Today was an unusually cold day starting from the afternoon. I briefly felt a sentimental emotion wondering if autumn was disappearing after all that talk about global warming, but.

Maybe because the weather turned cold, criminals were rampaging a bit less, so the sentimental feelings flew far away. Thinking “Long live winter,” I left the station and leisurely drank a cup of coffee.

Today marks exactly 2 months since the Seoul Mayor hostage incident, and during these 2 months, there have been so many incidents it’s dizzying.

Kidnapping, fraud, assault – these are everyday occurrences. Half are guys who awakened superpowers, thought their abilities were the strongest, rampaged, got beaten up by New Hope, and were thrown in holding cells.

A quarter are guys who thought they wouldn’t lose if they fought again, but got smashed. As time passed, a pathetic mess continued.

Still, I could brush off everything up to here thinking it’s my karma for choosing to be a police officer, but the remaining quarter of cases are the problem.

If we talk percentages, about 25%. Incidents I had never experienced before started happening. What kind of incidents? It’s people appearing to directly request investigations from me.

I’m not talking about normal procedures where people report to the police and I end up in charge of the case. Literally, people come to me and ‘directly’ ask for help.

Do you know how dumbfounding it is when suddenly a person you’ve never seen before appears while you’re walking, kneels down, and begs you to help them?

Working as a police officer, it’s common to run to people crying for help, and while investigating cases, we often find that the real culprit is someone else and discover more innocent victims.

But what’s with people specifically seeking me out saying “Please resolve my unfair situation-“?

Of course, I tried to send such people away telling them to officially report to the station if there was an incident, or if it seemed like a serious case, I tried to transfer it to police officers I knew, but-

Is it because of this crazy world setting, or is it someone’s scheme? – Of course it’s a scheme, damn it.

The sighs never end. The people who came to find me were all involved with superpower users, and on top of that, they were people who suffered unfair treatment because those wage-thief police bastards didn’t work because they found it bothersome.

They’re crying saying no one else will listen to them except me, and since there are victims,

I first officially registered the case, and since the case came down to me, I started investigating and handled it, but this doesn’t happen just once, it happens every time I have time!

It even got to the point where when I went out for an incident, the suspect saw me and asked if I could listen to their side of the story, then voluntarily turned themselves in!

I asked the people who requested help what they thought the cause of this strange situation was, and the reason they came to find me was none other than that damn video of me slamming the mayor.

That damn video is still floating around the internet even after quite some time has passed, spreading in real-time with titles like ‘Refreshing video of detective slamming mayor’, and.

Somehow on YouTube and SNS, they even found out that I was the one who solved the once-sensational congressman’s son murder case that was talked about on the internet,

and somehow discovering that I solved the cases of people who came to me for help, they’re exaggeratedly babbling about me as if I’m the only clean police officer that can’t be found in this country.

You don’t understand what I’m talking about? Honestly, me neither.

“Fu- no, tough life.”

It seems I’m suffering like this because I have curses on my tongue. Let’s reduce the swearing. This hardship will pass when time goes by and another big incident occurs.

I definitely thought so, but – it’s been 2 months. I don’t know what Sai wants from me, but isn’t this going a bit too far?

I stopped the thoughts causing me pain, engraved a resolution to shoot Dokkaebi if I find him, and for now, tried to smile while enjoying the subtle coffee aroma-

“Deputy Chief, so this is where you were?”

“Kweup.”

Da- mn. It went down my nose.

Because she suddenly called me, I choked. The heat and aroma of the coffee torture my airways.

As I’m coughing in pain, Sai, the owner of the voice, has already approached my side and says things like ‘You’re healthy today too’ while handing me a handkerchief.

“What are you going to do if people recognize you here again and ask for help?”

“I’ll tell them to report to the station and run away.”

“Oh my, if people hear the most famous person these days saying such things, it’ll cause an uproar. Are you okay with that? If I say a word, the internet will be in an uproar again~”

Sai speaks in a light, playful tone. But my ears hurt wondering if there’s another hidden meaning inside.

While avoiding Sai’s gaze piercing down on me, I wiped the coffee flowing from my nose.

Recently, the cause of all my worries, concerns, fatigue, and overwork is this woman, no, this guy.

What on earth is this guy? What does he want? Wondering this, I’ve been watching Sai for 2 months while going around together as junior and senior partners.

As a result, there’s one thing I’ve found out. That is, this cross-dressing woman is a lunatic whose desires are incomprehensible.

First of all, she’s good at her job. No, not just good, she’s so good at her job that I feel like I’d have no wishes left if there was one more person like her.

