The Car My Mentor Left Me
Inspector Son Daesan of Seongam Police Station's Violent Crimes Team 1.
I could guarantee that no detective in the entire Korean police force could match his arrest record.
On his busiest days, he would bring in as many as ten violent criminals.
And only during regular working hours.
He was a truly peculiar man.
As his partner, I lived without ever knowing the grueling reality of door-to-door inquiries or stakeouts.
While others spent freezing winter nights in their cars waiting for suspects, he would get plenty of rest at home and show up in the morning with a fresh face to make the arrest.
He insisted that work-life balance was crucial even for detectives, making it an absolute rule to leave on the dot. He often said his goal in life was to live a long, quiet, and uneventful life.
At first, some people criticized him for being lazy, but since every single person he caught turned out to be the actual culprit, the criticism melted away like spring snow.
He might have seemed like a freeloading slacker, but none of his colleagues disliked him. There were two main reasons for this.
First, he was a generous man.
While other teams struggled to have a team dinner once a month, our team had one every week. And every single time, Son Daesan paid out of his own pocket.
When someone at a dinner jokingly asked if he was doing police work as a hobby, he just smirked.
Instead of answering, he would open his wallet and hand out cab fare.
Second, he had no ambition for promotion.
He was offered special promotions multiple times, but he flatly refused them all.
Under the absurd pretext that he preferred the field to a desk job.
I thought it was just talk, but he meant it.
Like a mother bird, he would catch the criminals and hand the credit over to his juniors.
To help them get promoted.
This remarkable man was my mentor.
An unprecedented, living legend of Seongam Police Station.
And then, my mentor was shot and killed.
Why did a man famous for dressing well wear such a bizarre outfit only on that specific day?
He went out alone wearing only a stab-proof vest, but a sniper with a rifle was waiting for him at the scene.
Now, a year after his death, I am suffering from severe burnout.
I screwed up again.
Sergeant Park Inhyeok, who had dragged me to the meeting room despite my protests, insisted we run a rehearsal before the Internal Affairs investigation.
"They say the guy's collarbone and wrist are fractured. How hard did you hit him to break his bones?"
"He was a violent criminal, so I thought he'd be tough. How was I supposed to know he was made of dry straw?"
"Is that how you're going to answer them?"
"You told me to tell the truth."
"Hey, you idiot. Do you think this is the eighties? Even if that's the truth, you can't say it like that. Listen closely. Here is the textbook answer."
A random stabbing rampage occurred on Jungang Boulevard.
It was around 1:00 PM when I responded to the call.
It was a department store commercial district surrounded by a food alley, so foot traffic was exceptionally heavy.
One citizen had already been stabbed and was collapsed on the ground, and the suspect was roaming the area looking for another victim.
"A student, completely unaware of the situation, was walking right past the suspect with earphones in. My line of sight was blocked, so I couldn't risk firing the Taser."
"So I preemptively rushed in and subdued him with my baton?"
"Exactly. Play up the urgency of the situation as much as possible. Make it sound like you had no choice in order to prevent further casualties."
"Senior, do we really have to go this far?"
Sergeant Park Inhyeok stopped mid-sentence and stared at me in disbelief.
"If you don't? If this is ruled as excessive force again, you'll be labeled a repeat offender. You'll face a pay cut, and they might even talk about suspending you."
"If they tell me to quit, I'll quit. I don't have much attachment to this job anyway."
"Hey, you idiot! Just close your eyes and bow your head. Say, 'I was a bit rash. I ask for leniency.' Is that so hard?"
"I didn't do anything wrong, so why should I bow my head?"
"Do you think people only apologize when they're wrong, you bastard? Do you think others don't know how to talk back like you? Do you still think detectives hold all the cards?"
"Yeah. I used to think detectives held all the cards. Now that I know we don't, I'm done."
"Done with what?"
"I'm quitting."
With those final words, I stood up from my seat.
"Min Suho! Hey! Where are you going?"
Sergeant Park shouted at me to sit back down, but I ignored him.
"Officer Min Suho?"
Lee Chungki, who had been appointed as the Chief of Seongam Police Station only a week ago, still struggled to match the names and faces of his subordinates.
So, he called in Na Sangdo, the leader of Violent Crimes Team 1, to ask about Suho's background.
"He joined the Violent Crimes Team on the recommendation of the late Inspector Son."
"Is the Violent Crimes Team a place where anyone can just walk in on a recommendation?"
"Ah, while Inspector Son's recommendation carried weight, the kid's performance at the precinct was also excellent. He once subdued ten thugs causing a riot at a bar all by himself."
