The Cop Is Too Strong [EN]: Chapter 153

153. Heesu’s Friend, They Say

Oh Se-yeon’s eyebrows rose slightly.

‘I wondered why she was maintaining such composure… she had something to rely on.’

Oh Se-yeon chewed her lower lip, calculating the potential gains and losses if the video were released.

At that moment, a heavy voice cut through the tension.

“Misunderstanding.”

“…What?”

“The word ‘misunderstanding’ is like a magic charm, granting immunity even to enemies. I’m willing to let this end as a misunderstanding. Who ordered you to do this?”

If it was someone from the group who’d sent her, even reporting it as a false accusation would only result in a suspended sentence.

However, her image would suffer a significant blow, potentially ending her career as a celebrity.

While Oh Se-yeon was lost in thought, Haesu continued, his voice low and dangerous.

“Do you know what happened to those who targeted me and failed? Do you think you’ll be safe? Do you trust them to protect you?”

“More than you…”

Oh Se-yeon couldn’t finish her sentence. The answer was plain in her eyes. Haesu leaned back against the chair, a predatory glint in his eyes. Oh Se-yeon’s legs, which had been crossed, now straightened, her posture becoming more defensive.

“Withdraw the charges, claiming it was a misunderstanding, and take refuge abroad for now. It’s important to them that this doesn’t affect their operations, so if you’re abroad, they won’t bother to find and eliminate you. Hide as far away as possible, and don’t use social media.”

The tables had turned in an instant, with Haesu showing a strange sort of mercy to Oh Se-yeon.

Oh Se-yeon didn’t understand Haesu’s motives.

Even if she withdrew the charges, the public and netizens would still criticize Haesu unless the video was released.

She hadn’t voiced her concerns, but enduring that kind of backlash without any personal benefit seemed impossible in a society driven by profit and loss.

She frowned and tilted her head, asking, “What’s your purpose?”

“Simple: to catch all those who are corrupting the country and throw them in jail.”

“That’s… not something an individual can do, is it?”

“You’ll see.”

Oh Se-yeon stared at him for a moment, then abruptly got up from her seat and left the interrogation room.

A few minutes later, the detective who had interrogated Haesu came in and released his handcuffs.

“I’ll remember you. I don’t know what kind of threat you made to get that ‘angelic’ person to withdraw the charges… Ah, ah!”

The detective couldn’t finish his sentence. Haesu had grabbed his shoulder before he could.

Haesu pressed down on his collarbone and asked, his voice dangerously soft, “What’s your name?”

“Ugh, this is… obstructing official business… Ugh! Kim Sang-tae! Kim Sang-tae!”

“Okay, Detective Kim Sang-tae, how dare a police officer, who should be the most impartial, conduct an interrogation like this? Take off your police badge before I come back. I don’t make empty threats.”

Detective Kim Sang-tae was practically on his knees in front of Haesu. Haesu pushed him aside and left the interrogation room.

“Haesu!”

“My Strike! You’re out? Good work, good work, get out of the way, you bastards!”

“You’ve worked hard, Senior!”

Outside in the violent crimes unit, three imposing men and Haru were waiting.

Oh Geng and the youngest quickly approached and offered their support to Haesu. Haesu gently refused their hands.

“Do you think I’ve been tortured or something? I’m fine.”

“Ah, right, what was that bastard’s name again? Kim Rotten Pollock?”

“No, it’s not.”

Team Leader Kwak was about to leave the violent crimes unit office with Haesu when he stopped, turned around, and shouted, his voice echoing through the precinct.

“Yongju Police Station Violent Crimes Unit 1! I remember each and every one of your faces. Presumption of guilt, not even presumption of innocence? Seriously, it’s so absurd, the way you’re acting, you must have already sent many innocent people to jail. I’ll find out soon. We’ll see!”

Team Leader Kwak shouted confidently, but as he got away from the trio of burly men, he quickly finished his closing remarks and hurried after them.

In the police station parking lot, as they were about to board the Gangsu Unit van, they saw actress Oh Se-yeon leaning against a foreign car.

