The Cop Is Too Strong [EN]: Chapter 165

166. Pull-Up

“Hmm.”

Thud, thud, squawk.

Seo-eun suddenly remembered an article about a student who ran away from home after dropping an expensive in-game item his father had bought him.

Since a unique item with a +9 enhancement was quite valuable, she quickly grabbed the slime before it could digest the item and claimed it for herself.

She tried to whisper to return it, but:

[The other party does not exist.]

Captain Gak had immediately logged out of the game.

“Did he get shocked…?”

Seo-eun felt a bit uneasy, but decided to return it later. She picked up her phone.

“Hey, Haru, are you busy?”

-I’m not busy. Did you level up a lot today?

“Yes, I’m leveling up in the hunting ground you told me about, and it’s definitely faster. Oh, and today I killed Captain Gak and made him drop an item. It’s a unique weapon, a +9 enhancement.”

-You can sell that and use the money for potions.

“Well, I think he cherishes it, so I’m going to return it.”

-It’s okay. That person is an uncle. I heard he’s in his 40s. He’ll just buy it again with his salary. He’ll be back soon, so level up a lot.

“Oh, really? I understand. I’ll wait for us to team up together like before.”

-Yes.

Seo-eun hung up the phone and immediately listed the +9 Sword of Despair on the trading center at the lowest price.

* * *

In front of a convenience store near Jung Young-soo’s house.

Young-soo was sitting across from a woman wearing a hat pulled down low.

“…So, to summarize what Goddess Noona [older sister or female friend] needs, it’s 10 ultra-small push-charge GPS devices, 10 of the same type of bugging devices, and 4 sturdy three-section batons? Are you an intelligence agent, Noona? Are you going to war? And besides all that, why are you asking me for these things?”

At his words, the woman in front of him, Haru, took a sip of banana milk and said,

“I don’t know many people. Ahn Seo-eun would probably pry for the reason, and Savior would tell Hae-soo everything. Young-soo, you’re good with computers, know a lot, and are… convenient.”

“Ah… I guess I make people feel comfortable, haha, ah, and Noona, please speak casually. I’m your younger brother.”

Young-soo didn’t fully understand the situation because he didn’t know Haru’s circumstances, but he felt good to be praised.

“Okay.”

“You’re so cool. Anyway, I’ll look for them. I’ve heard about things like that before… But Noona, why did you quit being a police officer?”

“Well, I….”

Young-soo took out his tablet and searched for the equipment Haru needed while listening to her story.

Haru told Young-soo a slightly edited version of the truth.

She said she was getting the equipment to secretly help Hae-soo and that she was looking for a job that gave her more free time than being a police officer.

“Hmm… How much money have you saved up so far?”

“9 million won [approximately $7,000 USD]. I need to earn money so I don’t cause trouble for Hae-soo. Do you have any job recommendations, Young-soo?”

Young-soo stroked his chin and couldn’t answer right away.

“A job that doesn’t tie you down to time and earns you a decent amount of money… I don’t know. Let’s look for it slowly. There’s nothing you can’t find on the internet these days.”

“Hmm….”

Haru felt that she had come to the right person, seeing the confidence in Jung Young-soo.

Ding-dong.

At that moment, an alert sounded. Young-soo immediately checked his tablet.

“Oh, a reply came. That was fast. He says he has the items. Let’s go pick them up.”

“Pick them up?”

“Yes, these kinds of items are usually traded directly. You receive them in person and hand over the cash.”

Haru nodded in agreement.

“Okay, have a good trip.”

“Yes? Ah, Noona, you have to come with me. There are a lot of rough people there, so you have to protect me. I don’t go to places like that in the first place. I’m a homebody.”

Young-soo hadn’t forgotten the time when the delicate Haru in front of him had subdued his delinquent friends with just one phone call.

That scene was deeply etched in his mind like a memorable scene from a movie.

“Then let’s go.”

As Haru got up, Young-soo excitedly followed behind her.

* * *

A large electronics market building famous in Chungnam Province.

Going up to the 3rd floor, which sold electronic device supplies, there was a long corridor, and small offices were lined up on both sides along the corridor.

For some reason, Haru entrusted Young-soo with a wad of cash, and Young-soo walked down that corridor, hugging nearly 2 million won [approximately $1,500 USD] in cash tightly in his arms.

