Grade 4 Villain ‘Clayboy’. Also known as Do Jinhyeok.
There is a certain intimidation that comes with the name ‘Villain,’ but in truth, a Villain is nothing special. If a criminal with superpowers is malicious, they are simply designated as a Villain.
If you dig into the detailed rules of the ‘Hero Association,’ there are minute classification criteria and differences between a Villain and a simple superpowered criminal… but there is no need to know that.
What matters is the grade. The Villain threat-level system has Grade 5 as the lowest and Grade 1 as the highest.
At Grade 5, the ability itself is not much different from an ordinary person, but their nature is violent and ferocious, requiring careful monitoring.
Grade 1 includes those who can cause massive damage to ‘Light City’ single-handedly. Those who can control enormous explosions, manipulate people’s minds on a large scale, or handle darkness and space while pretending to be a police officer to observe humans, and so on.
Then what about Grade 4? Grade 4 contains the most Villains while simultaneously being the hardest to define.
Their ability seems fairly strong, but the person is extremely savage and cruel? Then it is Grade 4. Their ability is weak, but their mindset is completely that of a criminal, so they need to be arrested as soon as possible? Again, Grade 4.
Finally, a criminal lacking cruelty or aggression, but whose ability itself is outstanding? They also belong to Grade 4. They are ambiguously less dangerous than needed to raise to Grade 3, yet their ability is too outstanding to lower to Grade 5.
Clayboy was exactly the type belonging here. His ability was ‘to sculpt dolls that look exactly like people using clay,’ and while these dolls could not hold conversations or perform delicate movements, they could at least carry out simple orders.
Therefore, there had been discussions about raising Clayboy’s threat level to Grade 3. It was because, although he had not committed any major crimes until now, the versatility of his ability was limitless, and he was notoriously difficult to apprehend.
“Jinhyeok. It’s Jinhyeok, right? What are you doing here?”
But when Eunyeong approached naturally and spoke with a slight smile.
“Eek…!”
Clayboy, Do Jinhyeok’s legs gave out and he collapsed, and at the same time his eyes began to tremble like aspen leaves. Cold sweat poured down his whole body, and his complexion grew deathly pale in an instant to a degree that anyone would find strange.
“Um…”
At the moment Gang Jinho was about to ask, ‘Are you alright?’ Clayboy grabbed Gang Jinho’s pant leg and clung to it desperately.
“Excuse me, Officer! Your name tag! G-Gang! Officer Gang Jinho!!!”
“What is this, all of a sudden?”
The flustered Gang Jinho tried to step back and distance himself, but Do Jinhyeok grabbed both his legs tightly as if he would die if he let go, refusing to release him.
“The truth is, I just committed fraud! I also jaywalked! I stole money from the old man next door! And last week, I didn’t sort my recycling properly and threw general trash in the plastic bin! Please, please arrest me! I’m a Villain! Do you know Clayboy? I’m a very vicious bastard…!”
“…Huh?”
“No, I said arrest me! I’m a Grade 4 Villain! This is dereliction of duty! Where are the handcuffs!!!”
“Both of you, quiet.”
“…Yes.”
“…Yes.”
**
Five minutes later. Bak Eunyeong neatly wrapped up the situation with the words, ‘There was a misunderstanding.’ The two men still couldn’t understand it well, but they did not have the guts to ask what exactly the misunderstanding had been.
“Jinhyeok, get up. Why are you doing that over there?”
“I-I’m comfortable here!”
Do Jinhyeok, trembling on his knees. It was only natural, for he still could not forget the day he first met Eunyeong.
One year ago. Clayboy had sold a ‘clay doll’ created with his ability to a human trafficking organization, pretending it was a real person.
‘You stupid bastards! Thanks for the meal~ You guys are done for… done for?’
At the very moment he tried to run away with the fraud money, he saw through the clay doll’s vision.
Inside a dark warehouse at the dock. Flickering black forms dragging the human traffickers’ bodies into the shadows. And the woman with crimson eyes standing in the midst of all that terror and screaming.
The woman looked at the clay doll once and spoke.
‘You saw my face, didn’t you?’
The next moment, the woman was standing beside Do Jinhyeok. She examined him carefully with a spine-chilling smile, then snickered and spoke.
‘Not malicious enough? Consider yourself lucky.’
From that day on, Do Jinhyeok completely washed his hands of all crime. He occasionally earned money using clay duplicates for ‘restaurant waiting services,’ ‘university attendance check services,’ or ‘lining up for X-mon events’ and such. He had not wanted to know who the woman he saw that day was, nor had he ever wanted to get involved with her again.
‘She was a police officer?’
He had never thought he would meet her again here, suddenly, in this manner. He had just finished a line-standing job and received fifty thousand won as payment, and he was at the point of wanting to bite his tongue off for agreeing to receive the money here of all places.
“Hehe.”
Then Eunyeong quietly approached Do Jinhyeok, who was kneeling.
“So, Jinhyeok. What kind of money was that earlier? You didn’t do anything bad again, right? Ah, Jinho. He got caught by me doing bad things in the past, and he promised he wouldn’t do it again. But you were a Villain?”
Her voice was gentle, but hidden within it was a secret killing intent. At this, Do Jinhyeok slammed his head against the floor and shouted urgently.
“I-I was indeed designated as a Villain! But these days I’ve really gone straight. I’m living an honest life. Please believe me!”
“Hmm… really? Shouldn’t we arrest you right this instant?”
Bak Eunyeong smiled faintly, dragging out the end of her sentence. But the other two present knew that it was not a positive sign.
