Chapter 58
Chapter 58
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 58
Chapter Title: Hanseong Substation's Tense Police
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All the cops at Hanseong Police Substation stared at Choi Dae-hyeon's father's phone with tense expressions.
The voice coming through the phone was distorted with mechanical sounds, but it was unmistakably that of an adult man.
Meanwhile, the police were busy.
On one side, they were frantically trying to trace the call.
Team Leader Oh Cheol-jin hurriedly sat down at a computer, turned the monitor toward the father, and started communicating via notepad.
―What's this? Why no answer? Don't tell me the kid's already...
The father had nodded while reading the message on the monitor that said 'Please follow our instructions,' so he hadn't responded for a moment.
The threat came right away.
The father hurriedly opened his mouth.
“Please! Just spare my child. I'll scrape together the money somehow.”
The father spoke in a desperate voice.
He exchanged a few short words with the kidnapper.
Lee Jae-hyun clenched his fist upon hearing the kidnapper's voice.
The guy was pretending to be calm and leisurely...
But one of the emotions in his voice was 'fear.'
Park Ye-chan was afraid of the current situation.
―So, how long until you can prepare it?
“G-Give me one hour... I'll withdraw the money quickly and get it ready. Where should I go?”
As the father answered the voice on the other end, he spotted the word 'location' that Team Leader Oh Cheol-jin had hurriedly written and asked about it.
But Park Ye-chan gave no clues whatsoever.
―Hey, come on. You know how rice seedlings grow if you blink during transplanting?
At those words, everyone froze and looked at each other.
They were wondering what that meant.
Only Lee Jae-hyun, who knew from the start that Park Ye-chan was from Icheon and had farmed there, immediately understood what the guy meant.
It was a warning not to rush things.
The rest of Team 4 caught on half a beat later, since they'd already pinned down the guy's identity.
Choi Dae-hyeon's father, with no info on the kidnapper, furrowed his brow.
To avoid pinpointing anyone prematurely in case more clues emerged, they hadn't shared the kidnapper's details with the parents until their questioning was complete.
There hadn't been time anyway.
Naturally, the clueless father let out a puzzled voice.
“What? What does that...”
―Someone as impatient as you. Get the money ready in one hour. I'll call back exactly one hour from now. Then, talk to you la...
Whatever else, the key point right now was that Park Ye-chan hadn't revealed his location or given any hints about the meeting spot.
Just as the guy was wrapping up the call, the father—having read the message to stall for time—stood up and pleaded desperately.
“Sir! Sir...! Before you go, please let me hear my child's voice just once.”
It was a smart question, as they needed to confirm the child was still alive.
But.
―He's sleeping.
Coldly, Park Ye-chan gave that short reply and hung up immediately.
The father collapsed into his seat.
Lee Jae-hyun looked up toward where Min Ji-hye was.
She was working with another cop to pinpoint Park Ye-chan's location...
Min Ji-hye let out a small sigh and shook her head.
They couldn't nail down the position.
The police muttered quiet curses.
Lee Jae-hyun clenched his fist tight and took a deep breath.
Surveying the chaotic substation interior, he finally stepped outside.
He needed some quiet to organize his thoughts.
He headed to the vending machine out front.
Clunk.
Clunk.
Two canned coffees dropped one after another.
As he retrieved them, Lee Jae-hyun turned around.
Park Dae-hyung was emerging from the substation, heading toward the vending machine.
Lee Jae-hyun held out one of the cans to Park Dae-hyung.
“Knew you'd come out, so I got two?”
“Figured one of the seniors would.”
“Jeez...”
Park Dae-hyung shook his head in disbelief and took the offered canned coffee.
He chugged it down roughly, then spoke.
“How do we catch this bastard? We can't just sit around waiting an hour blindly.”
Park Dae-hyung said in frustration.
Lee Jae-hyun nodded lightly.
Sure, he'd stupidly missed the accomplice right in front of him in Choi Dae-hyeon's kidnapping-murder case.
But that didn't make Lee Jae-hyun an idiot.
He'd earned the nickname 'Mad Dog' back in his detective days by reliably nabbing criminals.
Lee Jae-hyun calmly began explaining his thoughts, now neatly sorted from that brief exchange.
“High chance it's Icheon.”
“Because it's his hometown?”
Park Dae-hyung sipped his canned coffee and asked.
It was partly because both Go Hyun-sook and Park Ye-chan hailed from Icheon, but Lee Jae-hyun could speak with even more certainty—he knew where and how Park Ye-chan had met his end in his previous life.
