The 24-hour serial killer, Jo Dong-sik, sat in a chair with handcuffs on. He lifted his head slightly at the sound of the door opening, then suddenly stood up when he saw Seo Jung-woo.

“You crazy bastard!”

Despite having a cast on one leg, Jo Dong-sik forced himself up on one foot, filled with rage.

Seo Jung-woo closed the door and said,

“Sit down.”

“You son of a bitch! You murderer! I’m going to sue you!”

Seo Jung-woo kicked the chair aside, leapt over the desk, and pressed down hard on Jo Dong-sik’s shoulder with his hand.

Jo Dong-sik collapsed into the chair as if he had been pinned down.

“Ugh!”

“Are your ears blocked? I said sit.”

Jo Dong-sik twisted his body in pain as if his shoulder was about to shatter and pleaded,

“O-okay, okay… I’ll sit… Just let go of my shoulder…”

Seo Jung-woo released his grip.

Jo Dong-sik’s spirit was somewhat crushed. He muttered under his breath,

“Damn it. Thought my shoulder was gonna break.”

The detectives watching from the monitor outside were stunned.

Baek Sung-min asked with a shocked expression,

“Why the hell is Jung-woo so damn crazy?”

Jo Min-seok was also restless.

“Ah, if he keeps this up, he’ll get disciplined. Even rookie cops know they can’t do that.”

“Does he look like a normal rookie to you?”

Seo Jung-woo spoke to Jo Dong-sik.

“Hey. We need solid evidence that you’re the serial killer, but we haven’t found it yet. Hand it over.”

Jo Dong-sik massaged his shoulder and sneered.

“You haven’t found evidence? Haha. And you’re telling me that? What kind of idiot are you?”

Baek Sung-min covered his face with his hands.

“Ugh! Why the hell would you tell the suspect that? What is wrong with him?!”

Jo Min-seok asked,

“Should we go in and stop him?”

“Do you even need to ask?!”

Baek Sung-min grabbed the interrogation room door. It wouldn’t open.

“Huh?”

Just moments ago, Seo Jung-woo had kicked the chair aside and jumped over the desk. But he hadn’t kicked the chair randomly. He had deliberately angled it so that the backrest wedged against the inside door handle.

Baek Sung-min pushed the door again. It wouldn’t budge because of the chair inside.

“Why the hell is the chair stuck?!”

He shouted while pushing hard on the door,

“Min-seok! Help me push this!”

Ignoring the rattling door, Seo Jung-woo continued speaking to the serial killer, Jo Dong-sik.

“Give me solid evidence.”

“Evidence? Hahaha. You crazy bastard. Try and find it yourself.”

“Oh? So you don’t want to hand it over?”

“Of course not, you piece of shit.”

Seo Jung-woo slowly stepped toward Jo Dong-sik.

Jo Dong-sik flinched.

Seo Jung-woo spoke softly,

“Then you should be released. I really hope you get out. Honestly.”

“What?”

“I don’t like wasting time either. No, actually, with the current charges of kidnapping and attempted murder, you’ll be in prison for a few years. But I’ll sneak you out today. Let you escape.”

“W-what the hell are you saying?!”

Seo Jung-woo’s voice grew even quieter.

“If you’re out there, it’ll be easier for me to kill you.”

Jo Dong-sik’s face gradually turned pale.

“I-I don’t want to run!”

“Doesn’t matter what you want. Just think of it this way—you’ll be out by tonight.”

Seo Jung-woo locked eyes with him.

“24 hours. That’s how long you’ll have to breathe before you die. Forget about a painless death. I’ll make sure you feel every second of it.”

Jo Dong-sik’s heart pounded. A chill ran down his spine. He saw the eyes of a predator.

Even if he didn’t understand anything else, he knew one thing for sure.

‘Those are the eyes of someone who has actually killed before.’

He remembered when he was caught by Seo Jung-woo. Detectives don’t throw criminals off a fourth-floor rooftop. No, even an average person wouldn’t do something like that.

‘If I walk out of here, this crazy bastard will really kill me.’

He had left no evidence in his previous crimes, yet Seo Jung-woo had found him within just 20 minutes of arriving at the scene.

‘I can’t escape from this guy.’

Even as he spoke about killing him with a grin, it didn’t sound like a joke.

‘This lunatic is serious! He’ll hunt me down and kill me for real!’

