Chapter 11
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 11
Chapter Title: The Mayor and the Operation
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10 PM, Bupyeong Street.
The word "night" swallows everything and spits it all back out.
Neon signs flashed along the city's veins like parasitic plants feeding on the darkness.
Among them, the building spewing the most garish light: Club Nebula.
A place with a name like "nebula" that's excessively vulgar, and vulgar in a strangely magnetic way that draws people in.
And standing beside me was Special Task Force Captain Kang Jiyeong.
The woman who always wore functional training gear or her Special Task Force uniform.
Neo Incheon's steel, the living embodiment of justice: Kang Jiyeong.
But tonight, she wasn't steel.
No, she was steel, but a more refined steel than usual.
"...What are you staring at like that?"
"Oh, nothing. Just that even Special Task Force Captain Kang Jiyeong dresses up like this sometimes. It suits you. Much better."
A trained body looks like this, huh.
Instead of her usual black uniform, she wore a white blouse and jeans that accentuated her figure.
Instead of the military boots symbolizing discipline and control, she had sneakers that exposed her ankles.
Her appearance was so different from usual that my brain refused to process it.
"Cut the nonsense and let's go in."
Of course, her voice was still firm.
Well, changing clothes doesn't make Kang Jiyeong any less Kang Jiyeong.
She stopped asking questions and led the way with a stern expression.
The Special Task Force members following behind had grim looks on their faces too.
We're just going to a club, right? They look like they're infiltrating a villain's den.
Ear-shattering music. Eye-searing psychedelic lights. Air thick with alcohol, sweat, and perfume.
This was the grave of reason and the playground of primal instincts.
The perfect stage for my social suicide.
"No need for the menu. The most expensive stuff. Ten bottles! No, twenty!"
The waiter looked flustered for a moment before bowing proficiently.
Our group was naturally escorted to the second-floor VIP section.
"Alright, everyone grab a glass. We're going all night! Drink! Drink till we drop!"
Soon, unidentifiable liquors piled up on the table like a pyramid.
Liquids with names too hard to read, probably born in some French field somewhere.
Liquids that might cost more than a salaryman's monthly wage per bottle.
Of course, it's not my money. It's the city's money. Which means it's my money(?).
Who cares. Just props for tonight.
Behold, Kang Jiyeong. And you Special Task Force members.
Your mayor is this debauched and depraved.
A once-in-a-lifetime wastrel squandering taxes in a haze of pleasure.
I raised a glass.
And downed it in one go.
"Kha!"
My throat felt like it was on fire.
Is this debauchery? Is this revelry?
Just pouring expensive, harsh alcohol into your gut.
Thump thump.
The bass drum pounding my heart.
Zing-
Laser lights stabbing my retinas.
Loud music. Flashing lights. Expensive booze.
That's it?
This is debauchery? This is corruption?
I don't know.
Honestly, none of it was fun.
At best, torture for the ears and eyes, a fleeting indulgence for the taste buds.
I wanted something more essential, more primal.
A destruction that could shatter my reputation, my honor, my social life.
That was when it happened.
The VIP room door opened, and a few women entered.
They eyed the bottles on the table, eyes gleaming, and sat down naturally.
"Hi there? Drink with us?"
"Can I take a picture?"
"What do you do, oppa?"
"Cheers together! Clink!"
Here they come. The flowers of the club. Essential to debauchery.
"Heh heh, welcome anytime. Sit, sit."
I draped one arm around a club girl's shoulder, acting as sleazy as possible.
Awkward.
My fingertips trembled.
Still no thrill.
Why?
Seria.
That damned secretary's face popped into my head.
Her perfect sculptural beauty beyond human realms.
A resolution gap. A quality chasm.
Seeing that face every day had launched my aesthetic standards through the atmosphere into the stratosphere.
Now, ordinary beauties didn't even register as beautiful in my brain.
Is this a blessing? A curse?
"Um... could you all leave now?"
I awkwardly withdrew my arm and said it.
"Huh? Why? No fun."
"No, it's not that... I'm just... tired. Want to be alone."
"Then why come to a club if you want to be alone?"
Worst excuse. Worst response.
My playboy debauchery act curtained down at the start.
The women left with deflated expressions.
I wasn't a debauched mayor. Just a numb human.
This won't do.
"Gotta hit the bathroom."
I slipped out of the room on the pretext of using the restroom.
The hallway was even more chaotic than the room.
Music, shouts, laughter blending into a mass of noise.
