By Zephyria 
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah…. Why did you come out?”
“Choi Won-joon just finished his statement and was moved to the detention center. You saw the lawyers who came, right?”
“Yeah.”
“All the big shots from the prosecutor’s office during his active duty days showed up. Do you know that feeling of having your energy sucked out just by looking at them? Jeong Dae-han Prosecutor is amazing in the midst of all that. He’s more resolute than I thought. He wasn’t intimidated at all.”
“What about Choi Won-joon?”
“He admitted everything about Sunbae. But he’s playing dumb about Yang Mok-hyung. The prosecutor’s office says nothing else came out?”
Lee-eum sighed deeply. He’s been going through the seized items, but they’re cleaner than expected. It was all work-related content, and they’ll do a forensic analysis, but he got the answer that it’s doubtful if it’ll be meaningful.
“Come to think of it, it was strange….”
As he muttered to himself, Nam-soo turned around.
“What is?”
“When Director Lee called this morning. He said the prosecutor’s office raided, but they were both too calm. At first, I thought it was because they were brazen, but I’m starting to think that might not be the case.”
“If so….”
Lee-eum bit his lip. He can’t rule out the possibility that information was leaked in the middle. Kim Mid-eum is definitely not it, investigators? Or the chief judge who issued the warrant? Or Jeong Dae-han…?
He didn’t want to suspect anyone, but based on experience, there were no eternal allies or enemies here. For example, a deputy chief prosecutor who was known as a chaebol hunter resigned and then took on legal advice for a chaebol. He would have earned a lot of money that he couldn’t have received even if he had spent his entire life in public office, and now he has become a chaebol lackey from a chaebol hunter. It was bitter, but that was the reality.
“Let’s go in.”
Lee-eum, who had finished his cigarette, headed to the detention center instead of the office. There were many people here for various reasons, including Choi Won-joon. He was reading a book with his back against the wall right in front of the bars. His posture was so comfortable that he almost mistook it for his home.
At the sound of someone approaching, Choi Won-joon raised his head and waved with a smile.
“You came?”
Lee-eum glared coldly at Choi Won-joon.
“Are you happy to death?”
“Thanks to you, I’m resting well. Thank you.”
Lee-eum sat down and met Choi Won-joon’s eyes head-on.
“Why don’t you just settle down here? I think the prison uniform would look good on you.”
“Thanks for the compliment, but I’ll pass. I left something precious outside.”
Lee-eum pressed his lips tightly. If he couldn’t find any decisive evidence within 48 hours of the arrest, he would eventually have to release him. The Catalyst pheromone that Lee-eum was given was not an illegal drug, so there were no separate penalties, and it was obvious that other charges would not result in an arrest warrant.
“Why did you lie earlier….”
It was a question of why Kim Yi-eum lied that he was a Beta, not an Omega. Won-joon closed the book and gestured for him to come closer. On closer inspection, the title of the book is How to Live Like a Human. It’s not even funny. He wanted to tell him to become a human first, but this was not the time to have such a conversation. °
He brought his hand to his mouth as if whispering and lowered his voice.
“I didn’t want you to hate me.”
“Don’t you think I already hate you enough?”
“That’s right. I was trying to make up for it.”
“…….”
“Tell me honestly. You knew I couldn’t say it, didn’t you?”
When he got up without answering, Won-joon’s gaze naturally followed. Are you going? Stay a little longer. I like seeing your face here. It felt sincere, so he got goosebumps and rubbed his arm, and he laughed again.
As he turned around, he heard a low voice from behind. See you tomorrow. He walked away without answering, when he received a call from an acquaintance in the Nambu Police Station. He used to be on the same team and recently helped find the vehicle that kidnapped Yang Mok-hyung.
“Yes, Sunbae. It’s me.”
Lee-eum, who had been listening silently, froze like a stone in place and couldn’t do anything. He barely regained his senses at the sound of Kim Yi-eum! calling from the other side of the receiver and involuntarily turned around. Choi Won-joon was staring with a puzzled expression.
Lee-eum squeezed out a voice that wouldn’t come out.
“Okay…. I’ll go there….”
As soon as he finished speaking, he ran out of the detention center and ran to the parking lot. His fingertips trembled slightly as he got into the car and started the engine. He hurriedly pulled the car out onto the road, and countless questions flashed through his mind as he drove.
Why? Why? What for?
Before he knew it, Lee-eum arrived at his destination, parked his car in an alley, and ran up the hill. There were even stairs in the middle, and his lungs hurt as if they were about to burst, but he couldn’t stop.
He heard a commotion and saw a crowd of people. The police were restraining people, and Lee-eum pushed through them and went inside to find his acquaintance. The Sunbae in charge of the scene grabbed Lee-eum with a troubled expression when he saw him.