“It’s true, it’s true! My bounty isn’t even that high! I haven’t touched any bad deeds for the past year!”
Do Jinhyeok argued passionately. Gang Jinho, who was listening, also chimed in from the side.
“I do think he’s really gone straight.”
“Why does our Jinho think that?”
“First, his outfit and movements. For someone earning big money through malicious crimes, his clothes are cheap, and the soles of his sneakers are too worn out. Moreover, the money he just received was only fifty thousand won in cash.”
“Really?”
“Yes. A Grade 4 Villain wouldn’t do a direct transaction in a back alley with no escape route just to earn a measly fifty thousand won. The risk-reward ratio doesn’t add up.”
“Mmhmm.”
“Above all, there is none of the composure unique to habitual offenders, nor any attempt to hastily piece together excuses. If he had used his ability, there would be traces of clay on his clothes or hands, but there is no sign of that either.”
Gang Jinho defended Clayboy based mainly on what was immediately visible. This was him more or less imitating lines that detectives said in dramas or movies, and whether it was effective or not, Eunyeong showed a look of admiration.
‘I remembered thanks to him saying Clayboy himself.’
Clayboy. Not a Villain who causes massive casualties, but an annoying rat-like Villain who gnaws away at the city’s assets with petty crimes.
If left alone, Clayboy only caused subtle damage through fraud or theft. But if his ability was added to another Villain’s plan, the scale and damage of the crime had the characteristic of increasing exponentially.
Committing terror with clay dolls carrying bombs, creating a false alibi for a Villain, scattering lookalikes throughout the city to confuse the investigation net…
To summarize, alone he was ambiguous, but under another Villain he became quite dangerous. The type that would be classified as a supporter in a game. Perhaps in this place, after being badly burned by Eunyeong, he appeared to have completely cut ties with crime.
‘Let’s build some goodwill here.’
The reason Gang Jinho defended him now was also to forge a connection of sorts. Because even in the game, when Clayboy was occasionally drawn to the Hero’s side, he was always a great help.
“Wow, our Jinho. You really hit the nail on the head?”
Eunyeong clapped her hands in admiration. At the same time, the killing intent secretly pressing down on Do Jinhyeok subsided like a lie.
“…”
In fact, the one most shocked by this situation was none other than Do Jinhyeok himself.
‘That monster-like bitch became docile with a single word from a patrolman?’
The favor of backing up his innocence was a favor indeed, but Do Jinhyeok realized with an animalistic instinct. He had to get on the good side of the patrolman standing over there. He did not know how, but that patrolman had a means of controlling Bak Eunyeong.
To repay the favor, as well as to make a good impression.
“Officer, thank you for helping me. And while we’re at it, could this innocent citizen make just one tip?”
Do Jinhyeok rubbed his hands together, speaking in a sycophantic tone.
“A tip? Yes, well…”
“I really don’t do bad things these days, you know? But a few days ago, a really shady request came through an account I used to use.”
“A shady request?”
“Yes. They gave me a photo of someone and told me to place a doll that looked like that person on a bench at the XX intersection? The pay was quite high… but if I took something like this, it would leave a bitter aftertaste. And since I’d gone straight. I refused immediately.”
“XX intersection…”
Gang Jinho, who had an inkling of something, asked quietly.
“By any chance, that person in the photo. Didn’t they have a snake-shaped tattoo on their right forearm?”
“Uh, uh? I think so! How did you know?”
Do Jinhyeok’s eyes widened. He had only said that a request came in, so how did the officer know about the forearm tattoo?
The display he had shown earlier was the same. It was not simply a matter of having a good eye. This man was definitely hiding some mind-reading or precognitive ability.
“By any chance, is your superpower—”
“No, I don’t have a superpower. It was a deduction. There was talk about the Black Snake Faction and the Axe Faction on TV not long ago. There is a large jewelry store near the XX intersection, right?”
“Oh, they even mentioned that jewelry store! They said no matter what happens there, the doll must absolutely stay in place…”
“It’s certain. It seems to be a jewelry store robbery.”
“…No, I was going to tell you it seemed like a robbery case later. You came to that conclusion just from hearing this?”
“Intuition.”
Do Jinhyeok stared blankly with his mouth open at Gang Jinho, who spoke with conviction.
From the side, Eunyeong hummed a tune as if to say, ‘Isn’t our rookie amazing?’ and smiled proudly. She found the moment when people asked Gang Jinho if he had a superpower the most enjoyable.
‘The snake tattoo was right. This is an opportunity.’
For his part, Gang Jinho clenched his fist and rejoiced. This was definitely a harbinger of the ‘Black Snake Faction Robbery Incident.’ For an incident that occurs in the early stages, it was quite large-scale, and the larger the scale, the more Karma it would obviously give.
He had simply been doing his patrol, yet clues to this case rolled in on their own. Literally, his luck was good.
And watching that sight, Do Jinhyeok muttered quietly, as if somewhat unable to understand.
“No, why would someone with this level of ability be something like a police officer…”
“Something like a police officer?”
The moment he spoke that far. Do Jinhyeok felt goosebumps rise all over his body in an instant.
A pair of crimson eyes was looking straight at him. As if only those eyes existed in the world, everything began to feel hazy and indistinct.
“Are you okay? Jinhyeok? You don’t look well.”
“N-no! I caught a cold!”
“Ah, is that so? Hurry up and go rest. Your throat must hurt. Stop talking.”
“…Yes!”
“Didn’t I tell you to stop talking?”
“…”
Only then did Do Jinhyeok realize.
Ah, so that crazy bitch is being tied down by the police!