What It Means to Be Police in This World(8)

After Mina was kidnapped by Sai, when Mina regained consciousness, she wondered where she was and why she, who had been defeated by Sai, was still alive.

Sai boldly declared to the awakened Mina that she intended to use her as a hostage, and that whether she would kill her or let her live would be determined by people’s choice.

Although Mina trembled at her truly outrageous and wicked plan.

Since she knew that her powerlessly bound self could never stop Sai. The girl could only blame herself for being defeated.

She couldn’t break free, she couldn’t escape. Simply powerlessly held as a hostage. Mina gritted her teeth in frustration and glared at Sai.

Sai. For Mina, the source of all the battles she had faced and the worst criminal threatening this country.

A monster who treats human lives as less than ants, tramples on those lives without feeling guilt, and doesn’t know human emotions.

Although she is a terribly wicked villain, as a congenital superpower user like Mina, there were certainly parts they could understand about each other as they clashed.

The sense of isolation of being alone among people who are so different from you. Mina empathized with such loneliness that Sai must have felt. No, it wasn’t just that.

If she had gone astray and failed to see people as the same as her.

If she hadn’t been loved by her family. If at the worst moment, she had gone astray.

If on the day she lost her family, she had really been swallowed by anger and crossed the line.

Then she would have become a person like Sai. Sai was like a mirror showing what Mina would have become if she had gone wrong.

Perhaps that’s why. Sai and Mina love the same person. They both love and crave the same person, but.

The man that Mina herself and Sai love would never forgive her no matter what happens.

Just like now.

“He recognized me right away.”

Sai spoke with a smiling face. But her drooping corners of her mouth, unable to hide her dejection, looked quite pitiful.

She had left saying she would go to talk for the last time, taking on Mina’s face, and continued speaking in the quiet ruins after her declaration of war.

She said that Detective Lee Munsu recognized her immediately even when she approached acting as Mina, lamenting.

Mina felt sorry for her. I know it’s an inappropriate expression for Sai, the worst criminal. But—because she loved the same person, she couldn’t help but think that way.

Mina had already heard that Sai had confessed to him not long ago but was rejected. And despite that, she couldn’t give up on her love and orchestrated all this to somehow turn things back.

It was quite absurd, but Mina felt that Sai’s behavior, beyond right and wrong, beyond justice and evil, looked like nothing more than a child’s tantrum.

A child who cries and causes trouble when things don’t go their way. That was how Sai appeared in Mina’s eyes.

Mina understood. Throughout her life, she had never failed to achieve what she wanted. Superior intelligence, powerful superpowers. Even outstanding appearance. She would have lacked nothing.

For a person who could seize what she wanted and easily trample on anything that got in her way, it was the first time something didn’t go her way.

No matter how Sai devises methods, thinks, and seeks ways, she won’t be able to win his heart.

Rather than being completely buried in her own thinking, selfishly crushing Detective Lee Munsu who doesn’t reciprocate her love.

It might be better for Sai if she could then whisper love to him when he couldn’t say anything [though not for Detective Lee Munsu].

But sadly, she wasn’t that crazy, and she couldn’t be that selfish.

She is undeniably a villain. But the love she has recognized is so pure.

Because love for a man was the first emotion felt by a woman without emotions, she doesn’t know how to accept the pain of rejection like other people.

“Even when I disguised myself with your face and approached, he recognized me instantly. I’m really envious, New Hope.”

“I have nothing to say but that I’m envious. I truly love him. I love him as much as you do. But I can’t be by his side anymore, can I?”

Sai, who spoke like that, unexpectedly didn’t show the endless madness she had shown when Mina had confronted her before.

She was too detached, as if the appearance of writhing with jealousy and sadness had all been a dream.

At that sight, Mina rather wanted to ask back.

If she loves him so much, if she loves him that much, couldn’t she just surrender and sincerely ask forgiveness from all the people she had hurt until now?

“That’s why I’m doing this.”

“…What are you thinking?”

Mina spat out a question from her dried-up throat. Before the question that arose inside her, Mina didn’t understand this situation.

Come to think of it, her declaration of war to the whole of Seoul now is strange.

Forcing people to choose between her life or the lives of an unspecified number of people? Why on earth?

Bringing down the country is just an intermediate step for Sai. Her ultimate goal is to confess to Detective Lee Munsu.

