The Cop Is Too Strong [EN]: Chapter 102

Ko Jeong-hoon’s first thought upon seeing the loan sharks who had come to the hospital was that it was fortunate his mother hadn’t visited that day.

“H, how did you find this place…”

In response to Jeong-hoon’s words, the man with the bobbed hair grinned and leaned in close. A gold tooth glinted.

“How did we find you? Didn’t you tell us, when you told us to come and get it, ‘Come and get it if you can, you fucker!’? We’ll find you anywhere, even at the end of the earth.”

“No, it’s not that I won’t pay… I said I would… Argh!”

The bobbed-hair man grabbed Jeong-hoon’s hair and yanked it back.

“I’ve checked everything. You’re not even doing day labor, not working at all. Since you have no intention of paying, we have to collect it ourselves.”

“I, I’ll really pay. I’m getting insurance money, you know? I’ll pay the interest with that first. How much, how much is it?”

At Jeong-hoon’s words, the bobbed-hair man slightly loosened his grip.

“Principal is 10 million won [approximately $7,500 USD] with a legal interest rate of 20%, business interest at a daily rate of 1%, a service fee of 5 million won for the trouble of finding you, and it’s been three months overdue, so the interest alone totals 17 million won. I’ll cut you a break of 2 million won since you’re stuck here in the hospital, so the interest is 15 million won.”

“…Huh? How can the interest be more than the principal when it hasn’t even been 5 years?!”

“I knew you’d say something like that, so I brought this, ouch.”

“Yes, boss.”

At the bobbed-hair man’s words, the man behind him took out a document and showed it to him. It was a contract with Jeong-hoon’s thumbprint on it.

“It’s clearly stated here, right? You agreed to it, didn’t you?”

The business interest clause was printed very small, and Jeong-hoon’s eyes wavered.

“Th, th, this is fraud! It’s not even visible!”

“Fraud? Fraud! The customer who runs off with the money is the fraudster!”

The bobbed-hair man grabbed Jeong-hoon’s hair again and slapped him across the face.

*Slap!*

“The thing”

*Slap!*

“I hate the most!”

*Smack!*

“Is fraud, you customer bastard!”

Just as he was about to deliver the finishing blow, someone grabbed the bobbed-hair man’s arm. He turned around sharply, looking furious.

“What?!”

The person who grabbed his arm was a middle-aged man in a patient gown. He had a bit of a belly, a bandage on his head, and a cast on his leg.

The bobbed-hair man gave a sneering laugh at the sight.

“Hey, fuck, mister, if you don’t want to end up like this customer, stay out of it.”

“Hey, mister, back off.”

The other men stepped between the middle-aged man and the bobbed-hair man, pushing him away.

“Ouch, ouch, some thugs with nasty looks are beating up a patient! Hey, guys!!”

The middle-aged man shouted as he fell to the floor in a theatrical manner.

At the sight, the bobbed-hair man let go of Jeong-hoon and turned around, chuckling as if it were amusing.

“Guys? What, you think you’ve got some backup?”

The bobbed-hair man glanced around the hospital room and noticed that everyone had gathered their belongings but wasn’t in their beds.

“Ah… the other patients in this room? Alright, bring them all. Go ahead.”

*Thwack.*

He provoked the middle-aged man by kicking his cast-covered foot.

“I said bring them all! I’ll gladly beat you all up!”

Just as he was about to lift his foot and stomp hard on the middle-aged man’s cast-covered foot, someone’s foot suddenly kicked him in the side.

*Thud! Crash!*

With a single kick, the bobbed-hair man flew like a fallen leaf and crashed into the refrigerator.

“I’m here.”

The owner of the foot was Shin Hae-soo. Led by him, Oh Geng, with an ice cream in his mouth, and the youngest, carrying a black bag, appeared.

“Boss! Are you okay?”