She took off her sunglasses and walked towards Haesu with a haughty air.

Click, click, click.

The Gangsu Unit members got into the car, silently cursing her with their eyes.

She ignored their gazes and approached Haesu.

Swoosh.

Something suddenly intervened between them. It was Haru.

“What is it now?”

Oh Se-yeon smiled at Haru and, while looking at Haesu over Haru’s shoulder, opened her mouth.

“I’m going straight to the airport now.”

“…….”

“I haven’t seen it myself, but they said they’re meeting in person for a round table conference. That’s all I can tell you.”

“Round table, really not very helpful.”

“Haha, I was half serious. I was greedy….”

This time, Oh Se-yeon’s gaze shifted to Haru.

Haesu stared at her with dry eyes and got into the van without a word. Haru was left standing alone, glaring at Oh Se-yeon.

“Oops-”

Then a hand shot out, grabbed Haru’s wrist, and pulled her in. The door slammed shut roughly.

Bang.

Oh Se-yeon chuckled at the tightly closed van door.

* * *

After the explanation that it was a misunderstanding.

Two days after Oh Se-yeon suddenly left a letter saying she was retiring from the entertainment industry and disappeared.

Her previous use of psychiatric medication and counseling was revealed through her manager, but the public opinion that the reason was Shin Haesu was still strong.

There were incidents where Haesu was hit with eggs by Oh Se-yeon’s fans on his way to and from work, but he calmly brushed them off.

A skyscraper lounge overlooked the sprawling cityscape. Teacher Cheon stood in front of the glass window with a small soju [Korean distilled spirit] glass, looking outside. There was a sense of incongruity in the sight of him holding a cheap soju glass while wearing a suit worth tens of millions of won.

“The public is noisy, but there are no other developments. How is he?”

At Teacher Cheon’s question, Manager Ma, who was standing behind him, immediately answered.

“Yes, he is not an easy person to manipulate.”

Teacher Cheon turned his head to look at Manager Ma, surprised by the evaluation. “Oh… for Manager Ma to say such a thing, I want him even more. Was that actress also Manager Ma’s work?”

“Yes.”

“Okay. Do it slowly. Slowly, so it doesn’t break, with the care of making a sincere request.”

“Yes, Teacher.”

The most effective way to recruit ordinary people into the group is to engineer their downfall, making them lose everything, and then offer a helping hand when they’re teetering on the edge of despair.

* * *

A Korean restaurant sat across the street from the Gangjin Police Station.

A large man was gobbling down rice, reeking of soju. His cheeks were flushed, and his eyes were half-open, causing people to avoid sitting near him, or even leave as soon as they saw him.

He wasn’t just big; the firm muscles and tendons on his forearms were clearly visible as he scooped up rice, so the owner couldn’t bring himself to say anything and just watched nervously.

Then, he put down the cleanly eaten bowl of rice and looked at the menu, shouting, “Chicken, give me another order of chicken here!”

“Yes? S-sir, we don’t sell chicken here.”

“What?!! A restaurant in Korea doesn’t sell chicken? Where am I! Ah, then give me fried chicken, fried chicken.”

“I’m sorry, but we don’t have fried chicken either….”

“No, how can that be! Are you ignoring me because I got fired from the company? Huh? Is that what you’re doing?”

“Ah, no, how would I know that? I didn’t ignore you.”

“You ignored me, you ignored me!! Huh!”

The man didn’t wave his hand or use any force, but his sheer size was intimidating.

The employee was at a loss, and the owner, who was hiding behind, couldn’t bring himself to come forward and shouted, “G-get out of here quickly! I’ll call the police if you don’t! The police station is right in front of you!”

“Police? Call them! Call the police! Call them quickly!”

“I-I’m really calling!”

“Call them quickly!!”

When the man shouted, the owner hurriedly took out his cell phone and called the police station directly instead of 112 [emergency number], and the detectives in the office rushed out to apprehend him.

