WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ The Police Do a Better Job Than Heroes

Chapter 59

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Luxury Is In the Details (8)

About three days later, in the main hall of the Gallon estate.

"Everyone's cups filled? Then... to the youngest!"

"To the youngest!"

That day, the main hall of the Gallon estate hosted another lavish party. This time it was to celebrate the youngest son escaping Body Snatcher's clutches and safely regaining his health.

"So, hyung. I haven't been working as staff in the core district for very long, but... is this neighborhood always throwing parties like this?"

"When rich folks are cooped up at home all the time, how bored do you think they get? They've got so much money they probably just want to spend some."

"Ahh."

Underneath that was probably also the boredom of not being able to leave the core district because of villains. People whose lives were so comfortable they'd grown bored wanted something, anything, to fill the time.

"Now, now. Our guests, this way please."

And for this meaningful party, three special guests had been invited.

"Let's give everyone a warm welcome. First, the S-rank hero who personally apprehended Body Snatcher. Tienrang!"

"Pleasure to meet you all. Hah."

First, the S-rank hero famous for a foul personality but undeniable ability, Tienrang.

"Next, the mastermind who designed this entire operation. Officer Kang Jin-ho!"

"...Hello."

Second, the genius officer whose devilish scheme trapped Body Snatcher, Kang Jin-ho.

"And finally... um... um..."

"Father, this is Officer Park Eun-yeong."

"Ah, right. Officer Kang Jin-ho's colleague. Officer Park Eun-yeong!"

"Hello, everyone~"

Clap clap clap clap clap.

The Gallon family greeted their three special guests with a round of dignified applause. Tienrang and Eun-yeong both wore quite pleasant expressions. Kang Jin-ho's, though, was not so pleasant.

Honestly, Kang Jin-ho would rather have died than come here.

The reason was obvious. All the attention from the case was landing squarely on him. The whole story was unfolding as if he had orchestrated it. He'd wanted, with all his heart, to hand every bit of credit to Tienrang and quietly slip away.

"So we're saying I solved the whole case start to finish?"

"Yes, Tienrang."

"Hey now. What do you take me for? I don't go stealing credit just because I'm a hero."

The problem was that Tienrang turned out to be a pretty stand-up guy.

"I'll admit, among S-rank heroes I'm on the... hot-tempered side. But I'm not that shameless. Sure, I'm the one who came in and caught the bastard. But who set the whole thing up in the first place? You did."

"No, really, I'm fine with it..."

"Okay. If that's really how you feel, I'll take the favor. But fifty-fifty! Let's call it joint credit, clean and simple. Huh? I had a blast this time too. Hahahaha!!!"

"...Hah, hah."

"Can you hold your liquor? This stuff's expensive. Have a drink."

In a meeting where he'd gone to dump every scrap of credit off his own shoulders, Kang Jin-ho had somehow ended up earning nothing but Tienrang's overwhelming goodwill. And because Tienrang went around afterward proclaiming that "this Kang Jin-ho kid is the real deal!", his fame had skyrocketed for absolutely no reason...

Truthfully, Kang Jin-ho didn't mind getting famous. He'd received an eye-watering reward from the Gallon family for this case, used the money to buy a big house near the police station outright, and racked up a generous chunk of karma for repelling a 1-rank villain. All told, he'd come out of this case very well.

But there was exactly one reason his face looked this bad right now.

"So, Jin-ho."

"...Yes, ma'am."

"How exactly did you catch Body Snatcher?"

The woman in front of him asked with a bright, beaming smile. Eun-yeong was the reason.

Eun-yeong had insisted, forcefully, that she absolutely had to attend this party too. Kang Jin-ho had thought, isn't that physically impossible? But.

"Cleared. Thanks for your cooperation."

"Yes, thank you."

"?!"

Somehow, through whatever means, she had managed to pass the core district's ironclad security screening. Whether it had something to do with the "leave" she'd taken, or whether she'd used some mysterious method Kang Jin-ho couldn't even begin to imagine, he had no idea.

What mattered was that Eun-yeong was standing inside Light City's core district right now. And that she was giving him a catlike, smiling look.

"..."

Kang Jin-ho thought to himself that even if he made a huge fortune someday, even if he became the most powerful person in this whole world, there was no way he'd ever shake Eun-yeong off his trail. So he could either keep on friendly terms with her from here on, or lock her up in some prison somewhere, and only then would he ever feel at ease.

"First, let me explain how I caught the youngest son. When I arrived, the scene already felt off. There were bloodstains, but far too little to suggest anyone had actually died. The torn clothes also looked unnatural somehow."

Carrying that resolve, Kang Jin-ho did his best to begin the explanation.

"I see."

"And it struck me as odd that someone could slip out of this huge mansion without a single person noticing. That's when it hit me. The youngest son hadn't died or been kidnapped, he'd fled on his own, and he must have used some method to avoid people's eyes."

"Ahh~ and you figured that method was the hazmat suit the staff wear?"

