In This World, Police Face the Mastermind(9)

After securing testimony about Sai from Justice.

Our special task force learned what Sai was trying to do.

Simply put, what Sai is trying to do is to leave the fruit that can be picked right now until it ripens to the degree she wants, and then pick the fruit when it’s well-ripened.

This information, like Sai’s confession heard at the laboratory, was not hidden and was conveyed directly to the special task force members.

The reactions of Mina, Yuna-ri, and the special task force colleagues who heard this news were as follows:

“She’s really nasty.”

“Nasty, right?”

“She’s a crazy bitch.”

“Fucking terrible monster bitch.”

She’s not just an ordinary crazy woman. That’s why it’s more terrifying. All colleagues showed such reactions.

And the captain, who had been taking good care of Sai as if she were his subordinate, kept silent with a face like he had bitten a bitter persimmon.

After learning that Sai’s target was the special task force itself. We thought about what we should do from now on.

We found out her plan to appear and kill everyone when we have defeated supervillains like this and reclaimed Seoul.

But then, how do we prevent that?

The military? They’ve already been shredded. The police? They’d be shredded the same way. In this situation, our gazes naturally turned to Mina.

Yuna-ri can’t even fight properly. Only another superpower user can face a superpower user.

But not all superpower users are the same. Among all the superpower users in the country, the only person who has even a sliver of possibility to stop Sai is only Mina.

“With our hero here, what’s there to be afraid of?”

“If we just find that psycho woman, we can win. Honestly, I think I could win too?”

“Right, right. Ah, if it’s hard for you, miss, we’ll do it, don’t worry. We can do everything.”

Colleagues speak in a joking tone as if trying to ease Mina’s burden. But they still thought Mina would win.

They had seen New Hope’s fights up close and fought alongside her. Although they knew Sai was strong, it was natural for them to think this way since they had never met her directly.

But the current Mina cannot defeat Sai. And probably only Mina and I know this.

“Of course, I will. Haha.”

But Mina smiled, even though her expression looked strained under everyone’s gaze. It was clearly a forced smile by any measure.

Mina, who has directly clashed with Sai, would know better. That the current Mina cannot win.

Moreover, unlike in the original work, Sai now shows no sense of kinship as a fellow congenital superpower user.

She would likely die if they fought. Someday Mina might become as strong as Sai, but not right now. If they fight, she will surely die, and we will be defeated.

Mina seemed unable to back down from the expectations around her, even though she knew this. Otherwise, she wouldn’t make such a face.

But who said she had to fight alone when we’ve come this far? Even someone like you would find it difficult alone, that’s why I’m here too.

Furthermore, pushing such a kid to her death is not what a police officer would do, but what an idiot would do. So I lightly tapped the table and said:

“So what I’m saying is. We need personnel reinforcements. Since that crazy woman is staying quiet for now, we should gather the necessary people during this gap.”

“Police officers?”

“No. Superpower users.”

Mina and the special task force people looked at me with eyes asking if there was anyone who could help us.

Excluding Mina, most superpower users, even those with strong powers, either live quietly without using their abilities or have become what are called supervillains if they’ve gone astray.

Mina is an exception among exceptions. It can be said that there is practically no one who can help us.

But there is one more exception.

“Perhaps… are you trying to bring in one of the supervillain bastards? What makes you trust those bastards?”

One of the police officers spoke in a displeased tone. I understood his reaction too. Criminals are absolutely not to be trusted in this world.

But the guy I’m talking about is relatively trustworthy. I had planned to bring in Dokkaebi along with Yuna-ri when gathering personnel for the special task force initially.

“Oh, that guy? The one with the weird concept?”

The captain seemed to recall the guy I was thinking of and clapped his hands, and at the captain’s words, the special task force police officers also seemed to catch on, making an “ah” sound.

They also know that he helped us during the Minus arrest case and the Yagi arrest operation.

After I was dragged to his house, for whatever change of heart he had, he stopped his activities of killing politicians and other corrupt people.

During the Yagi arrest operation, he came at my request and even showed his face directly, behaving as if he was prepared to be arrested someday.

At that time, due to the situation, besides not being able to tie up Dokkaebi somewhere, he was injured while fighting Yagi, so we let him go.

Recently, he hasn’t been answering my calls and disappeared, so I thought he had completely withdrawn as the situation became dangerous. But news came that he had been spotted.

But still, a criminal is a criminal. He’s not just a common criminal but an ideological offender who has killed quite a number of people.

Even if I tell the special task force people that we need this guy, their emotions might not accept it even if their reason understands.

But I think it’ll be fine since I said I brought something that could persuade them. With that thought, I slowly looked at Yuna-ri.

The person who brought that news tapped on her laptop as if she had been waiting, and pressed the power button on the screen installed on the ceiling, saying:

“Villain named Dokkaebi had disappeared after Sai’s appearance. Recently, he was confirmed to be fighting with supervillains who had settled near Jongno.”

“And the ones settled in that area are cult followers who have a lot of grudges against Detective Lee Munsu. They can be considered remnants of the Chosen Ones.”

“Well, the most dangerous Park Jeonghun… is the only villain who couldn’t escape from prison.”

“Apparently because he was literally torn to pieces by Sai, leaving only his head. Anyway, that’s not the important part.”

