Ch.116Episode 24. Catching Paris (1)

“Hum hum hum~”

Yoo Ari, now accustomed to visiting my room, was humming softly while doing the dishes. This was behavior I’d never seen before from someone with such low self-esteem.

Unless it was a day for going out with the girls, Ari would come to my room every evening to cook dinner. She insisted it was the only way she could repay the debt she felt she owed me.

“Ari.”

“Yes?”

“Go home early today.”

I said this as I hung up the phone with the Association Chairman after telling him I’d discovered the underground laboratory.

“W-why? What’s wrong? Did something h-happen?”

She was asking what was going on, but her tone made it sound more like she was asking what she’d done wrong.

“Yeah. I’ve got work to do.”

While I didn’t necessarily need to send her away, I felt a bit uncomfortable leaving her alone in my room.

“Ah, I see… Of course, with your skills, Instructor, you must get called for work at all hours! That’s so cool!”

Cool? More like a pain in the neck.

I wouldn’t be suffering like this if Akcheon didn’t exist.

No, if that damn author hadn’t entangled the Special Class kids with Akcheon in the first place, none of this would be happening.

I would have just watched those Special Class kids become heroes and take down villains without any worries.

“Ari.”

“Yes?”

“Come here for a moment?”

When I beckoned with my hand, Ari nodded and turned off the water.

“Yes? O-okay…”

She shook the water from her hands over the sink and approached with small, quick steps.

Ari stopped just one step away from me, close enough that we would touch if either of us moved. Her chest was almost touching my solar plexus.

“Aren’t you a bit too close?”

“H-hmm. Is it too close?”

She cleared her throat awkwardly and tilted her head slightly.

Dark circles still remained under her eyes, but her black pupils were filled with strong vitality. It was hard to believe she was the same person I’d seen at the beginning of the first semester.

Seeing her gradual improvement filled me with an unexpected sense of pride.

“What? Do you want a hug?”

“C-can I have one?”

She asked timidly but directly.

She was truly a girl who followed her instincts. Unlike others, Ari had a strong tendency to express affection whenever the opportunity arose.

It meant she liked me that much, which I took as a good thing.

“No. I won’t allow it unless I’m the one doing the hugging.”

“O-okay! Then… please hug me!”

She had been standing modestly with her hands folded, but suddenly spread her arms wide as she spoke.

At this point, commenting on Ari’s forwardness would just be a waste of breath.

“You’re quite needy, aren’t you? Ari.”

“Ah! Y-you used my name?!”

Come to think of it, if Jeong Iyeon heard that other kids were being called by their names by me without any cost, she might feel sad. After all, she used her wish just to have me call her by name.

Hmm. Should I let her change her wish?

It was probably an empty wish just to get closer to me faster, so there’s no real need to correct it. Besides, I have no intention of calling anyone by their name affectionately in front of others, except for Iyeon.

Above all, she still has one more wish anyway.

It should be fine.

While rationalizing in my head, I looked down at Ari, who was hanging her head and muttering something.

I stepped forward and gave her the hug she wanted, gently stroking her back as if soothing a baby.

“I’m going to be busy from now on, so let’s have you go home early today, okay?”

“Yehehek!”

What a strange response.

I was curious about what expression she was making over my shoulder, but right now it was all I could do to hold back my laughter.

* * *

[Mr. Yoo Jin, please don’t come here.]

That’s what the Association Chairman said when he called again after I’d sent Ari home and was getting ready to leave.

“Excuse me?”

[This laboratory seems to be useless now.]

“What do you mean by that?”

The laboratory is useless? What nonsense is that? We had people searching for it all this time.

All of Paris’s research so far should be there. If we’re lucky, we might even learn about Akcheon’s future plans.

Yet he’s telling me not to come. I couldn’t understand it.

[Someone, possibly a member of the organization, blew up the laboratory. It seems most of the key personnel have already evacuated elsewhere.]

Laboratory explosion.

Naturally, this was a development that never happened in the novel.

In the novel, even when Paris took control of the Association with Comfort and ran wild in various ways, like strengthening villains with eX potion, they never found the laboratory.

I still remember how frustrating that plotline was.

Honestly, I think some frustrating developments in a story are inevitable, but the author dragged this one out for so long that readers cursed him a lot.

What’s more, it was even more criticized because it was “Yoo Jin” who resolved this plot, not the protagonist. People complained that the protagonist was too incompetent.

Jin ended Comfort’s atrocities by massacring the executives he disliked.

The laboratory was then naturally abandoned and discarded, and since the forces that had followed her until then were merely puppets created by “Inconsistency,” it was only a matter of time before the forces collapsed.

After that, Bin Yoon-i succeeded Paris, but unlike Paris, he didn’t play with human lives. The same was true for Jin.

Thinking about it, Jin was a relatively humane villain. Perhaps it was the author’s way of salvaging the plot.

From the beginning, Jin’s reason for joining Akcheon wasn’t to destroy heroes or the Association.

