Chapter 77
Chapter 77
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Translator : M.N 1391
Chapter: 77
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Death Reporter Task Force.
The capable investigators dispatched from various regions all knew that the investigation into the Death Reporter was less significant than probing the entity, organization or group, called Vigilance.
It was obvious that the Death Reporter investigation would eventually lead to Vigilance.
There was, however, one caveat: that Vigilance actually existed.
In truth, investigators initially thought it was just a lunatic’s bluff, or a fabricated group meant to confuse the investigation, until the request for investigative cooperation came from the United States.
“Hey! Stop trying to learn too much and focus on investigating whether it’s Death Reporter or that dead bastard!”
The Seoul Police Commissioner, head of the task force, barked at them. But what’s an investigator’s occupational disease? Suspicion and inference.
Soon, rumors spread among the investigators that Death Reporter might be a superpowered villain. The deeper the investigation went, the more evidence supported that idea. The videos documenting reporter Lee Myeongtae’s stalking were filmed from positions that existing equipment simply couldn’t reach.
Or rather, it could be done, but you’d be caught immediately.
There was no way they’d let some faceless bastard record their dirty secrets unnoticed. So investigators couldn’t help but reasonably suspect that Death Reporter might have invisibility powers.
Even if not, they were convinced that Vigilance housed at least one superpowered individual. They expected Death Reporter to have close ties to a superpowered ally. Even if Death Reporter himself had invisibility, without someone’s assistance there was no way he could’ve left so little evidence or trace.
Which meant Death Reporter wasn’t a lone wolf, but part of a criminal organization with accomplices.
077-09, Dark Hero and Villain Are Only a Sheet of Paper Apart
Still, that alone wasn’t enough justification or plausibility for U.S. involvement. After all, the U.S. had plenty of superpowered criminals too.
In the end, the capable investigators arrived at the most plausible hypothesis to bolster that weak rationale.
What if Vigilance existed in the United States as well?
That would explain America’s interest, and its proposal for joint investigation.
The investigators hoped this line of reasoning was nothing more than unfounded worry. If it wasn’t, they’d be facing an international organization that included at least one superpowered individual…
Unfortunately, their fears were confirmed by the appearance of one man.
“Hello. Nice to meet you. You know me, right?”
The National Assembly terrorist and American hero, Lee Kyung-wan, entered with a smile and a wave, as if he weren’t an inmate at all. The prison uniform he still wore made the scene all the more jarring.
But no one could say anything, an FBI agent followed right behind him.
‘Didn’t they say they failed to rope that bastard in?’
‘They did, right?’
‘Then why now?’
The murmurs among the investigators were easy for Kyung-wan to guess.
“It seems strange that I, who didn’t budge at your words, am here to cooperate now, right? But don’t get it twisted. I didn’t come to help you, I came to help the guests from the United States.”
If joint investigation took place, Kyung-wan might assist the Korean side, but only at America’s request. He was warning them in advance not to tell him to do this or that.
His words made the investigators’ guts churn. If not for the foreigner standing behind him, they’d have dragged Kyung-wan straight into an interrogation room and told him to stop spouting bullshit. Truly regrettable.
Of course, that was the kind of thinking you could have only if you’d never been alone in a closed room with Kyung-wan.
“Let’s get to work. It’s uncomfortable for both sides to stare at each other too long, right?”
That was welcome news.
They hurried to summon people for witness interviews, those who’d suffered because victim Lee Myeongtae had written trash articles, and their acquaintances.
The investigators summoned victims in the order easiest to contact. Ideally, you’d start with the person harboring the greatest grudge, but Lee Myeongtae had spent so long as a trash reporter that there were countless victims. Figuring out who held the deepest resentment would’ve taken ages, so they gave up.
They simply called witnesses in chronological order, starting with the most recent victims.
Besides, was there anyone who could objectively measure the size of a grudge?
Fortunately, they had a deranged psycho but highly effective lie detector. The fastest method was to bring in as many witnesses as possible and check them.
A large number of witnesses might’ve burdened Kyung-wan, but it didn’t. He asked only three questions: whether the witness was Death Reporter, a collaborator, or knew who Death Reporter might be. With just those, each interview ended.
Another investigator would’ve asked many questions to verify credibility first, but Kyung-wan skipped all that and went straight to the core, saving enormous time.
With each interview taking under a minute on average, investigators ended up rushing just to bring witnesses in fast enough.
After questioning around three hundred witnesses, they finally got something resembling a lead.
The witness was the manager of a celebrity whose image had been destroyed about five years earlier by deliberate fabrication and manipulation by trash reporter Lee Myeongtae.
When asked if he knew who Death Reporter might be, he answered ‘No’, but Kyung-wan immediately flagged it as a lie. Subjected to deeper questioning, the manager hesitated, then began to talk.
“That bastard Lee Myeongtae turned Minju into an adulteress. The male actor involved wasn’t mentioned at all. Later we found out that Lee Myeongtae was in cahoots with another male actor who was competing with him. That actor asked Lee Myeongtae to corner Minju so he could get a piece of her. And at the same time, smear a rival with overlapping image. But that actor wasn’t easy to deal with either. In the end, our poor Minju was the shrimp whose back got broken in a whale fight. After that, she retired from entertainment and disappeared. I heard she went to the United States, but I don’t know beyond that.”
An investigator asked,
“So you think this Minju person is Death Reporter?”
The man shook his head.
“No. Minju had a younger brother. He adored his sister. He said he’d become a film director or drama producer for her someday, and he learned camera techniques and video editing. A good kid.”
