"This is going to be troublesome." Ben let out a groan
"I warned you cousin." Min Hyuk sighed as he loomed over Ben's shoulders, " If it wasn't for your so called hero complex you wouldn't have landed in this trouble and we would be enjoying a luxurious breakfast at some five star restaurant."
"It's called chivalry, not hero complex." Ben rolled his eyes in irritation
"Whatever! At least some good came out of this fiasco" Min Hyuk spoke with an amused smile. Ben raised an eyebrow, A bit confused at first. However he noticed the eccentric CEO staring intensely towards the superpowered young woman. It didn't take much time for Ben to realize what he was talking about.
"Well, She has super strength. That much I can say." Ben remarked casually, He continued with a bit curiosity" But what could you possibly get from her? Do you want to make a video game based on her or something like that."
"May be I can take over the world by making super powered clones like her." Min Hyuk laughed jokingly, "The mad scientist shtick really suits me, afterall!"
"Well then the alien superhero will come out of hiding and kick your evil butt!" Ben chuckled
"Ah, there is no such thing as alien superheroes. Besides the government officially stated several years back that all those images and videos were artificially created to sell merchandise and stuff." Min Hyuk explained with a sigh
"May be, May be not. May be that was just a cover up story." Ben patted his shoulder with a smug grin.
"I really love you cousin but sometimes I wish you weren't such a conspiracy nut." Min Hyuk scoffed in annoyance but Ben continued displaying the familiar grin. Not even the least bit affected by it. He looked around himself, The violent crimes unit was bursting out with activity. All parties (including the kids) piled into the same room as the cops tried to sort out the mess. The young woman though, appeared extremely nervous and not in a bad sort, Considering she was blushing like a high school girl. Ben could literally see hearts in her eyes a she glanced at one strict no nonsense sort of detective around her age. Who surprisingly remained oblivious to moony eyes and heart beams...literally thrown onto his face.
The detective motioned Ben to come forward, Min Hyuk and the young Tennyson shared a look as Ben stepped in front of the detective's desk.
"Mister Tennyson, You really don't seem like someone who can take on all of these guys on your own." The detective also known as Gook Do narrowed down his eyes at him
"Well, I am a capable person, Officer." Ben remarked with a casual smile
"I see." The detective threw a curious glance towards him, "To be honest we don't have anything against you. You just used adequate amount of force, not too much, not too less." He continued with a cough, clearing his throat.
"It was just self defense." Ben replied further.
"Except with Mr Kim. But surprisingly according to the witness' statement you did very minimal damage to him" The detective spoke out with a frown as he motioned the girl to step closer. Bong Soon, Quite shy and nervous , started to walk towards the detective's desk and pulled out a chair for her to sit.
"I know what you are thinking officer...
"Ofcourse, That thought had crossed my mind before but the damage dealt is pretty unrealistic. Even a black belt wouldn't be able to pull it off in such a short time." Gook do remarked in a usual stoic tone. Ben rolled his eyes in annoyance, This guy was just like Hulka. He took his job way too much seriously. "I advice you to not to leave city till the investigation is over. Though I don't believe this will come to a trial but you don't want this to show on your record if you ever want to travel overseas again." He added in a typical strict tone.
"I will keep that in mind, officer." Ben replied with a forced smile. Though he was feeling a little bit miffed, he decided not to let it show.
"Now you." Gook Do turned to Do Bong Soon who appeared to be blushing and fidgeting in embarrassment and sorta gushing at him.
"Gook Do..I.." She stuttered, gathering her courage to talk with her crush, only to be abruptly interrupted by him.
" Name, Do Bong Soon from Do Bong Dong." He continued in the same serious monotonous tone.
"I..."
"Address, Do Bong Dong , Do Bong gu...House no. 1342."
Ben blinked in confusion, Did that policeman know her from before or something like that? Did that mean he also know about her super strength?
Nah, It didn't seem like that.
The young woman shared a faint smile with Ben as Gook Do began narrating the entire scenario as written inside the report.