To the extent that I can say the cases mentioned above were solved not because I’m great, but because Sai is my junior partner.

If there’s one problem here, it’s that such a capable mastermind of the world setting clearly pulled me into the Special Investigation Team with a purpose, but I don’t know what it is.

You might ask why I’m suddenly wondering about someone whose intentions I didn’t know from the beginning. Listen carefully.

Let’s say there’s a really dangerous and scarily smart guy. If that guy ignores me and tries to use me, well, you could just think “Oh, so he’s that kind of guy” and move on.

But how would you feel if that dangerous guy pretends to be friendly with you and does things like pushing achievements onto you? For reference, I’ve gotten a sleep disorder because I’m scared.

I really don’t understand. Even if I say “This is your achievement, take the credit,” she stubbornly refuses saying “I didn’t do anything. It was all done by you, Deputy Chief.”

Even for the Ha Tae-sik case before, when the news came out as if I had solved the case, the creepy smile she had then ominously flashes before my eyes every day.

Why on earth is she doing this, really. If she was using me like a limb and trying to rise up herself, I could understand why she put me in the investigation team. I’m not particularly special, so I’d be easy to handle.

But suddenly, for the cases that happened over 2 months, she practically solved almost all of them herself, but pushes all those achievements onto me? She even keeps spreading this on the internet?

Is she trying to make me famous and then have me stabbed to death by a criminal who holds a grudge against me? But a woman like Sai doesn’t need to borrow someone else’s hands, right?

Even though I can’t understand what she’s thinking, I was planning to just pretend not to know or, in the worst case,

gather evidence of her crimes and ask New Hope for help as I said before, but seeing her act like this makes me afraid to do anything.

I’m even starting to think, is she doing this because she knows everything about me and is trying to tease me? Or maybe she’s interested in me-

• I thought jokingly, but pain rushes through my whole body as if extreme poison has entered my blood.

  There are things you shouldn’t think about even as a joke. As I was muttering this new lesson, Sai looked at me and smiled softly.

“Let’s go back soon. If we play hooky too much, the captain will get angry again.”

“Let him get angry. That baldy.”

“Oh my. If the senior partner is this rude, only the junior partner suffers. You know your personality is really bad, right Deputy Chief?”

… You’re one to talk. I don’t want to hear that from someone who messes up the world for fun. The words trying to show my fierce temper are about to come out from the tip of my lips, but I somehow endured by pursing my lips inward.

When describing Sai’s character in the novel, there was a description that she appears to be a good and kind person on the outside, but inside she’s filled with thorough calculations and malice, an unpredictable monster, and I think that’s really accurate.

Would it be easier on my mind if she just revealed her identity and said ‘If you don’t want to die, become my chess piece’?

While having such idle thoughts, I checked the time. 3:21 PM. I had slipped out under the pretext of going for lunch, so it was certainly late.

I still have reports and statements to finish, and I’m on duty the day after tomorrow, so it seems I can go home and rest this evening.

Then I should go in. I took a sip of the slightly cooled coffee and left the cafe. As I was trudging back to the parked car, for some reason I felt the courage to try and sound out Sai a bit.

It was a trivial thought that maybe she’d say something jokingly when I asked what she wants. It’s a common thing for a senior to say something like “Good job” to their junior, so I could just brush it off as a joke.

“You’ve been working hard all this time. So – is there anything you want me to do for you? Should I buy you a meal?”

“Oh- I’m fine with food. If I have to say something – I’d like Deputy Chief to continue showing great performance in this investigation team. I’m really learning a lot.”

“You’ve been working hard all this time. So – is there anything you want me to do for you? Should I buy you a meal?”

“Oh, together in the investigation team-“

“You’ve been working hard all this time. So – is there anything you want me to do for you? Should I buy you a meal?”

“You’re not listening to me, are you?”

Whether she’s the worst supervillain in the world setting or whatever, that’s not okay. I said firmly.

---

It’s time to go home. After returning home, I lay down in my room after just throwing off my socks and coat.

The desire to close my eyes and roll around on the mattress like this rose from the top of my head to the tips of my toes, but suppressing that desire, I took out a notebook hidden in a corner of the room.

The sight of me crawling to the corner of the room was quite ugly even to myself, but who would care in my own room.

After indulging in irrational laziness and taking out the notebook hidden in a gap in the room’s wallpaper, I checked the notebook.

The outside was a common police notebook, but what was written inside was not crime progress or victim statements, but the contents of this world, Secret Hero Rise, and

the notebook where I had written everything I remembered focusing on only the biggest events from the prologue was using over 5 pages just to write the novel’s plot.

