The three people who arrived at the cafe finished placing their orders in turn.
"I'll buy your coffee."
"It's okay..."
"Come on, what's wrong with a senior treating you?"
"Calling yourself a senior while buying a 2,000 won coffee from the in-house cafe?"
Hwang Ho-jin clicked his tongue looking at Choi Jun-hee. Unlike with Kim Yong-won where there seemed to be an invisible wall, these two seemed close. Jeong Ho-san carefully opened his mouth while looking at the two:
"Um... What do you mean there were many problems with Team 1?"
At Jeong Ho-san's words, both of their gazes sharpened. Though they were still smiling, their eyes had changed. The two exchanged indecipherable looks while glancing at each other, then looked back at Jeong Ho-san. Choi Jun-hee was the first to speak:
"Let me ask one thing first. Why did Jeong Ho-san decide to join ACID?"
"She means, why did you walk into this hell when you could have been successful just by staying put?"
Fortunately, he had already prepared an answer for this question.
-During the interview, and when you join ACID, everyone will ask Jeong Ho-san. Why on earth did you choose this thorny path when you could have been successful just by staying put? So it's better to prepare a definite answer for that.
At Do Chae-hee's advice, Jeong Ho-san had prepared his own answer.
"To be honest, I didn't intend to join ACID from the beginning. I made this decision because I heard the news that my friend had become a criminal."
The two's eyes shook at those words.
"That case where Jeong Ho-san was a person of interest, could it be..."
"The illegal gate incident. I'm not sure if you remember..."
"Ah, that case."
Since it was a case that even had a large-scale public wanted notice, anyone working at ACID would know about it. Moreover, it was a case where the culprit still hadn't been caught even after the public wanted notice.
"Did you come to find that friend?"
"That too, and I was curious about what circumstances led that friend to commit a crime."
It was a case that would come out immediately if they dug anyway, so Jeong Ho-san decided to honestly spill everything.
"...So I came this way to find that friend's whereabouts and to know exactly what happened."
"You must have cared for that friend a lot."
At Hwang Ho-jin's words, Jeong Ho-san closed his mouth tightly and just nodded. Jeong Ho-san, who clasped his hands together under the table, unconsciously fiddled with the red ring Kang Yi-sin had left behind.
Choi Jun-hee, who had been staring at that sight, smiled and said:
"Then you won't quit at least until you find out about that friend."
"Do many people quit?"
Hwang Ho-jin, who leaned back in his chair, shrugged his shoulders and opened his mouth:
"More than you can imagine."
There weren't many paths available for awakeners who weren't scouted by large guilds. They had to lower their expectations and join a small or medium-sized guild, or go overseas as mercenaries.
Working as a government-affiliated awakened didn't seem too bad among the remaining choices.
In fact, awakened affiliated with ACID were receiving quite good welfare benefits.
But the problem was the work intensity.
"The work here is on a different level from guilds."
"Being able to leisurely sip coffee at a cafe like this happens maybe once or twice in two weeks, if that."
"That's right. In that sense, our new recruit is really lucky. These premium talents are right here to answer your questions. Yeah, ask anything you're curious about. I'll answer everything I can answer."
At Choi Jun-hee's words, Jeong Ho-san gulped. If that was the case, there was a question he had wanted an answer to from earlier.
"You said there were many problems with Team 1, right? What kind of problems were they?"
At Jeong Ho-san's words, Choi Jun-hee quietly blinked.
"Is that all you're curious about? Well, I thought you'd ask things like how to do the work, how to use your annual leave, how to please Team Leader Song Cheon-gil."
"I was just concerned about it."
Choi Jun-hee nodded at Jeong Ho-san's words.
"Well, there's nothing I can't tell. That team is all ruined now anyway."
Choi Jun-hee, who tapped the table while saying that, continued in a subdued voice:
"If I had to sum up Team 1 in one phrase, it would be this. Do Chae-hee's one-man team."
"Do Chae-hee's... one-man team?"
"Yes, Director Park Cheol-wan really pushed her hard. I know they knew each other from before, but it was really blatant. It doesn't make sense for someone in their mid-20s to become the leader of ACID Team 1 from the start, right?"
Thinking of Song Cheon-gil, the leader of Team 2, it was certainly a fast promotion that could be called exceptional. Moreover, didn't Kim Yong-won say it too? That Team 1 was the face of ACID.
The situation where a novice in their mid-20s became the leader of Team 1, beating out people with over a decade of experience, was certainly not normal.
"Do you know what Team 2 did while Team 1 swept up all the cool cases that got media spotlight? We were just catching petty thieves. Petty thieves, murderers, fraudsters. No matter how many of those people we catch, not a single line appears in the media. But the cases Do Chae-hee took? They were on the news every day."
It certainly was like that. Even the case Kang Yi-sin was involved in was handled by Inspector Do Chae-hee, and the Bomnal Orphanage case after that, and the Weltschmerz case that followed were all Team 1's work.
"I wouldn't say anything if she at least had the skills. But she always fails on top of that. Do you know what her case closure rate is? Haha, it's barely 30%, if that."
Choi Jun-hee gritted her teeth.
"Fine, I don't care if she became team leader through connections or whatever. But I can't stand our team being called incompetent along with her."
ACID was always criticized as incompetent in the media. Because all the cases Do Chae-hee handled kept blowing up. Though the cause might not lie with Do Chae-hee as an individual, it was perfect for making Do Chae-hee look incompetent in the end.