"He doesn't look the part."
"He has a slender build, but he was the winner of last year's Commissioner General's Kendo Championship. It was the first time in history a first-year patrol officer won the title..."
"So you brought him to Violent Crimes just because he can fight? If that's the criteria, why didn't you just hire gangsters?"
"..."
"He's been working alone ever since his mentor died?"
"Well, there were no applicants willing to join the team..."
"Yet Officer Min walked into a team that nobody else wanted to join. Did he share some special connection with the late Inspector Son?"
"..."
"You don't know, Team Leader Na?"
"Ah, I do know."
The Chief's gaze turned cold as he looked at Team Leader Na.
"You're a tiring man to deal with, Team Leader Na. Do I have to pry every single detail out of you?"
"I was worried you might form a prejudice, so I didn't mention it beforehand. My apologies."
Na realized that the new Chief was by no means an easy opponent.
Perhaps because of his background in the National Police Agency's Information Division, he had a knack for picking out the exact topics one wished to hide.
"About seven years ago, when Inspector Son was working in the Juvenile and Women's Affairs Division, he met Min Suho, who was involved in a school violence case."
A group of school bullies had deliberately picked a fight with Min Suho, who was preparing for physical education college entrance exams.
"The bullies swarmed him in a pack, but Min Suho reportedly beat them all down with a single wooden sword."
The bullies went home with bloody noses and broken bones.
Unlike their children, the parents refused to accept defeat.
"One of the parents strongly insisted that Min Suho be sent to a juvenile detention center."
A classic, cliché story.
Parents are blind to their children's faults.
Or they pretend not to see even when they do.
The Chief nodded slightly, having pieced together the picture.
"At the time, Inspector Son flipped the board with a single video. It was footage of those bullies assaulting another classmate. The parents who had been demanding Suho's expulsion immediately shut their mouths."
"So they weren't just mentor and mentee."
"Yes. I heard Inspector Son was the main reason Officer Min became a police officer."
"With such a mentor dead, the sense of loss must have been immense. And since they haven't even identified a suspect after a year, it's only natural he's struggling with anger issues. Send Detective Min on a few days of leave."
"Ah, leave? Thank you, sir. He hasn't been able to rest, so he must have accumulated a lot of stress."
Did this Chief, who looked like he wouldn't bleed a single drop even if stabbed, actually have a compassionate side?
But Team Leader Na had misread him once again.
"In exchange, have a trustworthy detective keep a close eye on him."
"You want me to... tail him?"
"From where I stand, that kid is a ticking time bomb. I'll come up with a solution in a few days, so just make sure he doesn't cause any trouble until then."
"Chief. How can I do that to a colleague..."
"Why? Are you too apologetic to do it?"
"It's not that, but..."
"How do you expect to lead the Violent Crimes Team with such a soft heart? Consider it a minimum safety measure and do as I say."
"..."
The Chief stared blankly at Detective Min's photo attached to his personnel file.
No matter how many times he looked, he simply did not like the man's face.
I, too, wanted to live like my mentor, who was always confident and proud.
That was why I became a cop.
I thought my status would change once I became a police officer.
It did change. To an even lower class.
They say we live in a society where even thieves, swindlers, and rapists have their human rights respected, yet I don't understand why people treat the police like dirt.
It's not like the pay is good, either.
After paying rent for my studio apartment, transportation, and utilities with a patrol officer's salary, saving money is out of the question, and even eating three meals a day feels like a burden.
There was once a case where a robber, while collapsing from a Taser shot, stabbed himself in the eye with his own knife and filed a civil lawsuit against the detective.
The judge ruled in favor of the robber.
Was the detective supposed to calculate the angle of the fall before firing the Taser?
A veteran detective with twenty years of experience left those self-deprecating words and resigned.
Lately, these are the only kinds of stories that catch my attention.
It meant it was time for me to quit.
"Holding all the cards"? What a joke. Detectives were at the absolute bottom of the food chain.
The one who recommended this path to me was none other than my mentor, Inspector Son Daesan.
Even he, who claimed he wanted to live a long and quiet life, met a miserable end in a dark, abandoned factory warehouse.
I had completely lost all affection for this profession.
Sergeant Park reported everything I had done to Team Leader Na Sangdo as soon as the latter returned from the Chief's office.
The team leader approached me with an irritated look.
"What are you doing?"
"Writing my resignation letter."
"Why? What's bothering you now?"
"It doesn't suit me. I'm going to look for something else."
