In This World, Police and Heroes Do What They Must(3)

After escaping and avoiding cleanup duty. I headed to a park located a bit away.

Although it’s only about two blocks away, the police are busy cleaning up the disgusting things that splattered everywhere the moment I rammed the car into that jelly bastard.

This means they’ll need some time before they can send people to catch one delinquent police officer who suddenly appeared and disappeared.

Of course, I didn’t go straight to the park. Just in case, I’m hiding in a quiet alleyway with no people, observing the surroundings.

In the weather that keeps getting colder even though it should be warming up by now, I put the hood of the coat I had Mina wear over her head and remained vigilant of our surroundings.

Mina, half-buried in the oversized clothes, said with a pouty face:

“Detective. Don’t treat me like a child…”

“You look like a child no matter how I look at you.”

She looks like a child no matter what. With sunglasses on and only her face peeking out from the large clothes, she looked like a child even if I did a tumbling roll in the air to look at her. Or maybe a penguin.

As I lightly tapped Mina’s forehead while looking outside the alley. On the electronic display attached to the street across, the news was playing.

The news was announcing the incident that had just occurred with an “urgent report,” and due to the captain’s loud shout, they were reporting that I had rammed the car to arrest the criminal.

I guess what’s fortunate is that Mina, who was with me, wasn’t discovered.

Yes, I had lost my mind a bit. I don’t feel like I need to reflect on it.

Because now I can finally let go of my beloved car in my heart. But thinking about it briefly, that stinky bastard was just an intermediary, and the one who ultimately scrapped my car is someone else.

—Well, whatever. Let’s not think too deeply about it. Anyway, I caught one criminal.

I was looking at the electronic display showing the news when I saw the news anchor starting a discussion about what the supervillain Sai’s purpose was in doing all this.

There were people like a criminal psychology professor, a former police officer, a profiler, and a superpower crime expert.

They began discussing by analyzing what’s known about Sai and the incidents presumed to have been carried out by her so far.

But their conclusion was that Sai is dissatisfied with current social conflicts and is trying to create a new society by creating and spreading superpower awakening drugs.

If Sai heard this, she would not just snicker but burst into laughter and collapse.

I also found it quite laughable, but for a brief moment, I realized that I don’t know why Sai is doing all this—her “purpose”—and closed my mouth.

In the original work, she started causing trouble because she was disgusted seeing Mina endure despite her trials.

From a reader’s perspective. The reason Sai caused the Great Chaos was that even Mina, a natural superpower user like herself, was not like her.

It seemed like she caused incidents as a way to vent her frustration, akin to the despair of truly being alone in the world. The purpose itself was close to venting.

But what about now? What’s her purpose? I continued thinking to try to infer her purpose.

At first, Sai was clearly interested in Mina and was giving her trials just like in the original work.

But Sai’s interest gradually tilted toward me.

With bad luck, I’d go to pray but get caught by gangsters. Sai orchestrated events to entangle me in all sorts of shitty situations.

Then, during the Chosen Ones incident, she seemed to have no interest in Mina at all.

Her interest in Mina disappeared, and she only showed interest in tormenting me and drawing out my reactions.

What was the reason? The reason she changed like that. The reason she’s doing all this now—it all originates from this change in her.

Let’s think. When she erased her own memories and then regained them. What did she say?

Yes, she indirectly said she loved me. Like conveying her first love, so painfully and awkwardly.

I still remember her face. Crying and laughing, she asked if I could accept her if she repented.

She spoke of her love for me in that way. But I rejected it. The reason was simple.

Because there’s no way that woman could truly repent.

How could a woman who can’t even remember the people she killed and doesn’t see people as people repent?

—Damn it, yes. I know. If I had accepted her feelings, the Great Chaos incident wouldn’t have happened, and neither I nor Mina would have had to go through all this.

Even as I recognized that my thoughts were strangely diverging from the purpose of inferring her objective, once the thought gained momentum and started falling downward, I couldn’t stop it.

I know that if I had just closed my eyes and pretended to accept that woman’s feelings, people might not have experienced all this.

But. But you know. I wonder.

Even if I had accepted her, after she confessed, would she really have been punished according to the law? Would she really not have committed any more crimes?

No. I’m certain. That woman would definitely ignore the law using methods I don’t know, saying she’d return to me faster.

Outside my field of vision, she would kill and trample people who stood in her way, committing crimes just as before.

Nothing would change, nothing would be different. She would deceive me by pretending to be docile in front of me. Even knowing this, looking at the streets…

“Detective.”

What snapped me out of my thoughts was Mina’s voice.

