Chapter 24
Chapter 24
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Translator : M.N 1391
Chapter: 24
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Park Jung-hoon and his goons didn’t know that their lives had hung in the balance during those few seconds of hesitation. The only reason Kyung-wan gave up the idea of burying them was because they weren’t the real end of the line.
Park Dong-chil. Wasn’t he the one who ultimately hired these guys?
If that bastard had come with them, Kyung-wan wouldn’t have so easily abandoned the idea of burying all of them. But since he wasn’t here, burying Park Jung-hoon and his cronies held little meaning. He’d only suffer digging the ground without even a shovel.
Detective Gu arrived with the officers carrying a stretcher. Checking the GPS coordinates from Park Jung-hoon’s smartphone app and spotting the smoke Kyung-wan had lit, he’d gotten here as fast as possible. When he saw the injuries of Park Jung-hoon and his group, he let out a sigh.
And then he spoke to Kyung-wan.
“Give me your hand.”
At those words, Kyung-wan held out his wrist and said,
“I caught bad guys. I can expect at least beef, right?”
“You little punk! You should’ve held back!”
Gu’s voice rose at Kyung-wan’s shameless remark. But Kyung-wan shrugged.
“I did hold back. I was going to just bury them, but I reported it because I thought of you, Detective Gu.”
That wasn’t true, but bragging like that worked, just as he expected, Detective Gu’s scolding died down.
But his concern didn’t.
“If even one of them dies, you’re heading straight to prison.”
When loading the gangsters onto the transport, he had checked their weapon. Rusted nails were stuck to the tip, along with filthy metal shards.
“Detective, I didn’t have even a speck of intention to kill them. If they die, that means the doctor couldn’t save them, or it was just their fate to croak.”
Detective Gu, unable to listen to his nonsense any longer, muttered one last thing.
“Please, just shut up.”
= = = = =
Kyung-wan was put in a holding cell. But he could freely come and go. The cell he used alone wasn’t locked, and he could go to the bathroom any time he wanted, the detective ordered food for him when he was hungry, and he could freely change the TV channel when no one was watching.
How was such a thing possible?
It began with the conversation at the station, when Kyung-wan arrived in handcuffs and Detective Gu sat down to write the report.
“Detective. Want to make a plea deal?”
“Plea deal? There’s no such thing in this country.”
“There isn’t, but people do it anyway, right?”
“...”
“That Park Jung-hoon kid… before you came, I gave him a little touch, and he told me lots of fun stories.”
“You tortured him?!”
“I had no choice, okay? A stranger came at me trying to kill me. I had to know who was behind it.”
“What do you think the law is?”
“Something that doesn’t apply to me? I’m a person who could live just fine without the law, you know.”
Detective Gu rubbed his aching temples and shifted the topic.
“So, who’s behind it?”
“Park Dong-chil.”
“I see.”
Since it came from the mouth of the already broken Park Jung-hoon, Gu nodded.
But Kyung-wan wasn’t done.
“You think that’s all I brought up a plea deal for?”
What followed from his lips was the list of locations where Park Dong-chil’s lieutenant Park Jung-hoon distributed drugs, the warehouses, transportation routes, methods, and even the names of several buyers.
An involuntary whistle escaped Detective Gu.
“Heeey~~~.”
This was a big one. A really big one. But naturally, a concern and suspicion surfaced.
“How do you even know all that?”
“To check whether Park Dong-chil was truly behind it. While cross-checking, I got some extra income, you could say?”
Kyung-wan shrugged, and Gu looked at him with an exhausted expression.
A terrifying bastard… unbelievably seasoned and cold-blooded for a homeless man.
Anyway, for evidence-hungry detectives, this was excellent intel, so Gu asked what Kyung-wan wanted in return. And upon hearing the conditions, he nodded quickly. All Kyung-wan wanted was something very small, freedom to go to the bathroom, a comfortable bed like last time, tasty meals, and the right to switch the TV channels.
Since he wasn’t asking them to embellish the case or reduce his charges, the violent crimes unit detectives practically ended up protecting him. Letting him freely move in and out of the holding cell? It wasn’t like he’d run away now, and there wasn’t a stiff-necked detective who could object while blinded by the juicy information Kyung-wan had brought.
Detective Jang, recently discharged from the hospital, found the feverish frenzy of the entire department overwhelming. Since he wasn’t able to work due to injury, he didn’t get credit from Kyung-wan’s intel, and thus could watch from the perspective of a third party.
He shook his head as he delivered bad news to Kyung-wan.
“So… among Park Jung-hoon’s crew… one of them died.”
Even with tons of antibiotics, the man died from sepsis. Kyung-wan’s reaction was brief.
“A troubled soul left this world. Good for him.”
“...”
Detective Jang was stunned into silence. Kyung-wan continued.
“Oh. So I’m going to prison.”
“..There’s nothing I can do.”
Naturally, a detective was still just a public servant. But Kyung-wan didn’t mind.
“You didn’t do anything wrong, Detective.”
It was simply that the country’s legal system and Kyung-wan’s way of life had nothing to do with each other.
“I’ll help however much I can.”
“Thank you, Detective.”
