Outside the container ward, curse specialist Hyun Seung-yeop explained the situation.

“Thanks to the corpse and staff of the cursed sorcerer you handed over, the widespread curse covering this area is rapidly dissipating. Thank you.”

“What about a cure for Seon-hwa?”

“We’re trying various methods, but...”

“Hold off on any treatments that might leave aftereffects for a few days. For now, only use methods that won’t put a strain on her body.”

“Excuse me? But if we do that, the chances of failure...”

“I have my own way of dealing with this. I’ll have an answer soon.”

“Ah, is that so? Understood.”

He also checked in on high school student Jung Hyun-soo. His condition was much better than Lee Seon-hwa’s.

“Hyung, they say I can recover.”

“If you overcome a curse directly cast by a sorcerer-type monster, your mental resistance increases a little.”

“Wow!”

“So when you join the military, the Awakened Special Forces will be thrilled to have a recruit like you to work to the bone.”

“Come on, hyung. Why do you always bring that up?”

That night, Seo Jung-woo stayed in the container, talking with Lee Seon-hwa. He only left after she had fallen asleep.

The next day, he moved to another location.

He confirmed the exact location of his destination using the map on a smartphone produced in the other world.

At his destination, he checked his weapons once again. He also made sure his mask was properly in place. He hadn’t forgotten anything.

“I will find it and bring it back. The relic. And the cola.”

He activated his Parallel Dimension Teleport skill.

The scenery before his eyes changed dramatically.

He was still in Seoul. However, instead of a bustling area or a residential district, he had arrived in a place with small ironworks—an area where people rarely walked around at night.

The watch he carried couldn’t track the flow of time. If he turned on his phone to check, it would leave a trace that he had been at this location.

Even without a watch, he knew what time it was. While his three-dimensional coordinates changed according to the distance he traveled from the other world, the time coordinate remained as it was at departure.

“9:03 PM.”

That meant exactly eight minutes had passed since he declared his departure from the detective bureau office.

“I’m three minutes late compared to their meeting time. Let’s see if these guys are punctual.”

Seo Jung-woo stepped out of the alley.

Outside, there was a large warehouse. That was his target, the location where Kim Jung-deuk and So Sang-hyeon were supposed to meet.

He opened the warehouse door. It wasn’t locked.

‘I wasn’t planning on entering through the window today, but this will make things easier.’

Smashing a window and going in was how Detective Seo Jung-woo would do things. That wasn’t the best approach here.

Inside the warehouse, Kim Jung-deuk was there with two of his subordinates and the thief, So Sang-hyeon.

Seo Jung-woo had seen So Sang-hyeon’s photo in the case files.

“Wow, you guys are surprisingly punctual.”

The three men, except for So Sang-hyeon, turned to look at him. So Sang-hyeon was a little slower to react.

Kim Jung-deuk scowled.

“Hey, Sang-hyeon. You brought a partner? I told you to come alone.”

So Sang-hyeon was in bad shape. He was lying on the ground, beaten to a pulp.

Still on the floor, he pleaded.

“Boss! Please spare me! I don’t know this guy!”

Seo Jung-woo immediately understood the situation.

‘So when Kim Jung-deuk said he’d get rid of So Sang-hyeon after this last deal, he meant he’d kill him.’

He had always thought this world was much more peaceful and prosperous than the other one. But not everywhere.

“Why are there so many people in the underworld who are just like the ones over there?”

Kim Jung-deuk didn’t understand what he meant. He gave an order to his men.

“Get that bastard too!”

Kim Jung-deuk’s subordinates were wearing bloodstained leather gloves.

At his command, they immediately rushed at Seo Jung-woo. One came straight at him, while the other shifted slightly to try and flank him from behind.

The one charging head-on quickly closed the distance. He pulled his fist, covered in black leather gloves, far back.

At that moment, Seo Jung-woo suddenly leaped forward. He jumped as high as a person’s height.

While still in the air, he thrust his foot forward with force. His foot landed squarely on the face of the guy who had been running straight at him.

“Keh-ek!!”

The man collapsed to the ground with a heavy thud.

Seo Jung-woo hadn’t landed yet. The force of his kick had given him extra hang time.

While still in the air, he twisted his body into a spinning kick.

Seo Jung-woo’s leg rotated backward, completing a 270-degree spin. Right there was the face of the guy trying to slip away.

His heel struck the enemy’s face.

“Keugh!”

The second guy was sent flying backward.

Seo Jung-woo landed lightly on the ground.

Despite his subordinates being knocked down, Kim Jung-deuk didn’t panic. Instead, he scowled and cursed.

