The Moment the Criminal Started Begging for Mercy
I’ll take it from here.
The two of them returned to Rose Arcade, Unit B105, the same place they had found two days earlier.
The owner, who had been pacing in front of the shop, spotted them and came running at once.
"Oh, y-you came!?"
Lee Joo-seok flinched.
"What happened to your face...?"
The man’s face had gone so pale it looked drained dry, his features gaunt enough to seem half-starved already. For someone they had seen only two days ago, the change was almost grotesquely dramatic.
Just then Song Tan, who had been to the restroom, appeared a beat later, and the owner hurried toward him with all the desperation of a man greeting his last hope.
"Detective! Detective! Waaaah..."
He called out to Song Tan so plaintively it was like he was crying out to the person he had been waiting for all his life, then dropped to his knees without another word.
"P-please, save me! I don’t want to die like this."
Lee Joo-seok stared, jaw hanging open in bewilderment, not understanding a damn thing.
Song Tan crouched down and met the owner’s eyes.
"Please calm yourself and speak clearly."
"J-just like you said, Detective... suddenly this searing pain started spreading from my lower back... and now it’s up to my head... ngh!"
Mid-sentence, the owner clutched his skull and began shaking all over.
"Hey, hey, hey! What the hell’s wrong with him!?"
Alarmed, Lee Joo-seok rushed closer to check on him. The man’s condition was obviously no joke, and just as Lee Joo-seok was about to call 119—
"Wait a moment, Senior."
Song Tan stopped him and turned his gaze back to the owner.
By then the man had managed to pull himself together, though he was trembling in terror.
Sweat sheened his face, making it shine slickly.
"Just as I expected."
"I told you, I already went to a big hospital and they found nothing! Am I really going to die? Why is this happening to me all of a sudden!?"
The owner of the prepaid phone business clung to Song Tan’s pant leg.
Song Tan answered in a calm voice.
"Your ancestors are angry."
"Huh?"
The owner looked up at him, dumbstruck.
"You had a serious illness when you were young, didn’t you?"
"H-how did you know that?"
"You’d naturally have no idea how much sacrifice they made just to keep you alive."
"Y-yeah...?"
"Your ancestors are not merely upset. They’re furious. So furious that they’ve decided a severed line would be preferable to letting you continue leaching off their luck. That karma has finally come due."
"............."
It was an absurd story.
He was the sort of man who had never believed in superstition to begin with.
And yet, he couldn’t dismiss it.
The hellish pain that would soon begin again was absolutely, undeniably real.
"Sob, please save me! Detective, you can save me, can’t you!?"
Watching the man cry his eyes out, Song Tan shook his head.
"I don’t know. I’m a detective, not a shaman."
"Ah..."
Despair collapsed the man’s shoulders, and he braced himself against the floor weakly.
"But it may be possible to postpone the deadline..."
"Really!?"
The owner snapped his head up.
In his eyes flared a desperate, feral attachment to life.
"W-what do I need to do?"
"First, you need to lessen the burden of your accumulated karma. That’s the first knot to untie."
Song Tan took out the photograph again.
"This man. Where is he now?"
****
"I only saw his face once. We always dealt with each other remotely."
"So you only saw him once, and you’re sure the man in the photo is him?"
At Lee Joo-seok’s question, the owner nodded confidently.
"His face was a little iffy, but the clothes were the same. And so was that tacky earring."
He jabbed a finger at the man in the photo.
"But you said you only dealt remotely. Why did he come here that day?"
"He suddenly said he’d lost his phone and started pushing me to activate a new one as fast as possible. Since he was a regular, I told him I’d send it by quick delivery as soon as I could. But he said he couldn’t even wait that long. I was pissed off as hell, thinking, What the fuck am I supposed to do about that? But..."
The owner frowned and stuck a cigarette between his lips.
"Still, what could I do? He was a regular, after all. So I just bent over backwards and told him there wasn’t any other way unless he came in person to pick it up. Then he said he’d come himself. That’s when I saw him for the first time."
"What did he look like? Tell me everything you remember."
"Early to mid-thirties, maybe? Around 170 centimeters tall. Pale as hell, with eyes slanted so sharply he looked like some kind of weasel. I’ve lived in this neighborhood for over twenty years, and I’d never seen his face before."