Unlike his reckless behavior, the man did not resist at all when the detectives arrived and was easily subdued.

He was just busy shouting.

“Don’t let go of this! Huh?! I have a friend at that police station! Huh?! I’m Shin Haesu’s friend! I’m Haesu’s friend, so let go of this! Let me out!!”

* * *

“…That’s what they say.”

At the Gangsu Unit headquarters, the youngest received an internal call and delivered the news to Haesu.

“Strike, ignore it. This is 100% that Oh Se-yeon, that fox-like woman’s fan. Ugh, I thought it was going to be quiet for a while, but it’s happening again.”

“Hmm… I’ll go and check it out first.”

Haesu thought so too, but he was concerned that the other person was large and muscular, and it was polite to show his face since the violent crimes unit had even made an internal call.

As he approached the violent crimes unit, he could already hear loud noises.

-Haesu is my friend, I’m telling you, friend! Huh! Haesu and I! We went to the sauna, ate together, did everything! Huh?!

Squeak-

When he opened the door, he found a bear-like man shouting and pointing in the corner.

After confirming his face, Haesu’s eyes widened in surprise.

It was Kim, the guard who had been the head of security for Ahn Seo-eun.

He had been fired for failing to stop the knife-wielding man at his first meeting with Ahn Seo-eun, and Haesu had vouched for him to get him the job back.

The meeting hadn’t been long, but he hadn’t seemed like this kind of person.

Before Haesu could say anything, Kim recognized him and jumped up to hug him.

“Oh, oh, my friend Haesu!”

“Oh, Detective Shin, you’re here?”

“Is he really a friend?”

Haesu stood there with a bewildered face, and Kim grabbed Haesu’s hands with both hands and shouted, “Friend! Please let me out!”

At that moment, something was subtly handed to him. A very small note. Haesu roughly sensed what the situation was.

He made eye contact with Kim and nodded.

“He is my friend, but please ignore him and handle it according to the law. This friend has a lot of pent-up frustration.”

“Oh, oh? Friend? Detective Shin?”

Haesu immediately turned around and left the violent crimes unit, and Kim stared at his back with a dumbfounded expression.

Haesu acknowledged that he was a friend, and considering that he only shouted without using any force despite being muscular, Kim was given a minor fine.

Haesu immediately went to the bathroom and unfolded the note he received from Kim.

[The director has been imprisoned in the Ahn family’s main house.]

As expected, something had happened to Ahn Seo-eun’s safety.

Judging from the fact that he was notified in such a cumbersome way instead of a phone call or text message, it seemed that he was being monitored and eavesdropped on.

Haesu pondered for a moment.

The Ahn family’s main house, not somewhere else, meant that her father, the chairman of the Daesung Group, had imprisoned her.

It is not easy for outsiders to get involved in family matters.

‘But….’

However, considering the death of Inspector Park, the attack by the group, and the timing of the change in public opinion, it was unreasonable to dismiss it as just a family matter.

There was a high possibility that Ahn Seo-eun was in trouble because of that.

I can’t stand by and do nothing.

Swoosh.

Haesu stood up from the toilet with a determined look.

* * *

He asked Jung Young-soo, a professional white hat hacker [ethical computer hacker], to find out information about Kim.

After being fired from Ahn Seo-eun’s security team, he was currently waiting at Daesung Guard without accepting other clients.

And Daesung Guard was like Haru’s parents’ home.

-Haru, I need your help.

Early in the morning, before the Daesung Guard security guards had gone to work, a woman with a slender figure wearing a hat pulled down low appeared there.

She went to the place where the lockers were with a confident stride as if it were her own home, and then left a note in Kim’s personal locker.

Shortly after, Kim went to work and opened his locker to change his clothes and found the note.

[Hanaro]

“Hmm….”

It was a very cryptic message for something that was secretly delivered.

Kim racked his brain trying to figure out what Hanaro meant throughout his workout.

That’s how the end of the work day approached, and as usual, he was walking home when a large sign caught his eye across from the company.

[Hanaro PC Cafe]

“Ah!”