I Became a Police Officer in a Superhero Genre

After the meeting with Team Leader Yagi ended. I dropped off my uniform at the dry cleaners [in reality, I’m just going to stash it away until I need to wear it again] and put on my usual clothes.

In my head, I was pondering how to prove that Park Su bastard is Justice.

The great- Team Leader Yagi said that many people shouldn’t know what I’m doing, so I shouldn’t tell even my deputy and should handle the matter quietly, but.

Because I can guess what she’s thinking, it sounds like she’s telling me to run around like a headless chicken alone. This, if I do it well, couldn’t I win by reporting workplace bullying to the Ministry of Employment and Labor?

Of course, the Ministry of Labor protects workers’ rights but not ‘tools’ called the citizens’ canes, so I gave up hope long ago.

Enough with the nonsense, let’s think. Due to the influence of those above, it’s impossible to find evidence of Park Su bastard’s crimes as Justice through normal methods.

All the CCTVs near this bastard’s house are dead, and if I try to break into his house to find that stupid bike helmet or green tracksuit – I’d die.

The usual methods are blocked, but that doesn’t mean there’s no way at all – but – so – damn it –

“- I’m hungry.”
My head’s not working because I’m hungry.

We do all this shit to make a living, so I should eat first. I took a card and headed to the place known for the best hangover soup nearby to eat the bone hangover soup I had originally aimed for.

On the way, I suddenly realized that I haven’t eaten soup rice itself recently. The expression ‘recently’ isn’t enough. It’s been years since I ate soup rice.

Neither I nor the captain like soup rice, and even when I was in the violent crimes unit, I didn’t have chances to go eat because I was alone due to the politician murder case, so I’ve been far from soup rice.

…… Suddenly my life feels miserable.

Now I have no phone, no car, no money, and not even peace. Damn it, I’m going through all this shit, but what do I have left now?

I feel a bit depressed at the loneliness suddenly enveloping me. I think I might get indigestion if I eat in this state.

The bald captain is busy with paperwork now so there’s no one to go eat with – what should I do, I was pondering when. As if by miracle, a familiar voice was heard.

“Ah, Detective, you were here!”

Mina’s voice. It’s a time when she should be at school, but she was approaching me waving her hand while holding an armful of fish-shaped bread in her other hand.

She was approaching in casual clothes, not looking like she had left school early, so I was puzzled, but seeing my face, as if reading my thoughts, Mina said while putting fish-shaped bread in her mouth.

“Today, well, is the school foundation day.”

“I see.”

School foundation day. A nostalgic term. It would be nice if criminal bastards could take a day off too, like a peace memorial day or something.

While vaguely answering Mina’s words like ‘Congratulations on being discharged’, ‘Congratulations on your special promotion’, ‘Why didn’t you answer calls, I was worried’ in front of me, I blankly looked at the sky.

I thought that if I got help from New Hope, I could get help in arresting that Justice bastard, and since there’s a sure way to arrest the Justice bastard, it would be good to just buy her a meal and subtly drop some words.

But – the fish-shaped bread she’s holding in her arms looks like it’s more than 20.

When she’s eating like this, will she eat a meal? But do normal kids eat 20 fish-shaped breads no matter how much they like them? I checked just in case.

“…… Will you eat if I buy you a meal?”

Mina opened her eyes wide at my question. She stared at me with puppy-like eyes, then hurriedly stuffed the fish-shaped bread from the bag into her mouth in an instant.

The fish-shaped bread diminishing in an instant. Mina’s mouth became like a hamster’s stuffed with sunflower seeds. After chewing for a while, Mina swallowed everything in her mouth and smiled like sunshine.

“Yes!”

Oh my, seems like there’s no problem.

I took Mina to the restaurant.

Honestly, I was worried about the health of my wallet after buying this kid a meal, but even though she ate more than 20 fish-shaped breads, I thought it wouldn’t be too expensive even if she ate several bowls of soup rice because it’s soup rice, but-

Mina ordered 3 bowls of bone hangover soup along with 6 bowls of rice. When I asked if she could eat it all, Mina tilted her head as if she didn’t understand why I was asking such a thing.

…… Yeah, well, it’s soup rice so it shouldn’t be too expen- damn it, why is the soup rice 12,000 won?!

We only ate soup rice but the meal cost 50,000 won? Lost for words from the shock, I was looking at the price board when. Mina saw me like that and shouted not to worry.

“I’ll pay for today’s lunch! I! Got paid from my part-time jo- urgh!”

“Stop talking nonsense and eat.”

If I let a kid pay for this, damn it, would that make me human? I grabbed Mina’s head with my hand. Mina pretended to cry even though it didn’t hurt.

The world is really shitty. My salary stays the same but prices keep rising like crazy, what am I supposed to do? But frustratingly, after taking one bite, the taste was so good that my anger melted away.

If it tastes this good, it’s really not a waste even if I pay 50,000 won, damn.

