Freedom
When I, who had become a star, descended to the ground, Elsia linked her arm with mine and spoke. "Husband! Now that I think about it, I need to go update my abilities!"
"Aren't you still treated as a foreigner? Do you really have to?"
"Since the Great Forest is gone, I have to register if I want my residence set to Korea!"
"Ah, right."
"Still, it'll be over in no time! The foreigner track has great convenience perks!"
"Pingmeroi really comes in handy at times like this."
Come to think of it, I had business outside too. That's right. I needed to go to the bank. My account had been frozen because of the ability registration, and I had to get it unlocked.
"Let's get this over with quickly."
"Yes!"
Then Hye-ji linked her arm with my other one and said, "I'm coming too."
"Oh my! Why is Hye-ji unnie coming?"
"So you don't pull any stupid stunts."
"......Tch."
Elsia clicked her tongue in displeasure. But her eyes held a rather friendly look toward Hye-ji. It was probably because Hye-ji had taken all the anger in her place back in the Great Forest.
Right now, though, my appearance was just... something else. Even in a world where polygamy was allowed, walking around with a beautiful girl on each arm—Elsia and Hye-ji—felt pretty embarrassing.
'The problem is that the moment they open their mouths, any compliments about my face vanish instantly.'
[Remember this. You even threw up after opening your mouth.]
'......I'd rather not remember that.'
I pushed down the sudden nightmare that surfaced and voiced my honest thoughts. "Kids, I'm a little embarrassed to go like this."
"Really? Then Shinu, I'll make sure no one recognizes you."
The weather was still chilly, so I had my hands clasped together in front of me. Hye-ji draped her Defensive Coat over my head. Then both Hye-ji and Elsia linked arms with me again.
"How about it, Shinu? Now no one will recognize you, right?"
Hye-ji hummed in satisfaction. I took a relatively objective look at my current state: coat flipped over my head to hide my identity, hands clasped together, and on my left and right, a Gold Rank high elf and an asymmetric weapon each linked arms with me, dragging me along.
"......Hey, fuck, if you just slap cuffs on me now, this is literally a criminal escort mission."
"Do you need handcuffs? I'll put them on for you!"
"Hey, wait a second. Stop."
- Click.
Elsia suddenly pulled out a pair of handcuffs from somewhere and snapped them onto my wrists. They were far too large, crude, and heavy to be ordinary handcuffs. They looked more like the kind prisoners wore during hard labor.
"...What the hell is this now, fuck."
"I heard the police use these when escorting ability users!"
"How the hell did you even get them?"
".......I borrowed them."
Elsia glanced away from my gaze. Still, the interrogation could wait. Getting free came first.
"Elsia, unlock them. Now."
"Yes! Just a moment!"
Elsia rummaged around for a bit before suddenly freezing. She started sweating profusely and avoided meeting my eyes.
Hey. Fuck, don't tell me.
"Um... husband?"
"Please tell me it's not what I'm thinking."
"......I lost the key."
"Why the hell did you wait until after you put them on to say that?"
"I'm sorry. There are just so many new things."
"Haa."
I lightly bumped my head against Elsia's as a warning. Then Hye-ji patted my shoulder with a "trust me" expression and said, "Shinu, wait. I'll manifest a cutter for you."
"I knew I could count on you."
[As expected, Hye-ji is the true heroine.]
'You're absolutely right.'
But then Hye-ji suddenly started sweating too. Her hands and pupils trembled as she muttered with a despairing look, "The cutter...... what was it again."
"......"
She'd been so focused on manifesting firepower-heavy weapons that she'd forgotten how to make a simple cutter. It was like a retired soldier who knew how to drive a tank but not a regular car.
Hye-ji looked at me with gloomy eyes. "Sorry, Shinu.... I've become this kind of body."
"......Hye-ji, those two things are from completely different genres."
"What do we do, husband? Of course, I wouldn't mind if you lived like this for the rest of your life!"
