kind of case this was.

Ah, this was definitely one of those cases... wait, hold on, there were two of them? Hm... this might turn out messier than he thought.

Kang Jin-ho knew of two similar cases like this. One that was easy to solve, and one that spiraled into something far bigger and more troublesome. If it was the former, this would wrap up fast. If it was the latter, he'd probably be in for a rough time.

Given the choice, Kang Jin-ho wanted it to be the former, and if possible, to find some way to score points with the "number one ranked" hero somewhere nearby. Well... there was no telling which one it was until he actually cracked it open.

"...I'd like to hear a bit more testimony. Could you gather the staff who were in and out of here on the day of the party?"

Having made up his mind, Kang Jin-ho asked Gallon to gather the staff. He then took the staff who had come and gone from the mansion that day and headed for the scene of the incident.

A group of people in orange hazmat suits arrived at the youngest's room. There were quite a few of them, but since this was a wealthy family's mansion, the room was spacious enough to fit them all without trouble.

"Hm..."

A room that was ornate yet tidy, packed with furniture yet somehow felt empty all the same. Kang Jin-ho slowly looked the room over once, then abruptly grabbed hold of one of the staff members.

"So, why'd you do it?"

"..."

An out-of-nowhere question. The suit's visor was semi-transparent, so no expression showed through, but one thing was certain, the staff member he'd grabbed had gone completely still.

"...?"

"..."

The other staff members, meanwhile, all shifted with visible confusion. Everyone gathered here only handled odd jobs, so being suddenly accused like that left them with nothing to say.

No one spoke up directly, but a restless, murmuring unease spread through the group.

Then, the staff member Kang Jin-ho had grabbed let out a small sigh.

"...How did you know?"

With those words, the staff member slowly pulled off the suit's helmet.

The face revealed underneath was...

"Huh?"

"Wha?"

Unmistakably the face of the youngest, the one everyone believed was dead!

"Wait, wait a sec..."

"Hold on...!"

He'd thought this was some secret murder mystery inside a mansion, but it turned out to be a staged disappearance by the youngest? Why would they do that? While the other staff members were all reeling from the sudden turn of events that had unfolded the moment Kang Jin-ho arrived.

"...Hm."

Kang Jin-ho, for his part, was busy running the numbers in his head.

Looking at the youngest's face now... this case looked like it might be tangled up with a 1-rank villain after all!

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