The Cop Is Too Strong [EN]: Chapter 127

127. Uncommon Loyalty

As Shin Hae-soo hurriedly exited the interrogation room, Ha-ru stopped what she was doing and looked at him.

“Officer Ha.”

“Yes.”

Ha-ru immediately stood up and followed Hae-soo. They hadn’t worked together long, but perhaps because they lived together, their teamwork was excellent.

“Wh-what is it?!”

“Park Je-won seems to be in danger. Team Leader, please interrogate Kang Sa-hyun.”

“Huh… Understood.”

Leaving Team Leader Kwak behind, Hae-soo headed to the parking lot, picking up his phone again.

[The phone is turned off…]

“Damn it!”

Hae-soo got into the driver’s seat and called Jung Young-soo this time.

– Yo, Detective Shin.

“Track this number’s location, now.”

– Yes! Tracking immediately!

As he started towards Goam-dong, where the informant Park Je-won lived, he received a text from Jung Young-soo in less than five minutes.

Hae-soo quickly handed the phone to Ha-ru.

“Text.”

“To Goam-dong trail… I’ll enter it into the navigation.”

“Okay.”

Vroom-

Hae-soo stepped hard on the accelerator as he answered.

The last location of Park Je-won’s phone before it was turned off was the playground across from Mugunghwa Apartment. Slightly south from there…

Screech-

Hae-soo and Ha-ru parked there, got out of the car, and looked around.

Then, they saw three burly men gathered in an alley. Hae-soo strode towards them.

As he got closer, the man with the mustache noticed Hae-soo approaching and turned around. His face looked familiar.

He remembered. They were the members of the Fight Cafe he had personally given moral education to.

“What, why are you guys gathered here?”

“D-Detective Shin Hae-soo…”

“Gasp!”

“Huh.”

The three of them flinched or took a step back as if they had agreed to it.

One of them was holding a broken phone. It was the same model as Park Je-won’s phone. The location was the same, so it was highly likely to be his.

Hae-soo pointed at the phone with his index finger and asked.

“Why do you have that?”

Their faces filled with embarrassment.

“Uh, ah…”

“Th-that, this!”

“Hey, guys, we didn’t do anything wrong, and it’s good that Detective Shin is here…!”

The man who stepped forward was the one who had first swung his fist at him when they met before, the one who called himself Cloud, a nationally known fighter.

Cloud took a deep breath, took a step towards Hae-soo, hesitated, and then stepped back, saying.

“D-Detective Shin, we’ve now created and are running a healthy pull-up club. The club name is Pull-Up Champ, and the target is not people who exercise a lot but people who need exercise…”

“So.”

He gulped, feeling the pressure from Hae-soo’s eyes, which seemed to say, ‘Just get to the point quickly,’ and continued in a trembling voice.

“The owner of this phone looked like he needed exercise, so we were just trying to recommend pull-ups. We never threatened him… He ran away. Dropped his phone too…”

“Hmm…”

At least the part about creating a pull-up club didn’t seem like a lie. All three of them had more developed lats [Latissimus dorsi muscles, large back muscles] and traps [Trapezius muscles, muscles spanning the neck and upper back] than before.

And in the first place, the Fight Cafe members, whose bravado dominated their brains, thought lying was unmanly.

“Which way did he go, this way?”

When Hae-soo pointed his index finger behind them, all three nodded at the same time.

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Spread out and find that person, and when you find him, tell him I sent you first. So he doesn’t run away, and call me, you have my number, right?”

They took out their phones and shouted, raising them high.

“We do!”

“We have it saved with honor!”

“Okay, find him, if you don’t find him, you’ll end up like that phone. Got it?”

Hae-soo pointed his index finger at the broken phone this time, and the members flinched.

“Gasp!”

“Huh-”

“Yes, we understand!”

“Go!”

As if Hae-soo’s words were some kind of button, the Pull-Up Champ members scattered in all directions.

Ha-ru decided to wait at the playground in case Park Je-won came back, and Hae-soo went to look for him head-on.

