Chapter 57
Chapter 57
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 57
Chapter Title: Desperate Parents
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Everyone jumped to their feet upon seeing the pale-faced man and woman who looked like they had run here in a frenzy.
Even Team 4, which had been moving swiftly with child abduction in mind, paused what they were doing and turned their attention toward them.
The first to react was Lee Jae-hyun.
It was instinctive.
And for good reason...
‘These are Choi Dae-hyeon’s parents.’
They were people from Lee Jae-hyun’s memories.
In the situation where Choi Dae-hyeon had been murdered and the entire nation’s eyes were on the case.
While they were holding the child’s funeral, footage had aired of them sobbing amid the endless stream of reporters and interview requests, begging them to stop.
Lee Jae-hyun quickly approached and bowed his head.
“Hello. I’m Patrol Officer Lee Jae-hyun of Hanseong Police Substation Team 4. Please come this way.”
“Sir... Please find our child.”
The man who appeared to be the child’s father spoke first.
At the desperate tone in the man’s voice, everyone gathered with serious expressions.
“Are you Choi Dae-hyeon’s father?”
“Yes, yes. That’s right. I heard my wife already filed a missing person report earlier...”
“Yes, we received the missing person report, and we’ve been investigating not just as a simple missing case but with the possibility of abduction in mind.”
Lee Jae-hyun responded in a calm voice.
The situation itself was grave and heavy.
Especially in front of the child’s parents.
How heartbreaking must it be to think your own child might have been kidnapped.
It was necessary to convey the situation calmly and steadily.
At Lee Jae-hyun’s words, the child’s mother staggered and let out a small groan.
“Ah...”
Min Ji-hye hurriedly went over to support the child’s mother and helped her sit in a chair.
The child’s father sat down beside her.
He moved his lips as if unsure where to start, then finally began to speak.
“...The kidnapper contacted us.”
His words were enough to freeze everyone in the substation.
They had suspected abduction and were moving quickly because the circumstances warranted it.
But... both Park Dae-hyung and Min Ji-hye had secretly hoped it wasn’t a kidnapping.
That hope had now shattered.
The other teams, not Team 4, were shocked that Team 4’s suspicions had been confirmed.
“When did they contact you?”
“A-about 20 minutes? 30 minutes ago. They told us not to tell the police... But my wife had already filed the missing person report.”
They had already reported it to the police, leaving them no choice but to come here.
He spoke as if he couldn’t fully trust the police.
As parents of the child, it was understandable.
They probably couldn’t trust anyone, not just the police.
They must be anxious.
Lee Jae-hyun continued in as calm a voice as possible.
“You did the right thing coming here. We’ll do everything we can to find Dae-hyeon.”
“Please, I beg you.”
The child’s father bowed his head and grabbed Lee Jae-hyun’s hand tightly.
Lee Jae-hyun froze for a moment.
At that instant, Park Dae-hyung, who had been watching from the side, spoke up.
“What did the kidnapper’s voice sound like?”
It might seem trivial to focus on the voice, but it was actually a crucial detail.
Lee Jae-hyun naturally knew it was Park Ye-chan and could identify him perfectly.
But the others didn’t.
If there was an accomplice besides the grandmother and Go Hyun-sook... it could be a clue to identifying them.
“It sounded like some weird mechanical noise, distorted... But it seemed like an older man’s voice.”
At the mention of an older man’s voice, Park Dae-hyung glanced at Min Ji-hye.
Min Ji-hye gave a slight nod.
They had confirmed Go Hyun-sook’s identity and that she had a son.
A man’s voice raised the possibility that her son, Park Ye-chan, was the accomplice.
“Did they make any specific demands? Money or something?”
“They demanded 50 million won. In cash.”
“Did they just tell you to prepare it? No mention of a meeting spot?”
“Yes, they said they’d tell us the meeting spot later.”
The child’s father nodded in response to Lee Jae-hyun’s question.
Not specifying the meeting spot and just demanding 50 million won blindly meant they knew enough to think ahead.
“If you could hand over the phone to us, we’ll analyze it as quickly as possible...”
While Lee Jae-hyun was organizing his thoughts, Min Ji-hye asked the child’s father for the phone.
The child’s mother sat with her head bowed, tears streaming down, while the father cooperated with the police as best he could.
“If they called the father’s number, they must have known the contact... How did they find out?”
Kim Jun-ho looked at Park Dae-hyung and asked.
Park Dae-hyung glanced at Choi Dae-hyeon’s parents talking with Min Ji-hye, then shrugged.
“Their routines might overlap, so maybe they found out by chance. Or even if not... if the kid has a phone, they could’ve gotten it from there.”
“That could be. Those crazy bastards... Kidnapping a kid for money. Unbelievable.”
