To Korea (5)
In front of the funeral hall building.
The cold air pierced the collars of the two women's clothes.
Jimin paused for a moment at the entrance to the mourning hall.
Then she carefully took Lily's hand.
"Sis."
"Yeah, Jimin?"
"I've got a favor to ask."
Jimin's expression was grim.
She'd been sobbing uncontrollably just moments ago over news of her brother, but now she'd wiped away her tears.
"Once we go in... let's not mention anything about my brother to Mom and Dad for a bit."
"......Why?"
Lily asked, puzzled.
Jimin let out a deep sigh and explained.
"Dad and Mom are out of it right now with Grandma's passing. Especially Dad—he hasn't slept a wink."
"......"
"And if they hear here that my brother... got nabbed by the cops on top of that..."
Jimin couldn't finish the sentence.
The grandmother's funeral would turn into utter chaos in an instant, and her parents might collapse from the shock.
It would be like pouring oil on a family already drowning in grief.
"Uncle's a top-notch lawyer. You saw him earlier, right, Sis?"
Jimin forced a smile to reassure Lily.
"Uncle will get my brother out in no time. So let's just hold off until tomorrow. Until we hear from him."
"......"
Lily thought it over for a moment.
But she didn't want Ji-hoon's beloved family to suffer even greater wounds.
He would have wanted them to see Grandma off on her final journey in peace, rather than hear about his arrest.
Lily nodded.
"Got it, Jimin."
"Thanks, Sis."
"But..."
Lily clenched her fist tight.
A resolute determination gleamed in her red eyes.
"While Ji-hoon's gone... I'll take his place."
"Huh?"
"I'm Ji-hoon's wife. The daughter-in-law of this house."
Lily straightened her disheveled clothes.
"I'll work twice as hard for his share too. So don't worry."
"Sis..."
Jimin's eyes reddened again.
In this foreign land, without her husband—no reason to despair, yet Lily was facing it head-on.
All because she believed it was the way to honor her husband.
"Let's go."
Lily took the first step.
The two women took a deep breath and opened the door.
The scent of incense and wails of mourning washed over them.
Lily held her head high and strode into the mourning hall to fill her husband's empty place.
Meanwhile, the Incheon District Court, blissfully unaware, had erupted into pandemonium.
The tranquil air of the duty office shattered because of a single document Choi Il-woo had tossed their way.
The duty officer at the court administration office skimmed the contents and rubbed his eyes.
"U.S. citizen... detained... attorney visit denied?"
His heart sank.
He immediately dialed an internal extension.
This was no issue for the duty staff to handle alone.
The duty judges who received the news were horrified.
"What the hell did the cops pull this time?"
"Detaining an American? At immigration, no less?"
"And blocking the lawyer? Are they insane?"
The circuits in the minds of Korea's judicial elite were straightforward:
Foreign national detained + rights violation = diplomatic incident = uniforms off.
"Find out now! Who's involved? Who's the lawyer?"
"Jeongron Law Firm, Choi Il-woo!"
"Choi Il-woo? That viper? Shit, of all people."
One judge hurriedly called Choi Il-woo.
Ring ring—
No answer.
He was probably already racing to the embassy.
"Not picking up!"
"Damn it! Who issued the warrant? Check the system!"
Every record was logged in the system anyway.
The duty officer tapped at the keyboard.
"Got it! Criminal Division 3 Solo, Judge Kim Min-su!"
"Senior Judge Kim Min-su? Call him now!"
Judge Kim Min-su, who had cracked open a beer at home after work, scowled at the sudden ring.
"Yeah, what's up?"
[Senior! It's me!]
The junior's frantic voice crackled through the receiver.
"What's wrong? Something happen?"
[Senior... did you issue the arrest warrant for Kim Ji-hoon?]
"Kim Ji-hoon?"
Kim Min-su tilted his head.
The name was unfamiliar to a judge who processed dozens of warrants daily.
"Who's that?"
[You know, the guy from the news lately. The one who fled to America.]
"...Kim Ji-hoon? America?"
Kim Min-su's hand froze.
Fragments of memory clicked into place.
The call from his Judicial Research Institute senior, Chief Judge Choi Hyun-jin.
Min-su, there's an evasion of compulsory execution case coming up. Nasty guy—keep an eye on the warrant.
"Wait a sec."
Cold sweat trickled down Kim Min-su's back.
"......That was a request from Senior Choi Hyun-jin, I think...?"
[Oh......]
A deep sigh came from the other end.
The junior judge cried out in despair.
[No, Senior! That guy's detained at the police station after getting nabbed at the airport!]
"What? He got caught? He came back?"
[He came back, so they caught him! But the cops are blocking attorney visits, so we got an interlocutory appeal!]
"......What?"
