Calm Before the Storm (2)
Hiroi Izakaya's owner, a man in his mid-40s also known as Lee Su, shook his head as he closed the door. Every time he stepped out to see off a regular customer, that black Jeep parked right in front caught his eye, staring him down. He knew this creepy sensation all too well—like bugs crawling over every inch of his skin. It was what people called killing intent, the gaze of a hunter sizing up its prey.
Ding-a-ling! A man in his twenties, wrapped in a black military jacket and a pulled-down cap, stepped into the empty izakaya.
"I'm not here to eat."
"I know. You've been waiting out front for three hours. You must be starving—have a seat. Can't send a guest away on an empty stomach when I'm the owner here. The sea bream's especially fresh today."
Looking more like a middle-aged corporate manager than an izakaya owner, Lee Su flashed a friendly smile and pulled a sea bream from the tank.
Surprised by the casual response, a glint of interest flickered in the young man's eyes. He sliced halfway through the thrashing fish's neck. Its gills heaved desperately, gasping for air. The knife cut through flesh and bone with fluid ease, like water flowing.
Kang Cheol-gu, the man in the black cap watching the knife work, narrowed his eyes.
"Lived your whole life with a blade in hand? Slicing sashimi like a pro. But old habits die hard, huh? You could kill it clean in one go, but you drag out the pain."
He knows me.
With a long exhale, the atmosphere around the middle-aged man shifted. The friendly smile vanished, replaced by the cold visage of a butcher fresh from the slaughterhouse.
He had no intention of asking who the guy was, how he knew him, or who'd sent him. Subdue first, interrogate later. Kill after. Same as always.
Lee Su nodded, took a short breath, and vaulted over the two-meter counter. The soju bottle in his hand hurtled toward the young man.
As if caught off guard by the sudden attack, the man's body stiffened.
This easy…?!
His surprise was fleeting. The man in the black cap dodged the bottle with a light chuckle.
Good. That's more like it.
Lee Su's lips curled as his wrist twisted. In the instant the remaining liquor splashed across the man's vision, his elbow slammed into the opponent's jaw.
All in one breath.
Now finish it. Closing in on the man whose head had dropped from the impact—
Shing!
A sashimi knife gleamed in Lee Su's hand, slicing toward the man's throat. A blue flash tore through the indoor lights.
Can't block this!
Just as Lee Su's lips twisted in triumph, the opponent closed the gap instead. He spun with the blade's trajectory like a waltz dancer. As the knife sliced empty air, the man's headbutt crushed Lee Su's nose.
Drip, drip!
Blood gushed from his nose in one hit, ragged breaths escaping as dizziness gripped him. A hollow groan slipped from his lips as he clutched his spinning head.
One moment it felt like textbook martial arts; the next, like a street brawler from the markets. A long-forgotten emotion crept up—curiosity.
"Not usually into guys, but I'm curious what the hell you are."
"Bad intel? I heard Lee Su was the silent type."
The izakaya owner's eyebrows twitched. He'd called him Lee Su. Only a handful knew that name. No—right now, just that one man.
Doubt bred unease; unease shattered his calm. The instant Lee Su's eyes wavered, something blotted his vision.
He swung the knife on reflex, slicing clean through—but it was just the white tablecloth, torn horizontally and fluttering to the floor.
No opponent in sight.
Then, breathing from below. Like a reaper's scythe, the man's forearm swept his legs.
The ceiling spun into view in an instant; pain exploded in his back, stealing his breath. He swung the knife for a counter, but his hand felt empty. The sashimi blade that had been holding the sea bream was now in the man's grip.
An incredulous smile tugged at Lee Su's lips. A twenty-year knife man disarmed?
The man's hand flashed. Agonizing pain ripped through his gut. Chills and fever wracked his body simultaneously. Blood bubbled steadily from the wound where the sashimi knife was embedded.
The man slowly stood, pulling a phone from his pocket as he gazed down at the dying man.
"…It's me. Director Jeong. Just took care of Lee Su like you said. Yeah. Easier than expected. I'll destroy the CCTV card and stage it as a robbery-murder. Tell the boss the same."
If he knew my name and came on Director Jeong's orders to kill me…
Biting his lip amid fading consciousness, tears welled in Lee Su's eyes.
Ten years slaving like a dog!
The man's retreating back stretched sideways through the front door.
* * *
Sliding into the Jeep, Kang Cheol-gu let out a long-held breath. Strong bastard. If he had to compare, on par with that Chun guy from Sinseon Island? Where Chun's aura was cold and restrained, Lee Su's burned hot and sticky.
If the guy hadn't faltered, he might've been the one on the floor.
He pulled out the burner phone from the back seat and dialed 119.
"Someone got stabbed at Hiroi Izakaya by the Changun-dong rotary right now. No, just passing by and saw it. Hurry."
Rubbing his bruised jaw from the hit, he turned the key as faint ambulance sirens echoed in the distance.
