## Chapter 30 – The Identity of the Elusive Supernatural Power (2)
– Screeeeeeeeeechㅡ
“Hehehehe….”
Suddenly, a screeching sound filled the store with acrid smoke, and a woman’s eerie laughter faintly brushed against Dowa and Lumi’s ears.
“Keheuk! Keheuk! What’s going on!?”
“Keeuk…. Was this an ambush?”
The whitish smoke that had filled the café quickly began to dissipate through the windows and entrance, but the two coughed incessantly, likely due to the toxic nature of the smoke.
“I thought… I had subdued her quickly enough that she wouldn’t even be able to react.”
The instant before Chaeryeong’s eyes could properly register Lumi’s presence. Lumi had clearly confirmed that the ice tendrils had rapidly shot out and frozen her in that fleeting moment.
‘What happened?’
As the smoke cleared somewhat and her vision returned, Chaeryeong, who should have been trapped in the ice, was nowhere to be seen.
‘Among the abilities I predicted… is it an ability to use clones instead of teleportation?’
“Keheuk…! We need to get out of the café and chase after her, now!”
The time it took for the smoke to fill the store and then dissipate was only a few dozen seconds. Even if she had a getaway car prepared, she wouldn’t have been able to start it in that time.
Dowa, still coughing, insisted that they had to chase after her immediately, and quickly tried to run out of the café.
“Ahem… It’s alright.”
However, Lumi grabbed Dowa’s wrist as she tried to run outside.
“Huh? What do you mean! If we don’t chase after her now!”
“It’s alright. This is within the range of what I expected.”
Dowa was surprised by Lumi’s incomprehensible actions. But Lumi insisted it was expected and firmly held onto Dowa, who was trying to shake her off.
“I didn’t tell Ignition-nim, but I had other agents stationed nearby in advance. The smoke spread far enough outside… so probably by now.”
When Lumi visited the café a few days ago, she used a card with the Hero Alliance symbol on it to pay for her iced Americano.
Combining the tip-off with the information she had gathered, she suspected that this café was a hideout for the Dark Knights, and deliberately presented the card to test her.
Chaeryeong accepted the card and processed the payment with an indifferent reaction, but before doing so, she carefully examined the symbol for a few seconds.
When she saw the Hero Alliance symbol, which depicted a fist punching forward with force, an unpleasant emotion leaked from her kind eyes, which had been glowing red.
Having performed several undercover and infiltration missions, she had had many similar experiences, and her intuition told her that this was the correct answer.
– Ding-dongㅡ!
“Thankfully, it seems the agents have succeeded in apprehending her.”
The notification sound on Lumi’s device rang out, as if celebrating the success of the operation, echoing in the café where the smoke had neatly dissipated.
“Yes. Understood. The alley behind the café. I’ll head there immediately.”
After listening to the report call from the agent stationed around the café in advance, she put the device back in her pocket.
“Among the abilities I expected… it seems she has the ability to use clones.”
“How do you know that? You couldn’t see anything because of the smoke.”
Dowa, following Lumi as she quickly ran out of the café, questioned how she could be so sure that Chaeryeong was a clone user.
“The laughter we heard earlier. It came from a different direction than where the ice was. Even when the laughter was heard, her figure was clearly visible inside the ice.”
It was a short and simple explanation, but Lumi presented a logic that was easy to understand. Dowa immediately understood and nodded.
“This way! Hero-nim!”
The alley between the back of the café and another building was filled with men in black suits. And inside, Chaeryeong was seen with her arms bound by one of the men in black suits.
“Hehe… I’ve been caught.”
Chaeryeong was bound by ropes made of a special material, unable to move an inch, and waited quietly for Lumi and Dowa to arrive, wearing a resigned expression.
“We’ve restrained her so she can’t move. The transport vehicle will arrive in a few seconds.”
“I see. Thank you for your hard work.”
A neatly dressed agent and Lumi saluted each other and briefly conveyed the situation.
‘This is bad. Where on earth is Master…?’
