The Hunter
"Hey, slow down. We're going to crash at this rate."
To Bongja, Yang Chimok looked incredibly pathetic as he sped up, visibly tense.
The way he had bolted like a wet dog the moment she mentioned the guy might be a cop was quite a sight.
"Look behind us. Are you sure he's not following?"
"Positive. I checked several times."
"Wow. If we had dawdled even a second longer, we would've been caught red-handed."
"I thought you said no one would recognize us?"
"There's always a one-in-a-million chance. Better safe than sorry."
"Sure you didn't just chicken out and run?"
"Who chickened out? I'm just thirsty after that sudden chase. Shall we grab a coffee somewhere?"
"Without eating first?"
"I want something cold to drink more than food right now."
"So you're too scared to even swallow food?"
"Oh, look, there's a coffee shop."
Yang Chimok ignored Bongja's sarcasm and pulled over in front of a nearby cafe.
"I'll have an iced Americano. You?"
"A latte for me."
"One iced Americano and one latte, please."
Yang Chimok placed the order. Only the order.
"What are you doing?"
"What?"
"You have to pay."
"You expect me to pay for this too?"
"You know I don't have my card."
"Don't you have cash?"
"I don't carry cash because it bulges in my pockets."
"For Christ's sake..."
Having paid for the coffee right after the pasta, Bongja was thoroughly annoyed.
As a result, everything Yang Chimok said rubbed her the wrong way.
"Should we sit down for a bit until the coffee comes out?"
"Why? Are your legs shaking after running like hell?"
"Hey, watch your mouth. What kind of language is that?"
"What's wrong with it? I say it all the time."
"Speech is a habit. If you aren't careful in daily life, it slips out when it matters. Do you think you can do business talking like that? Take it from your mentor."
"Oh, yes, yes. I'll keep that in mind."
"..."
Her respect and trust in him were completely shattered. His self-esteem had hit rock bottom.
Yang Chimok had a gut feeling that his partnership with Bongja would end today.
"Customer number thirty-five, your drinks are ready."
As Bongja stood up at the barista's call, she spotted a familiar man stepping out of a Korando that had just pulled up in front of the cafe.
"Huh? That guy!"
It was the detective from the restaurant.
"Oppa, outside..."
She turned to warn him, only to see Yang Chimok's back as he bolted through the cafe's back exit.
"Ugh, that disloyal piece of trash! Running away by himself again?"
Instead of wasting time cursing, Bongja should have run too.
"Fancy meeting you here again."
The young, handsome detective grabbed Bongja's arm in a firm grip.
It was a vice-like grip that she couldn't possibly break.
The detective leaned in and whispered in her ear.
"You paid for the coffee too, right?"
"What? Ah, yes."
"Perfect. Nothing beats coffee after a meal."
With that, the detective downed the freshly made iced Americano in one gulp.
"...Are you a cop? Or a beggar?"
Bongja gasped and covered her mouth, shocked that her inner thoughts had slipped out.
"Is the latte yours? Take your time."
"Pardon?"
"Drink up. It'd be a waste to leave after paying for it."
"Ah, right."
Bongja answered blankly, watching the man's eyes closely.
He must have seen Yang Chimok escaping through the back door.
So why was he just standing here?
Unable to contain her curiosity, she asked.
"Aren't you here to catch him?"
"I am. It won't be too late even if we leave after you finish your drink, so take your time."
Bongja couldn't comprehend the detective's incredibly nonchalant attitude.
Having escaped through the back door, Yang Chimok started his car while keeping an eye on the detective drinking coffee inside.
"How did he know I was here?"
It made absolutely no sense.
The guy was definitely eating the pasta he ordered.
Yang Chimok had fled at over 100 km/h and stopped at a completely unplanned cafe, yet the cop had arrived before the coffee was even served.
"No way!"
There was only one explanation.
"He must have put a tracker on my car!"
Once that thought crossed his mind, he realized fleeing by car was pointless.
Yang Chimok drove toward a shopping center downtown. It was the most crowded area in Paju.