Kim Min-su shot to his feet.
[What have you done? If this hits the embassy, it's a diplomatic mess! Relations with the U.S. are already tense!]
"Hold on... calm down."
Kim Min-su set down the trembling beer can with shaky hands.
"The victim filed the complaint... reasons were solid. Flight risk, uncertain residence."
[The warrant's fine! But why are the cops acting like that? Denying attorney access is a clear constitutional violation!]
"......"
[Did you tip off the cops? Tell them to rough him up?]
"You nuts? Why would I?"
[Shit... we're screwed.]
The junior swore, but Kim Min-su had no time to get mad.
Things were spiraling badly.
[Got it. Duty office is looking into it—I'll call back. This goes south, we're both done, Senior.]
"......I'll head in too."
[Yes. Hurry. It's been reported to the chief judge.]
Click.
The line went dead.
Kim Min-su stared blankly at his smartphone.
"Ha....."
Now he grasped the situation.
Chief Judge Choi Hyun-jin, who had made the request.
She'd clearly harbored a grudge and pulled strings.
With years on the bench, how could he not see it?
She'd pushed for the warrant just to harass or intimidate him.
But the cops overplayed it and caused an accident.
If this kept up, he'd take the full blame for issuing it.
"Fuck... if the embassy hears, we're really fucked..."
He hurriedly dressed and pulled up Choi Hyun-jin's number.
But he couldn't hit call.
Confronting her now? She'd just play dumb.
First, put out the fire.
In truth, it was a simple problem.
If the police had just granted consular access as Ji-hoon first requested.
A U.S. Embassy staffer meets him, the lawyer joins for coordination—no big deal.
Just a minor administrative hiccup.
But.
Detective Park's twisted ambition for promotion.
And the female officer's warped sense of justice fueling it.
These petty, idiotic emotions combined to unleash a butterfly effect devastating to Korea's diplomacy.
U.S. Embassy in Korea.
The heavy iron gates swung open.
A black Chevrolet Suburban roared out.
The Stars and Stripes fluttered on the front bumper, license plate [DIPL-001].
Inside, Consul General Henry rode with a stony face.
Choi Il-woo's car followed hot on its heels with ferocious momentum.
The embassy had already fired off a top-level protest to Korea's Foreign Ministry.
No mere expression of regret.
A virtual declaration of war.
Foreign Ministry office.
A phone bell shattered the silence.
The overtime desk officer picked up absently.
"Yes, Foreign Ministry."
[This is the U.S. Embassy...]
Cold English from the receiver.
The officer's face twisted in an instant.
He bolted to the director's office, pale as a ghost.
"Director! Big trouble!"
"What? What's up?"
"U.S. Embassy! They say if we don't explain immediately, it'll go straight to the White House!"
"What? Explain what? What's going on?"
"Cops... arrested a U.S. citizen at Incheon Airport and have him detained..."
"So what? If he committed a crime, they can nab him. That White House level?"
The director brushed it off.
Americans causing trouble wasn't new.
But the officer's next words made him spit out his coffee.
"The detainee... is a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom."
"......What?!"
"The hero the President personally awarded—our cops blocked his lawyer and locked him up! Embassy calls it a 'hostile act'..."
"You crazy fuck!!"
The director jumped up.
His chair toppled with a crash.
"Medal of Freedom? Why's that guy here! No, more than that—what the hell did the cops touch?!"
"No idea! No reports came through our channels!"
"Find out now! Connect to Interior, Justice, National Police Agency—all of them!"
The ministry plunged into panic.
They truly had no clue.
It was the Gender Equality Ministry and a single judge's stunt—no way it reached diplomatic lines.
That ignorance amplified the terror.
Ring ring—ring ring—
The director punched the police brass hotline himself.
[Yes, Superintendent General.]
"You nuts?! Who'd your guys grab at Incheon?!"
[...Pardon? What do you mean?]
"U.S. Embassy cars are heading to Incheon! Your idiots kidnapped America's hero—fix it now!"
[Wh-what...]
"Incheon Yeongjong Police Station! Get me the chief! If no sitrep in 10 minutes, we're both out of uniform!"
Click.
The director clutched his head.
"What mad bastard... on what balls..."
The quiet Incheon Airport Expressway.
Vehicles with flashing lights raced along, each with different aims.
Leading: the furious U.S. Consul General Henry's diplomatic car.
Close behind: the viper, Lawyer Choi Il-woo.
Court officials scrambling in horror.
Government bigwigs' official cars, late to grasp and contain the mess.
All arrows pointed one way.
Incheon Yeongjong Police Station.
But inside the eye of the storm, Detective Park and the female officer chitchatted, oblivious to the approaching doom.
They had no inkling their fates would shatter in the next ten minutes.