I Became a Police Officer in a Superhero Genre

On a day in September when the number of rejections for my local police station transfer request hit 19.

After staring straight ahead for hours, the hat forced onto my head feels heavy, making my head wobble like a sick chicken.

The rain that had been falling non-stop for days now was pouring down as if it would wash away the world, and due to the increased humidity, the inside of the container smelled musty, was stuffy, and painful, as if mold had grown.

Let’s see. It’s been 2 days and 8 hours since I’ve been stuck in this hellish container. Just as I’m starting to miss the sun and becoming convinced that I could dance naked if I could only get out of here,

Someone might ask why I’m sitting in a container with such a terrifying expression if they saw me. Certainly, anyone would if they saw my current state.

But what can I do? I’m a police officer, a detective. Even if I’m a police officer in a superhero genre, don’t police officers do the same job? Chasing down criminal bastards and locking them up.

Waiting like a statue in the same place for days or running until your shoe soles wear out because you don’t know where the person you’re chasing is hiding – these are everyday occurrences, just part of the routine.

It’s the same for me and for all detectives working in South Korea. And even a guy like me feels really good when we finally catch a bad guy after all that hard work.

Surely that’s true, but recalling what I had just seen made me think fiercely that it might be better to just give up and run away.

“…Deputy Chief. That guy just went in, right?”

“Probably? Along with 16 others who look like thugs. Before that, it seemed eight guys entered that site… This is driving me crazy.”

Seeing a muscular monster that looked impossible to walk, along with what appeared to be thugs, entering the redevelopment area, I hoped that what I just saw was a hallucination due to the rain.

But the detective sitting with me in the container must have seen the same thing, as he let out a hollow laugh with an expression that could have been either resignation or despair in response to my words.

While the other rookies in the Starex van outside might be one thing, even this guy who had some experience seemed afraid of this situation.

Well, it can’t be helped. The guy we’re chasing now is a supervillain with the monstrous strength to tear people apart with his bare hands and eat them like raw meat, so it’s natural to be scared even if you’re a veteran.

But now he’s even gathering forces.

We initially came to investigate why Sikgwi had been holed up in this redevelopment area for so long, and we simply thought he might be trying to sell drugs as he had done before or

use this place as a base to catch and eat people, but now that we’re here, we see that this crazy bastard was gathering people.
If that monster is gathering people, this is no longer a matter for detectives or special forces, but for the army.

You might say I’m overreacting, but considering that guy’s reputation and danger, the biggest problem is that in addition to ordinary criminals, other superpower users might gather as well.

“Damn it. This is a big problem. Who would have thought a superpower user would gather people.”

The detective who came to support spoke up in bewilderment, and I quietly nodded at his words.

He might say that because there have been no reports of superpower users forming groups to commit crimes so far, but I knew this would happen.

Because there was a description of such an incident in the novel. But it wasn’t in the episode where Sikgwi appeared, but a bit later.
The reason we didn’t think Sikgwi would gather people in the first place was partly because his personality was unbelievably nasty,

and in the novel, there was no description of this guy moving with other people; he was just alone in the redevelopment area before fighting the protagonist.

I wondered what was going on, but there was no time to worry about such things.

It could be that I’m misremembering, or maybe that bastard, who was originally a gangster, just wanted to move around with a few lackeys.

What should I do now, or rather, what can I do?

The only member of the Special Investigation Team dispatched here is me, and most of those who came as support are juniors without much experience, six of them, with just a handgun each.

Moreover, the secret weapon they threw at us is this special protective gear [Biri] made to respond to supervillains – the answer is simple.

“It’s impossible for us. Retreat. Retreat. This is really a matter that requires calling in the army.”

“…But.”

At my words, a detective full of a sense of justice made an uneasy face.

This detective might not be part of the elite Special Response Team, but he seemed to have a sense of justice no less than theirs.

But what can ordinary police officers do with just a handgun and wearing trash made of Biri against a psycho who can tear people apart with his bare hands and is bulletproof?

