I Became a Police Officer in a Superhero Genre

The girl’s name is Mina. Her surname is Mi, and her given name is Na. It means “to progress beautifully,” a name given to her by her father.

The girl with long black hair and a slim, agile body might look like an unremarkable schoolgirl at first glance, aside from her red eyes and somewhat pretty features, but in reality, the girl had one big secret.

That secret was that she was actually New Hope, currently the most famous hero.

The girl, who possessed superhuman strength that could crush concrete buildings with her bare hands, run faster than cars, and had skin that wouldn’t even be scratched by a knife,

was using her powers to defeat supervillains and help people. People called her New Hope, saying she was like a superhero straight out of comics or movies.

Honestly, the girl didn’t really like her alias New Hope, but it was useful enough to hide her identity behind, so she went along with calling herself New Hope too.

Well, the girl was naturally embarrassed to be called by an alias, but by her own standards, her real name wasn’t much different from the alias New Hope in terms of strangeness, so she could get used to it easily.

Why did they give her such a name? Mina wondered why her father, who didn’t have particularly bad naming sense, had given her such a name.

Because of that unique name, people tended to remember her well, but before she started her hero activities, the girl didn’t like being remembered that way due to the special power she had possessed since childhood.

When she asked why they gave her such a name, Mina’s father’s answer was like this: ‘I thought the meaning of this name would suit you.’

A name meaning to progress beautifully suits her? Mina thought it was some kind of joke, as she had been struggling every day because of a power she never wanted or asked for-

But looking at it now, maybe her name had determined the direction of her current life. Or maybe- it was because of the person in front of her that she ended up on this path.

Mina thought about this as she took a big bite of her Big Mac. While doing so, she looked at the man in front of her, eating a hamburger with a face full of fatigue.

Detective Lee Mun-su of the Violent Crimes Unit.

When other police officers tried to cover up the case because the family of the bastard who killed her family had power, because he was the son of someone high-ranking, only this man in front of her chased and arrested him to the end.

If Lee Mun-su had ignored the incident that happened to the girl’s family out of fear of power like other police officers,

Mina thought she might not have used her powers the way she does now, and recalled the worst day of her life.

An ordinary day. Clear skies. When she returned in the morning after sleeping over at a friend’s house, she saw her family members torn apart in familiar surroundings that were far from familiar.

Finding pieces of her beloved family members scattered throughout the house, Mina couldn’t accept the current reality at all.

Her mother, who had contacted her normally until last night and said they’d see each other tomorrow. Her sister, who didn’t like girls playing outside. Her father, who smiled and told her to have fun. They were all dead.

Who in the world could easily accept such a reality? If there’s someone who could, they probably wouldn’t be in their right mind.

Three hours passed while the girl couldn’t accept reality. Only after that time had passed did the police arrive at her house.

Of course, it wasn’t Mina who called the police. The neighbor saw the girl standing blankly in front of the door for three hours, found it strange, came to check, saw the inside of the house, and contacted the police.

It was the worst day. Faced with the horrific crime scene, Mina wanted to know who had done this.
Driven mad with anger, Mina pursued the culprit, recalled the man who had been stalking her sister, and when she followed him and gathered evidence, the proof of the crime came together easily.

At first, Mina brought all that evidence straight to the police, but the police tried to quietly cover it up because the suspect was the son of a congressman.
Why? Why, when people had died? That day, Mina felt a burning rage in her chest and understood what it meant to go crazy.

No one would listen to her. She even reported directly to the news once, but even that was ignored, and after seeing the trash who killed her family appear and even mock her, Mina half gave up on everything.

At that time, Mina tried to find the culprit and kill him herself. She was so frustrated and resentful that she was going crazy. The words of those worms talking about revenge didn’t even reach her ears.

To extinguish the flame in her chest, she had to kill that bastard, even if it meant pouring out all the power she had kept hidden her entire life.

She hesitated and was afraid, but she steeled her resolve. Her face in the mirror she happened to see at the time was so terrible that she couldn’t even remember what she looked like before the incident.

Surely that was the face of someone determined to kill. But-

‘- Wait. That bastard. I’ll take responsibility and throw him in jail.’

A man who suddenly appeared in front of her after she had finished all her preparations.

He introduced himself as a police officer and, unlike now, with shining eyes, he said those brief words and left. He was a strange person. But for some reason, Mina decided to wait a bit after seeing his eyes at that time.

She still doesn’t know why. Maybe she was scared of killing someone, or maybe she decided to trust him after seeing his eyes burning with determination.

Whatever the reason, not long after, as if rewarded for her wait, the news showed a report about the police uncovering a crime committed by a politician’s son that they had tried to conceal, and that bastard being arrested.

