In This World, Police Face the Mastermind(10)

These days I’ve been feeling that riding in an armored vehicle every time I go outside really feels like crap.

It’s not just simply riding in an armored vehicle, but wearing bulletproof vests and protective gear and carrying shitty guns while riding.

As soon as you step outside the police station, you never know when and where a supervillain might appear, and in the past few days, mutants who had disappeared along with Sai have also been spotted.

So if you want to live, it’s natural to be heavily armed when going outside—

Despite knowing this, despite never having ridden in an armored vehicle before, for some reason my head heats up with a familiar shittiness and irritation.

Wondering why I feel this way, I soon figured out the answer.

“It’s like riding a howitzer in the rain without a tarp in the military. That’s why I feel so crappy.”

“Why didn’t they put it on?”

“You wouldn’t understand even if I told you.”

The disciplinary officer said we’d get back to the unit in 5 minutes so let’s go quickly, so he didn’t put the tarp on to get back to the unit faster, and then the damn vehicle crashed.

We were contemplating whether to dismember the miraculous transport soldier who miraculously didn’t severely injure anyone and only wrecked the vehicle, or to cut him into pieces like fragments of a soul bead.

We got drenched in the rain on the side of the road until someone came to pick us up and take care of our pain.

The vehicle frame was wrecked so it was hard to put on the tarp and avoid the rain. The aftermath of the accident also made our bodies ache and suffer.

Looking back now, I wonder if we could have at least avoided the rain if we had taken out the tarp and worn it like a raincoat together?

But as is usually the case in the military, due to the debuff that causes a person’s intelligence to drop when wearing a military uniform, we couldn’t even handle the situation wisely.

“The military is fucking shit.”

“Why are you using the same word twice?”

A police officer moving with me in front of me said. I was about to deny it since there were people listening, but since no one in this country doesn’t know that, I decided to nod.

Let’s see, today marks the 3rd week since the launch of the special task force. The special task force, which used to operate like a small elite group, has increased in personnel, and there’s no longer a need for me to stay at the scene to clean up.

Now that we have enough personnel, we can divide the work and rotate the fighters, but Mina, who is an irreplaceable member, is the problem.

Since a powerful superpower user is essential as an ally when dealing with supervillains, it’s inevitable that Mina has to move. But objectively speaking, it’s a serious forced march.

The fact that 3 weeks have passed since the special task force’s deployment means that fights with Mina as the main force have been continuing for 3 weeks.

While Mina has good stamina, how great would the stress be from life-or-death struggles?

Even though Mina has become so strong that ordinary supervillains are no match for her, and she can end fights without getting hurt much, that doesn’t mean she doesn’t get tired.

Mina has to protect us, protect citizens remaining at the scene, and face supervillains who spew disgusting malice.

She’s silently doing what I would say “fuck it” to, write a resignation letter, and leave.

Although that kid isn’t showing it now, it’s clearly visible that she’s overdoing it after hearing what the special task force people said in the previous meeting about Dokkaebi.

“…Wait a minute. If this continues, we’re done for.”

Suddenly, I realized that this situation is flowing very unfavorably for us.

Honestly, I thought that once we started moving, Sai would immediately show a reaction and the fight would begin, but I didn’t expect it to take this long.

A fight I thought would be a short-term decisive battle is flowing into a long-term war beyond imagination. And Mina’s fatigue continues to accumulate deeply.

I kept thinking about why Sai really hid after hearing Justice’s testimony, but looking at it now, it seems this person is waiting for Mina to get exhausted.

Sai could easily defeat the current Mina. But she probably wants to break her perfectly and ruthlessly, without being careless.

If her real purpose is to break people’s hope, there’s no more effective method than defeating and then executing Mina.

As my thoughts reached that point, the back of my neck became stiff and I felt suffocated.

I heard what Yagi said to Mina just before he breathed his last. Sai said she wanted to torment Mina.

The reason, if that’s why she decided to do so, is likely because she’s jealous of Mina who is by my side.

Damn it. I can’t help but know that I’m at the center of all these incidents, whether I like it or not.

If Sai has decided to torment someone, this silence is definitely not a good sign.

Thinking this way, I want to hire Dokkaebi for the special task force even more.

But there’s something strange about that Dokkaebi too.

That is, he hasn’t been able to clean up this one area.

According to Yuna-ri’s investigation, there are hardly any dangerous ones among the remnants of the Chosen Ones.

The secretary woman who can solidify objects that enter her field of vision, her subordinates, and some supervillains.

The most dangerous one, cult leader Park Jeonghun, was killed by Sai’s hand, and the remaining followers are just insignificant guys.

Dokkaebi should be able to crack all their heads even if it takes some time, so why are they still fine?

No, why did he bring his younger sister to the scene in the first place?

Something was clearly happening in the Jongno area. As I was swallowing my anxiety in the shaking armored vehicle.

Bang! A noise was heard from outside. The armored vehicle shook slightly and there was a noise.

“Mutant! A mutant has appeared!!”

With the driver’s scream-like shout, the person holding the external machine gun urgently twisted his body and started firing towards somewhere.

At that, I and other colleagues quickly got out of the armored vehicle and looked at the place the police were looking at.

“What the hell?”

Where my gaze landed, there was a huge monster that was unbelievable to think it had become that way from a human transformation.

Roughly seeming to exceed 10 meters, with no discernible neck, a huge body with long arms and legs, a monster literally as huge as a building was approaching us using buildings as support.

People were screaming, running away, and causing a commotion when it came into view. I was speechless.

Damn, this requires missiles, not guns. Where the hell did something like this appear from?!

