The Cop Is Too Strong [EN]: Chapter 139

139. Rescue

In the hospital room.

“I told you, it wasn’t me. I just heard about the incident and thought I’d scare them a little…”

Park Ji-won, his eyes half-closed, oozed resentment as he pleaded his innocence.

The team leader sighed softly and extended a hand to Oh Gyeong. Oh Gyeong took out a plastic bag from his bag.

Inside was the wig that Park Ji-won had been wearing, disguised as a woman, as seen on the motel’s car’s black box footage.

The team leader held it out to Park Ji-won and continued.

“You used a good wig, huh? Human hair. Thanks to you, we found out that the hair found at the scene and the hair from this wig have matching DNA. What this means is, no matter how much you deny it, there’s clear evidence, and you’ll be convicted of murder.”

The team leader handed the plastic bag back to Oh Gyeong, stood up, and looked down at him, spitting out the words as if he wanted to devour him.

“Looking at your eyes, you still don’t get it. Your statement is the kind of statement that deserves aggravated punishment from a heartless bastard who killed someone by sealing their breathing holes with adhesive, and instead of repenting, you’re making excuses, you son of a bitch!”

Park Ji-won stared blankly at the wig, then lowered his head and let out a hollow laugh.

“Ha.”

The team leader leaned in slightly, making eye contact with him again.

“This isn’t your first time, is it? We’ll find everything once we trace your history anyway. Confess now, and you’ll get a reduced sentence, and we’ll have less work to do.”

“Ah… there is something I need to tell you.”

The team leader nodded several times, listening intently.

“There’s one person I caught and haven’t killed yet.”

“…What?”

The team leader looked at him again with contempt. He wore a bitter smile, as if amused, and continued.

“They say you die if you don’t drink water for three days, right? I was curious, so I kept her alive to experiment. It’s been… two days now?”

“Hyung [older brother/term of endearment for a close male friend], this bastard is lying, he’s trying to make us suffer…”

“Han Seo-young, born in ’97, works at Brain Color in Gasu-dong.”

At the mention of the specific victim’s identity, Oh Gyeong and the team leader’s faces hardened. The team leader looked at Oh Gyeong, who turned around and called the intelligence department.

“Yes, I need a background check. Han Seo-young, born in ’97, works at Brain Color in Gasu-dong. Yes, please send me her and her family’s contact information.”

Park Ji-won watched this and continued.

“As expected of you capable people, you’ll quickly realize that what I’m saying is true. Now, if you let me go, that woman lives, but if not…”

He pointed at the team leader and Oh Gyeong with his index finger and opened his mouth.

“You detectives will be the ones killing that woman.”

The team leader’s eyes wavered for a moment.

Oh Gyeong called Han Seo-young, the suspected victim, her family, and the company to find out more.

The company said she hadn’t been to work for several days, and her family hadn’t been able to reach her, so they had reported her missing last night.

With time of the essence, Team Leader Kwak went back to request support from other violent crime teams, and Hae-soo and Haru, having heard the story from Oh Gyeong, burst into the hospital room as if to break down the door.

Creak- Bang!

Park Ji-won, seeing Haru’s appearance, who looked much scarier than Hae-soo in terms of both impression and muscle, hurriedly covered his eyes with his hands and cowered.

Hae-soo strode over, grabbed his hair, and slammed his head onto the hospital bed’s meal table.

Thud! Thud! Bang!

“Guh, guh-ack! Th-the police are killing someone here!! Cough!”

Hae-soo grabbed his Adam’s apple to prevent him from screaming and growled like a beast as he asked.

“Where is Han Seo-young?”

Park Ji-won glanced at Haru, gritted his teeth, and barely managed to utter one word at a time.

“L-l-let m-me g-go f-first… then I’ll s-save th-that w-woman…”

Even with his nose broken and blood dripping, he was desperate.

No matter how much he gets beaten here, the detectives can’t kill a criminal who isn’t resisting.

As such, he would never reveal Han Seo-young’s location, his only escape route.

Hae-soo, reading that stubbornness in his eyes, spoke with Oh Gyeong and then went out into the hospital corridor to radio the team leader.

