How to Deal with the Unforgivable
The chill that ran up his spine, the hairs standing on end, the gooseflesh prickling over his skin.
It was a clear sign of the death aura he was sensing.
Song Tan was briefly thrown into confusion.
He couldn’t tell whether the signal was coming from the sketchbook in his hand or from the phone call.
"Ah, yes. Senior."
"Senior, sorry to ask, but would it be all right if I take care of one thing before I come in?"
Confusion bled through the receiver.
"I need to pick up a child I think of like my own little brother. I don’t have anyone else to ask, so I’ll have to go myself."
After a brief silence, the voice came again.
"Thank you for understanding."
"Yes, sir. I’ll contact you."
Nodding, Song Tan ended the call.
"Shouldn’t you go?" the abbess asked with obvious concern.
"I’m fine. By the way, Min-a’s about due, isn’t she?"
"She is, but today she’s running late."
At the abbess’s worried tone, Song Tan rose to his feet.
"I’ll go get Min-a."
"You, Tan?"
"I received a valuable gift. The least I can do is this much."
"Will you? Hoho, Min-a will be thrilled."
Song Tan took his coat, bowed politely, and hurried out of the building.
Something about this felt wrong.
"If the death-aura reaction was triggered by Choi Du-gil..."
Whether he lived or died, whether he became crippled or not, it hardly mattered.
But if something had happened to Min-a?
Song Tan’s face had gone darker than it ever had before as he quickened his pace.
***
"Min-a? She left about an hour ago..."
The young female teacher looked slightly flustered as she answered.
"Did she go alone?"
"No, she left hand in hand with Yuna."
"Is there any way I can contact Yuna?"
"But who are you...?"
When the homeroom teacher eyed him suspiciously, Song Tan wordlessly took out his ID.
"I’m a police officer. And I’m also Min-a’s older brother from the orphanage."
"Ah..."
Only then did the teacher relax, concern flooding her face.
"Did something happen to Min-a?"
"Nothing like that. It’s just that the abbess is waiting for her. I hate to trouble you, but could you please call Yuna’s mother for me?"
The teacher hesitated for a moment, then nodded and picked up her phone.
A little later—
"She says she and Yuna were together at a stationery store, then they parted ways."
At the teacher’s words, Song Tan made a polite request.
"May I speak to her myself?"
The teacher switched to speaker mode.
"Hello, Yuna. This is Song Tan. Has Min-a ever mentioned my name to you?"
"I see. That’s a relief. Do you remember how long you stayed with Min-a?"
"Did anything strange happen? Did some suspicious person talk to you or anything like that?"
"You can talk freely to Police Uncle."
"Do you know who he was?"
Song Tan’s expression hardened instantly.
There could not possibly be a man the abbess would call a friend.
"And after that?"
"Understood. Thank you for answering."
After hanging up, Song Tan called Min-a again.
"Beep... beep... beep... The phone is turned off..."
The connection ended with a hollow ring before cutting off.
Song Tan bit down hard on his lip and made another call.
"Hyung, I need a favor fast. Can you trace this number for me? As quickly as possible: 010-635x-2x58."
It was Jung Dae-yoon, who had shared a room with Song Tan in Zhongjing.
He was currently working in the investigation support team at Paldal Station in Suwon.
"Just this once, Hyung. Please."
A short silence passed.
"Thanks, Hyung."
After ending the call, Song Tan immediately grabbed his coat.
Then a hand hurriedly clutched at his sleeve.
"There really isn’t anything wrong with Min-a, is there?"
Song Tan looked steadily at the teacher, then shook his head.
"No. Nothing has happened. No, I won’t let anything happen. I’ll make sure of it."
Answering like a vow, Song Tan rushed out of the school.
***
Song Tan headed for the stationery store where Min-a had stayed.
The shop’s shutter was already halfway down.
Inside, Song Tan showed his police ID and requested the store’s CCTV footage.
As he fast-forwarded through the video, his hand suddenly froze.
In the footage, a little girl with a yellow backpack was looking at stickers and giggling brightly.
Not long after, a man approached her.
Bending down to meet the girls at eye level, he took stickers from his pocket and handed them to the two children.
Song Tan paused the screen and studied the man’s face carefully.
Then his eyes wavered slightly.
Choi Du-gil...
He was the child sex offender who had cut off his electronic ankle monitor and gone into hiding.
Song Tan’s patience began to fray.
"Do you have any cameras outside?"
"No, nothing out there, unfortunately."
The stationery shop owner scratched his head, looking troubled, then suddenly clapped his hands together.
"Maybe something got caught on the dashcam of the car parked outside?"
"Would it be all right if I checked?"
"Of course, of course. Just a moment."
The shop owner dashed out, pulled the memory card from the vehicle’s dashcam, and handed it to Song Tan.
The moment he checked the footage, Song Tan’s expression sank.
The alley in front of the stationery store.
Min-a was standing there alone.
Moments later, an old gray sedan came to a stop.
The child hesitated, fidgeting as if unsure of herself, then reluctantly got into the car.
Before he knew it, Song Tan had gripped the corner of the desk so hard it nearly split.
Bzzt—
Perfect timing: his phone rang.
"Thanks, Hyung."
The moment he ended the call, Song Tan took off running like a madman.
***
"Huff, huff."
