Bang!

A man’s body flew into the air. It was definitely a person. A person had approached and collided, so why did it feel like a traffic accident had occurred?

He spun once midair and smashed his face into the ground.

Thud! Thump! Thump! Thump!!

With Haesu in the lead, Oh Gaeng and the rookie charged forward, quite literally “charging” through the enemy lines with their shoulders.

The men who faced them head-on were flung in all directions, and the trio burst out the other side of the enemy ranks in an instant.

The team leader frowned at the sight.

“H-Hey, you can’t just leave me behind and go—”

Crack—!

The team leader struck a man charging at him in the side with a baton, tripped him with a leg sweep, twisted his arm behind him, and slapped on the cuffs.

“Ugh, what kind of assault team only knows how to assault...”

Wham! Whack! Crunch! Crack!

“Gyaaa!!”

“Ughk!”

Shin Haesu especially liked it when gang fights involved weapons.

Since they were fighting among themselves, it was less dangerous, and he could go all out in subduing them without holding back.

Tap.

As Haesu grabbed one man’s arm, the man quickly dropped his hammer and raised both hands.

“W-Wait a se—”

Crack—

“Gyaaa!! I said wait—ughghk...”p>

Haesu threw him into a corner and said,

“That’s what you get for fighting.”

He wished he could show this to the trainees—grabbing and snapping elbows, ankles, whatever was within reach. Real-life subjugation techniques from the field would be very educational.

Meanwhile, from another direction, police officers arrived belatedly, running in with tasers drawn.

They recognized the Violent Crimes Special Investigation Unit detectives and were dumbfounded at the sight of them annihilating the gangsters.

“Whoa, he actually broke that.”

“I kind of feel bad for the gangsters now.”

The officers didn’t even dare interfere and ended up just standing there watching.

“What are you doing! Snap out of it and start arresting! Start with the ones collapsed in the corner!”

“Yes, understood!”

The gang brawl was swiftly subdued. However, many had escaped. With the Assault Unit being so overwhelmingly strong, they read the situation quickly and fled.

“Agh, it hurts, it hurts.”

“It’s supposed to hurt.”

“Ughh.”

While pressing a knee into someone's back and twisting their arm to cuff them, a young female officer approached.

“Still the same as ever.”

It was Officer Lim, from the Eastern Substation. Her eyes seemed tougher than before.

“Officer Lim, long time no see.”

“I hear about you sometimes. Online.”

“Haha.”

“Looks like many escaped. Then I’ll be off.”

“Yes, thank you for your work.”

Clack—

Officer Lim drew her expandable baton and disappeared down an alley with her partner.

Half the substation officers dispersed to track the escapees, and the Violent Crimes Special Investigation Unit returned to the station with the ones they caught.

“So... the reason you fought was what again?”

The team leader asked with a dumbfounded look. A man, his ear half torn and dripping blood, muttered,

“Someone asked who was stronger...”

“Hah... So, you’re telling me that hostess at the 'Diss' bar said, ‘The Gangjapa guys said you’re washed up. Who’s stronger?’ and that led to this fight?”

The man silently nodded.

This wasn’t even about some massive turf dispute. Just a brawl over bravado, stirred up by a hostess, in broad daylight with knives drawn.

One side consisted of gangsters in their mid-to-late thirties, and the other of newly emerging younger gangsters mostly in their early twenties. Experience versus youthful bravado.

The result was nothing but injuries.

“That’s ridiculous. You idiots were ready to die over that nonsense?”

Oh Gaeng chuckled at the team leader’s words and asked Haesu,

“Haesu, casualties?”

“No fatalities yet, but five or six with severed fingers, two stabbed in the abdomen, and one with a hatchet in the shoulder.”

“Why aren’t you including the eight you broke arms and legs on?”

“Should I include those?”

“Nah, good job. Let’s finish the reports.”

“Yes, sir.”

While they were writing up the reports, the Violent Crimes Special Investigation Unit office door quietly opened. A middle-aged woman peeked her face in.

“Is... is this the Violent Crimes Division?”

“Ah, no, you’ll want to go outside and—”

Haesu turned to explain and then fell silent. He stepped closer to her and reached out to touch her hair but stopped himself.

“May I?”

“Y-Yes...”

As she lowered her head even more and responded in a tiny voice, Haesu lifted the hair covering her face.

The right side of her face was so swollen that her eye couldn’t be seen. Her nose was crushed. Her face was so damaged, it was hard to tell what she originally looked like.

“Who did this to you.”

“Um... it’s just that...”

If they hesitate, it’s almost always domestic violence. Judging by her age, it was either a husband or son.

“If you’d reported it, you wouldn’t have had to struggle all the way here.”

“My phone was broken... he threw it...”

As Haesu’s tone grew grave, the Violent Crimes Special Investigation team members one by one looked toward the woman.

Oh Gaeng and the rookie turned back to their paperwork so as not to make her uncomfortable, and the team leader furrowed his brows as he approached.

