She’s no longer the team leader of the Awakener Crimes Department. She doesn’t know how many days she has left as a public official belonging to the Awakener Crimes Department.
When she returns here after a month, will her position really still be there?
Though Do Chae-hee had spoken so confidently to Park Cheol-wan, she too was barely in her mid-twenties.
From the moment she learned the true nature of Park Cheol-wan, whom she thought would be her strong fence for life, until now, she hadn’t been at ease even once.
Because she felt like the world she knew was crumbling.
Still, Do Chae-hee tried hard to pull herself together.
‘If I just worry, there’s no end to it. Let’s get a grip, let’s do what I can do right now. I have plenty of time for a month.’
It’s fortunate that she stepped down from the team leader position. Though it was an apologetic thing to say to her team members, honestly, it was clear that position didn’t suit her.
By being in the field this time, Do Chae-hee was finally able to shake off the frustration and powerlessness she had felt while spending months in front of a desk.
It was a position that didn’t suit her from the start. As she was thinking that and moving her steps.
“Team Leader!”
Do Chae-hee turned her head at the voice from behind.
Kim Yong-won, who had been her team member, was looking at her with an anxious face.
“Ah, Yong-won.”
“I-I heard! That you had to step down from the team leader position.”
Do Chae-hee smiled awkwardly.
“News travels fast.”
“Team Leader…”
“Ah, I’m not the team leader anymore. Call me comfortably, comfortably.”
“How can I do that! You are, you are the Team Leader.”
Kim Yong-won still saw Do Chae-hee as someone above the sky.
‘He’s only two years younger than me, yet he treats me like an adult.’
I can’t tell him it’s burdensome when such a mountain-like man acts like this.
“If you leave, Team Leader, what will happen to our team?”
“I wonder.”
Do Chae-hee smiled bitterly at Kim Yong-won’s words. In her position where she should be worried about whether her own position will remain, it was too early to talk about the team.
“I, I want to be with Team Leader Do Chae-hee no matter what happens!”
“I told you, I’m not the team leader anymore.”
“Th-then even as a partner.”
Do Chae-hee remained silent at Kim Yong-won’s words. Even when she was active, Do Chae-hee didn’t have a partner. Because Park Cheol-wan acted as her partner instead. At that time, she only felt grateful, but now that things have turned out like this, she wonders if that too was an attempt to control her.
‘No, let’s not deny the entire past. Still, those are my memories, my reminiscences. If I deny everything, I won’t be able to endure.’
Do Chae-hee, who sighed deeply internally, said to Kim Yong-won:
“Let’s talk when I come back first.”
On her way home, Do Chae-hee organized her thoughts over and over. The problem was how to use the floating month of time.
‘Maybe enemies will try to eliminate me during this month.’
Though she’s a fairly skilled awakener herself and doesn’t intend to just take it, it was certainly dangerous.
‘Alright, it would be good to prepare thoroughly.’
And…
Do Chae-hee, sitting on the living room sofa, looked at her phone.
Hoo, a sigh came out.
Her chest ached heavily. How nice it would be if she could take back all the words she had said to him.
Why was she so blind back then?
Now that she’s realized, it’s time to act. Do Chae-hee pressed the number without hesitation.
[Inspector Do Chae-hee?]
The owner of the number answered the phone as if he had been waiting. Do Chae-hee swallowed hard and said:
“Mr. Jeong Ho-san, I have something to say, shall we meet?”
* * *
Jeong Ho-san jumped out right away at Do Chae-hee’s call. Do Chae-hee dragged Jeong Ho-san into a bustling franchise cafe. It was a place where anything they said would be buried because everyone was busy talking.
Jeong Ho-san opened his mouth first to Do Chae-hee, who was clearly looking around:
“It’s been a while.”
At those words from Jeong Ho-san, Do Chae-hee answered awkwardly:
“Yes. I’m sorry. I’ve been a bit sensitive lately.”
