Shin Haesoo hung up the phone and looked at the designated driver.

There were many who lurked near bars, pretending to be designated drivers, only to rob drunk customers of their valuables. This guy seemed to be one of them.

With just one phone call, the conflict deep within Haesoo started to stir.

He looked around—no witnesses, no cameras. The rain would wash away the bloodstains.

The driver had approached with the intent of committing a crime, so no one would know that he had gotten into Haesoo’s car.

His thoughts started spinning in a strange direction. It felt as if everything around him was arranged to help him.

Just then, in the distance, a single light slowly approached. It was a mountain road, winding and treacherous, so it would take some time to get here.

Haesoo’s internal conflict deepened, and he grew impatient.

‘Should I hide it? Report it? Move it first? My job as a police officer? The murderer who killed my father?’

Unable to reach a conclusion, Haesoo hurriedly covered the driver’s corpse with his body.

Whooong—

Almost at the same time, a truck passed by Haesoo.

Did they see? No, probably not. There were no streetlights, and the heavy rain made visibility poor.

Thinking about it now, this place seemed almost too perfect for killing someone.

“Huff… Huff…”

He had killed someone. If he went to prison for murder, he could never be a police officer again.

He wouldn’t be able to catch the bastard who killed his father. This was an unavoidable choice. The victim was a criminal anyway.

His alcohol-clouded, confused mind spun wildly in self-justification.

Haesoo’s alcohol-soaked brain raced like a runaway train.

‘Where should I dispose of it? Bury it in the mountains? Dump it in the sea? I don’t have a shovel, so digging deep would be difficult and time-consuming. Just in case, I need to set up an alibi…’

Crack.

Haesoo grabbed his head, using physical pain to stop his thoughts.

The guy was a criminal who tried to scam him.

It wasn’t intentional, but it was undeniable that he had beaten the man to death with his own fists.

Even if he turned himself in, he’d lose his job as a police officer and wouldn’t know how many years he’d spend behind bars.

But was it right to hide a murder while chasing his father’s killer?

“Hah…”

The answer was already decided.

No matter what excuses he made, he couldn’t hide a murder.

Because of this case, he would lose his job as a police officer, fail to uncover the truth about his father’s supposed suicide, and lose the woman he loved.

But there was never really a choice. Not if he was still human.

Haesoo let out a long sigh and picked up his phone.

“...Yes, someone is dead… No, injured. The location is…”

After ending the call with emergency services, Haesoo sat down beside the corpse and called his girlfriend.

- “What.”

When had she become this cold?

“Let’s break up.”

- “What? Out of nowhere? Did oppa tell you?”

The conversation felt slightly off. Strange. She never called Haesoo “oppa.”

That meant she was referring to someone else. And by “told you,” she meant that “oppa” had spoken to him about it.

He could deduce that it was someone she had met at the reunion.

“...Yeah, I heard.”

- “Ha… Why are cops such blabbermouths? Anyway, I was going to tell you myself. Move your stuff out by tomorrow. This is my place, after all.”

A cop. Someone she knew. Someone from the police academy he had just met at the reunion. The suspect was painfully obvious.

“Dong Namcheol… That son of a bitch…”

- “...You didn’t know?”

“Hah… Of all people, him? You really went out of your way to crush my pride.”

- “Did you even have any pride left?”

“You don’t just not love me. You hate me.”

- “Of course. Love always ends in contempt. You’re a cop down to your bones. I want to be with someone normal now.”

“...Down to my bones?”

- “For our 100-day anniversary, you got me a baton. For our first anniversary, a taser. For our second, pepper spray. I can’t stand hearing anything about crime, criminals, or cops anymore.”

“And yet, you’re cheating on me with a cop?”

- “He’s different from you. He doesn’t obsess over the job like you do, and he makes way more money.”

“Ha… Let’s end this.”

Haesoo nearly threw his phone but stopped himself. A new phone would cost at least 300,000 won.

That bastard had been bringing up Chaeyeon’s name all the time. Turns out, they had already been seeing each other.

Maybe this was for the best. No need to feel guilty—just pissed off.

‘Have I… really been living my life so wrong?’

Thinking about his soon-to-be-ruined life, he sighed bitterly, pulled out a cigarette, and lit it.

Click. Click. Click.

The rain had stopped, but everything was damp, making it hard to light the cigarette. Annoyed, he threw the lighter away.

Haaah— Haaah—

Then, very faintly, he heard a strange sound.

It wasn’t from him. No one else was around except for the corpse. That meant only one thing.

Haesoo spat out his cigarette and approached the driver, placing his ear near the man’s lips.

“...Haah—”

A faint intake of breath, then silence.

Something clicked in Haesoo’s mind.

Concussion!

A strong impact to the head can cause a severe concussion, leading to inhalation without exhalation. Once the lungs are full, breathing stops, and simultaneously, so does the heart.

Why couldn’t I think straight? Alcohol? Confusion? Anger and frustration? I still don’t know if the golden time has passed.

