Chapter 90
Chapter 90
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: uly
Chapter: 90
Chapter Title: Echoes of the Past
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Darkness engulfed his vision.
For a moment, he couldn't get his bearings as the sense of up and down flipped.
Soon, Lee Jae-hyun lifted his eyes and looked around in confusion.
‘……Where is this?’
A world dyed entirely in gray.
In this colorless realm, time itself seemed frozen—everything except Lee Jae-hyun stood perfectly still.
Just like an old black-and-white film tape paused mid-reel.
At that exact moment, a bright voice that didn't fit the drab, concrete-gray world rang out.
—This is the past. More precisely, the memory of the past that you wanted to see, Contractor.
‘The past?’
Lee Jae-hyun felt a slight sense of relief at the familiar voice of Serhen as he scanned his surroundings once more.
But her figure was nowhere to be seen.
Serhen's voice echoed again.
—You won't be able to see me. I'm speaking to you through your mind from the outside. Of course, I can't see inside either.
‘I see.’
The past memory, huh.
So even something like that was possible.
A pretty useful ability.
If he could really view the past as Serhen said, he could figure out who the culprits met, what conversations they had, and what actions they took.
—Ah, looks like it's starting now.
With Serhen's words, the world began to shake little by little.
Like a frozen world thawing, colors bloomed gradually in the gray expanse.
Red, blue, yellow……
The drab world gained hues and started to move, like animals awakening from hibernation.
‘The past I wanted to see. Probably something about Choi Su-jin.’
Serhen had clearly said she'd help him find Choi Su-jin.
And since this ability had activated, she must be planning to reveal Choi Su-jin's location through it.
‘Park Hyun-jin?’
As the gray world fully crumbled and color returned, things that had been indistinguishable at first came into focus.
The first thing to catch Lee Jae-hyun's eye was Park Hyun-jin talking with Do Kang-cheol.
“That guy's a cop?”
“Yeah, I've seen him before.”
“This is a problem. If the other's a cop, threats about not reporting won't work.”
Do Kang-cheol and Park Hyun-jin.
The two were having a conversation.
Do Kang-cheol twirled the axe in his hand and furrowed his brow, as if pondering something.
After a moment,
he pointed at one of the gang members nearby and spoke.
“You, take him…… That PMC construction site, where is it?”
“You mean Eden Village Villas?”
“Yeah, yeah, go wait there.”
“Yes, sir.”
The gang member bowed his head and headed off somewhere.
Meanwhile, Park Hyun-jin, who had been listening, narrowed his brow in dissatisfaction. Once the gang member left, he spoke to Do Kang-cheol.
“Uncle, do we really need to do that? We could just hold her hostage……”
“Don't talk like a spoiled kid, nephew. Just stay quiet.”
“……Got it.”
In an instant, Do Kang-cheol's tone changed.
Unlike the high-pitched voice he usually used with Park Hyun-jin, it was low and laced with subtle anger.
Catching on, Park Hyun-jin nodded.
No matter how close they were, the other man was a gangster.
And Uncle Do Kang-cheol was the boss of those gangsters.
He knew better than to cross the line, even with jokes and complaints.
“Yeah, Uncle's got it all figured out.”
Do Kang-cheol said that, then turned to the unconscious Choi Su-jin and continued.
“Just in case, we need some insurance.”
With that, Lee Jae-hyun's vision went black again, and the world flipped once more.
* * *
Right after Lee Jae-hyun entered the karaoke bar.
The other detectives, excluding him, were all waiting in the car.
They all wore tense expressions, focusing on the sounds coming through their earpieces.
—Before I die, it feels like you'll go first?
The voices of Do Kang-cheol and Lee Jae-hyun flowed through the earpieces.
The two were relaxed yet tensely probing each other.
Hearing it, the detectives in the car anxiously jiggled their legs.
‘What kind of confidence is that……’
Seo Yoo-jun Inspector felt the same unease.
In terms of rank here, Lee Jae-hyun was practically the youngest.
Seo Yoo-jun was an inspector, and even the lowest-ranked Oh Seo-hyun was a sergeant.
Lee Jae-hyun was, at best, a sergeant.
He'd only just shed his rookie status……
Yet he charged into Golden Axe Karaoke—a tiger's den if there ever was one.
‘If he gets hurt before we can even act, it'll be a disaster.’
Seo Yoo-jun gazed at the entrance of Golden Axe Karaoke.
Odds were, Do Kang-cheol wasn't alone inside.
Lee Jae-hyun had certainly taken down over five Axe Gang members by himself before……
But Do Kang-cheol, one of Incheon's two major powers alongside Tiger Gang, was infamous not just for his axe skills but for his cunning too.
