Chapter 130
Chapter 130
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 130
Chapter Title: Captured in the Drug Warehouse
-----------------------------------------------------------------
‘…Ugh.’
By the time Kang Hyun regained consciousness, quite some time had passed.
Regrettably, mingling with the gentle night breeze of a May evening was a fishy, peculiar smell that Kang Hyun had never gotten the chance to experience.
It seemed he had fallen into a trap and been dragged off to some secluded spot.
‘Damn it.’
Fortunately, he didn’t appear to have any major injuries, but he couldn’t move his body, bound by something.
His phone was gone too, so even if he got free, he wouldn’t be able to contact anyone.
At least his eyes weren’t covered, so after adjusting a bit to the darkness, his surroundings started to faintly come into view.
The area was filled with unfamiliar objects.
It looked like some kind of factory, but it was a place he’d never seen before. It could’ve been a rundown shack or a warehouse made by stacking old containers.
‘Stay calm for now.’
“Ugh.”
Kang Hyun took one last deep breath and barely managed to roll his prone body onto its side.
The first thing that caught his eye was truly unexpected.
‘Red peppers?’
It was hard to see clearly in the dim light, but judging by the distinctive smell and shape, the sacks were stuffed full of something like dried red peppers—agricultural produce.
But something was off. Beneath the produce were bags wrapped layer upon layer in tape.
It took Kang Hyun a while to recognize them. He’d only seen them in case files, never in person.
Still, he was certain. They were exactly that.
‘Drugs.’
A drug warehouse disguised as a crop drying factory.
The place where Kang Hyun lay sprawled was a hotbed of crime.
Clank, crash.
Suddenly, some noises rang out. Kang Hyun stopped thinking and focused on the sounds.
‘People. It’s them.’
The hoarse voices of a gang drifted faintly from outside the warehouse where Kang Hyun lay.
-Fuck! Do you even know who Kang Hyun is? You pulled this shit without knowing?
-I’m sorry…
-What the hell are we supposed to do now that we’ve knocked the bastard out and dragged him here?!
-…I’ll just handle it cleanly.
Smack!
-Handle it cleanly? One more day and the whole area’s gonna be crawling with trouble!
The sound of a slap echoed even into the dim warehouse interior. Things didn’t look good out there either, but one thing was clear.
‘Kidnapped in my lifetime.’
He had to escape. Kang Hyun started wriggling his hands and feet to check if he could loosen the bindings.
“Ugh.”
He kept straining with all his might to sit up. At the same time, he racked his brain. First, he needed to assess the situation more and think.
Click.
“…?”
Kang Hyun, who had thought he was tied with ropes, blinked in confusion at the sight of handcuffs clicking around his wrists.
It turned out that on top of the ropes, his wrists were also cuffed.
‘Handcuffs?’
Kang Hyun muttered softly and pulled his arms in front of his face, staring blankly at the cuffs.
‘Serial number? Handcuffs have serial numbers.’
At the same time, sparks flew in his mind.
Serial numbers he’d glimpsed among the many police officers at Seocho Station, in Sokcho, or on the way to Oda—now right before his eyes. They were unmistakably police handcuffs.
‘Why are police-issue handcuffs here…?’
Crash!
-You bitch, dragging someone else along!
Slap!
-Kyaak! Stop it!
A woman’s scream came from outside. It had to be Yoo Seul-gi.
-I said I’m sorry!
-Sorry my ass? You junkie bitch!
Slap!
The voices carried from afar. Hearing this horrific sound, Kang Hyun felt his heart pounding like mad.
“…Inspector An Kwang-hyun.”
It was obvious. That voice belonged to Inspector An Kwang-hyun, who should’ve been on suspension in Seoul.
“Ha…”
Shockingly and horrifically, a cop was involved in this drug case.
He hoped it was just An Kwang-hyun’s personal deviation, but regardless, the fallout would be massive, and it would erode even more trust in law enforcement.
A seething rage bubbled up.
What the hell made these bastards think they could commit crimes so freely here?
Kang Hyun clenched his fists. For now, he had to watch for a chance to get out.
At that moment.
Bang! Slam!
The heavy iron door burst open. Two burly men tossed a woman inside.
“Kyaak! Ugh…”
“Wipe that blood off and reflect on your shit.”
“Ptoo! Get lost!”
“You bitch!”
Slap!
Yoo Seul-gi collapsed limply. Gone was the bright, polite girl he’d glimpsed briefly at school.
“Fuck. Do your damn job right. Because of you, I got chewed out too.”
Slam!
The door shut again, plunging the surroundings into silence. Darkness returned, obscuring everything.
“Sob, hic…”
Yoo Seul-gi knelt sobbing, tears streaming down her bruised face.
She cried for a long while, while Kang Hyun stayed silent.
“Hic… hic…”
“…You okay?”
“…!”
Her tears stopped dead, as if she’d seen a ghost.
“…Sunbae?”
“Yeah. Hey? You… okay?”
“…I thought something was wrong since you wouldn’t wake up for hours…”
“Hours without waking up?”
“…Someone said earlier your breathing was irregular and weird.”
Kang Hyun must’ve been out cold for a while, like back in high school when he’d blacked out after bumping into a falling person.
“Whew… Where’s this place?”