Kim Jun-ho ground his teeth as he spoke.
Park Dae-hyung let out a small sigh and carefully opened his mouth.
“The most worrying part is that the kid might already be...”
He trailed off without finishing, but everyone there knew what he meant.
He scratched his head vigorously, then turned to Kim Jun-ho with a question.
“Po-sun, you said the cause of death was overdose of sleeping pills?”
“Yes.”
“If they couldn’t adjust the dose for the kid...”
“It won’t be like that. I woke up in an hour, so for a child... they’d be out for two or three hours at most.”
Though Park Dae-hyung voiced his concern, Lee Jae-hyun shook his head, refuting him.
Of course, that was the best thing to say to his colleagues. According to Serhen, the dose was enough to knock him out for about four hours... For an 11-year-old, it could be six to eight hours. Maybe even longer.
In the original incident, Choi Dae-hyeon survived for about two days before dying at Park Ye-chan’s hands.
The situation had changed, so he couldn’t be certain, but at least Park Ye-chan and Go Hyun-sook weren’t likely to kill the kid right away.
While everyone was frantically handling their tasks amid the major child abduction case.
Bzzz. Bzzz.
The father’s phone, which Min Ji-hye had taken charge of, began vibrating loudly.
Everyone who had been bustling about froze in place and looked toward Min Ji-hye.
Min Ji-hye carefully handed the phone to the child’s father.
The father answered with trembling hands.
“Yes, hello?”
―Oh, good. Is the money ready?
A distorted mechanical crackle echoed through the substation along with the altered voice.
* * *
Thud.
The car jolted as it hit a speed bump.
Park Ye-chan glanced at the back seat where the child lay, then spoke.
“What’s this? No answer? Don’t tell me the kid’s dead or...”
―Please! Just spare our child. We’ll get the money somehow. My wife’s at the bank withdrawing it right now...
Before Park Ye-chan could finish, the father’s desperate voice came through.
It didn’t sound like acting at all.
But Park Ye-chan clicked his tongue and spoke.
“No, how am I supposed to know if she really went to the bank or to report us to the police station?”
His curt tone prompted an immediate response.
―We wouldn’t go to the police with our child in your hands! Sir, please, just send our kid back safe, and we’ll definitely get the money.
“So, how long until you can prepare it?”
―G-give us one hour... We’ll withdraw the money fast. Where should we go?
“Hey, come on. You plant rice and blink once, does it grow ears?”
―Pardon? What does that...
A bewildered voice came back.
Park Ye-chan furrowed his brow and continued.
“No need to rush like that. Get the money ready in one hour. I’ll call back exactly one hour from now. Talk later.”
If he revealed the handover location early, the parents might report to the police and get ambushed.
That’s why the meeting spot had to be kept secret until the very last moment.
As Park Ye-chan thought that and moved to hang up.
―Sir! Sir...! Before you go, please let us hear our child’s voice just once!
At the father’s desperate cry, Park Ye-chan looked in the rearview mirror at the child.
The child was asleep in the back seat, buckled in with the seatbelt.
“He’s sleeping.”
With that, Park Ye-chan hung up immediately.
Unlike the calm way he had just held the child hostage during the call, as soon as the line went dead, Park Ye-chan squeezed his eyes shut and then opened them.
He let out a heavy sigh and handed the phone to Go Hyun-sook in the passenger seat.
“You did well, son.”
“Yes... But do we really have to go this far?”
Park Ye-chan looked at Go Hyun-sook, clearly reluctant.
Kidnapping a child for money—he’d never even dreamed of such a thing in his life.
He needed money, sure.
With debts piling up at home, scraping by was the reality.
But...
Was this the only way to pay off those debts?
That seemed to be just Park Ye-chan’s opinion.
“Son.”
“...Yes.”
Go Hyun-sook called him in a sharp voice.
Park Ye-chan flinched for a moment, then responded in a subdued tone.
“The debt your father left behind—we can’t pay it off without doing this. I need to clear it before I die and pass the land on to you.”
“Ah, Mom, why do you keep talking about dying? You have to live with me forever.”
At Go Hyun-sook’s firm words, he replied with a glum expression.
He could imagine life without a father who had left only debts behind when he was young.
But he couldn’t fathom life without the mother who had raised him alone.
So, if his mother wanted it, he could do anything.
“Right, so we pay off the debts quick and live comfortably, don’t we?”
“...Got it.”
He forced a smile in response.
Yes, this was all for his mother.
Park Ye-chan consoled himself with that thought.
“Good boy, my son.”
Go Hyun-sook spoke softly and reached out to pat his shoulder lightly.
Behind the affectionate mother and son, Choi Dae-hyeon lay as if dead to the world.
Just like the stray cats that had fallen asleep after being drugged.