The reason I wrote this is simple. Since the Seoul Mayor hostage incident, the developments in this world have been differing from what I remember, and I felt that these small differences would gradually bring about big changes, but.

Since I’ve unwillingly gotten caught between Sai, the biggest mastermind, and New Hope Mina, I thought I needed to prepare using anything to survive, so I wrote down everything I knew in the notebook.

At first, I wrote it down simply because I was anxious, but as time passed and my knowledge of the original work became blurred as if I had dementia,

I was quite proud of my past self who had written this down, but – looking at it again, the contents written in this notebook were really terrible.

If we list only the big events excluding the protagonist’s daily life parts or other minor details from the original novel plot, it goes like this:

As an event occurring after the Seoul Mayor hostage incident, the ‘Superpower User Suppression Incident’ happens where pseudo-religious groups and civic groups gather to kidnap and murder a few innocent awakened superpower users,

Afterwards, as a reaction to the Superpower User Suppression Incident, guys calling themselves the ‘Chosen Ones’ gather persecuted superpower users while talking about the human rights of awakened superpower users,

then soon the Chosen Ones transform into a terrorist group saying they will pass judgment on people who treated them like monsters in human rights organizations.

Amidst all this, it becomes known that the superpower awakening drug that was only rumored in the underground world actually exists, and as New Hope continues investigating the person who made the drug-

Next is that grand event. The ‘Great Chaos’ incident where Sai destroys the prison holding supervillains and reveals her identity to the world.

Listing out the events I remember like this makes me want to quit being a police officer even more. Is this mess for real?

I don’t know what Sai is plotting to use me for, but if she’s aiming for something, her plan must be to do something to me between these big events?

Then I should also try to make these incidents go beyond the Special Investigation Team- but how can I do that when they even treat my resignation letter as if it never existed.

Since they’re people who can cover up even me beating up the mayor, though I really don’t want to think about it, I’m scared that they might reinstate me without any issue even if I beat a passing citizen to death.

… Oh, whatever. I hid the notebook back in the gap in the concrete wall and rolled on the floor. And I thought.

Is it a sin to do nothing while knowing the chaos approaching society and that numerous victims will be created? In my opinion, it’s not a sin. But what if you’re a police officer?

I don’t have any special powers, nor do I have any burning sense of justice or strength to speak of. Even if I pretend to be crazy and shoot Sai, she’d probably just laugh at me.

• Hmm, no matter how much I think about it, the conclusion is that it’s best to just pretend not to know and live on. Then, I should follow that.

Thinking this, I lay blankly waiting for sleep to come, but strangely, sleep didn’t come and I felt my mind becoming clearer. And for some reason, I couldn’t put strength into my body.

Oh, could this be a disease? I rolled my eyes for a moment. Then I realized the cause of the sensation I’m feeling now.

“- I’m hungry.”

I didn’t eat dinner properly. I tried to recall if there was any ramen left in the house, but realized there’s not only no food, but not even water in the house.

No, because I bought coffee in the afternoon, I can’t even buy ramen with my current wallet. Did the store downstairs sell bean sprouts? How much were bean sprouts these days?

My life was more miserable than when I was a college student in my past life, but hunger doesn’t disappear just because you feel miserable.

I moved my heavy feet towards the supermarket near my house, picked up a single bag of bean sprouts, and waited in line at the checkout counter, calculating how many days I’d have to endure with this.

The line was quite long, perhaps because there were many families out shopping after dinner, but I waited blankly for my turn while looking at my phone.

Was it because I was too absentminded? For a moment, I dropped the bag of bean sprouts I was holding.

I knew it would be a disaster if it fell since it wasn’t packaged normally but put in a black plastic bag,

but having missed the only chance to catch it when it fell with a clumsy hand, I could only watch the bag of bean sprouts falling in slow motion-

“Oops. You should hold onto your bean sprout bag well. It’d be a mess if you drop it here.”

Just as I thought that, a white-haired schoolgirl with a strange way of speaking appeared from somewhere and snatched the falling bag, handing it to me.

Where did she come from…? I looked at the girl closely.

Roughly speaking, she looks about the same age as Mina. Because she’s much smaller in build, I can’t be certain, but she doesn’t seem to be older than Mina at least.

Moreover, the schoolgirl has natural-looking white hair that doesn’t seem to be dyed, is wearing a cap pressed down, and is dressed in pitch-black training clothes that expose her belly,

and she showed me a smile exuding the unique vibrancy and healthiness of that age group.

“Oh, thank you.”

While thanking the schoolgirl for catching it, I thought. The snow-white hair that couldn’t be achieved by bleaching catches my eye.

