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CHAPTER 141 – CPF
Everyone has a dream.
Everyone will have had a time when they poured their passion into it, enduring hardships and sacrificing sleep at night in order to make that dream come true.
Constable Kang Si-hyeok of the Gangnam Police Station was like that.
When he was young, he even saved time on meals, clinging to the police civil service exam.
Even after tasting bitter defeat over and over, the driving force that kept him from ever giving up lay in the childhood dream of becoming a detective.
‘My dream was to become a righteous police officer who throws criminals behind bars, like those cool detectives in movies.’
Because he had that dream, he was able to pass the exam after failing twice and climb all the way to this point, but……
What actually awaited him wasn’t a detective post, but a traffic-division constable doing things like DUI crackdowns.
That was normal.
For an ordinary constable who had only studied hard.
‘But even for me, an opportunity came.’
On January 1st, when he ended up participating in the Angel’s Game—also called the Great Upheaval or the Great Calamity—he couldn’t help but fall into despair.
‘I’d struggled so hard to become a police officer, and I thought, is this how it ends?’
But talent is something that shines at a moment even you don’t notice yourself.
Unexpectedly, Kang Si-hyeok showed aptitude in strategies such as hunting monsters and utilizing skills and runes, and in the end he survived all the way to Round 9.
And now, under the government’s leadership, he had been selected as a member of the newly established anti-player unit, commonly called CPF (Counter Player Force).
Him—the guy who used to do nothing but stick a breathalyzer in people’s faces in the traffic division.
‘They said if you don’t give up, a path opens someday… and the Great Calamity ended up becoming a blessing in disguise.’
He didn’t know about others, but at least for Kang Si-hyeok, right now was his prime.
It was luck that would never come twice in a lifetime, and a chance to realize his dream.
Jingle—
Opening the door and stepping into CPF’s temporary assembly site, Kang Si-hyeok saw five people sitting and looking at their phones.
“Ah, h-hello! I’m Constable Kang Si-hyeok, 28 years old, transferred over from the Gangnam Police Station!”
“You don’t have to sound that fired up. We’re all constables here.”
“R-really?”
Kang Si-hyeok awkwardly rubbed the back of his head.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Min Tae-su from Daegu Jungang Police Substation. I’m 29.”
“I’m Hwang Man-gi from Guri Inchang District Police Box. I’m 28.”
“I’m Go Nam-cheol from Busan Nambu Police Station. I’m 29, y’know. Uh… do I gotta say my level and job too?”
“Huh? Busan?”
From the introductions, they were people who had come up from all over the country.
Some of them said they’d been hit with sudden transfer orders, so they hadn’t even been able to find a place to live and were staying at hotels.
Of course, even if it was forced, no one complained.
Because they weren’t the kind of people who were satisfied with the position of “constable.”
“For us, it’s an opportunity. When would we ever get to work in a special force like this?”
“Right. I was sighing that maybe in five years I’d finally catch a few criminals, and who would’ve thought an opportunity like this would come?”
“Isn’t it crazy that I even ended up thinking it’s fortunate I became a player?”
Even though they’d rushed up here in a frenzy, everyone knew what kind of unit CPF was.
“A unit that exterminates criminal players. Damn, isn’t that seriously cool?”
“I heard it’s not ‘exterminate no matter what,’ but only kill them when it’s dangerous?”
“It’s basically the same thing.”
“The world’s changed so much. Conservative government officials allowing on-the-spot execution, of all things.”
“Doesn’t that just mean the world’s become extremely dangerous?”
“But players get cut in half each time anyway, right? If we don’t step in, they’ll disappear on their own—so why make a unit like this?”
“Even if the number of players goes down, a threat is still a threat. That’s probably why.”
“Hey, you said your name was Kang Si-hyeok, right? We’re all the same rank, so speak casually. If you really want to nitpick, sure, our pay steps are different, but aren’t we all here as bottom-rung unit members? Our ages are roughly similar too—late twenties.”
“Ah… s-sure. Haha.”