“He’s desperate.”

-Haa… that bastard, what to do? If we let him go, he’ll definitely run away. He probably won’t go to save her, no matter what happens to Han Seo-young…

“Even so, we have no choice but to try something rather than leave it like this.”

-That’s true, but we’re already short on staff, and we can’t just assign one or two people to track that bastard…

Hae-soo glanced at Haru, who was stuck to the hospital room door, glaring at Park Ji-won inside through the small window.

“Let’s assign just one expert.”

-Huh? Expert?

“Yes, an expert.”

Thus, the Violent Crimes Unit unusually released the criminal, secretly attaching a tracking device to him, and assigned Haru, the most skilled at tailing, to follow him.

And the rest of the team began searching for Han Seo-young.

* * *

Park Ji-won stretched languidly as he came out of the hospital.

“These moronic bastards, really, heh heh, augh!”

He frowned, rubbing the bandages on his wrists where he had been stabbed with wooden chopsticks, and moved his feet.

“There must be about two or three people tailing me, how should I shake them off…”

He took a taxi, then a subway, then a bus, changed his clothes frequently, bought a new wig, and even dressed as a woman, making a fuss to shake off the tail.

As the team leader said, his actions showed that he didn’t care whether Han Seo-young lived or died.

Swish.

Even so.

Haru persistently followed him without missing him once.

* * *

No matter how urgent it is, searching randomly is inefficient.

The detectives first began analyzing CCTV footage to determine when and where the missing Han Seo-young’s trail had been lost.

Park Ji-won had not used his own car in the two crimes, so they searched under the assumption that he hadn’t used it.

“Han Seo-young went home on foot after work, right? Check the CCTV on the way from the company to her house!”

“I’m checking the CCTV in front of her house, but she didn’t come home?”

“She didn’t have any appointments with friends either, so it must be in between.”

“Here! She was last seen at the Seolhwa Apartment intersection in Yangseok-dong, and then it cuts off.”

By checking the last location on her phone and the last location of Han Seo-young seen on CCTV, they roughly determined the search area.

Team Leader Kwak jumped up from his seat and shouted to the Violent Crimes Unit and team members.

“Damn it, the area is too wide, it’s time to run on foot! Call all available patrol officers in the vicinity! Find her as quickly as possible! Everyone move!!”

“Yes, sir!”

“Let’s go!”

The detectives rushed out of the Violent Crimes Unit office.

Since both cases, including the attempted one, were committed in motels, they prioritized motels and began searching them all.

In preparation for the worst, they also had an ambulance waiting in the search area in advance.

‘Don’t appear, don’t appear…’

Hae-soo hoped for the first time that his future vision ability would not manifest.

This ability only appears an hour before the victim dies.

If it manifests, even if he obtains a hint through it and finds her, it would likely be too late to save the victim.

Beep.

-No one in Zone 3.

-No one in Zone 7.

-Zone 4 is also empty.

-I can’t find her no matter how much I search in Zone 1.

-Haa…

Searching private homes for a missing person is as difficult as it gets. If they refuse the search, it’s impossible without a warrant.

After about three hours of not finding any results or hints.

“Sir, senior, could it be that the victim Han Seo-young is already…”

Just as the youngest member was about to say the pessimistic story that everyone was thinking but not voicing, Hae-soo’s vision turned black.

-Hoo…

A dark room, a ceiling, and moldy walls are visible. It seems she’s lying on her side.

Even if she closes and opens her mouth again, it’s dry and painful. She can’t breathe properly.

If only she could cry, she would at least drink that, but even tears don’t come out in this desperate situation.

-Keu…eu…

It’s too uncomfortable to breathe. It feels like her throat has been slit with a knife.

She’s dying of thirst.

She feels like she knows what dying of thirst is.

The shadow of death looms.

Her vision is gradually blurring. A faint light enters through the only small window, about twenty centimeters wide. She sees a red light there.

However, her vision is too blurry to know what kind of light it is.

-Sa…ve…me…

Her eyes are so dry that she can’t even blink. She wants to close her eyes, but she can’t.

