Chapter 37
Chapter 37
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 37
Chapter Title: Convenience Store Footage
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Since it was an area clustered with villas, there were fortunately several sections where the CCTV was still operational.
While Park Dae-hyung checked other CCTVs, Lee Jae-hyun headed to the convenience store in front of the villas to review its footage.
It was an angle that captured everyone entering Sangchon Village.
The setup even allowed confirmation of their direction of approach, so Lee Jae-hyun figured that if anything had been caught on camera, the convenience store CCTV had the highest chance of recording it.
“Excuse me.”
“Come on in.”
Lee Jae-hyun slipped quietly into the store, and the part-timer looking at his phone greeted him.
Lee Jae-hyun pulled out his police badge from his pocket with practiced ease and spoke up.
“I’m from Hanseong Police Substation. Mind if I take a quick look at your CCTV?”
“……?”
The part-timer’s eyes widened as he stared at Lee Jae-hyun.
He clearly hadn’t imagined a cop showing up.
It wasn’t exactly common for part-timers to get police cooperation requests on the job.
“Uh, you can check the CCTV from the stockroom. Hang on, let me ask the boss…….”
“Sure.”
From the part-timer’s perspective, handing over CCTV footage casually was probably dicey.
Lee Jae-hyun nodded and casually turned to scan the store.
Nothing particularly stood out.
While he looked around, the part-timer—apparently having gotten the okay from the owner—approached with a face full of curiosity.
“Um, the boss said it’s fine to show you the CCTV. But…… what’s going on? I saw a bunch of police cars heading by earlier.”
“It’s nothing major.”
The part-timer gave him a look that screamed it absolutely was major…….
But Lee Jae-hyun said nothing beyond that.
The moment he kindly explained it was an attempted murder, it’d spread like wildfire through local communities.
He couldn’t spill details when the situation was still unfolding.
This was nothing like the Han Sun-ah case last time.
Back then, they knew exactly who the perp was, but now they couldn’t even say for sure if it was really the kid’s mom behind the attempted murder or someone else.
It meant he had to watch his words even more carefully.
As Lee Jae-hyun stood there silently eyeing the part-timer, the guy backed away a step and gestured.
“The CCTV’s this way.”
The part-timer led Lee Jae-hyun to the stockroom.
A small monitor and a computer sat inside.
“I’ve only used it for inventory, so I’m not great with it…… Hang on. There’s supposed to be a program on the desktop.”
“This one.”
The part-timer started fumbling through an explanation, but Lee Jae-hyun took the lead.
It’d be far quicker and easier for him to handle it than for a part-timer who’d never touched CCTV before.
Lee Jae-hyun launched the CCTV management program from the desktop.
Eight screens split the display once it loaded.
He grabbed the mouse and rewound quickly.
Police cars appeared multiple times, followed by people and vehicles milling about.
Not a heavy flow of traffic.
It was just a road mostly used by villa residents coming and going, after all.
Spotting a woman running frantically, Lee Jae-hyun stopped rewinding and hit play.
‘The reporter.’
The quality wasn’t great—her face took close scrutiny to make out—but her outfit matched perfectly, so he recognized her right away.
Kim A-young, the woman who’d come to the station.
Lee Jae-hyun snapped a photo of the footage with his smartphone.
Then he rewound again.
It wasn’t long before he furrowed his brow.
A man hurriedly climbed into a black car.
The black vehicle peeled out aggressively, speeding away from the villas.
The footage wasn’t sharp enough for the license plate, but it was clearly a large black sedan.
A bit suspicious.
Lee Jae-hyun photographed the man and the car, then rewound further.
Not much later, he paused again.
This time, it was Kim A-young entering the villas.
Her calm stride suggested she hadn’t grasped the situation yet.
‘Kim A-young goes in, and shortly after, an unidentified man bolts out driving like a maniac……?’
Definitely weird.
Lee Jae-hyun double-checked the man.
Bigger build than expected.
With the husband’s whereabouts unclear, he’d naturally be the prime suspect…….
On his way to the convenience store, Lee Jae-hyun had already received a photo of Kim A-young’s husband, Jeong Woo-min.
The footage quality obscured fine details, but the build didn’t match at all.
Jeong Woo-min was skinny, while this guy’s bulk…… was on par with Park Dae-hyung.
Give it a slight exaggeration, and he could pass for bear-sized.
Even if Jeong Woo-min had hit the gym non-stop while missing, bulking up that much was unlikely.