The fear of death that he had felt when he was thrown off the rooftop returned. His face turned white, and his body trembled uncontrollably.

The chair wedging the door suddenly bent and snapped backward. The door burst open. Baek Sung-min and Jo Min-seok, who had been pushing against it, stumbled forward.

Baek Sung-min yelled at Seo Jung-woo,

“Hey! Get out!”

Just then, Team Leader Kwon Byeong-cheol returned from the chief’s office and asked,

“What’s going on? Why’s the atmosphere so tense?”

Baek Sung-min was about to explain what Seo Jung-woo had done, but then sighed deeply and gave up.

“Eh. It’s nothing.”

“Did Jung-woo make a mistake? Don’t be too hard on him.”

“Hard on him? Who, Jung-woo?”

“He’s only been here a day, considering he took leave yesterday. A few mistakes are understandable.”

“You call that a mistake?”

“Why are you being so rebellious?”

“It’s nothing.”

Kwon Byeong-cheol entered the interrogation room and resumed questioning.

“Hey, Jo Dong-sik. No matter how much you deny it, we’ll find everything once we dig into your surroundings. Looks like your family’s got some money. Planning to hire an expensive law firm to reduce this to just a kidnapping charge? I won’t let that happen—”

Jo Dong-sik suddenly shouted,

“I did it!”

“Huh?”

“I’m the killer! I want to be arrested—no, I want a life sentence!”

“What?”

“I’ll give you all the evidence! I’ll confess everything! I genuinely regret what I did! Just send me to prison right now!”

Kwon Byeong-cheol was taken aback.

‘Is he insane? Or is he faking it to get sent to a mental hospital?’

Despite his suspicion, securing evidence was the priority.

“Huh? O-okay. Then let’s start with the murder weapon. Where did you hide it?”

Jo Min-seok asked,

“What the hell is wrong with him?”

Baek Sung-min was also baffled.

“Exactly. Yesterday, he kept claiming it was just a copycat kidnapping, but now he’s suddenly confessing?”

“The only thing that changed was Jung-woo stepping in for a moment…”

The two of them slowly turned to look at Seo Jung-woo.

Baek Sung-min asked,

“Jung-woo. What exactly did you say to that bastard?”

“You heard it.”

“All I heard was you asking for evidence because you couldn’t find any. But why would a serial killer hand it over just because you asked? That makes no sense. Yet, here he is, handing it over.”

“Maybe he’s remorseful.”

“A serial killer feeling remorse? That bastard sent victim photos to their families just to watch their reactions with a telephoto lens. A psychopath like him never regrets anything.”

“Then maybe he has regrets.”

“If he regrets anything, it’s getting caught, not what he did!”

Jo Min-seok asked,

“Jung-woo, what did you whisper to him earlier? His reaction changed completely after that. What did you say?”

"They say confessing brings salvation"

Baek Sung-min burst out.

“What kind of old-school spy report line is that? And that actually worked?”

“It worked quite well.”

Baek Sung-min was about to lose his mind, but the case was moving forward smoothly. Jo Dong-sik confessed in detail about the tools he used, where he hid other evidence, and even the process of his past crimes.

Watching from the monitor, Baek Sung-min muttered,

“That bastard should just be executed.”

Seo Jung-woo paused.

‘Huh? What did I just hear?’

In the other world, murderers like him were executed without question. They knew it too, which is why they resisted so fiercely.

In a world where carrying a gun was the norm, police shot to kill the moment a suspect resisted. Over there, Jo Dong-sik was discovered by a hunter with a detection skill, resisted, and was shot dead on the spot.

Seo Jung-woo asked,

“He’s a serial killer, and he won’t be executed?”

“The court might sentence him to death, but they never actually carry out the executions. Not even once in the 21st century.”

Seo Jung-woo suddenly understood why Jo Dong-sik confessed so easily.

‘So he just wants to live, even if it’s in prison!’

When he told Jo Dong-sik that he’d kill him within 24 hours if he ever got out, he meant it. It wasn’t just a threat to force a confession.

The part about releasing him now was a lie, but if he ever got out a few years later, he had planned to put two bullets in his body and one in his head.

But now he realized—executions didn’t happen in this world.

‘There’s a lot different here. I need to learn more about how things work in this world.’

Team Leader Kwon Byeong-cheol walked out of the interrogation room, his face bright as a full moon. On the monitor, Jo Dong-sik looked utterly broken.

