The detectives, their eyes bloodshot, moved around tirelessly. They checked all the nearby CCTV footage.

But they couldn't find Kim Jung-ho. Detective Baek Sung-min pressed his fingers firmly around his eyes.

“I’ve been staring at recorded CCTV footage for an hour. Feels like my eyes are going to pop out. I was hoping to start from any footage showing Detective Kim meeting someone last night, but…”

Beside him, Jo Min-seok was checking the registered assets of the Sagori gang members.

Baek Sung-min asked, “Found anything?”

“No. The other team already searched the houses of the Sagori gang guys. The boss owns a house, but they’ve gone through that too. Other than that, he has no real estate.”

“Damn it. If we don’t find Detective Kim soon…”

Suddenly, his phone rang. Baek Sung-min checked the caller ID and frowned.

“Jung-woo, that slippery bastard. I praised him a little, and now he’s completely disappeared. The senior detectives are busting their asses here, and he’s nowhere to be seen?”

He answered the call and immediately snapped, “Hey! Seo Jung-woo! Where the hell are you and what are you—”

– I found a warehouse registered under the Sagori gang boss’s mistress.

“Huh? A warehouse?”

Baek Sung-min shot up from his seat.

“A mistress’s warehouse! That’s a perfect place to hide a kidnapped person! Where are you?”

– Right in front of it.

“What? Where exactly?”

– This place is seriously suspicious. I need to go in and check.

“Hey! Jung-woo! Do you even know how many guys are inside? You can’t just go in alone! Wait for backup!”

– Huh? I hear screaming inside! This is urgent! I’m going in!

“You crazy bastard! I said wait!”

The call cut off.

Baek Sung-min shouted at his phone, “You insane idiot! At least tell us the address so we can—”

A message notification chimed. It contained location data from a map app. Seo Jung-woo had gotten the hang of using a smartphone.

“He sent the address!”

Baek Sung-min immediately called Team Leader Kwon Byeong-cheol.

“We found it! Yes! Jung-woo sent the warehouse address, but he heard screams inside!”

Kwon Byeong-cheol shouted urgently, – Everyone there, move out immediately! I’ll call for backup!

“Yes, sir!”

After forwarding the address to the entire detective team, Baek Sung-min checked his gun. A kidnapped detective was at stake—he wasn’t going in with just a baton.

“Min-seok, let’s go. Huh?”

Jo Min-seok was already running out the door.

“Hurry up! This isn’t the time to complain about Jung-woo slacking off!”

“Hey! Why don’t you mention that I also said he did a good job? I praised him twice, damn it!”

Seo Jung-woo ended the call and sent the location message.

The part about hearing screams from inside was a lie.

He had deliberately called first to explain how he found this place.

Before dying, the Sagori gang boss had mentioned that this warehouse was under a woman’s name.

“She might not even be his mistress. But if I was mistaken, I’ll just say so later.”

He focused on the presence inside the warehouse. He sensed two distinct murderous intents.

“Two guys who are fully aware that they’re going to kill the kidnapped people.”

There could be more, but at the very least, these two knew exactly what they were doing.

“They’re lucky. They’ll survive, at least.”

He checked the warehouse door. Without even trying, he could tell it was locked.

“The window’s the better option this time too.”

The Sagori gang was a new organization. They had only a handful of key members, while the rest were just local thugs.

Two of those key members were guarding this warehouse. Both were big guys.

A thug with a shaved head and colorful clothes yawned widely.

“Huuuh… Damn. It’s so boring just sitting here.”

He put on his leather gloves and stood up.

“Hey, hold that up for me. Gotta get some more practice in.”

“Yes, boss.”

The other thug lifted up Kim Jung-ho. His hands and feet were bound, his face swollen and bruised.

Kim Jung-ho spat, “You bastards! You think you can get away with killing a detective? You’ll all get the death penalty!”

The shaved thug laughed.

“If you’re dead, no one will know we did it. So what’s there to worry about—”

At that moment, the small window at the top of the warehouse shattered along with its frame. The sound of breaking glass and wood echoed.

