Seo Jung-woo focused his detection skill on the relic.

"As expected, I can't sense anything."

He had previously attempted the same thing with a government-classified rare sacred relic, but back then, he couldn't detect anything either. Even though his detection skill had leveled up significantly since then, he still couldn't determine whether this was a sacred relic.

'If taking it to the other side doesn't confirm it as a sacred relic, then next time, I'll have to raid the National Museum.'

The problem was time.

The amount of objects he could carry to the other world at one time was not unlimited. It had to be within what he could personally carry in terms of weight and volume.

And once he crossed over, he wouldn't be able to use the skill again until a full day had passed.

Just by making a trip to the other world, he had managed to locate the relic and buy himself some time. If he took the relic to the other world tonight, that would mark the second day. That meant there would only be one day left to bring additional artifacts.

'Even if I raid the museum on the last day and take as many relics as I can carry, if it still doesn't work...'

Then he would have no choice but to search for sacred relics in the other world.

Sacred relics were managed in secrecy, so their whereabouts were never publicly disclosed.

Starting the search now would take too much time, and even if he found one, it was bound to be stored in an impenetrable, high-security location.

There was only one sacred relic he knew the whereabouts of.

When he was in the awakened special forces, he had taken down a powerful sorcerer who specialized in curses. At that time, the government had loaned him a sacred relic— a sarira of a revered Joseon-era monk.

"If everything else fails, I might have to make a deal with the government."

Negotiations always favored the side with the upper hand. This time, Seo Jung-woo would be at a disadvantage. The government would undoubtedly try to squeeze every bit of value out of him. That would mean engaging in a highly unfavorable deal.

"I really don't want to reenlist in the military."

That would truly be a last resort.

Lee Yoon-cheol was a reporter at a broadcasting station. His home was close to the warehouse where Seo Jung-woo had taken down Kim Jung-deuk and So Sang-hyeon.

After finishing work, he was lounging at home, scratching his stomach while watching TV. A news segment came on, reported by a journalist he knew.

"That guy's lucky. If only I could break a big scoop too..."

Just then, a gunshot rang in his ears.

'Must be a car somewhere with a flat tire. Should I go cover that? No, it's not like the car exploded or anything. A flat tire isn't exactly news...'

The sound didn’t stop at one shot. Five more followed in succession.

There was no way six tires had burst in a row. At that point, he couldn't mistake it for anything else.

"Gunshots!"

The thought of an exclusive story immediately popped into his head. He hurriedly threw on a jacket and grabbed his camera.

"That was near my house!"

Calls flooded in reporting six consecutive gunshots in the middle of Seoul. Officers from the local police precinct were immediately dispatched.

Lee Yoon-cheol and the nearby police arrived at the warehouse almost simultaneously.

He was already acquainted with the local officers, as he frequently visited the precinct looking for newsworthy stories.

Lee Yoon-cheol shouted, "What's going on?"

"We just got here too! Stay back, it's dangerous!"

The warehouse door was already wide open.

The officers gripped their pistols tightly and cautiously peered inside.

Lee Yoon-cheol recorded the scene with his camera’s video function from behind them.

After glancing inside a few more times, the two officers exchanged brief whispers. Their conversation was too quiet for Lee Yoon-cheol to catch.

Then, all of a sudden, the two officers rushed inside. The moment they entered, they pointed their guns in all directions and shouted,

"Police!"

Watching them strike a dramatic pose like detectives in a Hollywood movie, Lee Yoon-cheol realized something.

'They're doing this on purpose so they look cool on my camera.'

From his perspective, there was no reason to stop them. In fact, he should be thanking them for making the footage look good.

And then, he noticed something else.

'The shooter isn't in there, is he? They must've confirmed it's safe before going in.'

Carefully, Lee Yoon-cheol crept forward to check inside the warehouse. Aside from four collapsed men and the two officers pointing guns, there was no one else. There was some trash scattered around, but no stored goods. The warehouse was completely empty.

'The real culprit is gone.'

The officers kept their guns trained on the interior while simultaneously radioing for backup. They also called for paramedics.