He came to find her in a state where he should have been lying in a hospital bed, with injuries so severe that the swollen bruises on his face seemed minor in comparison, and only said he had kept his promise before leaving.

The news and other social media were buzzing about the corruption case, and at the time, Mina couldn’t understand what exactly had happened, but

one thing was certain: he had kept his word. He had thrown that trash in jail.

Anyway, the relationship that started like that has now lasted for almost a year, so it’s been quite a long time if you think about it. She still doesn’t know exactly what kind of person he is. A person who seems lazy but is more diligent than anyone else.

But one thing is certain: if Mina hadn’t met him, if he hadn’t been in charge of that case, she would surely have carried out the murder she had resolved to commit at that time.

He is her benefactor, her hero.

From Lee Mun-su’s perspective, Mina might just be one of the many family members of victims from the numerous cases he’s handled, but for Mina, he’s the only person who had the most profound influence on her decision to walk the path of a hero.

If possible, she wanted to become someone like him – to become a hero. That’s why she’s fighting like this.

But is the current her worthy of being called a hero? Mina looked at his face and asked herself.

“Hmm.”

The wound that had appeared on his head. A large wound that looked like it had been torn by a strong force was visible above his ear.

It might look like a hairstyle with a strange scratch due to his usually unkempt, shaggy hair that he never takes care of, but when you see the ugly stitches, such thoughts quickly disappear.

Yesterday, Lee Mun-su was also at the scene where New Hope and Sikgwi were fighting in the Gangdong-gu redevelopment area, and when Sikgwi’s strength dropped during the fight, he moved faster than her, as if he had noticed something.

She found out later that when Sikgwi first confronted the police, he had been badly injured, but he killed and ate someone else at the scene and instantly recovered to rampage again.

So it seems he tried to do the same thing when his strength was depleted, but Lee Mun-su rushed in front of Sikgwi as he was trying to kill and eat his subordinate, saving the subordinate and thwarting the attempt.

Sikgwi, who was trying to replenish his strength by eating his subordinate, attacked Lee Mun-su in anger at being interfered with.

Mina thought Lee Mun-su had died in that split second. Because Sikgwi was that strong of a monster, and he wasn’t one to hold back.

But fortunately, Lee Mun-su was able to miraculously dodge his attack. Regrettably, he couldn’t completely avoid the impact and suffered a large wound to his head, but he was able to survive.

Of course, he could barely survive, but it must have been difficult to move easily. The long wound above his ear was hideously distorted,

and judging from the sight of blood flowing from his eyes and nose, an ordinary person would probably have difficulty even maintaining their balance with such an injury.

But even with such an injury, he didn’t collapse and supported New Hope’s fight with his gun, and even managed to walk normally to transfer the criminals.

Despite accomplishing such amazing feats – all you can see in the news or anywhere else are stories cursing the police.

Mina thought.

When she first started fighting with her face covered, she began fighting to prevent people from suffering unfair treatment, just as Lee Mun-su had helped her, but she kept making mistakes.

She arrested the serial killer Minus but lost him due to her mistake, and this time she did something stupid again.

What is a hero? Someone with special powers? Someone who helps people? Can she meet those criteria? Mina asked herself, but she couldn’t come up with an answer that satisfied her.

The sight of Sikgwi trying to kill and eat his subordinate without hesitation is still scary and frightening.

If she hadn’t been able to stop Sikgwi from eating his subordinate, she would have lost. Just imagining what would have happened if she had lost makes her body tremble.

And when she thought about what would happen to the police officers there and Lee Mun-su if she had lost, she felt like her heart would stop.

How should she put it? Yes, fighting crime together with someone she respects under the mask of a hero was a thrilling experience.

She had imagined coolly protecting the city hand in hand with Detective Lee Mun-su, but in reality, she was terribly lacking in every way, and after encountering a real monster, she was cowering in fear.

Can she overcome this? Can she do it? As worry and fear piled up in the young girl’s heart, the adult in front of her handed her the french fries he had received.

The stone-faced Lee Mun-su said nothing as he looked at Mina, who was blinking blankly with a gaze that seemed to ask why he was giving her this.

But that gaze was enough for Mina.

That gaze that silently supported her. For Mina, that alone was enough. If she had to find a reason to fight in this world, it would be enough to say she fights because he exists.

But what if, what if he really dies – what would become of her?

Mina hid such dark questions as she put the french fries Lee Mun-su had handed her into her mouth.

After feeding lunch to the kid and briefly lamenting my emptied wallet, the first thing I did when I got home was take the medicine I received from the emergency room.

Antibiotics received after getting 10 stitches in the emergency room while blood was flowing from my head.