“Am I okay, you bastard? What the hell were you doing… Who are those guys…”

Each of them had bulging muscles that seemed about to burst out of their loose patient gowns, and they looked like they could handle a person or two. Despite being attacked first, the boss couldn’t easily bring himself to attack them.

“Who are you guys with? Ah, are you insurance scammers?”

“Charge! Those guys pushed me and kicked me! Charge!”

“That hyung [older brother/male friend] sure knows how to tell the police to beat people up.”

“Po, police?”

Hae-soo quickly scanned Jeong-hoon. His hair was disheveled, his cheeks were swollen, he was bleeding from the nose, and he was crying.

*Swish.*

As Hae-soo took a step, the loan sharks flinched and stepped back.

“Jeong-hoon, what happened?”

“Yes? Ah, that’s…”

The answer came from elsewhere.

“They’re loan sharks, illegal loan sharks who charge business interest in addition to the legal interest.”

At the team leader’s words, Hae-soo turned his head again. Oh Geng took the lead and approached the bobbed-hair man, putting his arm around his shoulder and saying.

“Thanks. Thanks for helping me increase my performance even while I’m recovering.”

“…Huh?”

*

The bobbed-hair man and his subordinates were arrested for illegal high-interest loans. However, the debt that Ko Jeong-hoon had borrowed did not disappear, so the debt was transferred to the state.

Jeong-hoon could not forget the image of the Violent Crimes Unit detectives who arrested the loan sharks on the spot for a long time.

‘Cool… thrilling.’

He firmly resolved to become a police officer again.

However, a person who had not studied before could not suddenly do well just because he started studying.

Jeong-hoon failed the 9th-grade police exam for three years. Not forgetting his dream of writing, he wrote a police novel with the knowledge he had studied before. Not only did he get paid for it, but he also signed contracts for webtoons and dramas.

In an interview, he revealed the real-life models for his police novel.

-If it weren’t for the detectives who were in the same hospital room as me, this novel wouldn’t exist. They all looked scary and were incredibly cool. Go, Republic of Korea police.

***

Hae-soo, who had the most severe injuries, was discharged from the hospital after two months. He still had to be careful, so he couldn’t exercise his left arm, and there was quite a difference in thickness between his right arm.

Even after being discharged, he decided to rest for a few more days before going to work.

“I’ll cook dinner for you! Please, just sit still.”

“Huh? O, okay.”

Hae-soo momentarily recalled the kimchi stew that Ha-ru had made, which tasted like seawater.

Ha-ru was the most excited when he came home. She had visited him in the hospital almost every day, traveling over an hour each way, and fed him fruit, telling him to get well soon.

Anyway, seeing her trying to do something for him because he was sick made him feel grateful, so he went to the sofa and watched TV without feeling burdened.

The sound of her bustling around in the back was busy.

“Hae-soo, it’s ready. Please eat.”

Ha-ru had changed from calling him ‘Landlord’ to ‘Hae-soo’ at some point.

He had gotten used to the strange title of ‘Landlord,’ so it felt a little awkward, but it sounded much better to others.

What she brought was stir-fried ramen with cheese on top, two rolls of tuna kimbap [Korean seaweed rice rolls] next to it, and a peach-flavored drink.

“I saw other students eating like this at the convenience store. I’ve tried many things while living ‘alone’ these days, and this is by far the best.”

Ha-ru particularly emphasized the word ‘alone.’ Thinking about it now, he felt a little sorry for the woman who couldn’t even cook properly, having lived alone for two months.

Hae-soo took a big bite of the stir-fried noodles with the cheese stretching long.

“Mmm, um, um…”

The spicy taste filled his mouth. The savory and soft cheese enveloped it, creating a subtle harmony.

“Please eat this if it’s too spicy.”

Ha-ru picked up a piece of kimbap and put it in Hae-soo’s mouth. She had gotten into the habit of putting food in his mouth since the hospital, and it was quite natural. Her timing was so good that he couldn’t avoid it.