“You useless bastards! Taken down by just one guy.”

So Sang-hyeon, now, was no longer pleading with Kim Jung-deuk but with Seo Jung-woo.

“S-Save me…”

Kim Jung-deuk kicked So Sang-hyeon.

“If you live, that’s a problem for me, you bastard!”

“Keuk!”

So Sang-hyeon took the blow to the head and lost consciousness.

Kim Jung-deuk shook his shoe in the air and grumbled.

“Damn it. Got blood on it. These are limited edition luxury shoes.”

Seo Jung-woo, seeing Kim Jung-deuk treating his shoes as more valuable than a person, commented.

“Wow. This is such a familiar sight.”

There were plenty of guys like So Sang-hyeon in the other world—far more than there were in the 20th century. Scholars over there claimed that as the world turned into a battlefield, the number of psychopaths had increased.

Yet, the villains he used to see over there also existed here.

“The more I see, the more I realize that lowlifes are the same in both worlds.”

Kim Jung-deuk cursed.

“What the hell is this bastard saying?”

“I’m giving you an analysis of human nature.”

“What kind of bullshit is that? And you arrogant punk—just because you can throw a few punches, you think everything will go your way?”

Even with his two subordinates down, Kim Jung-deuk remained composed. He had something else he was relying on.

He reached into his suit jacket, wrapping his fingers around a .38 caliber six-shot revolver. The moment he felt its weight, his confidence returned.

A smirk spread across Kim Jung-deuk’s face.

“No matter how good a fighter you are, a gun evens the playing field.”

He pulled out his gun and said,

“I brought this just in case I ran into some punk like—”

Seo Jung-woo had already drawn his own gun. A 20-round automatic pistol.

Kim Jung-deuk froze, his revolver only half-drawn.

“Huh?”

Seo Jung-woo held up his gun and spoke.

“Well, this is awkward. I’ve got a gun too. And mine looks way better, doesn’t it?”

Kim Jung-deuk’s gun was a simple six-shot revolver, not particularly large.

But Seo Jung-woo’s weapon was a silenced automatic pistol with a 20-round magazine, crafted with the advanced technology of the other world. Even at a glance, the quality was leagues apart.

“When working in this world, a silenced pistol is really the best.”

His large weapon case back in his room held a variety of guns—pistols, submachine guns, and automatic rifles, all neatly stocked. There were plenty of armor-piercing rounds as well.

But for a night like this, the silenced pistol was the perfect choice. Using subsonic rounds, its gunshots were quiet enough that the noise wouldn’t leak outside the warehouse.

Seo Jung-woo glanced at Kim Jung-deuk’s gun and muttered.

“Seriously, does everyone and their dog own a gun? Are we even in a country where firearms are banned?”

Even the Knife Gang, who were into kidnapping and murder, had plenty of guns. That’s why he had wiped them out with firepower.

Stalker Choi Sun-hyung had used a fake gun. That’s why Seo Jung-woo had settled for just breaking his hand.

The warehouse’s fluorescent lights illuminated the space brightly, making Seo Jung-woo’s gun clearly visible to Kim Jung-deuk.

Suddenly, Kim Jung-deuk laughed.

“Kuhuhuh. You had me fooled for a second—I thought that was a real gun. But it’s just a toy. No way you’d get your hands on a real one.”

Seo Jung-woo’s gun looked similar to standard firearms from this world, but with slight differences. Those minor details led to the misconception that it was a replica.

Feeling reassured, Kim Jung-deuk fully drew his gun and aimed it at Seo Jung-woo.

“You really think such cheap tricks—”

Seo Jung-woo pulled the trigger. With a heavy recoil, the bullet was fired. In the blink of an eye, it pierced Kim Jung-deuk’s arm.

At first, Kim Jung-deuk didn’t even realize what had happened. A numbing impact, like being struck by a hammer, ran through his arm. He had seen the muzzle flash from Seo Jung-woo’s gun and even heard the gunshot. The revolver in his hand fell to the ground with a dull thud.

Then, the pain hit him.

Kim Jung-deuk’s mouth gaped open as he let out a scream.

“AAAAARGH!”

Seo Jung-woo walked toward him and said,

“Why does nobody ever recognize my gun as a real one? Do they actually sell toys that look like this somewhere?”

“Y-You bastard…”

“Should I put the next bullet in your forehead?”

Kim Jung-deuk trembled violently. His revolver was right in front of him, but he didn’t have the courage to reach for it.

“W-What do you want? Money? How much?”

