‘It’s only natural for them to be under a lot of stress.’

Given the high mortality rate in their profession, the stress from their work environment must be immense.

They never know when they’ll be dispatched.

They never know when or where someone might pull out a gun.

Living in a constant state of tension meant living with perpetual stress.

Seo-jun understood that well.

Back in the early days in the Demon Realm, every moment had been filled with tension.

Even when sleeping, he could never truly rest. Half of his senses had to remain awake.

Even when eating, he had to be mindful of potential ambushes, so he could never truly savor his food.

“Wow… this is seriously good. Boss! This is just a fried egg, right? You didn’t mix in some kind of addictive drug or something?”

Snapped out of his thoughts by Sergeant Park’s exaggerated reaction, Seo-jun refocused.

The man was still making a fuss.

“How can a fried egg taste this good…? It’s rich, slightly sweet, and a bit salty. It might not cover all five tastes, but it has at least three. Can a fried egg really taste like this?”

“I’m glad it suits your taste.”

It was more than just “suiting his taste.”

Sergeant Park had never eaten a fried egg this delicious in his entire life.

‘A fried egg like this would go perfectly with somaek.’

He had his own special recipe for a somaek bomb shot.

First, fill a glass 40% with soju. Then, pour in another 40% of beer, and top off the remaining 20% with soda.

This way, the strong alcohol flavor of the somaek remains intact, but the soda adds a sharper kick compared to regular somaek.

‘I have to come back and drink tonight, no matter what.’

While Sergeant Park was deeply moved to the point of planning his next drinking session, Kang Min-seok was simply staring at his fried egg.

“You can eat it comfortably.”

“Huh?”

“You’ve been staring at it for a while. Feel free to eat.”

“Ah… No, it’s just… I’m sorry, but I can’t eat fried eggs.”

Sergeant Park, who had been stuffing his mouth with his own, spoke up.

“Do you have an egg allergy or something?”

“No, it’s not that…”

“Then just try it. It’s really good.”

Saying that, Sergeant Park placed a fried egg on top of Kang Min-seok’s bowl of rice.

After hesitating for a moment, Kang Min-seok carefully picked it up with his chopsticks and placed it in his mouth.

“…It’s delicious. Really delicious.”

“Right?”

After letting out a deep sigh, Kang Min-seok hesitated before speaking again.

“Um… Officer.”

“Yeah?”

“Before we go to the station… could we stop by somewhere first?”

Sergeant Park looked troubled.

“Well, Min-seok, you know that’s against protocol…”

“I understand. I’m sorry.”

“No need to apologize… But where do you want to go?”

“…Where my son is.”

Flinch.

“Where is your son…?”

“Yongam Elementary.”

“Yongam Elementary? That place has been abandoned for years.”

Seven years ago.

A gate had opened at Yongam Elementary.

Zombies poured out from the gate, and the sudden outbreak left the teachers and students with no time to react. They were slaughtered in an instant.

The bereaved families couldn’t even recover their bodies. The government cited infection risks.

Instead, the bodies were incinerated together in the middle of the playground. Even the young children who had only just learned to read and write…

Recalling the Yongam Elementary Gate Incident, Sergeant Park flinched and bit his lower lip.

“I’m… sorry.”

“No, officer. You didn’t know when you asked. And honestly, I don’t feel much about it anymore.”

Kang Min-seok gave a bitter smile and continued.

“I can’t even remember my son’s face. As a father, I can’t even recall what he looked like. I should have taken more pictures…”

Sergeant Park remained silent for a while.

He finally spoke after a long pause.

“Right! Officer Go, come to think of it, we forgot to patrol the Yongam Elementary area today.”

“Oh! You’re right. We were in such a rush that it slipped my mind.”

“Let’s stop by real quick before heading back.”

“Yes, sir!”

Officer Go turned to Seo-jun.

“Boss, thanks for the meal.”

“No need to mention it. I’m just glad you enjoyed it.”

“I’ll be back tonight.”

“Alright, see you later. And…”

Seo-jun looked at Kang Min-seok.

“Min-seok, I’ll see you again too.”

“Huh? Ah… Yes. Thank you for the meal.”

“Alright, let’s get going before the captain starts yelling at us for being late.”

The three of them left the restaurant.

“This is troublesome.”

“What should we do?”

The three of them had arrived at Yongam Elementary. However, there was a problem—the school was completely sealed off.

If it was just closed off, it wouldn’t have been a big deal since the walls were low. But the real issue was the security alarm spell set around the perimeter.

“Looks like the government blocked access.”

“But a few months ago, there was no such restriction, right?”

“Maybe it’s because of that whistleblower from the Bureau?”

A government scandal had recently been exposed.

One of the revelations was about the Yongam Elementary Gate Incident.

It was revealed that while burning the bodies, some survivors had still been alive—begging for their lives—only to be burned along with the dead.

“Ah…”

“They probably blocked access to prevent reporters from digging into the story.”

“That’s just too much.”

“Yeah… It’s basically killing the dead all over again.”

Sergeant Park glanced at Kang Min-seok. The man was forcing a smile.

“It’s fine. I’m just glad I got to come here at all.”

“You haven’t been here before?”

“I never had the courage to visit the place where my son died.”

“…”

“But I appreciate your consideration. I’m ready to go to the station now.”

As Kang Min-seok turned back toward the patrol car with a bitter expression, Sergeant Park let out a sigh.

“This world is so… heartless. Just heartless.”

That night, Sergeant Park did not return as he had promised.

Instead, he came to the shop a week later.