When people hear a loud noise, their instinct is to look. The shaved thug’s head snapped toward the source.

“Huh? What the hell—”

Seo Jung-woo leaped through the now gaping hole. In the brief moment he was airborne, he scanned the room.

‘Two enemies. Four victims. One being held by an enemy.’

As soon as his feet touched the ground, he launched forward.

The shaved thug reflexively threw a punch.

Seo Jung-woo dodged to the side, grabbed the thug’s arm, twisted it outward, and kicked his leg.

The thug’s arm and leg snapped simultaneously.

“Guaaaagh!”

Seo Jung-woo pulled him downward and slammed him into the ground. His face smashed into the floor, shattering his teeth.

“Aaaaargh!”

Even after that, he remained conscious, his screams ringing out.

Seo Jung-woo kicked his face.

The thug’s head snapped to the side, and the screams stopped.

The thug holding Kim Jung-ho panicked, fumbling for his waist.

“Sh-Shit!”

He had no intention of fighting Seo Jung-woo head-on. His plan was to pull out a knife and use the detective as a hostage.

Seo Jung-woo nudged the unconscious thug’s waist with his foot. A sashimi knife slipped out.

He flicked it into the air with his foot and caught it.

The second thug finally drew his knife.

Seo Jung-woo hurled his knife. It spun like a thrown clothesline and embedded itself in the thug’s shoulder.

“Aaaagh!”

Seo Jung-woo dashed forward. Between him and the thug stood Kim Jung-ho, his legs barely steady.

Seo Jung-woo kicked off the ground, leaping over Kim Jung-ho.

Beyond him, the thug, twisted in pain, came into view.

Seo Jung-woo drove his foot into his face.

“Ghhhk!”

The thug flew backward.

Seo Jung-woo landed lightly and surveyed the area.

The two thugs were unconscious. No other threats in sight.

‘Mission complete.’

He turned to Kim Jung-ho and quipped, “Detective Kim, you’ve taken quite a beating. Your face looks like a steamed bun.”

Kim Jung-ho, his swollen eyes barely open, recognized him and chuckled.

“Heh… You’re the rookie from Team 2.”

“Did you look for me yesterday?”

“I did. I should have come to you sooner and asked for help.”

“I know, right.”

Even in this situation, Kim Jung-ho couldn’t suppress his curiosity and asked,

“How long did it take you to find me? Two hours again this time?”

“If you count from when I realized the situation, it was a bit shorter than that. More than an hour, though.”

“You’re seriously amazing, you bastard.”

Seo Jung-woo picked up the knife that the enemy had dropped and cut the ropes binding Kim Jung-ho’s body.

After enduring the pain and getting up, Kim Jung-ho held out his hand to Seo Jung-woo.

“Hey. Let me use the knife too.”

Seo Jung-woo knew what Kim Jung-ho was thinking. In that other world, blood vengeance was not uncommon.

But this was a different world.

“There are a lot of witnesses, you know?”

If there were no witnesses, he might have considered handing over the knife.

Kim Jung-ho took Seo Jung-woo’s words as a joke and came back to reality.

“Yeah. I should hold back. I have to keep being a cop until I send my kids to college.”

“You need to get your pension too. If you kill them now, you’ll lose that pension.”

“Kekeke. Yeah, I have to get that pension.”

Seo Jung-woo approached the other kidnapped victims.

“We’re the police. We’ve come to rescue you.”

There were two men and one woman among the victims.

“Sob… Thank you! Thank you so much!”

“Waaaah! Mom!”

Seo Jung-woo used his knife to cut the ropes that bound them as well.

Then he opened the warehouse door. Sunlight streamed in from outside, illuminating the interior.

Kim Jung-ho followed Seo Jung-woo outside the warehouse.

Seo Jung-woo asked,

“Detective Kim, how do you think the Sagori gang realized you were onto them?”

“The reason I suspected them was that the gang boss showed up once on CCTV footage tracking the victims’ movements. That’s nothing, right?”

“That really is nothing.”

“But I found out one more thing yesterday. That woman over there—our jurisdiction’s victim—she once applied for a clinical trial. And when I looked into it, the other victims had similar experiences. Different hospitals, different trial contents, but still.”

