#162

It was all so futile. He had dedicated his entire life to this job, only to see it crumble overnight. He never imagined it would end like this.

How hard had he tried not to end up like Byeong-chan?

His promotion to Lieutenant was practically guaranteed.

Since being assigned to this operation, he had once again been hailed as a veteran, and several junior officers had started sucking up to him, calling him “Sunbae-nim.” The cold stares from fellow officers, branding him as a friend of loan sharks, had also disappeared. But how had things come to this? Detective Oh Dae-ho still couldn’t believe what was happening to him.

The junior officer he had tried so hard to nurture had deliberately blocked his path. The anger he felt towards that bastard made it impossible to sleep without alcohol. The prosecution’s investigation was one thing, but being summoned to the audit office was utterly humiliating. Even the audit staff’s politeness felt unwelcome. After each investigation, he would return to the office only to be treated like a ghost.

To make matters worse, loan sharks were visiting him almost daily. Rumor had it that Oh Dae-ho would soon be forced to take off his uniform, and the thugs, no longer afraid of a detective, were becoming increasingly aggressive. They even stood guard in front of the police station. Kwon Chairman, that old geezer, and Kwon Yong, that son of a bitch, were making his life miserable.

But he wasn’t scared. He had no debts to repay. He had never guaranteed anyone’s loans, nor had he directly encouraged anyone to invest. On the contrary, he had lined up people who wanted to borrow money and handed them over. Back then, they had been all “Hyung, Hyung,” bowing and scraping, but when things went well, they took all the credit, and when things went wrong, they blamed others. Loan sharks and ordinary people were all the same.

He was still a detective, and he had vowed never to take off his uniform, so Oh Dae-ho instead intimidated those bastards. “We’ll see if I take off this uniform or not. You won’t get a damn thing then,” he had shouted. That was before Kwon Chairman floated up in the waters off Incheon.

“Ugh, damn it. Life sucks.”

Late Sunday afternoon, Oh Dae-ho sat in a neighborhood bar, somewhere he didn’t even recognize, nursing his drink. Kim Byung-chan had personally called him out here, saying he had something to tell him.

“Hey, hey, take it easy. What’s with the drinking in broad daylight? What’s wrong? Is the chief on your back again? I don’t know why that bastard, who came from the ranks himself, is so eager to eat up those who came from the same place.”

Kim Byung-chan, oblivious to everything, tried to comfort Oh Dae-ho.

Ever since rumors of Kim Byung-chan’s loan sharking activities had spread, his connections within the police force had completely dried up. This was fortunate for Oh Dae-ho.

“Yeah, well. So, what did you call me out here for?”

At Oh Dae-ho’s question, Kim Byung-chan gave a meaningful smile. Then, lowering his voice, he held up three fingers.

“300 million won on the line.”

At the sudden remark, Oh Dae-ho raised his eyebrows.

“300 million? For what?”

“Come on, you bastard. 300 million won, for Lee Seon-jae.”

Oh Dae-ho pretended not to understand Kim Byung-chan’s words.

“Lee Seon-jae? Who’s that?”

“Ugh. I knew you’d be like this. You really don’t know who Lee Seon-jae is?”

Oh Dae-ho pretended to think for a moment, then shook his head.

“Not at all. I’ve arrested so many people, I can’t keep track.”

He played dumb. Then Kim Byung-chan started bringing up something that happened 10 years ago. That incident, which he now hated to even remember.

“Ah, that Lee Seon-jae? What about him?”

“That bastard betrayed Il-gwang and ran away.”

“Really? How did that happen?”

“Does the reason matter? The important thing is that there’s 300 million won on his head!”

Kim Byung-chan didn’t seem to know the details either.

Il-gwang wouldn’t have revealed everything, not wanting to be embarrassed, so that was to be expected.

“Really 300 million? Not 30 million?”

Honestly, he was tempted. He hadn’t shown it, pretending not to know Lee Seon-jae, but it was a lot more money than he had expected. No wonder a mere loan shark like Kim Byung-chan was making such a fuss.

“Do you have proof?”

“Did you live your life getting conned?”

Kim Byung-chan took out his phone from his pocket and pressed a few buttons.

