Like a seasoned farmer sensing that the cabbages in the field were about to be rooted up, Kyoko casually asked, "Who's looking for our section chief this time?"
The duty officer carefully glanced at Fubuki who was waiting for a response: [It's... it's a very beautiful lady.]
Just as expected, another fox on fire!
"Then our section chief isn't here!"
"Hmm?" Johnson paused as he walked into the office, "Kyoko, who's looking for me? What do you mean I'm not here?"
"Hmph, just a nuisance call."
Seeing his deputy section chief's sour expression, Johnson shrugged, "Oh, alright."
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Beep Beep Beep...
The call was abruptly hung up with a "click" from the other end, leaving the duty officer at a loss, "Um..."
"I heard that." Fubuki said with interest as she played with the ends of her hair, "Avoiding me, is he? Heroes really do have their own personalities. It's fine, I'll just wait here for him to get off work."
Crack—
In the stunned duty officer's heart, something seemed to shatter.
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Special Affairs Section.
"Section Chief, your official appointment document came through by fax."
"Is that so? Headquarters sure moves quickly." Johnson took the stamped document handed to him by Kyoko and scanned it up and down.
{ After deliberation, it has been decided:
Z-City patrol officer Johnson (Officer ID PCZ9527) is promoted to Special Affairs Division Assistant Police Inspector, appointed as Z-City Special Affairs Division Chief, with a probationary period of one year.
The appointment is effective immediately.
— A-City Police Department. }
{T/N: For clarity, he was the Special Affairs Division Chief in Z-City before, but now he holds the rank of Assistant Police Inspector in the broader police hierarchy. Previously, he had no official rank or position elsewhere.}
Johnson put down the appointment document and handed it to Kyoko for filing, "Good, now it's your turn."
Kyoko accepted it with a hint of sourness, "We're not like you, skipping three levels at once! Oh my..."
Johnson stood up, pressing his finger against the young female officer's forehead to push her away, "This is nothing to make a fuss about."
Back in training camp, the big boss had offered to elevate him to headquarters' upper management within a year, but he'd refused. That kind of promotion speed would truly have been meteoric.
After Kyoko handled the section's backlogged affairs and stepped out briefly to the restroom, Johnson seized the opportunity to slip away without a trace.
When there's work, the deputy does it; when there's no work, the deputy still...
To prevent a subordinate rebellion, Johnson avoided the main entrance. Activating his Psychic Powers, he launched himself down the corridor and left work at light speed.
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Nightfall.
Fubuki sat in the reception room of the main hall, listlessly flipping through a police magazine.
The workday had ended; except for those working overtime, on duty, or still handling cases, most officers had already left by early evening.
Growl...
Fubuki's stomach let out a small protest. Her eyebrow twitched, and veins faintly bulged on her forehead.
She was famished from waiting so long. This detestable man, avoiding her by staying at work until now — how outrageous!
"Miss Fubuki, I ordered a dragon-phoenix noodle combo. Would you like some?" The duty officer, who had voluntarily worked overtime while sending away his relief, approached with a steaming box of soup noodles.
The aroma wafted into her nostrils, making Fubuki's vision blur as her hunger intensified.
"...No thanks. Please tell me again, where is Officer Johnson? Hasn't he finished work yet?"
"Ah, you're still waiting for him?" The duty officer laughed darkly to himself, "I just ran into a colleague from the Special Affairs Section. I heard Officer Johnson left work at noon."
Left work at... Noon!
A terrifying aura erupted.
The duty officer who had just snitched on Johnson shuddered. The takeout he was holding suddenly began to float uncontrollably. His police cap, the reception room's pens and paper, the tables and chairs — all became enveloped in a shimmering blue light and rose in unison.
Eventually, even the duty officer himself felt a force binding his limbs and neck, lifting him away from gravity's pull and into mid-air.
"Fu-Fu-Fu... Miss Fubuki! Please stop... can't... breathe..."
Whoosh—
The rampaging Fubuki regained her senses and exhaled a breath of pent-up frustration. The green glow in her eyes faded, and all the floating items in the reception room lost their psychic support, crashing to the floor.
"Sorry, officer, for causing you trouble." She turned and walked out of the reception room, "Now, I need to find a certain irresponsible man and settle accounts."
"Wh-what... irresponsible?"
Love 'em and leave 'em?!
With the overturned dragon-phoenix noodle bowl on his head, the duty officer's vision went black as he completely passed out.
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"Ah-CHOO!"
While handling a Soap Monster's attack on the women's bathhouse, Johnson suddenly closed his eyes and sneezed.
The monster, which had already been sliced but was still jumping around energetically, brightened up and shouted,"Good chance! Take my special move 'Bubble Beam'!"
Two streams of soap bubbles burst from the monster's hands, shooting forward.
Johnson pulled out a tissue to wipe his nose, then snapped his fingers. A rusty steamroller materialized out of thin air and crashed down with devastating force onto the grotesquely laughing monster.
"Ugh…"
The wild laughter ceased instantly. With a thunderous boom, the ground cracked beneath the steamroller's impact, splashing soap liquid everywhere like water.
"So noisy. And 'Bubble Beam'? You think you're a Water-type Pokémon? What kind of perverted yet useless Pokémon would that even be!" Johnson blew his nose and tossed the tissue into the trash bin with a complaint.
He barely had time to return the rarely-used steamroller to its card state before being swarmed by enthusiastic female fans wrapped in bathrobes and towels.
"Mr. Super Cop, thank you for saving me!!"
"Johnson-kun, the monster was so scary, thankfully you were here... Hey b**ch, get away from Johnson-kun's arms!"
"Why should I? I was here first!"
"Super Cop-san, I love you!"
...
"Everyone please don't push. For autographs, please come one at a time… Miss, please put your clothes on. Ma'am... I mean, miss, please show some restraint…"
The scene descended into chaos for a while.
Only when reporters arrived did Johnson seize the interview as an opportunity to escape the siege of overzealous fans.
"Whew, this feels even harder than facing a Demon-level monster."
A white monster card materialized in Johnson's hand: Wolf-level monster "Perverted Soap", with the ability to make surroundings slippery.
Just how weak was this level of monster?
If that group of female fans had maintained their star-chasing enthusiasm and rushed it all at once, they could have torn it to pieces. No matter how mutated, it was still just a bar of soap.
He casually used this useless card as enhancement material, but the feedback from his stand came back:
╔══════════════════════╗
║ Monster's base stats too poor, enhancement failed. ║
╚══════════════════════╝
Johnson: "..."
Watching his card inventory decrease by one, he couldn't shake the feeling that he'd been used.
At his current level, he didn't really need that small boost anyway. Though it was free labor, it at least increased his exposure as a hero — plus there were those eye candy benefits from some of the enthusiastic fan ladies...
Hot, too hot!
Looking at it this way, his mood immediately improved.
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T/N: Favorite, comment and save to your library of best reads in the world, thank you for reading this far!
T/N: Follow me on Pa-treon for advanced chapters: MrBlackWing! ( ◕‿◕ )
That's it and happy reading! (-‿◦)