19. My name is Cal, I'm a detective.
19. My name is Cal, I'm a detective.
The car turned into a dark alleyway without any surveillance cameras. As is the case with the flip side of all flashy cities, this back alley was also a desolate and rough-looking slum. The car, carrying the two knights, stopped in front of a shabby building in a secluded alley. The entrance to the building was already under personnel control.
As they got out of the car, an officer who appeared to be in charge approached and gave a light salute.
"Thank you for coming. I'm Sergeant Jack Snyder."
"Security Division, Ellie Lawner. This is Kal Jale."
"Did you happen to hear the details?"
"Roughly, on the way here. I heard a military-related figure was murdered..."
"Yes, that's correct. This way..."
The three men and women passed the police line and entered the building. They climbed the wooden stairs, which went ppigeok-ppigeok with every step, up to the second floor. Up there, police officers were already busy taking photos, claiming to be preserving evidence.
Upon entering the crime scene, they immediately saw a man lying dead on the floor. The cause of death was heart rupture caused by a laser gun. It seemed he had been dead for quite a while, as a foul, rotting stench filled the air, and maggots were swarming.
Seeing the gruesome corpse, Ellie furrowed her brows slightly and asked the sergeant who it was.
"His name is Conte Magnichi. Uh... well, he's a civilian now, but he worked in the military a few years ago. That's why we contacted the Security Division first."
"Let me see."
Ellie took the device the sergeant handed over and carefully read the information on the screen.
The deceased had a career of over 10 years working as a technician for the Headquarters Intelligence Bureau. It felt completely out of place for a person who had been quite successful to be living in such a dump.
While Ellie was examining the information, Kal looked around the crime scene. There were demand notices scattered carelessly on the floor, and Imperial Lottery tickets piled up on the desk... For some reason, it seemed the deceased had debts he couldn't handle.
The police seemed to speculate that one of the debt collectors had done it, but it was too early to jump to conclusions.
Kal looked at the monitor on the desk, but the computer tower connected to it was nowhere to be seen. ...It seemed the culprit had taken it.
...It doesn't seem like it was just because of a grudge.
If so, why go to the trouble of taking the tower? It felt like there was something that needed to be hidden. ...And of all people, the deceased was a former technician for the Intelligence Bureau.
Just then, Ellie, who had finished skimming the information, approached Kal.
"It looks like a crime committed out of a grudge."
"The computer tower is missing. Isn't this an attempt to cover up information?"
"I don't know. Couldn't they have taken it thinking there might be something of value?"
Of course, as she said, a debt collector might have taken it trying to find something worth money, but strangely, Kal couldn't shake his suspicious feeling. You know that feeling. When something smells fishy.
Kal narrowed his eyes and scanned the narrow room. Then Ellie asked why he was doing that.
"...People with a lot of debt usually have some kind of secret spot. A place to hide things of value when debt collectors suddenly barge in."
"Really?"
"Wouldn't there be such a place here, too?"
Hearing that, Ellie gestured to the police officers to call them over and instructed them to search very thoroughly for any hidden spots. However, even after searching for a long time, no such place was found.
Then, Kal brought over a long, rod-like object from somewhere and started tapping the ceiling, tung-tung, one spot at a time. Ellie watched his actions quietly with an intrigued look.
After tapping for a while, he found a spot on the ceiling that made a heavier, duller sound. The two knights' gazes met right there. There was something here.
The police officers couldn't hide their interest in the case, which was progressing rapidly.
As it happened, the spot where the sound came from was right above the desk. A place within reach if you climbed up there.
Kal stepped up onto it and felt around the wooden ceiling. Then, a board suddenly popped open.
Oooh-.
The police officers let out a small exclamation. As expected, knights were just built differently.
Kal first took the scanner and checked the ceiling to see if there was anything suspicious. Fortunately, there were no traps, just a black bag containing something.
When he came down with it, everyone's eyes were glued to him. However, he didn't open the bag.
