The Day of Death: Yoon Ji-ho
He was yanked into the world of the Register right in the middle of the street.
What a spectacular way to humiliate myself.
Park Su-hwan let out a long, heavy sigh and muttered under his breath. By now the world outside had to be losing its mind over him. A young guy suddenly rolling his eyes back and mumbling to himself—if luck turned sour he might even end up thrashing around on the pavement for everyone to gawk at. One wrong move and he’d become the whole neighborhood’s free show.
No, wait. He already was.
Su-hwan swallowed a dry laugh and shook his head. He’d been hunting for a solution to this exact problem for a while now, but nothing decent had ever come to mind. This place wasn’t somewhere you could simply refuse to visit. The Register always swallowed him without the slightest warning, and his own will never factored into it for even a second.
Tsk… Fine. Just look at the damn Register already.
Obsessing over something he couldn’t fix right now was a pure waste of time. Su-hwan reached out and snatched the ledger floating in the empty air.
Hoo…
This was always the moment that set his nerves on edge. The police officer with the honest, open face—what kind of tragedy was waiting for him?
Su-hwan carefully opened the Register.
Name: Yoon Ji-ho. Age…
He began reading the contents slowly. At some point the surroundings melted into a rundown villa complex steeped in a gloomy, oppressive air.
Directly in front of Su-hwan stood a shabby villa with faded pink outer walls. Yet the man who mattered—Yoon Ji-ho—was nowhere to be seen.
Where the hell did he go?
The moment Su-hwan tilted his head in confusion—
Wheeeeeee!!
A police car came screaming in from the distance and screeched to a halt right in front of him.
“This the place?”
“Yes. We’re here.”
The man who climbed out of the car with Yoon Ji-ho was older, with a noticeably round belly.
“College towns are the worst for this kind of crap. Absolute worst.”
Ji-ho’s superior clicked his tongue, radiating pure annoyance.
“They call the cops over every little thing.”
“Still, they said the fighting sounded pretty serious, so we should be careful…”
“Young couples and their lover’s quarrels—it’s all the same. Look at you, wound so tight just because you only got assigned recently. Give it a few years of real field work and you’ll end up just like me.”
The superior’s belly jiggled as he let out a hearty laugh. He looked nothing like a police officer answering a call. He looked exactly like any random neighborhood ajusshi.
“They said the report was for unit 202, right? You already got the cooperation request lined up?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
Even under his superior’s endless stream of half-joking complaints, Yoon Ji-ho’s expression never softened.
Anyone can tell this kid’s a total rookie.
Su-hwan studied Ji-ho’s face and thought exactly that. In contrast, the superior showed not a single scrap of a police officer’s sense of duty.
Beep. Beep-beep. Ding-dong~
The superior punched the intercom number for the shared entrance. After a few cheerful chimes the door unlocked.
“Head up to 301.”
“Okay. No elevator either. Tch.”
Su-hwan quickly trailed after them.
“Pretty quiet, isn’t it? Think they already made up? Maybe we just report that it got resolved and head back.”
“…”
“You little punk. What’s with that look?”
The superior thumped Ji-ho’s chest and forced a smile.
“Loosen up that face. I was joking.”
“Yes. I know.”
The superior deliberately ignored Ji-ho’s still-stiff expression and started climbing the stairs. Before long they reached the problem unit—301.
“Get behind me.”
Ding-dong.
The moment Ji-ho stepped back, the superior jammed his finger on the doorbell.
Ding-dong.
“Acting like they don’t know we’re here.”
He kept jabbing the button in an irritated tone, but not the slightest hint of movement came from the other side of the door.
“Think if they just stay quiet we’ll turn around and leave? Right?”
“Seems that way. But a report came in, so we still have to check…”
“Watch this.”
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The superior hammered the door hard enough to make it shake and bellowed at the top of his lungs. His voice echoed through the entire villa like a foghorn.
“Police! We know you’re in there!”
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!!
“If you keep this up we’ll force the door open, so open it nice and easy!”
Bang! Bang! Bang!
“D-Do we really have to go that far…?”
“This is just how it works.”
Bang! Bang…!
A metallic click sounded and the door cracked open. The superior jerked his chin toward Ji-ho with an arrogant look that clearly said See? My way works.
“What’s this about…?”
A haggard-faced man peeked through the gap.
“Ah. We received a report and came to check.”
“A report?”
“Yes. Someone said the fighting was pretty loud.”
“Ah… It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.”
The man lowered his eyes once and answered the superior in a dry voice.
“Once a report’s been filed we still have to verify things by procedure.”
When the man tried to slam the door shut, the superior quickly shoved his hand into the gap and blocked it.
“Haha. Sir. That’s not happening.”
He put on a friendly smile, trying to defuse the suddenly tense atmosphere.
“Could we just take a quick look inside?”
