Chapter 29
Chapter 29
“Looking at the locations and times of sightings… there must be something to see.”
Si-yoon nodded with certainty, then opened the laptop he had placed on the table beyond the sofa. He searched for something briefly, then showed Ji-woo and Do-hwa a map on the laptop screen.
“Based on sightings from seven days ago, the locations are a subway station in downtown S City and an airport in B City. And from six days ago, near a burger shop close to that subway station, and in a residential area near the airport.”
He captured the map screen and marked the spots where ‘Trickster’ Chaeryeong was sighted.
“And… when you connect the closest points, you get lines like this.”
Using a pen tool to draw lines between the nearest points, several lines branched out from a specific point, like branches growing from a tree.
“It looks like when you draw a movement path on a map in a game.”
“It would look like that to Ji-woo.”
It resembled the map of an RPG game with portals and maps.
Si-yoon wrote down the dates and times on these lines and points.
“No matter how you think about it, it doesn’t make sense to travel that far in such a short time, right? But if you group the sightings by proximity, there’s consistency.”
Starting from what was presumed to be their current hideout, a café on the outskirts of S City, the lines seemed to branch out in three different directions.
“It’s clear she started from here. And as time passed, they spread out in different directions.”
Two of the lines extended far out, but one line seemed to just circle around S City.
“It doesn’t make sense for one person to be sighted in multiple places at once. It has to be one of two things. Either two or three people disguised as one person, or like the report said, she created clones and sent them to different places.”
“Oh…!”
Both nodded at Si-yoon’s plausible deduction.
“Would the Union be searching like this too? Sending investigators or something.”
“From what I heard, they are dispatching personnel as they receive tips.”
Even someone like himself, untrained in investigation or deduction, could come up with this theory; it would be arrogant to think the Hero Union hadn’t tried this.
Si-yoon felt a bit proud of himself for thinking of this, but he didn’t let it get to his head.
Approaching ‘Trickster’ Chaeryeong before they did was more important.
“Anyway… the others are too dangerous with too few clues. The Union will probably prioritize tracking her too.”
*
In front of a fast-food restaurant in S City downtown.
“Hello!”
“You’ve come just in time. And you’ve dressed exactly as I instructed.”
A-grade hero ‘Ignition’ Yoon Do-hwa and ‘Ice Queen’ Seolumi.
The two had gathered in the middle of the city, dressed in plain clothes instead of their hero suits.
The reason they met outside of their usual scene was for one purpose: to carry out a mission assigned by the Union.
“Assuming you’ve read all the information provided, we’ll start the mission.”
Seolumi brushed her silver hair behind her ear while pointing at photos containing details of the villains.
“Among the four executive-level villains, excluding the leader for whom we have no information, we will prioritize tracking the villain ‘Trickster’ first.”
“Isn’t it better to track the more violent villains first?”
“There was an order from the top to track down and subdue the villains we can handle the quickest.”
Instead of targeting villains with high violence and destructive power, which posed greater threats, they were to subdue those they could quickly defeat first, as per the higher-ups’ command.
Just as Do-hwa thought, for the Hero Union, whose primary goal was citizen safety, it would usually be more important to subdue the more violent villains first.
Seolumi, who relayed the command to Do-hwa, was not unaware of the oddity in this order. However, orders from above must be followed. Even if the command seemed questionable, the principle was to carry it out first.
“And, I’ve personally seen ‘Trickster’.”
Seolumi had encountered a woman with a very similar appearance to ‘Trickster’ at a café on the outskirts of S City just a few days ago. She had a casual conversation with her, who seemed like the café owner, while sipping coffee leisurely.
At that time, her mission was not to subdue the villains but to locate their hideout, and since she wasn’t certain that woman was ‘Trickster’, Seolumi did not attack.
“I’ve just sent you a map through the terminal. Please check it.”
“Yes.”
Do-hwa opened the file sent from Seolumi’s device to check its contents.
‘This… it’s almost identical to the map path the master drew yesterday.’
The map Seolumi sent had lines that looked like movement paths, similar to what Si-yoon had shown yesterday.
“This is the estimated movement path of ‘Trickster’ based on the report’s content and information. We’ll start our investigation from where we are standing now, following this line.”
The line Seolumi pointed out was a circular one following the outskirts of S City.
The two started tracing the trail left by the villain ‘Trickster’ along that line.
“Then, let’s head out.”
The two got into a compact car.
Seolumi, in the driver’s seat, started the engine by manipulating the gear and steering wheel.
– Vroom –
The vehicle began to move with a spirited engine roar.
“We’ll first move to the café where I encountered ‘Trickster’. It’ll take about 10 minutes to get there, so please study the map for the surrounding roads or building structures in advance.”
Seolumi continued to give one-sided instructions, much like a superior giving orders.
Do-hwa didn’t particularly like Seolumi’s attitude.
‘She’s not my boss or anything. She’s being really stiff.’
However, Do-hwa didn’t express any complaints or negative comments towards Seolumi.
If the mission they were currently undertaking together went awry, it would be difficult for her to fulfill her ‘true purpose’ of performing the task.
[Do-hwa: We’re moving to the café as the master predicted.]
Do-hwa was sending all the details from the meeting point given by Seolumi, the conversation, their current location, and the estimated time of arrival to Si-yoon.
[Master♥: Okay. I’ll be waiting.]
If Do-hwa and Seolumi had decided to track another executive first, the situation would have been different.
Fortunately, as Si-yoon predicted, they had chosen to track Trickster first.
His assumption that they would start with the easiest and quickest to track, Trickster, was correct.
Moreover, since the café’s location wasn’t far from their hideout, it was within a distance he could quickly reach if his prediction was right.
If not, Do-hwa would simply carry out the mission nonchalantly on her own, collecting information.
After driving for a little over 10 minutes, they arrived at the café on the outskirts of S City.
“We’re here.”
The café seemed to be operating normally with its lights on.
“If you see a woman with black hair and red eyes, I’ll immediately freeze and subdue her with my ability. Ignition, please check for any potential ambushes around.”
Following Seolumi’s instructions, Do-hwa got out of the vehicle first and casually surveyed the café’s surroundings.
Around the café, only the occasional passersby could be seen; there was nothing suspicious or anyone lying in ambush that caught her eye.
Except for a couple sitting at the bus stop next to the café.
[Master♥: I’m at the bus stop near the café with Ji-woo.]
[Do-hwa: Please come in after I’ve entered the café and made a call.]
Ji-woo, playing with a game console, and Si-yoon, looking at his phone, at the bus stop. Do-hwa glanced at them subtly while texting.
She then nodded to Seolumi, who was waiting for a signal through the car window, indicating it was safe to enter.
– Ding –
“Welcome.”
The small bell above the door rang clearly, accompanied by a greeting for the customers.
As Do-hwa and Seolumi turned towards the counter, they saw a woman with long black hair reaching past her waist to her hips and strikingly red eyes.
‘Surely… that woman seems to be Trickster.’
Just as Do-hwa was about to confirm the woman’s identity—
– Crashcrashcrashcrashcrash! –
Accompanied by a sharp, resonating sound within the café,
The woman presumed to be Trickster was instantly encased in a massive block of ice.
“Subjugation complete.”
Caught completely off guard, unable to speak or move, the villain ‘Trickster’ was subdued by Seolumi’s ability ‘Freeze’.
Or at least, it appeared she had been subdued.
– Sssssssshh –
“Hehehehehe…♥”
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