Three days earlier.
—We are recruiting heroes to participate in a Police Agency-led operation to eradicate a gang of robbers.
—Requirement: B-rank or higher
—Compensation: According to Police Agency regulations.
“Oh? Did you see this?”
“This is a total sweet deal. Looking at the details, it seems like something that could be handled at the C-rank level.”
“Police requests are a little stingy with pay… but they give a lot of performance credit.”
“How many are they taking? If it’s first come, first served, should we apply right away?”
“Yep~ I’m already filling out the application~”
“Hey! Don’t use your acceleration ability for crap like that!”
Around the time Gang Jinho’s request was posted, the heroes, not being fools, all picked up on the honey-sweet scent wafting from it.
Once a hero was B-rank or higher, money was not something they were particularly desperate for, whereas requests that were easy on the body while still letting them rack up achievements were rare. Naturally, the right move was to snatch up such a request the moment it appeared.
“Don’t take that request.”
A cold voice rang through the lobby of the Eastern Hero Association.
“What? Who are you?”
“And who exactly are you to order us around, telling us what to take and what not to take?”
The heroes who had been looking at their phones immediately bristled and rose from their seats.
“…A-rank Trace?”
“Ah, so it was you, Miss Trace? Haha.”
After confirming Trace’s face, they awkwardly sat back down.
The heroes of Light City were broadly divided into three categories. Combat types, who directly fought villains to resolve problems. Information types, who tracked down covert crimes. And lastly, utility types, who belonged to neither of the former categories but possessed useful abilities.
Just judging by the names, it seemed as though combat-type abilities would stand highest in the hierarchy, but surprisingly, combat-type ability users tended to walk on eggshells around the other two categories.
There were several reasons for that… First of all, combat-type ability users were the most numerous. They were the most common category, which also meant they were the least valued.
In addition, combat-type ability users often had to rely on the other two categories.
Utility-type abilities included healing abilities, possessed by those called “healers”; construction abilities, which allowed one to put up buildings quickly; and craftsman-type abilities, which produced equipment and items.
Healers? If you got injured fighting, you had to go get healed. Craftsmen? If you wanted better equipment, or if your gear was damaged in the middle of a fight, you had to ask them for help. Naturally, you needed to stay on their good side.
That explained utility types. But why did they also tiptoe around information-type heroes? In truth, information-type heroes and combat-type heroes did not work together all that often. At most, a combat-type hero might act as a bodyguard while an information-type hero conducted an investigation.
However, there was a separate, real reason combat types treated information-type heroes well.
First. There simply were not many of them. Compared not only to combat-type ability users, but even to utility-type ability users, they were few and rare.
And second.
“There are many people here who have received performance credit from me, right? I’ll ask just one favor. I’m taking this case.”
When an information-type hero discovered the culprit, but it seemed difficult to arrest that culprit or group alone,
the hero who had found the culprit could designate which hero would take on the role of making the arrest. Villains who committed crimes covertly usually had low practical combat ability. In other words, information types could share those honey-sweet achievements with combat-type heroes.
Trace, who had risen to A-rank in a short period of time, had neatly resolved countless cases up to now, and there was no hero in the Eastern Hero Association who had not benefited from her. So even if she was being unreasonable right now—
“Yes, well…”
“Tsk… I mean… it’s a shame, but… can’t be helped.”
“Since it’s Trace… just this once, all right?”
Everyone accepted it, more or less, and quietly lowered their phones.
“Wait, Miss Trace. May I ask one question?”
At that moment, the A-rank hero “Jelly Belly,” who had been quietly listening from a corner, posed a question.
“From what I’ve observed until now, I don’t think you are the sort of person who would do something like this out of greed for achievements. I suspect there must be a reason you absolutely have to take this request.”
“Mm, that’s right.”
“Could you tell us what that reason is?”
“The reason is…”
Trace thought for a moment, then gave a brief answer with a faint smile.
“I think it’s about time I had an assistant.”
**
Back at Eastern Police Substation No. 7.
On the police substation’s old sofa, the A-rank hero Trace sat with her legs crossed. Opposite her, Bak Eunyoung, who had brought over some instant coffee mix, sat facing her with a bright smile.
“What brings an A-rank hero to a shabby police substation like this?”
“Shabby? Everyone knows how hard the police officers work. And I came because Constable Gang Jinho posted a request.”
“It seemed like only one person accepted the request, though?”
“Everyone said they were busy, apparently. It just so happened that I had some free time.”
“Aha~ So you’re not busy.”
“…Yes.”
Their tones and attitudes toward each other were exceedingly polite, but for some reason, Gang Jinho ended up swallowing dryly. Bak Eunyoung was a crazy bitch to begin with, so it was not strange for her to start a battle of nerves here, and Trace’s expression was visibly worsening by the second.
He understood why Bak Eunyoung was angry. To put it bluntly, it made no sense that only one person had taken the request. And it made even less sense that the one person was Trace, who was not even a combat-type hero.