“Look. Take a good look.”

He handed Oh Dae-ho the phone, displaying a text message.

“They say he spread it to every private investigation agency worth their salt.”

It was true. It wasn’t just talk; Lee Seok-doo had put up 300 million won for Lee Seon-jae, using his own name.

‘Bring him back unharmed’ was the only condition. If Lee Seon-jae’s body was harmed in any way, Il-gwang would repay double, along with a threat.

“The guys who caught Kwon Chairman joined in too.”

Kim Byung-chan grinned and downed his shot of soju.

As soon as he heard about Kwon Il-taek, Oh Dae-ho felt a chill run down his spine.

Ugh, damn it. He cursed inwardly and glanced around nervously.

“Did you happen to see the pictures of Kwon Chairman’s body?”

“…How would I see that? It’s not even our jurisdiction.”

He shouldn’t have seen it.

“Hey, I heard it was unbelievably gruesome. You know Detective Seok-doo from the Incheon Metropolitan Police Agency? Apparently, he couldn’t eat anything but water after seeing it.”

Kim Byung-chan continued excitedly, spitting as he spoke.

Oh Dae-ho’s stomach churned. This morning, Prosecutor Jeong had personally summoned him to his office and thrown the photos at him, as if to say, “Look!” It was a kind of warning. A warning to keep his mouth shut. That son of a bitch.

Anyway, after seeing the photos of Kwon Chairman’s body, he couldn’t swallow anything, not even water. Whoever did it had literally skinned the man alive. He should never have gotten involved in money matters in the first place. He hadn’t learned anything from Byeong-chan’s fate.

Honestly, he had been mistaken. He thought Kwon Chairman would never have such problems. He was, after all, the son of a wealthy man. He owned hundreds of thousands of square meters of land and several houses. His sons were all smart, graduates of prestigious universities, and had successful businesses. Oh Dae-ho, who knew nothing about economics, had assumed that their difficulties were due to the IMF crisis. Everyone was struggling back then. But that wasn’t the case.

“Damn it, his face is still the same as it was 10 years ago.”

While Oh Dae-ho was thinking about Kwon Il-taek, Kim Byung-chan’s topic of conversation had shifted to Lee Seon-jae.

“Back then, he had fair skin and a supple body, good enough to eat. Don’t you think? I was shocked when I saw his recent photos. That bastard’s got a huge cock. I swear, it looked like he had a horse’s dick.”

Crude words continued to spill from Kim Byung-chan’s mouth.

“If I catch that bastard, I’m definitely going to fuck him this time.”

Kim Byung-chan grinned lewdly and smacked his lips.

“Bullshit. How are you going to catch him?”

“Who said I’d catch him alone? We’ll catch him together.”

He grinned as he said this.

“You’re a veteran detective, and I’m a former detective. If we team up, we can take down all those thugs. Don’t you think?”

He winked and downed his shot of soju in one gulp.

“You remember how we screwed that bastard over 10 years ago, right? He’ll probably piss his pants as soon as he sees our faces.”

Kim Byung-chan was already counting his chickens before they hatched.

He had no idea what kind of person Lee Seon-jae had become. If he thought he was still that pretty, young scholar from 10 years ago, he was in for a rude awakening.

What a load of crap.

Oh Dae-ho scoffed at Kim Byung-chan inwardly and repeated the number 300 million in his head. He didn’t even need 300 million. Just 100 million would be enough to end this miserable life. He wouldn’t have to nod his head and accept a measly pension; he could quit right away.

Lee Seon-jae.

Kim Byung-chan had no idea that he had been looking after him until a few days ago.

Oh Dae-ho felt like he had already caught Lee Seon-jae. His shrunken heart expanded with the thought of the 300 million he hadn’t even received yet.

“Send me that text message too.”

“Okay!”

Kim Byung-chan immediately forwarded the bounty text message issued in Lee Seok-doo’s name to Oh Dae-ho.

“Oh, and there’s 10 million won on Lee Seon-jae’s sidekick? I heard they’re always together.”

Oh Dae-ho, who was checking the text message, responded casually, “Sidekick?”