With that goal in front of her, Mina couldn’t understand the meaning of this nauseating game.

Sai could easily kill her as she’s tied up like this. Of course, she doesn’t intend to die easily, but—that’s for sure. But she doesn’t kill her easily and instead forces people to make a horrible choice.

Is it because she wants to see people’s true faces?

People are quite heartless creatures. Even the girl fighting as a hero knows this fact.

Mina still remembers what people said when her identity was revealed.

Words that mocked, slandered, denied her life, and completely trampled on everything using her tragedy.

Having heard those words, Mina was inwardly convinced that people would certainly choose to let her die, but she knows that Sai, who orchestrated this situation, is ultimately at fault.

To begin with, it’s strange to blame people for choosing one of two terrible options that were presented to them.

For Mina, more than people’s nature, the act itself was incomprehensible.

No matter how hard she tried to understand, no matter how much she thought about it. Isn’t all this just about tormenting the people in the city?

“You don’t have to understand. I’m not asking for understanding either.”

Sai answered with a smile to Mina’s question.

She looked as if she had already provided all the answers. What she would do next, what choices she would make. Everything.

“I don’t understand you either. Just as you don’t understand me.”

“Despite having quite a lot of conversations here. Despite fighting with our lives on the line, how you could live like that, how you could become like that.”

“The Deputy Director said. Maybe we’re heroes and villains because we can’t understand each other?”

She said this and turned her gaze elsewhere. Her blue eyes looked at somewhere under the sky that was still high.

As Mina’s eyes also followed where her gaze landed, she could see a car rushing towards this place as if to wake up the halted city.

Both Mina and Sai could tell who was in that car. In this situation, the only person they knew who would definitely not run away and be the first to rush to the scene.

Mina gritted her teeth, blaming herself for not being able to do anything even in this situation. Sai smiled an incomprehensible smile watching that car.

---

After getting out of the car. Yuna-ri, Dokkaebi, and I, the three of us, looked at each other’s faces once.

We all know that if we run away from here, this would be the last place we could escape. I did ask them to fight with me, but I didn’t say let’s die together.

That’s why I asked needlessly:

“You can run away if you want.”

“I think we’re already caught and can’t run away.”

“I came risking my life anyway. If I ran away from here, I would become a person who couldn’t even raise my head to my sister.”

Yuna-ri spoke with a terrified face. Dokkaebi spoke resolutely as if he had already prepared himself to die.

Dokkaebi was wearing a mask and had even brought an old sword from somewhere. Yuna-ri also had a special armor made of shock-absorbing material she had shown on the internet before, and something that looked like a specially designed water gun.

…Am I the only one who came with just one gun and nothing else?

I thought that maybe I should have brought some protective gear too, but.

Thinking calmly, in this situation, there wasn’t time to bring anything, and in front of Sai, whether it’s protective gear or whatever, it’s all equally trash, isn’t it?

I took out the gun in my hand. And we proceeded into the ruins without further words.

This area, which had been completely turned upside down by Sai before, was such a mess that it was difficult to walk properly. I’ve heard that even now, the ground is unstable and it wouldn’t be strange if entire sections collapsed at any time.

It means we might all be buried under the crevices made by Sai if we’re not careful.

But perhaps dying like that would leave a more intact corpse than being killed by Sai, so I decided not to worry about it.

As we silently moved ahead through the uncomfortable terrain, it wasn’t long before we could see Sai.

Sitting on a small hill made up of building fragments, stones, and so on, Sai was looking down at us with a beaming smile.

Beside her, as seen in the video, Mina was tied with something like bright red wire and couldn’t escape.

Sai herself was dressed in the black dress she had worn before, so it made me think why a person who should be at a party venue was here.

“It’s been tens of minutes, Deputy Director.”

“Yeah.”

“No police support, huh? Well, you’ve quit the police, right? Because the police and the government have given up on fighting me. …Do you really think you can defeat me with this much?”

“I’m not good at numbers because I’m bad at math. I majored in liberal arts. Instead, what liberal arts majors are good at is charging in first and figuring things out later. I’m going to try what liberal arts majors are good at.”

I felt my throat drying up with tension even as I spoke nonchalantly.

The wind, which still feels cold, sweeps through the ruins making an unpleasant sound, but even that wind flows around Sai, avoiding her.

Sai raised her hand for everyone to see and slowly bent her fingers, and I could see her five fingers changing into blades, spears, and sharp skewers.