* * *
The hospital's cresol stench stung Lee Su's nose. Through his hazy vision, a white ceiling swam into view.
"Nurse Park, the emergency stab victim's still unconscious?"
"Yes. Lucky the blade missed vitals—no life-threatening damage."
"Good. Stab wound for now… Police notified?"
"Right after surgery, Doctor Lee."
Lee Su struggled upright, parted the curtain, and peered out the window. A patrol car approached in the distance.
He threw on the doctor's coat from the rack and staggered from the room.
"Hey! Patient, what are you doing?"
"You can't move yet!"
"Nurse Jeong, stop him!"
He ignored the shocked cries from the doctors and nurses behind him. Rounding the stairs, a burly male nurse blocked his path but crumpled from a single strike.
No time for the elevator. Sprinting down the emergency stairs, blood seeped from his unhealed wound.
Can't get caught by the cops here.
"Freeze! Hands up, lean against the wall."
An unfamiliar voice rang out as he burst through the hospital back door into the parking lot. Two cops from the responding patrol car had him surrounded, tasers and batons drawn.
Lee Su hung his head with a bitter smile. Sure, he'd brushed death's door, but they thought that meager backup could take him down?
"Aa—Unit 28 here at Changun Hospital parking lot, detaining armed suspect. No, not caught red-handed; hospital reported, intercepted him fleeing."
One radioed HQ while the gray-haired cop approached with cuffs from his belt.
"Non-compliance means cuffs and straight to the station. Cooperate, plea—"
Shwick!
The white doctor's coat billowed like a cape. The cop with the cuffs clutched his throat with a strangled scream, knees buckling.
The other reflexively aimed his taser, but Lee Su grabbed the first cop one-handed, using him as a shield. A baton—snatched in the chaos—now pointed at the second man's throat.
"Not looking to make noise. Drop the radio quiet-like and get in the back seat."
Growling low while glaring at the taser, Lee Su's voice rumbled.
The young patrolman's hand—barely out of his twenties—shook violently.
"O-okay! I'll do what you say, so j-just calm down."
Bam!
He tossed the seized radio to the ground, herded both cops into the patrol car's back seat, and slammed the door shut. The rookie yanked futilely at the handle, but it wouldn't budge.
"Officer Kim, save your strength. Stay quiet till backup. Back seats don't open from inside, you know?"
"Senior Officer Yoo, this isn't the time to be chill! Cops failing to nab an armed perp—and getting locked up ourselves? Brass finds out, we're done for—disciplinary action for sure!"
The rookie vented furiously at the white-haired veteran.
"But we're alive, aren't we?"
"What?!"
Slumped deep in the seat like he'd accepted his fate, Officer Yoo eyed the huffing young cop.
Yeah, right in your prime for that.
"Officer Kim, you know how long I've been on the force?"
"Yeah, pushing thirty years. Retiring in two months. But why bring that up now?!"
"…How many criminals you think I've faced? Killers, robbers, all sorts. But nothing like that guy. Hospital said twelve stitches. Dude could've croaked any second, yet he moved like that. Sounds pathetic, but our uniforms are why we got off this easy. Civilians? No telling."
Ignoring the rookie's bug-eyed shock, Officer Yoo stared bitterly out the window.
Retirement in two months? Nah, handing in my resignation the second I get back.
* * *
"Hyungnim! You see the police intranet buzz? Station chief in Samjeong-gu pulled strings—no press leak—but wild shit went down last night!"
"Samjeong-gu…?"
Detective Kim Gwang-il, tablet in hand, glanced around before approaching me.
"Yeah. 11:11 PM yesterday, 112 got a call about a stabbing at an izakaya in Changun-dong. Victim rushed to nearby ER, surgery done. Cops notified per protocol, local precinct rolls out—and that's when it gets insane!"
His voice rose with excitement.
"Victim attacks nurses mid-treatment, bolts. Overpowers the responding cops, locks 'em in their own back seat, and ghosts. Asked a buddy at Samjeong Station—chief's pissed, but the cops who botched the arrest? Cool as ice."
"Who responded?"
"Fresh rookie patrolman and a sergeant two days from retirement. Get this—the sergeant's line is nuts. 'How you catch an elephant with a slingshot? I'm fine dying, but saved the young buck's life—good enough,' then tells 'em to suck it up. What kinda monster makes a thirty-year vet say that?!"
"Suspect got away?"
"Yeah. Checked every nearby CCTV—vanished like a ghost."
I nodded slowly. Time to watch the wounded beast thrash in its death throes.
* * *
[Assemblyman Yoon Kyung-yeong]
Pastor Jeong, station chief, paced the hallway, unable to open the door with its faded sign. The crushing weight of reporting this inexplicable mess to his boss, Yoon Kyung-yeong, pinned him down.
Swallowing hard as he gripped the knob, Yoon Kyung-yeong's sharp voice leaked through.
"…What the hell do you mean by that?!"