The Cop Is Too Strong [EN]: Chapter 108

108. Corn Harvest

Bangakoba tilted his head, thinking he had misheard.

“Huh?”

At the same time, a small, white hand swung toward his face.

However, Bangakoba didn’t move.

What pain could he possibly feel from a woman’s slap, especially from such a slender woman whose wrist looked like it could snap with the slightest pressure from chopsticks?

That was the complacent thought that kept him from dodging what he could have easily avoided.

Thwack!

A dull sound, not what one would expect from a slap, and Bangakoba’s head snapped to the side.

This wasn’t a slap. It was more like she had used an open hand but struck him sideways across the jaw with the hard, bony part of the lower palm.

Thanks to that, his vision went black for a moment, and he felt his brain rattle.

“You son of a bitch!!”

Bangakoba, embarrassed and flustered that he had nearly crossed the River Jordan [a euphemism for dying] from a slap by a slender woman, cursed and jumped to his feet.

Standing well over 180cm, he looked down at Haru, who, though not short, had to look up at him.

Her eyes sparkled, innocent and childlike.

“Hi, nice to meet you.”

She waved at him with a blank expression, as if nothing had happened. Her reddened hand looked quite adorable.

Bangakoba raised a hand as big as a pot lid to strike her, but paused and looked around.

Numerous eyes were on him. Not just the guild members, but also other customers in the restaurant, and even the owner.

Some looked at him with disgust, others with surprise and shock, as if asking if he was really going to hit her.

He awkwardly raised one corner of his mouth and waved back at Haru.

“Yeah, yeah, nice to meet you too. You have a very enthusiastic greeting.”

He sat down, still rubbing his throbbing jaw.

Haru walked around the table, took the seat opposite him, and replied.

“Just getting started. If I don’t like something, I’ll beat you to a pulp.”

“Ha, ha, hahaha!”

“Wow, Haru-nim [term of respect], Haru is so funny!”

“That’s hilarious.”

“So pretty!”

“I love you!”

“Huh?”

The guild members were now properly welcoming Haru, with several men jumping up to make a main seat for her.

It was next to Janggeum, who had originally occupied the main spot as the last to arrive.

“Ah, it’s a bit cramped here, oh, uh, Haru-ssi [polite title] might be uncomfortable…”

“I’m fine. A player doesn’t blame their equipment.”

“Uh, huh?”

“Does that even make sense right now?”

Haru, just blurting out whatever came to mind, sat down and picked up her chopsticks. Just like she had said in the game, there was a lot of delicious food.

Nom nom [onomatopoeia for eating].

Seeing Haru pick up her chopsticks and start eating without any proper introduction, the others chuckled.

“Haru eats well, eat as much as you want, try this too.”

“Haru, order whatever else you want to eat, here’s the menu.”

“No need, I’ll eat everything first. The thing I hate most is wasting food.”

Janggeum, despite dressing up to the nines, felt overshadowed by Haru, who looked like she had just popped out for a casual stroll around the neighborhood, and felt uncomfortable just sitting next to her.

But the men, no longer interested in her feelings, showered Haru with attention.

“Wow… seriously, Haru was a woman.”

“But then why did she hide her gender?”

Haru popped a takoyaki [Japanese snack] into her mouth and replied, cheeks full.

“Didn’t hide it.”

Wangsimni70 narrowed his eyes at Haru’s words.

“Right… did Haru ever mention their gender?”

“Wow, really, never.”

“We just assumed he was a man, a real man.”

“Seriously, so creepy. Now that I think about it, Janggeum, you never got a response when you called him ‘oppa’ [term for older brother used by females]! That’s why you were a little sulky, thinking Haru-oppa was ignoring only you, hahaha.”

“When did I ever do that? Eat this.”

“Okay, thanks.”

Janggeum fed Taea-gun a piece of chicken. Taea-gun just grinned happily and chewed on it.

Wangsimni70 looked at Haru, held up two fingers, then changed to three, and said.

“You only mentioned your age, right? Twenty-three, right?”

“You have a good memory.”

“You probably just ignored it, assuming I was a guy.”

Dokhaengnama laughed awkwardly, his thoughts exposed, and avoided eye contact.

Even dressed casually, Haru’s appearance rivaled that of a celebrity, drawing attention from other tables as well, with all eyes focused on her.

Haru, overwhelmed by the flood of questions, raised her chopsticks and crossed them in an X to block them.

