Eve of the Storm (3)
“...What the hell does that mean right now?! Fine. Good work for now. Make sure nothing like this happens again—pay special attention from here on out.”
Yoon Kyung-yeong didn't spare a single glance at Jeong Soon-gyo, the director who'd just entered, his eyes fixed indifferently on the armrest of his worn-out chair. Jeong stood silently with his head bowed, like a wooden puppet without a breath of life.
It was a long while before Yoon Kyung-yeong finally spoke.
“I heard some interesting news. Apparently, Director Eom—no, Eom Jae-deok—made contact with some reporters. Lucky for us, it fell through before anything happened. But how do you explain the fact that Eom Jae-deok is still alive?”
This was news even Jeong Soon-gyo himself hadn't known. He'd thought he was handling every detail personally, but clearly there was another line at play. Biting his lip, Jeong gave a bitter smile.
“...That guy, Lee Soo, has vanished.”
“...!”
A sharp gaze pressed down on him, urging him to continue.
“Contact with him cut off suddenly, and the shop he was running is temporarily closed. Even checking the registry shows it's under a dummy president's name with untraceable identity, so we can't track him down.”
“...Why the hell would Lee Soo disappear?”
“I'm sorry. We don't know that part yet.... But could it be that he's turned on us?”
Yoon Kyung-yeong shook his head as if the idea was absurd.
“...Lee Soo is like a Jindo dog. He doesn't betray his master first. If a guy like that goes ghost, something must've happened to him. Make him come to me.”
“Yes, sir.”
Jeong Soon-gyo's face was dark as he closed the door behind him. Yoon Kyung-yeong's parting words echoed in his ears.
'But even the most loyal hounds bare their teeth at their master sometimes. When they think they've been abandoned.'
What if Lee Soo turned that blade on him? Jeong shivered and quickened his steps.
* * *
“I'm sorry, but without an official document, I can't disclose any patient information.”
“This is essential for the investigation.”
It had been three days since Lee Soo vanished. Kang Cheol-gu needed to confirm the extent of his injuries, but the head nurse at Changwoon Hospital's ER was adamant.
“...Aren't you Detective Kang Cheol-gu?”
As he argued at the desk, a doctor approached.
“That's me! I'm the surgeon who operated on that patient that night. Come with me.”
“But Dr. Lee!”
Ignoring the nurse's sharp protest, the doctor named Lee led him to his office.
“Sorry about that. She doesn't know the full situation. I figured it out from the patient's condition report.”
The room was empty save for the two of them, but the doctor's voice dropped as he glanced around.
“Violent crimes unit or something? He had slash wounds all over his body, plus gunshot scars.”
“Can't say more since it's an ongoing investigation. How was the patient's condition?”
I knew the wounds I'd inflicted myself. What mattered was his recovery timeline.
“The injuries weren't that severe. He was rushed here quickly, so blood loss was minimal. ...But he bolted like that, so I'm not certain....”
The doctor tilted his head, then continued slowly.
“...If he'd stayed for proper treatment, a month tops. On his own? At least three months, even if he's fast.”
“Thanks. That's a big help.”
Three months.... Not a blade I could wield right away. For now, I had to keep this unbroken sword alive.
Biting my lip, I yanked the wheel toward Seocho-dong.
* * *
Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, Anti-Corruption Investigation Division 2—the so-called Special Investigations Unit. I'd been waiting in the prosecutors' office for over thirty minutes when a female clerk approached cautiously, eyeing me.
“Sorry. If you'd called ahead, you wouldn't have had to wait like this....”
“No, it's my fault for showing up unannounced.”
With a light smile, I scanned the room. Stacks of A4 paper piled chest-high, crumpled paper cups, case files scattered everywhere. The gray space, devoid of any decorations, felt like a forward command post awaiting deployment orders.
Still the same as ever, Jae-hoon hyung.
My gaze deepened unconsciously. This was the office of Prosecutor Jeong Jae-hoon, who'd been a human rights lawyer in my previous life.
“Heard you have a visitor for me.”
The door swung open, and a hearty voice rang out.
“Huh? Whoa! Wait, I know that face. I've seen you somewhere....”
“Hello. I'm Kang Cheol-gu from Gangcheon Station.”
“Haha! Right, right. The runaway cop. Oh, sorry—rude to say it to your face, huh?”
“Nah, call me whatever.”
A man in his mid-thirties, sleeves rolled up, strode over and extended his hand.
“Before we get into why you're here, let's introduce ourselves. Jeong Jae-hoon, Special Investigations.”
“Kang Cheol-gu, as you know.”
“...So, what brings you here?”
“To talk about Director Eom—no, Eom Jae-deok.”
“...You had to bring up that name?”
Jeong Jae-hoon's easygoing demeanor soured, brows furrowing as he called to the female investigator at her desk.
“Investigator Park, mind stepping out for a bit?”
“Sure.”
An awkward silence settled over the room with just the two of us. Jeong Jae-hoon, chin jutted out and arms crossed, smirked up at me from his chair.
“Bribing me? Or threatening?”
“...?”
“Rumors aren't always reliable. I heard you had some guts for a cop.”