His breath was climbing all the way to his throat, but Song Tan didn’t slow down.
At last, the back gate of Annam High School came into view in the distance.
The instant he turned into the alley, his steps stopped.
Multi-family houses stood packed tightly together.
The alleyways twisted in a maze of L-shapes and U-shapes.
Song Tan closed his eyes for a moment and drew in a deep breath.
It was a habit from the days when he had been No. 28.
It was also the teaching of the Pursuit Squad leader: when confusion reigns, first steady your breathing.
Stay calm.
The senses he had honed countless times in his past life sharpened like a whetstone.
Song Tan opened his eyes.
They were the eyes of a hunter chasing prey.
First, the vehicle.
He couldn’t have parked far away.
Not in a cramped alley system like this.
The width of the streets, the few places where a car could turn around.
A route unfolded in Song Tan’s mind.
His feet moved again in a hurry.
After turning the second alley and brushing past the side of the third building, an all-too-familiar vehicle appeared at the edge of his vision.
It was the gray sedan he had seen on CCTV.
The gray car was parked beneath a lonely wall with no people around.
He approached quickly and checked inside.
The driver’s seat was empty, and a yellow school bag lay sprawled on the passenger-side floor.
It was Min-a’s.
In an instant, he felt something hot rising in his throat.
Song Tan forced it back down and drew another steadying breath.
"He’s nearby."
There was no way the man had intended to take the child far.
No matter how deserted the area, there was always the chance of a witness.
Song Tan studied the area around the car.
Footprints remained in the faintly pressed dust.
Beside an adult man’s prints, there was also a child’s.
At the very least, she wasn’t dragged away by force until she got out of the car.
She had clearly followed after him, fooled by his slick tongue.
Song Tan’s eyes narrowed.
Lowering his body, he followed the marks left by scuffing shoes.
As expected, the place was nothing but endless rows of tightly packed houses.
For a moment, a bleak feeling flashed through Song Tan’s eyes.
***
Min-a was the kind of child who would be first to cross the playground the moment the school bell rang.
Before returning to the orphanage, stopping by the stationery store to look at stickers was one of her little joys.
That day was no different.
She and her friend Yuna were standing in front of the sticker rack, giggling together, when a strange voice came from behind them.
"Min-a, you’re Min-a, right?"
When she turned around, a man she had never seen before was smiling at her.
Min-a didn’t answer right away.
If a stranger talks to you, don’t answer.
That was what she’d learned at the orphanage.
"Ah, maybe you don’t know me. I know the nun well. I’ve seen you several times while passing by, too."
At the mention of the nun mom, Min-a’s eyes wavered.
The man held out a bundle of stickers as though he had been waiting for that exact moment.
"I bought these for my kids, but they say they already have them? You can take them."
As Min-a hesitated, the man practically pressed the stickers into her hands.
"Share them with your friend. Then I’ll be off."
He waved and turned away, and Min-a stared after him blankly.
A moment later, after parting from her friend in the alley, Min-a hurried on.
"This is bad. Mom must be waiting."
As she walked with short, quick steps, a car stopped beside her and the window rolled down.
It was the man from before.
"Min-a, I’ll give you a ride. Get in quickly."
"No, thank you. I’m okay."
Min-a shook her head repeatedly.
"I’m actually on my way to see the nun, too. Wouldn’t it be better if we went together?"
Looking at the man’s kind smile, Min-a wavered.
"It’s right around the corner anyway. It’s fine, so just get in."
With a click, the passenger door opened.
In the end, Min-a had no choice but to get in.
***
The car did not head toward the orphanage.
To Min-a, it was a neighborhood she had never seen in her life.
"Mister, where is this?"
"Ah, sorry, sorry. I left the gift I was going to give the nun at my office. There are a lot of them, so could you help me carry them, Min-a? I’ll give you a present too."
After chatting with him for a while, her guard had lowered quite a bit, so Min-a nodded obediently.
The man led her into an old commercial building.
The empty shops inside smelled damp and moldy.
The moment Min-a’s instincts sensed something was wrong—
Click—
She heard the door lock.
In that instant, the smile vanished from the man’s face.
No, even his eyes were different.
"From now on, you’d better listen to what I say. Got it?"
The man grabbed Min-a by the wrist and yanked her.
"No! Let go!"
He tried to drag her toward the bathroom by force.
Startled, Min-a fought back.
But a child couldn’t match an adult man’s strength, and in that instant she bit down on the back of his hand.
"Agh!"
Breaking free from his brutal grip, Min-a quickly ran down the stairs.
But the other entrance to the shops was already locked as well.
In the end, when she was caught again, something flashed across Min-a’s cheek.
Smack—
"You little rude brat."
Thrown to the floor, Min-a trembled all over.
Tears streamed from her eyes.
"If you don’t listen, I’ll show you what happens."
Breathing hard, the man raised his hand again.
Min-a squeezed her eyes shut.
She brought her tiny hands together as if praying.
"Sob... Mom..."
At that very moment—
BOOM!
Crash—
The glass door at the entrance of the shop shattered like a bomb had gone off.
"Huh!? What the hell?"
Through the broken frame, a man stepped inside.
Backlit by the pouring light behind him, his face couldn’t be seen clearly, and only the eyes that emerged from the darkness blazed with the ferocity of a predator’s fangs.