"I-I wouldn't mind if Shinu stayed like this forever either!"
"Shut up, both of you."
It was still vacation period. There weren't many people at the Academy, so getting help from there was unlikely. According to what Elsia said earlier, these handcuffs were the kind the police used. After a brief moment of thought, I reached a conclusion.
"...Let's just go outside and head to the police station."
"Okay."
"Yes!"
In the end, with handcuffs on both wrists and the coat draped over my head, I walked along with Hye-ji and Elsia linked on either side. To anyone looking, I was the very picture of a criminal being escorted.
[Might as well practice for when you eventually get caught anyway.]
'Fuck you, you bitch.'
When we reached the school gate, the guard would normally have checked our IDs, but the moment he saw Hye-ji he just said "good work" and even called a taxi for us, telling us to hurry up and throw the criminal in jail. Without any chance to explain, we were practically shoved into the taxi.
The taxi driver glanced at us through the rearview mirror, then input the nearest police station into the navigation without us even saying the destination and floored the accelerator. He seemed to have already decided this was a criminal transport.
Between the scenery whipping past on both sides, we could only sit in awkward silence, unable to say a word.
At some point, the taxi window must have been slightly open, because dust suddenly got in my eye and tears welled up. As I rattled the handcuffs while wiping my tears, the taxi driver happened to see me through the mirror and clicked his tongue. Then he started muttering to himself loud enough for me to hear.
"Tsk. Look at this criminal bastard crying his eyes out."
......? No, what the fuck?
While resentment slowly bubbled up inside me, the taxi driver spoke to Hye-ji and Elsia in an extremely friendly tone.
"You two must have it rough! Even as Academy students, you're personally catching criminals. I wish my kids would be even half as good as you two."
"Ahaha... it's nothing."
"W-well, it really wasn't much!"
"Goodness, you're even humble. When are my brats ever going to come to their senses?"
In an instant, I became a shameless criminal while Hye-ji and Elsia became heroes who had caught one. And because the dust still hadn't fully left my eyes, I kept rattling the handcuffs as I wiped away tears. Seeing this, the taxi driver sneered at me.
"Serves you right, you criminal bastard. You thought you wouldn't get caught, and now that you did you're crying from the injustice?"
I was genuinely about to protest my innocence when the taxi suddenly stopped at a red light. My body lurched forward and I missed the timing to speak. Taking advantage of the gap, the driver started chatting sweetly with Hye-ji and Elsia.
"You students think the same, right? Say a few words to this criminal bastard too."
"Sh... Shinu....... D-don't cry, you fucking bastard!"
"You...... you should've stopped when we told you to stop!"
"You heard them? Live your life straight, you criminal bastard."
"I'm really not..."
[You were always going to commit crimes eventually anyway.]
'Hey, you fucking bastard.'
The ride to the police station didn't take long, but even in that short time the driver kept harshly berating me. At the same time, he kept asking Hye-ji and Elsia to chime in, and the two of them reluctantly started insulting me. But they say the first time is the hardest. At first, Hye-ji and Elsia were clearly forcing the words out. Yet the more they spoke, the more emotion filled their attacks until they were landing blow after blow.
"Just get a clue already, you dumb fuck! That's why you got caught!"
"Quietly accept the restraints! Someone as pathetic as you should spend your whole life tied up! By me!"
"As expected, Academy students are reliable! Hahaha!"
'It hurts, you fucking bastards. Please stop.'
[Haha! Die!]
I could no longer tell whether the tears flowing from my eyes were still from the dust or from something else. I stopped trying to wipe them and just sat there motionless, as if dead.
Still, all things come to an end. Even this hellish time finally concluded. The taxi driver dropped us off at the police station, showered Hye-ji and Elsia with praise, and left without even taking the fare. Spitting at my feet as a bonus was just extra.
In front of the police station, I stood there blankly. I couldn't think of anything. I just wanted the handcuffs off and to get back to the Academy as fast as possible.
