In This World, Police Face the Mastermind(3)

Money flew away. It evaporated like gasoline, never to return.

The price for suddenly losing my mind and breaking down the door without thinking came to my wallet, and what little money I had disappeared like a dream in one night.

Now I don’t even have money to buy rice, so must I survive on the bean sprouts and mung bean sprouts I left in the refrigerator to eat? And I also sprained my ankle while urgently breaking down the door.

I was crazy, judging it to be a dangerous situation and charging in without thinking. Only my wallet and ankle got hurt. This will probably cost me in medical bills too.

After sadly smiling at the mercilessness of the heavens for a moment, I made eye contact with the person in front of me. She waves her hand, giggling.

“What’s this all about at the crack of dawn? Breaking into a sleeping person’s room. Police officers these days are really dangerous.”

I couldn’t raise my head at Yuna-ri’s words as she laughed out loud.

Even she, who had been sleeping soundly in that mess, woke up due to the continued commotion. She was initially frightened seeing the door half-destroyed and barely hanging on its hinges.

But the first thing she said when she saw me kneeling and pleading in front of the owner outside the door was exactly the words above.

Originally, even if Yuna-ri had woken up, she couldn’t stay in a room with a destroyed door, so I was planning to get a new room first.

I was thinking of waiting outside until the sun rose, but Yuna-ri suddenly showed me kindness.

“For the detective to come at this hour, it must be urgent. Let’s talk in the room.”

Honestly, for me who had to swallow cold air outside, not even a sauna, due to the sudden expenditure, her kindness was very appreciated.

As I was thinking this, Yuna-ri continued with a mischievous smile.

“For you to break down the door and come in at such dawn, it must be urgent. Haha.”

“I’m sorry.”

Damn it, I’m crazy. Why did I do such a thing? Am I that exhausted?

As I narrowed my brow and regretted my actions, Yuna-ri spoke with an annoyingly sly smile, as if enjoying my reaction.

But I had nothing to say. I broke down the door of someone who was sleeping well at an early hour before the sun had even risen due to living noise. Moreover, into the room of a woman sleeping naked.

While Yuna-ri was receiving police protection to avoid possible dangers. I could make an excuse that I suddenly heard noise from the room and entered.

But paperwork doesn’t listen to excuses. I sighed while looking at the broken lamp rolling on the floor with resentful eyes.

Meanwhile, I recalled my original purpose for coming here and examined Yuna-ri.

The reason I came here was to check if Yuna-ri had fallen into Sai’s manipulation to become a villain called Overmind, and if she hadn’t fallen, to propose that she join the special task force.

That’s my current goal, but…

Yuna-ri was turning on the coffee pot in the room and putting instant coffee powder in paper cups, and how should I describe that back view?

It felt like a few of the sharp thorns I had felt whenever I saw Yuna-ri before had been removed.

Is she not fully awake yet? Well, it’s understandable, given that she’s even making coffee for someone who appeared causing this commotion from this dawn—

…No, that’s not it. Normally, such a reaction wouldn’t come out.

Even for a police officer with whom she’s relatively familiar, if someone suddenly breaks in and causes a commotion, the normal reaction would be to be frightened or irritated, but such a reaction?

My instinct didn’t alert me to danger even with Yuna-ri right in front of me, but you never know.

As a police officer who doubts things that don’t make sense first.

“So- you’re rampaging as usual, Detective. Wow. Both about New Hope and making such statements boldly in front of journalists at the press conference.”

“I could truly understand why that ‘woman’ is so hung up on you~ But that child is a high school student now, right? Does that young child grow up to have such a nice body?”

“Wow. Superheroes must have different genes. I’m envious that you’re loved by such a beauty.”

Yuna-ri spoke while waving the characteristic long sleeves of a researcher’s gown. I raised only the corners of my mouth while her eyes didn’t smile, and after pondering for a moment, I asked:

“Hmm. Are you making fun of me?”

“Yes!”

“Then may I hit you once?”

“No.”

Yuna-ri said she didn’t want to be hit by the detective because she thought she might die, and her gaze turned to the door with broken hinges.

The protruding section in the middle of the door, due to my kick, was vividly imprinted in her eyes to a frightening degree.

