The Cop Is Too Strong [EN]: Chapter 114

114. Nice to Meet You

Contrary to its image as a highly developed nation, Japan’s administrative systems can often be quite disorganized. This has led to it being known as a haven for identity laundering, where criminals frequently come to acquire new identities.

Mo Chang-gui chose Japan for his wrist surgery and subsequent identity laundering.

Osaka, Japan.

The Violent Crimes Unit office of the Japanese police, reminiscent of a Korean violent crimes unit office from the 2000s, bustled with activity.

Local police and members of the Violent Crimes Unit were gathered in one place.

Unlike Korea, Japan has more gaps in CCTV and dashcam [black box] coverage, making it more difficult to track down criminals. However, the Japanese police agreed to a joint investigation because the Violent Crimes Unit offered information about the suspect.

“…So, he went to a replantation surgery hospital.”

Shin Hae-soo’s explanation elicited a chuckle from one of the Japanese police officers.

“Ha, really… I heard that the Korean police came all the way here so quickly, and I thought it was a big deal, but what a ridiculous story….”

He pointed to his wrist with his index finger and continued, “If what you’re saying is true, how do you explain the murder of the doctor right after the surgery? And he’s not a robot; it’s not like anything can just be attached and work perfectly, right?”

Mo Chang-gui killed the doctor after the surgery, removed the CCTV in the hospital, murdered a nurse, and then fled the hospital.

Even if the CCTV had been removed before the surgery, his actions were not those of someone who had just undergone such a procedure, so it was understandable that the Japanese police were skeptical.

However, that skepticism was based on the standards of ordinary people; Mo Chang-gui is anything but ordinary.

“He is a brutal criminal who murdered six healthy gang members even with four broken ribs and a fractured leg. You must not underestimate his abilities.”

Hae-soo’s serious words caused the Japanese police team leader to frown. He turned to his team members and addressed them.

“Okay, even if it’s hard to believe what that pot-bellied Korean police officer is saying, as police officers, we must not overlook even the smallest suspicion. We don’t know if he’s a psycho who left the wrist of someone he killed at the scene, as we originally suspected, or if what the Korean police officer is saying is true. Let’s include both possibilities in the investigation and track both leads. Understood?”

“We don’t have enough people for that.”

“The Korean police are here; leave it to them.”

The team leader nodded, satisfied with the arrangement.

“Good, let’s share even the smallest piece of information with each other, got it?”

“Understood. Pot-bellied team leader.”

“Pfft-”

“Hehe!”

The interpreter didn’t translate this part, but the team leader understood what was said from the gazes and snickers of the local police.

“These bastards came all the way to Japan just to make me want to diet. I’m going to lose this belly fat so they don’t laugh at me.”

“Hyung-nim [term for older brother or respected male colleague], we have the overwhelming average body type on our side. Cheer up.”

“Damn it, I’m dragging the average down.”

“Can’t argue with that.”

While the two were joking around, Hae-soo wore a serious expression, lost in thought about Mo Chang-gui.

“Where could Mo Chang-gui have gone? Is he hiding to recover? Or is he wandering the streets at night to launder his identity?”

“That’s right, this is not the time for us to be doing this; the opponent is Mo Chang-gui.”

The youngest member of the team, Woo Kang-cheol, had never met Mo Chang-gui. So, he didn’t truly know the fear that Mo Chang-gui inspired… but he had heard enough about him recently.

In particular, seeing Shin Hae-soo, who he thought was the strongest person on Earth, losing his composure and getting nervous was a big shock to the youngest.

Usually, imagination is worse than reality. In the youngest’s mind, Mo Chang-gui was already an enormous monster.

He followed Hae-soo with a serious expression and offered his opinion.

“Mo Chang-gui won’t stay still. Whether he’s moving to launder his identity or moving for money, he won’t take a recovery period to lie low.”

Only Hae-soo sympathized with the youngest’s words and nodded vigorously.

“Hmm… that makes sense, definitely….”

At that moment, one of the senior local detectives approached and said.

“Are you going to keep staying here? Don’t Korean police officers just talk in the office and not actually run around in the field?”

It was essentially an expulsion order. Team Leader Kwak frowned, pushed past the senior officer, and approached the other team leader.

“Okay, I’ll go out and look for him, so give me a gun. It’s hard to catch this guy without a gun.”

However, the Japanese team leader shrugged.

“It’s not within our authority. The higher-ups didn’t allow you to possess firearms, so I can’t help it.”

The biggest detective among them leaned against the desk and sneered.

“If what you say is true, he’s just a cripple, so can’t you catch him? Are those muscles just for show? Are they just for showing off to women?”

“Yeah, they’re muscles for tearing your mouth.”

