An Unwelcome Appearance
The room was dimly lit. Only the long ceiling lights cast a fan-shaped glow, illuminating the space. A cold steel chair. Surveillance cameras glowing with red lights, watching from every corner like predators. A table with a long microphone arm extended across it.
“.......”
.....
Had I committed some kind of crime? Why call an ambulance but send a police car instead? And why drag me all the way to an interrogation room that looked like it belonged to a serial killer?
“Kang Minwoo!!!”
Bang!
The detective who had dragged me here while awkwardly reciting something like the Miranda rights slammed his hand down on the table. He’d been doing that every time he spoke. It looked like solid steel… Didn’t his hand hurt?
“I’ve seen plenty of bastards like you.”
“No… I’m pretty ordinary, actually…”
Bang!
He slammed it again.
“Shut up, kid. In this day and age, who beats someone using an ability?”
“Ability…? Beating someone? Me?”
Minwoo-ssi, you’ve never done anything like that…
“And on your own girlfriend, no less?”
“What are you even talking about…”
Wh-what? Girlfriend?
“Don’t even think about denying it. It’s all on the CCTV.”
“There’s clearly been some misunderstanding…”
(Girlfriend…?)
“What? Want me to show you?”
“Um… yes, please show me.”
The detective spun his laptop around and slid it toward me. When I focused on the screen, I saw Seong Hana and myself. It was footage of the incident at the café from a few hours ago.
“What are you doing? Don’t want to watch? Suddenly feeling guilty about what you did?”
“No. I should watch it… since I didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Sigh… you damn bastard, after doing something like that…”
Sheesh… why is he suddenly swearing? Minwoo-ssi, bring the laptop a little closer.
“Okay.”
I stretched my arm out and pulled the laptop forward. Truthfully, I’d been curious about the video this grim-looking man kept replaying. I didn’t understand why the detective was acting this way, but evidence was everything in our country. Video footage was irrefutable. Whatever the reason for his attitude, this should clear up the misunderstanding.
I rested my finger on the spacebar. A glance at the detective’s face showed him looking triumphant, as if he held undeniable proof. It was probably the video of us eating lunch at the brunch café before calling 119. I still couldn’t figure out why he was so worked up.
I tapped the spacebar and leaned in close to the screen. There was no audio, but the corner CCTV clearly captured Seong Hana and me. The angle was top-down… but something felt strange. It was hard to make out at first.
Hana stabbed her salad with a fork, and at the exact same moment, I stored the salad in my inventory. Suddenly Hana staggered and slammed her forehead onto the table. Then, when I reached out, the collapsed Hana abruptly lifted her head. It looked exactly like I was forcibly yanking a fallen person back to her feet.
It showed me frowning as I spoke after forcing her awake like that. The moment I finished talking, Hana slammed her head back down onto the table. Even without sound, it looked painful just to watch. After that, Hana clutched her head and stood up again. Her expression was full of fear. In the video, her light green eyes trembled with anxiety. Her whole body seemed to be shaking. It was as if she were silently screaming for help in that empty second-floor café.
Then Hana said something before collapsing sideways, smashing her forehead against the sharp corner of the desk—the next most dangerous thing after stepping on Lego, they say.
Uh…….
“Uh……”
A small pool of Hana’s blood formed beneath the table, and the video ended there. A strange aftertaste lingered. It was clearly something I had lived through, yet the recorded footage looked perfectly crafted to create a misunderstanding.
Huh… it does look a bit…
“Y-yeah, I guess it does look bad?”
Seeing my reaction, the detective snapped the laptop shut. That was enough, his expression said.
“You’ve been muttering to yourself this whole time… Well, anyway, couples fight on dates sometimes.”
“She’s not my girlfriend…”
Sigh…
“But still, no matter what, using an ability to beat someone like this?”
“Ah… no, listen, there’s a misunderstanding here.”
“Misunderstanding my ass. I don’t know what your ability is, but that first salad is probably the key to the crime. Right? You spiked it with something, didn’t you?”
“No… that was just a roasted chicken salad. I only added avocado…”
Bang! Bang!
The detective cut me off by slamming the table twice.
“Shut up, kid! Don’t give me unnecessary details!”
“That startled me…”
Ugh… seriously… why does he keep doing that…
The detective in front of me clearly thought he had the momentum now. The force behind his hand as it struck the table was much stronger than before. The deep frown on his face suggested he believed I was shaken after watching the video.
If I stayed silent like this, it was obvious I’d be swept along by him without getting a word in. Invoking my right to remain silent now would be too inconsistent… and if I kept blurting out strange things without getting my thoughts straight, I’d probably be seeing the inside of a cell very soon.
A wise prison life together with her? No… absolutely not… I had to say something…
“Excuse me. I didn’t mention it because you never asked, but I’m an inventory ability user. All I can do is put things in and take them out.”
“Oh-ho. So after committing the crime, you tried to destroy the evidence by storing the salad in your… what, inventory?”
“No. Why is the story suddenly heading in that direction…”
“Then take the salad out.”
“No, why are you suddenly so obsessed with the salad…”
“You can’t take it out, can you?”
“Just a moment.”
“I knew it, you bastard. What criminal willingly hands over the tool used in the crime?”
The detective leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. His expression was full of certainty. When I thought about it, I had been brought here because my ability was under suspicion from the start. If I couldn’t properly demonstrate it, my chances to defend myself would naturally shrink. The suspicion would only grow deeper.
I rubbed my face with both hands. When I closed my eyes, the untouched salad—the suspect—appeared inside my inventory. Held in her hands, completely unaware of my feelings…
Ugh… Minwoo-ssi…
“Huh?”
