Ch.133Chapter 5. Do Ji-hwan’s Ambitious Project (10)

“Impressive.”

S-rank hero, [Princess Bari] Tae Yi-rin admired the situation on Ulleungdo while watching through her tablet on the boat heading there.

“That was such a satisfying attack.”

[Hey. Little sister. You call that satisfying…?]

“Of course. If he hadn’t hit him like that, I would’ve been so frustrated. Ah, it really feels good.”

The man who had been struck once with a cane by the mysterious entity, Platinum Sun, had fainted with foam at his mouth.

“A caning, how fitting. It’s a shame it was just one strike, but men like him need that kind of punishment. It’s a necessary punishment for certain people.”

[Are you talking about me?]

“Who else would I be talking about?”

When Tae Yi-rin snapped at him, her video call partner [Armored Taejo]-Taejo couldn’t say a word.

“If you weren’t S-rank, and if Juliana wasn’t the one at fault, you’d deserve the same caning.”

[At least I didn’t turn people into demons.]

“That’s only because sister has a warm heart. Where do you get off talking nonsense like you’re something special?”

[It just shows how much my sister loves me… Hey. Why are you glaring at me like that? Grandfather and the other elders always said that capable men having multiple women was tradition and history. According to the Three Bonds and Five Relationships….]

“So if you have ability, you can have a harem? That’s ridiculous.”

Look at Taejo, treating the absurd idea of having multiple women at once as normal.

“I wonder what influenced you growing up.”

[Hey, we grew up together, you know?]

“At least I didn’t grow up to be a playboy dating different women.”

[If you were a man, you’d be just like me.]

“I’m sorry to disappoint you. I’m going to love only one person my whole life.”

[You’ve watched too many old dramas.]

While they were bickering, the boat arrived at Ulleungdo’s port.

“Hey. I’m going to clean things up now, so I’ll call you later. Don’t let your eyes wander to other women and make sister angry again.”

[I’m making up for it now. Sigh, why am I even doing this cute act….]

“If you did something wrong, you need to be punished for it.”

Click.

Tae Yi-rin ended the call.

“…Right. If you did something wrong, you should be punished. Well, everyone? Let’s go detain those two. The man is a non-ability user, and the woman… seems to have become an ordinary person, so you can handle her.”

“Yes!”

As soon as the boat docked at the port, the men in suits behind Tae Yi-rin disembarked and headed toward the square.

“Ah, no entry! We’re from the Villain Response Headquarters! Please do not approach any further!”

“What’s this? Why are you only coming now! You’re late!”

“We’re not late, we flew here at top speed from Sejong Island. We requested support from ability users in the area, didn’t you hear?”

“T-that…!”

While the suited men began controlling the situation and arguing with onlookers, Tae Yi-rin slowly walked to the square to check on the woman’s condition.

“Wow! It’s Princess Bari!”

“Princess Bari looked at me! Kyaa, she’s so cute!”

“……”

The people beyond the tape line were making a fuss just because an S-rank hero had appeared, thinking the incident was over.

There was no tension.

Perhaps because the Golden Magistrate had suddenly disappeared, they seemed to think the situation was already resolved and were just watching the cleanup process.

“Tsk.”

Tae Yi-rin didn’t like that at all.

A demon was rampaging, but none of the ability users at the scene stepped forward.

A B-rank level demon was on a rampage, and while it was clearly a threatening entity, the ability users just stood back watching or didn’t step up at all.

How many B-rank or higher ability users were there who could have arrived at the scene faster than she did, racing from Sejong Island on a speedboat?

“Ah. This is Princess Bari. Please send the investigation data on Ulleungdo’s entry records by official document later. I’ll need to have a word with the B-rank and higher ability users who could have responded.”

[Understood. We’ll first identify those who turned off their Taegeuk Watch signals.]

“Yes, please do. I understand taking a patriotic vacation on Ulleungdo, but it’s problematic when they won’t even step out briefly when someone could have died.”

Tae Yi-rin covered her Taegeuk Watch with her hand.

She remembered the emergency alarm on her Taegeuk Watch that had been ringing continuously until she left Sejong Island.

“…Tsk. Anyway.”

When the Taegeuk Watch rings, you have to watch videos without sound, everything starts blaring as breaking news, and even devices linked to the Taegeuk Watch begin pouring out information about villain or demon alerts.

“…Maybe I should take a vacation too. Seol-hee would have just gotten a text message.”

Unless it’s an extremely important vacation pre-approved by the government, or a situation where you might actually turn into a demon from anger when the Taegeuk Watch irritates you, the Taegeuk Watch doesn’t ring so loudly.

“I wish I were a high school senior already. If I were studying for the college entrance exam as a senior, all alerts would come silently.”

“Aaaagh!!”

While Tae Yi-rin was lost in thought, the man who seemed to have regained consciousness started screaming again.

“I’ll, I’ll report this! That woman, I’ll definitely report her! I’ll report that woman as a villain too!!”

“Sigh.”

Has he not come to his senses?

No, if he were the type to come to his senses, he wouldn’t have done such things in the first place.

