‘I am a superhuman who can turn back time.’

...is not something I can just say out loud.

Shin Haesu fell into deep thought.

Gu Se-ju already seemed to recognize that what he experienced was neither a dream nor an illusion, but having Haesu confirm it personally was a completely different matter.

No matter how kind-hearted Gu Se-ju might be, he was, at the end of the day, someone who dealt with money.

People change infinitely when faced with power and wealth. It takes but a moment for an angel to become a demon.

If he revealed his ability and Gu Se-ju believed him, there was no telling how this good-natured man might change—whether he would try to use it somehow. It could end up ruining him as well.

And the advantage? Nothing came to mind immediately. Even if there were some benefits, they would never outweigh the overwhelming risks.

No matter how he thought about it, this was a secret he had to take to the grave.

“You could be experiencing post-traumatic memory impairment. I recently dealt with a case where the victim went through a similar experience. When a person experiences a severe accident, the brain can sometimes create an extreme scenario.”

“…Ah, um…”

“You should feel better in a few days. As for my actions back then, I was simply on my way to check out the Reed Building when I saw a car driving against traffic. It looked dangerous, so I rushed in to help.”

Gu Se-ju stared into Haesu’s unwavering eyes before nodding firmly, as if making a decision.

“Understood. No matter what you say, one fact remains unchanged—Shin Haesu saved my life. I will dedicate my reborn life to you!”

“Please don’t. That’s a bit much.”

“Trust me. I will do my absolute best to make you wealthy!”

“Just eat your ramen. It’s all soggy now.”

“Yes, sir!”

Slurp, munch, munch

Both Haesu and Gu Se-ju noisily slurped up the bloated ramen, drinking down the broth.

That night.

As Haesu lay in bed, staring at the ceiling, he found himself lost in thought.

Gu Se-ju was particularly sharp and had an excellent memory, but there was no guarantee that something like this wouldn’t happen again. How should he deal with it in the future?

His reset only lasted an hour. In that hour, every second counted. He had to focus all his energy on saving lives and thinking quickly.

And yet, in the middle of that, he was supposed to act in a way that wouldn’t arouse suspicion about his ability?

‘That won’t work.’

Haesu blinked once. If he hesitated over something like this and lost a life because of it…

The guilt would be unbearable.

Even now, he had already failed to save two people after resetting. Every night, when he closed his eyes, the memories of those moments resurfaced. ‘Could I have saved them if I did this instead? What if I had done that?’ His mind ran through thousands of scenarios, leaving him with chronic insomnia.

The only thing that gave him some solace was the thought that he had done his absolute best. Without that, he would have collapsed long ago.

‘I will only think about saving lives.’

The next day.

Shin Haesu woke up at dawn, put on his running clothes, and jogged along the riverside trail.

Since it was his day off, he planned to run for a full two hours, but just as he was about to complete his goal, the stab wound on his side stung, forcing him to stop.

‘Annoying.’

Back in his early twenties, injuries healed quickly, but now that he was older, his recovery was noticeably slower. That was frustrating.

Blood had even started seeping through the wound. Holding his side, Haesu began making his way home.

Just then, his phone rang with a call from an unknown number.

“Sergeant Shin Haesu speaking.”

-“This is Ahn Seo-eun. Do you have a moment to talk?”

Her voice was calm and composed, clear and pleasant, reminiscent of a news anchor.

“Yes, I do.”

-“I’d like to meet and discuss something with you. When would be a convenient time?”

Why would a chaebol heiress want to meet a police officer? And not just any officer, but someone at the bottom of the ranks like him?

Haesu couldn’t think of any positive reasons.

However, recalling her actions in front of the hospital, he felt she wasn’t approaching him with ill intent.

“I’m free right now.”

From the other end of the call came a light, pleasant chuckle. She finally sounded a bit more human.

-“You’re quite straightforward. Where shall we meet?”

“Let’s meet here…”

A short while later, in front of Haesu’s home, at the convenience store.

A luxury foreign car, out of place in this neighborhood, was parked in front of the store.

At one of the outdoor tables, Shin Haesu and Ahn Seo-eun sat facing each other. On her chair was a neatly folded handkerchief, courtesy of her assistant, Kang. Kang himself stood anxiously behind her.

Haesu casually poked a straw into a banana milk and slid it across to her.

“Thank you. I should be the one treating you.”

“It’s a buy-two-get-one-free deal. No need.”

“…A buy-two-get-one… I see.”

Haesu handed another banana milk to Kang. Kang hesitated in confusion but finally accepted it after receiving a glance from Seo-eun.

Seo-eun briefly studied the straw, glanced at Haesu, then placed her red lips around it and took a sip of the banana milk.

Strangely, no lipstick mark was left on the straw.

“I’ve been thinking about why an executive like you would meet with a bottom-tier police officer like me. But I just can’t figure it out. What brings you here?”

“You’re quite direct. The man who was with me that day, Kim, used to be a team leader at Daeseong Guard. He was a fairly skilled bodyguard. But the way you effortlessly subdued the attacker that overwhelmed him…”

“It wasn’t effortless. That guy was unusually strong.”

Seo-eun gave a small smile and met Haesu’s gaze head-on. Her eyes sparkled like before.

“I want to hire you as my personal bodyguard. I’ll make sure the salary is more than satisfactory.”

A satisfactory salary. Since she was personally scouting him, it would likely be at least 100 million won.

Daeseong Group's headquarters is located in the dangerous city of Gangjin, making bodyguards essential, but finding reliable and skilled ones had proven difficult. Most were just thugs who had done a little training.

