Chapter 74
Chapter 74
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 74
Chapter Title: Influential Parents
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Lee Jae-hyun glanced subtly toward the shop door.
Fortunately, Inspector Oh Seo-hyun seemed to be buying them plenty of time, so it would be a while before the owner returned.
In the meantime, he kept the conversation going with Song A-ram.
"So, Su-jin's dad... works at the perpetrator's dad's company?"
"Yeah. She's the one who bullies me the most. She does it herself and gets the other kids to join in. Park Hyun-jin."
"Right, I remember. The name alone screams school bully."
Lee Jae-hyun nodded as he replied.
He couldn't forget after seeing her torment Song A-ram last time.
The ringleader Park Hyun-jin, along with Oh Yeon-seo, Kim Sun-woo, and Park Han-sol.
Their faces were etched in his mind.
"PMC—it's a construction company. Park Hyun-jin's dad is the president there."
Lee Jae-hyun had heard in passing from Inspector Oh Seo-hyun that Park Hyun-jin's father ran a construction company.
He hadn't remembered the name, but apparently it was PMC.
"And Su-jin's dad—what exactly does he do there?"
"He just said he's a manager... Hyun-jin said she'd get Su-jin's dad fired, so Su-jin couldn't do anything but take it. Even so, when I said I'd drop the charges, she told me not to..."
It was a small mercy, at least.
Su-jin had firmly told Song A-ram not to drop the charges.
If Su-jin had begged her to withdraw the complaint, what would Song A-ram have done?
After shedding a long-standing false accusation and finally making a friend, a plea from her...
She probably wouldn't have turned away easily.
But this wasn't even the worst-case scenario Lee Jae-hyun had imagined.
'The worst would be... if she blamed it all on A-ram.'
Lee Jae-hyun's face hardened as he recalled that nightmare.
How must Song A-ram have felt, having just made her first friend?
Excited, nervous.
Wondering what they'd do tomorrow, where they'd go.
And then hearing, "This is all your fault."
Lee Jae-hyun closed his eyes softly at the thought.
'...Good thing Su-jin turned out decent.'
Lee Jae-hyun hadn't lived that long...
But as a cop, he'd learned one thing: people break easier than you'd think.
He opened his eyes again and looked at Song A-ram.
"Alright, I get the situation. Anything else I should know?"
"Um... Sun-woo's dad is the branch manager at Daehan Bank."
"Bank branch manager? Which one?"
"Uh... the one near Tanyeong Intersection."
"Not in Incheon?"
Lee Jae-hyun blinked in surprise.
Song A-ram nodded.
"Yeah, about thirty minutes from here..."
"Oh, I know it. That's our jurisdiction."
He nodded firmly.
Tanyeong Intersection fell under Hanseong Police Substation's area.
Meaning it was within his reach.
Since the incident happened in Incheon, even if he wanted to, he'd have to go through Inspector Oh Seo-hyun.
Unless she specifically requested his support—which was iffy without special circumstances.
He'd been pondering how to proceed while listening to Song A-ram's story, but this was perfect.
If the son of a bank branch manager in their jurisdiction was tied to school violence, it gave him even more reason to get involved.
"Anything else?"
Song A-ram paused at his question.
Then her next words made Lee Jae-hyun's expression harden further.
"Oh, Hyun-jin said something like that once. That her company's close to Hyeonmin Group, so they could crush us all if they wanted."
"...Hyeonmin Group?"
Hyeonmin Group.
In his past life, the moment he started investigating, they'd harassed him in every way possible...
And when he wouldn't quit, they'd sent someone to kill him.
'Never thought I'd hear their name here.'
He faced his revenge targets sooner than expected.
Unconsciously, he clenched his fist tight.
He knew dragging Hyeonmin Group into this case was unrealistic.
But if he could forge even a single link to his revenge targets, that would be enough.
Feeling them draw tantalizingly close, he suppressed his surging thirst for vengeance.
"Uncle...?"
Song A-ram looked at him with anxious eyes.
He could read the reason for her unease right away.
His reaction to Hyeonmin Group's name had made her think it was hopeless after all—disappointment bordering on despair.
"If Hyeonmin Group's involved... it really is impossible, right?"
"No. Doesn't matter."
Lee Jae-hyun spoke with firm conviction into her voice, tinged with deepening despair.
In truth, it did matter.
It made him even more eager to dig in.
His assured tone brought a flicker of hope back to Song A-ram's darkening face.
