Lee Seon-hwa couldn’t continue speaking as she recalled Seo Jung-woo’s back from that moment.

Seeing this, the host quickly changed the subject.

“But I heard that the amazing Detective Seo Jung-woo is still just a patrol officer. What do you think about that?”

Lee Seon-hwa snapped out of it and let out a small laugh.

“No way.”

“You didn’t know?”

Her eyes widened.

“Huh? Seriously?”

As the news video was streamed in real time on the internet, viewer comments flooded in.

– Wow. The class of a South Korean patrol officer is on another level.

– How many major cases has he already solved since becoming a detective?

– Look at Lee Seon-hwa’s expression when she talks about Detective Seo Jung-woo… Wow, are they really not dating?

– How could she not know her boyfriend is a patrol officer? Impossible! It must be true!

On online community boards, posts appeared as well.

– Who here would bet their right hand that the dating rumors are real? Bring out the chopping block! Place your hand!

– Please spare me.

After the news aired, Seo Jung-woo’s name shot up in real-time search rankings on portal sites.

The next day, as soon as Seo Sora arrived at the practice room, she started boasting.

“See? My oppa knows celebrities! And not just any celebrity, but a top star!”

The twins, Park Ha-yeon and Park Da-yeon, threw up their hands.

“Detective oppa is totally dating a celebrity!”

“Sound the drums…!”

Yoon Nana strongly objected.

“I told you, it’s not true! How could she not know her boyfriend is a patrol officer? That doesn’t make sense! So it’s definitely not true!”

Park Da-yeon asked,

“Then was it a one-night stand?”

“Where did you even learn that? Don’t say things like that!”

“Then…”

“Enough! Our TV debut is right around the corner! Get back to practice!”

Seo Jung-woo wasn’t the only name trending on portal site searches.

The company owned by stalker Choi Sun-hyung’s family also appeared in the rankings. Their website was flooded with curses.

At first, the company tried to deny the situation passively. Later, they gathered a crowd of reporters for a rebuttal press conference.

“Lee Seon-hwa is making a one-sided claim. From what we understand, Choi Sun-hyung and Lee Seon-hwa had a good relationship, but due to an unfortunate misunderstanding, a minor conflict arose. In fact, Choi Sun-hyung was the one who suffered serious injuries during the process. Despite this, Lee Seon-hwa, using her status as a popular celebrity, is shamelessly manipulating the news in her favor…”

Upon seeing the article, Lee Seon-hwa became furious.

“What? A good relationship with that bastard? Shameless? These guys have lost it! I’m releasing the video!”

Seo Jung-woo’s phone rang. It was Lee Seon-hwa.

He answered.

“Hello.”

– It’s Seon-hwa.

“I know.”

– So you did save my number after all.

“I doubt you called just to check that.”

– It’s about the video. The one from the fight with the stalker. Your face isn’t visible in it.”

“Yeah, I know.”

The camera had been positioned behind him, so his face didn’t appear.

– Is it okay if I release it?”

“If just having it isn’t enough to shut them up, go ahead.”

– Thanks.

“I’m in the middle of something important, so I’ll hang up now.”

– Okay!

Seo Jung-woo ended the call.

Across from him, Baek Sung-min, who was eating jjamppong, asked,

“What kind of call was that for you to say you were doing something important and hang up?”

They were having a late lunch.

Seo Jung-woo picked up some jjajangmyeon with his chopsticks.

“If I talk too long, the noodles will get soggy. That would be unacceptable.”

“You’re like a machine when catching criminals, but when it comes to food, you’re overly human.”

“I just appreciate good food.”

“Right. Eat up. Have all the dumplings too. Anyway, what was that call about?”

Seo Jung-woo understood that Lee Seon-hwa’s plan to release the video was essentially a warning to Choi Sun-hyung’s family.

“Sounds like someone needs to be silenced.”

Lee Seon-hwa hummed.

“I got permission to release the video.”

A video was uploaded to the internet.

It was posted directly from Lee Seon-hwa’s personal account.

Her fans, seeing the notification of a new video, quickly checked it out.

At first, they assumed it was a typical behind-the-scenes clip from one of her shoots.

But this time, it was something entirely different.

– Huh? What is this?

– Is this a new movie? A trailer?

– Wait… What? No way!

The video showed everything—from the moment Choi Sun-hyung broke into Lee Seon-hwa’s house, to him threatening her with a gun, attacking with a knife, and finally, Seo Jung-woo taking him down.

