Chapter 19
Chapter 19
I wanted to take only the gem and discard the ring as a show, but I didn't have time. As I turned to leave, the man shouted.
“Don’t be shy, my love!”
“Does my face look like someone who’s shy to you?”
It looks like someone who’s disgusted.
The man crawled on the floor. He was starting to look less like a human and more like an insect.
“Ugh, get away.”
The man who had been crawling towards me seemed to regain some sense and tried to get up, bracing himself on the floor.
If this continues, he’ll follow me outside.
I ran to the wall and pulled the installed lever.
Thwack!
A net hanging from the ceiling dropped and covered the man. This was my chance to escape while he thrashed, caught in the net.
But then…
“What’s going on?”
Just as I reached for the doorknob, the door swung wide open from the outside. A police officer, who had been sleeping by the door just moments ago, gaped at me.
Damn it.
“Could you please move aside?”
“Th-thief…”
“If you can’t move, then there’s nothing I can do.”
I kicked the officer, who was calling for backup and swinging his baton at me, lightly with my boots.
Crash!
The officer, kicked by the Spring Boots, crashed through the door and was thrown into a room across the hallway.
“I’m sorry! You can get your medical expenses from Mr. Hopeless, who woke you up!”
I ran frantically down the hallway, but Hoplis, who had already removed the net, chased after me, shouting desperately.
“Wait! My Cinderella, don’t go!”
Wow, he really looks like he needs hospital treatment.
I thought the rumors surrounding this diamond were all lies. The rumors that Hoplis had gone mad from the diamond’s curse must be true.
“Tell me your name! Everyone will call you Mrs. Hoplis from now on, but I will call you by your name!”
The greasy words poured out of Hoplis’s mouth relentlessly as he chased me. Where did he even get such lines?
‘Did he attend a failed flirting academy?’
But it turned out he attended somewhere else entirely.
“Everything that sparkles is mineee!”
He was that crazy fan club member. As he ran up the stairs, he even pulled out his Fan Club Membership Card from his wallet and waved it.
“I’m a first-generation member! I’ve loved you longer than anyone else! Marry me!”
“What is this noise?”
The madman’s roar woke the sleeping lions. The police officers wandering aimlessly on the first floor began to gather, drawn by the commotion.
“What’s going on, Mr. Hopeless… Huh? It’s the Thieving Crow!”
“Catch her!”
My plan to slip away unnoticed had failed. Police officers swarmed from all directions like ants, completely blocking my escape route on the first floor.
With no other choice, I kept running up the stairs, pursued by a horde of officers.
The crazy stalker, apparently pushed aside by the officers, was no longer spouting his failed flirting lines.
“Stop right there!”
“Fourth floor! What are you doing! The suspect is escaping!”
Instead, the angry voices chasing me grew louder and louder.
Second floor, third floor, fourth floor. With each floor I ascended, more officers patrolling those levels joined the pursuit, increasing the number of pursuers.
Beep-long. Beep-beep-long.
The sound of my Spring Boots’ durability wearing down grew longer.
Sob. What a waste.
The stream of tears flowing from within me also grew longer.
Finally, the fifth floor. With the last floor just ahead, I looked up to see a single officer blocking the top of the stairs.
The stairs were wide enough for three people to pass side-by-side, but he was alone.
“Everyone, come here right now!”
The officer urgently called his colleagues, who were still dazed by the effects. As I finally heard the sound of them rushing over in a panic from a distance, I kicked off the stairs I was running up.
“Hah!”
Whoosh!
I jumped into the air, kicked off the edge of the railing, and jumped again.
As I spun through the air, the officers reached out their hands, trying desperately to grab me, but they couldn’t even touch a hair on my head.
Thump!
I landed lightly on the fifth-floor landing, having effortlessly cleared the wall of approaching humans.
“Got….”
Smash!
No chance.
The officers swarmed in immediately, so without a moment to catch my breath, I had to jump again.
Beep-long.
Sob. My precious boots. Just hold out until that window, please.
At the end of the fifth-floor hallway was a large, open window. A overflowing ashtray with cigarette butts was placed on the windowsill, suggesting an officer had opened it to smoke.
‘Whoever you are, thank you!’
That ventilation shaft was now my escape route.
“Stop right there!”
“Haa…”
What good is seeing an escape route? As my durability wore down, so did my jumping power. My speed slowed, and the distance between me and the pursuing officers narrowed to just five paces.
I was going to get caught right in front of the window.
“Ah, seriously… I didn’t want to use this, but I’m sorry!”
I opened my Inventory and found a box of mousetraps. The moment I pressed the flashing activation button under the box, 300 mousetraps, each with a piece of yellow cheese on it, appeared with a pop! on the floor between me and the officers.
“Don’t step on those!”
Snap!
I told you to listen to me. One officer, ignoring my warning and charging forward, finally stepped on a mousetrap.
“Aargh!”
With his toes caught in the mousetrap, the officer hopped around, clutching his foot, and ended up triggering other mousetraps. It was the start of a mousetrap domino effect.
Snap! Click! Click-clack-clack-clack!
The mousetraps snapped shut, popping into the air like popcorn.
Other officers, unable to avoid the chaos and caught in the crossfire, were bitten by mousetraps on their noses or fingers, rolling on the ground.
“Aargh!”
“Get this off me!”
This completely blocked the narrow hallway, perfectly halting the officers rushing from behind.
In the meantime, I calmly approached the window and left a parting message, looking back.
“Everything that sparkles is mine.”
Mwah.
Hmm, I don’t see Hunt today?
Disappointing, but I blew a kiss to the disorganized mob stuck in the hallway and took out the Levitation Umbrella from my Inventory.
Now, if I just escape from here, the mission success alarm will sound. As I stepped onto the windowsill and prepared to open the umbrella into the darkness that had already descended, a hand shot out from the shadows and firmly gripped my wrist. Following it was the glint of handcuffs, and Raven Hunt’s face.
‘Ha… I knew it.’
No wonder I didn’t see him amidst all this chaos. It couldn’t be otherwise.
His expression was calm. Hunt looked like someone who knew I would come this way.
‘Hunt wasn’t here because this was all a trap.’
I was so flustered by Hoplis and the chase that I only realized this after being caught.
‘Even leaving only this window open was part of the plan.’
Now, I even wondered if Hoplis’s crazy proposal was also Hunt’s scheme.
“So many people want to put something on my hands today? Get in line behind Mr. Hopeless, Mr. Hunt.”
Hunt, standing on the edge of the roof outside the window, didn’t respond to my sarcasm. He simply declared in a businesslike tone as he placed handcuffs on my wrist.
“I am arresting you for the theft of the Hoplis Diamond.”
Arrest? The bad ending notification hasn’t popped up yet.
“Hah!”
I pulled my hand away from the hand trying to put on the handcuffs. Of course, Hunt didn’t let go. I knew he wouldn’t.
Flick!
While Hunt was distracted by my wrist, I poked him between the eyes with the tip of my umbrella.
“Oof…”
As if anticipating I’d aim for his eyes, Hunt instinctively squeezed them shut and dodged.
I didn’t miss the chance as his grip loosened and pulled my hand free. Hunt had no choice but to let go of my wrist.
If he hadn’t, he would have stumbled and fallen off the roof.
While Hunt held onto the window frame to steady himself, I slipped out the window.
I hid behind the opposite pillar from Hunt and was about to open my umbrella when…
Thump.
‘Ah, not again!’