He was grinning at the thought of being trusted by her, but of course, Haru just didn’t like having her hands encumbered.

“Ugh, to think I’d come to this place I’ve only heard about… It’s so scary.”

“Is it that dangerous of a place…?”

Haru fiddled with the three-section baton at her waist.

As the two walked down the corridor, men with fierce expressions peeked their faces out from the front of the stores.

Even though she was wearing a hat and a mask, the men were captivated by her beauty that couldn’t be hidden.

“Whew~”

“Oh! She’s hot!”

“Miss, what are you looking for? We have everything, so come this way.”

A man with a long mustache approached and asked. Young-soo only smiled and showed his palm to refuse.

“Ah, we have somewhere to go.”

“Come here, we’re cheaper than wherever you’re going, no matter what.”

However, the man ignored Young-soo and grabbed Haru’s wrist and pulled.

A rude act that would only happen in a local nightclub was being carried out as if it were natural here.

As Young-soo was flustered and looked around, Haru, who had been suddenly dragged two steps due to the man’s size and brute force, suddenly swung her arm around and twisted his arm in reverse, took out a flathead screwdriver displayed outside the store, and held it to his eye.

It was less than 1 centimeter away. If he closed his eyes, his eyelids would touch the end of the screwdriver.

The man’s body froze in fear of the flathead screwdriver that was about to stab his eye, rather than realizing what had happened.

At that moment, he heard her voice, which felt colder than an ice pack.

“Shall I gouge out your eyeballs? You have two, so you can live without one.”

Her cold eyes, her chilling voice, the murderous intent emanating from her.

The man momentarily saw a vision of that flathead screwdriver ruthlessly gouging out his eyeballs and his eyeballs being pulled out.

‘T, this woman is for real.’

He was so frightened that his legs gave way and he knelt down.

“I, I, I’m sorry! P, please spare me!”

The man quickly changed his attitude and begged. He could see the conflict in her eyes as she looked at him.

‘Shall I gouge out his eyeballs, or not.’

The thought seemed to be visible in words, and his body trembled in terror, and the middle of his jeans got slightly wet.

Haru stared at him for a moment, then turned her head and pointed somewhere with her index finger.

“If anyone touches even the hem of my clothes while I go to the end of there, I’ll gouge out your eyeballs. Got it?”

“Yes, yes, yes, I understand!”

Only after confirming the man’s fearful eyes did Haru hand the screwdriver back to him and move on.

Young-soo followed Haru, giving her a thumbs up.

“Wow, Noona, your charisma was amazing. How did you think of such a brutal threat? I almost peed myself just being next to you-”

“It’s not a threat.”

“Yes? What does that….”

Young-soo belatedly realized the hidden meaning in her words and felt a chill down his spine.

The man followed Haru and Young-soo with his jeans wet in the middle, a few steps away so as not to get in their way.

When they were about halfway there, another man who hadn’t seen the previous situation tried to approach her.

“Hey, miss, come here for a sec….”

“Uwaaaak! You bastard!”

“Wh, what!”

The man who had been following desperately ran and tackled him, stopping him. Haru nodded as if satisfied with the sight.

It’s fortunate that these people understand what you mean without having to see blood.

They arrived at their destination, an office with a closed door at the very end. The number 330 was written on the door.

Young-soo knocked on the iron door.

Tung, tung, tung-

“I made a reservation.”

-Reservation number.

“One-three-nine-seven.”

Click.

The door opened as he spoke the password he had heard in advance, and a middle-aged man wearing glasses and very short appeared. His hair was gray, and he looked at least sixty years old.

“The money.”

As Young-soo handed over the money envelope, he quickly snatched it away. Then, he took out the money and counted it in front of them, and handed over a black plastic bag that was in the corner.

“Take it.”

Young-soo also took out 10 GPS trackers and 10 bugging devices from the bag, checked the number, and even connected them to his phone to see if they worked.

They were really only half the size of a pinky fingernail.

As he packed them up and got up, the middle-aged man, who was counting the money again, said as if throwing it away.

“If you get caught using that for bad deeds, you’ll die.”

At his words, Haru’s eyes turned sharp for a moment. Young-soo pushed her back and forced a smile.