Seo-jun was listening to the sound of the drizzling rain from the kitchen when he heard the door slide open with a creak.

“Sergeant Park.”

“I said I’d come last time, but I couldn’t make it. I just wasn’t in the mood for a drink.”

“Are you in the mood for one today?”

“Yes. Desperately… so desperately that I can’t stand it.”

“Please, have a seat wherever you’d like.”

Sergeant Park glanced around the shop. Perhaps because of the rain, there were no other customers besides himself.

“Since it’s raining, I made some kimchi pancakes. Would that be alright instead of kimchi stew?”

“Kimchi pancakes sound great.”

“What would you like to drink?”

“Normally, makgeolli would be the way to go… but today, I need somaek to loosen up.”

“Please wait just a moment.”

Seo-jun went into the kitchen, took out the leftover kimchi pancake batter from lunch, and started frying.

Soon, he brought out two perfectly cooked pancakes—crispy on the outside, moist on the inside—along with the drinks.

“This looks amazing.”

“Thank you.”

“If my wife, Deok-sun, were here, she would be so busy taking pictures that she wouldn’t even get to eat.”

“Deok-sun?”

“Ah! That’s my wife’s nickname. She’s loved rice cakes ever since we were dating—tteok, injeolmi, chapssaltteok, gyeongdan… especially gijeongtteok. But calling her Tteok-sun sounded weird, so I ended up calling her Deok-sun.”

Seo-jun smiled as he opened the soju bottle.

“By the way… do you run this place alone?”

“It was raining, and I didn’t expect many customers, so I sent my younger brother and nephew home early.”

Woof! Woof! Woof!

But I’m here?!

“That’s a cute dog. What breed is it?”

“It’s a Hell…”

Seo-jun instinctively started to answer but caught himself. He almost blurted out something crazy.

“Just… a mutt.”

“For a mutt, it looks pretty smart.”

Woof! Woof! WoWoof!

“I heard mutts tend to be healthier and more intelligent than other breeds.”

Woof! WoofWoof!

Mutt? How dare you?!

“Yeoksam, quiet.”

Whine…

“Wow, it actually understands words?”

“He’s pretty smart.”

“I’ve only seen dogs that understand human speech on TV. That’s amazing.”

Sergeant Park reached out to pet Yeoksam. The dog scratched its head with a hind leg as if bothered, then flopped onto the ground.

Seeing that, Sergeant Park let out a chuckle, and Seo-jun placed a piece of kimchi pancake on his plate.

“You should eat before it gets cold.”

“Ah! I almost forgot. Thanks for the meal.”

First, Sergeant Park prepared his somaek. Everyone has their own way of mixing it, and it varies depending on the situation.

Normally, he preferred a 7:3 beer-to-soju ratio, but today was a day he wanted to drink properly.

He mixed it 5:5 and downed it in one go.

“Ah!”

With a satisfied sigh, he took a bite of the kimchi pancake, and a smile crept onto his lips.

“This is delicious. Seriously delicious. The crispy edges are especially amazing.”

He stared at the pancake for a long time before finally taking another bite.

It was still delicious. It was delicious to the point of madness. So delicious it was almost unbearable.

And yet, there were people who couldn’t have something this good.

“Three years, they say.”

“Pardon?”

“That man, Kang Min-seok, who was with us last time.”

“Ah…”

A brief silence fell.

It wasn’t an uncomfortable silence.

Sergeant Park made another somaek and gulped it down.

“Did he get sentenced to three years for stealing three red bean buns? Or was it three years because he had no money? I really don’t know.”

“It’s just a sentencing recommendation, isn’t it? There’s still hope.”

“That’s unlikely. At best, he’ll still have to spend at least a year in prison. And he won’t get to eat anything this good there.”

“It’s been bothering you, hasn’t it?”

Sergeant Park made another somaek and gulped it down again.

“There are actually a lot of people like Kang Min-seok in this world. I can’t afford to worry about every single one of them. So rather than saying it bothers me…”

As if he had finally found the right words, he smirked.

“I guess you could call it a pathetic and insignificant sympathy. That’s all it is.”

A pathetic and insignificant sympathy…

There were plenty of people in the world who didn’t even have that much sympathy.

Which was why Seo-jun didn’t think Sergeant Park’s feelings were pathetic or insignificant at all.

As Sergeant Park raised his glass again, Seo-jun spoke.

“You don’t have to belittle yourself.”

“Belittle myself?”

“Because of your guilt over Kang Min-seok, you’re putting yourself down. You don’t have to.”

With a faint smile, Sergeant Park nodded and then suddenly said something unexpected.

“When I was a kid, a robber broke into our house. He threatened my family with a knife. But I couldn’t do anything. I just couldn’t move.”

“I understand.”

Anyone, even an athlete, would freeze up in terror if faced with a sharp weapon.

“But my father was different. He fought back against the thief who was trying to take away the college tuition he had worked so hard to save. And…”

Sergeant Park filled his beer glass with soju and drained it in one go.

“He was stabbed and died in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. Later, I found out they never even caught the criminal.”

People who are always cheerful often do so to mask their darkness.

Without even realizing their insides are rotting away.

To Sergeant Park, that incident must have been more than just trauma.

“I wanted to catch that bastard with my own hands. I wanted to ask him—why our house? Why my father? So I became a cop.”

“Did you ever catch him?”

“No. But I caught other criminals instead. That was the only thing I could do—to make sure no one else went through what I did. But lately…”

“…”

“I don’t know anymore. Am I really catching criminals, or just arresting people who have nothing? I really don’t know anymore.”