By Zephyria Lee-eum showered in the duty room’s shower room, changed into workout clothes, and sat at his desk. After work, one or two people from each team were left behind for overtime. Some were catching a quick nap, while others were working on pending tasks. Today, he chose the latter.
He made coffee to chase away the drowsiness, returned to his seat, stretched, and opened his laptop. A few days ago, they received a tip that an organized crime group was running an illegal gambling den, and they raided it today. Upon arrival, the exterior looked no different from a regular bar.
After searching for a long time without finding anything, the detectives had to return to the police station with a sense of futility. The staff and the CEO were all ordinary, leading them to suspect that the tip might have been wrong. However, the informant was known as a reliable source in this field, so they couldn’t completely dismiss it.
In such cases, there was a high possibility that information had leaked from the inside, so Lee-eum collected CCTV footage from the surrounding area. He reviewed the videos until his eyes were blurry. Just before the detectives arrived, someone came out of the building. It was unclear whether he came from the basement or from the upper floors.
He was captured calmly walking to the right after seeing the police arrive. Lee-eum, who was watching the video, pressed the pause button. As the man passed by the trash can, he took his hand out of his pocket and threw something away.
The video quality was poor, making it difficult to distinguish exactly what it was. Lee-eum repeatedly replayed the scene several times before grabbing his cell phone and car keys and getting up from his seat. He asked a nearby detective to answer his phone if it rang and went outside. Just then, a sleek sedan slid in.
The car stopped in front of him, and Choi Won-joon got out of the driver’s seat.
“What brings you here?”
“I stopped by to see you on my way home. Where are you going?”
“I’m sorry. I’ll call you later.”
“Where to at this hour?”
“Later. Something urgent came up.”
He got into the car, started the engine, and was about to report to the Team leader when Choi Won-joon unhesitatingly climbed into the passenger seat. Choi Won-joon brazenly fastened his seat belt and handed him a coffee he had brought from the car.
“Drink it. I bought it for you, Darling.”
Lee-eum forced a smile with a troubled expression.
“Thank you. But could you please get out? I have somewhere to go.”
“No.”
“Why are you doing this again?”
“Take me with you. I’ll be quiet.”
He only needed to search the trash can, so there was no reason to go together. Looking back, Choi Won-joon had parked the car in the President’s designated spot. The rigid President would be furious if he saw it. He decided it would be better to quickly go and obtain the evidence than to bicker.
As he drove the car out of the police station, a smile finally spread across Choi Won-joon’s face. Throughout the drive, he asked if he had eaten dinner and if he had a hard day. Although his life was repetitive, it felt strange that someone other than his family was curious about and worried about his daily life.
“What happened to the back of your hand?”
Choi Won-joon pointed to the scratch on the back of Lee-eum’s hand. It happened during a scuffle with a suspect in the bathhouse during the day. The old man resisted so fiercely that Nam-soo and Lee-eum had to sweat profusely in the sauna.
“Tell me who it is. I’ll teach him a lesson.”
“Are you going to take him and cut off his fingers?”
“You keep upsetting me like that. Do I have to cut open my stomach and show you everything for you to believe me?”
Even when he expresses it…
At that moment, a car driving in the next lane suddenly cut in front of them. He slammed on the brakes, and his body swayed. He instinctively put his hand on Choi Won-joon’s chest and got angry that they cut in without signaling. Then, the corners of Choi Won-joon’s lips slightly turned up.
“I just got excited. So this is what it feels like. The feeling of being protected by someone.”
Feeling awkward, he tried to take his hand away, but Choi Won-joon pressed it firmly against his chest. “Can you feel it? My heart beating?” He didn’t know about his heart, but it felt a little strange because he kept fondling his hand. He quietly pulled it away, grabbed the steering wheel, and turned on the radio.
The voice of the radio host, calmly reading stories, could be heard. He never imagined that he would be listening to the same broadcast he always listened to with Nam-soo during stakeouts with Choi Won-joon.
“But why are you so late? Did you have a lot of work?”
“I had a lot of work, and I didn’t want to go home.”
“Why?”
“Because no one’s home.”
He could go to his own house, but Choi Won-joon insisted on staying at Lee-eum’s house. And then he complains about why he’s not home. As they talked, they arrived at the scene, and Lee-eum took out a glove from the car and approached the trash can.
He turned the large stainless steel container upside down, and fortunately, it was full of trash. The problem was that he had no idea what the guy had thrown away. It could have been something important, or it could have been just trash. Soon after, Choi Won-joon, who had followed him, looked puzzled.