“Detective, this is so delicious?!”

“Right?”

Ending the conversation there, both Mina and I were busy stuffing our faces in the stone bowls, when I remembered the reason I’m feeding Mina a meal costing 50,000 won.

I need to pretend not to know and ask her for help – I was pondering how to do it –

Damn it, using my brain while eating such delicious food after a long time is an insult to this hangover soup. I took my brain out and threw it away somewhere and just blurted out whatever came to mind.

“This time I’m going to meet a guy who’s a hero candidate officially decided by the government.”

“Ah- yeah. There was something like that.”

A tone showing no interest in official heroes. Seeing the same reaction as in the novel, I continued speaking while inwardly feeling relieved.

“But that candidate seems to be that Justice bastard who killed police officers and ran away last time.”

“……What?”

“Later, take whatever you need from uncle’s house.”

…… Uh – I said it but this doesn’t seem right. It sounds like I’m leaving a will.

This was a mistake. It’s definitely not something to say while eating. I hurriedly said it was a joke, that there’s not even a penny at home, smiling, but.

Mina’s face hardened like I’ve never seen before, and she hurriedly left saying she had something to do.

…… Ah damn it. What have I done now? No matter how distracted I was eating, and how thoughtless I was, what nonsense did I say to a kid.

I clicked my tongue looking at the half bowl of rice and one bowl of bone hangover soup still left. After eating, I should get a new phone first and tell her not to worry because I was just talking nonsense.

Thinking that, I moved to pack up the leftovers to take to her-

“Hello!! Detective! Good eveni-, uh! Coincidentally! Met! …… My side hurts……”

“…… Yeah. Good afternoon.”

New Hope appearing with a superhero landing from thin air as soon as I left the restaurant. New Hope was dripping sweat all over her body as if she had run here in a hurry.

She’s in quite a state, as if she couldn’t wear her spandex properly because of the sweat. On top of that, the flight jacket she usually wears is nowhere to be seen, and her eye mask is half fallen off, about to reveal her face.

I properly put the eye mask on her face, and handed New Hope one bowl of bone hangover soup, side dishes, and 2 bowls of rice that I had packed.

At the same time, I wiped away a tear at the moving emotion shaking my chest. Still, the kid is really kind, isn’t she? She came to help me despite being surprised by that nonsense? My heart feels very touched.

But it’s a bit ugly to sit down saying your side hurts after making such a cool entrance.

And if a sensible person would be suspicious of New Hope appearing right after Mina disappeared, is she really trying to hide it?

While feeling uneasy about Mina suddenly trying to reveal her identity before, I quietly rubbed New Hope’s back.

Thanks to coincidentally meeting Mina, not only is New Hope participating in the Justice arrest operation, but I’ve also received confirmation that the tomboy lady will move according to my plan.

Now that basic safety is secured, I decided to move a bit boldly. Of course, bold doesn’t mean I’m going to rush in and arrest him right away.

That guy has been careful lately so it’s hard to catch him properly, and even if we somehow catch this bastard with New Hope, as long as people above are behind him, he’ll probably be released soon even if we arrest him.

There’s no time, so it’s impossible to find evidence that he’s Justice. It’s also impossible to go directly and interrogate him.

So what’s left is using the media or SNS to reveal to the whole world that the official hero candidate Park Su is the criminal Justice, completely overturning the situation.

Honestly, I’m a bit scared because many people are involved in this case, but when I try to run away, there’s that crazy bitch Sai behind me?

What can I do? If I don’t want to die, I have to go forward and charge. And thanks to the Police Commissioner’s antics, a perfect place has been prepared, so what’s left now is how to stimulate that bastard-

Usually, there’s a really easy and simple way to draw out lunatics like Justice who live in their own delusions and hide their identity.

That is to just say one word to that bastard’s face: you’re an idiot. No joke, if you just irritate idiots like that a bit, they can’t control their temper and reveal their true colors.

They don’t even think about what they’ve done, can’t stand being insulted, and get angry first if things don’t go their way.

I’ve seen it to the point of being sick of it during my detective life, and it’s a type of person that even ordinary people can find if they look around, it’s so common.

But since Justice bastard is a dangerous guy who has been killing people just because he felt bad, if I curse him to his face, my neck will fly off right away.

I have no intention of sacrificing my life to reveal Park Su’s identity no matter what happens – but New Hope is behind me now.

That bastard gets stabbed by knives? New Hope doesn’t get stabbed by knives! Bulletproof hero, you fucker!!

But then how did the syringe with the superpower neutralizing drug get stuck in her flesh? Such a question arises, but it must have worked because it was a special material or because the guy who used that drug was a spider monster.

Since it’s not that important, I quietly chuckled.
Before meeting that bastard tomorrow, it’s time to investigate Park Su to know what kind of words would properly draw his aggro.

Is there an old saying that if you know your opponent and know yourself, you can piss off your opponent more? It seems there are many useful ones like this among old adages. It must be because they’re words of smart people that they’ve remained until now.