Oh Gyeong cracked his knuckles and approached him, but the youngest and Hae-soo hurriedly stopped Oh Gyeong.

With that, the Violent Crimes Unit was kicked out of headquarters with only minimal information.

After the Violent Crimes Unit left, the local team leader gathered his team members and spoke urgently.

“From now on, we don’t share any information we get with those guys. I’ll feed them useless things one by one, so you guys keep doing what you’re doing, got it?”

“Of course, that’s what we were planning to do anyway. There’s no need to listen to their nonsense.”

“Good, then scatter….”

Ring ring ring ring-

At that moment, the office phone rang loudly. The youngest of the team ran to answer the phone.

“…Yes, yes, a murder case. A witness called. And, the suspect’s hand is like a doll… like it was cut off and reattached?!”

The youngest turned around and looked at the other team members. The team members also looked at the youngest at the same time, their eyes wide.

The call ended, and silence hung in the air for a moment. The team leader spoke softly.

“For now, let’s keep this case to ourselves, and we’ll catch him first. Prepare to move out!”

“Yes!”

* * *

At the same time, in the Violent Crimes Unit van.

“…Ha, frustrating.”

“You’re telling me. I wish we could get help from our intelligence department.”

Oh Gyeong frowned and stroked his chin before opening his mouth.

“Hey, do you think those guys will share information with us? Hae-soo, I thought you were talking to that team member earlier; did you get anything?”

Hae-soo shook his head slowly.

“He seemed very careful, as if he was afraid of giving us anything. He was sparing with his words; it seems we’ll have to catch him ourselves.”

“This is a big problem; they wouldn’t be like this if they recognized the seriousness of the situation.”

Hae-soo was still for a moment, then grabbed the youngest’s shoulder.

“You have another phone, right?”

“Yes? Yes, sunbae-nim [term for senior colleague or mentor], here.”

The youngest gave Hae-soo his spare phone without asking any questions. Hae-soo checked how much battery was left and then spoke to the team leader, who looked full of questions.

“I’ll have to do some wiretapping. Youngest, call me again.”

“Yes!”

Hae-soo called the youngest’s spare phone with his own phone, took the spare phone, and headed to the Violent Crimes Unit 1 team’s office.

However, there was no one at the Violent Crimes Unit 1 team’s desks.

Hae-soo led the interpreter and asked another team.

“Where did these people go?”

“We don’t know? There’s no time; would they tell us everything? Is it like that in Korea?”

Hae-soo narrowed his brows and headed to the Violent Crimes Unit 1 team’s desks. Then, he picked up one of the internal phones and pressed redial.

-Yes, this is the situation room.

Hae-soo intuitively recognized that it was the situation room from the tone and feeling and handed the receiver to the interpreter.

“Please ask what kind of incident was reported just now.”

“Yes, yes, ah… this is the Korean joint violent crimes team. We need to move out quickly; what kind of incident did you report to the Violent Crimes Unit 1 team just now?”

The situation room was flustered but slowly told them the details of the report again.

Hae-soo frowned and immediately ran out of there. The interpreter, who had heard the details, also hurriedly followed.

Far away, the Violent Crimes Unit team members noticed that something was urgent as Hae-soo ran out with the interpreter and immediately opened the van door and started the engine.

Thump-

Hae-soo got into the van and spoke without catching his breath.

“Youngest, let’s go to this address.”

The youngest immediately took the phone, looked at the navigation, and stepped on the accelerator. Hae-soo then looked at the team leader and explained the situation.

“A murder case was just reported. A former Yakuza [Japanese organized crime syndicate] member, currently selling IDs. There’s a witness who says the suspect’s wrist looks like it was cut off and reattached like a doll.”

“Mo Chang-gui.”

“These fucking bastards, starting right away like this?”

Vroom!

The youngest, realizing the seriousness of the situation from the driver’s seat, stepped on the accelerator even harder.

* * *

At the same time, in a dilapidated area on the outskirts of the city.

There are many narrow alleys and sparsely installed streetlights, making the neighborhood itself dark.

The local police Violent Crimes Unit 1 team had arrived at the scene.

In the most secluded and dark basement, a man is lying face down at a desk, dead.

One of the detectives examined his neck.

“It’s shallow; he only cut the carotid artery.”

“Why did they make his face so messed up?”

“Looking at the dried blood, it seems like they messed up his face first before killing him and cutting the carotid artery.”

The team leader asked a boy in the corner.

“How did you happen to see it?”

“I didn’t see the killing, but I saw him leaving with a bloody knife.”

“Ah… what did he look like?”

“He looked like he was good at studying.”

“I see, were his hands moving well?”

The boy shook his head.