“Wow. What the hell happened to that guy? He’s spilling everything.”

Cho Min-seok replied,

“Jung-woo told him that confessing brings salvation. Apparently, that made him reflect on his actions.”

“Huh? What kind of nonsense is that?”

Baek Sung-min chimed in,

“I thought it was ridiculous too. Jung-woo, you must’ve threatened him somehow…”

“Really? Jung-woo! Good job! Who cares what you said as long as we got the confession? It’s not like we waterboarded him or anything. Uh… we didn’t, right?”

Seo Jung-woo replied,

“Nope.”

He preferred shooting over torture.

Kwon Byeong-cheol chuckled.

“Hehehe. We did all the important work, so we can just hand that bastard over to the department that’s been begging for him. Let them do the cleanup. Since we nailed this case, we’re having a company dinner tonight!”

Baek Sung-min asked,

“Are we eating something good today?”

“I’ll go see the chief and get an envelope. Kekeke. Let’s have some premium Korean beef ribeye.”

“Oooooh!”

Seo Jung-woo swallowed hard.

‘Not just any beef, but Korean beef ribeye? I’ve heard it melts in your mouth.’

He made up his mind.

‘I am not missing this dinner.’

For lunch, they had pork bone soup at a nearby restaurant.

Seo Jung-woo was moved by the taste.

‘Pork? And they eat this as a regular lunch?’

In the other world, pork was expensive. Whether it was beef or pork, livestock meat was costly. The only affordable option for most people was monster meat, which tasted awful.

Detective Cho Min-seok looked at Jung-woo, who was stripping the meat off the bones.

“Uh… Jung-woo. You’re not supposed to eat the bones.”

Seo Jung-woo meticulously picked every last bit of meat off the bone and even sucked on it.

“It’d be a waste to leave any meat behind.”

“You even had two bowls of rice…”

“It was delicious.”

“Huh. You’re skinny, but you sure eat a lot.”

Seo Jung-woo finished his meal with a cup of coffee.

“Ah, this coffee is so sweet and tasty.”

His smartphone chimed.

In this world, smartphones could receive emails with attachments.

“Man, this is amazing. You can check emails with a tiny phone like this.”

He had set up an email account yesterday when he got the phone and had given the address to Seo Sora.

Holding his paper cup in his mouth, he opened the email. He had also spent time learning how to use a smartphone properly.

“Hmm?”

The email was from ES Entertainment’s president, Oh Dong-cheol.

The content was simple.

“They already started practicing the song after getting it yesterday? Oh, it’s not a full practice, just a casual run-through.”

There were five MP3 attachments. They contained recordings of Seo Sora, Yoon Nana, and two other trainees singing If We Could Meet Again in different styles.

“So they want my feedback on how they should sing it?”

He put on his earphones and listened to snippets of each recording.

“Hmm…”

In the other world, music was a crucial part of pop culture. His musical knowledge was above average there, so he could judge how well someone sang.

Suddenly, his phone rang. It was Seo Sora.

Detective Cho Min-seok, who was walking ahead, turned around.

“Aren’t you coming?”

Seo Jung-woo picked up the call.

“I’ll take this call from my sister and catch up.”

It was still lunchtime, after all.

“Alright.”

Seo Jung-woo walked in a different direction as he answered.

“What’s up?”

– You got the email from the president, right? The one with our recordings?

“Yeah, I just got it and started listening.”

– We worked really hard on those, so don’t nitpick too much!

“Sora.”

– What!

“I haven’t signed the contract for the song yet.”

There was a brief silence before Seo Sora’s tone changed to that of a historical drama character.

– My lord! This humble girl has committed a grave sin!

“Do well.”

– Yes, sir!

Seo Jung-woo knew how to judge music.

“Your voices are good.”

Even compared to the original singers in the other world, their vocals weren’t lacking. But that was all.

“You guys aren’t delivering the song properly.”

– Seriously? How bad is it?

“A lot. This isn’t how you sing this song.”

– Damn it. That’s bad. Then can you give us some pointers? Tell us what to fix.”

Seo Jung-woo could identify the problems but had no experience in coaching.

‘I didn’t even write this song.’

It was composed by Hunter Park Cheol-woo in the other world.

But there was a way. He checked the time—his dimension travel skill was off cooldown.

‘I’ll go to the other world and find Cheol-woo first.’

“I’ll organize my thoughts and email you soon.”

– Okay!