“Stop. I’ll answer questions about the game after I’ve eaten everything.”

“Ah, okay, okay, you must be hungry, eat this too.”

“Wow, but Haru’s 말투 [manner of speaking] is exactly the same as in the game.”

Dokhaengnama looked at Haru with adoring eyes, and Janggeum retorted with a sneer.

“What? That otaku [geeky] 말투? That’s why I thought Haru oppa, no, Haru unnie [term for older sister used by females], would be wearing glasses, be chubby, and wear a plaid shirt.”

“Huh? Didn’t you say he would be handsome?”

“Me? When?”

“Wasn’t it? Anyway… I didn’t think that far, but anyway, it’s a twist, that you’re a woman, and…”

“And what?”

Janggeum narrowed her eyes and glared, and Dokhaengnama interpreted it as jealousy towards him and laughed awkwardly.

“Huh? Ah, no, well, our guild is great! The best!”

“Tch….”

Janggeum pouted, unable to play her usual queen bee role.

At that moment, Haru was eating takoyaki when some sauce dripped.

Thud-

The sauce landed on her chest. The men were as upset as if it had happened to them.

“Oh no, what to do! And she’s wearing a white hoodie of all things!”

“Wow, first time I’m jealous of sauce…”

“Excuse me! Can we get some wet wipes here!”

“It’s okay.”

Haru wiped it off roughly with a tissue and focused on eating again.

Then, as fate would have it, Janggeum, who was biting into a piece of garlic chicken, also dropped some sauce. It landed on her skirt instead of her chest.

“Ah… shit.”

“Pfft, heh.”

“Janggeum, are you okay? Why did it fall on you too, but…”

“Can you shut up?”

Janggeum’s mood soured when she was compared to Haru, especially about their chests. She went silent, and the man who had joked about comparing chests shrunk back.

Then, something was suddenly held out in front of Janggeum. A wet wipe. Haru, without using the wet wipe she had received from another man, handed it to Janggeum.

Janggeum was taken aback by the unexpected kindness.

“Y, you need to use this too, unnie.”

“I don’t need it.”

“Ah, yes… thank you.”

Janggeum took it and wiped the sauce off her skirt.

Haru watched her quietly and then tossed out a comment.

“Sorry for not answering when you called me.”

“Huh? Ah, no, it’s okay… I really thought you hated me…”

Janggeum wasn’t usually the type to shrink back like this, but for some reason, she felt intimidated in front of Haru.

Perhaps it was because of her intense first impression of slapping Bangakoba, who looked like a gangster, or perhaps it was because of her overwhelming visuals.

“I like Janggeum, she heals well.”

Then, for a fleeting moment, she very slightly raised one corner of her mouth. She, who had maintained a completely expressionless face like a doll until now, showed something like a smile only to Janggeum.

“Ah, ah… okay.”

‘What, why is she so cool?’

After that, Janggeum didn’t feel uncomfortable because of Haru, but rather, she was bothered by her and kept glancing at her face.

After a while, as the atmosphere warmed up and the attention towards Haru gradually dissipated, Bangakoba, who had been stroking his chin and watching her intently from across the table, held out his glass.

“Hey, Haru, I took a hit for you, so pour me a drink.”

The atmosphere around them instantly turned cold at his words. Haru looked at him with her signature blank expression.

He made eye contact with Haru with a greasy look and smirked.

“The best taste is when a woman pours the drink.”

Haru nodded.

“I’ll pour it for you, so chug it in one shot.”

“Haha, your way of showing interest is intense, I see. Alright, pour it quickly, respectfully.”

Haru picked up a beer bottle and a soju [Korean distilled beverage] bottle from the corner and poured them into his glass. Very full.

Bangakoba chuckled, as if her provocation was cute, and emptied his glass right away.

“Kkeueu, you drink too.”

Then, he mixed soju and beer in the same way and filled Haru’s glass.

“Hey, hey Koba, what are you doing? That’s too…”

“Koba-hyung [term for older brother used by males], this is a bit much, what if Haru doesn’t come to the next meetup?”

At that moment, Haru raised her hand, showing her palm, and stopped them. Then, she immediately picked up her glass and chugged it in one shot.

“Hoo, now you.”

“Hehe, so you want to try, I’ll take responsibility if you fall.”

At Bangakoba’s words, Haru suddenly picked up a chopstick and said softly.

“If you say that one more time, I’ll pierce your tongue with this.”