When Jeong Iyeon encountered Jin, she asked him what his purpose was.

And his answer was, “Because villains are freer than heroes and the like.”

I assume this meant he disliked the regulations that heroes used to suppress their powers, but Jin’s inner thoughts were never fully revealed until the end.

The series was discontinued midway, after all.

Anyway, the laboratory explosion was a new development, but not necessarily a bad one.

The fact that the laboratory was blown up means, in other words, that Paris felt a great sense of crisis. When you feel a crisis, you can’t help but become hasty, and when you become hasty, gaps appear.

I just needed to exploit those gaps.

If I could catch Paris this time, it would be like cutting off Akcheon’s arm. Before eX potion came out, heroes could sufficiently overwhelm villains.

“…Where did they evacuate to?”

[Shinan County in South Jeolla Province.]

“Shinan County?”

[It’s a very difficult area to search, second only to Gangwon Province. There are over a thousand islands.]

“Even so, if they moved in a hurry this time, research facilities wouldn’t have been prepared. Why Shinan County?”

[I don’t know that either. They might be planning to use nearby research facilities. Anyway, it’s been confirmed that people suspected of being organization members are gathering there. We found out using CCTV and the ability of Principal Yoon Kyung-bin of the Academy, so it must be correct.]

If they used the Principal’s ability, it was reliable information.

[Anyway, I hope you’ll join the heroes assigned to track the organization members and round them all up. If we don’t catch Paris this time, our month-long efforts could go to waste.]

No, Paris won’t be there.

Paris only uses people with his Inconsistency ability and gives orders. Rather than appearing at the scene himself, he receives reports from those below him.

Therefore, even if I go to Shinan County, the possibility of encountering Paris is zero.

But it doesn’t matter. I already have someone who can tell me Paris’s location.

[After we clean up the laboratory, I’ll share any information that comes out later, but for now, please join the heroes in Shinan County. I’ve sent a helicopter, so it should arrive soon.]

“…Has the location of ‘Lee Hye-min’ also been identified?”

I asked, pressing down my black hat firmly.

She was a person I had specifically mentioned to the Association Chairman when we started the full-scale search of Gangwon Province.

[Yes. She was confirmed at the beach in Shinan County just a moment ago.]

“Good.”

The leader of Paradise, Henry. Real name Lee Hye-min.

She’s the one I’m going to catch now.

* * *

“You’re Mr. Yoo Jin, right?”

“That’s correct.”

A little away from the operation area.

As soon as I got off the helicopter, several heroes who had been hiding approached and spoke to me.

“We heard from the Association Chairman. He said you plan to round up all the Akcheon members.”

“Well… we need to clean up the trash. But before that, there’s someone I need to meet first.”

If I miss Henry, I’ll miss Paris too.

Therefore, catching Henry was more important than rounding up the villains.

After all, if Paris is caught, the villains under the influence of Inconsistency can be caught together.

“She seems to be hiding near the Marine Research Institute. If we’re going to form a plan, we need to do it quickly and move now.”

“I’ll move separately.”

“What? I don’t think acting alone is a good idea. We could all be put in danger because of you.”

“Then don’t do anything. I’ll handle it myself.”

“…No matter how S-class level you are, aren’t you being too arrogant? If the villains escape…”

The heroes’ faces wrinkled at my statement. They seemed to think I was disrespecting them.

“It’s fine. That absolutely won’t happen. More importantly, please tell me Lee Hye-min’s location.”

Even as we’re having this conversation, Henry is on the move. I needed to track her as quickly as possible.

“…If something goes wrong, it’s not our responsibility.”

“Don’t worry. That won’t happen.”

After catching this opportunity, how could I let it slip away?

Eventually, the heroes reluctantly gave me the information.

I immediately moved, releasing my electric shock. I ran in a straight line, ignoring the terrain and jumping over everything.

Before long, I could see the night sea and the marine biology research facility set up on the beach.

I could sense presences around. It seemed heroes were monitoring this facility where villains had hidden.

The facility was closed, probably because it was nighttime. I looked around. There was no one who looked like a villain. It was eerily quiet.

They probably thought posting guards would reveal their position.

They had thought it through, but once they were already being tracked, it was a meaningless precaution.

I jumped over the fence and headed inside the building.

It was quite a large site, so it seemed like I would need to search thoroughly, but fortunately, that didn’t appear necessary.

The moment I entered through an unlocked door, a hand suddenly shot out from the darkness.

“!”

I grabbed the wrist and was about to counterattack when the palm flashed brightly and spewed out fierce flames.

KWANG!

If I hadn’t knocked the hand away just before the explosion, I would have suffered serious facial injuries.

I pushed away the building debris falling on my head and escaped from the acrid smoke.

“Hero bastards. You found us already?”

“…Step aside. I have no business with you.”

I had no time to waste on such small fry.

I charged my fist with electric shock at full power and struck the ground hard.