Unbeliever (4)
Yu Hyemi, who ran a small café in Dobong-gu, had recently gone through a distressing ordeal.
Running a shop alone was never easy.
Especially when it was a neighborhood business.
That meant she had to care about what people around her thought.
So when customers made crude jokes, all she could do was force a bitter smile and let it go.
But what had been happening lately was not something she could brush off with a smile.
An old man who ran a local junk shop had started approaching her.
"Ah, Ms. Yu. I actually have a lot of money."
"Ah... yes."
"If you marry me, your luck will really turn around. Pure good fortune."
"Hahaha... yes. I see."
The old man had been pestering her at the counter.
What had begun as shameless, lingering looks had now crossed a line.
He waited outside until closing time, then came up to her.
Somehow, he had found out her phone number and sent messages at night, too.
He had even shown up at her apartment.
Yesterday, he had gone so far as to bring her a package she had ordered to the shop himself.
She had checked the CCTV, and it looked as though he had picked it up from outside the store before opening hours and brought it back, but even that alone was enough to make her skin crawl.
Now, it was starting to scare her.
Please, just stop.
Even after she had begged him not to approach her, he only went on spouting nonsense about how women were charming when they played hard to get, and kept coming closer all the same.
It was terrifying.
One night, when she woke up and looked out the window, he was standing there holding his handcart, grinning up at her.
By then she was so stressed that she had even started dreaming about him, and in the end she filed a stalking report with the police.
Still, she had assumed there was only so much they could do.
And then.
Then she was told that a senior officer at the police station would personally stake out the place and stop him.
She had never been terribly trusting of the police, but that did make her feel a little moved.
So the taxes I pay every year are good for something after all.
Relieved, she went on with life—until one day.
It was around the time she got home after another long night of business as usual.
"Hyemi~! Your husband’s here!"
The chilling, slurred voice froze her in place.
Slowly, she turned.
From the floor above her apartment.
A man was coming down the stairs.
"I do like that you play hard to get. But enough now—let’s just live together, hmm?"
"P-please... don’t do this..."
"Don’t do this? You like it. Come on, huh?"
"I really... really hate this...!! It’s truly disgusting..."
"...What?"
"Please, stop..."
"Hey. What did I do?"
The man’s sneering, oily grin vanished in an instant.
His eyes turned cold.
His face twisted.
"You’re the same as the other bitches, huh? All you were thinking was how to use me, weren’t you?"
"W-what are you talking about...?"
"You were always smiling at me!! You were only ever nice to me!!"
His eyes burned with anger.
Smiling at him?
What was a business owner supposed to do if she didn’t smile at her customers?
Being polite?
She had only ever treated him like any other customer.
He had twisted all of it into kindness directed specifically at him, and imagined that the money he had was all she wanted.
Yu Hyemi was shaking.
"A-people who run shops... that’s just normal... aaah!!"
Something flashed from the man’s arms.
A sharp knife.
When he pointed it at her and started down the stairs, Yu Hyemi felt all the strength leave her body.
Fear.
Primitive terror of death was swallowing her whole.
"P-please don’t..."
"You little bitch. Then if you’d just listened from the start, you could’ve stayed with me quietly, couldn’t you?"
His hand reached for her head.
He was trying to seize her by the hair and drag her away.
Her legs had gone weak, and her body was trembling like a leaf, so she couldn’t even react.
Yu Hyemi squeezed her eyes shut.
And then, in that instant—
- THWACK!!
"Ghk!!"
The fear that had been pressing down on Yu Hyemi vanished, swept away by a ridiculously pathetic scream.
She slowly opened her eyes.
Standing in front of her was Gong Yunseok.
The police officer who had said he would protect her, even if it meant staking out the place.
"Ah..."
"Are you all right?"
"H-he had a knife! He was holding a knife!!"
"I saw it."
With an unfazed expression, Gong Yunseok walked toward him.
The man, who had been sent sprawling by the blow, gritted his teeth and grabbed the knife again.
"Y-you bastard!! Do you know who I am!"
Roaring, the man charged forward.
He didn’t even seem to know how to use the knife properly, just slashing wildly, and Gong Yunseok watched him with calm indifference before moving in quickly, seizing the hand that held the blade.
Then—
- CRASH!!
A clean shoulder throw.
As the fallen man groaned, barely able to breathe, Gong Yunseok snapped handcuffs onto his wrist.
All of it.
Every second of it.
Had been recorded on Gong Yunseok’s body cam.
***
After finishing today’s raid and thinking I might finally get some rest, my phone rang.
It was Gong Yunseok, the same guy whose number I’d exchanged last time.
"Hello?"
"Mr. Gang."
"Yes. Did you catch that stalker?"
"...If I’m not being too presumptuous, may I come see you?"
"So you caught him. Sure. Where should we meet?"
"I heard you live in Jongno. I’ll come to you."
"Do you know my address?"
"Yes. Detective Gang told me."
"Then come on by."
I was just about to hang up and think about hunting a little more when my phone rang again.