The kid was looking at me with her red eyes, having taken off her sunglasses. Despite having eyes filled with worry, Mina forced a smile and continued speaking.

“I still don’t know a lot, and I’m still weak. But I think you’re doing well, Detective. No matter what.”

For a kid who doesn’t even know what I’m worried about to say such things.

As I rubbed my face, I felt touched by Mina’s attempt to comfort me and at the same time, my heart tickled at the realization that even this young child had grown a bit.

As I lightly patted the kid’s head, marveling at how fascinating it was to see her gradually growing up, different from ‘Mina’, the kid said with a blushing face:

“Hehe, I’ll become a wonderful woman you can rely on in the future. So you’ll wait until then, right?”

“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that.”

Damn. Coming at me like that, I almost couldn’t react for a moment.

I forcibly pressed down on Mina’s head with strength and ignored her. Mina clicked her tongue and seemed disappointed.

…Why is she acting like this toward an uncle like me? She’s just a high schooler, and I’m 35 years old, damn it.

I was horrified at the fact that if I left her like this, I’d really have to be handcuffed.

But part of my mind continued the worry that had stopped when my thoughts diverged earlier. The worry about “why” Sai is doing all this.

The investigation into Sai will soon begin based on the contents of the USB received from Shin Yu-mi, so it’s good to really think about it once before starting.

Unlike the original work, she fell in love with me and ignored Mina, confessed but was rejected. And immediately started all this. Okay, these are facts.

Then, the reason? What flashes is that this woman is doing all this to vent her frustration after being rejected by me.

But that seemed too persistent for that. The smell of the incidents? It’s different from the venting acts of those who are drugged or whose lives have hit rock bottom and are going all out.

What she’s done after the great change is to reveal her identity, then sacrifice Yagi to throw Mina into the center of confusion, letting people tear her apart.

But I could be certain. She is now slowly laying the groundwork.

My knowledge of the original work has no practical meaning, so I can’t predict at all what that crazy woman will do—

But my intuition shouts that if things continue as she wants, even if we succeed in arresting her, this country, no, the entire world will be completely ruined.

…Surely she’s not trying to kill everyone if I don’t accept her feelings?

No, the scariest part is that it’s entirely possible.

I shivered at the creeping chill down my spine, but as the time to meet Shin Yu-mi at the park was approaching, I headed to the park with Mina.

The park wasn’t very large. Even looking from the entrance, I could see the scenery inside.

While the view was partially blocked by trees stretching out, I could at least see one noticeable person.

Shin Yu-mi, whom I had seen a little while ago, was wearing the same black training clothes that exposed her belly and had long white hair, just as when I saw her before.

Such a distinctive appearance that seemed unafraid of winter would inevitably catch the eye, so I slowly looked around.

After looking around for a while. A person with the distinctive appearance I remembered came into view inside the park.

Shin Yu-mi, who was anxiously looking around from about 10 meters away, also spotted us and fixed her gaze.

Then, Shin Yu-mi, who was far away, instantly appeared in front of us, leaving a white light.

Her brother’s superpower was incredibly fast, and her superpower also seems to be super-acceleration. Even in the novel, it was said that siblings or parents often have similar superpowers, so is this something similar?

Leaving such miscellaneous impressions, I greeted Shin Yu-mi, who seemed to be sweating as if she hadn’t caught her breath yet.

She responded with a faint bitter smile and said:

“I’m glad to see you’re healthy. I’m alive thanks to you being nearby at that moment. Thank you. But… why did you look for me? Perhaps…”

As Shin Yu-mi was about to get straight to the point about why I called her, I raised my hand to stop her.

It’s good to proceed with business quickly. But talking in a place like this is dangerous as there are too many eyes.

“Just a moment. It’s dangerous to talk in a place like this. So… let’s talk somewhere without people.”

“—Ah, you’re right. I’m sorry. I was hasty. But who is this person beside you…?”

“I’m the detective’s colleague!”

When Shin Yu-mi looked at Mina with suspicious eyes, Mina smiled and answered.

It was natural for Shin Yu-mi to look with distrustful eyes at someone who was not only of similar height and clearly of similar age.

But was also wearing sunglasses and a mask, not to mention an adult male’s thick clothes, making her look like a penguin.

“…Let’s go somewhere without people from here for now.”

“If it’s such a place, I know one nearby. Would you like to go together?”

A, good, place.

I inwardly repeated her words. After exchanging glances with Mina, I nodded.

Honestly, I am suspicious. The fact that Shin Yu-mi was being chased by a villain specifically at “this timing” and that she specifically knows a place nearby is suspicious.

