Police vs. Firefighters (4)
Officer Gil Byeongwook, who worked at the Gwanghwamun Substation of Jongno Police Station in Seoul, had only just managed to claw his way out of rookie status, but he was still stuck doing every menial task on the team and spending each day in a haze of exhaustion.
“Byeongwook. We’ve got a report. Let’s roll.”
“Yes, sir!”
Gil Byeongwook took the wheel and drove the patrol car himself.
The call came from a red-light district near Gwanghwamun Square.
What was Gwanghwamun, after all? The symbol of the Joseon Dynasty, a historic cultural landmark, a place that carried the nation’s pride in its bones.
Gil Byeongwook clicked his tongue inwardly.
A brothel on sacred ground. What a disgrace.
Since the Gates opened, the world had fallen into chaos.
The patrol car stopped at the entrance to a narrow alley in the red-light district.
Pink neon light spilled across the dark street in a sickly glow.
“You filthy bitch!!”
Crash.
Along with the curse, a sharp, glass-shattering crack rang out.
Sensing trouble, Gil Byeongwook reached toward the pocket at his waist.
That was where the Taser was clipped.
“Senior. Let’s go.”
“Yeah, all right.”
After deliberately blaring the siren for a while, the two of them got out of the patrol car.
The senior officer raised his voice.
“Police.”
A glass door opened, and someone stepped out.
He was a man with a louche, slouching air about him.
“Ah, thank you for your hard work. What brings you here?”
“We got a report. What’s going on?”
“Nothing much. Just a little argument between a customer and one of the girls. Haha.”
The man flashed a friendly smile.
Gil Byeongwook’s gaze dropped.
On the man’s ankle, just above his slippers, was a clearly visible black axe tattoo.
A mark that meant he belonged to the Dark Alliance.
Another villain. What a damn nuisance.
Gil Byeongwook stepped forward.
“Where’s the person who filed the report? I need to speak with them.”
The complaint had said that the person had been assaulted.
“Oh, really?”
The man gave a bitter little smile.
“Hold on a second.”
He went back inside, and after a long while he returned with a woman beside him.
“One of our staff tripped on the stairs.”
The red-light district was on the first floor, so there were no stairs to trip on.
“She got startled and accidentally called 112 instead of 119, I guess. Right? Say something.”
Gil Byeongwook looked at the woman’s swollen face.
Her split lip was bleeding, as if someone had beaten her.
“……”
To the silent woman, Gil Byeongwook said,
“Ma’am, it’s all right. Go ahead and tell us. You were assaulted, correct?”
The man tapped the woman’s shoulder, urging her on.
“Come on now. You fell, didn’t you? Don’t make a big deal out of nothing. Hurry up and apologize to these officers. They’re busy with official business, and you’re making trouble for them.”
The woman lowered her head reluctantly.
“I lost my footing and fell, so I got hurt. I’m sorry. Please go back now.”
Gil Byeongwook let out a sigh.
A crime couldn’t be established without a victim.
And even if there is a victim…
The senior officer jerked his chin at him.
“Byeongwook. Go wait in the car.”
“But, Senior—”
“Now!”
“……”
Gil Byeongwook forced himself to turn away.
He had only just started to move when, suddenly, the woman rushed toward him and grabbed his arm.
“I’m sorry. You’re busy. I just—”
“No. It’s fine. And besides…”
“Please, go on your way.”
The woman extended a hand for a handshake.
Gil Byeongwook shook her hand in return.
At that moment, something brushed against his palm.
It was a slip of white paper.
Gil Byeongwook returned to the car and unfolded the note.
The handwriting was uneven, but clear.
Please save me. Please…
The red letters, written in lipstick, looked as though they were screaming.
Gil Byeongwook looked out the window.
The senior officer was talking with the villain.
Laughing, chatting, looking for all the world like they were having a great time.
The villain glanced around, then handed over a bag printed with a donut logo.
The senior took the bag, then returned to the car.
“Come on, Byeongwook. Let’s go. Oh—KriXpy! Nice.”
The senior spoke breezily as he pulled out a donut and bit into it.
“Senior. How long are you going to keep doing this?”
“Doing what? You want one too?”
“……”
When Gil Byeongwook glared at him, the senior let out a sigh.
“All right, all right. What, you think I’m going to eat the whole thing myself?”
He reached into the donut bag and pulled out another bag.
It was a thick envelope stuffed with fifty-thousand-won bills.
He tore off about half the stack and handed it to Gil Byeongwook.
“Here, you idiot.”
“Senior!”
Gil Byeongwook raised his voice.