Even if she didn’t think they would already be wiretapping her, didn’t they say prevention is better than cure?
Only after looking around could Do Chae-hee look straight at Jeong Ho-san’s face. As soon as their eyes met, Jeong Ho-san hurriedly asked:
“What did you want to say? Did you find out anything about Yi-sin by any chance?”
Do Chae-hee clenched her fist at Jeong Ho-san’s words pouring out without giving her time to answer.
“No. I’m sorry, but there’s no particular information yet.”
At those words, the faint hope that had appeared on Jeong Ho-san’s face disappeared instantly. Jeong Ho-san smiled bitterly and said:
“…I see.”
For several months, the investigation into the Kang Yi-sin case had been at a standstill. Do Chae-hee absolutely couldn’t find him, who had disappeared without any information as if he had shot up into the sky or sunk into the ground.
No, she didn’t even try to find him properly.
Do Chae-hee swallowed hard and said to Jeong Ho-san:
“So, about the Han Jo-hee murder case, I’m going to investigate it again.”
“That case?”
“Yes. I think we jumped to conclusions too hastily because there was a victim’s testimony.”
Do Chae-hee, who said that, quickly added:
“Of course, Mr. Kang Yi-sin is still a murder suspect. There are clear allegations that Mr. Kang Yi-sin committed murder in the illegal Gate. But I feel like the culprit in the Han Jo-hee murder case might not be Mr. Kang Yi-sin.”
At those words, Jeong Ho-san asked:
“Why did you suddenly think that?”
“Do you know about the Hyeonmu Pharmaceuticals incident?”
“Are you talking about the Assemblyman Kim Seong-deuk case?”
“Yes.”
This incident was so noisy that even Jeong Ho-san, who had no interest in such matters, roughly knew about it. Since a sitting member of the National Assembly was assassinated, it was impossible not to know.
“Both this incident and Mr. Kang Yi-sin’s case seem to have someone’s will intervening.”
At those words, Jeong Ho-san raised his eyebrows.
“What do you mean?”
“Before the Hyeonmu Pharmaceuticals incident, there was the Bomnal Orphanage incident. That case also couldn’t be investigated further due to pressure from above.”
Do Chae-hee explained the general situation to Jeong Ho-san.
“At that time, I was too excited by the thought of chasing a publicly wanted criminal to look back, but now that I think about it, I realize how narrow my vision was.”
Do Chae-hee continued:
“I think Mr. Kang Yi-sin raided the illegal Gate in the first place to rescue the people there.”
Like Weltschmerz who attacked Bomnal Orphanage and rescued (though she can’t say it so definitively) the children. Kang Yi-sin also rescued the victims trapped there. The murder was just an unavoidable incident that occurred in the process.
“At first, I had a big backlash. I thought that no matter what, he should have notified the police, that it was wrong for him to step up like that. But now I understand. Why Mr. Kang Yi-sin made such a choice.”
“You think you can no longer trust the police.”
“Yes.”
Do Chae-hee, who was also a police officer, could no longer trust this government, this place called the Awakener Crimes Department.
Actually, didn’t Kang Yi-sin already know this fact long ago?
“If it was just for money, there was no reason to take out the victims from there. There was no reason to distribute mana stones to them. Mr. Kang Yi-sin was trying to save those people.”
Why couldn’t she see such an obvious fact back then?
“Over 80% of Gates appearing in Korea are detected by detectors. Gates that aren’t caught by detectors are immediately put up for public auction as soon as they’re discovered. This means that more than 95% of Gates generated in this country are recorded somehow.”
Do Chae-hee continued:
“Among those, some Gates reported as ‘cleared’ and processed for disappearance actually don’t disappear and become illegal Gates. So if we investigate all that data, we should be able to find Gates that didn’t actually disappear.”
And Gates that are recorded as disappeared but didn’t actually disappear. There’s only one such case.
