Chapter 340

The drunkard was slumped against an old clothing collection box.

We carefully passed by the fainted male.

Suddenly, I sensed some movement from the direction we had come.

I pushed Adella’s back forward.

“Adella, you go inside first.”

“Why?”

“Because it seems like someone is coming.”

“I can’t leave my sister alone…!”

“Perhaps it’s the police.”

“Eh! Then we should hurry! See you later, sister!”

Even if one hasn’t committed a crime, facing the police can make anyone feel uneasy.

I sent off the ambiguous Adella and cast a Light spell to illuminate the dark path.

Sure enough, I encountered a duo of patrolling police officers.

“Damn it, who smashed a soju bottle and left it here? That’s dangerous.”

“I think I heard a noise from over here. Oh, kid! Why are you here at this hour?”

“Didn’t your parents teach you to only walk on well-lit paths? It could lead to serious trouble…”

The police examined my appearance and hesitated.

“Unspecified gender?”

“It seems so? Wow!”

“Hello, Officer. Thank you for always patrolling late at night. You have a tough job.”

I bowed politely.

You should never stand against authority carelessly.

“Wow, that adorable tone! Your voice is so cute!”

“Haha, no trouble at all. Miss Name, where is your father right now?”

“He’s at home.”

Maybe he was asleep.

“Did you come out alone? This is a dangerous neighborhood! The police have been dispatched because of a report.”

“Report? Has there been a murder around here?”

The officers shook their heads hastily.

“No, no, nothing like that. We received a complaint about a bad man causing trouble while intoxicated. This place is notorious for its bad security, so we have to keep a close watch.”

“Make sure to always go out with adults if you want to avoid such people, okay?”

“Ah, but what if… I’ve already met one?”

“Huh?”

I lowered the Light spell’s orb a little to illuminate the back.

Then, the two legs of a person sprawled on the ground were revealed.

“Ah!”

I explained the situation to the startled police officers, who thought it was a corpse.

“He looked really drunk. He was trying to smash a soju bottle on his head, so I just put him to sleep for now.”

“You put a person to sleep? How?”

The male officer turned to ask if the person was still breathing.

“When you hit them painlessly, most of them faint. It was like this…”

I gently caressed my abdomen.

Hearing that, he pressed down on the unconscious man’s belly.

Then, the drunkard opened his eyes wide and screamed.

“Argh!”

Crack-

“Ah, that sounded like breaking ribs. Looks like it was a bit misaligned.”

* * *

A few days later, I received a call from the police station.

I reluctantly visited during my way home from the Academy.

The drunkard was stuck in a detention cell after receiving temporary treatment at the hospital for a week.

I heard he had assaulted an acquaintance while drinking at a nearby food stall and later threatened every passerby.

The police asked for details about the event, and I twisted the truth with cleverness to avoid problems.

“So there was one more besides you?”

“Yes, I was out for a walk with an acquaintance.”

“Who was it?”

“An older sister I know.”

“Which sister?”

“Someone I met online.”

I was not lying.

Since it wasn’t helpful for the investigation, the police didn’t press further.

The stereotype that ‘children don’t lie in front of scary police’ was surprisingly strong.

“Phew, I’m really glad you’re not hurt. A guy with 14 prior convictions still doesn’t know how scary the world can be. Sigh, what’s the use of AI in the first instance if the laws are still so lenient?”

“Right?”

“Name, grow up to be a wonderful adult and send all these bad people to prison, okay?”

“I’ll try my best.”

“Thanks for your hard work today!”

The officer with four flower buds happily closed his laptop with a smile.

Meanwhile, those with relatively fewer flower buds were wrestling with rough men.

That drunk man, pulled out of the second-floor detention cell, pointed a finger at me.

“Hey you bastard! You made my body like this! Is it okay for Academy students to assault innocent citizens?”

I glanced at him and let out a small laugh.

“You don’t look very innocent, so can’t I hit you?”

“You bastard!”

“Hey, excuse me. What are you saying to such a young kid?”

As the officer grabbed his shoulder to intervene, the man grew more agitated.

“Let go, you tax-wasting parasites! Hey, you listen up! Just because you think you’re a bit famous doesn’t make you untouchable! If this gets out in the media, you’re finished!”

“Why are you doing this?”

“Name, just ignore him. He’s trying to extort a settlement from you.”

“You have plenty of money anyway, right? Send a million won to my account by today. If not, I’ll spread rumors around until you get expelled from the Academy!”

He seemed emboldened by the fact that I had assaulted him with my Aura.

The news about Academy students being expelled for resorting to violence comes up regularly.

“You seem to be under a big misunderstanding. The Academy is actually quite lenient when it comes to self-defense. Should I recite the internal regulations here?”

Since I had memorized every regulation after the 120cm height limit incident in the competitions.

“Expose it in the media…”

“Go ahead. Citizens of South Korea are very strict against drunkards.”

In 2052 South Korea, drunk drivers are equated with sexual offenders and serial killers.

Moreover, it has been a long time since the leniency for intoxication was abolished.

“File a complaint…”

“That would be against the law.”

“I… I…!”

The man’s face turned a colorful shade of red and blue.

It seems people with such short-sighted thinking exist everywhere in the world.