‘Then who is it?’
Not enough info.
Lee Jae-hyun frowned in thought for a moment, then raised his smartphone and sent all the photos so far to Park Dae-hyung.
A reply came almost immediately, as if he’d checked right away.
―Park Dae-hyung Inspector: On my way.
After sending the full CCTV file too, Lee Jae-hyun waited for Park Dae-hyung while questioning the part-timer.
He needed to dig something up.
“Anything unusual happen around the villas lately?”
“Not sure…… Nothing super shady, but starting last month? I’ve spotted these tattooed guys, one or two at a time.”
The male part-timer pondered briefly before speaking.
Lee Jae-hyun paused at the mention of tattooed guys.
He had no bias against tattoos, but if the part-timer remembered them, they must’ve stood out as unusual.
“Tattooed guys?”
“Yeah. Tattoos aren’t weird these days. I’ve got one here myself.”
“Ah, yeah.”
Lee Jae-hyun responded awkwardly as the part-timer casually flashed a small tattoo on his forearm.
Undeterred by the reaction, the part-timer continued.
“But these guys had real heavy-duty ink…… Looked straight-up gangster. Scary every time they came for smokes. That’s all I know—what’s really going on?”
The part-timer asked again, but Lee Jae-hyun just shook his head.
“Nothing to worry about. Thanks for your cooperation.”
Seemed like that was everything the part-timer knew, so Lee Jae-hyun left the store.
Park Dae-hyung was approaching from afar.
“Who’s the guy?”
“No clue, but he bolted right after Kim A-young went in, looking panicked. Figured there might be a connection, so I snapped pics.”
Park Dae-hyung started to ask more, but his smartphone rang.
A call from Min Ji-hye.
He turned away to take it.
“Yeah, Ji-hye.”
As he stepped aside for the call.
Serhen, who’d been quiet until now, finally appeared.
She’d been watching Lee Jae-hyun do paperwork these past few days, then vanished yesterday out of boredom.
Her showing up now meant the case piqued her interest.
“What’s this? You’ve been busy with other stuff, and now this happens.”
Serhen, already up to speed, eyed Lee Jae-hyun with gleaming eyes.
A six-year-old girl nearly dying—was that just entertaining gossip to her?
Typical demon.
The thought flickered through his mind, but Lee Jae-hyun quickly corrected it.
He sensed a flicker of anger in her gaze.
This was only the second time he’d felt anger from her.
With Myeong Jin-han and Park Chun-beom, she’d only seemed eager for a tasty meal.
The Han Sun-ah nurse case? Not great flavor, but better than nothing.
The one time she’d shown even a hint of real anger was when Song A-ram was suffering school violence.
Now, that subtle fury in her eyes again……
‘She reacts stronger to cases involving young girls.’
Maybe because she looked like a kid herself.
Or some other reason only she knew.
Either way, her past wasn’t the point, so Lee Jae-hyun calmly explained.
“A young girl nearly died, and her mom straight-up confessed to doing it. Unidentified man…….”
He listed the details one by one, and Serhen tilted her head.
“Doesn’t look like the mom tried to kill the kid.”
Lee Jae-hyun turned to her.
It matched what he’d seen, but coming from a demon, it carried more weight.
“See something? No Evil Karma?”
“There was Evil Karma, but not the kind from defying natural bonds. Just your average bad stuff.”
He didn’t quite get “average bad,” but it further lowered the odds that Kim A-young had tried to kill her kid.
The issue now was uncovering the truth and nabbing the real culprit……
“Well, no idea who actually tried to kill the kid. I’ll swing by once you catch ’em.”
Even after their contract, Serhen couldn’t just focus on that alone.
Fair enough—demons had their own gigs.
Demon work conjured images of nasty stuff, but Lee Jae-hyun shook it off and nodded.
“Catch them quick.”
“Won’t take long, so don’t sweat it.”
Lee Jae-hyun replied plainly.
Whether her anger was genuine or just hunger for Evil Karma didn’t matter.
They both wanted the perp caught fast.
Pleased with his answer, perhaps—Serhen flashed a grin and vanished.
Beyond where she’d stood, Park Dae-hyung came into view.
He’d just finished his call and was heading over.
But his expression was off.
“The kid’s safe.”
“Good to hear.”
“Yeah. And the mom’s talking. Let’s move.”
At Park Dae-hyung’s words, Lee Jae-hyun turned immediately and headed for where he’d parked the squad car.