Could she be a superpower user? Or one of the main characters? But seeing that I don’t particularly remember anything despite such distinctive attire and way of speaking, she seems to be a civilian who has awakened superpowers for some reason.

It was quite unpleasant to see that the people waiting in line with me also seemed to realize this and were sending uncomfortable looks to the schoolgirl who helped me,

but since the perception of superpower users is so bad these days, I could only sigh. After paying for what I would eat today, I was about to go back after saying thank you once more to the child who helped me.

But that white-haired child is following me. A superpower user following in the night, huh.

Several things I had been prepared for since becoming unwantedly famous flash through my mind. From proxy murders using the Juvenile Act to various other things, but hoping it’s not something like that, I asked the child.

“- Do you need something?”

“I’m sorry for this sudden approach. There’s one thing I wanted to ask, so I followed you like this, please do tell me. Sir- are you perhaps Detective Lee Mun-su?”

“… Lee Mun-su? What about it?”

“If you are, I’m sorry but I have a favor to ask.”

Ah damn. This again?

I was inwardly relieved that the reason this child spoke to me wasn’t the bad case I had thought of, but I realized it was something that had been repeated several times over the past 2 months.

What kind of bastard made this young child suffer an unfair situation, and what kind of idiot bastard didn’t do their job, making this child come to find me?

Although all I can do here right now is officially register the case and investigate if possible, I asked the child to hear the story first.

“What favor do you want to ask?”

“- Thank you for listening. My name is Shin Yu-mi. I want to ask for help from Detective regarding an incident that happened a few months ago.”

The small child, Shin Yu-mi, took off the cap she had been wearing pressed down on her head. And the girl’s face that was revealed gave me a sense of déjà vu, as if I had seen it somewhere. Where have I seen her?

Yellow eyes and white hair. How could I not remember such distinctive features?

More than that, this feeling. It’s strange. It’s not like I’ve talked to her before, but a sensation like I’ve seen someone who looks like her. But where have I seen someone who looks like this child?

“Do you perhaps remember? A few months ago, there was a man who tried to rob a bank at Cheonho Station and failed.”

Suspect Kim Yun-sik came to mind at Shin Yu-mi’s words. The guy who cracked my head again and made my back give out, and who was quietly dealt with by Sai.

Could that man have done something to this child? Currently, it’s been processed as him fleeing and going into hiding after the crime, but he’s probably buried somewhere, coldly frozen.

Probably in a place where no one can find him. If she’s a victim, I should first think about how to tell her this, but why?

For some reason, my eyes were noisily sending information to my brain that there were similarities between Kim Yun-sik’s face that attacked me while emitting light that day and the young child in front of me.

“- That man and I, Kim Yun-sik, are half-siblings. After our father passed away, there’s no legal relationship at all, but still, he’s my older brother.”

“Uh-“

My eyes were right, but. I felt an even deeper sense of dismay at that fact. If it was just a disappearance, she would believe he’s alive and chase after him.

But how should I handle a request to find someone who is certainly already dead?

As I was biting my lips, painfully choosing words for what I should say for this child, what Shin Yu-mi said next was completely different from what I had imagined.

“My brother certainly committed a crime, but it wasn’t something he did intentionally. Someone gave my brother powers and made him do such things.”

“What?”

Gave him powers and made him do it? Could she possibly know about Sai? As I was stunned and couldn’t continue speaking, the girl continued.

“Until he disappeared, my brother was terribly afraid. He said he learned something he shouldn’t have known. From the reason why superpower users are increasing these days – to about a dangerous person who made me like this.”

At the girl’s words as she twisted her white hair, I reflexively looked around.

There were no passers-by, but an unpleasant sensation as if being watched from somewhere started to envelop my body.

Frightened by this, I tried to stop the child, but she quickly took something out and handed it to me. It was – the blue USB that Sai had found in Kim Yun-sik’s house.

“My brother said everything was in this USB, and on the day he went missing, he said he had failed everything and it was over now, then disappeared. And strange guys are chasing me too.

Detective. I beg you. I’m not asking for anything else. Please… look at what’s inside this. And, if this is helpful to you, Detective, when you have time, please find my brother……”

The girl said this with a smile full of anxiety and fear, completely different from the healthy smile I had seen earlier.

I saw that smile and thought for a moment in my place. Then I laughed. No, laughter burst out. It was laughter that burst out because it was so absurd.

I couldn’t help but laugh at the reality where such dangerous things pop up so casually, at the misfortune of me getting involved in such a thing.

I tried my best not to swear, but the world won’t leave me alone. Yeah, with a life like this anyway, wouldn’t it be more fun to at least spew out curses refreshingly?

Let’s all die together, you fu-uckers.