In 21st-century Korea, unlike the past life, the state protects even these kinds of people.

If he had been a commoner in the Middle Ages, he would have probably been beaten and left for dead by alley thugs.

Even if he was a noble, he would have ended up with an axe in his head from a duel trial.

“What a clueless guy, he really timed his birth well.”

The ratio of rude individuals is similar now and then, but it is precisely for this reason that they stand out more to us.

As the stubborn man was being dragged off to the interrogation room, I passed by him with my arms crossed, clicking my tongue.

“Well then, take care. It’s a shame that I have to feed these people with my tax money.”

“Did you say everything you wanted? When I get out of here, you little brat!”

“Please calm down! Sergeant, hurry and take Name downstairs!”

The man with 14 convictions put up a stubborn fight as he was dragged into the individual interrogation room.

“There’s a fruit slushy shop outside. Should I buy you one, Name?”

“Are you talking about the shop across from the police station? I should refuse out of courtesy, but I’ll gratefully accept it.”

“Haha, alright!”

The sounds of his struggling gradually faded.

As we passed the narrow hallway of the interrogation room and turned a corner, a very disturbing sound reached my ears.

“[Damn, what’s so pretty about a damn orphan without a mom that everyone is going crazy over.]”

I shook off the officer’s hand and dashed into the individual interrogation room he entered.

“Hey! Name! Where are you going?”

Bam!

I burst through the door of the small three-pyeong interrogation room.

The police officer and the male, who faced each other, jumped up in surprise.

“Name, why did you come in here? It’s dangerous; hurry and get out…!”

The young officer shouted in alarm.

Ignoring him, I approached the man with handcuffs and looked up at him.

“What do you want? Do you want to have another go?”

“If you have the guts, hit me here.”

“What?”

“You just said, ‘When I get out of jail, I’ll show you what’s what.’ I’m challenging you to try it right now.”

“You rotten little…!”

As I stepped closer, the man took a step back.

His earlier bravado had vanished, and he tightly shut his mouth.

When we were separated by bars, he barked without understanding; now that the bars were open, he resembled a puppy that had tucked its tail in.

The late-arriving officer seemed to find the situation rather amusing and did not intervene.

I looked around.

The entire interrogation room had been treated with Mana.

Due to the high impurities in the Mana, circuit spells were disrupted, and even the Aura could not be properly utilized.

It felt like trying to swim upstream against a torrential downpour.

However, I withstood the immense opposing force and eventually succeeded in weakly infusing Aura into the tips of my five fingers.

The man, having run out of places to retreat, plopped down on the chair.

“Don’t you owe me an apology?”

“Apologize? You’re the one who should—”

“Alright, I feel better that way too.”

I raised my hand lightly.

[Arrogance: Hibirisu]

To lose one’s fighting spirit after being hit by martial artists is linked to human survival instincts.

Ordinary people instantly have their legs turn to jelly and tremble.

The same goes for Aura.

Humans have evolved to become submissive in order to survive against stronger foes.

Commoners cannot defy the commands of an arrogant king.

“My body… Oh no, Officer, my body!”

“What? Is there a problem, sir? What’s going on?”

The world was entirely purple.

I curled my five fingers as if gripping a baseball and pressed firmly down on his head.

“What is this?”

Zziing-

From the area I pressed, a burning smell accompanied by purple smoke wafted out.

“Ahhh! Nooo!”

The man flailed his arms in agony.

I clenched harder with my arm, pumping more Aura into him.

“Ahhh! It hurts! It hurts!”

“Name! What are you doing? Get away!”

The officer watching from behind, flabbergasted, hurriedly pulled me away by my armpit.

The man slumped from the chair, groaning.

I could see five distinct round burn marks on his head.

No hair would grow back in that area again, and the hair he tried to implant would surely fall out.

It was the maximum revenge possible with minimal Aura.

“This incident happened…”

The police officers grimaced, rubbing their foreheads.

I silently smiled as I dangled in midair.

Ah, I wanted a slushy, but would they still buy me one after this?

* * *

Despite what I had done, the kind-hearted officer personally took me to the slushy shop.

I hope this person gets promoted soon.

“Slurp.”

As I drank the refreshing pink cherry slushy, he sighed heavily.

“I’m really sorry, but I would have done the same thing again if I went back.”

“Sigh… No, we were in the wrong too. It was also wrong to just watch because it was funny.”

“I’ll keep it a secret.”

“It won’t be a secret if that guy spills it.”

“I promise he won’t. Once he tastes it, all willpower vanishes. That probably won’t happen, but if it does, please call me again.”

“Name, no matter how you put it—”

The officer continued preaching about how private retribution is a bad thing in a law-abiding country and how great power comes with great responsibility.

Every time he said that, I nodded in agreement, adding supportive comments.

“Well, in this gold-worshipping Korea, it seems you won’t have any problems because you have money. But we have children to feed, so please try to understand.”

“I don’t have any money.”

“Thanks for understanding…”

“Huh? You’re saying you have two billion…?”

“I spent it all long ago. I’m completely broke.”

He couldn’t believe it until I showed him my balance.

As I sipped my cherry slushy through the straw again, I rolled my eyes in thought about how to accumulate money.

This is sweet and tangy; it tastes great!