A video was uploaded to the newly created "Justice Cafe" after the disbandment of the Fighting Match Cafe.

[Video of Fighting Match Cafe bullies getting schooled by a police officer]

The video showed Haesu, with only his face blurred, tying up the men and giving them orders without throwing a single punch.

The video quickly spread from the cafe to well-known online communities.

┗ Isn't that Detective Shin? That physique is unmistakable.

┗ The one and only detective recognizable by his physical build.

┗ Yeah, it's him. I compared it to other news photos.

┗ The post is gone now, but I saw them recruiting party members at the Fighting Match Cafe, saying they were going to take down Detective Shin. Serves them right. LOL.

┗ Seriously, where did they leave their common sense? Win or lose, why would you pick a fight with a cop?

┗ The way Detective Shin handled it without getting hit or throwing a punch—legendary.

┗ Right? And those guys avoided jail time too. He’s practically a saint.

┗ They probably don’t even realize that. Guys like that should just be executed.

┗ These days, it’s always "execute this, execute that." So annoying.

┗ Execute the person saying "execute."

┗ Detective Shin—where does his limit lie?

┗ I applied to the police because of him. Sir, I’ll follow you soon.

┗ Yeah, sure. Next armchair warrior.

┗ If all police officers were like him, Korea would be safer.

A few days later, Shin Haesu and Haru were on the 10th floor of the Reed Building.

The door had been upgraded to open with an iris and fingerprint scan, or through phone verification.

The apartment had large windows and glass walls in certain areas, making it bright and open, while also being secure and well-fortified.

Haru looked around the house with an excited expression.

“It’s so spacious.”

“I know.”

It was a rooftop-style penthouse, separate from the rest of the building, but covering over 100 pyeong (approximately 3,600 square feet)—about half the building’s floor area.

The living room was especially large, but the moving boxes from their old one-room apartment, stacked in the middle of the room, looked pitiful by comparison.

Haru was scurrying around, busy looking at every corner.

“There are six rooms, big and small.”

“That’s a lot.”

“There’s also an outdoor veranda. It’s set up like a small garden, and there’s an artificial pond too.”

“Your Korean has really improved.”

“There’s even an outdoor bath. How are you supposed to bathe out here?”

“Nice.”

Haru blushed. She was trying to act calm, but it was obvious she was thrilled to have moved from a cramped one-room to such a spacious and luxurious place.

If he had known she would be this happy, he would have moved sooner.

Haesu ordered jjajangmyeon and tangsuyuk. He spread out some newspaper in the empty living room, flipped over a moving box, and set the dishes down. They sat facing each other as they ate.

Slurp, slurp

Haru took a bite of the jjajangmyeon and widened her eyes in surprise.

Come to think of it, he had never eaten jjajangmyeon with Haru before. He ate it often at the station, so he had never bothered ordering it.

“This is really, really good!”

With jjajang sauce smeared around her mouth, Haru gave a big thumbs-up. She was usually reserved about most things, but when it came to food, she expressed herself without hesitation.

Haesu thought he should get her to try tteokbokki next.

That night, Haesu and Haru went down to the first floor to check out the building and stopped by the convenience store.

“This place has twice as many snacks.”

“Yeah, pick some out.”

Ding

Just then, the doorbell chimed, and three children walked in.

A middle school-aged girl and two elementary school-aged boys.

It was almost 11 p.m.—an odd time for that kind of group to be wandering around.

The boys grinned as they headed toward the snack aisle and carefully deliberated for a while.

Haru, who had been enthusiastically browsing snacks, took a step back when they approached.

After more than five minutes of careful decision-making, each of the boys picked out one snack, while the girl picked out a bottle of dish soap.

The girl glanced at the larger snack the younger brother had chosen and frowned slightly.

“How much is this?”

Beep

“Three thousand won.”

“Thank you.”

The girl handed the snack back to her younger brother.

“Pick something else.”

“But I want this one…”

“Did you promise or not?”

“Fine!”

Pouting, the younger brother stomped his feet and picked a smaller snack instead.

At the counter, the cashier handed the girl a packed meal and a triangle kimbap.

They were expiring soon—past midnight, they’d have to be thrown away.

“Here.”

“Thank you. Say thank you.”

“Thank you~ Yay, bulgogi lunchbox!”

Haesu and Haru quietly observed the scene. The kids left the convenience store and headed toward the building’s exit. As expected, they didn’t live in the building.

Residential floors started from the 7th floor to the 10th floor. Aside from the 10th floor, there were four units per floor, each over 40 pyeong (about 1,400 square feet).

Access to the residential floors was limited to the resident-only elevator, which meant the apartments were quite expensive.

If the kids didn’t live there, why did they keep coming to this convenience store? Was it just for the free meals?

The next day, Haesu left the house at the same time as before. Haru immediately stood up to follow him.

“Where are you going?”

“Convenience store.”

“I want to come too.”

It seemed Haru had been curious about them too. Despite her brutal combat skills, her heart was soft in some ways.

But that day, the kids didn’t come. He figured it must have been a coincidence yesterday—until they showed up again the next day.