I’m cautious about the possibility that Shin Yu-mi might already be dead and another criminal disguised as her is luring us.

Or that the very existence of Shin Yu-mi might be a trap from the beginning.

Therefore, moving according to her words is dangerous. Even with Mina beside me.

So I decided to move to a location I know, a place I usually only go to when there’s an incident.

“—No. I know a place. It’s usually a place where scammers from China or people selling illegal goods gather. Given the current situation, that place should be empty too.”

“Ah—I know where that is. Indeed. After that woman Sai appeared, even the Chinese people got scared and emptied the place and ran. I also stayed there until a few days ago, so I’m sure.”

Shin Yu-mi said so and sighed as if tired, saying we could even rest a bit there.

Looking at her like this, I wondered if it was right to be on guard, but. Well. There’s no harm in being careful, and since police rarely come to that place, it should be fine.

With that thought, I headed to that building with Mina. We arrived at a somewhat old residential complex and entered.

Most of the houses had their lights turned off except for a Malatang restaurant and some street food stalls near the street.

People were hardly visible, making it a gloomy place as if ghosts might appear.

Previously, it was a place where illegal immigrants or Chinese people who unfortunately became superpower users gathered.

But due to recent incidents, people seemed to have sensed danger and left, leaving the building almost empty.

Mina, who apparently didn’t know much about this building despite her hero work, looked around with unfamiliar eyes and asked:

“But all the doors here seem to be locked, how—” CRASH!! “Ah, like that.”

When asked how we would enter, I showed her the magic spell [physical] to simply open the door and smiled.

Mina’s body trembled slightly as if searching for words. But since her expression couldn’t be seen with sunglasses and a mask on, I decided to ignore it.

Although I had visited this building several times before, coming back after a long time, it smells even more musty than before.

“Since it’s cold outside, why not talk inside? There’s a teapot and coffee pot that people left behind inside, so while having a cup of tea—”

Shin Yu-mi led us, familiarly pushing aside the garbage scattered on the floor with her foot, suggesting that her statement about having stayed here before wasn’t a lie.

I also knew this path. It was the way to a shop selling Chinese tea leaves.

Of course, being in this building, it only appeared to sell tea on the surface, while selling illegally imported porcelain and such behind the scenes.

But I wondered if the old man there had run away too. Biting my lip as it really seemed like the country’s situation was a mess, I looked at Shin Yu-mi, who was guiding us by going ahead first.

She went to a familiar sign and opened the door of the tea house with its sign torn off—

“What the fuck.”

Thud!

Shin Yu-mi cursed as soon as she opened the door and immediately closed it.

With cold sweat streaming down and her face turned white, she trembled with her eyes widened, then pushed Mina and me away, saying:

“Ru, run away. This is crazy. Fucking…”

“What is it?”

At Shin Yu-mi’s sudden reaction, I tilted my head. Given this reaction, there must be something, and in this situation, I wondered if we should check inside.

But before we could deliberately open the door and check, the causes that had made Shin Yu-mi’s face turn white burst out from inside.

“Who are you over there?”

“You guys there. Since you’ve seen us here, you won’t be able to go back.”

“Tsk tsk… Such unlucky fellows… Well~ Just think of it as fate and accept it~”

The guys who jumped out of the tea house had familiar faces.

No, they would be more familiar faces to Mina than to me.

They were somewhat well-known supervillains in the country, all of whom had been defeated by Mina and thrown into prison.

Even the Water and Limb Ghost bastard who tried to kill me last time? I counted the number. One, two, three. A total of five. As many as five were there.

These were clearly escapees from the prison that had been destroyed.

Seeing them, for a brief moment, I thought that Shin Yu-mi was indeed caught in Sai’s plan and had led us here to kill us.

But thinking about it, I was the one who brought us here to prevent Shin Yu-mi from doing anything strange. I had deliberately chosen a place I wouldn’t normally consider visiting.

Was it purely my bad luck that we happened to come to the place where these guys were hiding?

“…Damn it.”

I wish this was also Sai’s scheme. I really wish it were. I tightly closed my eyes at a reality that was more unlucky than I could have imagined.

Ah, why am I so calm when there are five supervillains?

“Mina.”

“Yes.”

“Let’s handle this quietly.”

“No problem!”

Why would I be afraid if I have a missile in my hand, even if the opponent is a psycho with a knife?

Let’s say not only am I unlucky, but those bastards are unlucky too. I laughed heartily and waved my hand.

In an instant, the five criminals were pinned to the ground with only their heads remaining out. At this moment, with the sound of wailing and striking like beating a drum.

It was winter.