Chapter 77

Chapter 77

I Became the Academy Mafia Chapter 77Hearing Se-ah say that she'd been taken to the police station made me suspicious.

“The police station? What reason would you have to go there──”[That's what I'm saying! They said some villains teleported into our neighborhood... and that I was the only one without an alibi at the time... sob! They say they have evidence too...]

Wait, villains teleported?

“Se-ah. What neighborhood do you live in?”[Huh? Uh, um... Bu-Bucheon.]

Slowly, the pieces were coming together.

“What time do the police think you committed the crime?”[They said four days ago! But I was at home then! Really...]

“I believe you.”[What?]

“I trust you absolutely, so don't worry too much.”

Because it seemed this incident was connected to me as well.

“So tell me which police station you're at. I'll come right away.”[Ah, yes, yes! This is... the Gyeonggi Southern Awakened Police Headquarters!]

Looking at the map, it was close enough to reach quickly by helicopter.

“I'll be there within ten minutes. From now on, if the police say anything to you, tell them you're exercising your right to remain silent and keep your mouth shut.”[Okay...!]

After hanging up, I called another number to resolve this situation.

The organization's legal advisor, and one of Calione's highest-ranking authorities who specialized in matters like this.

“Consiglière? It's Eugene.”

Calione's Consiglière.

It was time to ask him for help.

_______________

Gyeonggi Southern Awakened Police Headquarters.

As the name suggested, it was an organization with independent investigative authority over Awakened-related incidents occurring in southern Gyeonggi Province, effectively a police headquarters made up of Awakened.

However, it was still a government institution of the Republic of Korea and an organization operating under the law.

In the end, they too had to act within the framework of the law... but if what Se-ah said was true, there was something suspicious about this.

“They have evidence and a witness... so they were setting this up from the start.”

If my guess was right, Se-ah's arrest was probably related to the villains caught in Gunsan illegally entering Korea.

And if my guess was right, there was only one person capable of smuggling them into Korea.

Elusive.

A member of the Villain Alliance whom I'd killed with Kwak Chun-sik not long ago, and the person responsible for smuggling the villains into Korea.

Yet for some reason, the one named as the suspect wasn't him, but Se-ah.

Judging by the fact that someone had even gone so far as to fabricate a setup, it seemed another group was openly trying to frame her.

If so, there was a high probability they were connected to the Villain Alliance.

That gave me a reason to go all out to rescue Se-ah and crush them.

“Young Master. We've arrived.”

Han Seo-jun stopped the car and spoke.

“What about the others?”

“They say they'll be here shortly.”

“Understood. I'll go in first.”

The place where Se-ah was being held was the [Awakened Illegal Entry Division].

I immediately ran there, opened the door, and entered.

A man near the entrance sprang to his feet and asked me.

“What brings you here?”

Ignoring him, I scanned the surroundings and quickly checked where Se-ah was.

“You really aren't going to talk? If you're not the culprit, at least say something. Hm?”

“...”

“Good grief, the world's gone to hell. A Seoul Hero Academy student helps illegal entrants, and now she's even denying the crime? What a joke.”──Found her.

I immediately ran over and placed a hand on Se-ah's shoulder as she trembled while keeping her mouth tightly shut, just as I'd told her.

“Calm down. I'm here.”

“E-Eugene...!”

At my appearance, the man who looked like a detective stared at me unpleasantly.

“And who are you?”

“Her guardian.”

After confidently identifying myself, I sat down in the empty chair beside Se-ah and looked at him.

“Affiliation.”

“Pardon?”

“I said give me your affiliation and name. You dragged a child out of her home in handcuffs, so you should at least have an arrest warrant.”

Saying that, I glanced at Se-ah's wrists.

Silver bracelets were fastened around both of them.

They were clearly the same kind of ‘Anti-

Awakened Suppressor’ I'd received from old man Kwak Chun-sik.

“What? Arrest warrant? Ha! Don't you know spatial mages at risk of fleeing can be arrested without a warrant?”

“That law only applies to Awakened engaged in hero activity. It shouldn't apply to Academy students.”

“What? How the hell do you──”

Saying that, I grabbed Se-ah's wrist and raised it.

“──Take this off immediately.”

The man flinched at my words.

But soon, conscious of the surrounding detectives turning their gazes toward us, he chuckled and held up a sheet of paper from the desk toward me.

“Here's the arrest warrant. Satisfied?”

I checked the paper.

It was definitely an arrest warrant.

He looked smug, but.

‘Now I'm certain.’

Thanks to this, I was actually convinced of roughly how the picture had been drawn.

“An arrest warrant was issued for an Academy student whose identity is verified, who is a first-time offender, has family, and has little risk of fleeing?...

Looks like you've got someone above you.”

When I muttered in disbelief, he slammed his desk with a bang!

The steel desk dented beneath his palm.

“If you're going to make baseless accusations like that, leave immediately. We're following the law.”

“Following the law? This?”

At my words, he clenched his fist hard enough to make it creak.

“Listen. Do you even understand the situation? Villains who escaped from Niflheim were smuggled into Bucheon. By a spatial ability user! Every spatial mage in Bucheon at the time had an alibi except that girl. Do you still not understand after hearing all that?”

Spatial mages required that level of management.

If they wanted, they could be abused not only for smuggling goods but also for smuggling people across borders.

More than anything, if they used their abilities to keep fleeing, there was practically no way to catch them.

Elusive, whom I'd caught not long ago, was the perfect example.

His combat ability hadn't been particularly high.

No, you could even call him weak.

Yet just because he was a spatial mage, hadn't he caused an uproar throughout the Republic of Korea?