“Look at this. That woman is obviously being held captive and beaten! We need to request backup right now—”
“Hey! Gil Byeongwook. You trying to make this a bigger problem than it already is?”
The senior’s veins bulged in his neck.
“You call for backup, then what? You want to start a war with those bastards? Don’t you know three officers from a district unit in Jung-gu died last month while trying to arrest Dark Alliance members? You don’t know?”
He kept firing off words without even stopping to breathe.
“Gil Byeongwook! Are you trying to grow up your kid without a father?”
Gil Byeongwook clamped his mouth shut.
His son had just started first grade.
Most of the villains in the Dark Alliance were Awakened.
Even if they were low rank, a Taser alone wasn’t enough to deal with them.
If things turned into a straight-up fight, massive casualties always followed.
“How long are you planning to stay a permanent corporal, Gil Byeongwook? You know if you mess with the Dark Alliance, the higher-ups will mark you and bury your promotion, right? Or don’t you know?”
As of last month, about five hundred of the roughly twenty-four hundred graduates from the police academy had left the force.
The most noticeable wave of resignations came from young officers in their thirties and forties.
The reason they took off the uniform was simple: they had grown sick of the rot and corruption eating away at the Republic of Korea’s police force.
The police officers at the top were all connected to villains in one way or another, whether directly or indirectly.
The senior officer grunted angrily and barely managed to steady his breathing.
“Hah. You think I want to do this? But what choice do I have? Take it. Buy yourself some chicken on the way home.”
He stuffed the fifty-thousand-won bill into Gil Byeongwook’s pocket.
As if staying in the same space had become unbearable, the senior got out of the car.
“I’ve got somewhere to stop by, so head back first.”
The inside of the car fell silent.
Gil Byeongwook fished the bill back out.
Damn it.
For reference, the amount of money he had taken from villains this month alone was more than twice his salary.
If he really set his mind to it, he could probably make far more.
As if handling something filthy, Gil Byeongwook frowned and opened his wallet.
The senior’s words made sense.
There’s no reason to act like I’m the only righteous man in the world.
I can’t help it either.
What can I do about a rotten world?
It’s not my fault…
Gil Byeongwook’s hand stopped.
The photo tucked into his wallet caught his eye.
It was a picture of him with his son.
In the photo, his son stood beside him with a bright, innocent smile.
“Dad! When I grow up, I’m going to be a cool police officer like you!”
His son’s voice rang vividly in his ears.
“Dad, you’re my hero!”
Gil Byeongwook’s face burned.
A single tear slid down from the corner of his eye.
It wasn’t sadness.
The shame of being unable to stand before his son with a clear conscience as his father left him miserable.
I’m ashamed.
He remembered the words he had shouted when he first became a police officer.
The so-called oath of the police.
“With a righteous heart, I will not compromise with any injustice or illegality, and I will become a police officer who pursues truth and justice!”
It had been years since he once stood there with bright eyes and a heart burning with passion.
The embers had slowly died out.
I didn’t become a cop for this.
But he couldn’t just quit the police force either.
With prices rising and unemployment grinding everyone down, this was a world where people struggled just to stay alive.
I’ll just have to grit my teeth and bear it.
For his son.
For the sake of supporting his family.
He could ignore some lofty ideal like that.
No, I can handle being the one who suffers.
But—
If my son has to live in a world like this too…
The bruised face of the woman flashed before his eyes.
That night, Gil Byeongwook couldn’t bring himself to look at his son’s face.
The last scraps of his conscience kept clutching at his ankles and dragging him down.
It’s because of me. All of it’s because of me.
Ever since he became a police officer, he had seen all sorts of corruption and looked the other way.
Day by day, any meaningful life had grown farther and farther away.
...It hurts. Every day is hard enough to survive.
What was the point of being economically stable if you couldn’t protect the next generation?
If he raised his son on dirty money—
Would his son really be proud of him?
Gil Byeongwook gripped the steering wheel so hard his nails left marks in his palms.
I have to do something.
Even if he couldn’t act directly himself.
In the darkness, Gil Byeongwook slowly lifted his head.
Then, all at once, he thought of someone he had seen recently on the news.
Someone every police officer in the country knew.
If it’s that man…
Gil Byeongwook started the engine and drove the patrol car off hard.
Police-Fire War was now just three days away.
The mass media had been chattering about it nonstop, without missing a single day.
I closed my phone and started walking, only to stop for a moment as I headed toward the entrance of the Dio Guild building.
No matter what, there’d be reporters swarming all over the place.