"Correct."

Up to this point, Kang Jin-ho's explanation had been fairly convincing. The problem came right after.

"Good. I think that was excellent reasoning. But Jin-ho."

"...Yes, ma'am."

"That tells us you noticed the youngest son was alive. How did you figure out Body Snatcher was inside that suit? There's no way to know that, is there?"

"..."

"People are saying you seemed to have figured out what kind of case it was before you even entered the core district. That's why you set the trap to catch Body Snatcher. But Jin-ho, didn't you not know the details of the request until you actually went into the core district? Or am I wrong..."

Here it was. Kang Jin-ho had wracked his brain for days over this, but this was one thing he had no decent excuse for.

"Tell me! How you did it. But be honest with me, okay? Hehe."

The beautiful woman's face, beaming with a smile. If he judged purely on looks, Eun-yeong was exactly Kang Jin-ho's type. But he couldn't just enjoy that.

Kang Jin-ho sensed it. His answer right now mattered. Depending on what he said, Eun-yeong's attitude going forward would change dramatically.

He considered brushing it off again, chalking it up to luck or just some gut feeling like before. But in a situation like this, feeding her that kind of line wouldn't be convincing at all.

In the end, Kang Jin-ho made up his mind about something. He leaned close to Eun-yeong's ear and spoke in a low voice.

"I'm only telling you this, ma'am... but actually, my ability isn't 'gut feeling.'"

"..."

"It's a somewhat different kind of ability. I'll tell you once we're back at the station. Is that alright?"

"..."

Eun-yeong gave no answer to his offer. Just as he wondered whether he should show a little more of his hand.

"That's, way too close."

"Ah, sorry."

"...Fine. Tell me when we get back."

"..."

That was the end of the conversation. Eun-yeong, however, didn't show her face to Kang Jin-ho again for the rest of the party.

**

The party was drawing to a close at last.

The staff helping run the event were leaving one by one, and Kang Jin-ho was in the middle of packing up the gifts he'd received when the Gallon patriarch quietly called him over.

"Officer Kang. Got a moment?"

"Ah, yes, sir."

"I truly don't know how to thank you enough for this."

Gallon clasped Kang Jin-ho's hand with a genuinely moved expression.

"Because of you, our youngest came home safe. And not just that, you kept our entire family from suffering enormous damage. I won't forget this debt."

"It's nothing, sir. I came because I took the request. I just did my job."

"So modest, hoho."

Gallon, smiling contentedly, suddenly seemed to remember something and let go of Kang Jin-ho's hand.

"Ah, and one more thing."

With the casual air of an afterthought, the Gallon patriarch pulled a small card from inside his coat.

"Here. Take this."

"Uh... what's this?"

"The number one ranked hero. Do you know her? She said she'd like to meet you sometime."

"...!"

"Hmm, or perhaps you're too busy these days to make time? In that case..."

"Yes! I have plenty of time! Plenty and then some!"

For the first time since the party began, Kang Jin-ho's face broke into a full, beaming smile.

"Just call anytime, and I'll come running!"

"Aren't you a police officer? Your work schedule..."

"I'll just take leave. It's fine!"

"Isn't leave something you have to request in advance..."

"I get special treatment, so it's fine! Really!"

Kang Jin-ho pleaded his case with earnest desperation, even grabbing the Gallon patriarch's hand right back in turn.

At last, he could see a path. A path out from under Eun-yeong's pressure, and toward the life of young and rich!

**

Somewhere in Light City.

There was a room where everything was pure white.

A pure white ceiling, a pure white floor, a pure white chair, a pure white desk.

In the middle of a space where it was unclear where the light was even coming from, how large the room actually was, or whether this was even real.

"So Body Snatcher fled."

"Yes. He's been poking around everywhere trying to find out who the traitor is."

"...Troublesome."

There was a man dressed in a black hanbok.

A man who held the philosophy that, because he did dirty work, everything around him had to be bright. And yet a man who had made up his mind not to hesitate to dirty his own hands.

Something that clearly existed, yet whose true form could never be grasped. The darkest shadow cast over Light City.

A genius of evil. Director Baek.

"This is concerning."

The board he had so carefully arranged lately kept getting disrupted. The drug deal at the subway station. The Marionette incident that brainwashed the Metropolitan Police Agency's ace. The fake "Silver Knife" he'd planted inside the Hero Association. And more recently, Metal Mayhem, Lethe, and now the Body Snatcher affair.

The pieces he had so painstakingly placed were all being swept off the board, one after another.

There was only one man behind all this interference. Kang Jin-ho.

Was he simply a lucky amateur? Or the emergence of another genius who could rival him? Director Baek's eyes flashed for a moment.

"Dolsoe."

"Yes, Director."

"Get ready to go out."

Director Baek fastened a small button-like device onto his chest, and in an instant his clothes shifted into the plain suit of an ordinary office worker.

"I need to go see this with my own eyes."

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