“You think that's all? When we went to arrest her, her mana was completely empty. She was practically on the verge of exhaustion. Just what would a spatial mage have to do to use enough mana to reach mana exhaustion? The answer's obvious, isn't it? Hm?”

That was why he was so certain.

At the time, every registered spatial mage had a scheduled activity, and among them, Se-ah alone had no alibi.

Even at the time of her arrest, her mana was completely depleted.

It was truly laughable.

“A first-year Academy student smuggled villains in from overseas? You seriously think that makes sense?”

“...

What?”

“She doesn't even have enough mana to teleport from home to the Academy, so she always arrives at the Academy earlier than anyone else. And you're saying a kid like that smuggled villains into the country... Ha! Even ghosts would laugh at that. If a first-year Academy student had that level of ability, guilds all over the world would be fighting over her.”

“Most illegal entry happens by sea. Even she should be capable of moving someone from the coast to inland.”

“Do you have evidence?”

In the end, the only thing they were claiming was this.

Se-ah was the only one without an alibi at the time.

But that was nothing more than circumstantial suspicion.

“You arrested her without definitive evidence, put a suppressor on her, then threatened and led her during questioning. Truly an impressive institution.”

-Clap clap clap clap.

When I sarcastically applauded in his face, his hands began trembling.

But perhaps because of his position, he seemed to control his anger, took a deep breath, then opened his mouth toward me and Se-ah.

“Evidence? Of course we have evidence. But even if you're her guardian, we can't just show evidence however we please. This case has a proper arrest warrant and is currently under investigation by our ‘Awakened Police Headquarters.’ Yet you come in here and obstruct the investigation however you like? You do know that what you're doing right now is enough to get you arrested too, don't you?”

A hollow laugh escaped me at the sight of him directly threatening me now.

“Ha! So now you're threatening me? Fine, very good. Threats are extremely effective weapons when used against people weaker than yourself.”

“...

What?”

If this was how they were going to act, then I had no choice but to move exactly as I'd planned.

“More importantly, when she asked to make one phone call, I thought she'd hire a lawyer, but instead she brought some strange friend. Are you really planning not to hire a lawyer? You know that if you don't hire one, a public defender will automatically be assigned, right?”

Even then, he began talking about her right to appoint legal counsel, apparently insisting on pretending he was following the law.

“Wh-what? A lawyer? But a lawyer...”

“Ah, you don't need to worry about that. I already hired one. A lawyer.”

“...

What?”

“...

What?”

At my words that I'd already hired a lawyer, both of them looked at me at the same time.

“Y-you hired a lawyer for me?”

“You hired a lawyer? You?”

Why were they so surprised?

“Of course. She's an important member of our Familia, and my friend.”

“...

Friend.”

The detective watching us from in front snorted.

“Ha, even if you hired one, how impressive could that lawyer possibly be? We have evidence and a witness already. You think hiring a lawyer is going to change anything? Brats.”

“Yeah. It'll change things.”

When I answered with absolute certainty, he frowned as though asking what he'd just heard.

“What?”

“Didn't you just say it yourself? You're following the law.”

As though it were obvious.

I declared.

“Then we'll deal with you your way too. With the law.”

At the same time as my declaration, the investigation room door burst open.

Men in black suits poured into the room and began standing behind me, and a middle-aged man who seemed to represent them took out what looked like a business card and handed it to the detective.

“I am Han Gwang-gi, head of the legal team from Dike Law Firm. From now on, our legal team will be handling Ms. Kim Se-ah's defense, so you may discuss the details with me.”

“Huh? I...”

“From what I found, the arrest warrant was issued under Prosecutor Han Chang-wook's name, but there still isn't a detention warrant. You are aware that if a detention warrant does not arrive within forty-eight hours, you can no longer hold her, correct?”

“Ah... well...”

“In that case, until a detention warrant arrives or the forty-eight hours expire, our legal team will remain beside our client. If that makes you uncomfortable, you may end today's questioning here and request her attendance another time.”

Dike.

One of the major law firms in the Republic of Korea.

The moment they declared that they would remain beside their client for the full two days, whatever plan the other side had prepared had already become meaningless.

They had probably targeted Se-ah precisely because they never imagined someone was standing behind her.

“W-wait, I'll step out to make a call.”

“Take all the time you need.”

The detective stepped away for a moment.

Se-ah still looked at me as though she couldn't understand what was happening.

“...

Why are you looking at me like that?”

“No, I just have no idea what's going on right now. What's a law firm, what's a legal team, what even is this situation?”...

Was it too sudden?

“You know I'm well-off, right?”

“Yes.”

“I simply asked a law firm we often rely on for help.”

“B-but that must cost an insane amount of money...”

“The equipment in the club room probably costs more than what I spent on this.”

“Ah...”

That was a fact.

A little while later, perhaps after finishing his phone call, the detective approached me and Se-ah with a restless expression and bowed his head.

“For now, you may return home for today... If you could come again on the date of the next summons... I would appreciate it.”

“Ah, yes...”

It seemed the people above him had also heard that Dike's legal team had mobilized and changed their minds.

They had probably prepared quite a bit on their end, but that wasn't something we needed to worry about.

Alright, then.

“Let's go.”

“...

What?”

“Aren't you going home?”

“Ah, yes! I'm going!”

The one targeting Kim Se-ah belonged either to the police or prosecution.

In that case, what I had to do was simple.

Counter-snipe them and knock them down.

Make them painfully realize that although they think they're the one in control, before a hunter holding a shotgun, they're nothing more than prey.

Trample them thoroughly enough that they'll never dare touch us again.

Because that was Calione's way.