If we all rush in like madmen, we’d all become Sikgwi’s lunch together, so I firmly told the detective next to me:

“I’m the field commander, so listen to me. Everyone take off the protective gear and run away as fast as possible.
We can request backup support next time. If the higher-ups say anything, I’ll take responsibility, so let’s all go.”

I hope the responsibility means I’ll be fired from this team or suspended. Hiding these inner thoughts, the detective listening next to me asked with a strange expression as if something was off:

“- The protective gear? If Sikgwi is really in there, wouldn’t it be more dangerous without this…?”

“That thing just makes it hard to move. It’s trash that can’t even block a kitchen knife. We don’t even know how many are in there.
If we run into his gang wearing that trash, how are we supposed to run away while doing anything?”

At my words, the detective’s face hardened as he began to take off the protective gear he had been wearing under his uniform and throw it in the corner like trash.

Seeing this, I thought that if we had more backup, we might not have had to run away like this, but my reason told me that even with a few more people added, the result would have been the same.

But no matter how I think about it, what kind of bullshit is it to take away all the investigation team personnel to guard some higher-ups going on a picnic?

I tried to understand it several times, thinking about it in various ways, but – I realized that you can’t expect sensible responses from police in the superhero genre and sighed.

As I quietly watched the preparations for retreat, I suddenly turned my gaze towards the redevelopment area where rainwater was constantly falling and gathering.

This redevelopment area had been half-abandoned due to several accidents halting the redevelopment, and criminals and homeless people had gathered here, but

as news spread that redevelopment would resume, people were driven out by the police and hired thugs. Since Sikgwi entered just now, in addition to the dampness from the rain, a very quiet and eerie atmosphere was flowing.

We were disguised as construction workers, monitoring from this container due to that news. So far, we’ve been able to confirm at least 24 lackeys, excluding Sikgwi.

It’s been 8 hours since we started watching from this container, but there might be some who came in before, or some who haven’t arrived yet.

In the worst case – they might have discovered that we’re here. Thinking about this makes me feel like there are blades in the air. To relieve the tension, I asked the detective next to me:

“…There’s no possibility that the people from earlier are just people living here, right?”

“No. Because it’s a redevelopment area, the original residents moved out long ago.
After that, only homeless people and thugs were in there, but with those guys there now, forget homeless people, no one-oh.”

As I listened to the detective speaking in a lowered voice and was about to leave after hearing that all preparations were complete,

We saw a person who clearly looked like a homeless man staggering around the redevelopment area.

Was it to avoid the rain? He was trying to enter an alley while cursing at the sky.

Is he just a homeless person, or part of the gang?

Because he appeared at this timing, I wasn’t sure, so I was going to just watch for now, but his attire caught my eye as not looking like a thug gathered to join under Sikgwi.

The clothes layered several times over and the dirty water dripping from where the rain touched his skin were visible even from this distance. Ah, that person is just a homeless man.

Realizing this, I immediately ran out while wearing my construction site uniform. Then I heard the voices of the detectives fussing through the Bluetooth earpiece in my ear.

“[D-Deputy Chief! Come back! It’s dangerous!]”

“I’m not going in – I’m just going to pull that homeless person out. I’ll pretend to be a regular worker, so you guys stay quiet too.”

“[No, you can’t do that! That’s against the manual- more importantly, why did you leave your gun behind…?! If you get caught, you’ll be in big trouble!]”

“If I go in carrying a gun and get caught by the guys inside, we’re really screwed.
That bastard is famous for his good nose, so he’d probably smell the gunpowder too. So I left it behind, and unless something special happens, everyone stand by.”

“[Ah shit, why is that person suddenly acting like this…?!]”

Grateful that the sound of rain was masking my voice, I rolled my eyes to survey the surrounding buildings. Not only was there no sign of Sikgwi, but there wasn’t even a shadow of a person besides the homeless man in front of me.

That’s fortunate, but if I accidentally provoke Sikgwi, it’ll give me a headache, so let’s just rescue this person who might be a homeless man and quickly retreat to report that Sikgwi is gathering people.

