The AfterTaste of the Stolen Heart.

"Is there something wrong officer?" I asked the burly officer, with a mustache and a high and tight, military haircut, who was scanning my body with a rod that emitted faint blue light.

He didn't reply and forcefully took out my wallet from the inner pockets of my blazer. While flipping through my identity cards, he nodded and looked up at me.

"Why were you here?"

"...I had a request on the 78th floor." I gave a confused look.

I looked behind me and saw several people coming down through the stairs, some curious, some had their places to go. And since the elevators were already shut under Police surveillance by now, nobody was allowed to use them.

"Apartment number?" He asked, narrowing his eyes, suspiciously.

"789."

Gesturing me to stand in a corner, he started inspecting other people while quietly speaking something in the earbud.

A while later, he came to my side with a small frown on his face while transferring the duty of checking every person coming out of the building premises.

"They say you left 30 minutes earlier, what were you doing up till now?"

I could see him preparing his rifle and several other officers glancing at me from the corner of their eyes.

I raise my brows, " I was smoking a cig at the rooftop while gazing at the moon... Officer, you can check the CCTV for confirmation."

I know that there is no CCTV on the rooftop but there are many on the way there.

"My shift just ended, and this was my last request. I live alone, had nothing to do, so decided to potter around..." I kept a neutral face without showing any emotions as if it was natural.

The officer signaled another one of his men with his eyes and they quickly get to work to gather evidence.

He kept his scrutinizing gaze on me and kept mumbling in the earbud.

"Sir?"

"It's the 'Phantom's Case'. We can confirm you went up there and smoked a cigarette that you dropped from up there, but it's impossible to obtain footage after that..."

Looking at him, I knew he was frustrated at the serial killer who never leave any loose ends. I chuckled inwardly.

"S-Sir" My tone was gruff as I pretended to slightly stutter, "I-I didn't do anything! Believe me!" I was 'frightened' at both the mention of 'Maniac' and the officer accusing me indirectly.

He raised his brows inquisitively.

What the fuck.

Why are you looking at me like you are looking at a criminal?

He tapped my shoulder and I felt like I messed up. My heart was beating with excitement at thought of being caught and a possible shootout. I knew I would die in most cases as I was almost out of magicules and right now, my magic power was not enough to fight an entire team head-on but still, my heart pounded with craziness...

"Who is going to pay the littering fine?" It is a punishable offense."

Tsk. I cluck my tongue.

"boring..." I muttered inaudibly but showed an expression full of relief outwardly.

"Sir," I embarrassedly scratched my head while extending my ID card to him. Of course, ID cards are all linked to bank accounts and he could just swipe it and cut the required fee and he did exactly that. After which, he let me go without saying anything else, but I knew they will keep an eye on me for suspicious activities.

With that, I left while savoring the aftertaste of the heart I stole. Yum!

***

I weaved my way through the busy streets of people, all engulfed in their own devices.

Is it that much fun to get likes and hearts on social media? It's nothing but a fake reward that doesn't give anything substantial. You may feel satisfied and pleasurable after winning a lottery, but unlike a lottery where you get actual money, that could be useful, here, you are getting nothing but 'likes'.

Well, how would I know when I have never tried? It might be intoxicating if I give it a try. Maybe in the future... I will try. I think I should try uploading my hunting spree using anonymous sources.

Heh~

I chuckle.

That might be fun.

Maybe I am a hypocrite.

I loosened my tie and unbuttoned the buttons of my blazer as I looked up at the rectangular sky. Tall buildings and several flying drones with a few flying cars shrouded my vision.

Not everyone can afford a car that can fly, let alone me, a person with a low income, who earns just enough money to survive.

I look at the billboard flashing with vibrant colors, several advertisements in successions, and then a popular music video in which a half-naked woman was dancing, advertising something at the end.

For a moment, I felt like I have seen her somewhere but decided not to care too much as I saw several Police cars flying in the direction of the building I came from.

It's no use. Morons.

Soon, I reached a rather unpopular area where buildings were not as much tall as before, streets almost empty and street lights broken in some places.

Sigh~

I walked into the lobby of a building with the same boring look and waited for the elevator to appear.

I don't need to do anything, like pressing buttons as the elevator automatically recognizes when a person is waiting for it and adjust everything accordingly.

It's convenient but still boring.

I wish they could just leave a rope hanging for people to climb up and down. If you wish to die, just hang yourself wherever you want, alternatively, you could make it look like your hand slipped so that nobody will ever be suspicious and investigate the reasons for your death.

As soon as the doors of the elevator split open,

I saw a man with his hands around the waist of a woman, both smiling cheerfully.

"What's up, Axiom?"

The man with a frivolous attitude, long chocolate blonde hair, and a muscular build raised his hand and greeted me.

"Err... just working. Nothing interesting."

"You gotta be kidding me!" He pinched his forehead, frustratingly, " Go get a girlfriend. Don't tell me you are planning to die a virgin!"

I laughed, pretending to be embarrassed as he walked past me while whispering in my ear, "If you can't find someone, I can take you to those new shops that recently launched..."

I naturally knew what he was talking about but I paid no heed, "Oh, please, Nye. I'll see you around."

"If you need any advice you can always count on me!" He raised his thumb and strutted off with his girlfriend in tow. Judging by the way they were dressed elegantly, I could guess they were going out for a lavish dinner.

Sigh~

I entered the elevator while thinking how difficult it is to make money and how Nye was making enough money to buy extravagant dinner for his gf while staying in this shithole of an apartment.

I know that he fights in the underground arenas or something like that but I, on the other hand, didn't have many fighting capabilities if I couldn't use my Phantom Transformation openly.

As soon as I entered my apartment, my uniform disintegrated into nano-particles and morphed into comfortable shorts with a thought.

Gotta appreciate this cutting-edge technology. AI connected to my phone reads the number of magicules I release into the nano-particles and switches my attire based on pre-settings.

When using spells and unique skills, this function could be disabled with just a tap on the phone and then re-enabled with another tap.

I used up all my savings over the years to get this technology in my hands as it was needed for my Phantom transformation.

Earlier, it was humiliating for a professional like me to show up to serve my clients while being naked. Now things have changed since I bought this and with a little bit of custom tweaking, the nano-particles couple with the fragments of my body during my transformation and reform exactly like the attire I was wearing before my transformation.

I sat on the couch, powered the T.V. Quickly switches to a news channel... and...

HUH?

2 Men were found dead in the Phantom's Serial Killings!

Two? Only Men?

Suddenly, I don't like the aftertaste of the stolen heart.