Less than five minutes after they split up to search, his phone vibrated.

Vrrr-

[Fight Cloud]

“Did you find him?”

– Yes, Detective Shin! He’s here! He stopped when I said Detective Shin sent me.

“Let me talk to him.”

– Yes? Yes, yes, sir, they want you to answer the phone. Get closer, it’s really Detective Shin. Ah…

Soon, Park Je-won’s voice was heard. It sounded like he was talking from very far away. He was speaking on speakerphone, keeping a distance.

– He, hello?

“This is Shin Hae-soo. It’s true that I sent those guys, so don’t worry and come back to the playground where you dropped your phone earlier with them.”

– Ah, whew… I thought these people were sent by my wife… I didn’t know Detective Shin would come so quickly. I’m really touched. The Korean cops… no, I’ve really misunderstood the police. You’re the best! I…

“Yes, come on over. I’ll be waiting.”

Park Je-won rambled on, as if his tension had been relieved just by confirming Hae-soo’s voice.

Soon, Pull-Up Champ leader Cloud brought Park Je-won, and since it was a misunderstanding, Park Je-won decided to take care of the phone situation himself.

Hae-soo looked around at the Pull-Up Champ members as they gathered again, made eye contact with leader Cloud, and said.

“Good job, keep up the healthy activities like now, and I’ll be watching.”

“W-watching…”

“It’s an honor! I’ll give my loyalty!”

“I’ll give my loyalty!”

The Pull-Up Champ members even saluted with sharp precision. Hae-soo strangely felt the energy of his youngest, Woo Kang-cheol, from them.

Loyalty that he had never fostered was emanating from them.

“Uh, well, okay.”

He walked away from them and headed to the car with Park Je-won.

“Where were you headed? Do you have your own car?”

“Ah, this is my parents’ house. I just came out to buy cigarettes… I have to go back in now.”

“Yes, then… you’ll have to replace your phone.”

“Ah, that’s right. I understand.”

As soon as he sent him off, got in the car, and grabbed the steering wheel, Ha-ru’s face came close.

A subtle scent wafted over. She doesn’t even wear perfume, but she has a nice scent that makes him feel strange.

“What, why.”

“Those people are interesting.”

“Really?”

“They have a high level of loyalty to Senior Shin. They pass.”

“What exactly are they passing?”

Ha-ru smiled and moved her face away. Has her smiling face always been this natural?

At that moment, the radio crackled.

– This is Oh Gyeong! Lee Eung-tae noticed and ran, Detective, please track this bastard’s location.

– Son of a… Understood.

Hae-soo listened to the radio and immediately called Jung Young-soo to stop tracking Park Je-won’s location, gave him Lee Eung-tae’s number, and headed straight there.

* * *

At the same time, Team Leader Kwak sat crookedly on the interrogation table, crunching on the almonds in his hand.

After eating three like that without saying a word, he dropped Kang Sa-hyun’s confiscated phone on the table.

The phone screen showed the conversation between Kang Sa-hyun and her lover, Lee Eung-tae.

Kang Sa-hyun’s pupils widened as she saw it. She had clearly deleted the entire conversation after this police investigation began.

“What era is it now? Restoring this much is nothing.”

The conversation in their chat room revealed in great detail their conspiracy to murder her husband, Park Je-won.

The fact that people who conspired to commit a second murder were not meticulous helped the Violent Crimes Unit.

“Where is he? Lee Eung-tae.”

“I don’t know, would I tell you if I did?”

“Don’t talk back. I think I’m old enough to be your *ddi-dong-gap*, so are we the same age? Do you want to be friends with me?” [*Ddi-dong-gap* refers to someone who is exactly one zodiac cycle (12 years) older or younger in the Korean age system.]

As he approached familiarly, Kang Sa-hyun looked at him with a disgusted look and moved her body back.

“Crazy…!”

The team leader chuckled, moved his body back again, and said, chewing on almonds.