"Anything else? A name, or something like that?"
"How the hell would I have that? Honestly, the guys looking for prepaid phones are all obviously doing something illegal somewhere. Why would they reveal their identities?"
Lee Joo-seok clicked his tongue in disappointment.
Then Song Tan, standing beside him, muttered as if for him to hear.
"Unfortunate. At this rate, proper atonement will be difficult."
The owner flinched and began puffing furiously on his cigarette, his hands shaking as though trying to squeeze out one last useful detail.
Then—
"Ah!"
His eyes flew wide open.
"Right! The prepaid phone!"
"What?"
As if a rope had dropped from the heavens, the owner excitedly blurted, "That guy bought a prepaid phone too. The registration name was some homeless man, but I’m sure that information is still in the system."
He quickly opened his laptop, scribbled something on a sticky note, and handed it to Song Tan.
"Here."
Song Tan skimmed the contents once, then passed the paper to Lee Joo-seok.
Lee Joo-seok’s eyes flashed as he rose from his seat in one smooth motion.
"Let’s go. Once we get the warrant, we can track this bastard’s location."
"Yes, Senior."
The owner, who had been watching their faces nervously, suddenly grabbed Song Tan by the sleeve.
"D-detective!? What am I supposed to do now!?"
Song Tan glanced at him and gave his shoulder a light pat.
"There’s only one way. Clear out your business properly and do as much good as you can. That’s the only answer."
"Then... does that mean I can live?"
"That’s not for me to decide. It’s up to your ancestors. That’s all I can tell you. Now, if you’ll excuse us."
"D-detective! Detective!"
The owner called after him desperately, but Song Tan left the shop without a trace of hesitation.
Lee Joo-seok’s pupils quivered as he watched him go.
***
On the way back to Annam West Station, inside the car—
"You..."
Lee Joo-seok started to speak, then shut his mouth again.
His head was such a mess that nothing had settled into place properly.
No matter how he thought about it, he still couldn’t find the thread.
Normally, guys like that only opened their mouths if you threatened them or put a fist in their face, right?
But this bizarre rookie had gotten the same result as if it were nothing at all.
From Lee Joo-seok’s perspective, it was completely incomprehensible.
"Why does everyone start shaking like a leaf and begging for their lives the moment they see you? Did you secretly beat them up or something?"
The light turned red, and the car came to a stop.
Song Tan turned his head and calmly tossed out, "That’s a trade secret."
"What?"
"Seems your ancestors really were angry. I just happened to guess right."
Lee Joo-seok barked out a short laugh.
He’d never expected an answer like that.
"Right now, isn’t the urgent thing catching the bastard in that photo as fast as possible?"
Lee Joo-seok nodded slowly, as if conceding the point.
"Yeah. You’re right. That’s the important thing right now."
Once you were paired as senior and junior partners, you were bound to keep running together anyway. Lee Joo-seok forcibly cut off his curiosity, telling himself he’d figure it out someday.
"You can knock off here."
"Is that all right?"
"It’s fine. You’ve already done more than enough... no, you did better than I expected. But once we get a hit on the bastard’s location, we’re going straight into surveillance, so keep that in mind."
"Yes, understood."
Song Tan pulled over on the shoulder, gathered his things, and gave a small bow.
"See you tomorrow."
"Yeah. Good work."
Lee Joo-seok watched Song Tan walk away for a moment, then answered a call that came through.
"Yes, Chief."
"Hey! Is it true you paid the victim’s surgery bill out of your own pocket for that drunk-driving hit-and-run near Eunseong Intersection?"
Slightly flustered, Lee Joo-seok moved his lips without saying anything.
"...How did you hear about that?"
"How do you think, idiot? The victim’s grandson posted about it on the ‘Praise Board.’ Said he was so grateful he didn’t know what to do with himself."
"Sigh... I told him not to do anything unnecessary..."
"You brat, how are you supposed to pay that kind of money when you’re already on a salary cut?"
"Then what was I supposed to do? A person’s life was on the line. I couldn’t just stand there and watch. And you know it—there’s not much point in saving that money anyway."
"Tch. That kid. Always sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong."
A clicking sound of disapproval drifted through the phone.