That said, he wasn't just blurting it out lazily like 'it happened there last time, so it'll happen again.'
“Yeah. Even during the call, he sounded anxious. He'll seek a place where he can naturally feel at ease.”
“Hmm...”
Clearly, Park Ye-chan's voice on the call carried anxiety and fear.
It made sense.
This was child kidnapping.
No matter how resolved they were, committing such a major crime would inevitably breed fear.
People instinctively seek places they feel safe when afraid.
'And most people feel safe in familiar places.'
Not sociopaths or psychopaths, but this guy wasn't that type.
Of course, his mother Go Hyun-sook was a wildcard...
Lee Jae-hyun had mulled that over plenty.
“And the guy's more cautious than he seems. Go Hyun-sook tested sleeping pills on cats for days, tricked the police, and moved cleverly... She won't reveal the meeting spot an hour from now.”
Go Hyun-sook had been extremely cautious.
Even clever.
She'd fooled cop Lee Jae-hyun, and...
Last time at the food mart parking lot, after Lee Jae-hyun got suspected as the instigator and searched by police, she hadn't shown up.
Naturally, that meant she'd made the report herself.
Which implied not just deceiving the police, but using them too.
That showed she both looked down on them a bit and stayed wary.
Lee Jae-hyun continued laying out his reasoning.
“Even if she does say, it'll be to make us chase our tails or confirm if cops are involved—no actual handover.”
“Makes sense. They'll figure the parents might've called us too.”
Park Dae-hyung nodded in agreement.
To him, Lee Jae-hyun's deductions held no holes against common sense.
“Yeah. They'll probably change the trade spot multiple times. Naturally steering toward the Icheon area... They'll deal carefully where they know best.”
“Then we should head to Icheon from the start.”
“No, we can't.”
At Park Dae-hyung's words, Lee Jae-hyun shook his head right away.
Just because they're going to Icheon, we go wait there?
Absolutely not.
In his past life, what happened when they went to Icheon?
Choi Dae-hyeon died, and Park Ye-chan held out until he injured pursuing cops amid the chaos, then downed pesticide.
Rushed to the hospital, but died anyway.
Lee Jae-hyun didn't care if Park Ye-chan died, but he couldn't let an 11-year-old kid meet that fate.
“Why not go to Icheon? What're you talking about?”
“Arriving at a place they feel safe means exposing their hideout to the kid inevitably. You think they'll leave him be?”
Park Dae-hyung tilted his head quizzically.
Lee Jae-hyun calmly answered.
Same logic as kidnappers not leaving witnesses alive.
The moment the hideout's exposed, they'll eliminate the option of letting Choi Dae-hyeon go.
Park Dae-hyung's face hardened as he nodded heavily.
“Yeah, no way.”
“They won't risk exposing their hideout, so it'll be near Icheon but not in it. If they reach Icheon... the kid's life is in danger.”
So, they couldn't let Go Hyun-sook and Park Ye-chan get to Icheon.
A spot close to where they feel safe, without risking hideout exposure.
They had to retrieve Choi Dae-hyeon there.
“We can't go to Icheon first, but nab them before they reach it?”
“Exactly.”
Park Dae-hyung asked as if confirming his understanding.
Lee Jae-hyun nodded.
“...Kid.”
“Yes, Inspector Park.”
“You didn't just luck into busting all those violent offenders till now, huh?”
Park Dae-hyung gazed at Lee Jae-hyun with an impressed look.
Lee Jae-hyun gave an awkward smile.
“...Thanks to Inspector Park teaching me well.”
“Kid, what'd I even teach you.”
Park Dae-hyung said that, crediting Lee Jae-hyun entirely, but...
'I really learned it all from hyung.'
In his past life, he'd learned how to be a detective from Park Dae-hyung.
What he'd just told Park Dae-hyung was the same.
Natural reasoning.
Of course, without certainty that Park Ye-chan would end up in Icheon, he couldn't have deduced it.
But knowing the guy would kill the kid there after holding out and even injure cops pursuing him?
As a detective, piecing it together was as natural as breathing.
“Anyway, let's head back in. Time to plan.”
“Yeah.”
Lee Jae-hyun nodded at Park Dae-hyung's words and downed his canned coffee in one go.
As he turned to head back to the substation,
“Kid.”
“Yeah, Inspector Park.”
Lee Jae-hyun turned at the call.
Park Dae-hyung's face was expressionless, but his voice was firm, suppressing rage.
“We catch that bastard, no matter what.”
“...Yes.”
Lee Jae-hyun gritted his teeth in reply and crushed the can in his hand like it was nothing.