“If we find illegal Gates, we can enter them and catch the enemies. I think if we find out who’s operating the illegal Gates, we might be able to find Mr. Kang Yi-sin.”
Kang Yi-sin surely knew who they were. And the side whose illegal Gate was raided must be looking for Kang Yi-sin too. There’s a high possibility that they were the ones who murdered Han Jo-hee.
Whether Kang Yi-sin is dead or alive, he must be connected to them.
Honestly, Do Chae-hee didn’t think Kang Yi-sin was alive. It’s been too long since Kang Yi-sin’s life signs were cut off to have such hope.
Still, the reason she’s trying to find Kang Yi-sin is because finding out what his end was like is the only thing she can do.
Jeong Ho-san, who had been quietly listening to Do Chae-hee’s words, said:
“It doesn’t sound like an easy method.”
“I suppose not.”
Hundreds of Gates appear and disappear every year. Since Gates are meant to disappear anyway, she understands that when they’re processed for disappearance, they’re deleted from records too. Even if records remain, Gate management is the responsibility of the Gate Management Office, so it’s difficult for other departments to view records arbitrarily.
To begin with, the moment she officially requests help, that request will be conveyed upwards, so she doesn’t intend to do that either.
“But for now, the only thing I have in excess is time.”
Do Chae-hee shrugged her shoulders and said lightly:
“If we look at internet articles or past records, we should be able to find out roughly where Gates occurred. I’m thinking of starting from there for now.”
While they might be able to tamper with Gate management records at will, they can’t delete all the articles spread on the internet.
If we search carefully like that, we’ll eventually catch one.
“The reason I called you today is to promise that I’ll dig into that matter from now on. That I’ll definitely find out what happened to Mr. Kang Yi-sin.”
Jeong Ho-san, who had been quietly listening to those words, slowly opened his mouth:
“Can I perhaps…”
“Yes?”
“Can I join in that work too?”
At those unexpected words, Do Chae-hee opened her mouth:
“What?”
“Until now, whenever I thought of Yi-sin, I denied what he did many times. While wanting to believe he wasn’t that kind of kid, I was swayed by the stories around me. I realized after hearing what Inspector Do Chae-hee said.”
“What?”
“That instead of suffering internally like that, I just needed to go look for myself.”
“Huuh?”
Despite Do Chae-hee’s reaction, Jeong Ho-san was still calm.
No, he looked relieved.
Because there was finally some progress in a matter that had been blocked as if by a wall until now.
“Until now, I couldn’t do anything because there was no method, but if I follow Inspector Do Chae-hee around, won’t I be able to find that friend somehow?”
“Ah, well, but even if we search like this, there’s no guarantee we can find Mr. Kang Yi-sin…”
Cutting off Do Chae-hee’s words, Jeong Ho-san continued speaking with a bitter smile:
“I know. That Yi-sin might not be alive in this world anymore. But still, still. I need to find my friend. Even if it’s an end I don’t want, I need to find even that end.”
At those words, Do Chae-hee closed her mouth.
Because she realized Jeong Ho-san wasn’t saying this simply to find Kang Yi-sin.
“What he wanted to do, why he started such things. Why he appeared in front of Yoo Seon-je but didn’t show even a hair in front of me. I must find out by all means.”
Hmm, it seems like something strange was mixed in the middle. There was no time to point that out. Jeong Ho-san’s words continued:
“It would be nice if I could ask him face to face, but even if that becomes impossible, it wouldn’t be bad to go the path that friend was trying to go instead.”
“Go that path instead, surely…”
“Would there be a place for me in the Awakener Crimes Department?”
At those words, Do Chae-hee opened her mouth:
“Is this something agreed upon with the Crimson Hound Guild?”
“No, I need to go tell them now.”
Jeong Ho-san scratched the back of his neck and laughed, ‘Haha.’
Do Chae-hee felt sorry as she remembered Guild Master Kim Myeong-cheol, who seemed to care for Jeong Ho-san very much.