Violent Crimes Unit Office

Nearly ten detectives were tangled up together.

Shin Haesu let go as if he had no choice and stepped back. Dong Namcheol, his face flushed red, glared with burning eyes and lunged forward.

“Hey, let go! Let go, you son of a bitch!!”

Thud!

The punch he threw landed squarely on Haesu’s face. In that moment, the detectives froze as if the scene had stopped in time.

‘Why the hell did I get hit…?’

Even Dong Namcheol couldn’t hide his shock. He had fully expected Haesu to dodge, and he didn’t even think he was within striking range.

Only Haesu remained calm, rubbing his cheek before walking out of the office.

“W-where are you going, you bastard!!”

Namcheol shouted like he was ready to rip him apart, but in reality, he didn’t dare chase after him.

Team 1, hiding behind the partition, discreetly gave thumbs-ups.

‘Our human battering ram really is something else.’

‘That was so satisfying, but what if he gets disciplined?’

‘Senior Haesu is seriously amazing!’

That afternoon during lunch, Dong Namcheol stormed straight into the chief’s office. The chief greeted him with an unimpressed look.

“…So, you're saying Sergeant Shin Haesu grabbed your shoulder?”

“Not just grabbed it—he squeezed it! Hard!”

“Okay, so he squeezed your shoulder really hard, and you got mad, so you punched him in the face?”

“It wasn’t just because I was mad—he pressed down so painfully! This is insubordination, I tell you!”

As Namcheol shouted, the chief plugged his ears with his fingers and muttered.

“Ah, seriously… Of all the people to get assigned here in a rush, it had to be this whiny bastard…”

“…What did you just say?”

“I said I got it. Now get out. Call in Sergeant Shin Haesu.”

“You need to properly discipline him! Put him on probation, mark it in his performance review…”

The chief's face contorted in annoyance.

“Hey, Dong Namcheol.”

“…Yes?”

“Your dad is my superior, not you. Who the hell do you think you are, barking orders at me? If you want to call the shots, then why don’t you become chief yourself?”

“…You’re going to regret this. Are you satisfied just staying as chief?”

“No regrets. Now get the hell out!”

The chief threw a pen at him. Dong Namcheol was practically kicked out of the office, grinding his teeth in the hallway.

“Fucking hell… That damn chief…”

He immediately started pacing down the hall, dialing his father to report Shin Haesu’s insubordination and the chief’s disrespect.

But the response he got was ice-cold.

-“Hey, how old are you? Grow up. The moment you said you wanted to transfer from headquarters to Gangjin Station, I knew this would happen. Do you think Gangjin Station is like headquarters? These guys have gone head-to-head with serial killers who skin people alive. Stop embarrassing me and get your ass back to headquarters while I’m still being nice about it.”

“B-but, Father…”

Click—

The call was cut off unceremoniously. Namcheol’s eyes burned with resentment.

“Fucking hell! What’s wrong with this place? The chief, Shin Haesu—every single one of them…”

Just as expected from the chief’s attitude, Shin Haesu faced no disciplinary action. Other than Namcheol’s slightly reddened shoulder, there was no evidence, and on the contrary, Haesu had a visible bruise on his face.

As Namcheol continued seething, desperately searching for a way to screw Haesu over, the phone at Team 1’s desk started ringing.

Ring ring ring ring—

Since Team 1 was out on a case, the phone rang hollowly through the empty office. A Team 2 detective stood up to answer it, but Namcheol beat him to it. Calls to the internal line were almost always about case assignments.

“Yes, this is Team 2’s Captain Dong Namcheol.”

-“This is the situation room. There’s a murder… Oh, is Team 1 unavailable?”

“What’s the case? Tell me.”

-“Uh, yes. It’s a murder in Goam-dong. A woman in her 30s was found dead in an officetel. Please pass the information to Team 1.”

“I’m the captain of Team 2. Why the hell would I pass it to Team 1? Transfer the case report to our radio.”

-“Ah… But Team 2 already has an active case, and major cases like murders or violent assaults are usually assigned to Team 1…”

“Usually? There’s no such thing anymore. From now on, all cases will be fairly distributed. Send the report to Team 2, and let the situation room captain know I already approved this. Understood?”

-“…Understood.”

“What’s your name, sweetheart?”

-“Sergeant Kim Seon-young.”

“You have a pretty voice. I’ll remember your name.”

-“…Yes, sir.”

Namcheol wrinkled his nose before turning to his team.

“Alright, new case. A murder.”

One of his detectives hesitated before raising his hand.

“Team 1 should be able to head straight to the scene. Should I pass it to them?”

“This is exactly why Team 1 always gets all the cases. What are you, their servant? Are you saying we’re not capable of handling a murder?”

“N-no, sir! It’s just that we already have an ongoing case…”

“Some stupid kids brawling is more urgent than a murder case? Fights happen all the time! What the hell are you waiting for? Get ready to head out!”

Under Namcheol’s relentless orders, Team 2 rushed to the crime scene.

At the officetel complex, the victim was found slumped in a computer chair, lifeless.

Her neck was wrapped in duct tape, securing her head to the headrest. Both wrists were taped to the armrests.

She had two stab wounds to the neck, seven more across her chest, side, and abdomen. No signs of sexual assault.

“Ugh, ugh…”

Though no body parts were severed, the sheer amount of blood pooled on the floor was enough to make Namcheol rush outside and retch.

Team 2 detectives exchanged glances and shook their heads.

“…Hey, her fingers are missing.”