It turned out they were coming every other day. Sometimes, the girl came alone without her younger brothers.

The convenience store clerk looked suspiciously at Haesu and Haru, who had shown up at the same time several times and were awkwardly loitering around.

“Excuse me. Who exactly are you two?”

Haru, flustered, pretended not to hear and focused on picking out stockings. Haesu, realizing how suspicious they must have looked, took out his ID.

“I’m a police officer. I also live in this building.”

“Ah… Why is a police officer here? Did those kids do something wrong?”

“No. Do you know those kids well?”

“Not really… I’ve never tried to ask them anything on purpose.”

It was out of concern for the kids' feelings. Haesu could sense the small kindness behind the clerk’s cautious approach.

“Can you tell me anything you do know?”

“Uh… It seems like they’re living without their parents? And the lunchboxes and stuff—they’re given to them because the owner told us to. Other than that, I don’t really know much.”

“I see…”

As soon as Haesu left the convenience store, he called Gu Se-ju.

“Yes, President Shin? You’ve moved in, right? Congratulations. But when’s the housewarming party?”

“Forget the housewarming. Is the convenience store on the first floor of the Reed Building under lease?”

“Hmm… Yeah, like you said when you bought the building, we lowered the rent by 10%, so it’s 900,000 won.”

“Cut the rent in half.”

“Excuse me? All of a sudden?”

“They seem to be doing some good there.”

“Ah, I see. Got it.”

Haru watched Haesu’s back with a satisfied expression and nodded approvingly.

The next day, as soon as Haesu arrived at work, the team leader welcomed him with open arms.

“Our Shin-star! Thanks to Shin-star, Gangjin Station is on fire!”

“Seriously, we’re even getting calls here. Someone said they’re a fan of Detective Shin and asked if they could meet you. I told them they’d have to commit a crime to meet you.”

“Hey, hey, you’re going to cause trouble for real. Just tell them to come by. It’s fine, right?”

Haesu nodded as he sat down at his desk.

“Yeah, sure.”

The team leader leaned over the partition of Haesu’s desk with a sly grin.

“Our Shin-dol is getting so famous online that the police academy even invited you to be a special instructor.”

At the mention of "special instructor," the youngest detective shot up from his seat and gave double thumbs-ups.

“As expected from you, senior! So cool!”

Haesu waved him down and turned to the team leader.

“What exactly is a special instructor?”

“Sometimes they call in elite detectives with a lot of field experience to give lectures for about two weeks or a month. You’d share stories from the field and teach some actual takedown techniques.”

“I see. Do I have to go?”

“You can decline, but I think you should go. I applied to become a detective after attending a special instructor’s lecture at the police academy. If we get more detective applicants, our workload will get lighter.”

“Hmm… That makes sense.”

“Think about it. You’ve got a month to decide.”

“Okay.”

While working, Haesu suddenly remembered the kids from the convenience store. He turned to Oh Kang-seok and asked:

“Do you know how much support young heads of households get?”

“Not really? Probably the basic living allowance and some extra from local government support. Why?”

“It’s nothing.”

Haesu immediately looked up the basic living allowance amounts.

“Three kids—1.1 million won…”

The city of Gangjin provided an additional 300,000 won. That totaled around 1.4 million won. It wasn’t a large sum, but it wasn’t completely insufficient either.

It was suspicious. Were the kids somehow being left out of the system and not getting the full amount?

Just then, the team leader’s voice rang out.

“Talking about young heads of households reminds me—our country’s welfare for them is seriously lacking compared to our economic level. Do you know why?”

Oh Kang-seok furrowed his brows as if he already knew the answer.

“Voting rights?”

“Exactly. Helping young heads of households doesn’t translate to more votes, so politicians would rather promise support for the elderly instead.”

“That’s… depressing.”

Haesu thought he needed to look into the kids’ situation more closely.

Late at night, in front of the Reed Building.

Three guys, probably high schoolers, with bleached yellow hair were leaning against motorcycles.

At 11 p.m., a middle school girl in a school uniform appeared.

“Is that her?”

“She’s got a pretty decent body.”

The guy with a nose piercing and yellow hair licked his upper lip as he approached the girl.

“Hey.”

The girl froze and glanced around. Unfortunately, no one was nearby. She lowered her gaze and took a small step back.

“Want to hang out with us for a bit? We’ll give you some spending money.”

“I-I'm okay.”

The girl answered in a barely audible voice and tried to walk past them. The guy grabbed her wrist.

“Hey, hey, what’s the problem? We’re just asking to hang out for a bit.”

The girl’s wrist hurt, but she couldn’t pull away.

Just then, the streetlight above them dimmed as a shadow fell over them, and a deep voice cut through the air.

“How about you hang out with me instead?”

Swoosh

A massive figure, nearly two heads taller than the girl, stepped into the light. Haesu stood there with an expression sharp enough to make gangsters cower.

The pierced guy flinched and immediately let go of the girl’s wrist.

“W-Who are you?”

“Me? I’m her uncle. Got a problem with that?”

“N-No, it’s fine. Let’s go.”

The pierced guy quickly turned around and started walking away—until Haesu moved in behind him.