Haesu didn’t answer immediately and remained silent, sipping his banana milk.

Tak.

After downing the milk in one go and placing the empty carton on the table, Haesu finally spoke.

“Do you catch a lot of bad guys when you’re around Ahn Seo-eun?”

“Pardon?”

“I’m not a cop to make money. I’m a cop to catch bad guys. I don’t need money.”

“Ah… Am I being rejected?”

“Probably.”

She gave a faint smile. For someone whose offer had been turned down, her reaction was surprisingly refined.

“It can’t be helped. Pulling someone like Shin Haesu out of the police force would be a major loss to national security.”

She shrugged, then took a golden envelope from her handbag and slid it toward Haesu.

“This was originally meant to be a gift, so I’ll leave it here. I put a lot of thought into it, so I hope you like it.”

“This kind of thing…”

“It’s not money.”

Tilting his head in curiosity, Haesu opened it on the spot. It was a donation certificate—one billion won in his name, donated to an orphanage.

“Hmm…”

Seeing Haesu’s ambiguous expression, Ahn Seo-eun smiled.

“I debated a lot, but I think I at least half-succeeded. Well then, I’ll be going now. See you next time.”

“Next time… Sure. I’ll accept the gift. Take care.”

Rather than feeling dejected about the rejection, she actually seemed lighter, smiling more comfortably. Then, with graceful steps, she exited the convenience store.

For a brief moment, the convenience store had felt like a high-end restaurant.

‘They say third-generation chaebols grow up receiving lots of love, so they don’t have rough edges. I guess that’s true.’

Chaebols varied wildly, but aside from the crude nouveau riche types, Ahn Seo-eun was the first one Haesu had met. Her words and actions were enough to break any prejudices he had about them.

“Ah.”

Just before the car door closed, Haesu looked like he had something to say. Ahn Seo-eun quickly noticed and stopped Kang Manager from shutting the door.

“Also, I’d recommend taking that Manager Kim back. The opponent was just bad, but his response wasn’t. Even if I hadn’t been there, you wouldn’t have been seriously hurt, Ahn Seo-eun.”

“Hmm… I’ll consider it. Thank you for your advice. Well then.”

Haesu watched the car carrying Ahn Seo-eun for a moment before turning away and cleaning up the trash on the outdoor table.

On the drive back, Ahn Seo-eun glanced at the scene through the side mirror.

“He’s really a cop, isn’t he?”

“Yes. It would be great if there were more officers like Shin Haesu.”

Kang Manager was still stunned by the fact that Haesu had handed him a banana milk. In a good way.

“Manager, I thought you didn’t like Shin Haesu?”

Kang Manager flinched and denied it strongly.

“Me? No way! If you hate the police, you’ll get punished.”

Ahn Seo-eun covered her mouth and let out a small laugh, then looked out the window.

‘He really is a cop…’

“I’m telling you, I’m paying! Just take the card! Do you need cash?!”

“You don’t need to pay, so just sit down. And take your card too—wait, what is this, Yu-Gi-Oh?”

“No, that lady hit on me first!”

“How do I look like a lady to you, old man?!”

Shin Haesu was back to his daily routine. The police substation still reeked of alcohol.

Haesu and Officer Lim sat a drunken woman down on a chair in the substation and took a breather.

“Ugh, there’s a lot of reports of drunk disturbances today.”

“Alcohol is the enemy.”

-This is Unit 101. We have a report of a drunk disturbance in Yongsu-dong.

“Sigh, responding immediately.”

Just as they arrived, another call about a drunken disturbance came in. Haesu answered via radio and moved out immediately.

Following the GPS location sent from headquarters, they drove down a narrow two-lane street. The road was unusually congested, even though there was no traffic light nearby.

“What is this? Looks like an accident.”

A few cars were entangled in the middle, completely blocking both lanes. An ambulance and a taxi were among them.

A middle-aged man, presumably the taxi driver, was yelling and pointing fingers at the ambulance driver.

“That was an accident! You crossed the centerline! Where do you think you’re running off to?!”

“We have an emergency patient. Please let us through. We’ll talk after.”

“Emergency patient? Yeah, right! If the patient dies, you’ll take responsibility? Call 119 and send them! Do you think I don’t know about private ambulances? I know everything! You don’t have a paramedic in there, do you? That’s why you’re in such a rush!”

“We do. Please step aside.”

“Oh yeah? Let me check, you scammers.”

Just listening for a moment was enough to grasp the situation. Not that it required much analysis—if there was an ambulance and a patient, priorities were obvious.

Haesu swerved into the opposite lane, passing the stopped cars.

“Officer Lim, hold on tight.”

“Huh? Uh, okay!”

Bwooaaang! Kwang!

Haesu’s patrol car rammed into the taxi without hesitation. The taxi driver, who had been standing outside, fell back in shock.

Crash!

One more time for good measure. Finally, the taxi was pushed completely off the road.

“W-What the hell are you doing, you crazy cop?!”

Ignoring the taxi driver’s screaming, Haesu put the car in reverse and spoke to the ambulance driver.

“Go ahead.”

“Ah… Yes! Thank you!”

As the ambulance driver got back into the vehicle, the taxi driver clenched his teeth and tried to follow.

“Hey! Where do you think you’re—ugh!”

Haesu stepped out of the patrol car, grabbed the taxi driver by the collar, and dragged him to the side. He didn’t care about dashboard cameras or people recording with their phones.

“Sir, let’s have a talk.”