The Shakedown
Song Tan’s first day at Annam Police Station had finally come after leaving Macheon District Office behind.
“I’m Police Constable Song Tan, assigned to Violent Crimes Team 1 as of today.”
The new detective’s crisp salute made the head of the detective division let out a booming laugh.
“So you’re the famous Song Tan, huh? Ha-ha-ha, good to meet you.”
The detective chief, with his warm face that looked like the neighborhood laundryman’s, extended a hand.
“But you really ought to eat a little more. Looking at you, I’d think you were a model or something, not a detective.”
Song Tan’s body had been built mostly with lean muscle, so he did look somewhat thin at a glance.
It wasn’t as though his physique naturally packed on mass, either, so there was only so much he could do about that.
“Chief, now. Does being big mean you catch criminals better? This isn’t the 1980s.”
When Han Byung-woo came to his defense, the detective chief snorted with laughter.
“Already covering for your boy, are you?”
Sitting on the sofa, the chief studied Song Tan’s face carefully.
“That’s odd. No matter how I look at you, you don’t have the face of one of ours... Still, you really wanted to come here that badly?”
“Yes, sir. It was my dream.”
Perhaps pleased by the unhesitating answer, the chief smiled in satisfaction.
“Good. Welcome aboard. And I’m not just saying this to brag, but I had to drink a whole case of soju with the superintendent just to pull you over here.”
“That sounds like bragging no matter who hears it.”
“Shut it, punk. Since when does some team leader talk back to the chief?”
“Well, this lowly team leader still has a mouth, doesn’t he? Shouldn’t I get to say what I want?”
“What was that? You brat, trying to make me look bad in front of the rookie.”
They bickered back and forth, but their relationship seemed quite close.
“Anyway, it’s going to be tough. Much tougher than you think.”
The chief lowered his tone and gave a serious warning.
“This neighborhood throws up violent crimes left and right, and we’re not exactly swimming in manpower, so there’ll be plenty of nights you won’t even make it home. You ready for that?”
“I’m ready, sir.”
“Good. Then I’ll make you one promise. Work hard, and I’ll make sure you get the treatment you deserve. And if anybody gets in your way while you’re catching criminals, call me immediately. I’ll wipe out any son of a bitch who causes trouble.”
The detective chief looked like a genial man, but back when he’d been an active detective, he’d been called a bulldozer for good reason.
Especially when it came to catching criminals, he didn’t compromise, which was exactly why his subordinates trusted him so deeply.
“Do your best to settle in. I’m expecting big things from you.”
“Yes, sir. I’ll work hard.”
At the chief’s signal, Han Byung-woo took Song Tan out of the office.
“Nervous?”
“No. He was so personable that I was more comfortable than I expected.”
“It’s all an act. In his younger days, he was even a national judo team member, and if he doesn’t like someone, he starts by folding them in half and sticking them into the floor. You’d better keep your body out of trouble, got it?”
After that, Han Byung-woo led Song Tan toward the office marked Violent Crimes Team 1.
When they opened the door and stepped inside—
“You bastard! Did you check that case number again!? No! That was the report from yesterday, you idiot!”
“Yes, sir. I’ll confirm the files from Intelligence and call them back.”
The printer rattled nonstop, phones rang and died in quick bursts, and every kind of shouting imaginable flew through the room.
Case files were piled like mountains on every desk, and the whiteboard was crammed with writing.
“All right, everyone, listen up!”
At Han Byung-woo’s call, every head in the room turned at once.
Song Tan stepped forward and gave a sharp salute.
“Police Constable Song Tan, reporting for duty with Violent Crimes Team 1 as of today. I’ll be in your care.”
The reaction was lively.
“Ohhh, a rookie at last! We’re saved. We’re saved! Thank God!”
“You’re the ace from the district office, right? The one who was flying around like crazy.”
Rather than a warm welcome for a new teammate, it felt more like they were delighted to have someone new to dump the grunt work on.
Han Byung-woo led Song Tan to an empty seat in the corner.
“That’s your desk. Sit down for now.”
Song Tan took the assigned chair.
The seat gave a faint creak, and on the desk there was nothing but a few pens and a memo pad, as if the previous occupant had simply left them behind.
Interest in Song Tan quickly faded, and the office returned to its usual chaos.
“We should talk to the victim again.”
“Run that CCTV angle one more time. Doesn’t something seem off?”
“I’ll call the prosecutor.”
Amid a din that sounded like a market street—
Click.
The door opened, and a huge man entered.
The moment Han Byung-woo saw him, he shouted at once.