“Considering how things turned out, that must be connected.”

“Right?”

“Someone must have stolen the registered physical data from that time, tracked them down, and kidnapped them. It’s likely a medical professional is involved.”

Kim Jung-ho clenched his teeth.

“Yeah. Some bastard must’ve noticed that I was looking into those clinical trials. I’m going to catch that son of a… Ah, my teeth.”

“Before that, let’s get you to a hospital first.”

“Yeah, you’re right.”

Standing beside Seo Jung-woo, Kim Jung-ho looked up at the sky and spoke.

“The sky looks really nice.”

Seo Jung-woo also liked this sky. It didn’t have the distortions caused by the Gates.

“It’s not blue because of the fine dust, though. It’d be nicer if it were blue.”

“Even this gray sky… I really wanted to see it again.”

The two stood there, gazing up at the sky.

The kidnapped victims also approached them. Standing beside the police felt much safer than the dark warehouse.

They, too, looked up at the sky.

A young woman spoke.

“It’s really nice.”

From afar, the sound of police sirens began to echo. And it wasn’t just one.

Until the sound drew closer, everyone simply stood there, staring at the sky.

Moments later, with the screech of sudden braking, police cars arrived. Their doors swung open as officers rushed out.

The kidnapped victims were escorted to the hospital under police protection.

Kim Jung-ho, due to his severe injuries, was put into the first available 119 ambulance.

Not long after, the other team’s detectives arrived, having been briefed on the situation over the phone.

They approached Seo Jung-woo.

“Hey, Detective Seo. Seriously, thank you.”

“You really saved us. Wow, I thought this was going to be a disaster.”

One detective, half-jokingly, made a request.

“Detective Seo, if I ever get kidnapped, no matter what anyone says, you have to be the one to come find me. I’m asking in advance.”

No one here called him Officer Seo anymore.

The detectives laughed and joked to shake off their earlier worries. But then, another police car pulled up.

The police chief stepped out, shouting furiously.

“You bastards! How can you be laughing right now?”

The detectives immediately straightened up. The chief walked toward them, scolding them.

“You should be ashamed! A detective getting kidnapped by gangsters?”

But once he stood in front of them, his tone changed.

“Well, to be fair, no one can win against an ambush. Hey, do you guys want to start carrying guns regularly?”

Seo Jung-woo’s eyes sparkled.

‘A gun!’

He was a Hunter who had awakened shooting skills. The gun he usually used in the other world had armor-piercing rounds and a high-capacity magazine, but even this world’s six-shot police revolver was still a gun. Just having one would make fights much easier.

‘Should I bring over a similar gun from the other world and use it instead?’

As he was getting excited at the thought, the chief shook his head.

“Never mind. If there’s a shooting accident, I won’t be able to handle the consequences. I was just venting.”

Seo Jung-woo felt disappointed.

‘And here I got my hopes up.’

The chief looked at Seo Jung-woo and grinned.

“We’ve really got an amazing guy in our station. Detective Seo, thanks to you, Detective Kim is alive, the victims are safe, the investigations unit is safe, and I’m safe too.”

If a detective had been kidnapped and murdered, the police chief’s career would have taken a massive hit.

But not only was the case resolved, it had been done quickly.

Kim Jung-ho had been abducted last night, but the police had only been aware of his kidnapping for less than two hours.

This wasn’t a career-ending failure—it was a major success story. And the chief knew exactly how to capitalize on moments like this.

“Detective Seo, we’re going to gather the reporters and hold a briefing. You’re going to be on TV. Let’s go.”

As always, Seo Jung-woo made an excuse.

“If my face becomes too well-known, it’ll be hard to do undercover work.”

“Oh, come on. I’ve done investigations too, you know? Cut the crap and let’s go. If I don’t let you speak, the reporters will have my head. You’re going on TV today, no matter what.”

Baek Sung-min quickly stepped in.

“Chief, if you need people in the background, we’ll line up behind him.”

“If all of you come, who’s going to handle the reports?”

“Uh? Oh… right. I guess that’s my job.”