Playing around with that woman despite his wife being pregnant.

And to think they came to Ulleungdo after their wedding, dreaming of happiness—how sad must the woman have been when she found out.

…Because of that, Tae Yi-rin momentarily set aside her thoughts about the Golden Magistrate.

The disgraceful behavior of people at the scene was so irritating and disgusting that she missed the part that concerned her most.

“Excuse me. I’ll check the person who was a demon… ‘Zenros.'”

Tae Yi-rin reached out toward the woman who had become human.

She directly touched her skin and let her magical power flow, confirming that no more magical power flowed within her.

“Princess Bari. Zenros check. Verification complete. Not an ability user. Now… an ordinary person. The Golden Magistrate, Platinum Sun, can turn demons back into humans. The side effect seems to be complete loss of abilities.”

Beep.

“…Yes, Mr. President.”

[Irin. I’ve checked the data. Is there… no possibility?]

A man who could call Tae Yi-rin by name without hesitation.

Naturally, it was Tae Chae-jin, the president of this country and her grandfather.

“I’m investigating, but there’s no trace left at all.”

[Then what about when he disappeared drawing that golden circle? Like in old novels, where there’s some trace left to investigate.]

“…Is that so? Hmm, around here maybe.”

Tae Yi-rin approached where the Golden Magistrate had drawn the circle, but unfortunately, she felt nothing.

“There’s nothing. Absolutely nothing. He completely erased his traces before leaving.”

[…I see. That’s enough. Just that level of skill is sufficient to classify him as S+ rank. Good work. Sorry for calling you out while you were studying at night.]

“It’s fine. I can think of it as getting some fresh sea air to clear my head. It’s okay.”

[Thank you for thinking that way. Irin, when you come to Busan sometime…..]

“Yaaaah!!”

The man screamed again.

Tae Yi-rin frowned, and a tongue-clicking sound could be heard from the speaker.

[That, that. What makes him think he’s so special to make such a fuss? If he were at least an ability user.]

“That’s not necessarily true.”

[Huh? Ah, um, Irin. That’s.]

“It’s okay. I’ll contact you again after I sort out this situation. Then.”

Click.

Tae Yi-rin covered her wrist.

“Blood will tell. Geez.”

Before being an ability user, committing adultery itself is unacceptable.

It’s strange for ability users to go around dating multiple women.

Tae Yi-rin barely swallowed the words that were about to burst out.

Saying those curses would be like spitting in her own face, or rather, her family’s face.

“Hey. You there.”

“P-Princess Bari…!”

“Do you know something?”

WHACK.

“Aaaagh?!”

“S-rank heroes can turn people into villains without breaking a sweat.”

Tae Yi-rin kicked the man in the stomach.

“…Oh my. This is quite hard.”

“Y-you just kicked me?!”

“It didn’t even hurt you. Hmm, could this be… Heh. Is it some kind of rope-like shield? Or something as hard as a shield? Amazing. This has research value.”

WHACK.

Tae Yi-rin kicked the man again, but he just looked at her with confused eyes.

“This mat seems quite sturdy, I probably wouldn’t feel much pain even if I stepped on it.”

“W-wait…! What did I do so wrong…!”

“The crime of shaking an ability user’s mental state and turning them into a demon.”

Tae Yi-rin crouched in front of the man and pointed her Taegeuk Watch at him.

“Do you think you’re entitled to legal protection just because you were attacked by a demon? Not at all. You’re nothing but a ‘corruption perpetrator’ who made an innocent ability user fall into demonhood.”

“N-no…! That woman just on her own…!”

“I’m arresting you. And….”

Tae Yi-rin carefully grabbed the end of the rope near the man’s head.

“For research on this binding rope left by the Golden Magistrate, I’m taking you with me as is.”

“W-wait! You’re taking me, aaaagh!!”

Dragging sounds.

Tae Yi-rin grabbed the rope and dragged the man along the ground toward the boat.

* * *

At that time.

“Excuse me.”

A voice came from behind.

“Where is Seol-hee?”

“……Well.”

I was sitting on the sofa and turned my head, resting it on the backrest.

“Good job.”

“It wasn’t really hard, but, um, Seol-hee wouldn’t have gone anywhere.”

Ymir, who had released her transformation, slowly walked over and leaned her chest on the sofa’s backrest, above my arm, bending her head forward.

“There you are?”

“…….”

“Wow, a lap pillow. That’s quite bold. But….”

Ymir reached out her finger and poked Baek Seol-hee’s waist, who had buried her head in my thighs.

“Why are you being so quiet? Did you enjoy some sweet honey while I was away?”

“…….”

“Hello?”

Ymir continued poking Baek Seol-hee with her finger.

“Even though we’re on Ulleungdo, it’s not fair for you to be enjoying yourself while heroes are working hard, don’t you think?”

Baek Seol-hee couldn’t say anything.

“Um.”

She slowly raised her head, swallowing the saliva glistening on her lips, and smiled faintly.

“…Would you like a taste too, Ymir?”

“…….”