The doctor’s words that he would split my head open from the crown if I didn’t take this properly were undoubtedly sincere.

Even though I was taking the medicine properly, I felt my head getting fuzzy, but I soon stopped thinking as my body grew drowsy.

I threw my sleepy body onto the futon that was always laid out, and blankly lay there feeling the texture of the blanket.

The rustling texture of the blanket. The futon I bought when I was a rookie cop after graduating from the police academy was already so worn out that it didn’t feel fluffy anymore, but now I feel lonely without it.

Maybe it’s because I’ve developed the habit of falling asleep even for a moment as long as I have a place to rest my head. My eyes slowly close with fatigue. Ah, I’ll fall asleep soon. I instinctively felt sleep grabbing and swallowing me.

Before falling completely asleep, I checked my phone. Even though I came home to rest like this, a detective with no family or anything has to rush out anytime a case occurs. I always set the phone sound to maximum volume.

I see the sound is properly turned on, and the charger is connected. Just as I think I should just sleep like this – a KakaoTalk notification sound hits my ears.

I thought it might be a case, but then I remembered that if it were a case, they’d call, not send a KakaoTalk message.

I thought about just ignoring it and going to sleep – but for some reason, I feel uneasy. Extremely uneasy.

Thinking that any message coming at this hour probably wouldn’t be anything important anyway, I checked KakaoTalk, and suddenly the fog deep in my mind cleared and I became wide awake.

What was written in the KakaoTalk message was indeed nothing special. It was a notification posted in the investigation team’s group chat that a new recruit was joining the Supervillain Specialized Special Investigation Team. Additionally, there was ordinary content with the new recruit’s personal information.

It’s natural that new people are being recruited when the special investigation team is almost empty except for me, but the problem is the person who’s newly joining.

The name is Sai. It’s a strange name, but considering that the special investigation team leader’s name is Leader Kim, having a strange name in this world isn’t something to worry about.

The appearance is described as having unkempt hair even more unmanaged than mine, and unusually pale skin. Just looking at it, this person seems like someone who rarely goes out in the field and mostly stays at their desk,

with blue eyes and features that look delicate like a woman, appearing to be a man, but-

This guy’s name isn’t really Sai or anything like that. The real name is unknown. No, to begin with, it’s not a guy but a woman.

The identity of this new recruit is the protagonist’s arch-enemy and the final boss of this novel.

This woman, including the protagonist Mina, is said to be one of the rare innate superpower users and possesses the ability to change humans.

It’s the kind of power that can transform hands into huge claws, change skin to be resistant to flames when attacked with fire, change gender, or manipulate others’ genes or souls? or something like that.

Yes, it’s terrible. But this person, who didn’t do much with such powers, suddenly started randomly awakening civilians into superpower users using a special drug they created, claiming boredom as the reason.

While happily watching the world fall into chaos and devouring the underworld, they accidentally discovered New Hope, an innate superpower user like themselves rather than one awakened by the drug.

This mastermind becomes greatly interested in Mina and infiltrates the special investigation team to observe her. Afterwards, they cause various incidents to test her, intending to watch her suffer and break down.

However, seeing the protagonist who never gives up until the end, this mastermind becomes genuinely interested in the protagonist and reveals their true identity, saying they’ll come back with an even more splendid plan. That’s the content of the later chapters.

From a police perspective, they could be called the enemy who made the world like this. But there’s one more reason why they’re not just an enemy.

When this mastermind infiltrated the special investigation team, they weren’t satisfied with being just an ordinary detective and carried out various activities to rise to the position of team leader. After revealing their identity, they disappear, but

The leader of the supervillain specialized special investigation team was actually the mastermind behind all the supervillain incidents? If this becomes known, what would happen to the position of the special investigation team? It would be a complete disaster.

From the police’s standpoint, they’re truly the worst existence, and the reason for causing all those incidents was merely for fun – the worst villain in the world setting. That’s exactly who this mastermind is.

And now such a person has appeared. Does Sai appear right after Sikgwi’s appearance? No, but really, that name is so cheesy.

Can I just leave this person alone? But if I don’t, what am I supposed to do? Wouldn’t the world become peaceful if I pretend not to know and stab them in the back?

My thoughts were shaking incessantly like leaves drifting in the wind, giving me a headache – but I bury my head in the pillow.

Would they die if I shot them from behind? Can someone who can literally dismember a person’s body die when even the protagonist trying to kill them with all their might leaves them unscathed?

There’s nothing I can do, is there? Then I might as well give up. What’s the point of worrying about something I can’t do anything about?

For the peace of my mind, I closed my eyes and threw myself into sleep.