By Zephyria 
Ah, damn it. Lee-eum tossed and turned before bolting upright. He checked the time; it was 3 a.m. Sleep wouldn’t come, and the conversation he’d had with Choi Won-joon was looping endlessly in his head. That damned bastard. Did he give me insomnia?
Lee-eum had no choice but to throw back the covers and get out of bed. He went to the living room, took a bottle of water from the fridge to wet his throat, then placed his laptop on the dining table, setting the USB he’d received from Choi Won-joon next to it.
After hesitating for a long time, he turned on the laptop and plugged in the USB. There were three files. He played the first video, and from the very beginning, it showed a group of men and women naked and entangled. Among them was Kim Ji-cheol’s father, Assemblyman Kim.
What shocked Lee-eum even more was the next scene.
“Ah…!”
The man who appeared briefly on the screen was the current Commissioner General of the National Police Agency. He had been close to his father and someone he had known since childhood. Whenever he went to the main headquarters, he would often be called directly to the Commissioner General’s office for tea. He had believed him to be kind to his family and a person of good character.
What is this…?
Lee-eum hurriedly turned off the video, unable to bear watching any more, and went to the fridge to get a beer. He emptied one can in a single gulp and played another video, which turned out to be a recorded file. As he listened quietly, Lee-eum couldn’t help but doubt his ears.
【Thanks to the Chief Prosecutor’s efforts, our child was able to get out safely.】
【It’s nothing. It’s an honor to be of assistance to Assemblyman as he paves the way.】
【A small gift will be delivered to your home soon. Please accept it as a token of my gratitude.】
The sound of two old men laughing followed. Lee-eum wondered how Choi Won-joon had obtained this. Could it be fabricated? Doubt arose, but at the same time, he felt uneasy, as if he had opened Pandora’s Box.
Trying to shake off the unpleasant feeling, he closed all the videos and rubbed his face roughly when his cell phone vibrated. The caller was Choi Won-joon. After hesitating whether to ignore it, Lee-eum answered the phone just as the signal was about to cut off.
“Hello.”
【Aren’t you asleep?】
“What brings President out at this hour?”
【I told you, insomnia. While others are sleeping, I’m always awake like this.】
“…….”
【Pitiful, isn’t it?】
He didn’t answer and ignored him, and a low chuckle came through the phone. His voice, coming through the receiver, was a deeper baritone than usual, perhaps because it was night.
“Where did you get this? As you know, illegally filmed videos can’t be used as evidence.”
【Who said anything about using it as evidence? As the person in charge, you’d know that there were sufficient grounds for arrest back then. But Assemblyman Kim desperately tried to save his only son, using the Commissioner General and even the Chief Prosecutor.】
“So?”
【This time, Detective Kim uses that to hold Assemblyman Kim accountable.】
“Are you telling me to blackmail him?”
【You wanted to catch him, didn’t you? Did you try to put a congressman’s son in jail without that kind of guts?】
“…….”
【Or should I blackmail him for you? I can even kill him if you want.】
Lee-eum frowned and retorted.
“Have you forgotten that I’m a detective?”
【Just kidding. Actually, I’m too soft-hearted to kill even an ant.】
Lee-eum scoffed. He suspected that Yang Taek-il’s murder, Director Park’s disappearance without a trace, and Kim Sang-beom’s sudden confession were all somehow related to Choi Won-joon.
【Detective Kim, do you know what?】
At the sudden remark, Lee-eum stopped his thoughts and listened to the receiver.
【I like your voice, Detective. And your face is my type, of course.】
Lee-eum grimaced and pressed the end call button. As soon as he threw the phone aside, it rang again. He didn’t answer, but it kept ringing persistently, and after considering turning it off completely, he reluctantly answered the phone.
【Did you hang up because you were embarrassed just now?】
“Of course not.”
【I’m being sincere. When I hear your voice, it’s like the strength drains from my brain. That feeling of languidness, do you know it?】
“Did you take something?”
Choi Won-joon was unfazed by the sarcastic remark.
【I have a favor to ask.】
“I refuse.”
【If you don’t mind, let’s talk more.】
Lee-eum stared blankly at the ceiling with a resigned expression. What am I doing with this dark-hearted guy at this hour? His stomach churned, and he groaned without realizing it, and a soft laugh came from the other end.
【Do it again.】
“Do what?”
【That moan just now.】
Lee-eum gripped the phone tightly and gritted his teeth as he heard him say, as if whispering, “So fucking hot.”
“What did you say just now?”
【Did you hear me? You have sharp ears.】
“Stop talking nonsense and go to sleep. If you keep calling, I’ll report you as a stalker, so you know. And I’ll probably add a charge of sexual harassment.”
