I Became a Police Officer in a Superhero Genre

My joy at finally escaping the Special Investigation Team was short-lived. After my forced reinstatement was confirmed at the restaurant I visited to get a free meal from the captain, I spent some time in a half-dazed state.

The resignation letter I submitted to the personnel department had disappeared, and the employee who had taken my resignation letter asked me back if I had submitted such a thing.

On top of that, the next morning, just as Yagi had said, corruption from the police commissioner down to other executives was revealed, causing an uproar as many police officers were stripped of their positions.

Can anyone truly understand how terrified I was then? The fact that someone who could orchestrate such an absurd event wanted something from me filled me with fear and deep despair.

They caused this commotion just to reinstate me, so it would be meaningless even if I submitted another resignation letter, and it was obvious that if I filed for a transfer, it would be blocked midway.

What on earth did I do wrong? Did sending me back from the hospital upset them? I who had been constantly worrying about what I had done wrong to Sai, eventually stopped thinking.

It was because I felt like I would be taken to a mental hospital or somewhere if I kept worrying – but if worries could be solved by not worrying about them, would there be any problems in the world?

Unable to shake off my unshakeable fear, I somehow passed the time by drinking all day, sleeping all day, or joining kids playing ball games.

Ah, you might say it’s embarrassing for an adult to join kids’ ball games, but I have an excuse for this too.

As I was sitting blankly on a park bench trying to get some fresh air, I kicked a ball that had rolled over to the kids who owned it, and those kids said this.

“Oh? Aren’t you the person from the internet? The one who beat up the mayor? That’s cool. Want to play soccer with us?”

“??”

I was momentarily stunned by the sight of kids recognizing me, but since the video of me beating up the mayor was the hottest video on YouTube, I just accepted it with superhuman patience and moved on.

Moreover, I was going to refuse the children’s offer, of course. But then the kids said, ‘Can’t you play soccer, mister? Ah, I guess you’re uncoordinated.’ and,

the face of the child who said that was an incredibly annoying face that seemed to embody the word ‘irritating’ in physical form.

Such an insult to me, who was called Jjam Messi in the military. I lightly kicked the ball thinking I’d show these little brats my real soccer skills just a bit.

When I came to my senses, I was running and kicking the ball until I was exhausted, and adults around my age were looking at each other on the school playground with faces as if they were possessed by something.

Were they also drawn here after having their pitiful pride stimulated? I’ve heard that kids these days are smart, but who knew they’d be skilled in psychological warfare too.

I and the adults, who didn’t know why they were there, kicked the ball until we were completely exhausted. Afterwards, we went to a pub with the uncles I had run with and had a second round with chicken and beer.

Really, it was an incredibly tough week.

“…You had a fucking good time, you bastard.”

“Shut up, baldy.”

When I told him what I had done for a week trembling in fear, except for the story about Sai, the captain looked at me as if I was an idiot.

I gave him the middle finger in response. I briefly felt that I should feel guilty about cursing at a middle-aged elder and workplace superior,

but since the respect for elders had already been burned and destroyed at that restaurant a week ago, I felt no guilt at all.

Ignoring the captain’s words about how the police upper ranks’ corruption was exposed exactly as Yagi had said the day after we parted at the bar, many executives were stripped of their positions,

and with Yagi newly appointed as team leader, the team atmosphere is really scary, and how much we suffered because of the shit the upper heads made, I looked around.

The familiar Special Investigation Team office is visible. Familiar people and unfamiliar people are seen together.

Yes, a week has already passed.

After a week of probation ended and I came to work today, the audit results of ‘Sergeant Lee Mun-su’s’ ‘Mayor Assault Incident’ are as follows.

According to the video at the time, the mayor attacked the police at the scene, and that action was highly likely to provoke the hostage-taker, and the suppression method was with bare hands, not using weapons.

Judging that he did not violate the manual to be followed when suppressing suspects and considering the special circumstances of a hostage situation by a supervillain, the disciplinary action against ‘Sergeant Lee Mun-su’ is deemed unjust.

No disciplinary action for someone who publicly slammed the Seoul mayor? I felt my head starting to ache at the unrealistic development that was scary.

I wonder what they want, it’s not like they orchestrated this just because they find it fun to watch me act like an idiot.

