The reporters had already grasped what had been posted on the internet boards by people at the hotel where the incident took place.

The reporters looked for someone among the seminar attendees who would be a likely target for an industrial spy organization.

Several candidates emerged. All were famous scientists. Among them was Dr. Jeong Ki-hoon, a Korean-American. The reporters attempted to contact Jeong Ki-hoon.

Jeong Ki-hoon did not answer his phone. He was at the police station explaining the situation.

The other candidates answered their phones and said they were not related to the incident. Many even asked what was going on.

The reporters were convinced.

“It’s this guy!”

“The criminals’ target is Dr. Jeong Ki-hoon!”

Speculative news immediately poured out.

The police could not openly deny it. Because it was true.

The reporters published articles about who Jeong Ki-hoon was as a scientist. It also became known that he was famous in both physics and mechanical engineering.

Simply reporting his past achievements would not make an interesting article. The on-the-ground reporters investigated Jeong Ki-hoon’s activities that day, looking for other story material.

Then they discovered something new.

“Huh? Dr. Jeong Ki-hoon had a bodyguard?”

“A government-issued bodyguard?”

“Which agency is he from!”

The detectives who were first dispatched to the scene knew that Seo Jung-woo had resolved the incident. They did not openly talk about it, but word spread among the detectives that Seo Jung-woo had been at the scene.

A reporter latched onto a detective who seemed to know a bit more than the others.

“Detective Jo. Are you really going to be like this?”

“It’s not my case, so I don’t know much either. Wait until there’s an official announcement.”

“Come on. I won’t ask anything else, just tell me the name of the bodyguard. Then I’ll investigate the person myself.”

“If you hear the name, you’ll know who it is. What investigation.”

The reporter’s eyes gleamed.

“Huh? What do you mean? If just hearing the name is enough, he must be famous. He’s a cop, right? A famous cop?”

The detective was flustered.

“No, it’s not like that...”

“Let’s see. Among famous cops...”p>

The detective quickly looked around and whispered.

“If it gets out that I said this, I’ll get disciplined.”

“Of course. I’ll protect my source for sure.”

“Seo Jung-woo.”

“Huh? Seo Jung-woo? He’s a detective though?”

“I heard Seo Jung-woo acted as Dr. Jeong Ki-hoon’s bodyguard just for today.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know the reason either. Ah, I don’t know. I can’t say more. Make sure to keep it secret.”

The detective shook off the reporter and left.

The reporter stood there organizing his thoughts.

“Seo Jung-woo is that detective who took down knife-wielding criminals barehanded.”

He wondered if Seo Jung-woo had resolved this case too. But he immediately shook his head.

“No way. There were fourteen this time. Many had guns too. The police SWAT team must have shot them.”

He tried to move past the thought, but something still felt odd.

“Seo Jung-woo was Dr. Jeong Ki-hoon’s bodyguard for the day, and the criminals targeted Dr. Jeong Ki-hoon today. If Seo Jung-woo fought to protect the doctor? Where? At the hotel?”

Then a thought flashed into his mind.

“Wait! There were no gunshots from the hotel side! That’s it! Seo Jung-woo fought at the hotel!”

News that Seo Jung-woo had acted as Jeong Ki-hoon’s bodyguard came out.

The twins also saw the news on the community board they frequented.

• Wow. I thought Seo Jung-woo was only good at catching criminals, but he’s good at bodyguarding too.
• This article seems a bit exaggerated though.
• It says it's from a police source?
• Articles citing anonymous sources are rarely accurate though.

Many people believed the part about Seo Jung-woo guarding Jeong Ki-hoon.

However, fewer people believed the claim that Seo Jung-woo had defeated the enemies at the hotel. The reporter had only written it as a possibility.

The twins believed the article.

“As expected of Detective D! Another success!”

“Detective D appears wherever there’s trouble!”

“At this point, maybe Detective D causes incidents just so he can solve them!”

“Final boss, Detective D!”

Yoon Nana pestered Seo Sora.

“Hurry and call him!”

Seo Sora grumbled while tapping her smartphone.

“I already tried! He’s not answering. Probably turned it off!”

“What if he’s hurt and can’t answer?”

“Nana, get a grip. The twins said they saw my brother on TV. He was walking just fine behind a reporter!”

The twins immediately chimed in.

“I definitely saw him!”

“Me too! He was walking normally!”

Yoon Nana asked.

“Really?”

“Have we ever lied to you, sis!”

“He wasn’t even limping!”

Seo Sora muttered irritably.

“Detective work is seriously dangerous. When he was at the local precinct, it wasn’t like this. Why does he keep getting tangled up in incidents now? Should we make him carry a talisman or something?”

In a short time, all sorts of speculative articles about the incident exploded. Some were close to the truth, but many were completely off the mark. Some of those incorrect ones were even negative.

In the end, the police gathered the reporters and explained the investigation’s progress. The police themselves had not fully grasped the situation yet, but if they didn’t say anything, articles would turn into novels.

A senior police officer in charge of the investigation briefly explained the outline of the case.

“This incident involves a foreign industrial espionage organization targeting a U.S. citizen scientist. It was not aimed at our citizens or domestic technology. And immediately after the incident, our police captured all fourteen members of the international industrial espionage organization.”

Reporters bombarded him with questions.

“How many SWAT officers were deployed in the operation to rescue Jessica Jung?”

“Uh, well, it wasn’t the SWAT team…”

As the police officer hesitated, another reporter quickly asked.

“Then was it a military counter-terrorism special forces unit?”

“No. It’s definitely true that our police resolved it.”

“Huh? But you said it wasn’t the SWAT team.”

“Our detective resolved it.”

“Oh, okay. The detectives... huh?”