"In this economy? Do you even have a place to go?"
"I'll find something. I don't care if it's manual labor or working at a convenience store."
"You really... Oh, sister-in-law?"
Team Leader Na spotted Kim Seohyeong lingering near the office entrance and quickly went over to greet her.
"What brings you here, sister-in-law?"
Dressed neatly and greeting him shyly, Kim Seohyeong carried a fruit basket in her hand.
She was the widow of Inspector Son Daesan, who had died in the line of duty a year ago.
"Everyone helped so much with the funeral and the burial, but I'm only now coming to thank you. I'm sorry for the delay."
"Oh, please, we only did what was natural. Come inside and have a cup of tea."
"No, it's fine. I don't want to interrupt your busy work. I'll just say a quick hello and go."
Team Leader Na took the fruit basket she offered and addressed the detectives.
"Attention, everyone! Inspector Son's wife is here. Let's stop what we're doing for a moment and greet her."
Kim Seohyeong bowed first to the detectives looking at her.
"Thanks to all of you, I was able to get through the funeral. Thank you so much."
The shadow of grief had already vanished from her face as she expressed her gratitude.
But the detectives, including myself, could not say the same.
A whole year had passed, yet we hadn't even identified a suspect.
"Excuse me, you're Detective Min, right?"
Kim Seohyeong had approached me and was looking at me with a tender gaze.
"Yes, that's right."
"My husband talked about you a lot. I have something to give you separately."
"...To me?"
"Could we talk for a moment?"
Team Leader Na quickly nudged my back, telling me to go.
"I'll show you to the breakroom, then."
"No, not there. Let's go outside."
Leading me outside the building, Kim Seohyeong pointed to the old vehicle she had arrived in.
"It's the car my husband used to drive. You remember it, right?"
"Yes, ma'am."
The boxy jeep, the Commando.
Memories I had forgotten began to resurface.
"My husband insisted that I give this car to you. He used to say it all the time, but in all the chaos, it slipped my mind."
"Ah..."
"He practically sang about how he'd hand it over to Detective Min when he retired and buy himself a new car. I suddenly remembered it while packing up to move yesterday, so I came by."
"...I see."
"You'll probably need to install a new dashcam and replace the broken navigation system. I don't know anything about cars, so I just brought it as it is. It's so old, I feel bad giving it to you."
"Oh, no. It's an honor for me."
Kim Seohyeong handed me the car keys with a pleased expression.
"I felt bad about giving you a junk car, so I took care of the transfer registration and taxes myself."
"If you tell me how much it cost, I can..."
"It wasn't much, so please just take it. It will make me feel better."
It felt impolite to keep refusing.
"Then I will make good use of it. Thank you."
"I'm immigrating to Canada with the kids. I don't think I'll be able to see you often in the future. Please stay healthy and take care of yourself."
"I wish you happiness as well, ma'am."
How empty must she feel to move all the way to a foreign land...
"Well, I'll be off then."
Kim Seohyeong got into a waiting taxi and left.
After sending her off, I returned to the Violent Crimes office to finish writing my resignation letter.
Before I could even sit down, Team Leader Na Sangdo pushed me back out.
"Go and drive her home."
"She just left in a taxi. Oh, and she said she's immigrating."
"Immigrating?"
"Yes. She's moving to Canada with the kids."
Nodding, Team Leader Na pushed me again.
"You go too. You're on leave for a week. Don't worry about anything and just get some rest."
"Team Leader..."
"Clear your head, go on a trip you couldn't take. We'll talk about the resignation after you get back. Got it?"
His expression was so earnest that it felt wrong to reject him coldly.
"...Alright."
I didn't think a few days of rest would change my mind, but I decided to show some basic courtesy.
Because I knew he was doing his best too.
I walked out to the parking lot and stood in front of the old Commando that was now mine.
Its exterior looked ready for the scrapyard. Would it even run? How much would repairs cost?
But this wasn't something that could be measured in money.
With a solemn attitude, as if facing my mentor, I opened the car door.
"Is this my first time sitting in the driver's seat?"
Son Daesan had never once let me take the wheel.
Claiming he couldn't trust a rookie.
Even though I had spent plenty of time driving patrol cars at the precinct.
I inserted the key into the ignition and turned it clockwise.
Vroom. The roar of the engine vibrated through my chest.
Its condition wasn't as bad as I thought.
And then...
Please select user mode.
"...Huh?"
The navigation system, which was supposed to be broken, spoke to me in a clear, crisp voice.