The six police players quickly became close.
They had a lot in common, and since their interests were similar—catching criminals—the conversation flowed easily.
“Hello. Is this the CPF temporary assembly site?”
“Hello.”
Additional reserve members filed in one after another.
They too were police officer players—only a few left across the country—and their intentions and interests were similar as well.
“So you’re all about the same, huh? The feeling of wanting to beat criminals to death.”
“Honestly, as a public official I shouldn’t say this, but when you see things that aren’t even human, it’s like… how do I put it… a desire to kill just wells up.”
“You too? I saw victims come to the substation and sob their hearts out, and I swear it felt like my blood was surging backward.”
“And now those not-even-human bastards became players and are acting like monsters, so that’s why they made a unit like this.”
“By the way, who’s our unit commander?”
“No idea. Anyone hear anything?”
“Nope.”
“Does our unit even have a commander?”
“It’s a unit, so of course it does.”
“Weren’t they picking from among us?”
“How would they pick? Rock-paper-scissors? Heh.”
“They’ll probably pick one of the officers who graduated from the police university.”
“Then it’d be someone around inspector rank, but is there even an officer who survived among the players?”
The unit members were curious about the commander who would lead them.
They’d only been told to gather here by 8 p.m., and they hadn’t heard any details.
“I just hope it’s not some 꼰대 (kkondae).”
“It can’t be a 꼰대 (kkondae). If they’re a player, they’ll be under 29 like us.”
“Ah. Right.”
“Why are you guys assuming the commander is a player? They could be a normal person.”
“Come on. That’s a bit much. The unit members are players, but the officer in charge is a normal person?”
“Yeah, like we’d follow control like that.”
They’d guessed right that the commander was a player, but beyond that they had no way of knowing.
“Still, how many police players even survived nationwide?”
“There’s no way this is all of them, right?”
“Come on. No way.”
At the moment the ten players were thinking that—
“You’re all of them.”
At a third party’s voice, the unit members turned their heads toward one spot.
Sliiide—
A man who had appeared out of thin air was staring at them while wearing a white mask.
“Huh?! What the hell? Invisibility?”
“I didn’t feel any presence at all!”
“Who are you?! What are you!”
“Since when were you standing there?”
“From earlier. The whole time. I was watching, as a kind of monitoring, to see what you’d say.”
Ryu Min answered like that and walked forward, step by step.
The players couldn’t take their eyes off Ryu Min, who had suddenly appeared.
Some of them became wary and prepared to equip their gear at any moment.
It was a natural reaction.
He was a suspicious man with his face covered by a white mask.
Ryu Min looked the unit members over and said,
“There’s no need to be that on guard. I’m the commander you’ve been waiting for.”
-Commander…?
-That guy?
He’d told them the truth, but no one accepted it at face value.
They started with suspicion.
What kind of commander covers his face with a mask?
Unless he’s out of his mind.
“Hm. You have an untrustworthy face. Well, if you show up wearing a mask, you’re bound to look strange.”
“Are you truly the commander of our unit?”
“Why are you wearing a mask?”
“I don’t want my face to get known. For the record, I also received the Police Commissioner’s permission, so don’t think about picking a fight.”
The unit members secretly sighed.
Some of them were already lamenting inwardly that they’d ended up with a weird commander.
-How famous does he think he is, hiding his face?
-So it’s fine if our faces get known?
-This is seriously ridiculous.
He’d planted a bad image from the first impression.
Well, it didn’t matter.
‘How these guys see me isn’t important. What matters is how well they catch criminals.’
In the first place, Ryu Min had only dropped by briefly to greet them and to train and teach them.
He had no intention of spending time here all day like a five-minute standby squad.
‘If they don’t listen, I’ll teach them even if I have to beat it into them.’
Here, he was the highest superior, so no matter what he did, it wouldn’t be a problem.
He even had the Police Commissioner—an extremely reliable backing—who would listen to him.
Most of all, Ryu Min could see the future seven seconds ahead.