If there are this many people, even the police chief should come to his senses and send in the special forces or something. Or in this case, would the special forces get wiped out and then New Hope appear spectacularly to take care of everything?

Come to think of it, in the novel, the background for the episode where Sikgwi appears and is defeated was also a redevelopment area in Gangdong-gu.

Was it around episode 11? About a month into her hero activities in terms of timing.
As New Hope gained fame and people started recognizing her, she gained confidence from the fact that she was doing well, but

she met Sikgwi with his unbelievably cruel personality, and for the first time, she was badly hurt and felt fear when the monster killed and ate nearby police officers and kept attacking her.

The protagonist, being the protagonist, overcomes her fear and continues her hero activities – this place was the background for that episode.

In addition, there was a presence that showed interest in New Hope and seemed to be plotting something. It was also the episode where New Hope’s arch-enemy briefly made an appearance.

Even after realizing that she could get hurt and even die despite having superpowers,
It’s an especially memorable episode because it shows the protagonist’s determination to keep fighting and the first appearance of the arch-enemy.

I must escape from the investigation team before that mess happens.

The ominous scene of the police officer being eaten by Sikgwi overlapped with my image, and goosebumps spread across my entire body. I shook my head to clear my thoughts and called out to the approaching homeless man.

“Hey, mister~ That area is off-limits due to redevelopment! Come out quickly! It’s dangerous!”

“I’m just trying to avoid the rain! What’s the big deal about staying for a moment!”

“No, it’s illegal to go in there! Let’s just leave nicely! I’ll get in trouble too if someone catches you coming this far! Damn it! If you’re cold, at least have a cup of coffee! There’s a container over there!”

I spoke in the most casual tone I could manage.
The homeless man must have seen me as just a person doing security duty, as he was muttering things like I was being heartless and what does it matter if it’s raining.

Saying the government was wrong, the world was wrong, why are young people so rude these days, he was shouting at the top of his lungs, which made me chuckle. This guy is drunk.

Being drunk is one thing, but what would happen if Sikgwi appeared while he was shouting like this? That worry came to mind.

With a growing sense of unease, I hesitated for a moment before uttering the magic words that could instantly pull out such a person.

“Ah, come on- I’ll buy you a drink over there! Come out quickly!”

“…Drink?”

He becomes docile at the mention of alcohol, sheesh. I nod in admiration at the power of this magic spell that always works in such situations.

Good. Let’s quietly get the homeless man out of here like this. Then, no matter what the higher-ups say, request support and run away.

In a situation where I couldn’t escape from the Special Investigation Team, I prayed to the heavens for justice, hoping that the baldness of those higher-ups would worsen until they lost their last strand of hair, as I was about to quietly leave with the homeless man.

Suddenly, I heard a sound like something quickly cutting through the rain. My gaze reflexively turned towards where the sound came from.

In the middle of the gray sky. Something pitch black was flying quickly towards the redevelopment area, cutting through the rainwater from where the sound originated.

“[A crow…?]”

“What’s that…? A plastic bag?”

My juniors beyond the earpiece and the homeless man next to me muttered blankly as they saw that black thing.

No, no. They’re both wrong. That’s neither a crow nor a plastic bag flying in the wind. That’s-

“Run away immediately! Sikgwi is here!!”

“Is this bitch crazy?”

Superhero New Hope. She appeared here, cutting through the rain. She was shouting at us to run away.

As she made a super cool hero landing, falling to the ground, I instantly realized that this situation had gone terribly wrong.

“Please take care of behind you, Detective!!”

New Hope shouted that as she charged towards Sikgwi. It seemed she thought there was no other way since they had gathered like this, and I judged the same.
New Hope would handle Sikgwi somehow, but we had to deal with those minions. Fuck, what kind of mess is this?

I wonder if we’re going to die here.
With a grimace, I turned around and threw the hard hat I was wearing at a thug pointing a homemade gun at me, then followed up with a drop kick.

Engraving a promise to myself that if I don’t end up as the character who gets eaten by Sikgwi in the original story, I’ll rewrite and submit my local police station transfer request, I charged in.