He'd surely have insurance, overconfident as he was.
And gangsters' insurance meant numbers—the easiest bet.
Considering Axe Gang's size, there'd be no shortage.
‘Or maybe he handpicked elites.’
Given the karaoke bar's cramped space, that seemed more likely.
Gangster-style: armed to the teeth, in peak condition.
Lee Jae-hyun's situation, on the other hand, wasn't great.
He'd already fought twice today.
His condition was understandably at its worst.
Yet in this overwhelmingly disadvantageous spot, Lee Jae-hyun had strolled in alone like it was nothing.
‘Does he have an ace up his sleeve, or is he just reckless?’
Either way, Seo Yoo-jun couldn't easily guess.
From the start, what Lee Jae-hyun had shown defied common sense.
He just hoped Lee Jae-hyun wouldn't push himself too hard inside.
No matter how skilled a detective, dead was dead.
“He'll be okay, right?”
In the heavy atmosphere,
Sergeant Oh Seo-hyun broke the silence first.
Of course, she'd turned off the transmitter so as not to interfere with Lee Jae-hyun.
She fiddled with the steering wheel while listening to the earpiece.
“Not an easy opponent.”
“Yeah, figured as much.”
“Yeah.”
Seo Yoo-jun nodded heavily.
No one knew Axe Gang better than he did.
Back when he started as a detective, Double Axe Gang had been causing havoc.
A fairly large gangster outfit.
So the police had always been cautious about tangling with them.
Rookie detective Seo Yoo-jun had been no different.
It wasn't fear of getting hurt.
Just that, coldly assessing victory, he hadn't been confident.
He'd psyched himself out.
But things were different now.
‘Now……’
Seo Yoo-jun clenched his fist tight.
The once-formidable Double Axe Gang, strong enough to make police wary, had splintered from internal divisions.
Their power had naturally weakened.
Proof? The gang that once ruled alone now split Incheon turf with Tiger Gang.
They'd weakened, but he'd grown.
Dealing with gangster packs was now routine, like eating rice. He'd even busted a whole crew once.
A few indelible scars remained from those fights.
But he didn't mind.
Wounds from subduing criminals were badges of honor for a cop.
‘Experience piled up too.’
Rookie then, but beating gangsters had built his skills.
He could handle small fry blindfolded now.
Grown from back then, could he take on Axe Gang?
“When will he call us in……”
Sergeant Oh Seo-hyun nodded.
Seeing it, Seo Yoo-jun tilted his head curiously.
“Calmer than I expected?”
“Ah, well. Thinking about everything Jae-hyun's done so far, I figure he's not in real danger.”
“Ah……”
At her words, not just Seo Yoo-jun but the other detectives nodded too.
They'd all heard recent rumors about Lee Jae-hyun.
Of course, they'd learned just a bit ago—from Oh Seo-hyun while searching Park Man-seok's place—that the star of those rumors was Lee Jae-hyun.
Starting with catching a serial killer, he'd exposed a murder in Incheon that went undetected for five years.
Even busted illegal medical practices.
And most recently, resolved a child kidnapping. All impressive feats.
Lately, rumors about Lee Jae-hyun swirled through the station—no one hadn't heard.
Even an elite detective rarely solved so many cases so quickly.
And he wasn't even a detective—just a patrol officer at a substation.
Not minor cases either.
Each was a high-impact violent crime.
He'd cracked them all in that short time. At first, they'd dismissed it as nonsense.
But seeing Lee Jae-hyun in action on this case made them think the rumors might be true.
“He does seem quick on situational judgment. Like going straight to protect Song A-ram after catching Park Man-seok.”
Seo Yoo-jun nodded lightly in agreement with Oh Seo-hyun.
The report when he went to Song A-ram was just to inform the victim.
He'd wondered why not handle it by phone.
In hindsight, it showed solid judgment.
Conviction that Song A-ram was next.
How he'd known was a mystery, but……
Thanks to it, the victim escaped serious harm. Deserved praise.
—Do Kang-cheol.
As they talked, Lee Jae-hyun's voice came through the earpiece again.
Low and calm.
Somehow cold too.
‘What? Did Do Kang-cheol do something?’
The detectives swallowed dryly at the slightly off tone.
They could hear sounds but not see inside, so some looked frustrated.
Unaware or not, Lee Jae-hyun continued.
—Do you know why they call me Hell Gang?
At that, the detectives in the car gaped.
Hell Gang?
‘His naming sense is…… a bit off?’
He was an amazing cop, sure……
But all that fighting fry his brain?
They couldn't help but wonder if something was wrong with him today.