It was Gong Yunseok.
"I’ve arrived."
"Huh? Did you call while you were already nearby?"
"Yes."
"Got it. I’ll head out now."
I threw on a coat and went outside.
Near the officetel where I lived, Gong Yunseok was standing there with a complicated look on his face.
Hmm.
The future had changed.
The rift with Gang In-jeong was gone.
The future in which Gang In-jeong’s junior got hurt because of his orders had changed.
That must have been because he believed me.
"Hello."
"Yes. Hello. Let’s go to a café I know well first."
I took him to the café.
Shin Youngsu recognized me and greeted me with a smile.
"You’ve brought someone new."
"Haha. Yes. One latte, please, and... what would you like?"
"An Americano is fine."
"Yes. Two, then, please."
"I’ll pay."
"Huh? No—"
"I’m technically a police officer. If I take money from a citizen, I’ll be flooded with complaints."
Well, if that was the case.
Gong Yunseok didn’t say another word.
Was he thinking about what to say?
Then I’d speak first.
"You seem a little troubled that things worked out after you broke the rules."
"...Ha. Yes. Acting according to Mr. Gang’s divination, in truth, isn’t really in line with police principles."
The police were supposed to move through thorough investigation.
That was the minimum safeguard for handling the enormous power that was public authority.
He spoke calmly.
"But... if we had followed procedure, that woman would have suffered serious harm."
"Ms. Yu Hyemi, was it? She’s all right, yes?"
"...Yes. Thankfully."
She had been frightened, but for now she was safe, Gong Yunseok said heavily.
"Is it wrong to uphold principle?"
"Who knows? I’m not a police officer, and I’m not even a civil servant, so I can’t really tell you."
For a public servant, nothing was more important than principle.
"If you start breaking one rule, won’t you just end up breaking the next? It was like that even when I was in the orphanage."
Once one rule was broken, it was easy to watch the rest collapse as well.
"But there are also many people who suffer because of those principles. Hmm. We’re human, aren’t we? If you’re human, I think you should at least be able to judge for yourself what’s right and wrong."
"...Ha. That’s difficult."
"That’s just how life is, isn’t it?"
I knew it at twenty, and so did he—better than I did, probably, since he’d taken the elite path and gone through all sorts of things in police work.
"But if you only take what’s good, wouldn’t everything turn out fine?"
"Only taking what’s good...?"
"The reason I offer advice to police officers is simply because I want to see a better world."
It wasn’t because I wanted to use the police to line my own pockets.
Gong Yunseok looked at me quietly.
"Have you ever thought of becoming a police officer?"
"If you mean a special recruitment slot where they hire you without an exam, I’d give it a shot..."
I knew perfectly well I wasn’t smart enough to pass the police civil-service exam.
And what Gong Yunseok wanted wasn’t just a regular patrolman’s path, but the same elite road he himself had walked.
"That’s a difficult thing to ask."
"I’m fine as I am. It’s not as though I’m refusing to cooperate with the police."
"Ha. I see."
That was when the coffee arrived.
I sipped my latte and said to Gong Yunseok, "Now then, since you’ve come all this way, why don’t you draw one?"
"...Pardon?"
He stared at the tarot card I held out, then drew one with a trembling hand and turned it over.
The reversed World card.
He looked at the card for a moment, then asked, "What... is going to happen?"
"You’re investigating a string of thefts in Dobong Station, aren’t you?"
It would gradually grow into something bigger, eventually becoming a threat on the level of terrorism, with hostages and the like.
But for now, it was only a series of petty thefts.
If you could stop with a hoe what would later require an excavator, then it was better to stop it early.
"Yes? Yes."
"I’ll tell you where the culprit is."
"....!!"
Gong Yunseok’s eyes flashed.
"Where... is he?"
"He’s in Yongsan. The exact location is..."
I gave him the address of the motel where the wanted criminal was currently hiding.
After taking the address I’d given him, Gong Yunseok kept his mouth shut for a while before saying, "...Thank you."
"What’s there to thank me for? As a decent citizen, helping the police is only natural, isn’t it?"
Well. I’d said what I needed to say.
Maybe I should head back now?
"I enjoyed the coffee."
..
..
..
A few days after meeting Gong Yunseok, I was loafing around at home when Gang In-jeong contacted me.
They had caught him, he said.
Good work.
I checked the text and was just about to resume my glorious loafing when Gong Yunseok called.
"Hello?"
"Mr. Gang. It’s Gong Yunseok."
"Yes. Go ahead."
"Thank you, sir. Because of you, I was able to resolve the matter safely."
"Haha. I’m glad I could help."
"So, the thing is... sir. Are you interested in a resort, by any chance?"
"Yes? A resort? All of a sudden?"
"There’s a resort I go to every year. It’s a pretty good place, so I’d like you to go enjoy it in my place."
When I looked it up online, it turned out they were holding not only a DUNSA collaboration, but also a cosplay event—and even a concert with celebrities.
Whoa.
I absolutely had to go.