Siyoon and Dowa, who she had told to enter the store following her signal, were not inside the store. Moreover, they had not appeared even though quite some time had passed since the operation began.
– Tap tapㅡ
“Huh?”
While the agents holding Chaeryeong and the two heroes were waiting for the transport vehicle, a hand emerged from among the agents and tapped Dowa on the shoulder.
When Dowa turned around, she saw a man with a sturdy and tall stature among the agents holding up a cell phone.
‘M-Master?!’
He looked the same as the agents wearing sunglasses and black suits, but the figure of the agent in Dowa’s eyes was definitely Siyoon.
He was holding up his cell phone and gesturing as if to say, “Take a look at your phone.”
Dowa took out her cell phone from her pocket and checked the message.
[ Master♥ : Operation successful. Rest assured. ]
‘Operation successful…?’
The message from Siyoon contained only two words.
His Corrupted Slave, Dowa, absolutely trusted and followed Siyoon’s words, but even so, it was difficult to understand how he had done it.
‘Something… he must have taken some kind of measure.’
But if he sent a message with such confidence, she thought it must have great significance and kept her mouth shut and waited.
“The transport vehicle has arrived.”
One of the agents who had run from outside the alley. Reported to Lumi that the transport vehicle had arrived.
“Understood. Transport her.”
“Yes!!!”
Following Lumi’s instructions, the agents holding Chaeryeong moved in unison, restraining Chaeryeong so that she could not escape.
“I can’t possibly win against you heroes…”
She even said words that seemed to give up on everything, as if she was helpless, and she was being transported far too easily for a villain in a high-ranking position.
To think that a special-class villain who had been elusively on the run for days would be caught so easily.
Dowa felt a sense of unease at the sight of her being subdued so simply that it was truly strange.
“Hehehehe…”
Chaeryeong, who had been walking towards the transport vehicle on her own feet, suddenly stopped in her tracks and sneered at the agents holding her.
“You only use such foolish and simple methods…
That’s why I can’t possibly win against you, you see? Hehe.”
– Bangㅡ!
“Wh-what!?”
“Where did she go!”
Chaeryeong disappeared in the blink of an eye, along with a bang. Leaving only the tightly tied rope knots on the ground, she vanished without a trace.
“Quick, search the area! She couldn’t have run far!”
“Catch her! Find her quickly!!”
The flustered agents hurriedly ran out to the surrounding area to search for Chaeryeong.
“Tsk…!”
Lumi bit her lip tightly and clicked her tongue.
Regret over the fact that the operation had failed.
And self-reproach for having thought of the special-class villain too easily.
She had been calm without any emotional changes even during the sudden attack, but even she could not hide her feelings of anger and self-reproach at times like this.
‘I definitely noticed that it was a clone ability… why?
Could it be that she can create multiple clones… or is she switching places?’
As if trying to punish herself for having made a hasty judgment and being so sure that it was a simple ability, blood was about to burst from her tightly bitten lips.
– Thud thud thudㅡ!
“It seems she has escaped. There is no one who looks like her in the vicinity.”
“We have no excuse.”
The agents, who had failed to find the escaped Chaeryeong, blamed themselves and lowered their heads, saying they had no excuse to Lumi.
“No. It is my misjudgment for having thought of her as too easy an opponent.”
However, Lumi wiped away the blood that was seeping from her lips and, on the contrary, lowered her head, blaming herself for this incident.
“Quickly contact the agents stationed where she was discovered.”
“Yes!”
She gave instructions to quickly relay the information to the agents dispatched to the area where she was sighted, and the two of them went out to the front of the café and got into the car they had come in.
“I’m sorry. I think I thought too easily.”
“No! It’s always the case that things get complicated and difficult because of abilities.”
Some people live their whole lives without realizing that they are ability users, and some people’s lives change drastically because of their abilities as soon as they are born.
The theory that it is impossible to even guess what an ability is, is the mainstream opinion of those who have been studying abilities for decades.
“For now, there is no way to chase after her.
Until there are additional reports from the agents or instructions from above… we will temporarily suspend the operation.”