“Yeah. Let’s see. What was his name? Ah! Here it is, Yoon Ki-beom. Isn’t that the guy who borrowed money from me for a truck accident? He looked so clueless, but I heard he got caught up with Lee Seon-jae.”

The moment he heard Yoon Ki-beom’s name, Kim Byung-chan’s words no longer registered.

Yoon Ki-beom! That son of a bitch was with Lee Seon-jae.

Oh Dae-ho smiled involuntarily.

“Why? Did you remember something important? Huh?”

Kim Byung-chan looked at Oh Dae-ho anxiously.

“I was thinking about Ji-hye.”

“Ji-hye? Your girlfriend?”

“Yoon Ki-beom’s daughter.”

“Oh! Really?”

Kim Byung-chan grinned lewdly. It was disgusting.

“Is she pretty?”

“What a load of crap.”

“What? Why are you getting up already?”

Kim Byung-chan looked bewildered as he watched Oh Dae-ho stand up.

“I’m tired, so I’m going to head out.”

Oh Dae-ho yawned loudly.

“Hey! I came all the way from Gyeonggi-do, man!”

“Bullshit. There’s no way you’d call me to a neighborhood you have no connection to. Does your girlfriend live here?”

At Oh Dae-ho’s words, Kim Byung-chan burst into laughter.

“You’re like a shaman, you know that? Anyway, are you in or not, huh?”

“Yeah. Let’s catch him!”

“I knew it. Cheers!”

Kim Byung-chan raised his glass towards Oh Dae-ho.

Oh Dae-ho left Kim Byung-chan behind, saying, “I’m going,” and walked out of the bar.

As soon as he reached the main street, Oh Dae-ho hailed a taxi. He was in a hurry.

He was excited about the fact that he had information to provide to Lee Seok-doo. Not only did he have information about Lee Seon-jae, but he also had information about Yoon Ki-beom. Maybe he could use Yoon Ki-beom to capture Lee Seon-jae. Lee Seok-doo would be shocked to learn how close Lee Seon-jae and Yoon Ki-beom had become.

As soon as he arrived at his small, sunless one-room apartment, Oh Dae-ho locked the door. He had been locking up tight ever since the Kwon Chairman incident.

Oh Dae-ho had no intention of going out to find Lee Seon-jae with Kim Byung-chan. He couldn’t do that anyway. He was currently tied down. He was not allowed to leave his residence. That was the warning Oh Dae-ho had received. Even if he went to see his mother, they would catch him. The moment he was caught on the prosecutor’s office’s radar, he would be stuck like Park Dong-Hee.

“Why bother going through all the trouble of looking for him?”

Oh Dae-ho intended to provide Lee Seok-doo with the information he wanted and receive exactly 100 million won. After that, he didn’t care what they did with Lee Seon-jae.

He had grown somewhat fond of Lee Seon-jae, but his stomach was his master. When he thought about it, Lee Seon-jae was a criminal anyway. So, there was no need to feel any guilt. The same went for Yoon Ki-beom.

“Where did I put it?”

He couldn’t remember where he had put the documents. He had tried to keep them in the safest place possible, but it seemed he had hidden them too well.

Did he put them in the cupboard, or did he slip them into his photo album? Where was it? Oh Dae-ho searched every corner of his tiny apartment. He searched all the books on the bookshelf, the commendation plaques, and even inside his socks, but he couldn’t find it.

“Damn it, where did I put it?”

After searching for a while, Oh Dae-ho went to the bathroom because he needed to urinate and looked up at the flickering fluorescent light. Suddenly, he exclaimed, “Ah!”

It was right above him, right there.

His treasure trove!

Oh Dae-ho immediately brought a chair and climbed on top of it. As he tore off a section of the plasterboard ceiling, black dust and white powder fell down. “Ptoo, ptoo,” he spat and reached up to feel around the ceiling. His hand grasped a box.

“You’d think I was a detective or something, hiding it so well.”

He praised his past self and carefully lowered the box.

Here, in this box, was the information he needed to catch Lee Seon-jae and Yoon Ki-beom.

Standing on the chair, Oh Dae-ho chuckled like a madman. The fluorescent light made a loud noise and repeatedly flickered on and off.

163 – Chapter Title Without Number