#193

Detective Oh Dae-Ho ended up drinking all night.

He drank because he was in a good mood, but as soon as he got tipsy, he became depressed as if nothing had happened. Internal investigation was still pending, but leaving the police force was a foregone conclusion. He could receive his retirement pay without any deductions, and he had a hefty sum of 100 million won in cash, which made him feel secure. He was even taking on odd jobs to earn extra money. Yet, Oh Dae-Ho wasn’t enjoying himself at all.

Moreover, he was disturbed by the phone call he received before meeting Kim Byung-chan. It was unexpectedly Lee Seon-jae. He had assumed that Lee Seon-jae was trapped by Lee Seok-doo and unable to move, but his voice was bright. Had Lee Seok-doo forgiven Lee Seon-jae and accepted him? At first, he mistakenly thought so. But it didn’t seem to be the case.

Because Lee Seon-jae had made him an offer.

Detective, I’ll buy the information you sold to Lee Seok-doo for double the price. Contact me if you’re interested.

He had clearly said that.

Lee Seon-jae was offering to buy the information he sold to Lee Seok-doo for 100 million won for 200 million won.

It would be a lie to say that he wasn’t tempted by the 200 million won. But if he sold it to Lee Seon-jae, would Lee Seok-doo stay still? Absolutely not.

Oh Dae-Ho still suspected that someone was tailing and monitoring him.

He knew that Lee Seon-jae had a lot of money, but he wouldn’t be able to use it. Right, who was Lee Seok-doo? Of course. This was a trap. Or maybe Lee Seok-doo was using Lee Seon-jae to test him. Either way, it was a headache.

He had lived an honest life, but now he was at the mercy of gangsters.

Afterward, he met Kim Byung-chan. Oh Dae-Ho didn’t reveal to Kim Byung-chan that he had sold information to Lee Seok-doo and received a large sum of money. He simply declared that he was quitting the police force, blaming Park Dong-Hee.

Kim Byung-chan jumped up in surprise. He had been constantly suggesting that they go into business together, but now he clicked his tongue, saying, “Do I look good to you?” He told him to tear up his resignation letter immediately more than ten times, saying he was crazy.

Hearing that made him feel even worse. He felt sorry for Kim Byung-chan.

Every time he saw Kim Byung-chan, he inwardly looked down on him and vowed never to become like him. Of course, Oh Dae-Ho had done as much as he could for his friend and colleague. He even went as far as bringing him customers when he joined the loan shark business.

Still, he subtly looked down on him. He was worried that he would be harmed because of that man.

But Kim Byung-chan was genuinely concerned about him.

Great. Let’s start a business together.

Oh Dae-Ho, who had expected Kim Byung-chan to welcome him with open arms, realized his mistake at Kim Byung-chan’s reaction.

‘Do I look good to you? Huh? Tell me honestly. Do I look good? Let me tell you, I was a hundred times happier when I was working as a detective. Now I’m just living because I can’t die. I’m doing this because my stomach is my master. If they gave me a job as a patrolman, I’d go back to the police station right away. I think I’d be happy even if I worked all night and got paid peanuts.’

He revealed his honest feelings.

That made Oh Dae-Ho even more disturbed. It was nice to say it was 100 million won, but it was money he received by bowing down to a gangster. It was unrelated to the operation, but Prosecutor Jeong Jae-jin would no longer trust him, and he might even reveal that fact to the police force.

If that happened, he would retire not as a veteran detective who was disciplined for having a bad junior colleague, but as a corrupt police officer connected to gangsters.

Shit. Why is this so difficult?

Everything had been clear when he went to see Lee Seok-doo, but now it was as foggy as if it were covered in mist.

Oh Dae-Ho drank heavily with Kim Byung-chan until his nose was crooked. They drank until dawn, and Kim Byung-chan took a taxi and went home first. Oh Dae-Ho continued to drink alone and barely made it home.

Oh Dae-Ho woke up in his pigsty-like one-room apartment and gulped down water from a pitcher. His head felt like it was splitting. His stomach was no better.

He had no wife or children to make him hangover soup. He had sent his mother to his younger sister’s house because he didn’t want to live with her in the cramped house, but now he missed even his mother. Of course, he missed the food his mother made, not his mother, but anyway, it was the same thing.