I had already made it clear that I wasn’t participating in the Firefighters' Rally, but public interest in me still refused to die down.
Like burying a political scandal under an entertainment headline.
It’d be nice if I could shift attention somewhere else.
I slipped out through the basement of the Dio Guild.
It was a secret passage known only to a handful of employees.
Taking a maze-like route, I emerged outside.
Thankfully, no reporters.
Just as I was about to move with some peace of mind, someone blocked my path.
“Hunter Choi Yongki?”
I could tell from the uniform alone.
Police?
Not long ago, I had beaten down a villain on a main road.
The public had cheered, but the police certainly hadn’t looked happy about it.
And why would they have? A hunter had done the work the police were supposed to do.
I’d definitely gotten on some nerves.
The officer waved a hand.
“There’s no need to be suspicious. I’m not here on duty. It’s more like a personal favor, I guess… I know it’s not right for someone like me to say this, but… Ah, I asked one of your staff members about the back entrance. Once I said I was police, they told me. I guess I just came without setting up an appointment or anything.”
The officer rambled on, stumbling over his own words.
His eyes were red, as though he had been crying.
I grabbed his shoulder.
“Hey. What’s your name?”
“Ah… Gil Byeongwook.”
“Officer Gil. Calm down and tell me slowly.”
Gil Byeongwook explained everything, as if he were making a confession.
“...So I came here like this, knowing I had no shame left.”
In this day and age, it was the sort of thing you saw all the time.
Villains ran rampant, and the police took bribes and looked the other way.
And in the middle of it all, victims kept bleeding tears of blood.
“Hunter Choi. Please, look at this. Isn’t this clearly someone begging to be saved?”
Gil Byeongwook handed me the note with the SOS message on it.
I asked coldly,
“So?”
“Pardon?”
Gil Byeongwook lifted his head.
“Why did you come to me? Isn’t this police business?”
“Ah, well… I’m not sure either. I just thought that if it was Hunter Choi Yongki, you’d find a way somehow, so I came here like a man grasping at straws…”
“Go back. I’m just a normal hunter.”
At least, that was the public face.
The one participating in the Police-Fire War was Purple Devil, not Choi Yongki.
“I’m not asking for anything. I just… want a slightly better world to come someday.”
“Don’t be a hypocrite.”
I grabbed him by the collar and yanked him close.
“You’ve already taken all the money you could eat, and now you want to act like a good person? Get lost.”
Gil Byeongwook avoided my eyes and bowed his head deeply at my blunt tone.
“...You’re right, Hunter Choi. I asked for something foolish just to make myself feel better. I’m sorry.”
He straightened, bowed once more, and then turned away, trudging off with heavy steps.
His shoulders were slumped, and every step looked burdensome.
There was one thing I had overlooked.
Even among corrupt police officers, not all of them were the same.
There are those who still feel guilty, like Gil Byeongwook.
The Police-Fire War had just found a source of hope.
If I mobilize them…
We could absolutely purge the corrupt police force.
Jin Harang had been right.
Depending on the circumstances,
hypocrisy can become righteousness.
I slipped the note with the red letters into my pocket.
The next day, Gil Byeongwook went to the substation as usual.
“Ugh, I’m starving. Let’s eat!”
When lunchtime came, he ate with his coworkers at their usual driver’s restaurant.
“Thanks for the meal!”
While the others ate heartily, Gil Byeongwook only picked at his rice with his chopsticks.
I’ve got no appetite.
A woman with her face blurred out by a mosaic filter agreed to an interview.
“Out of nowhere, someone burst in at dawn and just started beating the crap out of the Dark Alliance guys. I was so out of it that I just ran first and worried about the rest later…”
That was when it happened.
The radio sitting on the table crackled all at once.
“Where is everybody! Get back here now! It’s an emergency! Emergency!!!”
Clink.
The chopsticks in Gil Byeongwook’s hand slipped and hit the floor.
He rushed out of the restaurant and ran like mad.
When he reached the front of the substation, he was gasping for breath.
“Huff, huff…”
When Gil Byeongwook lifted his head, he went utterly blank at the sight before him.
“Uh…”
Villains with their faces battered beyond recognition had been tied up with ropes in a row.
They were so thoroughly and awkwardly bundled that they looked like nothing so much as human balls.
Gil Byeongwook stepped closer.
Among the villains bound in rope,
there was a note tucked in.
He picked it up and unfolded it.
Please save me. Please…
He turned the paper over.
Wait. A slightly better world. It’s coming soon.
Moved, Gil Byeongwook looked up at the sky.
Sunlight shone through the fluffy white clouds.