WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 83
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“Yawn...”
After finishing a tedious night shift and handing things over to the morning crew, Sergeant Kim was about to leave when he stopped in front of Kang Jin-ho’s desk.
“Jin-ho?”
Kang Jin-ho usually gave the officers coming off the night shift a friendly greeting, but today, he was staring intently at his phone.
“Jin-ho, what’s with that look on your face today?”
“...Me?”
“Yeah. What have you been searching on your phone this whole time? Let me see.”
“No, wait...!”
Sergeant Kim stole a glance at the screen. Kang Jin-ho hurriedly turned it off, but it was already too late.
-Recommend a quiet, atmospheric place in Light City.
-How to bring up a serious conversation in a nice setting.
-How should I begin an important conversation?
“...”
“...”
Sergeant Kim rubbed his chin as if deep in thought. Then, a moment later...
“Hey! Everyone, get over here!”
“What is it?”
“I think Jin-ho’s planning to propose.”
“What? He’s finally doing it?”
“No, no, it’s not that...!”
Kang Jin-ho waved his hands, trying to explain, but things had already spiraled out of control. Chief Raphael abandoned his watering can and rushed over, Officer Ahn Seong-sil threw aside his phone and shot to his feet, and the other officers started recording.
“What about a ring? Did you get a ring?”
“I told you, it’s not like that.”
“Hehe... What do you mean it’s not, you punk?”
“Then what is it? You said you were going somewhere nice to have a serious conversation.”
“It’s just... a serious conversation.”
“So what’s this serious conversation about?”
“...”
There was no way Kang Jin-ho could say, “I’m from another world, and this place is exactly like a game I used to play.”
Nor could he think of any other excuse.
As Kang Jin-ho opened and closed his mouth without finding anything to say...
“Senior.”
Jeong Do-man, holding a notebook labeled “Volume 5,” nodded with a solemn expression.
“I sincerely support your decision, Senior. May I ask how you plan to propose?”
“No, I...”
“This must be recorded for posterity. How will this city’s greatest genius confess his love? I’m not trying to pick it apart as mere gossip! This belongs in the history books!”
“...”
Kang Jin-ho rubbed his forehead, realizing the situation had slipped completely out of his hands. Really, being mistaken for someone planning a proposal was better than telling them the truth.
While all this commotion was going on...
“...Hehe.”
Eun-yeong sat at her desk, smiling softly as she watched Kang Jin-ho.
Unable to meet her gaze, Kang Jin-ho quietly turned his head away.
* * *
That night, Kang Jin-ho could not sleep. He lay on the living room sofa, staring blankly at the ceiling.
“Is this really right?”
He had arranged to meet Eun-yeong tomorrow. The place was a park in central Light City, famous for its beautiful pond. He had long since sorted out what he wanted to say, but now that the day was approaching, he could not help hesitating.
The Eun-yeong Kang Jin-ho knew was a mad villain. In HiCiSi, Eun-yeong had been something close to a natural disaster.
She did whatever she pleased, and if something displeased her, she could bury even a 1-rank villain. Was it really wise to reveal his greatest secret to someone like that?
“But...”
Kang Jin-ho slowly looked back through his memories.
Since arriving in this world, what kind of person had the Eun-yeong he personally knew been?
She greeted civilians warmly when they came in with complaints. She always wore a kind smile while on patrol. She seemed blunt with others, yet remembered their birthdays. She told Chief Raphael’s daughter stories about dreams. She said she became a police officer because she was curious about why other people acted the way they did.
Limiting himself to the Eun-yeong he had personally seen... she was far from a mad villain. If anything, she was someone who helped the city.
Maybe the Eun-yeong in the game and the Eun-yeong in this world were different people. Or perhaps this was before Eun-yeong had truly gone mad.
And when he thought about it, Kang Jin-ho could not claim to know much about the Eun-yeong from the game either. All he had seen were other villains speaking fearfully of her, heroes spreading rumors about her, and the battle scene when he arrested her. Afterward, Eun-yeong had been taken straight to prison without saying a word.
Her background, or how she came to earn such a terrible reputation, had never been covered at all.
Yet Kang Jin-ho had feared her from the start and decided she was a monster. Simply because she was too strong, and because everyone else called her a monster.
And yet, Eun-yeong had devotedly helped him all along. There had been the condition that it had to be interesting, but that did not change what she had shown him.
Eun-yeong... had stayed by Kang Jin-ho’s side from beginning to end, and she had trusted him. Even while he remained wary of her, he relied on her, and Eun-yeong knew that without ever letting it show.
“...I’m sorry.”
...Kang Jin-ho might have misunderstood Eun-yeong. For more than a year.
And, on the other hand...
“...”
Kang Jin-ho silently rubbed his face.
He might be in love with her.
Maybe it was simply because he had never seen a woman this beautiful. Maybe it was because her little giggle while they ate together was so adorable. Or maybe it was because she always said she believed in him and waited for him.
