The Academy’s Time Stop Player
chapter-203

TL/Editor: looloo

Schedule: 5/Week Mon-Fri

Illustrations: Here

The park, where a few people strolled lightly compared to the day, seemed to be a place where crimes could still occur, even at night.

Hajoon approached the woman who had collapsed on the ground, following Han Ari. Han Ari, who was already near the fallen woman, began to ask her what had happened.

“What happened?”

“Over there! My bag!”

“Got it! Please wait here!”

Quickly understanding the situation, Han Ari spotted the man running off in the distance with the bag and started chasing after him. Hajoon, also grasping the situation, stood still for a moment, lost in thought, then followed Han Ari.

Although Hajoon could easily handle such a simple incident with his strength, he decided to let Han Ari take care of it this time.

“Stop right there!”

“Huff! Huff!”

Meanwhile, the man running away was fast. Despite Han Ari's superhuman efforts, she couldn't catch up, which meant the thief was also a superhuman. Realizing this, Han Ari understood the seriousness of the situation. If the thief was a superhuman, civilians could be harmed during the chase.

‘I need to catch him quickly!’

While running, Han Ari rummaged through her pocket. Soon, when she pulled her hand out, a shining silver hammer appeared in her grip.

A radiant, shining silver hammer.

“Oh! That's it?”

Watching from behind, Hajoon admired the sight. The reason the academy's principal and those guys entrusted Han Ari to Hajoon was because of that hammer. As it turned out, her weapon was the same type of hammer Hajoon used, and her way of using it was similar as well.

Hajoon watched how Han Ari used the hammer. Then, it happened.

“Hah!”

She swung the hammer towards the distant villain. The hammer extended like a staff, wrapping around the thief's leg.

“Agh!”

The thief tripped and fell hard to the ground. Taking advantage of the moment, Han Ari quickly ran towards the villain, twisted his arm behind his back, and pinned him to the ground. She looked around and saw a man running towards her, so she shouted.

“Mister! I caught the villain! Please call the police!”

“You handle the hammer well.”

“Is this the time for that? Hurry up!”

Hajoon leisurely took out his phone from his pocket and called the police as she requested. It was more important to resolve the situation first, as she had said.

Then, the villain caught by Han Ari suddenly started laughing like a madman.

“Hehehe! It's done, it's done!”

“?! Don't move!”

“I, I can finally get in there!”

The man laughed crazily and started muttering incomprehensible things. The villain, who had been laughing maniacally, suddenly stopped and glared at Han Ari with hatred.

For a moment, Han Ari flinched at the sight of the villain’s crazed expression. She was overwhelmed by the look in his eyes.

Flustered, Han Ari shouted at the villain.

“Be, be quiet!”

“You think you’ll get away with this?”

“I said, be quiet!”

Hajoon, who had been watching the scene blankly, approached the villain and smacked his head with his open hand.

Smack! Thud!

With a single scream, the villain collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

Han Ari, who had been staring blankly at the unconscious villain, looked up at Hajoon, who had smacked the villain’s head with his palm.

Hajoon looked at Han Ari calmly and said, "If he doesn't stay quiet, you have to make him. Are you listening to all that?"

"..."

It was a bit absurd, but he was right. Why was she listening to all that?

"Even though he's unconscious, keep holding him until the police arrive."

"Ah, okay!"

Understanding the situation, Han Ari quickly regained her composure and held the criminal tightly again.

Hajoon, watching Han Ari, turned his gaze to the criminal.

‘That is...’

His eyes landed on the tattoo on the criminal's arm. It was a lion's head.

‘I feel like I've seen that somewhere before...’

Hajoon, recognizing the tattoo, took a picture of it with his phone and waited for the police to arrive.

Just then, Han Ari called out to Hajoon in a flustered voice.

"Mister."

"Hmm?"

"That..."

With those words, Han Ari opened the stolen bag to show him. The inside of the bag was completely empty.

The next morning.

In the principal's office at Rokia Academy, Hajoon sat facing Riella, explaining the situation.

After hearing everything, Riella glared at Hajoon with a disdainful expression and spoke.

"So, you're asking me to send that kid to another hero?"

"Yes."

"You little punk! How have you not changed one bit after all these years!"

And as expected, Riella scolded Hajoon.

Knowing Hajoon's personality well, Riella understood the situation and realized he had made that suggestion out of laziness.

"You are unbelievable. Stop resting and get to work already, you punk! Five years of rest should be enough!"