He rummaged through the drawers, found some headache medicine, and cooked two packs of ramen. He felt pathetic as he placed the ramen in the pot on a small dining table and ate it with only kimchi as a side dish to cure his hangover.

“Ugh. I need to move out of this house.”

He muttered to himself and slurped the ramen.

When he was about halfway done, he was carefully picking up the egg with his chopsticks, making sure not to break the yolk, when his cell phone rang. Startled, Oh Dae-Ho dropped the egg, and as the dropped egg fell into the pot, the ramen soup splattered everywhere.

“Damn it,” he cursed and answered the phone.

Hello, is this Detective Oh Dae-Ho’s number?

The other person asked very cautiously. It was a woman, and her voice sounded familiar.

“Yes, this is he. Who is this?”

Oh Dae-Ho wiped the ramen soup off his thighs and legs with a roll of tissue paper and asked indifferently.

Oh, Detective Oh Dae-Ho. It’s me, Dong-Hee’s Mother.

“Ah, yes. Mother. Hello. But what brings you to call?”

Oh Dae-Ho said this and recalled what had happened yesterday morning.

He had met Park Dong-Hee at Beat Karaoke, introduced Park Dong-Hee to a man named Lee Young-man, who was the sales manager of Il-gwang, and then returned alone to meet Kim Byung-chan.

In fact, he didn’t want to contact Park Dong-Hee because he hated him, but he kept worrying about him. If he only looked at the results, it was the same as pushing him into a dead end. He was a man who couldn’t resist women, and he had not only sent him alone to Nam Ji-hoon, who was in the women’s business, but also had him receive lavish hospitality all night, so frankly, he was mostly to blame for that. Although it was all in the past, he still dwelled on what had happened that day and couldn’t hide his complicated feelings.

So when Lee Seok-doo said he needed a reliable errand boy, he immediately thought of Park Dong-Hee. He thought that if he was going to be dismissed anyway, he should do something to earn money. He felt a sense of camaraderie because he was a guy who liked the job of a police officer as much as he did.

The man he met at Beat Karaoke was a completely new person who was not known to the prosecution or the police. He introduced himself as Lee Young-man, the sales manager, and said that Lee Seok-doo had completely replaced the staff because of this incident. He would have done the same.

Of course, he also asked what he needed it for. Even if he had received money from a gangster, he couldn’t just accept the job without knowing what it was for.

‘What is it for?’

When he asked, he said that he needed to inquire at the Ansan Police Station about Yoon Ki-beom. He added that even though he was dismissed, it would be easier for a current police officer to get information.

It made sense when he heard it. If he went in person and showed his police ID, the other person would be more lenient because he was a fellow police officer.

Oh Dae-Ho could have gone himself, but he decided to save it for when Park Dong-Hee didn’t work out. It sounded plausible, and he was a little lazy, so he nodded vaguely.

Now that he had a connection with Lee Seok-doo, he thought it might be a good idea to start a detective agency and have Park Dong-Hee and Kim Byung-chan work together. Of course, he only thought about it for a very short time and had no intention of doing it.

Detective, I heard that our Dong-Hee was arrested, but I don’t know what happened, so I called you.

Park Dong-Hee’s Mother said what she wanted to say in a trembling voice.

Detective Oh, who had been thinking about other things, was startled by the word “arrested.”

“Yes? Arrested?”

What nonsense was this?

His head and stomach, which were already dizzy from the alcohol, were even more dizzy from Park Dong-Hee’s Mother’s words.

Well, they said our Dong-Hee stabbed someone. Ugh. They suddenly broke into the house a little while ago and made a mess of it. As they left, they told me to prepare to hire a lawyer.

She sobbed.

“No, wait a minute. Dong-Hee stabbed someone? Mother, what are you talking about?”

I don’t know either. I want to ask, but I don’t know who to ask. I don’t know what’s going on, so I called you.

“Which police station was it?”

Seoul District Prosecutors’ Office.

“Not a police station?”

Yes. They said Seoul District Prosecutors’ Office.

The more he heard, the less he understood.

He wondered if they had mistaken him for someone else.

“Okay, I understand. I’ll check and call you back, so don’t worry too much. It must be a mistake.”

Oh, thank you. Detective. Please call me back.