That was when it happened.
In a dim-lit corner of the hallway, men exchanging something.
"The stuff's legit, right?"
"Of course. Top-grade. Made by Mandarine himself."
Their eyes.
The small plastic bag in their hands.
In an instant.
A big bang exploded in my head.
Eureka. Every cell in my body screamed it.
This is it.
This is the final lifeline from heaven—no, the guillotine to plunge me into the abyss.
The ultimate scandal to end my political career in one blow.
'Neo Incheon Mayor implicated in drugs at Bupyeong club!'
No need for lukewarm titles like debauched mayor.
Criminal Mayor Lee Garam.
Perfect word. No excess. Scandal of destruction.
I took a deep breath and approached them.
As sleazy as possible, as vile as possible.
Smearing every ounce of sleaziness and greed I could muster on my face.
"Hey, buddies. What're you hiding for?"
"Looks like good stuff."
"Who the hell are you?"
"Me? Just a guy seeking new thrills in life."
They eyed me warily.
Naturally.
A suspicious suit suddenly appearing.
"Gimme one too. I'll pay top dollar."
I pulled out my wallet and tossed the entire wad of cash inside at them.
The two men's eyes widened.
Gaze mixed with wariness and greed.
One hesitated, picked up the money, then tossed me a small plastic bag.
Done.
Success.
I'm a drug offender now. Caught red-handed.
This little bag will sever all my chains.
I gripped my trophy tightly and turned.
At the end of the hallway, the VIP room door opened, revealing Kang Jiyeong and the Special Task Force silhouettes.
For the climax of this play, I bellowed at the top of my lungs.
"Now! Everyone look at this!"
I shouted toward Kang Jiyeong, the Special Task Force, the whole club.
Quickly! Hurry!
Arrest me! Them! Especially me, Lee Garam!
"Operation start! Prioritize protecting the mayor!"
Kang Jiyeong's voice responding to my shout.
Special Task Force members appeared from somewhere, surrounding me in an instant.
'Huh...? Protection, not arrest?'
The world always flows in directions far beyond our wishes.
My shout was a signal flare, but for a completely different incident than intended.
Kang Jiyeong extended one hand toward the wall.
Screeech-!
The wall began screaming.
Boom!
A massive roar followed.
One wall crumbled like tofu, concrete debris sweeping the hallway.
"Cough, cough! What the..."
Hiss-
Gas leaking from somewhere.
Beyond it, a space opposite to the club's glamour.
Boiling beakers. Tangled glass tubes. Unknown liquids circulating through hoses.
Stainless steel shelves lining the walls crammed with chemical reagents.
Like a mad scientist's lab transplanted wholesale.
What? This club has an over-the-top concept... criminally over-the-top?
"Arrest them all!"
The club's lights switched to red emergency strobes.
EDM beats still thumped spiritedly.
Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.
The Special Task Force moved.
Perfectly coordinated movements.
Long shed their civilian cosplay.
Like fish in water, no, sharks tasting blood, they rampaged.
They beat down gas-masked villains barehanded, subdued staggering addicts in seconds.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Every bass drum beat, their fists smashed foes. Every synth swell, their bodies spun mid-air.
"Th-these bastards... Special Task Force!"
The villains didn't go down quietly.
One drew a knife from thin air, charging a Task Force member. Another spewed orange flames from his hand.
"Fuck! Die!"
Toxic smoke billowed from a smoke bomb on the floor, clouding vision.
But.
Villain resistance was futile.
Special Task Force: mostly enhancement-type superhumans.
Strength, agility, endurance, reflexes—all far beyond human limits. Super soldiers.
Their true terror wasn't individual power, but teamwork.
Breathless coordination honed by endless training. Wordless assaults.
One draws aggro, another slits the throat from behind.
One shields, drawing attention; the rest tighten the noose, choking out breath.
Five members moved in unison, seizing the entire club.
"Mayor! Evacuate this way!"
One member shielded me, leading to a safer corner.
"As expected, the mayor saw through it all."
Saw what? My bank balance? My pathetic future?
"That this is the Poison Dragon Gang's hideout, fugitives from Chinatown!"
Huh?
Poison Dragon Gang? Rings a bell.
"So you naturally led us to the VIP room. Even raiding the deal site yourself to signal us... Impressive. Now we can finally arrest A-Rank villain 'Red Mandarine,' the one spreading new drugs!"
Poison Dragon Gang executive Red Mandarine.