“…”
The man clenched his teeth and tried to force the door closed, but even a pot-bellied older cop was still a cop—his strength won out.
That was when it happened.
Crash! Thud!!
The sound of furniture toppling violently rang out.
“You bitch…! Ugh!”
The moment the truth he’d been trying to hide spilled out, the man panicked. The superior didn’t miss the opening—he drove his shoulder into the door and shoved it wide open.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing!”
The man’s build was roughly the same as the superior’s. Even so, the older officer showed not a trace of fear.
“I told you we just needed to check for a moment, didn’t I?”
Watching the scene, Su-hwan’s eyes went wide. He’d taken the guy for nothing more than a lazy neighborhood cop who hated working. Yet here he was, showing a backbone and toughness Su-hwan hadn’t expected at all.
“P-Police can’t just—!”
Ignoring the man’s frantic protests, they stepped inside.
“S-Save me… hic…”
A woman crawled out of the room and collapsed, sobbing. Her hands were tightly bound with rope, and her face was covered in purple bruises. One glance was enough to know this situation would not end cleanly.
“Shit…”
The superior spat the curse under his breath.
“Call for backup right now.”
“Y-Yes!”
Yoon Ji-ho, momentarily struck speechless by the horror of the scene, hurriedly keyed his radio.
“What the hell are you doing!! What do you think you’re doing!”
Hearing the request for backup, the man surged to his feet and roared.
“Get the woman free.”
“Yes!”
“No! You people! Get out!!”
When the man lunged toward Ji-ho, the superior blocked him and spoke.
“If you interfere with a lawful execution of duty you can be arrested for obstruction of justice. We’re only investigating for now, so…”
Crack!
“Argh!”
The man snapped his head upward with vicious force. The hard crown of his skull smashed clean into the superior’s chin. The older officer staggered, the arm pinning the man losing its strength. Freed, the man howled and charged at Yoon Ji-ho, who was trying to help the woman up.
“She’s my girlfriend! Don’t you touch her!!”
But Ji-ho, much taller, easily stopped him. The man toppled backward in an undignified sprawl.
“D-Don’t fucking touch her! You son of a bitch!”
The man’s eyes glittered with pure madness. Nothing about the way he acted looked like a lover. It was twisted possessiveness and obsession, pure and simple.
“Get your hands—!”
The superior flashed forward like lightning and piled onto the man’s back. He drove a knee into the man’s spine and fumbled for the handcuffs on his belt with one hand.
“You have the right to remain silen—”
The man’s resistance was far stronger than expected. Even with the superior’s full weight pressing down, it wasn’t enough.
“Get the woman out of here, now!”
“Yes!”
“That bitch started the fight! Who the hell dares not contact me! We agreed to talk every ten minutes…!”
Face smashed into the floor, the man screamed as if he were coughing up blood.
“How do I know she wasn’t out screwing some other guy! Look at her holding hands with a man right now!”
“Oppa! I never did anything! How many years have we lived together! Just trust me for once!”
The woman shook off Ji-ho’s hand and cried out.
“Y-You need to leave!”
“Ha! If you’d just behaved properly none of this would’ve happened!!”
“Hic… sob… I never did anything…”
“Stop lying! How the hell am I supposed to believe you!!”
“I showed you the texts and the calls! We even did video calls! Why do you keep… why do you keep suspecting meee…”
Bloodshot eyes fixed on the woman, the man muttered.
“You’re mine. You can’t go anywhere. You hear me? Trying to run… AAAAAARGH!!”
He clenched his teeth and twisted his body with sudden, explosive strength. Caught off-guard, the superior toppled sideways.
“Ugh!”
Freed, the man jammed his hand deep under the sofa cushion. When it came back out, a gleaming kitchen knife was clenched in his fist.
“Get your hands off! She’s my woman!!”
“No!”
Eyes completely gone, the man charged straight at Yoon Ji-ho. Panicked, Ji-ho threw his arm up to block—
Shunk!
The blade punched deep through his arm and blood erupted like a fountain.
“…!”
“Kyaaaaaaah!!”
A pain more horrific than anything he had ever felt in his life tore through him. Gritting his teeth, Ji-ho tried to grab the man’s knife hand with his free one, but his body refused to move properly.
“No!!!”
The superior flung himself forward to stop the man, but he was already too late.
Shunk!
The blade drove straight through Yoon Ji-ho’s neck.
“Haaah… haah… haah…!!”
Park Su-hwan clutched his chest and gasped for air. He never imagined he would witness another brutal murder scene from this close.
Uuuugh…
It felt as if Yoon Ji-ho’s blood had sprayed all over him.
“Hey!”
That crazy bastard!
“Hey!!”
Yoon Ji-ho—who only moments ago had been stabbed and bleeding out—was looking down at Su-hwan with worried eyes.