Feeling the urge to smoke, I responded to my colleagues’ words like “Welcome back”, “Congratulations”, “You really seem like a crazy bastard”, “How do you feel now?” with,
“I feel like I want to receive disciplinary action through all possible violence. I promise you all-around violence.”
Everyone moved away from their seats at that.

While satisfied with that, my eyes unconsciously followed one person. My junior partner who tied me here and made me realize anew how dangerous a person she is.

“Deputy Chief. You’re back!”

Sai approached me with a friendly smile. Seeing a rather pretty-looking guy smiling without a care in the world, I unconsciously worried ‘Will this bastard be okay going out in the field?’ but.

Below that smiling face sits a crazy mastermind who can easily reinstate a detective who beat up the mayor.

Realizing that discrepancy makes my spine tingle. And thinking that such a person is trying to use me for something makes my eyes sting and feel like I’m about to cry.

But crying because I can’t live up to my age won’t solve anything, so all I can do is hope that whatever she’s trying to use me for, I’ll survive safely.

In the worst case, I could say fuck it all and try to persuade New Hope, that is, Mina, saying I’ve discovered the mastermind behind the recent superpower awakening and rampage incidents, so let’s take them down together- right?

I take that back. Let’s start by gathering evidence to persuade New Hope. Even if I try to persuade her, she’ll need evidence to believe me.
I think I could do anything using the knowledge from the original work, but I’m slowly forgetting the content, and through my experiences so far, my expectation that situations will unfold according to the original story has already been thrown in the trash.

So to summarize. What I need to do right now is-

“What’s with the tofu in your hand?”

“Ah, yes. The captain said that in the Special Investigation Team, they give tofu to people who have been audited and avoided disciplinary action. I’m glad you’ve been safely reinstated!”

“… Thank you.”

I guess I’ll have to scold the bald guy giggling behind Sai, saying shouldn’t we at least feed some tofu to the bastard who publicly beat up the mayor when he’s released(?).

I took the tofu Sai was holding, ate a bite, then threw it at the captain behind her. It was a perfect center strike along with insubordination.

“[Incident occurred! Incident occurred! Code 1 incident! Please respond quickly!]”

Regardless of whether I wondered about Sai’s purpose in reinstating me, incidents still occur today as well.

At the news coming from the radio, not only Sai and I but also other Special Investigation Team members rush out. This incident was reported as a man threatening to kill a woman in front of her house.

The reason this incident was passed to the Special Investigation Team is simple, they say it’s because the man looks like a lizard.

Unless a Reptilian from the internet has revealed their true form and started an invasion, it’s probably someone who has awakened superpowers running wild.

As I was about to head to the scene since he wasn’t fleeing but rampaging on the spot, a colleague departing with me said in passing,

“Mun-su, take good care of your junior partner. That kid solved 4 cases alone while you were gone. Their luck and ability are good. They’re really a lucky charm, you know? If almost none of our team members got hurt even when you weren’t there, doesn’t that say it all?”

You must have misspoken, it’s not a lucky charm but a bomb. And what’s with saying it’s lucky that no one got hurt when I wasn’t there? Are you picking a fight?

I had a lot I wanted to say to someone who said such things to a person who gets injured every time they go out on a case, but since we were rushing to the scene right now, I swallowed it and got in the car.

As partners, Sai naturally got into the passenger seat next to me, and from the passenger seat, Sai checked the report given by the situation room and exclaimed.

“A man who turns into a lizard? Such superpower users are appearing too. It’s fascinating.”

At Sai’s words, I glanced at the suspect’s photo sent to Sai’s phone. In the photo on the screen, a being that looked exactly like a fantasy lizardman was standing.

Good gracious, it’s a real lizard? According to the novel setting, they manipulate DNA somehow to awaken superpowers, but I wonder how they manipulated it to become like that.

If this guy keeps committing crimes and gets registered as a supervillain, his alias will definitely be Lizard Man. Thinking that, I took in Sai reciting the contents written in the initial report.

“The reporter is Lee Mi-ja. 30 years old, single woman. The identified suspect is Ha Tae-sik. Age 29. He’s said to be the reporter’s ex-boyfriend, and is currently staging a sit-in in front of the reporter’s house demanding she come out immediately.”

“Ex-lovers?”

“Yes.”

If they’re ex-lovers, could this incident be a crime of passion?

There are often cases where lovers start fighting for trivial reasons, voices get raised, and the police end up being called. No, it’s not just often, it’s quite common.

