WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ The Police Do a Better Job Than Heroes

Chapter 6

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Becoming a Rookie Officer (6)

-Karma represents the accumulated total of the sins you have committed.

-You have taken 485,219,903 lives to date.

-If you fail to clear your karma before you die...

"Games are a disease. Waste enough time on that electronic garbage and you'll regret it someday."

"..."

Why did his high school homeroom teacher's old lecture have to surface right now? If he'd known this was coming, he would've dropped gaming entirely and studied like a proper student, gone to a better college.

"No, no. Even so, this can't be right."

Kang Jin-ho could say with confidence that he'd lived his life with a clear conscience. He'd never done anything heroic, sure, but he'd given up his seat to elderly people on the subway, helped carry heavy bags, that kind of thing.

Killed over four hundred million people? Obviously he'd only killed them because it was a game. Because he was bored, because it was fun, because the feature existed and he wanted to see it work!

Even theme park simulators let you drown people or drop them off cliffs, that was just how these games went. And HiCiSi was a city simulator on top of that, watching a villain tear a city apart had a strange thrill to it.

And the developers, sick as they were, had gone and added features like "trigger a tsunami" or "drop a meteor," so of course Kang Jin-ho, hardcore gamer that he was, had gone and tried them out of pure curiosity.

"..."

The result: 485,219,903 deaths.

Considering Light City was a mega-city with a population pushing a hundred million, killing only five hundred million might almost count as restrained play, relatively speaking.

-Current karma: 485,219,303

-Remaining monthly quota: 4,400

That "relatively speaking" did nothing to help him right now. There was a certain crushing weight that came with a number like five hundred million, no matter how you tried to spin it.

"Haah..."

The sigh slipped out on its own. Sighing wouldn't change anything, though. Right now he needed to look at the situation as objectively as possible and figure out a plan going forward.

Kang Jin-ho drank a glass of cold water, then pressed his finger against the line that read "monthly quota."

-Remaining monthly quota: 4,400

-Case resolved. Karma decreased by 500.

-Daily duties completed. Karma decreased by 100.

-Failure to reduce karma by the required monthly quota will result in severe penalties.

-Karma decreases by 100 every time you complete a day of duty as a police officer.

"...Fine, I'll let the annoying bold asterisks slide. But why does working as a cop knock karma down?"

-Karma decreases because the act contributes to social order. Working as a firefighter, doctor, or hero also reduces your karma value daily.

"Right, because it's a good deed. Got it."

Kang Jin-ho let out a hollow laugh, watching the status window generate its message like it was actually answering him.

He stared blankly at the ceiling for a while, then slapped his own cheek, hard, and snapped himself back to focus.

Spilled milk. No, spilled game possession, more like. The number under "monthly quota" sat heavy on his chest, but if he thought about it calmly, the situation wasn't as dire as it first looked.

He'd caught a café thief today more or less by accident, and karma had already dropped by 500. On top of that, every day he worked as a cop knocked off another 100. Over a full month, that baseline alone added up to 3,000.

If he just kept solving cases every single day like this... wouldn't the quota fill itself pretty fast?

No, actually, this was an opportunity. If catching some nobody café thief dropped karma by 500, what would happen if he threw a major villain in prison? Wouldn't that clear out way more karma at once?

Light City's crime records, the identities of villains hiding in the shadows, the details of every case, all of it sat in Kang Jin-ho's head like a walkthrough guide.

Knowing the answers made solving the problems trivial. If he committed to catching criminals from here on out, that five-hundred-million karma total would shrink fast, and the fame that came with it would let him naturally make contact with the number one ranked hero.

Then he'd get their cooperation, hand over his insane direct superior Park Eun-yeong, tuck her away neatly in a prison cell.

And after that... quit the force, sweep up whatever hidden slush funds or lucky breaks the city had stashed away for himself, and live out the rest of his life young, rich, and free. Wasn't that the plan?

A smile crept onto Kang Jin-ho's face without him noticing.

From here on, there was only one job.

Solve cases. Catch criminals. Get as famous as possible!

**

"Hm? Jin-ho? What are you thinking about?"

"No, it's nothing."

Nothing like that happened again.