“Joo-ttol! You bastard! What the hell did you do in the robbery case at Naeup-dong that the suspect came out with a six-week injury?”
The giant man shrugged as if it were nothing.
“What was I supposed to do? He came at me swinging a hammer like he wanted to die. Should I just stand there and get hit?”
“You should’ve subdued him properly! Better yet, just use the Taser!”
“The bastard lures people in, then charges in with a sneak attack. What am I supposed to do? I was already being considerate by only throwing him.”
“You only threw him once, and that somehow shattered three ribs and the tailbone?”
“How was I supposed to know his body was that flimsy?”
“Unbelievable.”
Han Byung-woo was left speechless by the man’s shamelessness.
The giant muttered under his breath with a dissatisfied expression.
“I went and caught the criminal because you kept yelling at me to bring him in, and now you’re complaining...”
“I can hear you, you bastard.”
“Ahem. I’ll try to be gentler next time. Even if it means my head gets smashed by the hammer.”
“My head hurts just listening to you...”
Rubbing at his throbbing temples, Han Byung-woo pointed toward one side.
“Hey! Joo-ttol. This is the rookie who just got here today. You’re taking him with you.”
The thick eyebrow of the giant twitched once.
“Me?”
“Yeah, you, idiot. What, are you the only widow in this place?”
“I can manage on my own just fine...”
“Shut up! At the scene, on raids, during interviews! You take him with you everywhere except when you’re going to the bathroom! Got it?”
“Ha...”
Answering with nothing but a sigh, the man strode over to Song Tan.
“I’m Lee Joo-seok. What’s your name?”
“A pleasure to meet you, senior. I’m Song Tan.”
Seen up close, Lee Joo-seok’s physical presence was overwhelming.
His loose-fitting clothes looked ready to burst from the muscle beneath, and his square jaw and fierce eyes were enough to make most people shrink back on instinct.
Lee Joo-seok held out a hand like a cast-iron lid and asked bluntly, “Hey, rookie. You won’t throw up if you see a body chopped up and rotting, right? If you’re just here to test the waters, quit now while you still can. Don’t make things a pain for everyone.”
Song Tan rose from his seat and took the offered hand.
“I’ve got a strong stomach. Even if I see a corpse reduced to scraps of flesh, or one that’s rotted into a soft, dripping mess, it doesn’t bother me much. And I’m not here to test the waters, either. I’ll do my best following your lead, senior.”
The blazing eyes that looked as if they might spit fire met the languid ones in midair.
Then one of the detectives came over and tapped Lee Joo-seok on the shoulder.
“Don’t haze the kid on his first day. Come on.”
“Where?”
“You forgot already? We’ve got a missing-person report to chase down.”
“Ah... right.”
Snatching up his coat, Lee Joo-seok said without looking back, “Hey, you too. Change and follow us.”
He tossed the words over his shoulder and strode out, and Song Tan silently followed after him.
****
Inside the van, there were four detectives, including Song Tan.
They were all big men, so the nine-seater felt packed to the brim.
Apparently bored by the grim silence inside the vehicle, one of the detectives asked Song Tan, “Rookie. How old are you?”
“I’m twenty-four.”
“T-twenty-four? My nephew turns twenty-two next year, and good lord...”
“What were you doing when you were twenty-four?”
“Let’s see... I think I was getting drunk every day and chasing women around...”
Another detective asked Song Tan, “Do you work out or anything?”
“I do some bodyweight exercises at home, but I haven’t really trained under anyone.”
“Hoo, that’s no good. Take my advice: you have to work out if you want to stay a detective for long.”
Lee Joo-seok, who was behind the wheel, frowned hard.
“Come on, senior. To put it bluntly, what changes just because you work out a little?”
His eyes, reflected in the rearview mirror, turned toward Song Tan.
“Just focus on passing the promotion exam and think about moving somewhere else. No matter how I look at it, you don’t seem like you belong here.”
The senior detective listening from the back clicked his tongue.
“Is that really what you say to the rookie on his first day?”
“Did I say anything wrong?”
The senior detective shook his head and spoke to Song Tan.
“Don’t mind him. He’s doing it on purpose. He’s worried he’ll start getting attached and then you’ll run off on him.”
“Hey, quit saying useless shit.”
“And for the love of God, calm the hell down, you bastard. The chief can only cover for you for so long. If you screw up one more time, you might really get sent back to the district office.”
“Fine, if they tell me to go back, I’ll go back. What, am I supposed to stop catching criminals because of that?”
“No, catching them’s good. Just bring them in in one piece, for once.”