Her ability is soul-level body manipulation. She can change not only her own body but also the bodies of others.

Very fortunately, there are no mutants visible around, but that’s nothing to be complacent about.

No matter how many mutants she creates, they would still be weaker than Sai herself. The worst mastermind and criminal of the worldview.

Even in the original novel, Sai had overwhelming power to the point where it was unclear how to defeat her.

Even now, if my plan doesn’t work, we’ll all die. Whether it’s Dokkaebi or anyone else, we’ll surely die.

I tensed my body, ready to move no matter what she did, while regulating my breathing. Sai continued this unpleasant standoff, staring at me with a friendly smile.

But the one who ended this standoff was Dokkaebi, who was wearing a mask and holding an old sword from somewhere.

“Sai. You evil spirit. Your evil deeds end here! You will pay the price for the innocent blood on your dirty hands!”

“Haha. That’s not something that should be said by someone who rampaged even after avenging his parents, is it?”

“Yes, but even a fool like me can risk his life to stop an evil spirit like you!”

Dokkaebi responded unfazed to Sai, who was provoking him with a witch-like face as if she knew his past, and rushed at her. At the same time, bright red fiery spears appeared around and aimed at Sai.

Simultaneously, the remaining Yuna-ri and I began to move according to the plan.

I rushed forward to rescue the bound Mina. Yuna-ri ran far around to assist Dokkaebi.

The distance to where Mina was was about 10 meters. If I ran with all my might, it wouldn’t take more than a few seconds to rush up the not-so-high hill, but—

“Your ability was magic, wasn’t it? Quite a flashy illusion. But in the end, it’s just an illusion.”

With those words, Sai knocked away the fiery spears in all directions at an invisible speed. The broken H-rebars scattered, crushed like broken sorghum stems.

Sai, who had perfectly selected and destroyed only the illusions that had substance among the countless fiery spears. Sai looked at Dokkaebi with a smirk.

And of course, the shockwave generated from such a collision instantly spread in all directions. I was caught in that shockwave and rolled on the ground.

Fuck, I’m like a shrimp caught in a whale fight! Now it’s so familiar that it’s even more shitty.

But I have to endure. I lay face down on the ground and looked sideways at where the fight continued.

Dokkaebi, sensing that his ability wouldn’t work on Sai, immediately gritted his teeth and rushed in with his sword drawn, but.

The sword Dokkaebi held is blocked by Sai’s hand. When the blade with a blue edge collides with human skin, there’s a sharp “Clang!” sound.

Colliding, colliding, colliding. Dokkaebi trying to deceive Sai by creating illusions and hallucinations, and Sai seeing through all of it.

Their fight becomes not only splendid but also reaches a speed difficult for human eyes to follow.

But Sai’s expression is too relaxed, and in contrast, Dokkaebi was fighting desperately, evident even under his mask.

At this rate, Dokkaebi will lose. I looked for Yuna-ri, who would be watching for an opportunity from afar. She was gritting her teeth while holding that strange water gun-like thing she had brought.

Since she’s a superpower user but with unremarkable physical abilities, she seemed unable to provide support or anything due to their too fast speed.

What’s needed is an opening. I should create an opening for her.

I endured the continuing shockwaves and rushed straight towards Mina. At that, Sai’s gaze briefly turned towards me, but it was too pathetic to be called an opening.

Her gaze was merely like briefly glancing at something nearby while walking, and since she was dealing with Dokkaebi leisurely from the beginning, that attention diversion was meaningless.

But this would work, right? I aimed for the moment Sai touched down on the ground and threw the item I had received from Yuna-ri out of my pocket with all my might.

“…A blood pack?”

“Yes!”

I shot the gun I was holding at that blood pack. The bullet hit the blood pack, and its contents spilled over Sai and Dokkaebi.

“Not a special drug. …Blood?”

Yes, it’s blood. Just simple blood, but whose blood it is matters.

I rolled my eyes to look at Yuna-ri in the distance. She confirmed that Sai had been sprayed with blood and grinned.

Yes, this blood is Yuna-ri’s blood. And Yuna-ri’s superpower is the ability to control the stress level of others who come into contact with her body fluids.

No matter what a human like me does, whether shooting a gun or anything, it wouldn’t even be a disturbance to Sai, but Yuna-ri’s ability is different.