Surprisingly, being a police officer didn't mean showing up to every incident scene. That went double for a cop in Light City.

Light City had plenty of petty crime to begin with. But even out in the districts, if the police never responded, wouldn't public order fall apart?

"Just got a call in! A robber's got a gun on a convenience store worker, taken them hostage!"

"Oh, yeah? Everybody suit up! Prep to move out! Grab your cuffs and stun guns, and in case..."

"A hero just responded and already handled it!"

"All right, forget everything I just said! Only two of us go out to photograph the scene and take witness statements, everyone else stand down!"

Heroes existed here. Faster than any cop, stronger than any cop, far more reliable. The police ended up less about catching criminals and more about showing up late to handle the paperwork afterward.

"No traffic control today... just patrol later. You done with the report?"

"Yes. Want to check it over?"

"Yeah. Excuse me for a sec~"

So even when Kang Jin-ho showed up to a scene, there was basically zero chance of earning karma. All he ever came back with was a pile of tedious administrative work.

Lately Kang Jin-ho's daily routine had boiled down to patrol, traffic control, and paperwork inside the substation. Right now he was writing up a report with Park Eun-yeong's help. (He didn't shake anymore just from being around her, at least.)

"Haah."

He stopped mid-report and let out a sigh without meaning to. His day to day right now looked less like the spectacular life of a police officer and more like the life of an ordinary civil servant. It wasn't that he hated this life, closer to paperwork than criminals, closer to drunks stumbling home than car chases. But he still had karma to clear.

Remaining monthly quota: 2,200

Seven working days left this month. That meant he needed to knock off another 1,500 karma. If a small case guaranteed at least 500, that meant he had to close out three more cases minimum to hit quota.

"Isn't there some case I could handle somewhere..."

The mutter slipped out of him, frustration leaking through. Eun-yeong, who'd been reviewing his report, turned her head, eyes sparkling with curiosity.

"Hm? What was that?"

"No, it's, um..."

"Are you bored because you don't get to catch a criminal yourself, like your first day?"

"...No. Sorry."

"Honestly, I feel the same way sometimes, but even so, you shouldn't say things like that. If we get called out, that means citizens are dealing with something bad. Isn't it better if the police have as little to respond to as possible?"

"You're right. That was a slip of the tongue."

Kang Jin-ho nodded along, but inside he was thinking, this villain sure loves playing the saint. Light City's strongest villain, delivering a speech like that.

Part of him wanted to snap back, "You're one to talk," but Kang Jin-ho was too much of a decent, upstanding person to say something that cruel, so he barely managed to hold it in.

Instead, playing the part of the hot-blooded rookie officer, he let a note of disappointment slip into his voice.

"But it's not that there are no cases, right? It's that the heroes handle everything before we even get the chance to respond."

"That's true."

Eun-yeong nodded, then her eyes suddenly gleamed with something almost sly, and she said,

"Maybe that's why... sometimes I wish heroes didn't exist. Then we'd actually have work to do."

"...Uh, um."

"Oh, forget I said that. You didn't hear it, right?"

"Of course not!"

The instant Eun-yeong's crimson eyes turned on him, Kang Jin-ho's head bobbed in a nod before he could stop it. Of course he hadn't heard anything. He couldn't exactly promise to remember it for generations, could he.

The rare glimpses of Eun-yeong's villain side still sent chills straight down Kang Jin-ho's spine. He had to keep reminding himself. This woman was insane. Never, ever do anything that might set her off.

"Anyway, enough chit chat. Let's finish checking the report. Right here, the part about the reporting route, you need to be careful when you enter this because..."

"Yes, I'm listening closely."

Just as the two of them settled back into the paperwork.

Brrrrring.

"Yes, this is East Precinct 7 substation, Light City. How can I help you? Uh, um. Sorry, where are you calling from? Ah, yes. Could I get the caller's name and their relationship to..."

The phone rang, and Eun-yeong carried on the call for a while.

Then, a moment later.

"Hey, Jin-ho. A case just came in. Want to head out together?"

"Yes! I've been waiting!"

"Our Jin-ho, always so full of energy. It's nice to see."

Kang Jin-ho shot up out of his seat and got ready to move out immediately.

He needed to close out at least one case today, and fast!

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