"So these people blocked off the road, interrupting the ongoing traffic. The bus driver tried to ask questions but he was rudely manhandled by the construction workers..."
"Construction workers? Excuse me! They introduced themselves as upstanding gang members." Ben interrupted Gook Doo causing him to glare at him.
"Let me finish the report, Mr Tennyson." The cop frowned at the omnitrix bearer
"Oh come on, seriously! This is a freaking open and shut case. It isn't like I didn't receive any injuries. Those guys harassed and old men, resorted to violence in front of kids and tried to thrash a woman with "Weapons" . I just did my job as a decent human being." Ben narrowed down his eyes, leveling his glare with Gook Doo, " And of all people, why is she here? why are all these children piled in with these criminals?"
"I am just following the procedure. " Gook Do responded back, clearly getting irritated, " According to the children and bus driver, Once the tourist Ben Tennyson was knocked out due to some unexplainable reason Kim Kwang Bok attempted to strike him but Do Bong Soon from Do Bong Dong punched him, which sent him flying thirty meters into the sand truck, causing multiple fractures and several of his teeth to fall out ."
"Well well, It's awesome isn't it? What next you are going to prove officer? Saiyans are real?" Ben let out a chuckle, "Besides if such person existed, I am pretty sure government would have captured him/her and put them in some sort of super secret underground facility. " He looked towards Bong Soon, Who at first shocked at his initial statement, understood what he meant to say. As much as she hated lying in front of police and her crush, This was the worst time for her secret to come out
"I know it sounds ridiculous. And the testimony of kindergarteners don't hold any legal power. The issue lies in the bus driver's testimony." Gook Do continued, regaining his previous calm.
"So you are looking at excessive use of violence here? Against her?" Ben dumbfounded
"I am sorry to say but the civil code has been violated. If this turns out to be true...
"Well then I have a watch which allows me to transform into thousands of aliens." Ben deadpanned. Of course he was speaking the truth and also being sarcastic. Most people only thought about the later.
"Mr Tennyson, Minimal as they might be, you are still facing charges. I hope that you don't forget that you are sitting in front of a police officer." Gook Do frowned towards him
"Everything was clearly chaotic and seemed really out of the world. How can you be so sure that a beaten up, traumatized old man can describe everything the way it really happened." Ben spoke in a casual tone, "Who knows? May be they just fought amongst themselves. or may be it was just an accident"
Moments after he completed his sentence several gang members jumped in front of the desk. Seemingly passionate about prosecuting the "evil" woman.
"NONSENSE!"
"SHE PUNCHED THE BOSS!"
"I SAW IT WITH MY EYES!"
Entire room erupted in outrage but the police quickly reigned them in. Ben let out a sigh, The more he stayed in this situation, more absurd it was starting to get.
"Mister, Why are you lying? First you beat up those evil men, Then you got hurt and the lady saved you." A little girl stepped in front of him, Determined to make her opinion known.
"Well the lady did save me but not in the way you think. But I don't blame her, When I was around that age, I thought my dad's car was a spaceship." Ben fired back, A bit awkwardly though. He really felt bad for humiliating a child like that but it was for greater good. Plumbers were gone and without them interfering, He could pretty much imagine how a super powered human being was going to be treated in the country plagued by war. It really wasn't a chance worth taking.
"Let me remind you mister, lying to the police isn't punishable offense, But if this turns into a case, Victims will be called in the court. Which may end up in you being charged with perjury. You will be punished by both our and US government if you engage in such activity." Gook Do strictly reminded Ben. Throwing him a scrutinizing look.
"Why are you so hung up on this Officer? Can't we just reach some reasonable conclusion without prosecuting good samaritans and call it a day." Ben let out a sigh.
"We must follow some procedures, no one is exception from it." Gook do remarked frostily , Ben clenched his fists in frustration, This guy really did take his work too much seriously. Even Rook Blonko himself was more flexible than that.
