“Team Leader Do!”
“Ah, Mr. Yong-won.”
Unlike Kim Yong-won who always looked energetic, Do Chae-hee’s complexion was not good today after staying up all night again.
Recently, her stress was immense as the case resolution rate had not risen above 20 percent. The cases Do Chae-hee had been personally pursuing for the past few months had also completely hit dead ends.
Kim Yong-won carefully opened his mouth while examining Do Chae-hee’s haggard face.
“Are you sleeping properly?”
“I’d like to say I’m sleeping well… But I really can’t.”
For Do Chae-hee, who always said she was fine no matter how hard things were, to say such a thing. Kim Yong-won looked at her with pitying eyes.
To change the atmosphere, Kim Yong-won raised his voice.
“Ah, have you seen the stories floating around on the internet these days?”
“No. I don’t even have time to access the internet, whatever it is.”
With stress and work pressure to the point of not being able to sleep, there was no time to read nonsense floating around on the internet.
“It’s about that Bomnal Orphanage.”
“Bomnal Orphanage?”
“Yes, speculations about the person who ran the orphanage. There’s a lot of talk saying that while Weltschmerz who attacked the place is bad, the person who ran that orphanage is the real villain.”
“Ah.”
At those words, Do Chae-hee blinked. Do Chae-hee, holding her head, said:
“Come to think of it, I hadn’t thought of that.”
It seems she only thought about catching Weltschmerz who committed the massacre after learning about the scene.
Director Park Cheol-wan also gave such orders right away. What did he say about the orphanage? Did he say there would be an internal investigation? No, did he not even start an investigation at all?
Why hadn’t she thought about that side until today?
Kim Yong-won said to her, who was making a blank expression:
“There’s also talk that opposition party’s Assemblyman Kim Seong-deuk was the operator there.”
At those words, Do Chae-hee laughed, forgetting the situation.
“Assemblyman Kim?”
That’s because it was such an out-of-nowhere statement.
Not just anyone, but Assemblyman Kim Seong-deuk?
Assemblyman Kim Seong-deuk was one of the most popular members of the National Assembly in Korea.
The first aid supplies to arrive when disaster strikes, Hyeonmu Pharmaceuticals’ potion sets.
During his time as chairman of Hyeonmu Pharmaceuticals, Kim Seong-deuk said he would supply Hyeonmu Pharmaceuticals’ potions at a shocking price in deals with the government, and he kept that promise. Thanks to that, Korea became a country that could generously distribute potions of the world’s highest quality at disaster sites.
It’s already been over 10 years since he became a member of the National Assembly with the goodwill gained from that. Kim Seong-deuk has spent that long time without any problems.
No, rather, his position has only become more solid as time passed.
To the extent that if you were to name someone the current president trusts more than anyone, Assemblyman Kim Seong-deuk’s name would always come up, he had a close relationship with the president, and Seol Rok-jin, whom he discovered, was also the most popular member of the National Assembly in current Korea.
What reason could he possibly have to commit such acts when he lacks nothing?
“Wait, are they making noise by linking this with Hyeonmu Pharmaceuticals?”
Pharmaceuticals and human experiments. Aren’t those perfectly matching keywords? At Do Chae-hee’s words, Kim Yong-won nodded.
“Yes, that’s what it seems.”
“You believe such talk?”
“Uh, but when you look at the posts there, they’re quite plausible…”
“Stop talking nonsense and go home.”
At Do Chae-hee’s words, Kim Yong-won scratched the back of his neck and bowed his head.
Looking at Kim Yong-won, Do Chae-hee clicked her tongue internally. She thought he wasn’t so careless as to fall for such nonsense.
To link Hyeonmu Pharmaceuticals with such a place, of all things. She knew the conspiracy theories floating around on the internet were of poor quality, but this was too much.
Click, Do Chae-hee frowned as she entered her office and saw an unfamiliar envelope on her desk.
“Huh.”
Did I put something like this here?
Do Chae-hee carefully circled around the desk and examined the envelope with her eyes.
