By Zephyria 
Lee-eum loitered around Violent Crimes Unit 1. There was an Alpha there, but he couldn’t detect any Pheromone scent. The police station was predominantly Beta, followed by Alpha, but it was the same even when he went near some of the Alphas. They treated Lee-eum no differently than usual.
【See, I told you I’m the right match for you.】
Usually, reacting to only one person indicates imprinting. He knew imprinting was supposed to be a mutual agreement, but Choi Won-joon and he had never imprinted. Could this guy be pulling some weird trick? Should he visit Yoo Seol-ah for a checkup when he had time? After pondering, he returned to his seat, and Nam-soo, who was next to him, spoke to him.
“How’s your leg? Are you okay?”
“It’s much better. I can walk now.”
“Sunbae. Look at this.”
Nam-soo smiled, showing his palm. Lee-eum wondered why, then noticed an unfamiliar ring sparkling on his finger. He realized why he’d been beaming since morning and chuckled along.
“You got matching rings?”
“Yes, we got couple rings yesterday. Pretty, right?”
“Yeah, it suits you.”
As they were talking, Team Leader Oh, who had been called to the chief’s office, stormed into the office. Judging by his expression, he seemed to have been chewed out by the chief again. Nam-soo quietly returned to his seat, and Team Leader Oh immediately threw his notebook onto his desk.
“It’s not like anyone’s deliberately not catching the culprit. He calls me in this hot weather just to nag. Ugh, it’s been ages since I requested personnel reinforcements, and there’s still no news, yet he expects so much.”
As the team leader’s grumbling continued, everyone started preparing to escape, grabbing their notebooks. Lee-eum and Nam-soo also gathered their belongings to avoid being caught and forced to listen to the team leader’s complaints until their ears bled.
“Detective Kim, Detective Jung.”
“Yes?”
“What’s the status on that chili pepper case?”
The chili pepper case Team Leader Oh mentioned was an incident that had occurred a few days ago, where a man drove his car over chili peppers laid out to dry in the sun, leading to a fight, and eventually, a special injury case where someone pulled out a weapon, stabbed the other person, and then harmed himself.
“Communication is difficult with both of them. The investigation will probably be possible next week.”
“Did you secure testimonies from people around them?”
“Yes.”
“The woman he lived with said something disappeared. Did you look into that?”
“We confirmed her identity, but her resident registration was canceled. So, I’m planning to go to her previous residence.”
“Alright. Go quickly.”
No sooner had he finished speaking than they were out the door. The news was saying it was the hottest weather in decades, and the sun was already scorching in the morning. As soon as they got in the car, they turned on the air conditioning, and Nam-soo entered the address into the navigation system. The destination was about two hours away from Seoul.
About ten minutes after they started, they stopped at a traffic light, and Nam-soo called out to Lee-eum.
“Sunbae, look at that fountain!”
At the word “fountain,” Lee-eum flinched and looked. Where Nam-soo was pointing, there was a fountain with water spraying from the ground, and children were running around excitedly. Watching them, Nam-soo exclaimed.
“Wow, look at the water jets. It’s amazing. I want to go in too. You too, Sunbae?”
Lee-eum gave a lukewarm smile and avoided answering. It reminded him again. That damn guy. He wouldn’t come today, would he? Should he sleep in the police station’s overnight room for a while? As he was thinking about Choi Won-joon, Nam-soo suddenly interjected.
“That Lee Jeong-hye, you know.”
“Huh? Who?”
“The person who lived with Park Eon-soo.”
“What about her?”
“Do you think she’s alive?”
Lee-eum seemed to know what Nam-soo was worried about. According to the neighbors’ testimonies that they often witnessed her being assaulted, they visited the hospital and reviewed the records, and her condition at the time was more serious than they had thought.
There were multiple fractures and a brain hemorrhage, and the doctor in charge suspected domestic violence, but the victim adamantly denied it, so they couldn’t report it directly. Then she ran away, but her registration was canceled, and there had been no signs of life since, so there were more than one or two suspicious points.
“Park Eon-soo didn’t have any prior convictions, right?”
“Yeah, that’s also strange. You’d think someone like him would have caused a big accident at least once. But his record is clean. Did he cause an accident and hide it perfectly?”
“Whatever it is, he’s going to jail this time.”
While they were talking, the car arrived near their destination. They turned off the navigation system and noticed a snack bar nearby. They parked the car on the side and went inside the snack bar, which was deserted despite it being lunchtime. It was almost embarrassing to the owner, who greeted them happily, thinking they were customers.
“Hello. We’re from Western Police Station Violent Crimes Unit 2. Do you happen to know Lee Jeong-hye? Her previous address was listed here.”
The snack bar owner looked bewildered.
“Yes, she used to work here. But what’s this about….”
“Have you been in contact with her recently?”
“No. It’s been a long time since we lost touch. Why? Did something happen to Jeong-hye? Did Park Eon-soo hit her again?”
The owner seemed to know the situation roughly. When they asked if they could talk for a moment, the owner readily agreed, and the three of them sat down at a table.
“Were you two originally acquainted? Friends?”
“We’re from the same orphanage.”
“Ah….”
“They ran away together when they were young and stuck together….”
“Then you must have been very close.”
“I guess so…. I was her only friend.”