“What?”

One detective pointed at the woman’s hands. Her fingers weren’t completely severed, but each one had been cut down by exactly one joint.

“…Wasn’t there a similar case in Pyeongtaek?”

“Huh? You’re right? The way they tied the victim to the chair with duct tape too.”

“It’s a serial killer!”

Dong Namcheol, who had entered with a handkerchief covering his nose, shouted.

“We’re not handing this over to the team investigating it. We’re catching this one. They haven’t caught the guy even after the third victim, right? We can’t hand it over to a bunch that might get disbanded soon, can we?”

“…Still, we should at least share the information, shouldn’t we?”

Smack!

Dong Namcheol smacked the head of a senior team member with his hand.

“You keep talking back to the team leader… Shut up! Forget sharing and all that crap, just catch the bastard. Prepare to stay up all night starting today!”

“Then, Team Leader, should we hand over the Kyungjun case to Team 3?”

“Hey, is your head filled with shit? If we hand it over, people will think we’re the kind of team that picks and chooses cases! Put that case on hold and catch the serial killer first. Do you not understand priorities?”

“…Understood.”

Under Dong Namcheol’s orders, Team 2 mobilized all their personnel to investigate the murder in Goam-dong. Since they were keeping it as secret as possible from other teams, the investigation faced many difficulties.

Even amidst that, the youngest member of the team, following the senior officer’s orders, kept in regular contact with the assault victim, Kyungjun.

However, since even the regional special crime unit had failed to catch the killer, Team 2 also made little progress.

As the youngest was painstakingly analyzing the black box footage, the internal phone rang.

“This is Sergeant Kim Seok-hoon, 202.”

-“This is the situation room. A case of suicide by jumping at Goseong Apartment in Yongsu-dong. Age: fifteen, name: Lee Kyungjun…”

Crash!

The youngest shot up from his seat. His chair fell over, making a loud noise, but he didn’t even notice.

Haesu, who was returning from the restroom, saw the youngest’s state and immediately sensed that something serious had happened.

“I-I need to go right now.”

As the youngest, in a daze, tried to leave without informing any teammates, Haesu grabbed his shoulder and turned him around.

“What case is it?”

“It’s my fault. It’s my fault… I have to hurry—”

“Get a grip! What case is it?”

Haesu shouted, and only then did the youngest come to his senses and speak.

“A suicide by jumping in Yongsu-dong… Goseong Apartment, Building 101…”

Haesu didn’t wait to hear more. He rushed out, hopped on his motorcycle, and twisted the throttle.

Vroooom—!

The youngest, still stunned by Haesu’s reaction, shook his head and headed for the car.

Goseong Apartment, Building 101. A large crowd had gathered. The patrol car assigned to secure the scene had yet to arrive.

Haesu ran over to assess the situation first.

A male student in a school uniform had fallen to his death, his skull shattered. However, strangely, his legs were broken, and his body bore numerous fresh wounds.

A car was also wrecked about ten meters away from the impact site. Something wasn’t adding up.

‘Did someone move the body after the fall?’

There was no time to check the CCTV.

“Who discovered the body first?”

At Haesu’s question, the security guard raised his hand and stepped forward.

“Me. It was me… Oh, the poor boy…”

“Did you hear anything? Do you remember the approximate time?”

Haesu fired off questions quickly while checking the temperature. Since it was summer, estimating the time of death would be difficult.

“I heard a loud noise, so I came over and saw him fall with my own eyes. It was about twenty minutes ago…”

The moment he heard that, Haesu shouted “Reset.” He was anxious that his ability might have changed to foresight again, preventing the reset, but fortunately, his surroundings shifted in an instant.

A peaceful afternoon, a quiet apartment complex.

Bam!!

A male student in a school uniform crashed onto a car from the sky.

Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!

Amidst the blaring car alarm, Kyungjun lay sprawled on the wrecked vehicle, his face twisted in pain.

Worried that someone might come, he struggled to move his broken body and staggered to his feet.

“Ugh, cough!”

He coughed up a mouthful of blood, then limped back toward the apartment.

He entered the elevator, pressing the top floor button with his bloodied hand.

The pain in his stomach and legs was excruciating, but it didn’t matter. It would all be over soon. The suffering of this world.

Click.

He climbed the stairs and gripped the rooftop door handle. But the door felt as if it weighed a hundred tons. He stood there, gripping it for a long time.

Drip. Drip. Drip.

Blood vessels burst from the impact, causing tears of blood to stream down his face. The faces of his tormentors flashed through his mind one by one. The thought of them gave him the resolve to push open this damned door.

Creeeak—

Kyungjun leaned against the railing and looked down, choosing a spot with no cars or pedestrians. Then he climbed up onto the railing.

The first time is hard, but the second time is eas—no, it’s not.

“Dad… I’m sorry.”

His body slowly tilted forward. He leaned headfirst, to prevent a repeat of the earlier failure.

Whoosh— Grab!

Just as his body tilted about forty-five degrees, a powerful force seized his leg.

Thud—

Kyungjun spun and collapsed onto the rooftop floor. Before him stood a terrifying-looking man he had never seen before.

As Haesu locked eyes with Kyungjun, he couldn’t console him, nor could he reprimand him.

What had this fifteen-year-old suffered that he tried to take his life, failed, and then dragged his broken body back up to try again? How agonizing and painful must that journey back up have been?

There was only one thing Haesu could say.

“I’ll destroy them. The bastards who did this to you. The police who abandoned you… I’ll destroy them all.”