“Yes, of course, haha, thank you for your hard work. Let’s go. Let’s go, Noona.”

* * *

On the way back home.

Jung Young-soo suddenly thought of the middle-aged man’s words and asked Haru.

“We’re using it for Shin-hyung [older brother figure], so it’s not a bad thing, right?”

Haru pondered the middle-aged man’s words for a moment without answering, then narrowed her brows and said,

“Even if I use it for bad deeds, that old man can’t kill me.”

“Ah, yes….”

Young-soo thought to himself. She’s a much scarier Noona than I thought.

The place where the two were walking was a car-free street, with clothing stores, arcades, and cafes lining up.

The floor was also paved with orange tiles, making it a safe street that prohibited car entry.

Young-soo, who was walking quietly, looked at one corner of the street.

Small events were occasionally held at that intersection, and today, there were people gathered there and it was noisy, as if there was some kind of event.

“Looks like they’re doing something again, let’s hurry….”

Young-soo tried to avoid the people in the corner and pass by, but he saw Haru’s face.

Her eyes were fixed on that place, and her pupils were the most sparkling he had seen all day.

Young-soo chuckled and turned his toes.

“Noona, shall we go see what they’re doing?”

“Hmm.”

Haru reluctantly pretended to resist but was led there by Young-soo.

There, a man with a muscular body was holding a microphone, and behind him, a pull-up exercise machine was installed.

In front of it, a cardboard box read ‘1,000 won per rep [repetition].’

“Okay, who else wants to try! This Seoks is ready to get robbed! Women get double! Aigoo, I want my pockets emptied!”

He was a YouTuber popular for his exercise content.

Haru, who was experiencing this kind of everyday event for the first time, watched it with sparkling eyes.

Since pull-ups were a particularly favorite exercise, even the sight of other people challenging and receiving money was so interesting.

“Okay! Twenty-one reps! Our high-level hyungs [older brothers or male friends], let’s challenge a little later, okay? This time let’s have our health-girl try. Uh!”

At that moment, the YouTuber discovered Haru, who was hidden in the crowd.

Even though she was wearing a hat pulled down low, a mask, and covering her body with clothes, he recognized at a glance that she was no ordinary beauty just by looking at her slightly exposed eyes.

“You wearing the hat over there? The one turning around, you, yes, would you like to come out for a moment?”

A pretty woman is an absolute factor that always increases views, whether she is good at exercising or not.

Haru was flustered when people’s attention was focused on her and shook her head.

“Ah, our health-girl is shy, I fully understand. But… still! With an option! If you succeed in 5 or more reps, I’ll give you 4 times the amount per rep, 4 times! How about it!”

Haru thought for a moment, recalling how many pull-ups she could do. She thought it would be okay as a side job now that she had quit her job and nodded.

“Yes.”

“Wow! As expected, even this shy health-girl is moved by the taste of capitalism! Please come out!”

As Haru stood in front of the pull-up machine and loosened her wrists, the host said with regret.

“Wearing a mask? A lot of men here look like they’re about to lose their eyeballs, please show us just once~!”

Haru looked around, following the host’s hand, and shook her head.

“You can’t? Ah, I understand. Then, shall we start? Warm-up?”

“I’ll do it right away.”

“Oh, full of spirit! I understand. Start!”

Haru immediately hung on the bar and started doing pull-ups without taking off her coat.

The people who were standing around watching opened their mouths wide.

“One! Oh, what’s that form! I’ve never seen anything like this… Two! Wow! It’s the first time I’ve seen a woman doing perfect pull-ups! I’m getting excited? Three!”

“Oooooo!”

“Waaaaa!”

“She’s pretty!”

The number of people gradually increasing began to cheer at the rare scene.

“She’ll fill five reps soon… Five! She passed five reps, five! Six! Seven!~ Yeol [ten]!!! Again, again? Y, eleven!”

“Wow, crazy!!”

“She’s the best!”

“Tear it up, tear it up!”

“Seoks’ pockets are all emptied!”

The cheers of the spectators counting the numbers together from when she passed ten only grew louder and louder.

Even amidst such a commotion, Haru continued steadfastly, and only the YouTuber Seoks’ complexion was dark.