Chapter 30
Chapter 30
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 30
Chapter Title: The Identity of the Elusive Supernatural Ability (2)
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◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ - Szzzzzzt-
"Hehehehe..."
Suddenly, a sizzling sound filled the cafe with acrid smoke, and a bewitching woman's laughter faintly brushed past Do-hwa's and Lu-mi's ears.
"Keheok! Keheok! What the hell is going on!?"
"Ugh... Was it an ambush?"
The hazy smoke that had filled the cafe quickly vented out through the windows and entrance.
But the fumes were clearly toxic, as the two women kept coughing violently.
"I thought... we'd subdued her so fast she couldn't even react."
Before Chae-ryeong's eyes could even properly register Lu-mi's form in that split second.
Lu-mi had clearly confirmed the ice tendrils shooting out and freezing her solid.
'What the hell happened?'
As the smoke cleared enough for visibility to return.
Chae-ryeong, who should have been trapped in the ice, was nowhere to be seen.
'Among the abilities I predicted... not teleportation, but maybe cloning?'
"Keheok...! We need to get outside and chase her down now!"
The time it took for the smoke to fill the shop and then dissipate was only a matter of tens of seconds.
Not even enough time to hop into a prepped getaway car and drive off.
Do-hwa kept coughing but insisted they pursue her immediately.
She moved to dash out of the cafe.
"Ahem... It's fine."
But Lu-mi grabbed Do-hwa's wrist as she tried to rush outside.
"What? What do you mean!? If we don't chase her right now!"
"It's fine. This is well within the expected range."
Do-hwa was stunned by Lu-mi's inexplicable behavior.
But Lu-mi firmly held onto Do-hwa, who tried to shake her off, insisting it was anticipated.
"I didn't tell you this, Ignition, but I'd already positioned other agents around the area.
Since the smoke spread all the way outside... they should've caught her by now."
A few days earlier, when Lu-mi had visited the cafe.
She'd paid for her iced Americano with a card bearing the Hero Union symbol.
Combining tips and gathered intel, she'd suspected this cafe was a Dark Knights hideout.
She'd deliberately flashed the card to probe Chae-ryeong's reaction.
Chae-ryeong had taken the card nonchalantly and processed the payment.
But before doing so, she'd stared intently at the symbol for several seconds.
The moment she saw the Hero Union's bold fist-striking emblem.
A flicker of displeasure leaked from her formerly gentle, smiling eyes.
Having run countless undercover and stakeout missions with similar experiences.
Her instincts had screamed that this confirmed it.
- Ding-!
"Good. Looks like the agents successfully apprehended her."
The notification chime on Lu-mi's terminal rang out like a celebration of the operation's success.
It echoed clearly in the now-smoke-free cafe.
"Yes. Understood. Alley behind the cafe. We're heading there now."
After receiving the report call from the agent she'd pre-positioned around the cafe.
She pocketed her terminal again.
"Among the abilities I predicted... it seems she uses cloning."
"How do you know that? We couldn't see a thing through the smoke."
Do-hwa followed Lu-mi as they rushed out of the cafe.
But she couldn't help questioning how Lu-mi was so sure Chae-ryeong had cloning powers.
"That laughter we heard earlier. It came from a different direction than the ice.
And even when the laughter rang out, her form was clearly visible inside that ice."
It was a short, simple explanation.
But the logic was immediately clear.
Do-hwa nodded in understanding.
"This way! Heroes!"
Black-suited men filled the alley between the cafe's rear and the neighboring building.
And in their midst stood Chae-ryeong, her arms bound by one of the agents.
"Hehe... Looks like I got caught."
Restrained with special-material ropes that prevented any movement.
She wore a resigned expression, meekly waiting for Lu-mi and Do-hwa to arrive.
"We've bound her so she can't move. The transport vehicle will arrive in seconds."
"Understood. Good work."