"So, anything on that drug-peddling bastard? The chief’s on edge. Worried that because of one bastard, all of Annam will end up a junkie’s den."
"We’ve secured the subscriber info for the prepaid phone he’s using. We should be able to pin down his location soon."
"Oh!? Really!? You found him that fast with just a single photo? Damn! As expected, our Joo-ttol really is ridiculously good at his job. If only you didn’t cause so many disasters, I’d like you a lot more."
"It wasn’t me. It was my junior partner... no, Song Tan who figured out everything."
"...?"
A short silence passed.
"Hah, that kid. He made a big case on his very first day as a probationary officer too. He really is something else, huh?"
Admiration leaked through the voice on the other end.
"You can tell he’s different too, right? That Tan kid?"
Lost in thought, Lee Joo-seok nodded slowly.
"He’s definitely not ordinary. He’s bold, and his judgment in a crisis is nowhere near what you’d expect from a rookie. Honestly, in all my years as a detective, I’ve never met anyone like him."
"The intelligence team was practically drooling over him. Top of his class at Central Police Academy, youngest ever, fastest promotion too. He’s only lacking experience. He’s going to be a big one, so make sure you teach him well."
"Yes, sir."
After hanging up, Lee Joo-seok let out a snort of laughter.
"Teach him? Me?"
He had identified a suspect from a single photo without receiving even the tiniest bit of help.
Whatever the man’s age or rank, Lee Joo-seok spent a long time sitting in the car, wondering just what on earth he could possibly teach someone like that.
***
Several days later.
Song Tan drove one-handed, while with his other hand he lifted a tablet up into view.
Across the screen, base station location logs were layered over one another.
Connection points repeating at short intervals.
It meant the target was nearby.
"Stay sharp. This bastard’s definitely passing through here."
"Yes, Senior."
The two of them scanned the street outside the window with hard, searching eyes.
As quitting time drew near, the area was full of people moving back and forth.
Then Lee Joo-seok’s gaze locked onto something across the sidewalk.
"Looks like him?"
A man in a suit, with eyes slanted sharply, was walking along with a cigarette in his mouth.
A silver cross earring dangled from his ear, catching the light.
On either side of him walked three broad-shouldered men, their arms covered in all kinds of tattoos.
Lee Joo-seok watched them through half-lidded eyes and muttered in a low voice.
"Those bastards... they’re from the Annam Family Gang, aren’t they...?"
Not long after, the men disappeared into an old building at the end of the alley.
"Looks right, doesn’t it?"
"Yes. It’s the man in the photo."
"Finally found you, you rat bastard."
With a grin, Lee Joo-seok unfastened his seat belt.
"Let’s go."
"Yes."
The two of them entered the building.
BEEP-BEEP-BEEP—
TING-TING-TING—
As they descended the stairs, the electronic chime of slot machines mixed with the stench of stale cigarette smoke, which hit them hard in the nose.
One of the loitering men recognized Lee Joo-seok and immediately screwed up his face.
"W-what brings you here at this hour, sir?"
"When the hell did I become your sir?"
At Lee Joo-seok’s murderous aura, the man visibly flinched.
"Where did the guy who just came in go? The one in the suit, the weasel-faced bastard. I’ve got business with him, so guide us nicely. Unless you want to make this a big scene."
The man scratched his head, looking troubled, then suddenly changed his tune.
"Do you have a warrant?"
"What?"
"No matter how good a detective you are, barging into a perfectly legitimate business and making a scene like this isn’t exactly right, is it? And if you need pocket money, I can help you out separately."
Before long, tattooed men began gathering one by one around them.
Their eyes were full of hostility.
"Heh. Looks like I’ve been living too politely lately, huh?"
With a cold smile, Lee Joo-seok ripped off the outer coat he was wearing and tossed it aside.
It was a split-second away from turning into a full-blown brawl.
"I’ll handle this place, Senior."
Song Tan set the notebook he had been holding gently on top of a slot machine.
"If you get disciplined one more time, they’ll send you down to the local precinct, won’t they? I’d hate to lose such a capable senior partner."
"You...?"
Leaving the stunned Lee Joo-seok behind, Song Tan stood alone before the thugs, who were already radiating murderous intent.