My mouth automatically opened in disbelief, like seeing a monster from a monster movie suddenly appearing in a zombie game.

But as the huge monster let out a scream loud enough to break windows, I came to my senses and started firing.

Gunshots rang out, and the mutant, although huge, seemed to have weaker skin than expected as bullets embedded in it and it spewed blood.

Perhaps because of the pain, it made a sound like a scream filled with pain. It stretched out its huge arm to grab the fleeing citizens and us all at once, but.

“Everyone! Run back!!”

Before that, Mina, who had been in our vehicle and other vehicles, started flying rapidly like a shot arrow.

Mina flew in a straight line and kicked the huge mutant’s body, making it float up into the sky.

Afterward, as if that wasn’t enough, Mina pushed it higher and higher, then grabbed the huge head (or what was presumed to be the head) of that giant monster and slammed it onto the road.

Bang! The huge body fell with a thunderous sound and shockwave, and the mutant did not move anymore.

Thanks to the minimal damage to buildings and kicking it to the center of a relatively wide intersection road, that huge body didn’t cause damage to the surroundings.

I wondered why she kicked it upward like that, but was it to knock it out in the air to minimize damage to the surroundings?

It was truly a perfect subduing that minimized damage to the surroundings. The old Mina would never have been able to do this.

As I’ve said before, that small kid has now truly become a person worthy of being called a hero.

While I was moved, I saw that the citizens’ gazes were also gathering on Mina.

Well, it was natural. A tiny kid not even reaching the chest of an adult male pulverized a monster that seemed to exceed 10 meters. It would be surprising.

Even people who were running away admired that absurd scene and stared at it blankly. Soon, starting with someone clapping, the surroundings resounded with voices praising New Hope.

“Amazing, New Hope!”

“Thank you!!”

“I’ve always believed in youuuu!!”

People’s cheers resound. The special task force people also expressed admiration seeing the absurdly huge mutant fall, but.

My eyes were fixed on Mina standing alone in the midst of it all.

“Haa…haa…”

Mina was catching her breath with her hands on her knees. She was dripping with sweat and had cloudy eyes as if tired.

Soon, she wiped the sweat flowing down her chin and lifted her waist with difficulty and smiled.

That smile was hard to see as forced. Rather, it looked like she was smiling more brightly to hide her exhaustion.

As expected, this kid is recklessly overexerting herself due to the pressure of having to defeat Sai.

I approached behind Mina, who was waving her hand, and placed my hand on her head. When I pressed it firmly, Mina made a strange sound, “Ungah,” and looked up at me.

I sighed and said to Mina:

“Well done. Go in and rest. Leave the cleanup to us.”

“…But I’m fine?”

“Saying you’re fine doesn’t mean you are fine. If you keep being stubborn, know that you’ll get your palm hit with a ruler. In front of everyone. And come to think of it, you’ve been skipping school at your whim? You really need to be scolded.”

“Wh-what?! No, schools nationwide are closed now…! Even the college entrance exam was canceled last time! And hitting my palm! If that goes around on the internet, I’ll be too embarrassed to go outside!”

A kid who knows about embarrassment wearing such an outfit…? That spandex revealing your entire body shape isn’t embarrassing? Is that your fetish?

A very primitive and fundamental question was about to automatically come out of my mouth, but I held it back. This would truly be sexual harassment if spoken.

I pushed Mina’s back, telling her to go in and rest, and picked up the radio to call for support to clean up the situation.

But in that brief moment. I saw it. From the body of the fallen giant mutant, something sharp like a spear extended and started flying towards Mina.

It’s not that fast. It’s at a level where I can react. But Mina doesn’t notice it and is turning around!

My teeth automatically ground at the sight. Damn it! That kid is clearly so tired she can’t even notice this!

I gritted my teeth and pushed Mina away. The skewer-like thing that extended from the giant mutant flew directly at me.

Did that bastard pretend to be unconscious? No. What the hell did Sai make?

If it hits, my stomach? The possibility of avoiding damage to internal organs? How big will the wound be? It’s impossible to run away. Pushing Mina away was the limit. Then— then—

Thoughts cross my mind, but there was no way to avoid that attack.

Mina seemed to react a step late, her red eyes wide open, but her arms and legs were trembling, as if her body couldn’t move.

At that, I gritted my teeth, ready, hoping that the spear would just miss dangerous areas, but—

Clang!

The flying meat spear was broken by someone’s intervention and plunged into the ground. The person who flew in from a building rooftop and broke the meat spear with a short flute was Dokkaebi, wearing white hemp clothes and holding a short flute.

“Dokkaebi! It’s Dokkaebi!”

“Dokkaebi came too!”

Perhaps because we were almost at our destination, Jongno? Dokkaebi made a cool entrance with seemingly perfect timing. The surrounding citizens also rejoiced at the sight of Dokkaebi.

But.

“Fortunately, I’m not too late. Master Kim. Miss New Hope. I’m glad to see you in good health.”

“These days, unlike before, some of these beasts hide traps even after being knocked down. It wouldn’t be too dangerous if you knew, but— I see you were all caught off guard.”

Watching Dokkaebi continuing to speak while wearing his Dokkaebi mask as before, I thought.

I’m grateful for being saved, but can’t he drop that fucking concept? It’s embarrassing just watching him.

Come to think of it, most superpower users in this world seem to have castrated the emotion of embarrassment.

Just as people have face recognition disorders, do superpower users not feel embarrassment?

The rules of the world are quite cruel. I slowly shook my head and sighed. Since we met Dokkaebi, who was our objective, let’s think it’s all good for now. Let’s think that way for now.