A-Rank villain under the Nine Dragons Society's Poison Dragon Gang.
Ah.
I remembered.
Chinese villain from the early original story.
Superhuman handling all kinds of chemical gases freely.
Based in Neo Incheon's Chinatown, spreading new drugs until captured by heroes.
Wait.
All the pieces clicked like a puzzle.
The 'infiltration,' 'route scouting,' 'mission' from Kang Jiyeong and the team...
I'd crashed not a club crawl, but an A-Rank villain takedown op?
As my brain started accepting it.
Boom!
Explosions rocked one side of the club.
Thick dust and red smoke. Against that hellscape, a man's silhouette emerged.
Gas mask. Massive build. Sinister poison aura rising like heat haze from his body.
"Red Mandarine!"
A Task Force member who'd barely dodged yelled.
A-Rank villain Red Mandarine. The guy from the comic, right in front of me.
"Gao Li Bangzi bastards. Think a few cops can take me?"
His voice through the mask distorted mechanically, eerie.
He cocked his head mockingly at us—at me.
"Guess this puny country has some guts after all. Mayor himself playing bait."
His gaze locked on me.
Bait? Me? What? I was just a would-be criminal turning myself in.
Mandarine sneered, extending both hands into the air.
Hiss-!
Thick green gas spewed across the club. Walls and floor melted in the toxin.
"Everyone retreat!"
Task Force tightened around me.
"He's gonna blow the whole building!"
Last gasp. Chemical explosion by this Red Mandarine guy.
Can't even use slush funds, crushed under rubble. Tragic end.
"Kahaha! See you next time, vermin!"
That instant.
"Where do you think you're going."
Kang Jiyeong's low murmur.
Special Task Force Captain Kang Jiyeong.
Could've been S-Rank hero at Hero Association or a corp, but stayed for citizen protection duty.
She extended her hand toward the air.
Screeech-!!
The building, mass of concrete and rebar, groaned like a living thing, shaking entirely.
Rebar pierced through concrete, twisting mid-air into a dome shape.
Bang!
Explosion inside the dome.
Blast roar muffled by thick steel walls into faint echoes.
Special Task Force Captain Kang Jiyeong's superpower: Steel Will.
The entire building bent and warped to her will.
That was S-Rank superhuman power.
"Th-this can't be!"
Steel didn't just shield.
It wrapped, twisted, crushed the building around Red Mandarine's gang, binding them.
Kang Jiyeong fought with the city itself.
Neo Incheon was her weapon and armor.
Moments later, all chaos ceased.
I watched the whole scene in a daze.
When I came to, Kang Jiyeong stood before me.
"Uh, Captain Kang Jiyeong. This."
I held out the plastic bag in my hand.
Time to confess now.
"I... I bought drugs... arrest... me..."
Words tumbled out. Tongue twisted. Flustered. Pathetic.
Kang Jiyeong took the bag from my hand.
"Never expected the mayor to risk it all and secure evidence personally. Thanks to you, we have decisive proof to arrest them red-handed."
Huh?
"Honestly, never thought I'd say this."
She paused. Then, faintly—so faint it was barely noticeable—lifted the corner of her mouth.
"Thank you, Mayor. Infiltrating the VIP room without suspicion, hitting the deal during their lapse—all thanks to your meticulous plan."
Ah.
Aah.
I lowered my head.
Not happening.
No matter what I do, it won't happen.
Failure again...
*
The next morning.
[Mayor Lee Garam, joint op with Special Task Force! Massive drug ring dismantled!]
[Mayor protects citizen safety day and night! Club undercover op crushes evil!]
['Dangerous, but for citizens, it's natural'... Neo Incheon moved by his dedication]
I sat on the sofa, staring blankly at the TV.
Warm, touching scene of Kang Jiyeong and me arm-in-arm, encouraging each other.
In the photo, I smiled awkwardly.
Citizen interviews followed.
[Our mayor's changed! Before, we didn't even know he existed.]
Didn't know he existed? Praise or insult?
[Having a guy like that as mayor feels secure! Can go to clubs worry-free at night!]
Worry-free clubs? After last night's hell?
Can't comprehend their logic.
Beep-
Couldn't take it, turned off the TV.
Fine then.
No choice.
"Haa... Didn't want to resort to this. Guess I have to use the ultimate last resort."
The taboo I hadn't touched yet. The unforgivable evil in Korea.
The most lethal, primal way to shatter all these misconceptions and misunderstandings in one shot.