Chapter 79
Chapter 79
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 79
Chapter Title: First Special Task Force Activity
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Officer Kang showed a surprised reaction, as if he recognized us.
I wondered if it was a familiar name, so I repeated "Officer Kang" to myself, but it didn't ring any bells.
"Ah, and I'll be the one in charge of leading you all today. We'll be together for three days, so keep that in mind."
"Yes, please take good care of us."
"Follow me."
With that, we followed Officer Kang's guidance as he showed us around the Special Task Force headquarters and gave us a brief explanation.
"Come on in here."
Officer Kang led us to a place labeled "Multipurpose Room."
"Make yourselves comfortable. We're going to do a short orientation session."
We took our seats.
I glanced at Yoo Ah-ra, who had sat down next to me. Her cheeks were slightly flushed, giving off an excited vibe.
It was a new side of her, and I found it intriguing. Probably because her dream job was working for the Special Task Force.
"Cool, right?"
Yoo Ah-ra muttered blankly. Then she looked at me.
"Isn't it cool?"
"......Yeah. It is cool."
"I want to work at a place like this after graduation."
Her short words carried a firm conviction. She really wanted to do Special Task Force work that badly. That's when Choi Seo-yoon spoke to Yoo Ah-ra.
"With your grades, Senior, you could get a free pass to the Seoul Special Task Force headquarters, no?"
At Choi Seo-yoon's words, Yoo Ah-ra gave a bitter smile.
"Not everything goes according to my will."
Choi Seo-yoon shot her a curious look at Yoo Ah-ra's response. But she didn't pry further.
"So, have you thought about what you'll do after graduation?"
Yoo Ah-ra turned to me as she spoke. Her eyes were so serious that I knew I couldn't just joke around.
After graduation......
I hadn't decided for sure yet. Just some rough ideas.
"......I haven't nailed it down, but I am interested in the Special Task Force side of things."
After graduation, the main characters from the original story, including Lee Seo-jun, all end up working for the Special Task Force in large numbers.
And the numerous incidents that break out in this world also happen during Special Task Force activities.
If I think about intervening in the original plot progression, working for the Special Task Force could be a good way to do it.
Of course, the Special Task Force I'm talking about isn't this one that guards a single district in the city—it's the counter-terrorism unit that operates worldwide.
"As expected. I knew you'd say that."
Yoo Ah-ra looked into my eyes and said so.
As expected from me?
What was her basis for saying that?
As I felt puzzled, Officer Kang, who had finished preparing, clapped lightly to draw our attention.
"Alright, now we'll do a very brief orientation."
Clap clap clap clap.
The orientation, which lasted about an hour, came to an end.
To sum it up simply: it covered citizen safety, lifesaving laws, and how to deal with various crimes and terrorists.
We took a short break and sat in the empty spots in the assigned waiting room.
We just sit here bored, waiting for a report to come in somewhere, then we deploy.
Of course, we do patrols too, but patrols start in the afternoon, apparently.
"Hmm."
I sat there blankly. Because of how Incheon was depicted in the original story, I thought incidents would happen frequently, but it didn't seem to be the case.
"Sunbae."
That's when Choi Seo-yoon called me.
"Yeah, what?"
"Can I ask you something I'm curious about?"
Something she's curious about me?
"What?"
"Why did you film that documentary?"
At Choi Seo-yoon's question, I blinked.
"I just did it on a whim."
"There's no other reason?"
"Nah, why?"
"......No. It just felt so out of the blue. I wondered if there was some other intention."
"There isn't."
Choi Seo-yoon nodded at my answer. From her expression, she didn't seem fully convinced. She looked like she wanted to ask more but was barely holding back.
But I didn't pay it much mind.
It's probably just some pointless imagination on her part.
That's when I felt an intense gaze from the side. This time, Yoo Ah-ra was looking at me with questioning eyes.
"......What is it with you?"
"Now that I think about it, it's weird."
"What is."
"You're not the type who likes showing off. And you hide a lot."
What was she on about?
"Hmm."
Yoo Ah-ra narrowed her eyes at me.
"......What benefit do you get out of it?"
As I looked at her with bewildered eyes, Yoo Ah-ra spoke.
"Ah, sorry. I just thought there might be some other motive since it's you."
I had nothing to say, so I just shut my mouth.
It felt like I was living in a different world by myself.
We were having such trivial conversations while waiting when suddenly, a sharp alarm blared from the ceiling speakers.
-Incident reported, incident reported.
Following Officer Kang, we arrived at the incident site.
A small abandoned factory in some corner of the city.
A powerful mana explosion had occurred nearby. From the looks of it, it wasn't a monster or demon. That meant the opponent was human.
"Just in case, don't get involved and stay back watching for now. And keep the surrounding civilians from approaching."
We nodded at Officer Kang's words.
"Yes!"
Officer Kang took his fellow Special Task Force wizard and entered the abandoned factory. We stood at the entrance, making sure civilians couldn't get close.
"I didn't think we'd actually end up at a real scene."
"You never know what might happen, so stay sharp."
Boom!
A powerful mana explosion roared from the factory.
Combat had broken out, it seemed. Judging by the number of mana signatures, there were more than one or two opponents.
Kaboom!
Mana explosions kept happening. Soon, a blinding fireball spread from the second floor of the factory, and a man jumped out from there.
Thud!
The man hurriedly looked around, then turned his gaze to us at the entrance.
"Get out of the way!"
The man reinforced his body with mana and charged at us.
Pretty fast speed.
Just from the movements, he was at least a B-Grade reinforcement wizard or higher.
That's when Yoo Ah-ra stepped forward, manifesting a fireball.
But the man didn't panic and swiftly closed in on Yoo Ah-ra.