“Agh, damn it. You really love nagging, don’t you? Am I your wife or something? You’re making my ears bleed.”
“This bastard complains even when you worry about him.”
They continued their familiar banter until, before long, the van came to a stop in front of a building in Seongrak-dong, an area packed with entertainment districts.
The three detectives exchanged looks and nodded.
“Hey, rookie.”
Lee Joo-seok pointed at the building with a finger.
“I’ll keep this short, so listen carefully. A missing-person report came in a few days ago. The girl’s name is Kim Sang-mi. She’d run away from home, and then at some point she just vanished completely. Her phone’s been off, and her most recent financial record is just a small deposit from right before she ran away. The last place her movements were confirmed on CCTV was here in Seongrak-dong.”
“Understood.”
“To cut to the chase, there’s a guy in that building called Deodeum-i. He looks like some respectable businessman on the outside, but behind the scenes he’s a broker who supplies women to brothels.”
“You think he’s connected to the missing high school girl?”
“Exactly. But we’ve got suspicion without proof. So we need to get our hands on this bastard and shake him down somehow, except it looks like he’s caught wind of us and hasn’t shown his face lately. Which means...”
“What do you want me to do?”
“Simple. Just find out whether that bastard Deodeum-i is inside or not.”
“By myself?”
“We’d like to go in too, but our faces are too well known.”
“That’s really all you want me to find out?”
At Song Tan’s question, Lee Joo-seok let out a crooked grin.
“If you’re confident, why not find out where he sold that girl off to while you’re at it?”
“Understood. I’ll be back.”
The van door opened, and Song Tan straightened his clothes before stepping into the building.
Watching his back, one detective muttered, “Will he be all right? He’s only twenty-four...”
“Whether he’s twenty-four or forty-four, he still has to go through the initiation. That’s team tradition.”
“I hope he doesn’t get fed up and quit.”
Lee Joo-seok, chewing on a cream bun, said in a bored voice, “If he folds over from this, he’d be better off quitting now.”
The senior detective looked at him with open disgust.
“You heartless bastard. No wonder nobody can stick around under you.”
“They were never cut out to be detectives in the first place.”
“And your standard for being ‘cut out for it’ is that they should at least be special forces, right?”
“Special forces, or whatever else. All that matters is that they’ve got a damn straight head on their shoulders. Is that so hard?”
At Lee Joo-seok’s stubborn voice, the two detectives fell silent.
They knew full well that this was just how he was.
“Still, that slick bastard Deodeum-i doesn’t seem like he’s going to talk nicely. What now?”
“Keep digging through his place. He definitely knows something.”
“Ha... I’m getting a complex here. Sitting around reading a criminal’s mood all day...”
“Shut up and eat your bun. We’re waiting here until that bastard shows his face today.”
“Agh, if I can’t go home again today, my wife’s going to kill me...”
Annoyed, the detective tossed the cream bun in his hand over his shoulder.
How much time had passed?
“By the way, why isn’t he coming out?”
The senior detective checked the time and looked toward the building entrance.
For a good twenty minutes, not a single person had come or gone.
“What if something happened in there?”
“No way. No matter how crazy those guys are, would they really mess with an active-duty detective? Not unless they want to die.”
“They’re not gangsters. They’re unruly punks with no pedigree, so they might just charge at cops and all. Hey, Joo-ttol. Go bring the rookie out. If something happens because we’re being stupid, we’re all screwed.”
“Ha...”
With a sigh, Lee Joo-seok glanced at the entrance, then picked up his coat.
That was when—
“Huh!? The rookie’s coming out!”
One detective pointed at the entrance.
Song Tan emerged from the building and walked leisurely toward the van.
He was dragging someone along beside him.
“But that thing next to him... isn’t that Deodeum-i?”
“Huh? Wait, is it—?”
Before anyone could make sense of the situation, the van door slid open, and Song Tan spoke to the curly-haired man.
“Get in.”
“Huh? Oh! Yes, sir.”
The man obediently sat down beside the detectives, like a newlywed bride.
For some reason, he looked absolutely terrified.
“I caught the one hiding inside. And the missing girl... Mr. Deodeum-i? Would you care to explain it yourself?”
“Huh? Ah—! Th-that bitch... no, the girl was sold off to Changwon. But I’m innocent. What happened was...”
The man poured out his grievances in a long, desperate plea.
“But I swear to God! I didn’t know she was a minor. I really didn’t! Please, just let me live!”
Deodeum-i, who had started confessing to his own crimes in a rush of his own mouth,
could do nothing but sit there while the three detectives stared at him, mouths open, utterly dumbfounded.
---