The Truth Behind the Concrete
Watching the drum, sealed tight to the very last lid, thrash violently, Kang Do-cheol gave a twisted smirk. He turned his gaze toward the men in suits gathered nearby. "Hey, Manager Kim. Do it like always."
The man with the gear-shaped tattoo on his neck bowed his head. "Understood. I'll dump it in the sea."
Kang Do-cheol nodded. "I'll throw in some pocket money, so once you're done with that, take the boys out for a meal."
"Thank you." No sooner had Manager Kim finished speaking than the men in suits lifted the drum. It was just as Kang Do-cheol turned his body toward the exit that it happened.
Pop! Pop! Pop-pop-pop!
Suddenly, the lights that had been brightly illuminating the abandoned factory began to explode in succession. Glass shards scattered in every direction, and darkness swallowed the factory in an instant.
"What the?!"
"Which bastard is pulling this crap?" Kang Do-cheol roared in a voice filled with rage.
Kwang!
The entrance door crumpled like a sheet of paper. Seeing the iron door mangled as if it were nothing, everyone’s faces turned deathly pale. Manager Kim quickly drew a sashimi knife. The other underlings scrambled about, pulling out their own weapons. One clutched a steel pipe, another gripped a heavy chain. Just as tension hung thick in their eyes, a man appeared, walking forward with heavy, deliberate steps.
"It’s me, you son of a bitch."
"...What?" Manager Kim asked back, wearing a look of uncharacteristic stupidity.
Under the faint moonlight, the face was finally revealed.
"Cheo, Cheon Yooshin?"
As Cheon Yooshin’s name slipped from Manager Kim’s lips, everyone’s pupils dilated in unison. Kang Do-cheol doubted his own ears. "That’s impossible. How did that guy find this place!"
No one knew the location of this place. It was in a remote area, and he had purchased the long-defunct factory under a borrowed name precisely for this reason. Yet, how did that guy find it...
Just as Kang Do-cheol was desperately trying to deny the reality before him, Cheon Yooshin stopped walking.
"It’s you."
Yooshin’s gaze shifted. There stood Manager Kim, his face drained of all color.
"W-what are you talking about?"
"'Good luck'... that was you, wasn't it? Where did that confident voice go?"
Damn, damn it... He had clearly bribed the caretakers to keep the CCTV disabled for days before the job. How on earth did he track them down?
"I, I didn't do it."
"What do you mean you didn't? I clearly saw it."
"S-saw it? What does that mean! I was clearly on the phone...!" Manager Kim shut his mouth, realizing his slip of the tongue.
Yooshin shrugged his shoulders. "See! Then you have to keep the promise you made on the phone earlier, right?"
"...What?" Doubt clouded Manager Kim’s face.
"Don't you remember? I said I would definitely kill you."
"W-wait..." Manager Kim stammered. The sashimi knife he had been holding fell to the floor. He knew who Cheon Yooshin was. But the reason he had been able to act so boldly was because he never imagined he would actually be hunted down.
At that moment, a black light flashed from Cheon Yooshin’s hand. The black light writhed like a living creature, stretching out toward Manager Kim. Manager Kim screamed and tried to dodge, but the black light had already enveloped his body. It happened in an instant. As Yooshin’s fingers twitched, Manager Kim’s body floated into the air, and his limbs began to twist in an unnatural way.
"Aaaaaagh!" A desperate scream erupted from his throat. Everyone else desperately looked away from Manager Kim. It was a sight too terrifying to see even in a nightmare. But Yooshin alone stared at the scene intently, as if he found it amusing.
"That’s why you shouldn't run your mouth so carelessly."
No sooner had he finished speaking than the man’s body began to inflate rapidly, like a balloon.
"P-please, spare me!"
"Too late."
In an instant, with a gruesome sound, Manager Kim’s body exploded, and flesh and blood splattered everywhere. When it stained the clothes and bodies of the nearby underlings, they were seized with terror. But a leader is different. Kang Do-cheol, having regained his senses, shouted, "Hey! What on earth did we do to deserve this!"
His voice carried a desperate effort to somehow escape the situation. At that moment, Yooshin’s gaze, which had been fixed on Manager Kim, shifted to Kang Do-cheol.
"Shut up. You should consider yourself lucky. No, wait. Should I say you're unlucky?"
At that moment, Yooshin waved his hand once. The lid of the drum that had been imprisoning Park Hae-soo was ripped right off.
Whoosh!
As soon as the lid was removed, Park Hae-soo’s head popped up like a bean sprout. His breathing was incredibly ragged as he gasped for the air he hadn't been able to breathe all this time.
"Are you okay?"
"Cough, cough... Y-Yooshin-ssi?" Park Hae-soo barely managed to reply.
"No, you're a man who said he was going home to wash up—is it right for you to be getting a cement facial here?"
"R-really, it is you, Yooshin-ssi. Haa... I thought I was a goner for sure this time."
At that moment, the sound of hurried footsteps came from the entrance. And from the entrance behind Yooshin, people began to pour in. People in the uniforms of the Hunter Management Department, and even those in police uniforms. Kang Do-cheol’s face was already frozen. A police officer approached him and slapped handcuffs on his wrists. His gaze was cold and resolute.
"Kang Do-cheol, you have the right to remain silent and the right to an attorney. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law."
Kang Do-cheol’s face turned pale. "Do, do you know who I am? I'm Kang Do-cheol! Investigation Division Chief Kang Do-cheol!"
But the answer to that came from behind him. It was Park Hae-soo. "Hey, Chief Kang. Keep your mouth shut and come with us to the Hunter Management Department interrogation room. Understand?"
Having emerged from the cement drum, he was approaching him while wiping the cement that was plastered all over his body with a white towel.