He knew how they would react when he revealed his nickname, so he wasn’t too worried about his image.
“I’ll introduce myself properly. My nickname in the other world is Black Scythe. My job is Reaper, and my level is 89. As you can see, I can’t tell you my real identity, so understand that.”
“B-Black Scythe…?”
“No way. That Black Scythe?”
Hearing the unexpected nickname, the players were shocked and flustered at the same time.
Every time the tally results came out, the number one nickname they saw was Black Scythe.
His level was an insurmountable wall, and among players he was already a 존재—something they called a monster.
So how could they not be startled when someone claimed to be that famous figure?
Because of that, there were also distrustful looks.
Go Nam-cheol, who had come up from Busan, was like that.
“Commander. I know it’s rude to say this when we’ve just met, but can you prove it? It’s just too hard to believe, y’know.”
“You should fix your dialect first. You’ve come to Seoul, so you should be able to speak standard Korean too.”
“Don’t avoid the question like that.”
“You want proof?”
Looking at the others, everyone felt the same.
They were being suspicious that he might be impersonating Black Scythe.
“Proof, huh… Would this be enough?”
A scythe appeared in Ryu Min’s hand.
A massive scythe, taller than a person, practically the trademark of a Reaper.
But the players’ suspicion still didn’t clear.
“Can’t you buy a scythe from the shop too?”
“Huh? The shop had a scythe?”
“It really does? I didn’t know that until now.”
“It didn’t before, but once you reach Expert grade, it appears.”
“Oh, that’s how it is?”
“Then just holding a scythe doesn’t prove anything.”
As the members murmured, they stared at Ryu Min.
Those same suspicious eyes.
‘Now even a weapon isn’t enough to prove it?’
Of course, he could hand the scythe over and let them read its info—that would solve it.
It was a weapon that only Master grade and above could equip.
‘Then they’d at least believe I’m a strong person above level 60.’
But Ryu Min had no intention of handing over his scythe.
It wasn’t that he was worried they’d steal it. It just didn’t look right.
‘In the end, these guys are my subordinates. There’s no reason to prove it so pathetically that I’m handing over my scythe.’
Since he was the commander, he needed to show strong charisma.
And since they’d be seeing him again in the future, first impressions mattered too.
‘I need to prove I’m Black Scythe and leave a strong impression.’
How could he catch both rabbits at once?
There was a simple method.
“If you don’t believe me, then do this. Duel me.”
“A duel?”
“When you reach level 60, you can reach Master grade. Then a function called Duel Request unlocks. It’s a function where you duel after putting something on the line. As I said, only someone like me at level 89 can use that function.”
“That doesn’t prove you’re Black Scythe, does it?”
“No, it does prove it. If you’ve seen the tally results, you’ll know. The level gap between the number one and number two across all zones is huge. Right now, there’s only one Master grade in the whole world—Black Scythe. So if there’s someone who can use Duel Request, you should consider that person Black Scythe.”
“But you can’t guarantee that Duel Request is a function that appears at level 60, can you?”
“Well, you’ll find out when you reach level 60. But if you still don’t trust it, then fight me. Honestly, you’re not curious whether I’m Black Scythe or not, are you? You just want to know if I’m qualified to be commander—whether I’m stronger than you or weaker than you. Isn’t that right?”
“…….”
They stayed silent with stiff faces, but inwardly the unit members were surprised.
Not because their inner thoughts had been read, but because they hadn’t expected him to speak so bluntly.
“Then who’s going first?”
“…….”
“No one? Don’t worry. If we set the conditions by mutual agreement, no one dies from the duel. That’s the feature of Duel Request. Of course, it only applies between the duel participants, so you could still die from someone else’s attack.”
“…….”
“So, no one? Anyone who wants to fight me.”
The policemen only traded glances.
“If there’s no one, I’ll take that as you acknowledging me as Black Scythe……”
At that moment, the first volunteer appeared.
“I’ll do it.”
It was Go Nam-cheol—the Busan man who had challenged Ryu Min.