WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 82: Darkness Sometimes Feels Comforting (9)
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-Light City’s monthly crime rate hits an all-time low, declining for three consecutive months.
-The “Kang Jin-ho Effect” proven? Villain asks, “Won’t Kang Jin-ho get transferred to another police station?”
-Requests pouring in from the United States, China, and Japan. “Please send that officer to our city too...”
-Did “Director Baek” really exist? Rumors from the back alleys. Ilbo Ilbo investigates.
A month had passed since Director Baek disappeared.
Light City had become remarkably peaceful.
Of course, crime had not vanished entirely. People still lost their wallets, got drunk and started fights, or used their powers to rob someone’s home. Conflict and crime were only natural wherever people lived.
But... the major incidents had disappeared. The 1-rank villains were lying low to figure out exactly what Kang Jin-ho was, and the lesser fry below them were holding back too, saying, “If you run into Kang Jin-ho by bad luck, you’re headed for a mental breakdown.”
So the only ones committing crimes now were people desperate to put anything in their mouths, or greenhorns who had lost all sense of fear. They rushed in hoping to make money without any real plan, so the heroes could deal with them easily enough.
Were there no experienced villains who had lost their fear? No. Those types were already dead or in prison.
And so, during this sudden stretch of peace, at East Precinct 7...
“...Senior.”
“Yeah.”
“There have been three civilian complaints today.”
“Yeah.”
“Two of them involve cat rescues. One says a cat got inside a car hood and won’t come out... The other says a cat is stuck between some pipes.”
“...I see.”
There was not really anything to do.
Could public servants, especially police officers, the protectors of the people, really be this idle? But Jeong Do-man, their star at paperwork, had already finished everything long ago. Ordinary citizens had stopped visiting much because of the rumors about Kang Jin-ho, and even petty criminals were scarce around here because word had spread that this was Kang Jin-ho’s territory.
As a result, Jeong Do-man was reviewing the same documents for the third time, while Chief Raphael watered the potted plants by the window. With so much free time, the number of pots had already grown to five.
“Chief...!”
At that moment, Officer Son Jin-woo sprang to his feet at the sight of the precinct chief leisurely watering plants.
“...What are you doing?”
“Huh? Uh, what is it?”
“...If you give them that much water, the roots will rot. You need to water them in moderation.”
“Oh, really? Thanks.”
“For what? It’s obvious.”
Naturally, no one was unhappy just because things were quiet. No matter how strong their sense of duty was, no matter how much they wanted to work... there was no reason to complain when the city was peaceful and there was nothing to do.
“Man... things have been great lately. All we have to do is patrol.”
“In novels, this is when the police get fired because people ask what they even do.”
“Hey, idiot. Do you think our city’s citizens are that stupid? And even if we really got fired, what would there be to worry about with Jin-ho around?”
“What if Jin-ho leaves?”
“...That would be a little worrying.”
While the senior officers at the precinct chatted about pointless things...
“...”
“Jin-ho, what’s with that expression?”
“Ah, it’s nothing, Senior.”
Kang Jin-ho had been staring blankly into space. He let out a quiet sigh, making sure Eun-yeong, who was drinking coffee nearby, could not hear.
“I just... have a lot on my mind.”
When he first arrived here, Kang Jin-ho’s goal had been survival. He had urgently needed to come up with the most interesting deductions possible to keep Eun-yeong interested, earn as much karma as he could, and secure a way to make a living.
Now... he no longer needed to worry about such things. His karma, which had been close to five hundred million, was now closer to four hundred million, and the money he earned meant he did not need to worry about something like a karma quota.
Every immediate crisis he had faced was gone, and the city seemed to be growing peaceful. He had even gained the fame and money he had originally wanted.
In short, he had grown comfortable and had no idea what to do next. The only remaining danger was probably Eun-yeong... but things between them seemed to have been going fairly well lately.
Should he look for a way back to Earth? But Kang Jin-ho did not particularly want to return. Even if the information he knew eventually ran out, he would still have his abilities and money... If he left Light City and settled somewhere nice, he could spend the rest of his life in luxury. Was there really any reason to return to reality?
Kang Jin-ho’s concerns were that complicated, but he could not say all that outright.
“I just... don’t know how I should live from now on.”