"What? Why should I go to the Hunter Management Department! Whose jurisdiction do you think this is! It's our station. Our station! So I should go to the police station!"
Baek Woo-hyun, who had arrived late, said, "Mr. Kang Do-cheol, this time it’s different. The investigative authority for this case has been transferred to the Hunter Management Department."
"W-what did you say?"
Baek Woo-hyun tried to open his mouth again, but Yooshin said, sounding annoyed, "Why are you explaining so much to a criminal bastard like that? You already told him that 'Miranda' principle thing, didn't you?"
"...Miranda?"
"Hey, I know at least the Miranda principle!"
Baek Woo-hyun shut his mouth tight, wearing an expression that asked if he was really being looked down upon. He couldn't even bring himself to utter the 'Mi' of Miranda that had popped into his head.
***
Hunter Management Department interrogation room. The fluorescent light illuminated Kang Do-cheol’s pale face. Park Hae-soo threw a document in front of him.
"See this? Ten million won is being deposited every month. The depositor... well, you know how to read, right?"
The name of Cheon Yooshin’s uncle, Cheon Yeon-woo, was clearly printed as the depositor. It was clear evidence. But Kang Do-cheol opened his mouth with a calm voice.
"Yeon-woo is a friend I've known for a long time. We're the best of friends. If such a friend thinks a police officer's salary isn't enough and gives me money, what exactly is the problem? Oh, is the gift tax the problem?"
Park Hae-soo smirked at his attitude of feigning ignorance even though the circumstantial evidence was clearly revealed.
"You don't really think this is a bribe, do you? What kind of power could an investigation division chief of a mere station possibly give to such a large company trying to grow from a mid-sized enterprise to a conglomerate?"
A smile spread across Kang Do-cheol’s lips. "You were using a borrowed name, weren't you? You know that the use of borrowed-name accounts is very strictly regulated, right?"
Kang Do-cheol leaned back in his chair and crossed his legs. "Was it a maximum of 5 years in prison or 100% of the borrowed-name transaction amount?"
"You know it well. But, you see." Park Hae-soo wore a triumphant smile. "The owner of that borrowed-name account is in a psychiatric hospital, isn't he?"
Kang Do-cheol’s face stiffened for a moment. "Is that so? Borrowed-name accounts are usually made in the names of homeless people. Do I have to keep track of the identities of such people?"
"Usually, yes. But wouldn't the story change a bit if the owner of that borrowed-name account was the person who caused the hit-and-run accident?"
"W-what are you talking about now? Writing a novel? Huh?! Just say I used a borrowed-name account! I admit it all. I received the money, and I used a borrowed-name account. So give me disciplinary action or punishment or whatever."
"If you think you can end this situation with just that, you've underestimated me too much. Now, shall we watch the video?" Park Hae-soo played the video on his laptop.
***
Park Hae-soo visited Hanbit Psychiatric Hospital. A nurse was working at the desk. "I'm here to visit Lee Yeongbeom."
The nurse, who had been looking at the monitor, glanced at him and said, "There is no such person. You seem to have come to the wrong place."
"You must have a good memory."
"Pardon?"
"Seeing as you can distinguish whether a patient is here or not just by hearing the name without even checking the monitor."
"W-well... I've been working here for over 5 years."
"I see. Ah! Such a discourtesy..." Park Hae-soo took a business card out of his wallet and handed it to her. "I'm Park Hae-soo, the Hunter Conquest Team Leader of the Hunter Management Department. Is Lee Yeongbeom really not here?"
"It's true. There is no such patient."
"Hmm... I see. Then, if you happen to hear any news later, could you please contact me at the number on the business card?"
"Okay."
"Thank you. Then I'll be going."
Park Hae-soo bowed his head and stepped out of the hospital. Once he was in the car, Park Hae-soo looked at Yooshin, who was sitting in the passenger seat. He really was a man who lived life comfortably. In the short time—less than 10 minutes—since he had gone to the hospital, this guy had been snoring away in his sleep. Even though he told him to rest at the office, he insisted they were 'Two Cops' until this case was over... And yet, he was absolutely no help to the investigation. But for some reason, his heart felt reassured. Because the incident a few days ago was an accident that couldn't be easily forgotten until he died.
"Hey. Yooshin-ssi!" As he shook him, Yooshin woke up, wiping the drool from his mouth. "Why! I was meditating for a moment. Did the culprit appear?"
"Sigh... No. But there's something strange."
"Ayy, there's no culprit, so why wake me up." Cheon Yooshin asked, pouting his lips. "Then what is it? What's strange?"
"Yooshin-ssi. Do you happen to know the names of all the employees at the Hunter Management Department?"
"Why should I know that? They should know my name."
It was shameless, but the absolute 'gap' didn't need to know all the names of the 'eul'.
"But the nurse said there was no such person without even checking the name of the person I mentioned."
"Hmm... That is a bit strange, isn't it?"
Meanwhile, immediately after the man who identified himself as Park Hae-soo left, the nurse checked her surroundings and carefully took out her cell phone. "Hello? Director, someone from the Hunter Management Department just came and looked for Lee Yeongbeom."
A moment later, she nodded and said, "Yes, I understand. I will move him right away."
After hanging up the phone, she hurried toward the underground ward. Keeping an eye on her surroundings, she entered the most secluded hospital room, pushed the bed of the man who was sleeping, exited the room, took the elevator, and went down to the underground parking lot. When the doors opened, two men with sturdy builds approached. The nurse handed over the bed without a word, and the men moved the man lying on the bed to a van. Just as the nurse turned around after watching the back of the van, which had started its engine and was moving toward the exit, a black sedan blocked the exit. And the man who got out of the car, Park Hae-soo, was smirking.
"He's in here, right? The patient named Lee Yeongbeom."