Lee Yoon-cheol filmed the scene exactly as it was. Since he was familiar with the officers, he made sure to capture them in a way that made them look impressive.

Looking good on camera was important, preserving the crime scene was important, but the most crucial thing was saving the injured.

The two officers approached Kim Jung-deuk, who had a gunshot wound on his arm, and checked his condition first. He was bleeding the most.

"Looks like he was only shot in the arm."

"Then let's check on the others."

"Oh, wow. These two... their faces are..."

"How could someone do this to a person’s face? Jeez."

As Lee Yoon-cheol walked closer to get a better shot, he spotted a six-shot revolver on the ground.

Startled, he instinctively shouted, "Oh? A gun!"

The officers flinched and turned around in alarm, even pointing their guns in his direction for a moment. Then they saw the revolver lying in front of him and gasped.

"Step back!"

"Huh?"

"Reporter Lee! Move back!"

"Wait, let me just get a good shot of this—"

"Don't you dare touch it! If you leave your fingerprints on that, you'll become the suspect!"

At the mention of becoming a suspect, Lee Yoon-cheol hastily took a step back. That was when he noticed a ledger lying open nearby.

'No way...'

There were two ledgers, both fully opened. Given the urgency of the situation, he didn’t have time to read through their contents.

He quickly took photos of them with his camera.

The officers still had their guns drawn, their gazes sharp and wary, making it impossible for him to flip through the next pages. But at least he had captured the ones already exposed.

And in that moment, he became certain.

'Given the situation, whatever's in these ledgers must be huge! The scene itself is already a scoop, and these ledgers? Another scoop! That’s two exclusives! Jackpot!'

A short while later, an ambulance and detectives arrived.

Lee Yoon-cheol was immediately kicked out of the warehouse.

It didn’t take long for the truth about what had happened in the warehouse to come to light.

The thief, So Sang-hyeon, started spilling everything as soon as he was dragged to the police station, confessing things he knew and even things he didn't.

"That revolver belongs to Kim Jung-deuk. He threatened me with it! I mean, a gun? In our country? That bastard is a real piece of work! That’s why I couldn’t escape and ended up getting beaten. If it weren’t for the gun, I wouldn’t have gone down so easily."

"Kim Jung-deuk’s gun was fired six times, but the only one hit was Kim Jung-deuk himself. And that was just one shot. How do you explain that?"

"I was unconscious because Kim Jung-deuk kicked me, so I didn’t see anything. But maybe there was some kind of shootout? That Iron Mask guy sure had amazing reflexes. Kim Jung-deuk deserved to get shot."

"A shootout? Six gunshots were heard, and six shell casings were found in Kim Jung-deuk's revolver."

The subsonic bullet fired by Seo Jung-woo had passed clean through Kim Jung-deuk’s arm and fallen to the ground, leaving almost no visible impact.

Forensic analysis might reveal the truth, but for now, there was no immediate evidence linking Seo Jung-woo to the shooting.

"Oh! That Iron Mask guy appeared out of nowhere and took down Kim Jung-deuk's men. Man, he moved incredibly fast in a fight. I bet he could dodge bullets! Maybe Kim Jung-deuk fired at him, and he just dodged all of them while fighting back?"

"Did you actually see him dodge bullets?"

"Well... not exactly, but—"

"Don't spout nonsense."

"If you’d seen Iron Mask in action, you wouldn’t think it was nonsense."

"We’ll ask Kim Jung-deuk once he regains consciousness. By the way, a relic case was found at the scene. You’re the one who stole it, right?"

So Sang-hyeon had originally planned to escape before the police arrived. But now that he was caught and the police already knew a lot about what had happened, denying it would be pointless.

Besides, Seo Jung-woo’s earlier threat that he would come back if So Sang-hyeon didn’t tell the truth still haunted him.

Lowering his head, So Sang-hyeon muttered, "I deeply regret my actions. But to be honest, Kim Jung-deuk was the one who ordered me to steal it."

For the police, what had happened at the warehouse was important, but even more critical was the theft of a relic from the Goryeo era.

"We searched everywhere in that warehouse but couldn't find the relic. Where is it?"