Anyway, what matters is now.

Seok.

Haesoo took off his outer garment, wrapped it tightly around the man’s head, and raised his upper body, forcefully striking his back.

Bang! Bang!

“Spit it out, spit it out!”

Despite regularly learning first aid, Haesoo had never actually applied concussion emergency treatment before. He followed the procedure exactly, yet the man’s breathing did not return.

Now, his inhaled breath had completely stopped, and his heart had ceased beating.

If the heart stops and oxygen is not supplied within five minutes, brain damage begins, and within minutes, death follows.

Haesoo laid him down again and started CPR.

“Please don’t die, don’t die!”

The driver’s heart remained still, and blood continued to flow from the back of his head.

After what felt like an eternity—ten long minutes—the ambulance arrived.

Paramedics got out, placed the man on a stretcher, and performed CPR. Watching the entire process unfold, Haesoo felt as if he were merely a spectator in a TV drama, detached from reality.

Haesoo rode in the ambulance with him.

Upon arrival at the hospital, the medical staff took over, and Haesoo was handed over to the detectives.

At Haesoo’s request, he waited until the driver’s surgery was completed.

However, the outcome was devastating.

“…The patient’s life is not in danger, but there is minor brain damage. We need to monitor his condition.”

“Ha…”

“Mr. Shin Haesoo, let’s go.”

The detective, considering that Haesoo was also an officer, had reported the incident himself, and had done his best in administering first aid, did not put him in handcuffs.

“The defendant, Shin Haesoo, is sentenced to three years in prison for assault resulting in injury.”

Bang! Bang! Bang!

As his police career was stripped away along with the sentence, Haesoo felt as if his world was crumbling.

For four years as a detective, he had worked harder than anyone to put criminals behind bars. Now, in prison, that past had turned against him like a sharpened blade.

“Whistle~!”

“Well, well, look who we have here! Detective Shin. Hae. Soo, isn’t it?”

“Man, it’s a pleasure to see the detective who knocked out eight of my teeth!”

“Every time it rained, my right arm, which you broke, would ache like hell. Guess that’ll be less of a problem now.”

“Sniff, sniff. That bastard smashed my nose so bad I still can’t smell a thing.”

Prison was full of inmates who held grudges against Shin Haesoo, the officer known for excessive force. Despite their murderous glares, Haesoo only stared blankly into the void.

Three years—short, yet long enough to lose everything.

“Our detective’s eyes have gone lifeless, huh?”

On a prison-wide cleaning day, a man with a crooked nose shoved his face close to Haesoo. Haesoo ignored him, mechanically moving trash.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

As he walked toward the incinerator in Block 3, a group of over a dozen inmates surrounded him.

In their hands were wooden clubs, sharpened toothbrush handles, and shards of glass.

“You thought we’d just let you rot in peace? That we’d feel sorry for you? You gotta pay your dues, detective.”

Thud.

Haesoo dropped the trash pile he was holding. The inmates flinched.

No matter how toothless a tiger becomes, it is still a tiger. Its claws remain sharp, and the fear Haesoo had once instilled in them was deeply ingrained in their minds.

Seeing this, the man with the broken nose snapped.

“What are you waiting for, you bastards? Kill him!”

“Yaaaah!”

At his command, the youngest of the group rushed forward, swinging a wooden club.

Crack!

The club struck Haesoo’s head directly, breaking in half. A thin stream of blood trickled down his forehead.

But he did not react.

Emboldened, the others lunged at him.

“Die, you bastard!”

“Give me my arm back!”

“Give me my leg back!”

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

Someone tripped Haesoo, sending him sprawling forward. The mob mercilessly stomped on his fallen body.

Stab! Stab!

Someone jabbed a broken club into his elbow. Another repeatedly drove the back end of a toothbrush into his hand.

Haesoo winced at the unbearable pain, but resisting was meaningless. His body refused to fight back.

A shadow loomed over him. A club with a nail embedded in it came flying toward his face.

‘How did it come to this?’

Thunk.

At that moment, Haesoo’s blood-drenched hand caught the club. The nail had pierced straight through his palm and protruded from the back of his hand, but his expression did not change.

The inmates hesitated.

Seizing the moment, Haesoo slowly stood up.

Swish.

‘If there are no teeth, then gums will do. Even if I can’t be a cop anymore, that doesn’t mean I can’t track down my father’s killer. My life isn’t over yet.’

“Where the hell do you think you’re getting up to?!”

Whack!

Just then, a devastating blow struck the back of Haesoo’s head.

Like a puppet with its strings cut, he crumpled to the ground.

The world turned black.

“…Die!”

Just then, as if flipping to the next page of a photograph, the entire scene changed.

Heavy rain poured. It was pitch dark. In front of him, the driver swung a knife at him.

‘A knife?’

He hadn’t seen it before, but now he did. Haesoo’s body instinctively dodged and threw a punch.

‘No, stop!’