“Keup, keu, ah, so funny, ah, so cute, so cute, pour it!”

Haru didn’t refuse and poured somaek [soju and beer mix] into his glass again. The meetup soon became focused on the drinking match between Haru and Bangakoba.

Some time later, on the way to a pub for the second round.

Bangakoba was staggering along, arm in arm with a man.

“Hey! Do you know who I am! Huh!”

“Hyung, hyung, stop yelling. We’ll get reported like this.”

“Report? Report, you son of a bitch!! Try reporting me, you bastards! You’ll be dead if you report me!”

The others distanced themselves from him, embarrassed.

“Ha, seriously, does that hyung always act like that? Can’t even kick him out, seriously.”

“Always? He’s worse today, ugh, seriously… I’m putting up with it because of them.”

They quickly grinned as they looked at the backs of Janggeum and Haru walking side by side in front.

“…So, I’m a? Princess and… ah, wait a minute, eup, eup, uwaaack!”

“Ugh, seriously, he’s doing everything.”

“I know, he should have stopped at a reasonable amount…”

Bangakoba, having reconfirmed the snacks he had eaten, seemed to sober up a bit, and after walking a bit, he stroked his jaw. His gaze was fixed on Haru’s back.

“Ugh, shit, it still hurts when I open my mouth, hey, Haru, hey you bitch, I can’t let this go, come here.”

At Bangakoba’s words, Haru turned around as if she had been waiting for it.

“Is it finally time to knock out his teeth?”

“What? What did you say.”

“No, why.”

“I’m going to, ah, ah, ugh… I can’t even hit this tiny little bitch, I’m so upset that I got hit, I need to get proper compensation.”

He smiled crookedly, and his hand reached towards Haru’s chest.

“It needs to be this much to make it worth it, right?”

Haru moved only her left foot back and dodged slightly. His hand cut through the air.

“If that touched me just now, it’s up to 3 years in prison or up to 30 million won in fines.”

“Wh, what are you saying? Are you a cop?”

“The landlord-nim [term of respect] is a detective.”

Bangakoba paused at the word detective. He remembered all the times he had teased and cursed whenever Haru mentioned the landlord-nim. He sobered up quickly and felt the gazes of other people around him.

Everyone was laughing at him.

He felt wronged and ashamed, and in a fit of anger, he swung his hand.

“You flirted with me first! You bitch!”

In that instant, Haru’s eyes quickly assessed the surrounding situation. There were many eyes watching, and the CCTV cameras were in good positions. The black box in the car parked diagonally was also turned on.

Thwack-!

Haru was hit by Bangakoba’s hand as big as a pot lid and flew back about 2 meters, collapsing.

Bangakoba was flustered at the sight and raised his hand to look at it.

‘D, did I hit her that hard?’

“Kyaaak!”

“Wh, what are you doing!”

“You crazy bastard!!”

The people who had been slightly backing away screamed.

Haru covered her reddened cheek and got up, muttering softly, just loud enough for them to hear.

Showing her lip movements in detail so there could be no mistake.

“Self-defense starts now.”

Then, before anyone could stop her, Haru rushed at him menacingly.

He remembered when he was slapped by Haru and instinctively reached out to block her.

Thud Crunch-

Haru grabbed Bangakoba’s middle and ring fingers, twisted them, passed through his armpit, and positioned herself behind him.

Then, she kicked the back of his knee with her toe.

Pak!

His knee buckled weakly, and he knelt on one knee. At the same time, the other back of his knee was kicked.

Thud-

Bangakoba soon found himself kneeling on both knees. While he was still trying to figure out what had happened, Haru twisted two more of his fingers.

Crack-

“Kkyaaaaak!!”

He threw his head back and screamed into the sky. A sad echo reverberated through the quiet night streets.

At that timing, Haru struck his collarbone with a hand strike.

Pak!

“Keuheok!”

As he grabbed his neck with his hand, writhing in pain, Haru stood next to him and stretched out her long leg.

Bbaak!

Her foot landed accurately on Bangakoba’s jaw.

Kuuung-

Bangakoba’s eyes glazed over, and he collapsed on the spot.

Thud

From his slightly open mouth, a few white things like 공깃돌 [gonggitdol, Korean jacks] flowed out mixed with blood. Haru looked down at it and opened her mouth.

“I told you to wear a mouth guard.”

A deadly silence fell over the scene.