I’m sorry…. It’s all because of me….
“No, just wait a moment.”
For a brief second, I saw her looking like a thoroughly dejected kitten. The roasted-chicken-whatever salad she held anxiously in her slender hands. Strangely, only the salad in her grasp showed something. Faintly, but clearly, a thin white border surrounded it. That white outline felt familiar. It was the same color as the world inside my inventory. It felt like my ability was trying to speak to me.
“Now that I think about it…”
At first, I couldn’t take Lee Siyeon out. I couldn’t even store anything in the inventory. But that was only in the beginning. Things were different now. I had clearly succeeded in developing my ability. The inventory that could only hold one item before could now hold others. That much was certain. Then—
“Then taking things out should work too, right?”
“Hey, kid. You can just stay quiet. The Association’s forensics team already collected samples from you and the scene. They’ll figure out exactly what ability you used without missing a single detail.”
I opened my eyes. I ignored the detective, who was glancing at his wristwatch and speaking to me like I was pathetic. I simply focused on the table in front of me.
“Soon the detailed data on your ability will arrive, so you should just confess now… Huh?”
Huh? Minwoo-ssi? Just now—
“Oh. As expected.”
The salad that suddenly appeared on the table. Two people were startled. One remained calm.
“Ev… evidence? W-wait… I need to contact the forensics team right away…”
Waaaah. It worked!
“Of course it works. It’s my inventory.”
It was almost funny. To be this serious over a salad…
“Yeah. Yeah. Come recover the evidence. What? Just have me bring it?”
The detective was urgently calling someone.
How did you do that, Minwoo-ssi?
“I could strangely see something like an outline.”
An outline?
“Yes. A white border. The salad felt exactly like some kind of item…”
Then… can I come out too?
“Yeah. Right. Should we check again?”
Uh, ah, I’m not asking you to take me out or anything…
“I know… I’ll just take a look. Just a moment…”
There was still a chance. If an outline existed, then taking her out should be possible too, right? If she could only gain complete control of her ability… then…
My heart fluttered just a little. The hope that I might be able to see her in person settled inside me. I was excited, but I set that feeling aside for now and closed my eyes again…
“Hey! Lee Siyeon!!”
Eek…
With the sound of the door bursting open, a man entered while shouting her name.
The detective and I turned toward the door at the same time.
“Ha, I finally found you… you damn… ah, no, there are too many eyes watching… Hello~”
It was an abrupt entrance. The guy who had violently thrown the door open wore a black uniform. The uniform that signified affiliation. Only one of the raid teams wore those black uniforms.
“Who the hell are you? What do you think you’re doing, barging into an interrogation room?”
The detective stood up from his chair and blocked the doorway. I hadn’t noticed before, but he was quite large. Large enough to completely fill the doorframe.
“Enough. Get out. Now.”
“Ahh… please don’t push. I’m from the Association. Kim Hyundo of the 1st Raid Team. You requested the data, correct?”
“What? Well, we did request data… but I didn’t expect the 1st Raid Team to show up…”
“Ah. We have a team member here. So of course the 1st Raid Team had to come.”
The guy slightly lifted the corner of his eye, cutting the detective off. He thrust several sheets of paper forward. Results from Kang Minwoo’s blood and various samples collected at the scene. It was clearly the ability user database the detective had requested.
But something was strange. The detective took the papers and read through the entire document. The contents were far too long for an ordinary ability user.
“Let’s see… ability data status of the requested suspect…”
“Yes, read it all the way through~”
“…Agility, super-regenerative skin, combat frenzy, oracle… What is this? There’s more than just one or two?”
“Of course. It’s a group buff exclusive to the 1st Raid Team… so naturally there are many.”
“Oh, and you see the ‘Uncontrollable’ tag in the debuff section below? That’s why the accident happened.”
“Uncontrollable?”
“Yes. Due to the nature of Team 1, I can’t say more than that. You understand, right?”
“That may be, but…”
“Well… from what I hear, the victim isn’t in any life-threatening condition… Shall we resolve this amicably?”
“Ha… jeez… but still…”
The detective who received the papers turned his head, looking back and forth between my face and the documents. After hearing the words “1st Raid Team,” his aggression had noticeably weakened. He even seemed to shrink his shoulders a little. The detective looked at me with an expression like he had made a mistake.
“Wait, you’re saying that man is really from the 1st Raid Team?”
“What? Man…? Um, well… anyway, if you understand, could you step aside? I have a lot to discuss with our Siyeon.”
“But the suspect is still…”
“Ha… look at the back. There’s a cooperation document. It clearly states ‘immunity privilege’ in the middle, so please read it.”
“Hmm…”
“Alright, from now on if you have any questions, just contact the Association’s law firm.”
The man in uniform pressed a law firm business card into the detective’s hand. It was a polite way of saying to get lost because he was being a nuisance.
“Then, detective, we’ll take it from here~”
“Ha… this is insane…”
The detective scratched his head and left the room. The man watched his retreating back and gently closed the door.
“Kick. So damn annoying.”
The moment the door shut, sparks flew from the interrogation room lights and the surveillance camera. Then the lights suddenly burst out and died, plunging the room into pitch blackness.
“Ha. Siyeon. Siyeeooon……”
The man’s entire atmosphere had flipped.
“Kikik.”
Ah… a… a…….
It was dark, but I could feel him slowly turning his head.
“Fuck… why can’t I reach you at all? Siyeon? Hm?”
Was it my imagination? Amber eyes, the exact same color as the sparks from earlier, flashed in the darkness.