"Well, you see..."

So Sang-hyeon hesitated, glancing around nervously.

"That Iron Mask guy was after the relic too. He kept demanding that I hand it over."

"The relic? Why?"

"Obviously, to sell it, right?"

"Then they should have taken the reliquary too."

"I know, right? That’s what I’m curious about. Why did they only take the relic? Without the reliquary, it won’t sell for its full value. It’ll be indistinguishable from other relics."

That night, the news broke on national television.

The anchor spoke.

"Let’s take a look at the urgent scene filmed firsthand by reporter Lee Yoon-cheol."

First, the footage taken by Lee Yoon-cheol played. The images of unconscious people bleeding on the ground were blurred out, but the police entry and the inside of the warehouse were clearly captured.

After the video ended, the anchor turned to Lee Yoon-cheol.

"Our country's police are truly brave."

Since he was acquainted with the officers, Lee Yoon-cheol gave a positive response.

"Yes, I was also surprised by their courage."

After recounting how he entered the warehouse upon hearing the gunshots, the anchor asked,

"So, what exactly are those ledgers on the ground?"

It wasn’t that the anchor didn’t know. The moment he asked, the ledgers were zoomed in to take up half the screen.

Lee Yoon-cheol replied,

"I analyzed the contents of the ledgers. One appears to be a bribery ledger."

On the screen, all the names were blurred out, making it impossible to identify individuals. However, the corresponding titles and amounts remained visible.

"It lists various recipients, from those in positions of power who could cover up incidents, to officials who could bypass smuggling inspections at ports and airports, and even, regrettably, members of the press. What I captured was just one page, but the ledger itself was quite thick."

"It’s heartbreaking that this still happens. What about the second ledger?"

"I was just as shocked when I found out what it contained."

The screen shifted to show the second ledger.

"This contains records of our cultural artifacts being illegally smuggled overseas."

The next day, Seo Jung-woo reported to the police station.

Detective Baek Sung-min, sitting at the front desk, spoke up.

"Jung-woo, you don’t need to investigate that case anymore."

Seo Jung-woo feigned ignorance.

"What case?"

"What, you didn’t watch the news? The relic theft case. The culprit was caught last night."

"Ah, so they caught him. I even went to his house for a thorough investigation."

"I told you it’d be a waste of time. Why would he go back home? Of course, he’d go into hiding."

"When did they catch him?"

"Right after we got off work yesterday. But it wasn’t just an arrest—someone took him down first."

Seo Jung-woo, suspecting something, asked,

"Do they know who did it?"

"Not at all. They did find a gun at the scene, but it belonged to some guy named Kim Jung-deuk, who was involved in attempted murder and smuggling cultural artifacts. Oh, and speaking of Kim Jung-deuk, they think he might have actually committed murder before, so they’re digging into that too."

Seo Jung-woo felt relieved.

"So, no leads at all?"

Baek Sung-min added,

"Well, there is one clue."

"There is?"

'I cleaned everything up, so what could be left? I confirmed there were no CCTVs. I retrieved the bullets, so they can’t link it to the Kalchipa case.'

"The stolen relic is missing. If it turns up again, we’ll be able to track down the culprit."

Seo Jung-woo relaxed.

"Ah, the relic."

That relic was currently in Seo Jung-woo’s possession.

'It’s never going to show up in this world again.'

He had caught that thief because he intended to take the relic to the other world. He could only cross over at night, so for now, he was just passing the time.

'I hope this is a holy artifact. If this doesn’t work, I’ll have to rob a museum tomorrow.'

Baek Sung-min asked,

"Why do you look so deep in thought?"

Seo Jung-woo replied,

"Now that the culprit’s been caught, I guess I have to drop this case. I was just thinking about that."

Baek Sung-min grumbled,

"See? I told you from the start not to get involved in this one."

"Yeah, I should’ve listened to you."

"If you learned a few tricks from me, your detective life would be much easier—"

Just then, Team Leader Kwon Byeong-cheol walked past and smacked Baek Sung-min on the back.

"Great advice for a rookie, huh?"

"Come on, boss. Does he look like a rookie to you?"