“I wondered why you came so urgently, and it was this?”
Lee-eum carefully searched through the trash, separating it. He checked every scrap of paper and set it aside. Choi Won-joon brought gloves and squatted down on the opposite side. Lee-eum looked up at Choi Won-joon.
“Stay in the car. I can find it quickly.”
“Let’s do it together. I’ll help you.”
“I’m afraid someone will see us. Imagine if a photo of the President rummaging through a trash can gets published somewhere. What would happen the next day?”
“Did you buy stock in our company?”
Lee-eum subtly avoided his gaze, and Choi Won-joon smiled with an amused expression.
“I thought you weren’t interested in that kind of thing?”
“Not me, but my Hyung. So it can’t go bankrupt.”
His Noona thought he was joking, but his Hyung really lost money on stocks, and the only one that went up was Sehwa Construction. Lee-eum was relieved that he wasn’t the only one who had received help from Choi Won-joon, as the case of arresting the drug dealer last time also contributed to improving Sehwa Construction’s image.
“Don’t worry. Even if the company goes bankrupt, I can easily support you.”
“……”
“So, since we’re seriously dating, shouldn’t we think about marriage too?”
No sooner had he finished speaking than Lee-eum found a small USB drive. His eyes sparkled as he picked it up, and Choi Won-joon also focused.
“Is that it?”
“I’ll check.”
He hurriedly took off his gloves, got into the car, and connected it to his laptop. A ledger appeared. It showed money being traded and received, and the industries were diverse. Lee-eum took it out, put it in an envelope, and returned to his spot.
In the meantime, Choi Won-joon had put all the trash in the container and moved it aside. He took off his gloves, brought his hands to his nose, and smelled them. Feeling sorry, Lee-eum went to the car and grabbed a wet wipe.
“You didn’t have to do that. I was going to clean it up.”
Choi Won-joon wiped his hands and playfully hugged Lee-eum. When he tried to avoid him, he hugged him even tighter around the waist and rubbed his cheek against his shoulder.
“It’s nice just to hold you like this.”
“Get off. Someone will see us.”
“There’s not a single ant here. Who would?”
“Do you want to be touching trash like this?”
“If I’m with you, Darling, I’d be happy even if I rolled around in a pile of poop.”
“Stop it, get off. No, why are you doing this?”
After finally getting him off, Lee-eum looked down at Choi Won-joon’s lower body. As he was hugging him, something kept poking his thigh, and he realized that he had gotten erect. Amused, he laughed, and Choi Won-joon shrugged.
“Don’t look at me with such contempt. It’s like a dog wagging its tail when it’s happy. Woof woof.”
Has he finally gone crazy…? At least dogs are cute. But he couldn’t say that. He felt sorry that he had followed him all the way here and rummaged through the trash, regardless of whether he was helpful or not. He now knew that he really meant it when he said he came because he missed him. Of all people, he had to meet a cop. It would have been nice if he had met an ordinary person and dated.
“Let’s go. It’s late…”
As he got into the car and drove back to the police station, sleep-inducing music played on the radio. Choi Won-joon opened the window, and a humid breeze rushed in. He put his arm out the window and smiled, then turned his gaze to Lee-eum.
“This kind of date isn’t so bad, is it?”
“Don’t come next time.”
“Why?”
“President, you’re tired from work too.”
“I can’t sleep without you anyway. You know that.”
“You said you’re much better now.”
“I’m better, but not cured.”
Choi Won-joon’s face definitely looked brighter these days than before. The somewhat sensitive look in his eyes also seemed more relaxed. He was relieved, but then he wondered why he was even checking Choi Won-joon’s complexion and worrying about him. Still, he resolved to treat him well since things had turned out this way.
As they were almost at the police station, it was quiet, and he saw that Choi Won-joon had fallen asleep with his eyes closed. Lee-eum turned down the radio volume, carefully drove the car into the parking lot, and turned off the engine.
It would be dawn soon…
The President was getting old and didn’t sleep in in the mornings, and he came to work earlier than others. He wanted to prevent the unfortunate event of running into Choi Won-joon. He reached out to wake him up, but soon stopped.
Should he let him sleep for another 30 minutes? Well, that should be okay…
Looking at his sleeping face, he was reminded of Young-shik. How did we end up like this? Could you have imagined it? As he recalled the things that had happened, a smile unconsciously spread across his face.