The initial warmth in his eyes was gone, replaced by contemptuous scorn. No clumsy feints to probe my identity—just his usual straight fastball, tight inside. Classic Jeong Jae-hoon.
“...What are you saying?”
“Didn't know you were one of Yoon Kyung-yeong's lackeys, Kang Cheol-gu. We're done here—get out.”
He turned away and stood, a clear dismissal.
“Don't you need an ally?”
“...!”
After my father's death left me cut off like a frayed thread, Jeong Jae-hoon—stripped of his badge for defying that man and turning to civil rights work—would sometimes share drinks with me at street stalls. When the soju hit just right, slurring through gritted teeth, he'd say:
'Cheol-gu, if only I'd met you sooner. Hell, if I just had one more little brother like you, one more comrade...!'
He sat back down with a smirk, eyes sharpening.
“...Smoke?”
“Nah.”
“Too bad. In Korea, it's all blood ties, school ties, regional ties, smoke ties.... In other words, you wanna be my ally. Right?”
He dropped the formal speech instantly.
“Why the look? No need to be polite to enemies, and if you're on my side, you're way younger—like a little bro—so casual it is. Besides, the Yoon Kyung-yeong I know wouldn't send some emotional ally-beggar.”
Nothing had changed. No matter the enemy's tricks, his motto was 'smash 'em head-on and crush with raw power.' Not exactly prosecutor material, but that's why I'd liked him.
“Let's reintroduce properly. Jeong Jae-hoon.”
His thick hand trembled faintly as he offered it again. I could feel the loneliness of those years.
“Days like this call for soju, but no time. Let's lay our cards on the table first. How'd you know I'm investigating Yoon Kyung-yeong? Only my investigators know that.”
“I've been chasing that bastard for a long time now. Found out in the process.”
Over a decade of pursuit.
“You just got instated this year, and it's been a long time?!”
“Dunno about you, hyung, but I'm not showing all my cards.”
“What? Haha! Fine, I'll let that slide. What else do you know?”
That one word—“hyung”—swept away his doubts for now.
“I know your investigation so far has plenty of suspicion but zero hard evidence.”
Jeong Jae-hoon's eyes narrowed.
“Yoon Kyung-yeong's never been linked to any overt crimes. He runs separate organizations for muscle, media manipulation, and political-business influence. His underlings only know their direct superiors—no one except a handful realizes it all leads to Yoon Kyung-yeong. That's probably everything you've dug up. No concrete crimes means the higher-ups ignore your reports and treat you like the ugly duckling stirring trouble.”
'And then you'll lose your badge to his counterattack.'
I held back the last part.
“...Honestly, up until a minute ago, I didn't fully trust you, Cheol-gu. But if you know this much detail, I should.”
After staring into my eyes for a long moment, Jeong Jae-hoon's mouth opened heavily.
“If you're the enemy and he's got me this figured out... it's a 100% loss anyway. Better odds believing you're on my side.”
“Quit acting like some cold pro gambler talking percentages. You always get beat bloody, then take the fall alone....”
“Hey! How'd you know that? You investigate that too?”
Shaking his head with a chuckle, Jeong Jae-hoon pulled his chair closer. His voice lowered.
“My goal: get that bastard in court for proper judgment. Can I trust you?”
“Of course.”
My confident reply hid an inner shake of the head.
Sorry, hyung. Yours is an investigation. Mine's revenge. Can't compromise on that.
“Good. So what do I do? You came here with a plan, right?”
“Hold off on investigating him for now. And....”
My voice dropped.
* * *
Well past midnight, two men with close-cropped hair entered Hiroi Izakaya. With no perpetrator traces and the injured witness gone missing, the police investigation was on hold. The men slipped in carefully, avoiding shattered dishes and broken glass, slinking like stray cats.
Their movements were seamless, honed by long practice. While one checked the internal CCTV memory card, the goggle-wearing man pulled out luminol reagent and sprayed it methodically around the footprints.
As glowing blue bloodstains lit up under camera flash, the other examined a torn tablecloth nearby, stifling a low groan. Even in the dark, his widened pupils were visible.
And then.
From the rooftop of the opposite building, a hulking shadow watched them. His hand reached for the phone in his pocket.
“Hyungnim, it's Gwang-il. Suspicious bastards showed up like you said. Take 'em out now?”
– No, just observe. They’ve got only one place to go anyway.
Kang Cheol-gu's voice came coolly over the line.
* * *
“A fight broke out inside the bar.”
“A fight?”
A thick voice boomed from Jeong Soon-gyo's car parked by the Han River. It was the two young men who'd searched Hiroi Izakaya.
“Yes. Footprints and traces inside point to two combatants. Luminol will give more precision, but one took a major wound from a sharp blade mid-fight. The noteworthy part is....”
The short man's rapid report paused briefly.
“One of them was an expert swordsman. Found a torn tablecloth at the scene—no pressure marks at either end. Means he sliced it clean out of mid-air. That's skill beyond even ours.”
Jeong Soon-gyo nodded silently. Lee Soo, as he knew him, deserved that assessment.
“But the problem: the bloodstains on site match the swordsman's.”
“What the hell?!”
Jeong's eyes wavered. If true, Lee Soo had been bested and vanished.
“Tell me everything.”
His breathing grew ragged.