‘She definitely made sure she was the one to take it on purpose.’
When Gang Jinho looked at her with a sour gaze, Trace relaxed her expression, smiled, and placed a document envelope from her bag onto the table.
“Constable Gang. I won’t beat around the bush. Regarding the subway station matter you helped me with last time, there were results thanks to you. That’s why I’m saying this: once this operation is over, come work as my dedicated assistant.”
“…Pardon?”
“Your base salary will be ten times a police officer’s wage. I’ll split performance bonuses seven-to-three with you. Of course, you’ll also receive the Association’s A-rank welfare benefits. With an ability like that, is there really any need to keep working as a police officer?”
“Um, just a moment, please stop there.”
When Trace made her scouting offer, the first thing Gang Jinho checked was none other than Bak Eunyoung’s expression.
“…”
Expressionless. Her crimson eyes were observing Trace without any emotion.
‘I’m fucked.’
The conditions themselves were not bad. Just as working as a police officer gave him karma, the status window had explicitly stated that “he could also receive karma by working as a hero,” and if he worked as an A-rank hero’s assistant, there would likely be many cases he could resolve directly.
The problem was Eunyoung.
A villain like Eunyoung was not the kind of person who would quietly let someone else snatch away a toy she had already set her sights on. On top of that, her opponent was provoking her without even reading the room, so it would not have been strange if Trace’s head suddenly went flying.
‘At this rate, they’re going to fight.’
If the atmosphere overheated like this, Trace and Bak Eunyoung might end up fighting. And if the two of them fought, the one who died would absolutely be Trace.
“Um, wait. More importantly, let’s talk about the operation. I’ll give you my answer regarding the scouting offer after we finish the arrest operation.”
Gang Jinho quickly brought up the case in order to change the subject.
“I obtained information from a source I trust that a robbery will occur at the jewelry store at XX Intersection.”
“I saw the report. To be honest, the evidence section was extremely flimsy… You were planning to figure out the details during the investigation, right?”
Trace answered leisurely, unaware that Gang Jinho had just saved her life.
“That is because the report itself was written mainly around intelligence regarding the possibility of the crime.”
“Well, that’s fine. In any case, the culprit and the crime scene have roughly been narrowed down, right? I know a lot of heroes. We can just call any A-rank hero who has time and arrest them in the act the moment they rob the jewelry store.”
Trace spoke with confidence. Hearing that, Eunyoung cut in.
“Is that method really the right one?”
“Pardon?”
“If you read the intelligence, you would know that it said they had refused the ‘fake doll’ request in the first place. Since they couldn’t create a proper alibi, isn’t there a high chance they canceled or postponed the crime itself? You’re saying you’ll stupidly stake the place out while waiting for people who might not even come?”
“Then?”
“Hasn’t the Hero Association already roughly identified the Black Snake Gang’s headquarters anyway? It would be better to raid that place first. The evidence should still be there.”
“Ah~ But it seems you’ve forgotten that I have the ability to see the past. Evidence can just be brought from the past anyway, so there’s no need to raid the headquarters right now. More importantly, wouldn’t catching them in the act count as an achievement and have more impact when announced to the public? Simply catching the Black Snake Gang won’t amount to any achievement, but arresting an organization that was about to rob a jewelry store does count.”
“Ah~ Achievements are important, aren’t they? Since you’re a hero.”
“Of course~ I have to earn all that money I make.”
“…”
“…”
Once again, a strange silence fell. Trace, who had an arrogant personality that looked down on those she deemed beneath her, glared with the emotion of, ‘Who does this ordinary police officer think she is, talking back to me?’
As for Bak Eunyoung… she was thinking. What exactly she was thinking about will not be described in detail. It was, however, certainly content unfit for detailed depiction.
“Um, I’m sorry to interrupt while the two of you are having such a passionate discussion.”
Sensing that something terrible would happen if this continued, Gang Jinho smoothly cut in and spoke.
“You two seem to be talking on the premise that we’re going to wipe out the Black Snake Gang, but I think that premise is slightly wrong.”
“…What do you mean?”
“Explain in detail, Jinho.”
“I’m saying there’s no need to fight the criminals. Is there any need to fight? The best option would be to just go there openly and arrest them cleanly.”
“Huh? There’s a way to do that?”
“Yes. It’s a method everyone fails to think of because they’re trapped in the prejudice that criminals must be subdued by force and then arrested.”
Bak Eunyoung’s eyes sparkled as she focused on him.
Trace, on the other hand, was dumbfounded and opened her mouth.
Prejudice or whatever else, if such a method existed, it would have been tried first.
Regardless, Gang Jinho declared with confidence.
“Then, first.”
“First?”
“Let’s go to a PC café.”
This time, both Bak Eunyoung and Trace shut their mouths at the same time.
“…”
“…”
They were going to a PC café…?