I closed my mouth like a folding fan and shrugged, and Yuna-ri handed me a paper cup containing instant coffee with a laugh, while she started drinking the other one herself.

But I didn’t drink from the paper cup she gave me, leaving it on the floor.

Overmind’s ability begins to activate through simple contact or by feeding body fluids.

According to what appeared in the novel, a brief contact with Overmind is limited to temporarily causing fatigue to accumulate, but.

This ability, which can kill a person if it builds up repeatedly, is her power.

Of course, if the standard for “repeated” is physical contact, it would take dozens of times, and if it’s body fluids, it would require being drenched all over the body, so it’s almost unusable in combat or such situations.

But physical contact can occur in everyday life, and body fluids could include consuming blood or saliva. Like putting it in coffee.

There are constraints on using it, but even considering those constraints, it’s a terrifying superpower. That’s why I hope Yuna-ri doesn’t become the villain called Overmind.

Not just her superpower, but she’s also an excellent person as a researcher, recognized even by the National Forensic Service doctor.

She figured out about the neutralization drug on her own and approached me. And subsequently succeeded in gathering evidence of corruption from the Chosen Ones and Special Investigation Team 2.

She has suspiciously good infiltration and information gathering abilities.

Honestly, isn’t her investigative ability better than most police officers?

Though it’s sad that she might be better than me, if such a capable person can be brought into the special task force, it would be a great help in pursuing Sai.

Well, if not, it can’t be helped.

After plainly organizing my thoughts, I naturally took my gaze off the coffee and looked at Yuna-ri.

I feel a bit sorry for having such suspicions, but as I’ve already said, from dawn to now, showing such goodwill after I pulled such a stunt is quite strange.

If it were me, I would have thrown someone doing what I did right out the window.

…Maybe I’m the one with the bad personality?

I thought I might need a brief moment of self-reflection, but Yuna-ri’s star-shaped pupils, staring intently at me, pierced into me.

Under such a gaze, I moistened my lips with saliva for a moment, then, hiding my real reason for coming here, I spoke the reason I had prepared in advance.

“Yesterday evening. I raided and dealt with the superpower awakening drug factory set up by Sai. The operation with the hero New Hope was successful. It seems like the higher-ups, after seeing this, are thinking of using whatever they can to arrest Sai.”

“…”

Yuna-ri, who was silently listening to my words, pretended to be surprised and opened her eyes wide, but as my words continued, she narrowed her brow and then gave a sly smile.

Someone like her should be able to guess what I’m thinking with just this much information.

Despite that, the reason I’m speaking like this is because if she has truly fallen to become Overmind, I don’t think she would be swayed by inadequate wordplay or pressure.

How she met Sai and somehow became corrupted isn’t mentioned in the novel.

She just rampages after losing her reason, saying strange things about being able to open a new world, and is eventually taken down by Mina’s hand, that’s all.

But until that end, until she faked her death, she constantly depleted her colleagues with her ability.

Despite pushing people to a level they couldn’t endure, the novel describes that no one ever suspected Yuna-ri.

Knowing that I can’t engage in psychological warfare with a woman who is thorough and meticulous until she loses her reason at the very end, I decided to use a direct approach.

Openly throwing bait and observing the reaction. Bite if suspicious, leave if not.

This is the interrogation method I’ve used most frequently throughout my career as a detective.

“You know why I’m saying this, right? The goal is to catch Sai. And your ability is needed for that.”

“Is this a recruitment offer? Wow… Does joining mean you’ll overlook what I’ve done so far?”

Yuna-ri, who had been looking smug, soon asked about what seemed to be something she was concerned about.

That face was exactly the woman with the weird head that I’ve been seeing so far, so I couldn’t gauge her state.

Maybe I should throw more bait?

“That’s something to negotiate. Um, I’ll be honest. I recognize your ability and want you to join the special task force. But before that, I want to confirm what you’re thinking.”

“The special task force is only good in name. As you see in the news, it’s like a suicide squad rushing to catch a monster that even the military couldn’t handle. It’s that kind of place, so I’m trying to confirm.”

“Thinking they can’t win anyway, or having grudges against the world. It wouldn’t be strange if someone appears who wants to join Sai and get something out of it, right?”