But this time, is it because the man was a superpower user that it turned out like this? Anyway, if he’s just awakened his superpowers, the situation could worsen due to inability to control emotions.

“Let’s go quickly.”

“Yes.”

After telling Sai, I turned on the siren and stepped on the accelerator. After 10 minutes of driving to the scene with the siren sound beating our ears, Sai and I finally arrived at the scene and.

What greeted us right after was – a plastic road barrier?!

“Come out right now, you bitch!! My money!! Give back my things!!”

Along with the roar heard the moment we got out of the car, an orange plastic road barrier passes over our heads.

Thanks to reflexively pulling Sai and ducking, we were able to avoid the plastic barrier, but – what the hell. We almost got our heads blown off as soon as we arrived, fuck.

Feeling my heart pounding, I looked at where the plastic barrier had come from, and there, a giant lizard man over 2 meters tall was raging in the middle of the road in a residential area, full of anger.

Police officers were surrounding the suspect in formation, and beyond that cordon, I saw citizens gathering to watch. It was a familiar mess.

“How dare you!! Even stealing my mother’s keepsakes! I’ll never forgive you even if the world splits in two, you bitch! Come out right now!!”

In the middle of the wall of people, a man with green scales sprouting on his skin, a huge tail, and swinging sharp claws while raging.

Although police officers were surrounding him, it seemed impossible for local police officers alone to subdue the lizard man with that huge body.

“Ha, Ha Tae-sik! Calm down! If you rampage any more, we’ll shoot!”

“Don’t make me laugh! I reported it so many times!! Arrest that bitch, not me! Why do you ignore my words, you fucking bastards!!”

Ha Tae-sik shouted, grinding his sharp teeth at the words of the local police officers trembling. As the claws and teeth sharper than razor blades flashed, all the police officers were swallowing in fear, but-

“His words seem a bit strange.”

As the suspect Ha Tae-sik jumps in place in anger, the asphalt road cracks. If he’s that strong, he could easily run away, so why isn’t he leaving?

Originally, people who awaken superpowers often lose their minds and rampage, but Ha Tae-sik didn’t seem to have lost his mind, just seemed very angry.

Feeling uneasy about that, I asked the situation room to investigate Ha Tae-sik’s ex-girlfriend, that is, the reporter.

After a few minutes, a reply came back. The reporter of this incident, ‘Lee Mi-ja’, is a woman who has previously been convicted of fraud and even served time for theft.

An ex-girlfriend imprisoned for theft and an ex-boyfriend rampaging saying she stole money. … I think I can guess how this case is going. The question is whether this is just a case or not.

I looked at Sai next to me. She, no, he was just quietly gleaming his eyes as if interested that Ha Tae-su had turned into a lizard, and showed no signs of plotting anything.

Then I guess I can just do as usual. Believing the report from the situation room, I showed my police ID to the local police officers surrounding Ha Tae-su and entered the cordon.

I approached Ha Tae-sik, who was shouting “Come out right now!” in front of the house where the reporter was thought to be. If he’s in his right mind as I think, he should still listen to people.

Otherwise, I’ll have to shoot. Whoever made that shitty manual saying we must always offer surrender when dealing with supervillains should just die. I sighed and shouted.

“Hey Ha Tae-sik! Calm down! Rampaging like that will only be disadvantageous for you! Tell me what happened with your ex-girlfriend! Calm down and talk!”

“… You are? Lee Mun-su?”

???
What, why does he know my name.
I widened my eyes at the sight of Ha Tae-sik suddenly mentioning my name, but realizing that even neighborhood kids recognize me, I thought it’s not strange for anyone to recognize me and underst- no, no. This feels shitty.
I felt my head starting to ache as even ordinary citizens around were saying “Is that the Lee Mun-su?”, but

Ha Tae-sik, not caring about me, ground his teeth while spewing curses, then started to shrink his inflated giant body back to a normal human form.

Seeing him control his ability to that extent, it seems he awakened quite a while ago, but for someone who had been quiet until now to cause trouble, he must be frustrated to a damnable degree.

Suddenly, I became curious about something unrelated to the case – did his ex-girlfriend know he could become a lizardman and still date him? It’s unrelated to the case, but still.

“Detective…! I admit what I’ve done wrong now. I’m sorry. But! That bitch stole all my mother’s keepsakes and everything worth money from our house…!