Immediately after, Sai staggered, and Yuna-ri aimed the water gun-like thing she had brought at Sai and fired.

What was fired from the water gun-like thing was an ampoule with a syringe attached, and inside it was a white liquid. It was the improved neutralization drug that Yuna-ri said she had newly made.

“This will work even on a monster like you!”

Yuna-ri shouted with a grin. But that’s not enough. There’s no way that water gun-like thing can penetrate Sai’s skin.

To begin with, Sai could catch objects flying at that speed with her eyes closed. If there wasn’t someone else beside her, that is.

“Eat this…!”

Sai reached out to catch the flying syringe, but before that, Dokkaebi caught the ampoule in mid-air and stabbed it into Sai.

Kuguk, the neutralization drug being injected into Sai’s body. Both Dokkaebi and Yuna-ri had faces filled with joy, but.

“Amazing. Indeed. My judgment was correct that I should somehow persuade or kill you two. To think you would even replicate the neutralization drug I made for fun.”

“I admit it. Your method of using abilities, and the intelligence to use them, are all excellent. But—it just doesn’t work on me.”

As if mocking such hope, Sai swung her hand.

Immediately after, there was a sound like a whip being swung, and the ground split. A bright red line bloomed on Yuna-ri’s body, who was trying to evade, and bright red blood spurted out.

“Huh…?”

What is it? What flew by? When I tracked Sai with my eyes, one of her fingers had transformed into a whip-like form with something like a blade at the end.

Did she swing that whip? And the result is the ground splitting like that? I was so surprised that I couldn’t even exclaim.

But regardless of my impression, Yuna-ri let out a deflated sound and collapsed.

Sai didn’t stop there and clenched her fist and swung it to the side. It was a simple action. But the result of that simple action was devastating.

A sight unbelievable to the eyes. When Sai swung her fist, everything in its trajectory began to be crushed.

From large stones to concrete fragments, even solid steel rebars, all were mercilessly crushed and sent flying. And among those crushing objects, Dokkaebi was naturally included.

“Da-mn it…!!”

Dokkaebi, bleeding under his mask, flying and rolling on the ground.

Only about 20 seconds would have passed since I threw and burst the blood pack. All this happened in that brief instant.

“Urgh… De-tective. Run away. Here, I’ll somehow…!”

“Be quiet, kid.”

I handed something to Mina, who was trying to say something, telling her to be quiet, and at the same time, I tried to untie the bright red wire-like thing that bound Mina, but it wouldn’t come undone at all.

Even though I tore at it so strongly that my hand bled, the bright red wire didn’t budge at all.

Looking closely, the reason why it wouldn’t break even when Mina applied force seemed to be because it dug into her flesh, preventing proper movement.

It seemed like this would never be untied unless I shot it to break it.

“De-Detective! Behind you!”

“It’s all over now, Deputy Director.”

Sai’s voice was heard right behind me. I swallowed and turned around. There stood Sai, wiping off the blood on her hand.

Instinct? I reflexively stepped backward. Across Mina, backwards. When I came to my senses, my body was standing behind the cross-like structure to which Mina was tied.

At my action, Mina urgently tried to untie the wire, but the more she did, the more the wire dug into her flesh and bound her more strongly.

“The hero girl can’t escape from there. That means there’s no one left to help the Deputy Director.”

“It means that in this world, only the Deputy Director is left to stand against me.”

As Sai tried to approach, I raised my gun and pulled the trigger, but perhaps because my hand was trembling, the bullet didn’t even graze Sai.

One bullet left. I lowered the hand holding the gun, regulating my breath.

Sai approached slowly, making the sound of shoe steps regardless of whether I held a gun or not. Soon, she crouched in front of me and spoke:

“Why do you fight like that? You’re alone now, Deputy Director. Other police officers aren’t doing anything. They’ve given up in this situation.”

“What are the ordinary people you’re trying to protect doing right now? There’s still time left, but without seeing, people will be unhesitatingly choosing for that child to die rather than themselves, and they’ll be watching this scene.”

“Ah, yes. That’s right. This fight has been broadcasting since the moment you arrived, Deputy Director. I wanted to show everyone. What kind of people are those who try to protect them.”

And I want to prove how ugly they are. Sai spoke calmly like that.

Only then did I notice that several drone-like things were floating around, but that wasn’t the important thing.