Once refined and spoken aloud, Kang Jin-ho’s words sounded like the ordinary concern of someone in their twenties.
“...”
Eun-yeong set down the coffee cup in her hand. Then she opened her eyes wide and looked at Kang Jin-ho.
“You worry about things like that too, Jin-ho?”
“...I’m a person too.”
“No, I know that.”
Resting her chin on her hand, Eun-yeong tilted her head.
It was unexpected. She had not thought Kang Jin-ho would have worries like that.
“...Hehe.”
“What is it?”
“Nothing. You’re just cute.”
“...”
Eun-yeong giggled for a while before looking out the window. Shadows fell outside the precinct, and there were so many trees that much of the view was blocked. Still, she could see people passing by.
“You know, I don’t worry about things like that.”
“...I figured you wouldn’t, Senior.”
“Yeah. If you don’t know what to do, just go toward whatever interests you.”
Eun-yeong spoke as she traced circles around the rim of her coffee cup with her finger.
“What looks the most fun. What would be interesting to do. If you follow things like that, you’ll find yourself doing something before you know it. Plans come after that.”
“What looks fun...”
Kang Jin-ho could not answer for a while. Until now, he had never had the leisure to consider something like that. So even now that he could finally breathe, he had no idea what he should do.
“...I’m not sure.”
“Then find out. Slowly.”
“...Yes. Thank you for the advice.”
“For what?”
Eun-yeong returned to drinking her coffee. Kang Jin-ho nodded and decided that he would make dinner tonight.
Oh, right... There was something he had wanted to tell Eun-yeong. Kang Jin-ho straightened slightly.
“Ah, and Senior.”
“Hmm? What is it?”
“I... have something to tell you.”
After looking around, Kang Jin-ho lowered his voice.
“I’ll tell you soon. It’s something serious... I want to organize my thoughts properly before I tell you. When it’s just the two of us.”
Where he had come from, why he was here, and everything else. Kang Jin-ho had finally decided to reveal the truth to Eun-yeong.
“...”
Eun-yeong paused in the middle of drinking her coffee. Then she set down her cup and smiled.
“...Hehe. All right.”
It was the same smile as always.
“I’ll wait.”
But the corners of her mouth were a little softer than usual.
* * *
At the very center of Light City, on the top floor of perhaps the tallest building in the city, or even on Earth.
Crunch.
The number one hero, Bitna, chewed on a snack as she looked down at the city through the window with indifferent eyes. Light City’s night was dazzling, its countless colored lights flashing brightly enough to overwhelm her vision.
Looking down at the shining city, Bitna sorted it as she always did. Things that were dangerous, things that were not dangerous, and things she had not yet decided on...
People said Light City’s crime rate was miraculously declining. Land prices, already high, were rising even further. Villains had begun lying low, and if things continued like this, the city would become a better place.
Bitna did not agree.
Speaking as someone who watched this city from higher than anyone else, and more often than anyone else... villains and crime were not threats to the city.
Bitna divided everything in the city into two categories. Things that posed a threat, and things that did not.
She did not bother with things that posed no threat. Things that showed signs of becoming a threat were eliminated immediately. Lazy as she was, she did not act unless she absolutely had to, and when she did act, she preferred to finish things as quickly as possible.
And Bitna had only one standard for judging a threat.
Could she defeat it, or could she not?
Bitna was confident she could defeat everyone in this city. Whether they were 1-rank villains, S-rank heroes, or people called monsters like the Hermit and Eun-yeong... if it came down to raw strength, Bitna would always win.
But Kang Jin-ho... she did not know. She did not know what his ability was or what he wanted. Was he really an information-type ability user? Could Bitna... defeat that bastard in a fight?
At first, she thought he was in a pre-awakening state. Later, she realized there were too many things about him that could not be explained by the word “pre-awakening.” By now, she was certain Kang Jin-ho was hiding something.
An unknown quantity, its true nature vaguely obscured. A variable she could not grasp. The existence of someone she could not see through even with her ability, “Light,” was unacceptable to Bitna.
Bitna’s existence was the order of this city. To protect that order, there could be no unstable elements.
And Bitna was the type to remove anything that might become a major nuisance in advance.
From now on, Kang Jin-ho was...
“I’ve decided.”
A threat.
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