"Have fun searching the parking lot. I'm heading to Seoul."
He parked in the shopping center's underground garage and walked out.
He crossed the street and entered a bustling food alley.
He bought a change of clothes at a boutique and put on a pair of lensless horn-rimmed glasses from an optician.
"Even a ghost wouldn't recognize me now."
Satisfied with his disguise, his racing heart finally began to calm down.
Only then did he feel the pangs of hunger.
"Damn it, I haven't eaten a thing all day because of that cop."
He thought he had passed the worst of the danger, but he didn't have the luxury of sitting down in a restaurant.
Fortunately, there was a street food cart nearby selling snacks.
"Ma'am, one serving of tteokbokki and sundae, please."
Yang Chimok pulled out a ten-thousand-won bill and handed it to the owner.
He wanted to save as much time as possible, even if it meant paying in advance.
"You could have paid afterward."
"Just take it now. Keep the change."
"Thank you."
While the owner sliced the sundae, Yang Chimok kept his guard up, looking back at the path he had taken.
He was ready to bolt the moment he saw even a shadow resembling a detective.
Just then, a low male voice spoke from behind him.
"Ma'am, which ones are fully cooked?"
"Everything over there is ready."
"Oh, looks delicious."
Yang Chimok listened to the conversation absentmindedly, but a sudden prickle on the back of his neck made him turn around.
"Huh?"
It was him! The detective had somehow crept up right behind him and was chewing on a fishcake while staring at him.
Yang Chimok was so dumbfounded he couldn't speak.
With his mouth full of fishcake, the detective asked bluntly,
"What? Something on my face?"
"..."
"Let me finish this before we go. This fishcake is really good."
"Fuck!"
He had abandoned his car and changed his clothes. How on earth did the cop track him down?
Realizing that running was futile, Yang Chimok pulled out a pocketknife he kept on him.
"I really didn't want to resort to this."
"Then don't."
"What?"
"Swinging that will only hurt you. You'll get beaten to a pulp, and your sentence will get longer."
"..."
He might actually be right.
With his prior record and the fraud amount exceeding 4.4 billion won, he was looking at a minimum of seven years under aggravated punishment.
If he added assaulting a police officer to that...?
As his thoughts spiraled, Yang Chimok quickly shook himself out of it.
"I just have to not get caught. If I stab you and go off the grid again, no one will ever find me."
"Do you really think that'll work?"
"What?"
"Stabbing me is impossible in the first place, so how are you going to go off the grid? Man, this fishcake is the real deal. Ma'am, where did you get these?"
The crazy detective was asking about the origin of the fishcakes in the middle of this.
A surprise attack was his only way out of this guy's clutches. It had to be now!
"Die—ugh?!"
Yang Chimok lunged forward bravely, but froze in his tracks before he could even take a single step.
"You should be careful. These wooden skewers are pretty sharp."
A long, thin wooden skewer had slipped right into his nostril in the blink of an eye.
The detective wasn't even looking at him.
He finished his second fishcake, drank the hot broth, and finally turned to face Yang Chimok.
"You're still holding the knife?"
"I-I'll drop it. I'll drop it, so please take this away."
"I won't poke you if you behave. By the way, did you pay?"
"Y-yes."
"What?"
"I paid."
"Say it again. Are you absolutely sure?"
The skewer resting against his nostril nudged slightly deeper.
"Ugh! I paid! I mean, yes, I did, sir."
"Good boy. Thanks for the meal. Shall we get going?"
The detective bowed politely to the startled stall owner.
"Thanks for the food. Have a good day."
"Oh, he's here? Understood."
Upon receiving word that the Chief had passed through the main gate, Detective Division Chief Han Tae-kyung rushed down to the first floor of the main building.
Chief Lee Chungki had just returned today from representing South Korea at a forum hosted by the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, titled "The Present and Future of Forensic Investigation Techniques."
Between the forum and the field study, it had been nearly a week since he was last at the station.
"Welcome back, Chief."