“Anyway, the circumstances and evidence are clear, so imprisonment is certain, and the problem is the verdict. But *대한민국* [Republic of Korea] law is strange; the person who directly carries out the act is more severely punished than the person who ordered it, even though they were ordered to do it? Whether it’s unfair or not, the crime of the person who holds the knife and stabs is considered greater than the person who handed the knife over.”

Originally, it depends on how much coercion the person who ordered it had and what the will of the person who carried it out was.

The team leader suddenly narrowed his eyes, leaned forward, brought his face close to Kang Sa-hyun, and whispered.

“But if that bastard isn’t caught? Then you’ll receive all that punishment, lightly living 2 years instead of 15 years, is that man that important?”

Kang Sa-hyun’s pupils shook as if there was an earthquake at the team leader’s words.

The team leader gave a meaningful smile. Through more than a decade of being a detective, he had learned the only advantage (?) of bad guys.

Without exception, they have absolutely no loyalty.

* * *

At that time, Hae-soo’s team and Oh Gyeong’s team were searching around the location where Lee Eung-tae’s phone had been turned off.

– Lee Eung-tae’s location is out.

The radio crackled. It was Team Leader Kwak.

“Where is he?”

– He ran to a rural village in Saman. I’m sending you the address.

– As expected, Detective, good work.

“Yes, good work.”

– You guys do the work.

Hae-soo immediately headed to the hideout that the team leader had given him with Ha-ru.

Oh Gyeong and the youngest arrived at the hideout almost simultaneously.

The place was a desolate rural area with only a few greenhouses.

Oh Gyeong waited in the car in case the guy tried to escape by car or other means of transportation, the youngest blocked the only escape route, and Hae-soo and Ha-ru slowly approached the greenhouse.

Like a cat approaching its prey, they moved stealthily, suppressing their breath and sound.

Rustle rustle

– Hehehe

They listened at the door and felt a presence. Ha-ru seemed to feel it too, and she made eye contact with Hae-soo. Then, she moved to a different side than the door Hae-soo was about to enter.

Creak-

With what confidence, the door wasn’t even locked. Hae-soo carefully opened the door and entered the greenhouse.

There, Lee Eung-tae was leaning his phone against an old table, playing a variety show loudly, and eating *jajangmyeon*, his profile visible. [*Jajangmyeon* is a Korean-Chinese noodle dish with black bean sauce.]

“Hehe, heh, ha, funny, slurrp”

Hae-soo narrowed his eyes, looked at him, and opened his mouth.

“Is it fun?”

At the unfamiliar voice, Lee Eung-tae jumped up from his seat and turned his head.

“What the fuck!”

He threw the pot of *jajangmyeon* at Hae-soo, pulled a hand axe from his chest, and ran out the back door.

He could attack since he had a weapon, but Hae-soo’s monstrous strength, which had easily subdued him with one hand in the sea, made him give up the thought of attacking early on.

Bang!

As soon as he kicked open the back door, he was met by Ha-ru, wearing a black mask and a hood pulled down low.

“Get out of the way, fucker!”

Lee Eung-tae swung the hand axe at Ha-ru without hesitation.

Whoosh-

Ha-ru moved one step to the side and extended her baton forward. The baton was not extended. If it was extended long, it could retract again when stabbing.

Due to Ha-ru’s close-quarters combat style, the length of the baton was only a hindrance.

Thwack!

“Argh!”

The end of the baton struck Lee Eung-tae’s wrist. Lee Eung-tae had swung his hand with all his might at the approaching baton, causing it to collide.

He dropped the axe due to the stinging pain that felt like his wrist bone was fractured, and in the meantime, Ha-ru quickly extended it once more.

Thunk!

“Cough!”

This time, the baton stabbed Lee Eung-tae’s Adam’s apple, and he staggered back, coughing, until he was blocked by something heavy like a rock behind him.

Thud

A thick hand strongly grabbed his hair. A devilish voice was heard in his ear.

“You came to me?”

At the same time, Lee Eung-tae’s body floated up, spun around in the air as if he was turning around, and then slammed into the ground.

Thwack!!