"Now there are two possibilities, either I have the ability to move at super speed or the lady here has the strength of thousand wrestlers. Because to hit someone with that much impact you need a freaking truck or you must have some sort of superpowers." Ben spoke in a firm tone, staring in the determined eyes of the strict cop " Unless you can prove either of that, sorry to say, There won't be any case. You will just embarrass yourself in front of the judge." He concluded with a slight grin.
"You...Don't tell me what to do or what not to do. That's none of your business." Gook Do snapped at the american.
"It's alright Mister, don't get so angry." Bong Soon said nervously, The atmosphere was becoming rather tense and she really didn't want both of them to fight. Gook Do was well...Gook Do. He was always awesome and the young guy, he also seemed like a nice person. Unlike that other guy who was with him.
"I apologize if you feel offended officer, but the report you have just narrated seems more like a superhero movie script instead of a real life incident." Ben remarked sarcastically. "Besides I don't think it's a great idea to put the lady under a great stress jus due to some baseless allegations. Of course as a sincere cop you are free to run the investigation on your own and you should by all means. But let's not forget some tact and civic sense while we are at it, Right?"
"You really need to learn some manners, Mr Tennyson but I agree, At this moment, Everything does seem kinda absurd." Gook Do let out a sigh, admitting defeat. All of his detective skills and police training failed to explain the scenario which happened at that particular place. That didn't mean he was going to stop the investigation but for now he couldn't be too sure about everything.
Min Hyuk chuckled, He knew Ben would be able to handle the situation without any outside help. He was his cousin after all. He had always been resourceful and smart enough to make the best out of a worst situation.
"Fine then, I will let you off the hook for now. Bong Soon. " Gook Do chided a bit, showing a little bit familiarity in his tone. "Stay out of trouble from now on and get a job."
"Thanks Gook Do!" She replied with a bashful smile, grateful that the mess was over.
"You were awesome Mister!"
"The lady was good too"
"Both of them are so cool."
Meanwhile the kids continued cheering both super powered individuals, Much to the police and gangsters' charging. The lead detective of the precinct let out a sigh, If this went to the higher ups, He was really going to die from the embarrassment. He hoped that the case would be wrapped up soon but he also knew that the psycho Gook Do wasn't going to back down. He was too uptight for that. In addition to all that the relative of Ahn family was involved, The chairman of one of the wealthiest and most influential corporations based in south korea won't be too happy hearing that their guest was bothered for such trivial matters. And if he won't be happy, the chief won't happy as well.
Damn, He really wished things weren't so much complicated some times.
...xxxxx...xxxxxx...xxxxx...
"Sir, How did you get into this mess anyways?" A towering and muscular individual who you might think as a bodyguard at the the first glance but in reality he was the secretary of Ahn Min Hyuk. Ben met him a few days ago, right after he stepped outside the airport and he seemed like an overall nice individual
"It was an interesting affair." Min Hyuk chuckled
"May be to you, I am the one with bruises and a black eye." Ben scoffed in annoyance.
"What happened to you Sir? Did you get in a fight?" Secretary Gong asked out of curiousity
"I am too tired to have a discussion about it right now." Ben let out a sigh, "I really should have taken some breakfast at cuz's place." He stretched his arms with a yawn.
"Great idea, Let's order some Ramen." Min Hyuk replied cheerfully. He turned to Ben and asked in a casual tone, "Are you sure you want to take a trip around the Ainsoft today?"
"I guess I will manage." Ben took a long breath. He was still a bit exhausted from dealing with all those affairs but he wasn't going to let that affect him much. "I have dealt with worse when I was a trainee at Kemco back at Kure, Japan."
"Oh, You have maternal cousins there, Right? The Hyoudou family." Min Hyuk raised an eyebrow, " So what happened, They didn't give you the position you wanted or something like that?"