He hung up the phone in a fit of anger and turned it off. Still breathing heavily, Lee-eum drank the remaining beer and headed to the bedroom. He collapsed and tried to sleep, but his stomach was churning, making it impossible to fall asleep. He felt like calling him right away and cursing him out, but there was nothing he could do.
❖ ❖ ❖
Lee-eum sat on a convenience store chair, watching outside. Recently, gold shops had been robbed one after another in the neighborhood, so he was on stakeout with Jeong Nam-su. After a while, Jeong Nam-su brought two cups of ramen with hot water poured in them. He stuck his chopsticks in before the ramen could even cook, and Lee-eum shook his head at the sight.
“Eat it after it’s cooked.”
“The culprit always appears when it’s cooked. How can you still do this after experiencing it every time?”
Lee-eum unwrapped a hot bar while waiting for the ramen to cook. He took a bite and chewed, but his mouth felt dry and he couldn’t taste it properly. He had stayed up all night because of Choi Won-joon and had barely fallen asleep, only to wake up after the time he was supposed to be at work.
“Oh, I heard the CEO of Sehwa Construction withdrew the charges.”
“Yeah….”
“Did you meet him in person and apologize?”
Apologize… Right, that was clearly the initial purpose. To have a good conversation and tie up loose ends. And he thought he would never see him again, but he had inadvertently returned with a heavy burden. The videos and phone conversations were replaying repeatedly in his head.
“He didn’t try anything weird, did he?”
“Weird?”
“I looked into it, and he’s notorious for playing dirty in that world.”
“What’s ‘playing dirty’?”
“In short, a slut.”
“Hey, don’t use the word ‘slut’ for people like that.”
“A friend told me directly. He’s also from a wealthy family.”
Still, “slut” is a bit much. Lee-eum frowned. Actually, considering his image, it wasn’t surprising. His dick probably as light as his mouth. And if someone called him a slut, he wouldn’t be hurt; he’d probably laugh with joy. The more he thought about it, the more Choi Won-joon’s image was plummeting to the worst in Lee-eum’s mind.
“Nam-su.”
“Yes?”
“What do you think of our Commissioner General?”
“I don’t know him well. Aren’t you close to him, Sunbae?”
That’s right. His father and the current Commissioner General were from the police academy and were about the same age, so they were quite close. When Lee-eum’s father, Kim Chun-sam, retired from active duty a few years ago, Kim Hak-moon naturally became the Commissioner General. The two still flaunted their friendship and occasionally went fishing together.
“You can’t tell just by looking at someone’s appearance.”
He muttered to himself, and Nam-su leaned in close.
“Why? Did you see another side of the Commissioner General?”
Lee-eum shook his head and opened the lid of the cup ramen. How could he say it openly? Lee-eum didn’t have the strength to handle the aftermath, and he certainly didn’t have the courage.
He was about to loosen the cooked noodles with his chopsticks and put them in his mouth when Nam-su nudged his arm. Instinctively, he looked up and saw a man wearing a hat passing by. He closely resembled the culprit’s description in the CCTV footage. Lee-eum put down his chopsticks, and Nam-su laughed, saying, “See, I told you to eat right away.”
“That’s right. Let’s go.”
The two hurried outside and followed the culprit. Since there was an accomplice at the time of the crime, they intended to catch both of them today if possible. The culprit stopped midway and stared blankly at the inside of the gold shop.
“That bastard is openly scouting the place.”
“Yeah.”
“Should we pounce?”
“Not yet. Let’s follow him more.”
In the meantime, a black car stopped beside them. He was about to ignore it, but the window whirred open, and someone he knew stuck his face out.
“Detective Kim!”
He shouted so loudly that the culprit in front of the gold shop flinched and turned around. The culprit, realizing he’d been spotted, ran away, and Lee-eum started chasing the man without even having time to get angry at Choi Won-joon for suddenly interfering. He ran through the crowd, and the man entered an alley. He followed, but there was a fork in the road, and the man had disappeared.
“Nam-su, that way!”
They scattered and ran in both directions, and in the distance, he saw the culprit’s back. He ran with all his might, but the distance didn’t close easily. He was out of breath, and his lungs felt like they were about to burst. It was easy to knock down a strong guy with force, but catching a fast runner was harder than he thought.
It was at that moment that the culprit escaped the alley and went out onto the road. Just as he was about to cross the road, Lee-eum sped up, thinking he had to catch him before he crossed. But screech, a black car that appeared out of nowhere hit the culprit with a thud, and the flying culprit fell to the ground with a thud.
Lee-eum was so surprised that he couldn’t close his mouth, and Choi Won-joon leaned his face out of the window of the black car and smiled.
“No need to thank me.”