Lee Seon-hwa originally had an interest in videos. If circumstances allowed, she wanted to shoot a short film someday. She also knew how to do simple edits using a program installed on her PC.

She trimmed out the part at the beginning of the video where she said “Action.” However, she decided to keep the part at the end where she tripped over the sofa while running to turn off the camera because she thought it looked fine.

She didn’t bother cutting out any other parts. Still, she did apply a mosaic blur.

The scene where Seo Jung-woo stabbed Choi Seon-hyung’s hand with a metal ballpoint pen wasn’t clearly visible as his body blocked the view.

However, the scene where he grabbed the wrist holding the knife and broke it was captured clearly. Worried that releasing it as is would make Seo Jung-woo seem cruel, she applied a mosaic blur to that part.

After editing the video herself on her computer at home, she uploaded it to the internet.

The video spread like wildfire across various online communities. Links to the video were also shared through messaging apps.

Each community post about it quickly filled with comments.

• They said he was just a patrol officer! A patrol officer!
• What kind of patrol officer is a human weapon?
• He doesn’t even flinch at the sight of a gun. Does he have a heart of steel?
• Detective Seo Jung-woo already said it wasn’t a real gun.
• Until you touch it, you’d think it was real. It’s a replica painted to look exactly like the real thing. That kind of paint job costs a lot.
• But the knife was definitely real, right? A normal person wouldn’t have been able to dodge it.
• He didn’t just dodge it—he grabbed the entire wrist holding the knife and struck it. Wow.
• Now I understand what Lee Seon-hwa meant in the news. She said if Detective Seo Jung-woo starred in an action movie, they wouldn’t even need special effects. This is literally an action movie in itself.
• Wait, but she also said if he did romance, it would be a hit?
• If that movie comes out, I’ll definitely watch it.

As people watched both yesterday’s news and today’s video, a common question arose.

• But why is he still a patrol officer?

That afternoon, the police department’s official social media account posted a response.

• Patrol Officer Seo Jung-woo has already been approved for a special promotion to Senior Patrol Officer in recognition of his role in capturing a serial murder suspect. He will be promoted soon.

Baek Sung-min, scrolling through the post on his smartphone, grumbled.

“This is the problem with the higher-ups. If they had promoted him right away when he caught the serial killer in 24 hours, they wouldn’t be getting all this backlash. But they drag it out just so they can hand him a certificate in front of reporters at an official ceremony.”

Seo Jung-woo replied.

“It’s not like getting promoted to Senior Patrol Officer changes what I do. No need to rush.”

“Your salary goes up with a promotion, though.”

“How far away is this official event? Can they hurry it up?”

“Hahaha. When you get that certificate, there’s usually prize money too. Let’s borrow against that and have drinks tonight.”

Team Leader Kwon Byeong-cheol opened a file folder in front of Baek Sung-min. Inside was an envelope.

“Hey, hey. The commissioner gave our team this envelope for a team dinner. Use this instead, so stop pestering Jung-woo. How much do you think a patrol officer even makes?”

“Tonight?”

“We’ve got too much work today. Tomorrow evening.”

4cats had only been appearing on radio shows so far. Today was their last radio broadcast. Tomorrow, they would perform on a televised music show.

They were practicing their song and dance for tomorrow’s performance when they took a short break.

The twins were looking at a smartphone off to the side.

“Detective D really is the best.”

“He’s insane.”

Seo Sora walked over.

“What are you looking at? If it’s something interesting, share it.”

Park Ha-yeon held out her phone.

“Unnie, a video just dropped of Detective D catching the guy who was stalking Lee Seon-hwa. She released it herself—it’s the real deal.”

Yoon Nana ran over the moment she heard that.

In the video, Seo Jung-woo took down the stalker like a scene straight out of an action movie.

Park Da-yeon commented.

“Detective D is seriously insane, right?”

Seo Sora suddenly exploded in anger.

“Insane?! Everyone keeps praising him, and now he’s acting recklessly! What the hell is he doing facing a guy with a knife like that?! Didn’t I tell him to either run or just shoot the guy?!”

Yoon Nana watched the video with concern.

“D-oppa didn’t get hurt, right?”

“Hurt? Please. He was stuffing his face just fine at breakfast today! He ate a ton!”

“Phew, that’s a relief.”

AKX Pictures' president, Kim Seong-jun, was watching the video of Seo Jung-woo taking down the stalker on his tablet PC, deeply impressed.

“I knew he was something special, but this video makes it even clearer.”

Lee Yoon-mi agreed.

“Seriously. He doesn’t even seem like a regular human.”