Sai slowly extended her arms and embraced me. Just like how I had embraced her on the day she recovered her memories.

Fuck, this woman is making me regret doing that back then in this way. As I was showing disgust, Sai slowly continued:

“Can’t you just admit it? That everyone is the same. It’s only you, Deputy Director. The only one who doesn’t give up to that extent. So please… can’t you just accept that everything is like this?”

…Now she’s talking nonsense after cutting off context. What is she babbling about?

I gritted my teeth at Sai’s appearance and tried to connect my thoughts. Why this woman is suddenly saying such things.

And then suddenly. It occurred to me that this shitty choice of either the lives of citizens or Mina’s life, set up by Sai, might not just be Sai’s evil taste.

Sai told me to do what I had to do, and those words probably meant that after I struggled to the end and failed, she was waiting for me to break after seeing the choice people made.

It’s certainly a terrible scheme that could break someone with beliefs or someone who believes in justice like Mina, but—

The problem is that I’m not a person with any beliefs, but a person who’s here because I don’t want to die.

This woman really doesn’t know me until the end. I clicked my tongue and said:

“Don’t know. That stuff. I’m doing all this because I want to live, you bitch.”

“And really, stop your bullshit. A person who’s tormenting people is proudly saying what kind of beings people are?”

I pushed Sai away. Sai moved back obediently and showed a face sadder than I had ever seen before.

This is also I don’t know how many times, but she keeps showing such a reaction. Looking at Sai who was blankly staring, I thought this was the best chance and put my hand into my inner pocket.

What I had asked Yuna-ri to prepare. Even Yuna-ri’s blood was something I had asked to prepare just to buy time. What I considered most important was this.

Two syringes filled with bright red liquid. I gripped the syringes containing the familiar color in my hand.

“Deputy Director…?”

Sai blankly called my name. Sai had eyes that didn’t understand my current action, which didn’t suit her. But that was rather good. I decided not to miss that opening.

“I admit there’s no way out. It’s either I kill you or I die. If I can’t win anyway, I should at least make a last struggle, right?”

“W-wait a moment, Deputy Director. Not that, right? The quantity is too much. With that much… an ordinary person would…”

“Become a mutant. Mercilessly.”

I grinned and placed the syringe tip on my neck. The liquid will enter my body as soon as I apply force with my finger.

In terms of quantity, it’s twice the amount that makes one a regular superpower user. I had no way to obtain the awakening agent recovered by the police.

But Yuna-ri would have secured the awakening agent to create the neutralization drug before, and knowing that, I asked her.

The current me, a police officer without any power, can never stop Sai.

Even if I inject the superpower awakening agent and become a superpower user at this moment, I’m not confident I’ll defeat her, and the possibility of gaining a power as strong as needed is low. Even if I become a mutant—it’s the same.

But if Sai really loves me. If she’s so in love that she can’t bear it. With this, I might be able to inflict at least one wound on her.

Sai’s face turned white. She forgot to rush in and snatch the syringe, only waving her hand in the air.

“No… not that. The Deputy Director isn’t that kind of person, right…? Why, why would you do that…!”

“Did you think I’d just say ‘I lost, I give up’ and go with it if I was going to lose anyway? I have a nasty personality, you know? If I’m screwed anyway, why can’t I do anything?”

I apply force to my finger. The drug enters my body without hindrance. Sai screamed and rushed towards me.

This is a reckless suicide attack by someone who, sensing defeat, is desperate and willing to abandon everything.

If I’m going to lose anyway, if I can’t arrest her, at least I’ll leave an unforgettable wound on her—

That’s what I prepared to make her think.

Pook!

“Huh…?”

“That…! That’s not really an awakening agent, right?! Right?!”

“Would it be real?”

I sighed. Mina was still tied with red wire, but at least she had escaped from the cross-like structure.

She was stabbing Sai with the syringe containing the neutralization drug that I had handed to her a moment ago. Sai, distracted by me, was helplessly stabbed with the syringe.

Sai, looking at the syringe stuck in her body and the blood-covered Mina alternately with a dumbfounded face. She asked with a completely deflated face:

“- That’s too cruel. To use even love.”

“Aren’t you being too much?”

The missed bullet, the neutralization drug that Yuna-ri had shot. This fake awakening agent I prepared now. All for this moment.

I recalled the conversation we had at the hospital earlier, grinning.