"You'll... really handle the A/S properly?"
"Absolutely."
"Then I'll hold off on dropping the charges."
"Yeah. Give me a few days, and I'll sort it out."
Lee Jae-hyun replied in a resolute voice.
* * *
After finishing with Song A-ram.
Lee Jae-hyun wolfed down the cold gukbap with the returning Inspector Oh Seo-hyun, then stepped out of the shop, his mind racing.
'Who would've thought those bastards were connected to Hyeonmin Group.'
He took a deep breath to steady his pounding heart.
He hadn't expected Hyeonmin Group to pop up like this.
The shock of that name had involuntarily dragged him back to the day he'd died by their hands.
Skin blistering in the inferno, the searing pain stabbing through his body.
Acrid smoke burning his nostrils, squeezing his lungs.
The moment death loomed inescapably close.
Those memories were still vivid.
'Is that guy... killing someone right now?'
Lee Jae-hyun pictured the long-haired man from that abandoned warehouse.
The one Hyeonmin Group had sent to kill him.
Where was he now? What was he doing?
'Maybe it's a good thing Hyeonmin Group surfaced here.'
Hyeonmin Group aside, that long-haired killer could be anywhere, doing anything.
People like Lee Jae-hyun might be dying at his hands this very moment.
He needed to take them down as soon as possible.
The sooner he stirred up Hyeonmin Group, the sooner he'd cross paths with that killer.
He'd been startled at first by how soon they'd appeared, but on second thought, it was something to welcome.
As these thoughts swirled, a voice snapped him out of it.
"Your eyes look pretty cool."
He reflexively looked up—and sure enough, there was Serhen.
But she shook her head, as if she hadn't said it.
He shifted his gaze to Inspector Oh Seo-hyun walking beside him.
She shrugged and continued.
"I watched this documentary the other day. Kingdom of Animals—you know it?"
"Yeah, sure."
"The wolf's eyes when it hunts? Just like yours right now, Sergeant."
"Is that so?"
Lee Jae-hyun chuckled it off.
She probably wasn't fishing for a specific response.
Just lightening the heavy mood.
But Inspector Oh Seo-hyun tilted her head, stared at him intently, then smiled lightly.
"Honestly? Maybe more like a hunting dog's."
Seeing her crack a joke, she seemed in better spirits than before.
She went on.
"Still, it's a relief. A-ram opened up because of you. Guess you're more reassuring than me."
"Since you were the first to help... that might be it."
"Who knows? I think it might be those eyes that make you feel so solid."
Her words made him tilt his head.
"My eyes?"
"The wolf thing wasn't just a joke. They were intense. Facing them across from you, I'd hate to be on the other side. But looking the same way? Feels reassuring as hell."
Lee Jae-hyun stared at her, unsure how to respond.
Truthfully, he didn't get it.
He had no idea what his eyes looked like right then.
At his reaction, Oh Seo-hyun laughed softly and waved it off.
"I don't even know what I'm saying. Forget it."
"Alright."
He shrugged in reply.
He didn't show it, but when she'd called him a hunting dog earlier, he'd flinched a bit.
His nickname was Mad Dog, after all.
'No way she knows that.'
It hit too close to home unexpectedly.
A rabid dog tearing into prey—that was a Mad Dog, wasn't it? What else could it be?
Lost in such idle thoughts, Inspector Oh Seo-hyun spoke up.
"How do you want to split it? I'll dig into PMC."
"Yes, ma'am. I'll take Daehan Bank, Tanyeong Intersection branch."
"Those kids are definitely hiding something. Dig deep, and it'll turn up."
Lee Jae-hyun nodded at her words.
Dig, and something always surfaced.
Time to show his Mad Dog side again.
As he lifted his head with that in mind.
He met Inspector Oh Seo-hyun's gaze—fixed intently ahead—and suddenly understood what she'd meant.
'Ah, that must be it.'
Reassuring eyes.
Hers held no flicker of doubt, locked unwaveringly on the goal.
No obstacle would stop her until she reached it...
Eyes brimming with unshakeable resolve.
Lee Jae-hyun stood silently gazing at her, and she tilted her head.
"What's up? Something wrong?"
"No, just..."
He looked into her eyes and let out a soft chuckle.
His gut feeling from their first meeting hadn't been wrong.
The corners of his mouth lifted as he continued.
"Things are gonna get fun from here."
She was cut from the same cloth as him.