The reporter stumbled over the word “detective,” realizing he had said “detective” singular, not plural.

“You don't mean to say that the police resolving the incident means that a single police officer solved it, do you?”

“Uh, well...”

Among the flood of news just now, there was also an article saying that Seo Jung-woo had guarded Jeong Ki-hoon. That article included speculation that Seo Jung-woo might have fought against the industrial espionage organization at the hotel.

Not long ago, a video was released showing Seo Jung-woo capturing the stalker who attacked top star Lee Seon-hwa. His martial arts skills showcased in the video had become a major topic.

However, this time there was a gunfight. A martial arts master isn’t necessarily also good at shooting.

One reporter asked, half in doubt,

“Is Detective Seo Jung-woo related to that gunfight?”

The police spokesperson reluctantly explained the situation.

“The government had suggested providing security support for today as a token of appreciation for Dr. Jeong Ki-hoon's contributions to the domestic defense industry. Dr. Jeong requested that Detective Seo Jung-woo be assigned, saying he had seen the video of Detective Seo on the internet. We checked Detective Seo’s schedule, determined he was available, and assigned him to security support.”

“So, what happened?”

“The first attack began at the hotel. Initially, three individuals threatened Dr. Jeong Ki-hoon. Detective Seo Jung-woo, who was guarding him, subdued them. Immediately after, four more assailants who had been waiting attacked. Detective Seo Jung-woo subdued them as well.”

“Did he shoot them to subdue them? There were no gunshots heard at the hotel, though?”

“No. Since it was a simple escort mission, he did not carry a gun.”

The reporter who had written the speculative article grinned widely from the back.

‘I was right! Seo Jung-woo fought them off at the hotel!’

Another reporter asked,

“There were a lot of gunshots heard outside the hotel. What about that?”

“Jessica Jeong, the daughter of Dr. Jeong Ki-hoon, was kidnapped from another part of the hotel and dragged to a building near the hotel. Detective Seo Jung-woo discovered that Jessica Jeong was being held there.”

“How did Detective Seo Jung-woo figure out that the victim was there?”

“He said the building looked the most suspicious.”

The reporters were flustered.

“What?”

The police executive had also been baffled when he first heard it. But since the criminals were actually there, they couldn’t deny it.

“Detective Seo Jung-woo identified the most likely building, checked inside, and found the criminals. It was right before they were about to kill Jessica Jeong. Detective Seo Jung-woo immediately entered, rescued Jessica Jeong first, and then subdued the criminals. The gunshots that were heard came from that time.”

Another reporter raised his hand.

“Wait a minute. You just said Detective Seo Jung-woo didn’t carry a gun, right? Then how was there a gunfight?”

“He took a weapon from the criminals and used it.”

The reporters buzzed again.

“What? That’s ridiculous!”

The police executive had thought the same when he first heard it. But since the evidence supported it, they couldn’t deny it.

“The bullets that hit the criminals match the types of bullets in the criminals’ own guns. Jessica Jeong also testified to that. It’s the truth.”

Another reporter stood up and shouted,

“Where is Detective Seo Jung-woo now?”

“He is currently giving a statement somewhere…”

“He should be here! Here!”

Immediately, real news articles based on the police announcement, rather than random speculations, began to pour out.

Posts were uploaded in real time to internet community boards.

- 14 versus 1! Korean cop class is insane!

- Wow. I knew he was good at taking down guys with knives, but he must also be good with guns. How many armed guys did he take down alone?

- Is there anything he can’t do?

- Probably only good at fighting. He must not have other talents! And he must be small in other areas too! He must! Ahh, let me wipe my tears first.

The twins followed Seo Sora all the way to her house.

Park Ha-yeon waved both hands high in the living room.

“Detective D is going to be internationally famous now!”

Park Da-yeon spun a cushion around in circles.

“Strike up the music!”

Seo Sora shouted,

“This is an international call! Be quiet!”

She spoke into the phone in a slightly smaller voice.

“No, Mom. Friends just came over. Oppa? How could he answer the phone in this chaos? Oh, it’s fine. I saw him casually walking behind a reporter on TV. He looked very relaxed. He was chatting with another detective while walking. Yeah. He looked perfectly fine. No bandages or anything. Okay. I'll tell him to call you as soon as he can.”

After hanging up, she threw herself onto the sofa and let out a big sigh before suddenly yelling,

“Why do I have to take Mom’s nagging for Oppa!”

Yoon Nana worriedly asked,

“What if Detective D was shot?”

“Nana, seriously? Didn’t the twins say they saw him walking around perfectly fine?”

“But he might have been grazed by a bullet.”

“A graze won’t kill you!”

Park Da-yeon turned up the TV volume and suddenly shouted,

“Ah!”

Seo Sora, worried that something had happened to Seo Jung-woo, quickly asked,

“Why? Is there another news report?”

“Let’s order pizza.”

“Huh?”

Park Ha-yeon immediately agreed.

“We’ve been given permission to sleep over, so let’s splurge! Pizza! Chicken!”

Seo Sora shouted,

“Hey! We already had dinner!”

The twins changed their demands.

“Then snacks!”

“Give us some snacks!”

Seo Sora reluctantly opened the pantry.

There wasn’t a single snack inside.

“That can’t be right.”

She then opened Seo Jung-woo’s room. Snacks that should have been in the pantry were piled up there.

“Is he a hamster or what!”

She grabbed two and threw them at the twins. Then she collapsed back onto the living room sofa and yelled,

“What are we going to do about this mess? Just wait until he answers the phone. He’s dead!”

From Seo Jung-woo’s room, Park Da-yeon shouted,

“Suspicious bag found! Woohoo!”

Seo Sora immediately jumped up and ran into Seo Jung-woo’s room.

“Stop it already, you brats!”