"Do you know what we called Inspector Do Chae-hee?"
Choi Jun-hee continued with a bitter smile:
"Princess."
"That's..."
"Do you think we're being too harsh?"
Jeong Ho-san couldn't give any answer to Choi Jun-hee's words. Jeong Ho-san knows Do Chae-hee as a person. How much she agonizes and suffers too.
But their words had a point too. It was true that Do Chae-hee was walking a path of success that others couldn't even imagine, on the red carpet laid out by Director Park Cheol-wan.
"Of course, if we had to pick the person most at fault, it would be Director Park Cheol-wan. He brought in one young girl, set her up as a figurehead, and just doted on her. But still. To me, Inspector Do Chae-hee looks like the same kind of person."
"...Hmm."
Jeong Ho-san closed his mouth. Certainly, Do Chae-hee under Director Park Cheol-wan was unparalleled in her high-handedness. The situation, the environment must have made her that way.
"Honestly, I can understand why Director Park Cheol-wan pushed Inspector Do Chae-hee into the media. She's quite pretty. It certainly made for a good picture."
"Hmm."
Jeong Ho-san smiled awkwardly at those words. He didn't want to evaluate Do Chae-hee's face behind her back. At that lukewarm reaction, Choi Jun-hee grumbled:
"I feel like I'm the only bad person here."
"That's right, bad person."
At Hwang Ho-jin's words, Choi Jun-hee blushed and grumbled:
"I'm not the only one who said these things. You did too, right? Everyone else said the same things."
"It's not something you should proudly say anywhere. Especially not in front of a new recruit on their first day."
"That's true."
The two smiled bitterly at each other like that. Choi Jun-hee took a sip of her iced Americano and continued:
"So I was really surprised to hear that Inspector Do Chae-hee stepped down, no, was kicked out from the team leader position. I thought those two would go together for life. Even if Inspector Do Chae-hee caused trouble, I wonder if it was enough to drive her out like this."
"I know, right."
The two who were talking like that kept glancing at Jeong Ho-san who continued to stay silent. They were excited to talk earlier, but now they seemed concerned about Jeong Ho-san's reaction.
"I know it's really bad to talk behind someone's back at our first meeting, but still, um, I had a lot pent up! And I also heard that Inspector Do Chae-hee might come here."
"Here?"
"Well, there's nowhere else for her to go, right? She'll probably stay in Team 1 until it's completely gone, but after that, Inspector Do Chae-hee will have to transfer too. This is the only team left under ACID anyway."
Choi Jun-hee sighed deeply, seemingly displeased at the thought of having to work with someone she disliked so much. Hwang Ho-jin also looked uncomfortable.
"She'll probably be much more uncomfortable than us though."
"You mean it's daunting to think of facing her after badmouthing her like this?"
"I can't say that's not true."
Choi Jun-hee, who said that, muttered softly:
"But come to think of it, there's no reason to get along with her, right? Kim Yong-won will probably take good care of her anyway."
"Right, that person would probably take good care of her saying 'Inspector Do Chae-hee! What brings you to this humble place! I'll serve you well from now on.'"
The two exchanged words again, leaving Jeong Ho-san out. Jeong Ho-san quietly stared at the edge of the table.
The evaluation of Do Chae-hee was much worse than expected.
From finding the real villain behind Director Park Cheol-wan, to facing the cold gazes within ACID. Isn't this situation too harsh for Do Chae-hee as an individual to bear?
Of course, Do Chae-hee said it was all something she had to go through...
'Ugh.'
Jeong Ho-san decided to observe this situation for now. Didn't Do Chae-hee say so too? That if it really becomes unbearable, it would be enough just to listen to her story then. It wasn't right for him to step in before that.
While Jeong Ho-san was lost in thought, Choi Jun-hee continued speaking:
"Anyway, Team 1's work came to us after that incident. That's why Team Leader Song Cheon-gil is busy... We even took on the Weltschmerz case."
Weltschmerz, Jeong Ho-san blinked at those words.
"Team 2 took on the Weltschmerz case?"
"All the cases Team 1 was handling came to us. We're completely swamped because of it."
"But we finally got a pretty decent case."
"So far, it feels like we're just doing the same thing every day though."
"If it was always this leisurely like today, this job would be quite doable."
"Y-you shouldn't say that!"
"Oops!"
Just as Hwang Ho-jin covered his mouth, the pager on Choi Jun-hee's waist started ringing. Choi Jun-hee glared at Hwang Ho-jin and checked her pager.
"Nice!"
"What do you mean nice! Why do I have to go when you're the one who blabbed?"
As Choi Jun-hee said, Hwang Ho-jin's pager was silent. It seemed only Choi Jun-hee was being dispatched for this case.
"Have a good trip."
Hwang Ho-jin just waved his hand at Choi Jun-hee. Choi Jun-hee, who stood up abruptly, said to Jeong Ho-san:
"Let's go together?"
"What?"
But it's the first day? He hadn't even received proper explanations yet? Hwang Ho-jin smiled while pushing Jeong Ho-san's back:
"Seeing as only Unit 1 was called, it doesn't seem like a difficult case, so why don't you go and see? There's nothing more certain than seeing firsthand what kind of work you'll be doing from now on, right?"
Jeong Ho-san's jaw dropped.
And so Jeong Ho-san was dragged into an unscheduled dispatch.