Yuna-ri paused her words for a moment and displayed a screen, which showed Dokkaebi rescuing people.

Dokkaebi had wounds that looked dangerous even from appearances, indicating there had been a fierce battle, and beside him was a child who looked like his younger sister.

…Did that crazy bastard bring his younger sister to such a scene?

I thought he had finally gone crazy, but since the message implied by that image was concise, I swallowed the “huh” sound that was about to come out. Yuna-ri continued her words:

“Currently, near Jongno, Dokkaebi and people composed of vigilantes are fighting against a cult group centered around the Chosen Ones.”

“Unlike other villains, Dokkaebi doesn’t harass people. Rather, it’s said that he’s even protecting the police forces isolated in Jongno.”

“Isn’t he at least better than the typical trash?” Yuna-ri said, looking at us.

The special task force colleagues nodded, looking at the photo materials Yuna-ri sent to their individual tablets, though reluctantly, seeming to understand what Yuna-ri was trying to say.

They were photos that clearly showed that, while he might not be called a hero like Mina, he was at least trying to act like a human.

“…This is really amazing. Miss. How did you gather such information in this chaos? It seems like you’re more suited to be a police officer than a researcher.”

“That’s a trade secret.”

The captain asked admiringly, and she answered with a grin.

Honestly, I was also very surprised by her competence, as I didn’t expect her to find out where Dokkaebi was so quickly.

With just one mention from me about not hearing about Dokkaebi, Yuna-ri found everything about Dokkaebi’s current location and situation.

To secure such photos just 5 days after the question was asked. But really, how did she secure this?

If there’s a safe zone thanks to Dokkaebi, there might be ways to secure photos, but it’s still dangerous and tiring.

When did she find time when she’s been so busy with the neutralization drug research that she couldn’t even catch a breath? Is it physically possible? Was her superpower to create duplicates?

“Ahaha! Well then. There’s something I’d like to personally request here.”

I looked at Yuna-ri with questioning eyes. And she had a smiling face… no, wait. That’s not a smile.

Like a fallen leaf that should have already fallen but is somehow holding onto a branch, she was standing with difficulty.

After organizing her laptop. She climbed onto the table and laid down like a worm trying to burrow into the ground. With a face that seemed to have a smile cut and pasted on it, she said:

“It’s because I haven’t slept for a week. Could I sleep here for a few hours… The research lab work is too hard. It was only when I used time for case investigation that I could barely rest.”

“It’s really too much. Why are they tormenting a fragile science student like this? I’m not an engineering nerd but a drug dealer? Ah, is that why they’re doing this? Anyway, I, I can’t move anymore. Please. Detectives. Please… let me sleep here for an hour…”

Yuna-ri spoke with a smile that looked pasted on her dried-up facial skin like a corpse.

At that, Mina, colleagues, and I all silently stood up, drew the curtains, and turned off the lights.

It was only natural to be considerate to this fragile researcher who had worked for us.

It was sad that she was happy saying she could rest while doing our work, as it seemed to overlap with me, but fortunately, I was less capable than her.

Yes, in this country, if you’re capable, you suffer. In both the military and life, moderation is best.

But why am I in the special task force? Damn it.

“Detective… is being a researcher always that hard?”

As I was sighing with a sense of skepticism about my life, Mina, who had left the conference room, asked softly. I shook my head at Mina’s question and said:

“It’s the capable people who suffer. In this country, the more capable you are, the more work they pile on you and the less reward they give. It’s best to be somewhere in the middle. Don’t forget, Mina. The middle. The middle is the best.”

“…It’s strange for you to say that, Detective…?”

“…?”

Mina asked, tilting her head as if she genuinely couldn’t understand. And I couldn’t understand why Mina was speaking like that either.

I couldn’t figure out why Mina’s reaction was like that. Soon I gave up thinking and just lightly messed up her hair.

Well, it would be strange to say being in the middle is good when wearing a heavy armband like the special task force captain.

But I am far from being capable and rather have a personality that tries to finish work at a moderate level most of the time.

But damn it, Sai suddenly intervened in my life.

After all, it’s all Sai’s fault. I’m not the bad one.

Afterward, I told Mina to rest, then went to the lounge to get a blanket and pillow, and headed back to the conference room where Yuna-ri was sleeping.

I placed the blanket and pillow well so that she could sleep comfortably. I saw Yuna-ri, who had fallen asleep as if she had fainted on this table, with a happy smile.

“It really looks like a graduate student’s smile.”

Yes, that smile resembled the smile of a friend I saw in a previous life.

That friend was a graduate student, and he would smile like this when he came home to sleep for the first time in a year after submitting a thesis.

Do people who study literature remain graduate students forever? I don’t know how one becomes a researcher, but it seemed like all people who held pens were similar.

I laughed at my thoughts, which were terrible even to myself. I prayed for Yuna-ri’s sound sleep again as I turned off the lights in the conference room.

I thought it was time to move to recruit Dokkaebi according to the information gathered by Yuna-ri, and put a cigarette in my mouth.

If that Dokkaebi guy and Mina join forces, it’s not impossible to properly deal a blow to Sai.

But why does my intuition tell me that persuading that guy won’t be easy? I chewed on the cigarette filter and looked at the cloudy sky.

Recently, under the sky where the sun has not appeared even once. The sun was not visible. I sighed at the weather that had suddenly turned cold again.