The envelope placed on the desk wasn’t even one used within the Awakener Crimes Department. It clearly came from outside.
She thought it might have come by mail, but there was no stamp or postmark on the envelope’s surface.
The moment she saw the envelope with only her name written on it without any sender information, an ominous feeling welled up.
‘There were people who committed terrorism by putting powder poison in envelopes in the past.’
But she was too curious about what could be inside to just leave it alone.
“Urgh!”
Do Chae-hee, who stomped her foot in frustration, picked up the envelope. If I die, it’ll all be because of this damn curiosity.
Do Chae-hee, who muttered that internally, drew mana up to her eyes.
“Hmm.”
The letter seen with eagle eyes was not dangerous.
“Okay.”
Do Chae-hee, who sighed, carefully opened the envelope.
Fortunately, there was no poison spraying out or anything like that. All that was inside the envelope was a thick stack of documents and one voice recorder.
There was even a letter for Do Chae-hee on top of the documents.
[Hello, Team Leader Do Chae-hee. The reason I have taken up my pen like this is to inform you about the hidden truth of Bomnal Orphanage.
If there is anyone in this world more trustworthy than anyone else, it would be you. All the contents in here are true.
I beg you to please reveal the truth to this world.]
“Huh.”
The moment she read the letter contained in the envelope, Do Chae-hee instinctively felt it. Whatever was inside, it might shatter the world she had known until now.
Do Chae-hee, who placed the half-read letter on her desk, quickly flipped through the papers.
The ‘truth of Bomnal Orphanage’ that the writer of this letter spoke of was inside. It was only cruel facts that she wanted to believe were fabricated. But the photos, materials with accurate figures and information recorded. And even the miniature voice recorder at the end of the envelope.
Do Chae-hee looked at, read, and listened to all of it as if enchanted.
At first, she thought it was someone’s prank, but the quality of the information was too high to believe it was fabricated by someone.
By the time she had checked everything in the envelope, the sun had already set and it was dark all around.
‘Is this really true?’
At first, she thought this too was just a kind of baseless rumor. But the photos inside and the content were too serious to just dismiss it like that.
But what shook Do Chae-hee’s heart even more than that was the words written at the end of the letter.
‘The request to solve this case directly without Director Park Cheol-wan’s support.’
At those words, Do Chae-hee bit her lip. Because the hidden meaning in those words was clear.
The person who sent these documents and information to Do Chae-hee called themselves N. Looking at the contact information written below that, Do Chae-hee narrowed her eyes.
‘To leave even contact information, they seem quite confident.’
For now, what she needs to do is clear.
The person who sent this letter, it seems she needs to meet them in person.
* * *
Do Chae-hee, who put on casual clothes instead of the police uniform she always wore like a school uniform, entered the park while watching her surroundings.
In the middle of the night, the park located in a corner of Gyeonggi-do, not even in the city center, was deserted without any people.
In such a place with few people, the park where flickering streetlights were the only light source looked gloomy just by looking at it. Do Chae-hee sat down on a bench in that park.
N had even directly marked the place where Do Chae-hee should sit. They said they would come soon if she sat on that bench.
Even drug deals wouldn’t happen in a place like this. Do Chae-hee, who grumbled that internally, narrowed her eyes at a person walking from far away.
Could it be that person?
A woman who stopped near the streetlight next to the bench waved at Do Chae-hee.
“Hey, hello!”
A black half-mask to cover her face, and thick horn-rimmed glasses placed on top of the half-mask.
‘If you’re going to wear glasses, wear just glasses, and if you’re going to wear a mask, wear just the mask!’
She almost said that without realizing. The woman wasn’t the only one with a strange appearance. The tall woman standing next to her was wearing dark sunglasses that wouldn’t even let her see properly in the middle of the night.
“I didn’t know two people would come.”
At Do Chae-hee’s words, the woman wearing the half-mask, Nam Ju-hyeon, opened her mouth.
“She’s my bodyguard. I’m currently under threat of death for various reasons.”