"It's a really long story." Ben rolled his eyes in irritation, He added in a frustrated tone "I didn't want to be a cog in a massive wheel. I had this concept about a female slime soldier, A mage and a half slime half mage bastard princess joining up to fight against a genie. There was this whole backstory about how genies were destroyed by slimes , mages and werewolves and how all of them harvested their powers to gain powerful abilities. One genie survived through all this and after gathering powerful energy throughout many centuries finally returned to wreck havoc upon the world. There was also this little genie who was born in current times and was manipulated by the older and more powerful genie to help him. The little genie also meets the band of heroes and this is how the story and their conflict with the evil genie begins."
"It seems like a nice concept overall. I am pretty sure that would work out well as an teenagers oriented RPG." Min Hyuk replied in a serious tone
"Well the bosses were happy but they told me how I still had a lot to learn and couldn't be a major part of the project. I was forced to decide between either my name in the credits or a permanent job under the local hot shot game developer." Ben spoke through gritted teeth, still not so happy about the experience
"Well, You could have called me instead of trying to do everything by your own and ultimately failing." Min Hyuk chided the young Tennyson once again
"I like to do things on my terms. Besides I still got a decent paycheck from them so it wasn't all bad. Unfortunately, Amount was really abysmal compared to the sort of money the game made." Ben remarked dryly
"Well Asura Chronicles brought down the sales of Tales of Vajra by forty percent. I had to work three days in a week to come up with a new project. Three figging days. I never work more than a week in entire month." Min Hyuk let out a frustrated sigh, "On ethical grounds, I deserve to be your boss and yell at you for getting my coffee. At least for a couple months. "
"I will think about it CEO sir, Let me mail you my resume first." Ben chuckled, knowing that his cousin was just being accentric. However before the banter could continue a female voice interrupted their conversation.
"Mister? Mister Ben?" All three males looked at each other in confusion as they saw the petite but beautiful young korean woman running towards them. Or in particular towards Ben
"Mister Ben, I was looking for you." Bong soon spoke out in a soft tone, taking a moment to catch her breath
"Umm...okay Miss..Bong Soon! What can I do for you?" Ben dumbfounded, really not expecting her to run into him like that.
"I...You got hurt because of me. I am really sorry. If you want me to pay for your treatment...I won't mind." She continued, Her face red with guilt and embarrassment.
"Well, It's not anything other than playground injuries. They will go away in a few weeks." Ben responded with a bright and radiant smile
"Are you sure Ben? May be we should book her for assault and man handling. Or even attempted murder." Min Hyuk remarked in an amused tone. Enjoying how flushed the super powered woman looked right now.
"Not really , the harm done was not intended, Besides it will make a cool bedtime story when I get to babysit my young niece next time around." Ben chuckled jovially, causing the young woman to look up.
"If you say so, But still thanks for your help." She flashed him a friendly smile. She took out a card from her purse and handed it over to Ben after writing her number on it, "Mister, If you are ever in any sort of trouble, give me a message. I will definitely try to help you out. Also my brother is studying medicine, He can treat you for free if you want."
"Alright...thanks for the offer, I will keep that in mind." Ben replied with an awkward smile, not really sure about how to respond.
"Annyeong Mister, I wish you a happy stay in the city. " She bowed to him with a smile, Ben was surely feeling a bit embarrassed but Min Hyuk gave an amused smile. Clearly this super strong woman had formed some sort of affection towards his young cousin, Obviously not towards the degree she was showing to that uptight cop but he could see the seeds here and there. May be she had a soft corner for Good Samaritan types. She wouldn't have talked to him that much nicely as she did with Ben . The self made millionaire let out a chuckle.
"Secretary!" He leaned in, whispering in the ears of the muscular man
"Yes boss,"
"Once I get the card from cousin, look her up. I think it would be interesting to have her around."
"Umm...okay Boss! " Secretary gave a nod. Was his boss arranging for his cousin's youthful conquests? Ben Tennyson didn't seem like playboy types and his was into boys (Well he wasn't into boys but the secretary didn't know that) Anyways, He needed to follow the boss' orders, After all that's what he got paid for.
This was going to be a really interesting event. Now all he needed to do was to bring his cousin into the plan