Park Dong-Hee’s Mother was greatly relieved and hung up the phone.

Oh Dae-Ho immediately called a junior detective who worked in the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency’s Mobile Investigation Unit. The name had been changed to Mobile Investigation Unit since last year, but everyone was still used to calling it the Mobile Investigation Unit. Anyway, he was a guy who owed Oh Dae-Ho a favor in the past, so he always answered his calls.

He answered the phone this time as well, but he seemed reluctant.

“Is Detective Park Dong-Hee being held there?”

Oh Dae-Ho’s question was met with a sigh.

Haven’t you heard the news?

He spoke cautiously, almost whispering.

“What news?”

Oh, I don’t know if I should say this or not, just a moment.

He heard the sound of him moving to another place, and then he heard his voice again a little later.

That son of a bitch Park Dong-Hee stabbed a prosecutor. In broad daylight, in front of the Prosecutors’ Office.

“What are you talking about?”

Oh Dae-Ho laughed because he was so dumbfounded. He wondered if it was April Fool’s Day.

What kind of crazy person would stab a prosecutor in front of the Prosecutors’ Office, of all places? Even murderers and violent gangsters didn’t touch prosecutors unless they had to. Not to mention the police.

Oh Dae-Ho’s laughter seemed to make the other person feel a little bad.

He’s the guy under you, right, Park Dong-Hee?

“Yes, but hey, does that make sense? No matter how crazy the world is, who would stab a prosecutor? In broad daylight?”

I know. That crazy bastard is Park Dong-Hee. He’s tarnishing the reputation of the police. It’s a mess right now.

“Wait a minute, did Dong-Hee really stab him? Which prosecutor, who did he stab?”

Oh Dae-Ho couldn’t believe it. He still thought it was a bad joke.

Prosecutor Jeong Jae-jin.

The moment he heard the name Jeong Jae-jin, his head went blank. He couldn’t come to his senses.

“No, hey, so Park Dong-Hee stabbed Prosecutor Jeong Jae-jin? In broad daylight? You want me to believe that?”

He heard a sigh over the phone.

Whether you believe it or not is up to you, and please pretend this call never happened. I’m hanging up.

Before he could say anything, the phone hung up.

Oh Dae-Ho stared blankly at the phone, then jumped up from his seat.

He was being made fun of too much, so he decided to go and check it out himself.

He left the ramen he was eating as it was, brushed his teeth roughly, washed his face, and put on his clothes. He wondered if he should put on a suit, but he thought there would be too many eyes on him, so he wore what he usually wore. First, he headed to Naeja-dong, where the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency was located. He was convinced that Park Dong-Hee’s Mother had mistaken the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency for the Seoul District Prosecutors’ Office.

His stomach churned the whole way to the headquarters. He was already dying from the hangover, and his heart was beating so irregularly that he thought he had arrhythmia, so he couldn’t drive. He stopped the car on the side of the road several times to rest, and finally arrived at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency.

Unlike Park Dong-Hee, Oh Dae-Ho was not dismissed and was on vacation. He had submitted his resignation letter, but it had not been processed, so he was still a current police officer.

He showed his police ID at the information desk and went straight up to the floor where the Mobile Investigation Unit was located. As he entered the office, the eyes of the detectives who were moving busily were all fixed on Oh Dae-Ho. There were many people who knew Oh Dae-Ho, and there were also colleagues, juniors, and seniors who had worked with him in the past, so it was natural, but no one greeted him happily.

He happened to see Gu Young-pyo, the chief of the Mobile Investigation Unit.

“Chief!”

Gu Young-pyo frowned at Oh Dae-Ho’s shout.

“Hey, why is that guy here? Get him out.”

He blurted out abruptly,

“the child, why are you doing this? It’s Oh Dae-ho. Your beloved junior, Oh Dae-ho.”

He tried to act jovial, but the reaction was cold.

“Hyung, just one question. Is Park Dong-Hee here?”

Upon hearing Park Dong-Hee’s name shouted, Chief Gu was momentarily taken aback but seemed to change his mind, gesturing for the detectives facing Oh Dae-ho to step back. Oh Dae-ho immediately rushed to the chief.

“Why are you here?”

He asked in a disapproving tone.