“Oh dear, you’re badly hurt. I’m Kwak Su-cheol, team leader of the Violent Crimes Special Investigation Unit. This guy here will handle it well, but please report it if you can. The first punch is hard, but the second and third get worse.”

“Ah...”

As the woman struggled to speak, the team leader gave Haesu a pat on the shoulder and stepped away.

Haesu turned the woman around and opened the door.

"First, let's go to the hospital."

On the way to the hospital, Haesu spoke gently to the woman in the car.

"Are you in a de facto relationship with him?"

"Ah… I’ve known him for a few years, and we started living together, but now we’re living separately… He calls at like four or five in the morning drunk, and if I don’t answer, he comes to the house and makes a mess like this… I’m going crazy…”

At her words, Haesu’s brow furrowed deeply. Seeing ordinary, socially vulnerable people like her get hurt hurt him more than seeing gangsters with fingers or toes chopped off.

"Make sure to get a proper medical certificate and file a formal report. I’ll assist you as best I can."

"I… I won’t report it. I was just scared and came to the police station, but I’m okay now. It’s okay."

Looking through the rearview mirror, she was trembling. She was afraid of retaliation.

Haesu spoke again, in a firmer tone.

"Ma’am, please listen carefully. Like the team leader said, someone who hits easily won’t stop. If you don’t stop him here, something serious will happen."

"Something serious..."

"And the one who’ll likely suffer that serious incident will be you. If that guy ends up in prison, you can change your name, move, change your phone number, and he’ll never find you. Even without all that, I’ll make sure he can’t retaliate."

"How…?"

"That depends on what he does."

As they talked, they arrived at Daeseong Hospital. The doctor said the bridge of her nose was slightly fractured, and she was close to losing sight in one eye.

Haesu asked the woman, who was sitting blankly,

"What will you do?"

"…If I report it, what happens?"

"Unless he’s caught in the act, we can’t immediately detain him. But we can summon him to the station and write up a report. We’ll need to verify the facts. If he denies it, then we’ll collect circumstantial evidence—like CCTV or dashcam footage—proving that he’s the most likely suspect. Once secured, we’ll get a warrant and arrest him as soon as possible."

"Okay… I should’ve prepared for this earlier..."

"Even now, if anything happens again, you must collect evidence. More than that, please request personal protection—we’ll do everything we can to protect you."

"I’ll do it. Personal protection…"

She refused hospitalization, so the doctor quickly reset her nose and applied a protective brace.

Haesu took her back to the station to file a report and gave her a personal protection smart watch.

"If you press this button or shake it, your location will be sent to us and we’ll get an emergency alert. We’ll dispatch immediately. Also, the local precinct will patrol near your house frequently."

"Okay… you’re working so hard."

"If possible, I recommend staying at a friend or relative’s place instead of your current address."

"No, it’s fine. I’ll stay home."

Haesu dropped her off at her house. Her slumped shoulders and fading figure stayed in his mind.

After work, while waiting at a light on his motorcycle, Haesu suddenly turned the wheels and headed back toward her home. He checked into the nearest motel in the area.

While lying on the bare floor, someone came to mind. Someone who’d silently sulk if he didn’t come home and would talk to him coldly.

Haesu picked up his phone.

- Hello.

"What are you doing?"

- I’m working out. Apparently bodyguards also have to take a fitness test. Since I have poor stamina, I’m trying hard to get in shape.

Where did she learn the word “poor”? It was oddly amusing.

"Good, keep it up. Everything else is great, but you do need to improve your stamina."

- You’re unusually chatty, Landlord. Are you not coming home tonight?

"…Yeah, I’m on a case. On a stakeout."

- I see. I’ve been abandoned for two weeks already—what’s one more day.

"S-sorry. Let’s have jjajangmyeon tomorrow."

He could hear her gulp on the other end of the line at the mention of jjajangmyeon.

- It’s a promise.

"Yeah, it’s a promise."

After hanging up with Haru, Haesu got up and moved from the floor to the bed, starting a set of push-ups.

Then—

Bzzz bzzz bzzz

His phone buzzed loudly with a message. It was an emergency alert. Haesu grabbed the phone and rushed out.

The woman’s house was just three minutes away by foot from the motel. Haesu sprinted with everything he had.

Crash! Boom!

Even before he reached it, loud noises erupted from the third floor of the run-down apartment. Haesu forced more power into his legs and dashed up the stairs.

"Kyaaa!"

Thud! Crash!

Click click!

Thankfully, the front door wasn't a digital lock and wasn't auto-locked. Once inside, through the sliding glass door, the silhouette of a man was visible.

In his right hand was a glint of metal. Most likely a kitchen knife.

Clatter clatter

The sliding door was locked.

"You dare report me, you bitch! I’ll kill you!!"

Smash!!

Just before he lunged at her, the sliding door came crashing down right on top of him.

Shards of glass rained into the small room, and Haesu had the man by the throat.

Kneeling on the man’s chest, Haesu raised his right fist and said,

"Hi. I’m the excessive-force detective."

Wham!!