Chapter 45
Chapter 45
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 45
Chapter Title: It's No Use (3)
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* * *
‘Might as well blow them all up.’
Seonal felt irritation bubbling up alongside the sudden wave of fatigue.
Whether it was cell phones or cameras, their blatant shoving into his face was repulsive no matter how many times he saw it.
“Werewolf lady.”
Seonal looked at her.
Her eyes still hadn’t given up on something. Not yet.
“I get it. I fully understand your resentment toward the peace treaty between the non-human races. And how much you hate the Complaints Division that was created because of it.”
Laziness slowly drained from Seonal’s eyes.
Of all things, they were trying to tarnish the reputation of the Complaints Division in the district he oversaw.
“But doesn’t this go way beyond anything that could be understood? Right? If you charged in thinking of stealing someone else’s rice bowl, you must have been prepared for this, yeah?”
As he finished speaking, Seonal used magic to retrieve the item she’d been about to use.
It was a vial about the length of a finger joint.
“…Give it here! Hand it over!”
The moment she saw the vial, she screamed in fury.
Familiar mana rippled from it.
The power of enchantment.
Werewolves were a race that transformed under a full moon.
There were two common ways to force a werewolf’s transformation: the hypnotic power of vampires, and the power of enchantment.
He didn’t care to know where she’d gotten the enchantment power from.
Whether she’d bribed a hospital for it on the sly, asked a favor from someone, or just used succubus blood—it was all possible.
Right now, the very act of plotting this was unforgivable.
‘Yeah. You wanted to summon the Complaints Division somehow, right?’
That’s why she’d caused such a commotion.
In this busy passageway, she’d been desperately luring Complaints Division staff.
Ready to pull off something like this at any moment.
‘If it hadn’t been me, the headlines would’ve been juicy.’
Any angle would’ve been a hit.
Even mentioning that the Complaints Division—meant to prevent discrimination and conflict among non-humans—had used force on a non-human.
Or that the Complaints Division had forced a werewolf to transform on a night without a full moon while handling a complaint.
Or even that the Complaints Division failed to stop a transformation, leading to casualties.
Any of them would make for sensational titles.
Seonal tucked the enchantment vial into his bag.
At the same time, he looked elsewhere. His eyes glowed red with the ‘Detection’ spell.
‘This is a mess. Did they prepare like this every time?’
Seonal activated his unique magic.
Chaaaain.
Iron chains burst from beneath his feet. They shot forward like dogs following their master’s hand signal.
Five people overflowing with enchantment power were bound by the chains and dragged before Seonal.
[Silence descends.]
Before they could spout anything, Seonal cut off all sound.
Beams of light like starlight wrapped around him.
“Let me go! Let go!”
“A civil servant’s assaulting innocent people here!”
“Ha Seonal! His name is Ha Seonal!”
Amid their screams, someone spotted his ID badge and bellowed in rage.
“Yeah, yeah. Keep yelling. Make sure everyone knows I’m Ha Seonal from the Complaints Division.”
Seonal replied in an exasperated tone.
Their noise wouldn’t reach outside now, but the body cam was recording everything inside.
“And don’t forget to file a complaint. Say how unfair it is that Ha Seonal from the Complaints Division stopped you from using enchantment power to transform, ruining your plan to smear our reputation.”
For a moment, silence swept through in response to Seonal’s half-hearted words.
The middle-aged woman who’d been scheming something stared at him warily, as if wondering how he knew.
‘…I just want to go home. For real.’
Seonal sprinkled mana over the vials of enchantment power in their pockets and cast a spell.
[Bring them.]
As five vials floated up around him, horror bloomed on the werewolves’ faces. They’d lost something they absolutely couldn’t afford to lose.
And so pointlessly.
“Oh, was I not supposed to mention that?”
Seonal casually tucked the vials into his bag one by one, then pointed downward with a finger, utterly unfazed.
“Why?”
[Crush them.]
With his question, the spell activated.
Boom!
The moment his unique magic faded, the remaining five slammed face-first into the ground just like the middle-aged woman.