"Senior, I think it would be better to take this and investigate it."
"Shall we?"
Ellie told Sergeant Jack that they would take this piece of evidence to investigate. It might be an item related to headquarters' classified information, after all.
Of course, how could a mere sergeant dare to refuse that? If they tell you to jump, you jump.
With nothing left to investigate, the two returned to the car with the evidence. In the car, Ellie looked at Kal, who had advanced the case in an instant, as if she were proud of him.
"...Where did you learn this?"
"I think it just happened naturally after watching a lot of movies like this."
"You did a great job, really. You were much better than me. You felt like the senior."
"I was just lucky."
However, Ellie knew this wasn't something you could do with just luck.
Even if you could somehow guess there might be a secret spot, tapping the ceiling one by one with a rod was clearly something you couldn't do without experience.
...Something's up.
But it was still too early to jump to conclusions. As he said, it really could be because he watched a lot of movies.
Soon, the car started with a bu-ung. Ellie asked what he thought was in the bag.
"It seems to be a mechanical device. Maybe a storage device?"
"Will it be a clue to this case?"
"It's highly likely."
The two returned to the Security Division at headquarters and notified the Chief about the case. And that they had brought back evidence.
"Go to the interrogation room and check it."
"Yes, Chief."
They headed to the interrogation room with the bag. And carefully opened the bag to check the contents.
As Kal expected, it was a storage device. He tried to access it after connecting it to the main unit, but naturally, it was locked with a password. Of course, even he didn't have the talent to crack this.
"I think we need an expert for this."
Thus, they called a technician from the Intelligence Bureau and instructed them to try and break it. Fortunately, the storage was not bound by quantum locking, so it wasn't very difficult to crack.
...No, that might not be the case.
The deceased was also a technician from the Headquarters Intelligence Bureau. He would have known that if it wasn't quantum-locked, it could be cracked in an instant, so there must have been a reason he chose a password with only simple numbers and letters. ...Perhaps he intended for it to be easily opened if someone found it.
Anyway, once they unlocked it, the two were able to confirm an enormous amount of information. Of course, Ellie, who was almost a layman in this area, didn't really understand what the information was even after seeing it. However, the knowledgeable Kal grasped what this information was at once.
"This is..., a satellite."
"...Satellite?"
"Yes, it seems to be information about a satellite."
"So? Is that it?"
"...I'm not an expert in that field either, so I don't know more than that. I think we need to have an expert look at this too."
"Then let's do that."
Thus, they requested the Intelligence Bureau technician to look into this information again to find out exactly what it was about. He asked for some time.
Finally having some breathing room, the two went to the break room and had a cup of coffee each. Ellie, sipping her coffee, looked at Kal with a strange gaze.
He wasn't just handsome; he was smart and good at his job, so he looked truly incredibly attractive. In fact, she had had some biased views because he was from the training camp, but it felt like that had vanished in an instant. ...Honestly, it wouldn't be strange if he were a full-fledged knight, not a trainee.
"You're really amazing. You're truly beyond expectations."
"You're too kind. I was just over-motivated. Things just happened to fall into place perfectly."
"Luck is part of skill, too."
Kal didn't bother with false modesty anymore and just grinned. Excessive modesty could actually feel like flattery.
After having a cup of coffee, Dana approached the two, saying it was lunchtime. Louis had gone out earlier and still hadn't returned. He would probably eat lunch outside as well.
The Chief usually ate separately, so the three of them headed to the cafeteria. As Ellie boasted to Dana about how brilliantly Kal had handled the work, she was as happy as if it were her own business.
A perfect man who is handsome, has a great body, and is even good at his jobㅡ.
"This is all thanks to Dana-sunbae's good teaching."
"Oh, what did I doㅡ!"
As Kal said that, the corners of Dana's mouth shot up as if they were hooked behind her ears.
My one and only junior is so thoughtful, tooㅡ!
The pink-haired one gazed at Kal's profile in ecstasy.
Her mind was dyed pink, just like her hair color.