Kim Seong-jun then pulled up another video on his tablet.

“There’s this too. It’s from the set of The Princess’s Redemption.”

The video showed Seo Jung-woo demonstrating action moves at the drama set.

Oh my. He did that without wires?

“Amazing, right?”

“He could seriously star in a movie.”

“I think so too. If we produce a movie with Detective Seo Jung-woo as the lead, it’ll be a huge hit.”

“I thought you said he wasn’t going to quit being a detective.”

Kim Seong-jun smacked his lips.

“That’s why I’m looking for a way to film a movie while he’s still a detective.”

That night, a variety show featuring Kang Seo-jun, the male lead of the drama The Princess’s Redemption, aired.

The show had been filmed before the recent video was released. Instead, Lee Seon-hwa’s interview was mentioned.

Kang Seo-jun excitedly spoke up.

“I completely agree with what she said about him being great in an action movie. When we were filming the drama near the police station, Detective Seo Jung-woo showed us a brief action demonstration.”

“How was it?”

“He was flying all over the place. Wow. It’s such a shame we can’t show that scene. It was seriously cool.”

The next day, a new video was uploaded to the internet.

The video started with Kwon Kyung-chul charging toward Seo Jung-woo. Seo Jung-woo kicked off the wall, launching himself upward, then executed a large inverted spin midair, landing behind Kwon Kyung-chul. The moment Seo Jung-woo placed his hand on Kwon Kyung-chul’s back, the latter flinched in shock and lurched forward. The video ended there.

That video also went viral.

It spread across various online communities, including the forum the twins frequently visited.

Comments poured in immediately.

• What kind of movie is this?
• I can see Kang Seo-jun and Kwon Kyung-chul, so it looks more like the filming set of The Princess’s Redemption rather than a movie.
• Then who’s that guy flying around? The video is shot from a distance, and you can only see his face for a brief moment when he’s midair—it’s too quick to tell who he is.
• On yesterday’s broadcast, Kang Seo-jun said he saw Seo Jung-woo flying around on set. I thought it was just a figure of speech, but he actually flew.
• So that guy is Seo Jung-woo?
• Given the context, there’s no doubt.
• Wow. He did that without wires?
• Just look at it—obviously, there are no wires. Unless it’s CGI.
• So when is that movie where Seo Jung-woo does both romance and action coming out?!

The production team of The Princess’s Redemption held an emergency meeting.

The director yelled.

“Who was it?! Who leaked the video?! I told you guys to keep it to yourselves!”

Several people flinched. Most of them had secretly shared the video with close acquaintances, saying, “Just keep this between us.” Even the director himself had sent the video to AKX Pictures’ president, Kim Seong-jun.

Since someone had uploaded it online, it spread everywhere, but there was no way to pinpoint who did it from within their group. They could report it to the police to track the source, but it wasn’t serious enough to warrant an official complaint.

The assistant director spoke up.

“Still, thanks to that video, our drama is getting a huge publicity boost. Even the company is expecting next week’s ratings to be high.”

The director unconsciously smiled.

“Heh. That’s true, isn’t it?”

“You’re happy, right?”

The director quickly put on a stern face again.

“But Detective Seo Jung-woo is going to think we leaked it on purpose! What are we going to do about that?!”

“His face wasn’t clearly shown, so if we just apologize, won’t he let it slide?”

Team Major Crimes 2’s gathering was held at a samgyeopsal restaurant near the police station.

Kwon Byeong-cheol poured some soju and said,

“This place is a bit old, but it’s cheap and the food is great.”

Baek Sung-min chimed in.

“They give us extra portions when we come. We caught the thief who robbed this restaurant, after all.”

Seo Jung-woo chewed on a piece of perfectly grilled, crispy pork belly and thought,

‘Samgyeopsal is the best, as expected.’

The meat was delicious, and the alcohol was good. Seo Jung-woo liked good food.

The restaurant was bustling, and the atmosphere of their gathering was just as normal as any other company dinner.

At least, it was until the door opened and someone new entered.

A customer at another table suddenly shot up from his seat.

“Whoa!”

Curious, the other customers turned toward the entrance—and gasped.

“Gasp!”

“I-Is that Lee Seon-hwa?”

“What is she doing in a place like this…?”

Team 2’s detectives were just as startled.

Lee Seon-hwa, beautifully made up, scanned the restaurant before smiling brightly at their table.

“Oh my!”

She gracefully walked over to Seo Jung-woo.

“Detective Seo, you’re here too? What an incredible coincidence.”