As soon as I finished lunch, I holed up in the data room and started investigating the Justice case files and Park Su.

Park Su. 28 years old. Living in Dunchon 2-dong, Gangdong-gu, Seoul, dropped out of university and living off his parents without a job.

Many people living near his house don’t even know his face because he rarely comes out.

No criminal record. Instead, a notable point is that there’s a record of police report and treatment suggesting he was badly beaten by neighborhood thugs once.

And it’s written that not long after that incident, this guy awakened as an ability user.
There’s nothing particularly suspicious or anything. But just one thing.
There was Dokkaebi’s testimony, but the fact that Park Su’s parents died horribly in an ‘unfortunate’ accident not long after Park Su awakened, and there was no additional investigation despite such a death, definitely caught my eye.

That’s about it for ‘Park Su’s’ records. The fact that there’s nothing else to an unnatural degree suggests that the cleanup has already been done. Then it’s impossible to find anything more in the data room.

I clicked my tongue and looked over the information about Justice.

Active in the same area as Park Su’s residence. After he appeared, all neighborhood gangsters and thugs were wiped out. Even police officers can’t go to that neighborhood for fear of encountering Justice bastard.

So has public safety improved in that neighborhood? That’s not the case either. The problem with this Justice bastard is that while he indiscriminately kills all thugs and gangsters for no reason,

He doesn’t seem to care about real murderers, rapists, and fraudsters who deserve to be caught and killed, as there are hardly any serious criminals among the people dying in the neighborhood where that bastard is.

I wonder why he’s like this, but since there’s a record of being beaten by thugs, it seems he’s just killing thugs over and over because of this.

He was such an obvious bastard. Babbling about justice but his true intentions are simply revenge and venting his anger.

Because Justice bastard acts like this, rapists and murderers and those who have nowhere else to live flock to that neighborhood, making public safety even worse.

But Justice bastard is sitting there making a fuss with a tow truck YouTuber, saying he made the neighborhood cleaner because there are no thugs and gangsters in front of his eyes.

The more I look at it, the more it makes me want to throw up, but combining these pieces of information made it clear what to poke at.

This guy will be genuinely proud of his activities as Justice. It’s certain when you see him wearing a mask and spreading interview videos, boasting about what he’s done.

Right now he’s revealed his face as the civilian ‘Park Su’ rather than ‘Justice’ to become an official hero, but if we curse Justice a little, he’ll easily start rampaging.

If he rampages, New Hope will appear at the same time, he’ll be lightly subdued and game over. It’s a simple picture.

This should be enough, but there’s still a problem left. That is, I’m not good at provoking.

I’m so timid that I wonder if I can do it well if I try to curse on purpose? I moved the mouse of the data room computer aimlessly and deeply pondered what I should say.

“-Deputy Chief, you were here?”

“Ah shit! You scared me!”

Sai’s voice suddenly heard in the midst of that. I cursed and glared at Sai. Sai, in her usual male form, smiled softly and handed me coffee.

“You got a special promotion, but you’re looking at that guy’s data as soon as you came back. You’re really diligent as always. But, is something not going well? You don’t look good.”

This bitch planned it all herself. It’s really annoying how she asks with a face like she doesn’t know anything, but isn’t it said that being powerless is a sin? If you’re powerless, you should keep your mouth shut.

And since this bitch coming to find me like this could be to see what kind of plan I’m making, I tried to avoid answering by asking a question in return while accepting the coffee.

“Hey, I’m meeting that Park Su bastard tomorrow, right? But there will be a lot of higher-ups there too, so I’m a bit worried that I’m just being used. What do you think?”

“?”

Normally I would have worried about watching out for the higher-ups, but for this case, I’ve already resolved to overturn the situation, so there’s no need to worry about that.

So I just talked nonsense. But for some reason, Sai answered this nonsense with the most serious face I’ve ever seen from her.

“Deputy Chief. I guarantee you this. Whether there are higher-ups or not at that interview tomorrow, you’ll start cursing first.

You’re the most insane person I know, Deputy Chief, so you’ll never do what those people want, whether they’re higher-ups or whatever, right? I know that. That’s why I respect you more.”

…… Is this an insult? I was confused for a moment at the words of respect, but this is definitely an insult.

I chewed over the words again, wondering if Sai might have meant something else, but it was still an insult. They say smart people’s words have hidden meanings and such, could that be the case?

I asked Sai again for final confirmation.

“Is that an insult or a compliment?”

To my question, Sai answered with the clearest and brightest smile I’ve ever seen from her.

“I’ll call it an insompliment.”

I really hate this one. She has a fucking dirty personality. I’m going through all this trouble because of who, damn it.

I made a face like I’d bitten a lemon and chased Sai out of the data room using rank as an excuse.

And- all preparations are complete. I took a deep breath, holding the new phone I opened today.