Detective Gu also wrote the report as favorably as he could for Kyung-wan. At least to their eyes, Kyung-wan wasn’t someone who disturbed public order. He was polite, too. And all the people he beat down were criminals who harmed society.
But the judge thought differently.
“The defendant has repeatedly used excessive violence in similar incidents and now has caused the loss of life. Even if the victims were criminals undeserving of forgiveness, the defendant’s actions exceeded the bounds of self-defense, and the law does not recognize private retaliation. Therefore, the court sentences the defendant to five years in prison.”
Kyung-wan made one comment after hearing the verdict.
“Wow. Harsh.”
The police tried their best to help, but it meant nothing.
“I’m homeless. I can’t afford a hospital. Being injured means becoming disabled or dying. The only reason I’m unhurt is because I fought desperately to avoid injury.”
“If a wild boar suddenly appears, that thing I made was just to drive it off. Who would’ve predicted I’d end up using it on people?”
His arguments were dismissed. Others cripple people and still walk free on suspended sentences, but despite Kyung-wan having several points in his favor, he didn’t get that grace. It was unfair.
But judges are human, too. They can make mistakes or rule however they feel like. However, since Kyung-wan couldn’t physically lay hands on the judge, he had no way to determine whether the judge ruled however he felt like or however he damn felt like, so he accepted the verdict quietly.
In the end, a prison cell in Korea was just another place to sleep with some added stimulation. He held no resentment. Meanwhile, Detectives Jang and Gu felt more apologetic than anyone, as they believed they owed their lives to Kyung-wan.
“If you feel sorry, just put some money in my commissary from time to time.”
Detective Jang, who owed him his life, thumped his chest.
“Don’t worry. I’ll send plenty.”
“I’d rather squeeze a flea’s liver than take from a detective’s salary. How much do you guys even make? It’s not like I can spend much in prison anyway. Just send enough for fried chicken now and then.”
Jang and Gu laughed. Violent and strange as he was, they couldn’t hate him. As detectives who dealt with true human trash daily, compared to those guys, Kyung-wan practically looked like a fairy.
“I’ll keep that in mind and send plenty.”
“Thank you.”
“Oh yeah. Don’t cause trouble inside.”
Detective Gu added a word of caution after Jang. Kyung-wan shrugged.
“I’ll never be the one to start anything.”
Gu let out a deep sigh.
“This is worrying. Very worrying.”
= = = = =
The prison Kyung-wan was sent to had recently been remodeled and expanded, so the facilities were excellent. And good facilities meant many inmates wanted to come here.
And that meant people with connections and money came here.
“Kid, what are you in for?”
He just got here, and already “kid”?
But the four-person cell had a comfortable atmosphere, so Kyung-wan answered politely to avoid ruining it.
“They say someone died because of me.”
“You didn’t kill him yourself?”
“Well, what happened was…”
Kyung-wan explained briefly: the fight with the gangsters, their filthy weapon, the sepsis, and failure of treatment.
The cell boss, ironically a friendly-looking gangster with a cheerful impression, clicked his tongue at the explanation.
“That’s unlucky.”
“Well, life’s like that.”
“Still, fighting four guys at once? You’ve got backbone.”
“I didn’t fight all four at once. I beat them one by one. No one can fight four people at the same time.”
At that, the boss made an impressed face.
“Wow~ kid, you really can fight. If you’re struggling after release, look me up.”
Kyung-wan obviously couldn’t respond with, ‘Screw you, you gangster scum!’ so he put on an exaggerated smile and bowed deeply.
“Thank you, sir!”
He was then introduced to his cellmates. First, Baek Sang-hoon, doing time for fraud, a proper “big shot” inmate. Then Kim Chun-jae, not a big shot but not a small fry either, in for assaulting his girlfriend’s boyfriend(?). And lastly, Jo Pil-tae, who claimed to be a former gangster.
Naturally, Kyung-wan was the youngest. But he also had the farthest release date. The others teased him for it.
As expected, generosity comes from a full stomach, and the wealthy cell had a relaxed atmosphere. Boredom was the only issue, but boredom could be solved with card games, gambling, hidden from the guards’ eyes.
Not officially allowed, of course, but compared to inmates doing worse things out of boredom, many guards accepted small bribes and overlooked it.
“Full house.”
“You damn! You’re not here for assault, you're here for gambling, aren’t you?!”
When Kyung-wan revealed his hand, Baek Sang-hoon, who held two pair, slammed his cards down in irritation.
Kyung-wan carefully dragged the stamps and cigarettes placed on the blanket toward himself. These were the prison’s currency. Cigarettes were valuable simply because smokers wanted them, and stamps could be exchanged between inmates.
And stamps could be turned into commissary money using “stamp cashing”, collect them, mail them to an outside business, and after a fee, the amount would be deposited as commissary funds.
Thanks to Baek Sang-hoon being today’s generous sucker, Kyung-wan earned his weekly fried chicken money.
“I’ve earned enough for chicken, so I’ll stop here.”
“You annoying brat.”
“I’m a penniless orphan with nothing. Please show mercy, rich sirs.”
When Kyung-wan grinned, the others looked annoyed but didn’t complain. After all, he didn’t take much.