In that instant, I reinforced my body with mana and shoved the man away.
"Urk! What the hell are you!"
The man yelled at me. Instead of answering, I manifested a spell and fired it at him.
Boom!
The spell hit, but it didn't inflict much damage.
Because the man had used protective aura to minimize the magic damage.
His reaction speed was decent too.
"You little shits!"
The man charged at us again with a furious face. From behind, Yoo Ah-ra's fireball shot toward him.
The man dodged the attack with leisurely movements. Next came Choi Seo-yoon's attack.
Ice surged from the ground, binding the man's legs.
"Got him!"
"Annoying pests!"
The man smashed the ice on his legs with his fist without hesitation.
At the same time, the ice shattered with a crash, and he was free again.
The man in front of us was stronger than I'd thought. He seemed to have plenty of combat experience from numerous chases.
Still, the good news was that continuous fighting had tired him out—his movements were slower than before.
I reinforced my body and dashed forward.
In joint wizard combat, if there's no reinforcement wizard, it's best for one person to fill that role.
Thud!
A loud impact rang out as our bodies collided.
The man swung his fist quickly, but thanks to the gold thread greatly boosting my instantaneous power, I could dodge it visually.
The man showed a slightly surprised reaction at my quick evasion.
"You bastard!"
Ignoring the man's shout, I drew the paralysis dagger from my waist.
And stabbed it deep into the man's thigh.
"Arghhh!"
The man let out a scream of pain.
Then I circled behind him and slammed him to the ground.
I pulled out the magic metal handcuffs pre-issued by the Special Task Force from my waist and cuffed his wrists.
Click.
"Whew......"
That took down one.
Choi Seo-yoon and Yoo Ah-ra approached me.
"Sunbae, you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine."
"Wow. But Sunbae, those moves......"
I looked up to see Yoo Ah-ra and Choi Seo-yoon staring at me with considerable surprise.
My physical abilities had risen sharply after consuming the gold thread, so it was understandable they'd be shocked.
"I've been training my stamina consistently."
"......For someone who just trains like that, it's almost reinforcement wizard level."
That was when it happened.
Another loud boom echoed from the factory.
Two more men jumped down.
"Grk! Persistent bastards!"
"Hurry and run!"
New enemies. And this time, two of them.
I gathered mana and took a stance.
[Villain, 'Yang Cheol-min and 2 others,' successfully captured.]
[Karma increases by 0.1.]
['First Special Task Force Activity' achievement unlocked.]
[Reward: 3,000 points acquired.]
Incident resolved.
The criminals, all handcuffed, were dragged off somewhere.
They'll probably end up locked in some secret special wizard prison in the Pacific.
There's a huge episode related to that prison, but there's still a lot of time before that day comes.
Officer Kang scratched his head and expressed his gratitude to us.
"Wow. I never thought we'd get such big help from students here on an experience program. Thanks to you, we caught them all without letting a single one escape. Thank you."
"No, we just did what we had to. But what did those guys do wrong?"
"Ah, they're wanted criminals. Robbery, assault, murder, theft, that sort of thing."
"Ah."
"Thanks to you catching the wanted criminals, you'll get reward money too."
Reward money, huh.
They weren't that strong as wizards, so maybe around 6 million won total. Split three ways, 2......
A bit disappointing, but free money, so whatever.
Man, I've gotten richer too. 2 million feels like pocket change now.
"Oh, right, Kim Sun-woo. No injuries?"
"No, I'm fine."
"You seemed to take a hit on the shoulder earlier."
"This much is nothing."
I rubbed the shoulder I'd injured during the fight as I spoke.
Officer Kang nodded at my answer.
"Good to hear. If anything comes up, let me know right away. Shall we head back to headquarters now?"
"Yup."
With that, we rode back to headquarters in Officer Kang's car.
Because we'd handled a case today, we got praise from the Special Task Force agents and some rest time.
We spent the time enjoying snacks and chit-chat.
That's when a small commotion broke out somewhere in the room. My eyes were drawn there for no reason.
"Hey. You hear about Goldwin?"
"Yeah, their movements have been a bit suspicious lately."
"Feels like they're up to something."
The familiar name caught my ear, so I listened in.
......Goldwin?
Goldwin was the tomb-raiding guild I'd run into before.
"Kim Sun-woo's kinda weird. Looking at his recent grades, they're insane. Totally different from his first year."
In Jaun's hideout hidden somewhere in Seoul.
Bert and Jin were sitting on the sofa, talking.
"It happens. There are plenty of cases where skills explode late."
"No, this guy's beyond that level. Honestly, it's hard to believe it's the same person."
Jin let out a deep sigh at Bert's words.
"Fine, let's say Kim Sun-woo is the guy who blew away that demon's torso like you say. So what are you gonna do about it?"
"We investigate. He's around Lee Seo-jun and suspicious in more ways than one. Plus, his past record is too clean."
"Hmm."
Jin narrowed his eyes.
"What do you think Kim Sun-woo's deal is?"
"Special Task Force. Or Blade of Dawn."
"......You think Kim Sun-woo's a wizard planted secretly to monitor Lee Seo-jun?"
Bert nodded at Jin's incredulous words.
"It's not impossible. And you know how meticulous and scary Chairman Kim Jin-cheol and that old man are."
"......Hearing you say it, it does sound kinda plausible."
"Keep it in mind at least. It might turn out I'm right."
"Yeah, yeah, got it."
That's when the hideout door burst open, and a man walked in.
A handsome Eastern man.
It was Baek Eun-sung.
Baek Eun-sung straightened his neat suit shirt, as if heading out somewhere, and said,
"I'm going to Incheon now."
"Oh, to manage those Goldwin or Goldking Wing or whatever guys?"
Jin said it like it had just occurred to him.