Compared to a werewolf’s toughness, it wasn’t even excessive force—just loud noise.
Seonal immediately pulled out his phone and called Edinal.
“Team Leader.”
[What’s up, Seonal?]
“Caught a gang trying to frame the Complaints Division.”
No sooner had Seonal spoken than the captives shouted.
“Bullshit!”
“We got dragged here without doing anything!”
“The civil servant’s beating people!”
“Do you know where your paycheck comes from? My taxes! Taxes!”
[You caught them?]
“Yeah. Can you hear them cursing me out?”
[I can. This was on the street, right?]
“Yes.”
[Hold on a sec. I’ll handle some preliminaries for you, Seonal.]
Seonal knew those ‘preliminaries’ included making today’s incident vanish like it never happened.
The trickiest part, but Edinal always made it sound simple.
[Police said you already contacted them?]
“Yeah. I did.”
[Requested backup. Some solid folks will be there soon to lock it down. Probably under three minutes.]
“That fast?”
[Of course. You probably blocked phones and such with magic, but just in case, they’ll do a full sweep. Don’t worry—I asked them to warn against posting this on SNS.]
Seonal felt reassured by her smooth words. As expected, she was on another level.
“Currently suppressing one werewolf and five suspected werewolves, total of six.”
[Six? More than I thought.]
“Likely part of a group. Probably.”
Seonal paused, glancing around.
One drawing attention.
Several doers.
What was left?
“Hold on.”
[Grab it.]
The moment he cast, a magical rope appeared in Seonal’s hand.
He thrust it forward hard. It slithered through the crowd like an eel, wrapping around one person.
Seonal yanked the rope upward, sending them screaming into the air.
He reeled them in with a snap.
Thud!
They landed neatly before him on their own, confirming Seonal’s suspicion.
‣Superior animalistic senses allow excellent balance.
The culprit held a phone. Contact must’ve cut off naturally entering this range.
“Caught one more.”
[The one handling comms?]
“Yep.”
Seonal replied, casting the same spell again.
Wham!
As their head hit the ground, Seonal continued his report.
“Pretty much got them all now. That itchy feeling’s gone.”
[Itchy? Seonal, you wanna bite someone?]
“Shouldn’t you say I wanna rampage?”
[Same difference. I’m a vampire.]
“It’s a sense thing. Anyway, they fabricated a complaint to lure us in and planned to forcibly transform with enchantment power to pull off various schemes.”
[...What a way to ruin a fun Friday.]
Irritation crept into Edinal’s voice.
“Agreed. A Friday, of all days. And in bulk like this.”
[Report back once police arrive and it’s wrapped. Got a call from Yi Rang.]
“Got it.”
Click.
As the call ended, a raindrop hit Seonal’s face.
Before he could cheer inwardly, a familiar sound rang out.
Wee-oo, wee-oo.
Seonal looked down at the approaching police cars.
“One question before arrest.”
“Ptoo!”
She spat, but it didn’t even reach his feet.
Seonal didn’t even register the act as an insult.
Just pointless flailing.
He asked her again.
“What’s the goal?”
“How long do you think this peace will last? Ten years? Five?”
“Keep going. I need to eat too.”
“If it’s gonna break anyway…”
“It won’t.”
For him to keep eating, peace had to hold. And if it seemed like it might break, he wouldn’t just sit idly by.
Crazy if he did.
‘Peace breaking? In your dreams.’
“Really? Do others think like you? Do they really call this peace, stained with blood?”
She giggled through a twisted face. It almost looked like crying.
“Let’s not do this on Fridays again.”
Seonal replied with a face full of annoyance.
Whatever the reason, causing trouble on a Friday was unforgivably irritating.
“Anyway, goal’s to shatter the peace?”
There’d been plenty of chatter, but essentially, they wanted to break the peace.
“Who else? How big’s the group?”
“…We’re everywhere, and nowhere. Haven’t you realized it’s already started?”
‘What?’
Seonal’s head tilted.