"Yes. I trust you have been well in my absence?"
"It was relatively quiet. No major incidents occurred in our jurisdiction."
"That is good to hear. Let us go upstairs and have some tea."
"Yes, Chief."
Division Chief Han still found Chief Lee Chungki somewhat difficult to be around.
He always spoke in strict honorifics even to his subordinates, keeping everyone at a polite distance.
"Loyalty!"
"Good day, Chief."
"Loyalty!"
As the Chief walked past the offices, the officers inside scrambled to salute him.
"It seems the number of civil complaints has decreased."
"The season plays a part. Winter is generally quieter than summer."
"I see."
Chief Lee, who had been observing the station in plain clothes as if visiting someone else's home, stopped in front of the Detective Division office.
He pointed toward a corner and asked Division Chief Han,
"Is that not the Violent Crimes Unit?"
"Yes, sir. It is."
"Why are there so many fruit baskets in the Violent Crimes office?"
"Ah, those were left by detectives from other stations as tokens of appreciation when they came to take custody of wanted fugitives."
"Wanted fugitives?"
"Yes, sir. Actually, I was planning to brief you on that once we got upstairs..."
Just as Division Chief Han was about to elaborate, three or four unfamiliar detectives walked into the Violent Crimes office.
"Excuse me. Is this Violent Crimes Team 1?"
Team Leader Na Sangdo greeted them.
"Yes. Where are you from?"
"We're from Busan. We heard the con artist Yang Chimok was caught?"
"Ah, Team Leader Jang from the Busan Dongnae Police Station?"
"Yes, that's me. Where is he now?"
"He's currently being escorted back."
"Where was he caught?"
"In Paju."
"Wow, that bastard ran pretty far."
"Please, have a seat first. We need to write up a quick report before handing him over."
"Take your time. The fact that he's caught is all that matters."
"I didn't expect you to arrive so quickly. Would you like something to drink?"
"We had coffee on the way. It's not much, but please accept this as a token of our gratitude..."
Team Leader Jang presented a high-quality Korean beef gift set.
"Oh, you didn't have to bring anything. Thank you."
"If we hadn't caught that guy, our Chief's head would have rolled. We're truly grateful, so please don't refuse."
"Hahaha. Well, we don't catch them for the gifts, but we'll enjoy it. By the way, did you bring the original arrest warrant?"
"Of course. I brought it with me. We've already applied for a detention warrant to wrap this up quickly."
"Good call. We need to block every possible escape route. The bastard made retired civil servants cry tears of blood."
"Absolutely. It's always easy talking to a fellow detective. Hahaha."
Chief Lee Chungki watched the exchange between the detectives with interest.
"Division Chief Han. Since when has Violent Crimes Team 1 been focusing on capturing wanted fugitives?"
"Well, they caught a public wanted fugitive three days before you left for Japan, Chief. I believe it started then."
"If it started then, does that mean they have been catching nothing but wanted fugitives since?"
"Yes, sir."
"Public wanted fugitives?"
"Yes, sir."
"How many?"
"Including the one caught today, a total of eight."
"..."
Only twenty fugitives are selected to be featured on the public wanted flyers twice a year—once in the first half and once in the second half.
And they had captured eight of these Class-A fugitives, selected from a pool of 2,800 candidates, in just ten days?
The arrest rate for public wanted fugitives was barely ten to fifteen percent.
In other words, capturing two or three out of the twenty on the flyer was considered a success. Yet they had caught eight in ten days? Was such a thing even possible?
"Has there been a reinforcement to Violent Crimes Team 1 that I was unaware of?"
"No, sir. But from what I gather, it seems they are utilizing a separate informant."
"How many?"
"To be honest, I do not know either. It is customary not to ask about such matters, even among colleagues."
"Are all the detectives of Violent Crimes Team 1 dedicated to this task?"
"No, sir."
Only one man was out on the hunt.
And that single man had just stepped over the office threshold.
"I brought in Yang Chimok!"
The skilled hunter had returned to base, bringing back two prizes at once.