PHUW 107

The inside of his head went white. In contrast, his vision was pulled into a pitch-black cave. His breath hitched in his throat, and eventually his body staggered.

“Hey, what’s wrong?”

“What? He’s throwing up again? Should I stop the car?”

“No, it’s not that. His condition’s weird.”

A rough hand tapped his cheek. Supposedly to wake him up, but the touch, thick with the smell of blood, only made it worse. The world, already spinning, swirled outward like a whirlpool, and his consciousness faded.

The killer set down the sashimi knife and grabbed the collar at the back of the boy’s neck as he collapsed forward.

“Hey, hey, lift your head. Breathe.”

He tilted back the limp head. The delicate, pale face, too handsome for a thug these days, was drenched in sweat. His hands and feet trembled.

The car pulled over to the sidewalk.

“He’s about to stop breathing. Loosen the tape. Ah, that bastard Ducheol. Couldn’t even handle one kid and tied him up like that.”

The driver clucked his tongue as he looked back.

Snip. The sashimi knife slipped between the bound hands and feet and cut the tape. That didn’t seem enough, so they reclined the seat and stretched his limbs out.

“You’re just like Ducheol, so damn timid. What’s he passing out for?”

“That’s what I’m saying. Did he even do his military service? And his foot’s busted too.”

After checking that Haeri was breathing properly again, the van took off. The driver, unlike Ducheol who hated it, cranked up trot music on the highway. The shoulders of the man holding the sashimi knife bounced to the beat. Inside the van where murder and kidnapping had taken place, a “club” scene unfolded. No one cared what kind of nonsense the convulsing person was muttering. They just rode the high of the blaring trot.

***

Tracking the driver real-time location was not as easy as it sounded. Even while checking the highway cameras, sometimes a large truck blocked the view of the car behind it, and other times the old cameras failed to read the license plate properly. On top of that, the van was a common model and color. According to a road construction worker who was skilled in vehicle tracking, the driver was adept at dodging cameras, which suggested this wasn’t his first time fleeing like this.

Phone location tracking still worked. Even with a prepaid phone, once a call was made, the rough location of the SIM could be traced. Normally, this required the authorities to make a formal request to the carrier or send out a warrant, [unauthorized copy]but Chief Ahn had his own methods of bypassing the hassle and pulling results in real time.

Jeong Mok followed only the directions of Chief Ahn coming through the speakerphone. If the signal was about to drop, he sped recklessly, and when a police car tried to tail him on the highway, Chief Ahn handled it.

But not even he could do anything about sudden congestion. The highway that had been smooth just moments before began clogging up for no reason. At first, Jeong Mok overtook cars slowing down with their hazard lights blinking, then cut onto the bus lane and raced ahead. That didn’t last. After exiting the highway onto a national road, traffic ground to a halt in both directions. Among the vehicles was a 119 ambulance. A police car was there too, but it hadn’t come for Jeong Mok.

“What’s going on up ahead?”

–I’m tapping into the police network now.

Chief Ahn said it casually, as if eavesdropping on police communications were nothing. He probably had someone high up in the police IT system, the same way he had someone in a technical management position at the telecom companies.

–They say it’s a fatality. Not a traffic accident. Ah, stabbed with a knife. A man.

“A man stabbed with a knife?”

A man suddenly stabbed to death on the very road Ahn Haeri was taking? A lightning bolt shattered Jeong Mok’s reason in an instant, all his five senses blurred, leaving only a piercing tinnitus screaming in his ears.

He didn’t know what sense carried him out of the car and running toward the scene. He shoved the police and detectives blocking his way aside, sometimes even hitting them. He tore through the yellow keep-out tape, and when [visit our site]a cameraman jumped in surprise and shouted while gesturing, Jeong Mok threw punches and kicks at the men rushing at him, forcing his way to the center of it all like in a silent film running in slow motion.

A white sheet came into view. The body beneath it was curled up like a fetus. Just as he reached out to lift the sheet, someone tackled him from behind. A burly detective pounced, and soon other detectives, police, and even paramedics swarmed him, restraining his limbs. His chin and cheek scraped against the rough asphalt. The detective twisted his wrists behind his back and snapped on handcuffs.

At some point, Gom-i lunged in. The sudden appearance of the big dog sent people scattering in panic. A paramedic near the body stumbled and brushed against the sheet. By chance, the cloth lifted.