The neatly dressed agent and Lu-mi exchanged salutes.
They exchanged a brief status update.
'This is bad. Where the hell is Master...?'
Si-yoon and Do-hwa were supposed to enter the shop on her signal.
But they weren't inside.
And quite some time had passed since the operation began, with no sign of them.
- Tap tap-
"Huh?"
While the agent holding Chae-ryeong and the two heroes waited for the transport vehicle.
A hand slipped from between the agents and tapped Do-hwa's shoulder.
Do-hwa whipped her head around.
Among the agents stood a sturdy, tall man holding up his cellphone.
'M-Master?!'
Same sunglasses and black suit as the others.
But to Do-hwa's eyes, that agent was unmistakably Si-yoon.
He wiggled the phone as if to say, 'Take a look.'
Do-hwa pulled out her phone from her pocket and checked the message.
[Master♥: Operation success. Don't worry.] 'Operation success...?'
The message from Si-yoon was just those two short phrases.
As his corrupted slave, Do-hwa trusted and obeyed his words without question.
But even so, she couldn't fathom how he'd pulled it off.
'He... he must've taken some kind of measure.'
But if he was sending such a confident message.
It had to mean something big.
She clamped her mouth shut and waited.
"The transport vehicle has arrived."
One agent came running from outside the alley.
He reported to Lu-mi that the vehicle was there.
"Understood. Transport her."
"Yes!!!"
At Lu-mi's order, the agents holding Chae-ryeong moved in perfect unison.
They kept her tightly bound to prevent escape.
"Against heroes like you... I just can't seem to stand a chance."
She even uttered words like she'd utterly given up.
For a high-ranking villain exec, she was being transported far too easily.
An elusive special-grade villain who'd dodged them for days, caught like this.
It felt off—suspiciously straightforward.
Do-hwa sensed a strange incongruity.
"Hehehehe..."
Chae-ryeong had been walking toward the transport vehicle on her own feet.
She suddenly halted in place and sneered at the agents holding her.
"When you only use such stupid, simplistic methods...
How could I possibly lose to the likes of you? Hehe."
- Bang-!
"Wha... what!?"
"Where'd she go!"
With a bang, Chae-ryeong vanished in the blink of an eye.
Only the knotted ropes lay abandoned on the ground.
"Search the area now! She couldn't have gone far!"
"Catch her! Find her quick!!"
The panicked agents scattered desperately in all directions.
"Tch...!"
Lu-mi bit her lip hard and clicked her tongue.
Regret over the operation's failure.
And self-reproach for treating a special-grade villain so lightly.
She'd stayed calm even under sudden assault, unflinching in her emotions.
But now, even she couldn't hide her anger and self-blame.
'I definitely clocked it as a cloning ability... so why? Can she make multiple clones... or maybe body-swapping?'
As if punishing herself for jumping to conclusions about a simple ability.
Blood welled from her bitten lip.
- Tadadak-!
"Looks like she got away. No sign of anyone matching her description nearby."
"We have no excuse."
In the end, the agents failed to track down the escaped Chae-ryeong.
They bowed their heads to Lu-mi, blaming themselves.
"No. It was my misjudgment for thinking she was an easy mark."
But Lu-mi wiped the blood trickling from her lip.
Instead, she bowed her own head, taking the blame.
"Contact the agents stationed at her previous sightings immediately."
"Yes!"
She issued orders to quickly relay to the agents dispatched to those areas.
The two women exited to the front of the cafe and climbed into their car.
"Sorry. I think I took her too lightly."
"No way! Things getting messy because of abilities is just how it always goes."
Some people go their whole lives without realizing they even have a supernatural ability.
Others have their lives upended the moment they're born because of one.
Researchers who've studied abilities for decades hold the mainstream view.
That supernatural abilities are utterly unpredictable—impossible to pin down.
"Right now, we have no way to pursue her.
We'll suspend operations until we get further agent reports or orders from above."