He did not know exactly when or why he had begun to like her. But by now, Kang Jin-ho was in love with Eun-yeong.
Still, whatever happened, one thing was clear.
Kang Jin-ho... did not want to lie anymore.
* * *
The following evening.
The park in central Light City was quieter than Kang Jin-ho had expected. The area was one of the city’s wealthiest neighborhoods, and it was a weekday evening.
“Wow, this is nice.”
Eun-yeong leaned against the railing and smiled as she looked down at the pond. Her long black hair fluttered in the breeze, and she wore a pure white dress.
“More importantly... Jin-ho.”
“Yes, Senior.”
“People at the precinct were talking about you.”
“...They were.”
Kang Jin-ho avoided Eun-yeong’s eyes and scratched the back of his head awkwardly. Then he stood beside her and looked down at the pond as well. It was night, so he could not see into the water, only Light City’s beautiful nightscape reflected across its surface.
Brilliant lights, and a tall tower rising in their midst. Light Tower.
“You can see Light Tower from here too.”
“Yeah. It looks really close from here.”
“...”
Suddenly, Kang Jin-ho felt a chill run down the back of his neck.
Actually, he had felt it for a while. From the moment they arrived at the park, the back of his neck had been prickling for no reason. It felt as though someone were watching him. He had never felt anything like this before, so it had unsettled him.
It’s probably just nerves.
Kang Jin-ho lightly shook his head. Of course he was nervous. When people were nervous, their bodies did strange things.
I’ve been too quiet. Say something.
Just as Kang Jin-ho turned toward Eun-yeong to make a joke...
“Senior?”
Eun-yeong was looking up at Light Tower instead of at him. She was smiling... but her eyes were narrowed, like a cat on guard against something.
“...Senior?”
“Hm? What’s wrong?”
Eun-yeong turned her head and smiled as though nothing had happened.
“So, what did you want to say?”
“Um.”
Kang Jin-ho took a deep breath to steady himself.
He had rehearsed these words countless times in his mind, but saying them aloud was far more nerve-racking than he expected. Still, it was fine. Even if he did not say exactly what he had prepared... he could simply be honest.
“Senior, well, I...”
And just as Kang Jin-ho was about to tell Eun-yeong his true feelings... his thoughts, for the first time...
-Beeeeng.
Suddenly, the city began to shine pure white.
“...Huh?”
Not just the city. The entire world was flooded with white. Sound disappeared, color disappeared, and nothing but white swallowed everything.
Within that light, Kang Jin-ho barely saw it.
For the first time, every trace of a smile vanished from Eun-yeong’s face.
It was an expression he had never seen in more than a year. There was no playfulness, no languor, no composure, not even irritation.
Her face went cold and taut, every nerve on edge as she hurriedly spoke.
“Jin-ho, get do-”
KRAAAASH!!!!!
Before Eun-yeong could finish, a deafening blast tore the world apart.
Kang Jin-ho lost consciousness without even understanding what had happened.
* * *
“...Ugh.”
After some time had passed, Kang Jin-ho slowly opened his eyes. His ears felt muffled and his whole body ached, but he managed to push himself up.
“...”
When he looked around, the world had changed. The park where they had just been walking was gone. All that remained was blackened earth and the scattered ruins of things that had once existed.
The smell of burning filled the air, and steam rose from the pond, which had evaporated. At the center of all that devastation...
“...”
Eun-yeong stood there.
With her back to Kang Jin-ho, she stood as though shielding him. Shadows rising from beneath her feet rippled around her. Some wrapped around her body like armor, while others rose like wings and spread in every direction.
Even from afar, he could feel the crushing pressure. An ether concentration unlike anything he had ever felt from any villain, intense enough to make his head buzz. A 1-rank villain or an S-rank hero would not last even a minute if placed before her.
A shadow holding a depth beyond darkness, black enough to swallow everything. Kang Jin-ho instinctively knew this was Eun-yeong’s full power.
The true battle stance of the 1-rank villain Eun-yeong, which she had never shown once throughout all the time they had spent together. Only one or two people in this city could fight her on equal footing.
“Hmm. That’s unexpected.”
And standing opposite Eun-yeong... was one of those people.
Messy blond hair. A black hoodie with a stretched-out collar, comfortable-looking dolphin shorts, and bare feet.
“I didn’t think you’d block that. You’re stronger than I expected.”
White light poured from her entire body. Rainbow colors swirled in her eyes, and she floated roughly three meters in the air with a halo of light above her head.
Despite that holy appearance, she radiated suffocatingly cold bloodlust toward Kang Jin-ho.
The number one S-rank hero. Light City’s strongest combat power. Bitna.
“...Huh?”
Kang Jin-ho stared blankly at the two of them. Regardless, the roiling ether began swirling even more violently.
“But I think I’m going to win.”
“...Hehe.”
And then there was light.
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