The soles of shoes were visible beneath.

Scuffed dress shoes. Black men’s shoes. Both pairs.

Recently, the famous stylist and personal shopper he had hired recommended luxury sneakers from a designer’s young men’s casual line. Jeong Mok had bought them, thinking Haeri would look especially good in them. He had worn them today. His injured foot was still in a half cast.

Jeong Mok muttered blankly.

That is not Ahn Haeri. Whoever it is, it is definitely not Ahn Haeri.

While detectives clung to him from both sides and hauled him up roughly, the agitated Gom-i bared his sharp teeth and thrashed. The police drew their batons and pulled shields out from the trunks of their vehicles. One detective even held a stun gun. At this rate Gom-i might get hurt.

As Jeong Mok’s reason returned, the tinnitus that had rattled his skull cut out.

Woof! Woof!

“Gom! Stop! No! Run!”

Jeong Mok shouted. Gom-i suddenly halted and looked at him. Jeong Mok stomped his foot hard, threatening the excited dog.

“Go find your hyung! Ahn Haeri, find Ahn Haeri!”

Woof!

No sooner had the words left his mouth than Gom-i ran off into the distance, as if he understood. With the crime scene in disarray, vehicles jammed together, and a burly suspect already in custody, no one chased after the dog.

He was shoved into the back seat of the nearest police car. The door slammed shut, leaving him alone, before two officers climbed into the front. The siren wailed as the car pulled away.

They were retracing the road he had just come from. He stared blankly at the abandoned black luxury sedan left with its driver’s door open.

His cuffed hands, locked behind his back, trembled. Into the whitened haze of his head came a flood of relief. At the same time, a terror as if the end of the world loomed shook his entire body. Jeong Mok shut his eyes, grinding down on his fear, agitation, and the colossal rage he could not contain.

Jeong Mok was dragged to the nearest police station. His frontal lobe burned, but the rest of his body felt frozen. The police, who had known who he was from the moment of arrest, did not press him. They simply unlocked the cuffs and cleared out a rest area, leaving him there with one detective.

Chief Ahn and Shin Chaehee arrived quickly. While Shin Chaehee handed over Solsoop’s business card and spoke with the detectives, Chief Ahn went to meet the police chief, joined by the head of the detective division and the head of traffic. By the time they came out, Jeong Mok was free. The car abandoned on the road had been brought to the station by one of Chief Ahn’s employees and parked out front.

As they were leaving the station, Chief Ahn gave a rapid report.

“We’ve located the vehicle that took Ahn Haeri. Detectives and the security team went out and searched the area, but Ahn Haeri wasn’t there. It seems they switched cars along the way. The deceased found at the scene was Lee Ducheol. He once approached claiming to be a relative of Mr. Jang when Ahn Haeri was in the hospital.”

“He’s not a relative of Mr. Jang. Just an acquaintance,” Shin Chaehee cut in from behind.

“Lee Ducheol’s personal phone was not found at the scene. The last outgoing call was from a location not far from his residence.”

As he took the car keys from an employee, Shin Chaehee, still following, cut in again.

“This has gone far enough. Too many people have seen already. There’s a limit to how much we can stop the press.”

They could silence the police and paramedics, but not the stolen content other drivers at the scene who had watched the incident. In a world where every smartphone was media, it was impossible.

“I agree with Attorney Shin. From here, let me take over.”

Chief Ahn shook his head.

“……”

Jeong Mok looked back at the two without a word. That alone was enough. Shin Chaehee apologized with, “I’m sorry,” and stepped back, while Chief Ahn lowered his head and said, “I’ll keep sending location updates.”

The car carrying Jeong Mok left the station. Other staff, already instructed by Chief Ahn, got into separate cars and immediately followed. Shin Chaehee and Chief Ahn stood watching outside the station.

“I’m worried this could end in murder,” Shin Chaehee said.

“That would be a problem.”

Neither of them dared to say it would never happen.

“I suppose we need to contact the Chairwoman?” Shin Chaehee asked.

“I think it would be better to speak to Director Choi Sangeon rather than the Chairwoman. He’s the only one who might be able to stop the Vice Chairman. He was the one who put him in that seat in the first place.”

Chief Ahn replied.

“Then we’ll each make separate calls.”

“Yes. By the way, Ms. Young-a… President Shin, is she doing well?”