“…”

At my words, Yuna-ri tilted her head and stared at me. I also met her gaze head-on.

As is usual with superpower users’ appearances. Her appearance was unusual.

The purple hair that was untidy from just waking up, along with star-shaped pupils, gave the feeling of looking at a human from another world.

But that’s that. She was looking at me without blinking for a moment, as if trying to discern my intentions.

And I was also looking at her with strength in my eyes to capture her smallest actions, resulting in us having a staring contest.

But that didn’t last long. Yuna-ri made a deflating sound “heng” and then, with the paper cup containing instant coffee to her lips, muttered as if complaining:

“It’s a recruitment offer, but you’re suspicious I might betray you? Ha! Team Leader Yagi and all the police around, they’re all the same, so what can I do? In this country, having a conscience means you suffer like hell. Right?”

“…?”

After saying that, Yuna-ri downed the contents of the paper cup in one go. Then, lying sideways on the bed, she began to scratch her stomach ostentatiously.

I expected her to get angry at being suspected, or to assert her innocence, or to say if you’re going to suspect me like this, I won’t join, that kind of reaction.

But suddenly lying down in front of a strange man and scratching her stomach—what is this? Sexual harassment? An attempt at a MeToo accusation? As I was thinking all sorts of things and staring at her in astonishment.

Yuna-ri, while completely lying back on the bed with her eyes on the ceiling, began to speak.

“Speaking honestly right now. I used to think what that crazy woman was doing was good. I thought something might change if everyone became superpower users.”

“But seeing some crazy person, I realized that even if people become superpower users, human nature would remain the same. If you want to change, you have to make an effort yourself. It seems idiotic to rant at people you don’t even know well.”

She began to speak as if spitting out words. Is this a story about her values that didn’t appear in the original work? Or is it a story about something that happened in the past that only she knows about?

I couldn’t tell.

But seeing her speak like that, my intuition whispered, hard to believe though it was, that she didn’t seem likely to fall into becoming Overmind as in the original work.

“So I’ll join the special task force. Yeah, whatever. I think helping someone like you, Detective, is quite alright.”

Yuna-ri, trailing off her words, muttered as if trying to hide her embarrassment, turning her back to me.

I wondered what had happened for her to say such things and thought I should dig a bit more, ignoring the whisper of my intuition.

But I couldn’t refuse someone who was willing to help despite knowing how dangerous the special task force, or more precisely, how dangerous that crazy woman is.

If all this is a lie, and she’s trying to do something under Sai’s orders, I’ll throw her in jail the moment I see any sign of it.

With Mina around, what could happen? What’s stress? In the face of overwhelming force, stress loses its value.

With such thoughts, I nodded and then drank the half-cooled coffee she had offered.

“I see. Thank you.”

I drank it as a gesture of trust in my own way.

But. Huh? Why am I so sleepy?

“Hey, you… you.”

I sensed something was in the coffee and glared at Yuna-ri. But Yuna-ri, from her prone position on the bed, looked down at me with an incredulous expression and said:

“Wow. Is it real that you’re about to faint just because I lowered your stress level a bit? Have you been to a war zone?”

“I used my ability because you looked like you were about to die, but I didn’t expect the effect to hit so directly. Ah, my ability is controlling stress levels. More effective than aromatherapy, right?”

Hearing that, I realized that her ability could also be used to lower stress levels.

In my consciousness that was about to fade, I understood that she had been considerate of me in her own way, but.

Body fluids in coffee means she put saliva or blood in it. If she had injured herself to put blood in, I would’ve certainly noticed. That means she put saliva in it.

“You b—”

Can I report this as sexual harassment? As I was struggling to glare at Yuna-ri with only the will to curse her and knock her to the floor.

She looked at me and, as if remembering something, grinned and said:

“Ah, I could take photos with strange compositions while he’s unconscious and tease him. This seems like a good idea. Don’t worry. I won’t blackmail you or anything, I’m just going to keep them for my personal possession, purely.”

Damn, this woman is crazy too.

Suddenly, I saw Yuna-ri blushing and trembling at the mouth. Just before I lost consciousness, I raised my arm with the middle finger towards Yuna-ri, and then lost consciousness.

The sleep after fainting was the most comfortable sleep I hadn’t felt for days. Really.