I reported it so many times to other police but they all ignored me! Please, I beg you. Detective, really, I’m fine with everything else, but please just recover my mother’s keepsakes…! If it’s you, Detective, you can help, right!”

Ha Tae-su begging on his knees in front of me. He even stretches out his arms saying he’s fine with being arrested, just please recover his mother’s keepsakes.

I had a lot I wanted to say to his words that I could help, but I answered that I understood since it was a situation where the suspect was turning himself in voluntarily.

I left the task of putting Ha Tae-su in a police car and transporting him to the station to the investigation team members who came with me, and I headed towards the house where the reporter was.

In addition to informing that the incident has ended and it’s safe now, I headed to the reporter’s house address to confirm Ha Tae-su’s testimony.

Knock knock-

“This is the police. The incident has ended, so please don’t worry.”

“Is, is it really…?”

“Yes. There are a few things I need to investigate briefly, so I’d appreciate if you could open the door for a moment. Ah- if you’re uncomfortable, I can call a female officer.”

“Ah, no. I’ll, I’ll open it now.”

The sound of things moving behind the heavy steel door continued for a while. After about 2 minutes of such sounds, the door slowly opened and a woman appeared through the crack.

A woman with dull blonde hair that seemed dyed and makeup melted by tears, looking quite pitiful, was trembling and tightly gripping the chain connected to the door.

When I showed my police ID to Lee Mi-ja, who was terrified, she sighed in relief.

“You’re Lee Mi-ja, right?”

“Yes! Yes, that’s right. Thank you so much…! Thank you for saving me…! That crazy bastard tried to kill me! Ha please! That bastard is going to jail, right? Right?!”

As soon as she knew she was safe, the woman ground her teeth saying such a monster should be killed. I looked at the inside of the house visible through the door crack next to her.

Luggage messily strewn near the door. From large travel bags to other items – they seemed too numerous for a woman living alone to use.

“Uh- there are a few things I need to investigate, so could we talk inside for a moment with the door open?”

“What? … Uh, sorry. I’m a bit scared, you know.”

Lee Mi-ja immediately lowered her guard and tried to close the door as soon as I said let’s talk inside.

Although I was suspicious, Lee Mi-ja is currently a victim and I don’t have a warrant to search inside, so I thought I’d have to leave for now, but-

I saw it. As Sai quietly put her hand on the door from behind, the locked chain on the door corroded as if rotting, then snapped right off. As the chain broke, the door opened with a thud.

“Huh?”

Lee Mi-ja made a strange sound as the door opened. And as the door opened, travel bags spilled out through the door.

The travel bags all burst open due to the impact of spilling out. And what was inside were men’s clothes, perfume, jewelry, and bankbooks.

I slowly picked up one of the bankbooks that had popped out of the travel bag. The name written on the bankbook was not Lee Mi-ja but Ha Tae-sik, and.

Looking at the photo in a small frame that was in the bag, there was a photo of Ha Tae-sik with a middle-aged woman.

I have a lot I want to say, really a lot, but. I held back and looked at Sai. She just smiled brightly when our eyes met.

I really can’t tell what she’s thinking. Does she think I look incompetent and plan to set me up as an easily manageable scarecrow? While wondering, I wrapped up the case that day.

I told Ha Tae-sik that if he waits a few days, I’d talk it out and return the keepsakes, and I finished sending Lee Mi-ja to the general violent crime detectives, so I thought I was done with everything when-

‘[Detective Lee persuades and subdues supervillain. What incident occurred?]’

I saw the evening news showing my back view and talking about the morning’s incident.

But in the news, they were babbling as if the detective had brilliantly persuaded and peacefully resolved this incident, and based on this case, they were spewing nonsense that even a dog would frown at, asking if it’s really right to resolve supervillain cases by force.

I was going to just ignore it since there’s no day when the media doesn’t spout nonsense, but- the problem is that the damn news is babbling as if ‘I’ performed well and resolved the case.

No, fuck. Why are they pushing it onto me.

I offered Sai coffee I bought with all my savings, cursed that the media are idiots and that today’s case was resolved thanks to her efforts, and somehow begged her to save me.

You ask why I did this even though Sai was just standing still? If you saw Sai smiling creepily after watching the news, anyone would have done the same. Yes, anyone.