“What made you suspect that younger brother as Death Reporter?”
“Um… I watched that bastard Lee Myeongtae’s video too. The editing style felt similar to the kid’s.”
“A feeling?”
“Why? You said if there’s someone plausible, even if it sounds far-fetched, we should say it.”
At ‘just a feeling,’ the investigator looked dubious, and the former manager felt wronged.
The investigators exchanged glances. It wouldn’t hurt to check.
“Hey! Look up Kang Woobin’s address!”
Following the order, they confirmed Kang Woobin’s address, but he’d already emigrated to the United States.
They were about to shrug it off when the FBI stepped in. It turned out Kang Woobin was in Korea on business.
At the excellent cooperation, the superior brightened and looked for people to bring him in.
Two investigators stood up. That’s when Kyung-wan spoke.
“Just the two of you?”
They froze.
“Uh…”
As the investigators heading for the exit stopped, the one giving orders spoke up.
“Why?! What is it?!”
“Uh… what if he’s a superpowered individual?”
At that question, the superior sighed.
“Haah…”
Vigilance’s Death Reporter.
There was no proof that Kang Woobin was Death Reporter, but if he was, sending just a couple of investigators wouldn’t cut it.
“Where’s our superpowered sergeant?”
“Jeonghun went to eat.”
“Damn it! He really does whatever the hell he wants. They said he’s a hardhead at his station, and it’s true.”
It was dinner time, so that was natural, but such words came out because he’d actually pulled some hardheaded stunts. Something about punching out a mid-sized company owner’s drug-addicted son and knocking him unconscious?
Anyway, there was a reason they’d assigned such a hardhead to the Death Reporter task force, potentially backed by a superpowered group: he was verified as the best fighter among police and prosecutors alike.
Under the Superpower Management Special Act passed by the government and legislature, Sergeant Ha Jeonghun of the Superpower Investigation Unit had never lost a sparring match, even against superpowered opponents with monstrous strength.
Naturally, Ha Jeonghun himself possessed monstrous strength. Strangely, though, his muscles didn’t bulge unnaturally. At a glance, he looked like a natural bodybuilder.
The superior gave instructions to the two heading out.
“Find Sergeant Ha on the way and bring him. And take a few more people, just in case.”
As several more investigators left, the task force room grew sparse. It was dinner time, and many detectives had gone to eat. Besides, the room didn’t even have enough desks for everyone to sit all day.
The task force was, after all, temporary, meant to disband once the case concluded.
Kyung-wan remained, of course. Along with FBI agent Jeffrey Lee. Though Jeffrey Lee, a third-generation Korean American, was actually with the NSA.
Kim Jun, who’d come with them, was away on some business. Kyung-wan had to wait in the task force room until he returned.
“Jeffrey. How about chicken for dinner?”
“Doesn’t that get old?”
Jeffrey frowned. Kyung-wan’s habit of choosing chicken and beer every night was getting to him. Honestly, he wanted pork belly or beef.
Kyung-wan replied calmly, seriously.
“If chicken ever gets old, doesn’t that mean you’re close to death?”
Then was Jeffrey already near death? Shaking his head at Kyung-wan’s nonsense, he said,
“I’m not eating.”
“Why?”
“I’m going to a barbecue place.”
If you came to Korea, you had to try authentic pork belly, right?
Kyung-wan’s eyes widened.
“That’s unfair, leaving me out?”
Jeffrey flinched. Among those monitoring Kyung-wan, it was already a famous anecdote that he’d caused a scene in Japan over not being fed.
He hurriedly said,
“I said I’m not eating. I didn’t say I wouldn’t order chicken.”
“So when are you ordering?”
“Right now. Excuse me! Do you have a number for a chicken place that delivers here?”
Jeffrey quickly asked the nearest investigator for a delivery number. He still found Kyung-wan intimidating. After being trained with videos and photos of the people Kyung-wan had brutalized, it was hard to relax around him.
“How did someone do that to people… almost all barehanded?”
“Hello? Is this the chicken place? I’ll have one, ”
“Half seasoned, half fried.”
Jeffrey had been about to order seasoned, knowing Kyung-wan liked it, but immediately changed the order at Kyung-wan’s words.
“Half seasoned, half fried. Yes, the address is…”
When the order was done, Kyung-wan smiled.
“You’re quick on the uptake, Jeffrey. If it were Kim Jun, he’d probably snap at me for not saying it sooner or ask what I want with a gruff attitude.”
Jeffrey chuckled awkwardly, thinking of the more senior Kim Jun. He couldn’t imagine how that man managed to work with this dangerous individual.
“Then I’ll take a nap. Wake me when the chicken arrives.”
“You’re sleeping now?”
“Then lend me a smartphone to kill time, or give me internet access.”
Jeffrey had no desire to hand over his phone or make demands of foreign investigators just to ease Kyung-wan’s boredom.
If Kyung-wan chose sleep to pass the time, that was a win for Jeffrey.
“I’ll wake you as soon as the chicken gets here.”
So hurry up and go to sleep.
Kyung-wan, perhaps unaware of those inner thoughts, glanced at Jeffrey’s smile, crossed his arms, leaned against the wall, and closed his eyes.
Jeffrey turned his head aside and sighed silently. Why was he so tired when he hadn’t even done anything? Maybe being next to a predator was just inherently exhausting.
Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.
Time passed. At some unknown moment, the task force room grew so quiet you could hear the second hand of the wall clock moving.
The silence was shattered by someone’s shout.
“Y-you! What are you?!”
Startled by the sudden yell, Kyung-wan jolted awake.
“What? Did the chicken arrive?”