"Didn't you lock yourself away in a dimensional space a few years ago, too?"

"Do you think we're the same? You young punk! How dare you talk back to me!"

After scolding him, Riella slumped back on the sofa and let out a deep sigh.

"How can anyone spend five years holed up at home? What are you, a mushroom?"

"My brother said something similar..."

"Good thing you mentioned that. If you try to run away again, I'll tell Elaine immediately."

At that, Hajoon sighed deeply. It meant he had to finish all his work eventually.

"When Han Ari comes, reveal your identity to her properly. No, I'll just tell her myself."

"Okay, okay, I'll do it properly. But I have something to ask."

"Yes?"

With that, Hajoon showed Riella the photo of the tattoo he had taken the day before.

"This looks familiar, but I can't remember where it's from. Do you know it?"

"This... isn't this from that new villain group, Valonte?"

"Ah!"

At her words, Hajoon suddenly recalled. He had seen it on the news once. It was the mark of a new villain group that had recently appeared in Korea.

The villains from that group had this mark tattooed on them.

"No wonder it looked familiar."

"So, what? Are you planning to wipe them out? Oh! Is the thief Han Ari caught part of this group?"

"Seems like it. The thief from yesterday seems to be a member of Valonte."

"Oh, it must be those Valonte bag thieves."

"A villain organization doing petty theft?"

Hajoon looked at Riella in disbelief.

Riella responded calmly to his expression.

"The bag he stole was empty, right?"

"Yes, it was empty."

"I'm not sure what their ability is, but the items inside the stolen bags disappear. It seems like they're being transferred to another location."

"Magic or an ability, I guess."

"Those bastards formed an organization just to do petty crimes."

The fact that they were stealing despite being an organized group left Hajoon feeling a bit incredulous. Maybe it was because they were new.

Riella shook her head at his comment and began to speak. "Among the new villain groups, they're probably the biggest."

"And yet they're stealing?"

"They do other things too, but the ones stealing are the lowest-ranking members. Still, we need to warn Han Ari to be careful. Those guys have a scary level of unity. Even the lowest-ranking ones have been known to retaliate."

"Yeah... I guess we should be careful."

Hajoon thought about it. Since passing Han Ari to another hero was off the table, he'd be with her for the next two weeks.

"So, when is she supposed to arrive?"

"...Hmm? That's a good question. She's not usually this late..."

At that moment, Riella's eyes widened.

"No way, it can't be, right?"

"Come on, it can't be."

Understanding what she was implying, Hajoon tried to brush it off, but Riella's next words made him frown and pout.

"That girl is always punctual..."

"..."

Hajoon immediately took out his phone and called Han Ari, but as expected, there was no answer.

Realizing the situation, Hajoon stood up from the sofa with a weary expression.

"Sigh... I'll go check."

"Okay, handle it well."

Han Ari woke up with a groggy mind. Some crazy guy had hit her on the back of the head while she was on her way to school, causing her to lose consciousness.

When she opened her eyes, she found herself bound by black chains on her arms and legs. In other words, she had been kidnapped.

Men beyond the iron bars were pointing at her and talking.

"Is that the one who caught our youngest?"

"Because of punks like you, our youngest keeps changing."

"Geez, this is how many times now? The last one seemed decent too."

"Yeah, he was useful, even though he got caught on his twentieth mission."

Han Ari couldn't understand what they were saying, but it was clear they were villains.

She glared at the men in front of her, and they started to sneer at her.

"So, is she from the academy?"

"But what can she do? This is a place no one will find."

"So, what do we do with her?"

"The boss said to kill her, so don't touch her."

"Ha, poor thing. I guess she's the last one since there are others."

With that, they left the room, leaving Han Ari in the quiet space.

Realizing this was her chance, Han Ari began to cautiously look around for a way to escape.

The black iron binding her was known to be tough, even for adult heroes, but it wasn't a problem for Han Ari.

"Come to my hand, Halaz."

With those words, a hammer emitting a silver light emerged from her pocket.

Han Ari grabbed the hammer, made it smaller, slipped it into the chains, and then enlarged it to break the black iron.

Clang!

With a cheerful sound, the iron broke in an instant.

Using the same method, she broke the chains on her remaining limbs and began to search the room for an escape route.

At that moment, what caught Han Ari's eye were the people who had been kidnapped and imprisoned just like her.

Unable to leave them behind, Han Ari cautiously approached the imprisoned people, carefully considering a way to free them.