“I don’t know about that.”

“Ah, I see.”

The boy turned his hands around and continued.

“He wrapped the knife around his wrist. With blue tape.”

“Blue tape….”

The team leader’s face turned unpleasant.

The Korean detectives’ words are becoming more and more accurate. He can’t use both hands, so he fixes the knife to his wrist with tape and goes around killing people.

“This bastard is really not ordinary… where did he go?”

“That way. He’s limping, so he couldn’t have gone far.”

“Okay. I’ll give you a reward later, let’s go!”

The Violent Crimes Unit 1 team all left in the direction the boy pointed. But they didn’t notice the boy’s fingertips and pupils trembling.

After a while, a black figure slowly appeared from the darkness. He slowly wrapped his hands around the boy’s neck and said in Japanese.

“Good job, I’ll give you an hour as promised; run away as far as you can.”

The boy couldn’t say anything and trembled. Mo Chang-gui gently pushed the boy’s back.

“Time’s running out. Run if you want to live, kid.”

Thud thud thud thud, patter patter-

The boy couldn’t put strength into his legs and barely climbed the stairs one step at a time. As soon as he passed through the basement door, he finally ran away.

Mo Chang-gui raised his arm and looked at his new hand. He said that if he attached someone else’s hand like this, eight out of ten wouldn’t function properly, one would become necrotic, and one would move as if it were his own.

Mo Chang-gui could move two fingers even though it hadn’t been many days. An extremely positive prognosis.

He moved his steps, thinking of the splendid life he would regain.

Squeak-

At that moment, before Mo Chang-gui could open the door, the basement door opened first, and a local detective appeared.

It’s the biggest detective among Team 1. He widened his eyes when he saw Mo Chang-gui, then lowered his gaze to his arm and gritted his teeth.

Not just one wrist, but both wrists have sashimi knives fixed with blue tape. Moreover, he’s wearing short sleeves; it seems like he has no intention of hiding his crime.

“I knew it, I thought it was strange; the kid kept glancing at the corner of the wall, as if he was hiding a monster.”

Mo Chang-gui fixed his gaze on him and asked as he stepped back down the stairs.

“Did you come alone?”

“What, you can speak Japanese too?”

“I was born here; it was a fucking day.”

“I see. I’m alone, but I won’t be soon.”

He raised his gun and aimed it at Mo Chang-gui and pressed the walkie-talkie on his shoulder.

“Here, that basement from before-”

At that moment, Mo Chang-gui shot out like an arrow. The sashimi knife fixed to his wrist accurately cut the detective’s wrist and elbow holding the gun, and finally pierced his neck.

Swish swish- Psh-

Then, he put the detective’s arm under his armpit and twisted it hard.

Clatter

The gun fell, and the detective glared at Mo Chang-gui and slowly collapsed.

Chang-gui pushed him with his foot and dropped him down the basement stairs. He stared at the gun that had fallen on the floor, then kicked it.

-Sunbae-nim [term for senior colleague or mentor], where are you?

-Why aren’t you answering, where are you, did you say the basement?

Crack!

Mo Chang-gui smiled and crushed the walkie-talkie with his foot.

* * *

Narrow alleyway, the local Violent Crimes Unit 1 team members are returning to the basement.

The team leader, whose stamina is running low, is lagging behind the most.

“Huff, huff, huff, did we come this many?”

When the team leader bent over and caught his breath, a shadow fell in front of him.

He thought it was a team member taking care of the team leader, so he didn’t even look up and waved his hand, gesturing for them to go first. Catching the guy was the priority.

Swish-

But suddenly, his hand became as hot as if it had been burned. When he looked up, his carotid artery was cut, and blood was gushing out. When he looked ahead, the man the Korean detective had shown in the picture was looking down and smiling.

“Hello?”

Swish- Psh

A long bloodline formed on the team leader’s neck.

Mo Chang-gui didn’t even look at the team leader falling and ran in the direction the other team members had gone. The team leader looked at his back, reached out his hand, and slowly closed his eyes.

Patter patter-

Mo Chang-gui, who already knew the shortcut, quickly narrowed the distance with the team members, and he quickly found the back of one of the team members and ran like crazy.

“Nice to meet you, you bastard!!”

The team member slowed down a little at the unfamiliar voice and turned around. At the same time, Mo Chang-gui’s knife was about to reach his neck.

Crash!!

The wooden door broke, and someone covered Mo Chang-gui. Mo Chang-gui broke through the opposite door and went into the house, hitting the wall hard.

Bang bang bang!!

Shin Hae-soo grabbed Mo Chang-gui by the collar, looked at him, and opened his mouth.

“Nice to meet you too, you son of a bitch.”