“Oom…”

The tuna kimbap cleansed his mouth so that he wouldn’t get tired of the spicy and salty taste, and the greasiness of the mayonnaise revived the spiciness.

Hae-soo chewed a few times and slowly turned to Ha-ru. Ha-ru was not eating her own food and was looking at Hae-soo with sparkling eyes.

Hae-soo raised his thumb.

“It’s delicious, really delicious.”

“I knew it would suit your taste, Hae-soo. Ha, ha, ha.”

Ha-ru opened her mouth to the air and made a ‘ha ha’ sound out loud. It was the first time he had ever seen her do that. She must have learned it from someone while working.

The action was quite cute and refreshing, and it was nice to see.

“Ha-ru, you eat too.”

“Yes, it was hard to resist. Nom [onomatopoeia for eating].”

She took a big bite of the cheese-covered stir-fried noodles with her wooden chopsticks as if she had been waiting for it. She seemed to have eaten half of it in one bite.

Her mouth was covered in cheese and sauce, but she didn’t care and ate voraciously, which was lovely to see.

She started eating late, but she finished the two rolls of kimbap before Hae-soo did. Hae-soo tore off a piece of tissue and handed it to her.

“Yes?”

“Mouth.”

“Ah, yes.”

Ha-ru took the tissue and wiped it roughly. There was still some left in the left corner.

“Not there, the left, no, the right from your perspective, this way, no, give it to me.”

Hae-soo took the tissue, and Ha-ru looked at the tissue, wondering what to do, and then stuck her mouth out. Like a duck.

“Here…”

Hae-soo wiped her mouth with the tissue. Her lips were so red and delicate that they were cute. Then, he suddenly realized that he had been looking at her lips too much and raised his gaze. He met Ha-ru’s eyes for a moment.

One second, two seconds, three seconds.

*Swish.*

Hae-soo looked away first and drank the peach-flavored drink.

Ha-ru certainly had a striking appearance and her actions evoked the emotion of cuteness, but their current relationship was like that of a guardian and a ward, like an older brother and a younger sister.

Hae-soo had always thought so. Someone to protect, someone to take care of, but these days, as she went about her social life, he kept paying more attention to her. Something was subtly different from before, her very existence was on his mind.

“Ahem, while I was gone, did Ahn Seo-eun come here often?”

Ha-ru stared at Hae-soo and opened her mouth.

“Seo-eun was busy and couldn’t come often. It seems that Seo-eun has been neglecting me lately too.”

‘Seo-eun too…?’

It was clear that she was aiming for something. She must have studied Korean very hard at the language school. She had entered the advanced class in three months, probably because she was smart from the start.

“I see, how is the bodyguard work?”

“It’s fun. Once a week, we gather at the company for training and sparring instead of personal security, and that’s the most fun.”

“Sparring, huh…”

Ha-ru had always liked exercising and sparring. He already felt sorry for the bodyguards who sparred with her.

‘There needs to be someone in the security company who is as skilled as Hwang Jang-soo to have a decent match…’

She seems to be having fun massacring the weak right now. He had never seen Ha-ru come back injured.

Now that he thought about it, he should have Hwang Jang-soo spar with her later.

At that moment, Ha-ru brought wine and wine glasses.

“Please try this. It’s delicious.”

“You know how to drink wine too?”

“I drank it with Seo-eun sometimes. I received this as a gift.”

“Ah, Ahn Seo-eun gave it to you.”

Ha-ru shook her head.

“No. A senior at the company gave it to me. They said it’s a wine worth over 300,000 won [approximately $225 USD].”

Hae-soo’s actions, which had been examining the wine, stopped abruptly. He asked in a cold voice.

“…What? Who, a man?”

“Yes, Senior Shin Kang-won. Thirty-eight years old, married, no children, and often complains about his wife in front of me.”

At Ha-ru’s briefing, Hae-soo grabbed her hand, which was opening the wine bottle with an opener.

“Freeze.”