“Have you ever met Park Eon-soo, who she lived with?”
As soon as she heard Park Eon-soo’s name, the owner frowned.
“Don’t even mention him. I didn’t like that guy from the start. He only looked good on the outside, and he borrowed money that Jeong-hye earned and even bought a car with it. I told her so many times not to… she was so starved for affection….”
The owner sighed deeply as she spoke. Then she asked what kind of trouble Park Eon-soo had caused and repeatedly checked on Lee Jeong-hye’s well-being.
“Lee Jeong-hye is currently missing with her resident registration canceled. Park Eon-soo recently had a dispute with a neighbor and is hospitalized. He barely regained consciousness, but communication is impossible.”
The owner squeezed her eyes shut and rubbed her face.
“I knew he’d cause trouble someday. He’d hit her at the drop of a hat and tell her to sell her body to earn money. That trash….”
The snack bar owner, who had been angry and panting, turned pale.
“Don’t tell me Jeong-hye too… he didn’t do anything to her, did he…?”
Nam-soo forced a smile.
“Nothing has been confirmed yet, so don’t worry too much.”
The owner shook her head.
“You detectives don’t know. That guy is really vicious. He’s confident that he’ll never get caught even if he does bad things. Once, when he was completely drunk, he even said that he had kidnapped a son of a conglomerate in the past, and if I knew who it was, I’d faint.”
Nam-soo chuckled dryly.
“The son of which conglomerate?”
“I don’t know. Me neither. When I asked him the next day, he denied ever saying that.”
“See? It’s all lies. If he had kidnapped the son of a conglomerate, there would have been a huge uproar already. Lee Jeong-hye is probably hiding somewhere and doing well, so we’ll contact you if we find her. Right, Detective Kim?”
Nam-soo looked at Lee-eum, who was momentarily lost in thought and belatedly answered, “Uh….” Lee-eum’s thoughts had stopped at the part where the snack bar owner said he had kidnapped the son of a conglomerate.
【It’s a habit I developed after being kidnapped as a child.】
【When I see similar cars, I compulsively memorize the numbers without realizing it. If I had seen the numbers of those guys’ cars, I would have definitely caught the remaining one too.】
“Oh, do you have any pictures of Lee Jeong-hye?”
“I’ll look. Jeong-hye really hated taking pictures. If you get in touch with her, please tell her that I’m waiting for her.”
The owner asked several times, and they promised that they would. Then, since they had to eat lunch anyway, they ordered kimbap and ramen there. Customers came in one by one, and the owner, who was busy moving around, took advantage of a break and went into the back room.
After finishing their meal, they got up, and she handed them a photo.
“Fortunately, it’s still in the album. It’s the clearest picture of her face. It’s her old appearance, but she hasn’t changed much. Jeong-hye is young-looking….”
“Thank you.”
They took the photo. In the photo, a woman of a beautiful age was smiling shyly. Then, when they tried to pay for the meal, the owner pushed them away, telling them to just go. They couldn’t do that, so after arguing back and forth, they put the cash on the table and quickly left.
As Nam-soo got into the car and started the engine, he sighed while looking at the photo.
“Where do we even start looking? It’s hopeless.”
“Just in case, contact the National Forensic Service too.”
Nam-soo said he hoped they wouldn’t hear from the National Forensic Service. Because if they did, it meant there was a high probability that she was dead. All the way back to Seoul, Nam-soo was busy texting his girlfriend, and the snack bar owner’s words kept echoing in Lee-eum’s head.
Kidnapped the son of a conglomerate…?
No one knew whether it was a bluff or the truth. Except for him. No, there was one more person. The victim of the incident. That person, the son of a conglomerate. His head became complicated, and he turned on the radio to get rid of the unsettling feeling, but news was playing.
【This morning, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office announced that it would summon Park Chan-soo, Chairman of Taeil Group, on charges of creating slush funds and manipulating stock prices. As a result, there is talk that Prosecutor Kim Mid-eum, who brought Choi Tae-seung, CEO of Sehwa Group, to court last year, has been appointed as the prosecutor in charge, drawing media attention. Prosecutor Kim appeared on a broadcast program in the past and fiercely raised her voice about the corruption of the upper class and how much it negatively affects society. At that time, she also became a star prosecutor, becoming a hot topic with her outstanding personality and eloquence.】
Nam-soo, who was listening to the news, expressed his delight and admiration.
“Wow, Prosecutor Kim is on another level.”
But Lee-eum was worried and couldn’t easily open his mouth. Kim Mid-eum had been in a slump for a while after the Sehwa Group case last year. She felt that no matter how much she struggled, it was not enough to throw the bad guys at the top in jail, and when she realized that there was a limit, she even regretted becoming a prosecutor.
Of course, he had heard most of the story through his Noona. He didn’t want to show his weak side as a Hyung, and Lee-eum was sometimes dissatisfied with that. Treating him like a child even though he was all grown up. He was the one who acted more like a child.
Then, just as they were almost at the police station, Nam-soo received a phone call. Nam-soo’s expression darkened when he saw the caller.
“It’s Section Chief Yoon from the National Forensic Service….”
He didn’t know why bad premonitions were so accurate.
They immediately turned the car around and headed straight to the National Forensic Service.