“Hey, hey. You’re not leaving yet. We’ve got business to take care of. Line up against the wall.”

“W-Who the hell are you?”

“Me? Like I said, I’m her uncle. And also a cop. I’ve got a duty to guide delinquent kids like you at night. Now line up properly. Hands out of your pockets.”

“Ah… seriously…”

Their eyes were full of rebellion, and their postures were defiant, but whenever their eyes met Haesu’s, they would look away and correct their stances. They seemed like teenagers with decent anger management skills.

Haesu took down their names, phone numbers, and addresses before sending them off.

When he turned around, the girl was still standing there, flinching slightly. Even though he had helped her, it was natural for her to be wary.

“Hi, I’m a police officer. I live here.”

Haesu showed his police badge to reassure her.

Since she was wearing a school uniform, he was able to read her name tag.

‘Kim Ji-an.’

Ji-an gave a small nod.

“I’ve seen you a few times… with that pretty older sister.”

“Ah, really.”

Ji-an bowed deeply.

“Thank you.”

When Haesu nodded in response, Ji-an turned without another word and headed toward the convenience store. Inside, Haru was loitering awkwardly. It was obvious even at a glance.

“What are you doing here?”

“Ah, yes, I was waiting for the landlord.”

“I see. At the convenience store?”

As Ji-an received her lunchbox and left the store, Haesu and Haru followed her.

“If you have some time, would you mind talking with me for a bit?”

“…Okay.”

Perhaps because of what had happened earlier, Ji-an didn’t seem particularly guarded.

Haesu, Haru, and Ji-an sat down in a small rest area located in the corner of the building lobby.

“You used to come with your younger siblings before.”

“I come alone when my siblings are asleep.”

“I see. How old are you?”

“I’m fourteen. My younger sibling is ten, and the youngest is seven. We used to live with our grandmother, but she passed away two years ago.”

Ji-an answered smoothly, as if she had been asked this many times before.

Haesu’s brows furrowed slightly. Two years ago—when the youngest was five and needed constant care.

It was a painful situation, but her calm tone only made it more heartbreaking.

“Where do you live? Is the rent expensive?”

“Across the street. My aunt pays the rent, so I don’t know how much it is. She also gives us an allowance.”

A filthy, ugly feeling flashed through Haesu’s mind. Before he could ask anything else, Ji-an stood up.

“I need to go before my siblings wake up. Goodbye.”

“Ah, okay.”

Haesu couldn’t stop her. The deep sadness and exhaustion hidden beneath her composed exterior were palpable.

Haru silently watched Ji-an’s retreating figure for a long time, her expression unreadable.

The next day, Haesu searched for Kim Ji-an in the police database.

Her aunt was listed as her legal guardian, and all the children were registered as living with the aunt.

However, the aunt’s registered address wasn’t in Goam-dong, where the Reed Building was located—it was in Yongsu-dong.

After work, Haesu immediately headed to Ji-an’s aunt’s house.

The place was attached to a large gamjatang (pork bone stew) restaurant, with a rather nice detached house in the back.

Something smelled fishy. Just as Haesu was about to step toward the restaurant, he spotted Ji-an approaching from the distance and quickly hid.

‘Does she live here?’

If the address she had mentioned earlier was a lie and this was where she actually lived, there would be no issue.

Ji-an stood still in front of the gamjatang restaurant for a few minutes before opening the door and stepping inside.

Creak

Not long after she went in, Ji-an was dragged back outside by a woman. Even at a glance, the woman’s grip on Ji-an’s slender arm was rough and tight.

The woman threw Ji-an into the yard and shouted fiercely:

“Didn’t I tell you not to come here? How many times do I have to say it for you to get it through your head?!”

Ji-an rubbed her arm and spoke softly.

“But… Ji-won’s hospital bill still…”

“I said I’d give it to you! Can’t you wait? And who told you to go to the hospital for something like that? Bones heal on their own if you just leave them alone! Why waste money on a hospital?”

“But… Ji-won keeps saying it hurts…”

“So now you’re talking back to me?”

“I’m sorry.”

At that moment, the restaurant door banged open, and a man stepped outside. His sharp, piercing eyes and rough demeanor screamed temperamental.

Ji-an froze the moment he appeared. She visibly tensed and even took a step back in fear.

The man strode over and, without any hesitation, raised his hand and slapped Ji-an across the face.

Smack!

Ji-an’s frail body collapsed from the force of the slap.

“Didn’t I tell you not to come near this place? Looks like you haven’t been beaten enough yet.”

“Honey, honey, people can see. Stop it.”

“Shut up. If I catch you coming here again, I’ll sell you off to China, you hear me?!”

Ji-an lowered her head and said nothing. The aunt tossed five 50,000-won bills at her.

“You’re like a money-sucking ghost. Aren’t you ashamed of yourself? Try saving some for once!”

After the aunt went back inside, Ji-an stayed crouched on the ground for a long time before quietly picking up the money and standing up.

Haesu silently watched her desolate figure.

Once she had moved far enough away, he stepped toward the gamjatang restaurant and walked inside.