“Well, the kid I was handling apparently stabbed a prosecutor or something.”

“Ugh. Calling that kind of bastard a detective. Shit.”

The chief muttered to himself, looking at Oh Dae-ho with pity. The atmosphere was clearly ominous.

“Did he really stab him? Isn’t there some mistake or misunderstanding?”

The chief gestured for Oh Dae-ho to lower his voice, then said, “I wish that were the case. Shit.”

Oh Dae-ho squeezed his eyes shut.

Park Dong-Hee stabbed Jeong Jae-jin.

Why on earth?

No, why?

He was definitely not the type to have that kind of guts.

Even on drugs, he wouldn’t do that.

“Can I see him, please?”

“He’s not here, he’s at the Seoul District Prosecutor’s Office. We can’t touch him.”

Chief Gu whispered.

“I heard he was here?”

Oh Dae-ho also asked in a barely audible voice, trying to appease the chief.

“Who told you? The prosecution made the emergency arrest.”

Park Dong-Hee’s Mother heard it clearly.

“Who’s the prosecutor in charge?”

“Fuck you.”

Saying this, the chief shook his head.

Prosecutor Baek Gyu-ri, known as “Fuck You” to the police, was a notorious prosecutor who treated the police like dirt.

“Even if you go, you won’t be able to see him.”

“Just tell me what you know, Hyung. Please?”

At Oh Dae-ho’s plea, the chief gestured for him to come outside.

They went outside the building to smoke and talk. The chief didn’t know much either. Park Dong-Hee had stabbed Prosecutor Jeong Jae-jin and was caught by prosecutors who happened to witness the scene while fleeing. Jeong Jae-jin, despite being stabbed, was conscious and identified Park Dong-Hee as the culprit, leading to Park Dong-Hee’s emergency arrest. Naturally, an arrest warrant was immediately issued, and a search and seizure soon followed.

“Ugh, I really don’t know what’s going on.”

The chief said, clicking his tongue.

“Don’t get involved if you can help it. You’ll only get hurt, you idiot. Didn’t you already get shit on because of that bastard this time?”

“No, it’s nothing like that. It can happen while working.”

“You know, that’s your problem. You almost lost your job when you took that bastard’s side during the Byeong-chan case.”

“Come on, Hyung. Everyone was like that back then.”

They just puffed away at their cigarettes.

“But it hasn’t been on the news?”

“The commissioner barely managed to stop it. How well do reporters smell things out? I don’t know if we can keep stopping it, but it seems the Seoul District Prosecutor and our commissioner have reached an agreement.”

“That’s a relief.”

It really was a relief. The moment an article titled “Corrupt Police Officer Stabs Active Prosecutor” was published, the police’s reputation would plummet, not to mention Park Dong-Hee’s life would be over. He wanted to prevent at least that.

Oh Dae-ho was anxious. He wanted to meet Park Dong-Hee quickly and hear the whole story. But as long as Baek Gyu-ri was the prosecutor in charge, the police wouldn’t have a chance. He wondered if visitation would even be possible. He pondered.

“Is Prosecutor Jeong okay?”

“The surgery took 13 hours. I don’t know how he was stabbed, but it seems touch-and-go.”

“Really? He has to live.”

“He has to. Or we’re dead.”

Chief Gu put out his cigarette with a bitter expression.

“I’m going.”

“Yes. Please let me know if you hear anything else.”

“Forget it, you idiot. Just go. Please, just keep that nosiness to yourself this time. Aren’t you already having a hard time because of that bastard?”

“Come on, Hyung. You’ll call me, right?”

Oh Dae-ho stood his ground until Chief Gu agreed. He acted more charming and pleaded more than ever before.

“You’re so stubborn. Fine, you idiot.”

Chief Gu laughed as if he couldn’t help it.

“Thank you, Hyung. I’ll keep your advice in mind.”

Oh Dae-ho saluted playfully.

“You little shit. Go inside.”

Watching Chief Gu’s back, Oh Dae-ho also put out his cigarette.

He decided to stop by Prosecutor Jeong’s office first. They had been through thick and thin together while working on cases, so he believed he wouldn’t be turned away. He believed that. Unaware of how the situation was unfolding, Oh Dae-ho walked towards the parking lot.

194 – Chapter Title Without Number