Hye-ji and Elsia glanced at me and spoke cautiously.
"......"
"...Shinu, sorry. I got carried away and went a bit too far."
"...I'm sorry, husband. I didn't mean to..."
"......I'm going in."
With my mental state shattered, I gave them a not-quite announcement and trudged toward the police station. Just as I was about to open the door, everyone suddenly shouted in panic.
"H-hey! Don't!"
"Wait! Husband, stop!"
[You there? Stop! Don't go!]
But I couldn't hear Hye-ji and Elsia. Every sound reaching my ears was just white noise. My mind had crumbled like a poorly opened package of cookies. So I walked straight into the police station without even considering what might happen if I went in alone.
That was why what happened next was, in a way, inevitable. The moment I stepped inside, every officer looked at me and immediately pointed their guns.
"Hands up! I'll shoot if you move!"
"Ah."
Only then did my brain slowly start working again. In broad daylight, a criminal had boldly walked into a police station. With a coat completely covering his head and handcuffs on his wrists. A criminal who had escaped the police only to leisurely return. In other words, an extremely dangerous individual.
To prove my innocence, I raised my hands to take off the coat. Startled by the movement, a young-looking officer swung his baton straight at my head.
"I told you not to move!"
"Fuck."
- Crack!!!!!
The baton that struck my head shattered. All the officers flinched in shock at the sight, and someone urgently shouted, "He's an ability user! Contact the ability suppression team right now!"
"Ah, fuck, seriously."
What a shitty day.
***
Hye-ji and Elsia, who had followed right after, linked arms with me again, and the officers' expressions shifted to slight confusion. A clearly dangerous-looking criminal with two Academy students naturally linked arms with him was definitely worth questioning.
At that moment, the ability suppression team that had been on five-minute standby arrived at the station. They all wore fierce expressions, looking ready to demand who had called them so suddenly. But the moment they spotted Hye-ji escorting what appeared to be a criminal, the entire team froze in place. Then they awkwardly shuffled over and sat neatly on the sofa inside the station.
[......There's no one who doesn't know Hye-ji.]
'The World Tree didn't know her.'
That's why it died.
Then a woman from the ability team approached hesitantly. She went straight to Hye-ji.
"C-could you give me an autograph!"
She had Hye-ji sign the clothes she was wearing. Seeing that, several others came out and got autographs from Hye-ji as well. The ability team members spoke with satisfied expressions.
"The War God's blessing is upon her!"
"All-powerful Hye-ji-nim!"
"Hye-ji-nim looked at me!"
After hearing our full story, everyone in the police station finally let out sighs of relief. They said the handcuffs on my wrists were an older model, so it would take time to find the matching key. Just then, the officer who had hit me on the head earlier approached cautiously and began apologizing.
"I'm truly sorry!"
"It's fine. I didn't even get hurt."
The officer's eyes lit up as he asked, "If it's alright, may I ask what kind of ability user you are?"
"Just physical enhancement."
"Ah, so you instantly reinforced your head with mana earlier?"
"No."
"......Excuse me?"
The officer looked confused and pulled up his phone. Meanwhile, Hye-ji, who had been watching, manifested a pistol and casually shot me in the head.
- Bang! Bang! Bang!
"Ow."
"See?"
"......"
The officer's gaze shifted from confusion to the kind of fear one might feel toward a monster. Without a word, he quickly returned to his seat. Then another officer cautiously approached Hye-ji.
"Since you used your ability without reporting it, we'll need you to write an explanation."
"Ah....."
They requested a written statement from Hye-ji. Thanks to that, she was dragged off somewhere briefly to write it. When she returned, the officer brought over several keys for the handcuffs. After a few tries, there was a click, and the handcuffs came off. Finally, I felt the freedom return to my wrists.
The moment we left the police station, I silently looked up at the sky and spread both arms wide.
Ah. Brother Andy. So this is what it was.
It was the freedom I had finally regained.