“Near Asan.”
“Asan?”
Kang Hyun had been unconscious far longer than he thought and had been brought much farther south from his area than expected.
Whether the thugs had planned to kidnap him specifically or it was coincidence didn’t matter now. And in this situation, what Yoo Seul-gi had done wasn’t important either.
“Listen up.”
“Yes.”
“Getting involved in bad shit was wrong.”
“…”
“But it’ll be okay. We can sort this out. I know you’re not one of them.”
“How would you know that, sunbae?”
“It was a transactional deal, right? They gave you drugs, you ran errands.”
“…”
Kang Hyun wasn’t entirely sure, of course. But to escape, he needed to convince her first.
Since she didn’t deny it, he pressed on.
“Pay for your mistakes, reflect, and fix it.”
“It’s already too late.”
“No. It’s too late for An Kwang-hyun, but not for you.”
Her body trembled faintly at the name An Kwang-hyun.
“First priority is getting treatment for the addiction. How long ago did you start getting drugs from his crew?”
“Huh?”
“You probably got heavy prescriptions from the hospital at first. Then when that wasn’t enough, how long ago did you turn to An Kwang-hyun’s gang?”
“Not long… ago.”
She flinched, answering Kang Hyun as if entranced.
How did this guy know so much? What the hell was he?
Thoughts like that seemed to torment Yoo Seul-gi’s mind.
In contrast, Kang Hyun stayed calm. What he needed now was insight.
All he knew about this case was the rough outline. He couldn’t know every detail.
But to convince Yoo Seul-gi now, he needed to give her an out and assure her it’d be fine—act like he knew everything.
So his mind raced at breakneck speed.
Kang Hyun recalled most of the drug cases he could think of.
Especially every instance where young people got hooked on drugs and committed crimes. He pulled up all those cases and started finding the average patterns.
Even bound hand and foot in this desperate mess, over a hundred cases sprang to mind.
That was nearing the annual number of major cases in a single district per prosecutorial standards.
Kang Hyun analyzed every possible scenario of this case, reconstructed what Yoo Seul-gi had done, pinpointed the issues, understood her psychology, and began persuading her.
“But…”
“You didn’t want it to end up like this at first. Family troubles made it hard, and the hospital’s overprescription caused the addiction, right?”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s not fundamentally your fault. Turn yourself in and wrap it up. You can get out.”
“…I won’t turn myself in.”
“We’ll make the hospital pay, and punish the crew that tormented you.”
“…But.”
“In the end, even a fistful of pills from the hospital built tolerance, making you crave more. The hospital’s at fault for that too.”
“I went to the hospital and begged, but… that bald doctor bastard said he wouldn’t get caught.”
Yoo Seul-gi had known something was wrong and tried to do something. But with no one to help, it led to this. And she was already addicted.
“Proving overprescription is tough, but I’ll help. There was a case just three months ago where the Western District Prosecutors’ Office arrested a doctor.”
“That doesn’t change anything for me.”
“You’ll get leniency. Focus on treatment.”
“I sold drugs too.”
“You needed money. Diet pills to cover family expenses, right?”
“…”
“Easy path. If I were in a tough spot, I might’ve fallen for it too. I get it. I’m from the same neighborhood as you.”
“You…? What?”
“I grew up in a slum hill too.”
“I didn’t know.”
At Kang Hyun’s desperate persuasion, life started creeping into her previously deadened voice.
Sensing it, Kang Hyun poured his last strength into his words.
“I’ll say it again: it’ll be fine. You’re not like them. The ones who dragged you into this are the guilty ones.”
“If I get out, what’ll you do?”
“Let’s go together. I’ll make them pay and get you out safe.”
Kang Hyun spoke with firm conviction. She stared into his eyes for a long time.
As if peering deep to gauge his sincerity.
“…I don’t fully trust you. But I want to run too.”
She hesitated wordlessly, then slowly crept toward Kang Hyun.
Her cold hand touched him.
Fumbling, she started trying to untie the ropes binding him.
“Ngh… Almost.”
Luckily, the ropes were loosely and sloppily tied, probably because of the handcuffs. Soon, they fell away limply, and Kang Hyun focused everything on pushing himself up.
“…Got it!”
Finally, he managed to stand, leaning against the sacks in the dim warehouse.
His legs were numb, muscles on the verge of cramping, but he was okay. Kang Hyun stood and surveyed the area.
‘Low window open at the back. Thugs are in the building connected inside.’
Kang Hyun held his breath and swallowed quietly.
Good—they hadn’t planned to grab him specifically. They’d just dumped the unconscious Kang Hyun in this sloppy spot while figuring out what to do.
He had a shot at escape.
“…This way.”
Yoo Seul-gi followed silently, and Kang Hyun, hands cuffed, somehow climbed onto the window ledge and rolled out the other side.
Thud!
“Ugh.”
“You okay?”
“Yeah.”
Kang Hyun looked around with a grim expression.
Deep in the mountains, a dense hill blocking even the moonlight from the sky. No matter how he looked, it was a deserted spot at the edge of Asan.
It was hopeless, but he had to escape somehow. Kang Hyun quickly scouted the surroundings, mind racing. Even in this frantically urgent situation, his eyes gleamed coldly.