Even the lingering smirk vanished, leaving only his usual icy expression.
Looking down started hurting his neck, so Seonal crouched briefly.
Squatting with a tilted head, a face like a cold wind could blow through it, slightly shadowed against the sun—the pressure was already intense, and the aura piling on was no joke.
She looked like he’d shred anyone who moved, so she blurted desperately.
“…Th-threats won’t work. I’m not telling you!”
“Never threatened you.”
What was she on about?
He’d just stared quietly.
‘Ah. My mouth’s downturned.’
As Seonal smiled again, she saw it as mockery.
“You think I’ll cave to pressure?”
“What pressure? You won’t answer anyway. Gonna answer? Then I’ll ask.”
“Do I look that stupid? Don’t make me laugh!”
He didn’t know why, but she seemed to be trembling as she spoke.
As police arrived, Seonal tapped his body cam.
“If not stupid, good. Then remember one thing. Don’t mess with the Complaints Division.”
A sharp smile curved Seonal’s lips with his low, rumbling voice.
Under that chilling gaze, she felt like her throat was slit and had to hold her breath.
“As a civil servant, this is the last you’ll see of me.”
Seonal stood.
The middle-aged woman’s gaze followed upward.
Sunlight poured on his head, hiding his expression.
But one thing was clear. This wasn’t just a warning.
It felt like the death he’d sensed in war was stirring around her again.
“…Monster bastard.”
She didn’t know why she said it, just gasped for air.
“Fine if you get it. Tell your backers too. Don’t wake the monster. Cooperate, please.”
Seonal brushed it off and turned to the police.
He dispelled the soundproofing magic as they checked phones in the gathered crowd.
As police approached and flashed badges, a female centaur walked forward on four legs through them.
Her neatly bobbed hair, sharp like a knife cut, gleamed green.
“I’m Yi Centra, managing the local precinct for Merhen District.”
Unlike her sly smile, her voice was brisk as she showed her badge, lowering her head slightly to look at Seonal.
Her skin was slightly tanned, eyes drooping a bit like a sad puppy.
Yi Centra.
Inspector.
Seonal eyed the badge.
‘...That solid person’s an inspector?’
“You Ha Seonal from Complaints Division?”
At Centra’s question, Seonal flashed his ID.
“Yes. Ha Seonal. Didn’t expect an inspector.”
“Brass pushed hard.”
Centra grinned playfully. She seemed bold, lacking the ‘skittish’ trait common in centaurs.
‘Well, Team Leader outranks an inspector.’
Seonal sniffled at a distant cat meow.
‘...Ugh, allergies.’
“Total of seven?”
Centra asked. Seonal lazily scanned around again.
“Maybe more, but for now.”
“For now?”
“Isn’t figuring that out your job, Inspector? You’ve heard the basics, but need more details?”
Seonal spoke, trying to hide his exhaustion.
He was cooperating fully.
“You look beat.”
Centra asked a beat late. Seonal didn’t want to guess her emotions.
“Can I drop the spells now?”
“Ah. Sorry. Thought it was weird how they stayed put.”
Mistaking fatigue for the spells? Centra brightened a bit.
“One sec.”
At Centra’s glance, giant-race officers rushed to cuff all seven with magic restraints.
Once done, Centra spoke again.
“All good now. Good work.”
Seonal finally withdrew his mana.
The suppression spells lifted, and all seven thrashed in unison.
But the police meant business too—the giant officers pinned the werewolves effortlessly.
Crunch.
‣Strongest physical strength among non-humans.
No race matched giants in raw power, so their struggles were just cute.
“Take them all in.”
At Centra’s order, police hauled the werewolves like puppies toward vehicles like attached campers, sized for giants.
“Ha Seonal.”
Centra called with a pleased face.
“Yes.”
“Might contact you separately.”
“I know. Gotta cooperate with investigations.”
“Out of the blue, but ever thought of joining the force?”
Centra suggested casually, eyeing him without hiding her interest.
A powerhouse who subdued seven werewolves.
Who wouldn’t be tempted?