“Money is nice. I do need a lot of it. But right now, there’s something more urgent.”

Seo Jung-woo kicked Kim Jung-deuk’s chin. Kim Jung-deuk collapsed as if crumbling. He couldn’t even scream before losing consciousness.

What Seo Jung-woo wanted was the sacred relic. The one who stole it was So Sang-hyeon.

Seo Jung-woo put his silenced pistol away, crouched down, and slapped So Sang-hyeon’s cheek. One slap wasn’t enough to wake him. He kept hitting him. He continued until So Sang-hyeon finally opened his eyes.

“Ughhh.”

Seo Jung-woo spoke to the barely conscious So Sang-hyeon.

“Hey. Hand over the relic.”

So Sang-hyeon hadn’t fully regained his senses.

“My face… feels like it’s going to break…”

“The relic.”

“What?”

“Give me the relic you stole.”

Only then did So Sang-hyeon snap back to reality.

He frantically looked around for Kim Jung-deuk. The revolver Kim Jung-deuk had scared him.

Kim Jung-deuk lay nearby, bleeding.

So Sang-hyeon hadn’t grasped the full situation yet, but he understood one thing.

‘Kim Jung-deuk and his two goons are down. This guy won!’

As soon as he realized the situation had changed, he began scheming.

‘Who is this guy? He’s asking me for the relic? Should I test him a bit before trying to negotiate?’

So Sang-hyeon opened his mouth.

“I…”

Seo Jung-woo lifted a gun and tapped it against So Sang-hyeon’s forehead. It wasn’t his own pistol but the six-shot revolver Kim Jung-deuk had just dropped.

“Are your eyes darting around?”

So Sang-hyeon flinched in terror.

He had never fully trusted Kim Jung-deuk. That’s why he had deliberately left the warehouse door unlocked during their deal—so he could escape if necessary.

But when he got distracted checking the amount of money, Kim Jung-deuk had pulled out that revolver and threatened him, leaving him no choice but to surrender.

Now, that same revolver was in Seo Jung-woo’s hands.

So Sang-hyeon shouted urgently.

“K-Kim Jung-deuk took it from me!”

“So where is it?”

“That small bag over there! I definitely saw him put it in there!”

Seo Jung-woo glanced beside Kim Jung-deuk. A handbag lay there.

He walked over, opened the bag, and found ten stacks of fifty-thousand-won bills along with a ring case.

He took out the ring case and opened it.

‘The relic!’

The relic case from the pagoda originally contained only one relic. He knew that from the investigation records.

“Where’s the relic case?”

“In that box over there…”

Seo Jung-woo didn’t need the relic case.

But leaving it behind would make it easier for others to understand what had happened here.

After closing the handbag, Seo Jung-woo called out to So Sang-hyeon.

“Hey. Thief.”

“Y-Yes?”

“When the police come, tell them everything.”

“W-What? The police?”

So Sang-hyeon looked around.

Kim Jung-deuk lay collapsed, bleeding heavily. The other two were also down, their noses smashed and teeth broken.

“Y-You’re calling the police after doing all this…?”

“Or should I just shoot all of you? That would be cleaner.”

So Sang-hyeon snapped to attention.

“N-No! I’ll confess everything!”

“The police will be here soon. Spill everything. The crimes you committed, and the crimes that bastard committed. If you hide anything, I’ll come find you again.”

“I swear, I’ll tell them everything!”

Though he said that, So Sang-hyeon had a different plan.

‘Judging from his attitude, this guy will leave first. That means I can run away before the police arrive…’

Seo Jung-woo kicked So Sang-hyeon.

“Gah!”

So Sang-hyeon fainted again.

Seo Jung-woo first retrieved his bullet. The subsonic round that had pierced Kim Jung-deuk’s arm was on the floor. He picked it up.

Then he fired the revolver Kim Jung-deuk had owned into the wall. He emptied all six rounds before tossing the now-empty gun onto the floor.

“With six gunshots fired, the police should be here soon.”

He placed two open ledgers beside the revolver. However, neither had a cover.

These were the bribery ledger and the cultural property smuggling ledger he had taken from Kim Jung-deuk’s secret safe the day before. Now, only the covers of those ledgers remained in that safe.

Seo Jung-woo opened the ring case again.

“Now, this just needs to be a sacred relic.”

If they were in the other world, the chances of this being a sacred relic were extremely high. It wasn’t just any relic—it had fulfilled more than enough conditions to be considered a sacred artifact.

However, he still didn’t know if a relic from this world would retain its sacred properties when taken to the other world.

To confirm that, he would have to cross over.