“Detective Kim, I told you not to come. Seriously, you, ha.”
Lee-eum ignored his Sunbae’s dissuasion and went inside the house. The forensic team was taking pictures and collecting fingerprints, and a corpse hanging limply from the doorknob caught his eye.
Lee-eum couldn’t bring himself to approach and closed his eyes tightly. Kim Da-hyun’s father, whom he had seen a few days ago, was dead with his eyes open. As he stood there with a bewildered face, his Sunbae grabbed Lee-eum and dragged him to the front door.
“What happened?”
“It looks like suicide. They found him when they visited from the community center.”
Lee-eum rubbed his face roughly. That can’t be. He was on the phone until yesterday. He said he finally had the face to see his daughter and wife, thank you, was that what he meant? Overwhelmed by confusion, Lee-eum stared anxiously at the scattered soju bottles.
“Hyung. This isn’t it. Something’s wrong. I talked to that person yesterday. But he’s dying like this? No way.”
“Detective Kim. Lee-eum. Calm down,”
“Damn it! Does this make sense? How can a perfectly fine person suddenly die like this!”
Lee-eum unusually shouted in resentment, and his Sunbae calmed Lee-eum down and took him outside to calm him down. His Sunbae also knew Lee-eum’s feelings well because he had been in charge of the case together.
“Let’s get the coroner’s opinion first, and then think about it. Okay?”
Lee-eum sat down on the stairs and covered his head.
[Thank you. For not forgetting our daughter….]
The last voice he heard from Kim Da-hyun’s father lingered in his ears.
[I got a call from the broadcasting station….]
Lee-eum raised his head and hurriedly took out his cell phone. He called the deceased Kim Da-hyun’s father, but a message came up saying it was turned off and it didn’t ring anywhere. He wondered if they had collected it in advance, but when he asked, there was no cell phone at the scene in the first place.
“I searched everywhere, but I can’t see it. I’ve requested it from the base station, so let’s wait.”
After hearing his Sunbae’s words, Lee-eum went outside and looked around. There was no way there would be CCTV in this run-down neighborhood. The neighborhood people were gathered in a chaotic atmosphere, and among them, an old man living in the house next door caught his eye. Lee-eum approached him.
“Elder. Have you heard any strange noises yesterday and today?”
“Well. Only old people live here, and it’s a very quiet neighborhood….”
“Think carefully. Fighting sounds or….”
The old man frowned deeply and tilted his head.
“Well, it’s nothing special. I saw Kim in the yard yesterday, so I wondered what was going on and looked inside. When I looked closely, he was sharpening a sickle.”
“A sickle? A sickle used to cut grass?”
“That’s right, that. When I asked him what the sickle was for, he said there was grass everywhere in the yard, so he had to cut it down. So I said that this human has now changed his mind, I’m glad. But he ended up like that, tsk tsk.”
Lee-eum hurriedly went inside. As the old man said, half of the overgrown grass had been cleared, and unlike before, the cluttered furniture had been cleaned up. The newly bought flower pot in the corner seemed to be intended to be transplanted under the wall.
In the meantime, I found it inside! he heard a voice. When he ran in, one of the Nambu Police Station team members was putting something in an evidence bag and shaking it.
“It’s like a suicide note, it was under the blanket.”
Lee-eum immediately went and checked the contents of the suicide note. It briefly stated that he was following his wife and daughter, but the handwriting was messy, like earthworms crawling, as if he was drunk. He wondered if handwriting analysis would be meaningful.
Following this, the on-site investigation was completed, and paramedics came up and carefully transferred the body onto a stretcher. During the move, his arm drooped down under the stretcher, and Lee-eum asked them to wait a moment before putting the deceased’s arm inside. The cold touch caused a surge of sorrow from within.
As people left the scene one by one, Lee-eum slumped down in front of the gate. His Sunbae approached, and Lee-eum lowered his head like a sinner.
“Damn it. It’s finally happening like this.”
Lee-eum also knew that his Sunbae’s words contained a lot of meaning. At the time, the team members desperately clung to this case, but what came back was the team leader’s demotion, and the remaining team members were scattered.
“Hyung….”
“Yeah?”
“Would a person who is going to die cut grass, clean the house, and buy flowers to plant?”
“They usually tidy up their affairs, but I don’t know. Not that far.”
“I’m sorry, but if the coroner’s report and cell phone location come out, please let me know….”
His Sunbae took out a cigarette and sighed.
“Hey. You can stop. You’ve done enough.”
Lee-eum was silent. He did enough, but why did it turn out like this? He couldn’t stop the endless questions. Why? Why on earth? But he couldn’t reach any conclusion and eventually had to return home feeling empty.