At those words, Do Chae-hee quietly looked at the woman, Lee Hye-won, standing beside her. Though the sword on her back was bothersome, she had nothing to say since she was also an awakener and had brought a gun.
“Honestly, I didn’t think Team Leader Do Chae-hee would really come all the way here.”
Lie. Do Chae-hee twitched her eyebrows.
“Is all the information you sent me true?”
That Assemblyman Kim Seong-deuk was behind Bomnal Orphanage. And that human experiments under the name of clinical trials were rampant at Hyeonmu Pharmaceuticals he operates.
“Yes, it’s the truth without a single lie. Though I can’t tell you how I obtained that information.”
Though it was Nam Ju-hyeon who tried to dig into the back with questions, the person who provided such detailed information was that man from Weltschmerz. That’s something she really can’t say even if she dies.
At Nam Ju-hyeon’s words, Do Chae-hee moved on to the next question as if she hadn’t even expected an answer.
“In what sense did you say to investigate this case alone without Director Park Cheol-wan?”
At those words, Nam Ju-hyeon shrugged her shoulders and slowly nodded her head as she opened her mouth.
“Hmm, I’ll say it straightforwardly. I can’t trust Director Park Cheol-wan. I know you and Director Park Cheol-wan are close. But that person doesn’t have the will to resolve such matters.”
Not ability, but will. At those words, Do Chae-hee twitched her eyebrows.
As she felt from the letter, this woman. She clearly knows something Do Chae-hee don’t.
“How do you think Assemblyman Kim Seong-deuk could have committed all those acts? Because Assemblyman Kim Seong-deuk is that great? No, everyone turned a blind eye. If it weren’t for everyone’s tacit approval, it wouldn’t have come to this.”
“Are you saying Director Park Cheol-wan is included in that ‘everyone’?”
At Do Chae-hee’s sharp words, Nam Ju-hyeon continued speaking with her arms crossed.
“Yes. I’ll be honest. I think a person like Park Cheol-wan could become a ‘director’ in the first place because he’s someone who can turn a blind eye to such injustice.”
“Ha.”
Do Chae-hee clenched her fist. The Park Cheol-wan she had seen wasn’t such a bad person.
He was always the first to appear at crime scenes and the last to leave.
Park Cheol-wan was also the person who supported Do Chae-hee’s dream of becoming a police officer to prevent a world where villains run rampant again more than anyone else.
To say such a person knew about all those things and turned a blind eye?
It’s an absurd slander.
“Think carefully. If Director Park Cheol-wan was really as good a person as you say, could he have become the director of the Awakener Crimes Department? If he truly wanted to catch bad guys, why is the Awakener Crimes Department under him so incompetent?”
“Incompetent, you say? What do you know!”
At Do Chae-hee’s fierce attitude, the woman wearing sunglasses stepped forward. Do Chae-hee bit her lip and stepped back at the woman’s protection, who stretched out her hand holding the sword sheath.
Without knowing how much they try, how much effort they put in. She just says they’re incompetent and that’s it?
Do Chae-hee, who forcefully swallowed the words rising from inside while trembling, Nam Ju-hyeon slowly opened her mouth.
“Do you really think the Awakener Crimes Department tried? Do you really think you’re fighting for this world? Then why is the Awakener Crimes Department evaluated as so incompetent?”
Looking at Do Chae-hee, who couldn’t say anything and kept her mouth shut, Nam Ju-hyeon slowly continued speaking.
“You’ll find out as you dig into this case.”
At those words from Nam Ju-hyeon, Do Chae-hee took a deep breath.
“Whether Hyeonmu Pharmaceuticals and Assemblyman Kim Seong-deuk are really corrupt as you say, and whether Director… Park Cheol-wan is involved in that corruption.”
Do Chae-hee, who briefly caught her breath, continued:
“I won’t believe anything until I see it with my own eyes.”
“Good.”
As if it was the words she had been waiting for, Nam Ju-hyeon smiled brightly.
“Then can I think we’re on the same side until then?”
Do Chae-hee, who stared at the hand extended to her, opened her mouth while pretending not to see that hand.
“Do you have a plan?”