-Plea…se…

Her vision stops there, and the black curtain is lifted.

“Cough, cough, cough, huh-ack!”

“S-senior! Senior!!”

Hae-soo’s eyes widened as he grabbed the youngest member who had rushed to support him by the collar and took a breath.

It’s not the time to catch his breath. The victim is still dying of thirst.

“She’s alive, she’s still alive.”

He lists everything he saw in the future vision.

“Red, low place, a place where you can see other buildings through the window, semi-basement or first floor, up to the second floor, no car sounds, the surroundings were quiet…”

“Senior, what are you talking about…”

“Red, we need to find red.”

His mind doesn’t work as well because he’s in a hurry. But right now, this alone doesn’t provide any clues.

Hae-soo frowned and picked up the phone.

He knew that the victim Han Seo-young was really alive due to the future vision and was in danger of dying of thirst.

The lives of the criminal and the victim, he naturally bets on the more valuable side.

-Yes.

“Catch Park Ji-won and find out where he imprisoned Han Seo-young, in your way, quickly.”

-Understood.

* * *

Park Ji-won entered a club dressed as a woman and came out through the back door.

“At this point, even if it’s not a detective, even if it’s a detective’s grandfather, I’ve shaken off the tail…”

At that moment, Haru jumped out in front of him.

“Heop!”

Haru took off his wig, grabbed his hair, and dragged him into a corner alley.

“Ah, ah, let go! Let’s talk!”

Click, click-

Haru handcuffed his arms and legs, took a handful of trash from the trash can next to him, and stuffed it into his mouth.

Then, he placed his hands, which were neatly gathered due to the handcuffs, on the stone floor, took out a truncheon, and mercilessly slammed the end of it, like a hammer, onto his thumb without unfolding it.

Thwack!

“Eueup!!”

Bang, bang, bang, crack, crumble

“Eureureueuebeup!!”

Park Ji-won’s mind became muddled from the tremendous pain he was feeling for the first time in his life.

Haru stared at him silently. When their eyes met, Haru slammed down on his other finger again.

Thwack, thwack, crumble, thud!

After fainting once and slamming the fourth finger, Park Ji-won screamed in a frenzy.

“Eueeeack! Tell, tell!!”

Haru took out the trash stuffed in his mouth with dry eyes. He drooled and opened his mouth.

“Hee-ack, hee-ack, instead of me-”

Thwack!

“Kkeuaaaack!! Yangseok-dong, Yangseok-dong semi-basement!”

Haru called Hae-soo with the truncheon in his hand.

* * *

Less than five minutes after Hae-soo called Haru, Haru called again.

“Yeah.”

-Yangseok-dong semi-basement, I don’t know the exact address. He says it’s in the direction from GPS26 to Sangseon Apartment. I’m taking him there for now.

“Okay, good work.”

The location has been narrowed down, but he still has to find it. Time is of the essence.

“The specific location is out. Search the semi-basements in the direction from GPS26 to Sangseon Apartment.”

-Huh? Dolgyeok [Sudden attack/raid], how did you know that?

“I had Officer Ha do it.”

-Really? Ah, should I have done that sooner?

“There will be problems [meaning it’s not always reliable].”

-Okay, anyway, let’s all go to that location and find her quickly!

Hae-soo, the detectives, and the police officers went there and started searching for the semi-basements again.

A fork in the road appeared in front of them. The search area was wider than expected, and there was no time.

‘Damn it, it’s already been over 20 minutes…’

At that moment, Hae-soo’s footsteps stopped. At the end of his gaze, a cross was emitting a bright red light.

“Senior?”

“A cross, it was a cross.”

“A cross?”

Hae-soo ignored the youngest member’s question and ran left at the fork in the road.

Recalling the vision he saw in the future, he headed to a location with a similar angle. One semi-basement is visible. There is a security window, so you can’t break the glass inside to check. The window is tightly closed, and a musty smell rises from here.

“Han Seo-young! Han Seo-young!!”

Hae-soo quickly turned around the wall and headed to the semi-basement entrance. It is firmly locked with an iron door. Hae-soo immediately raised his foot and kicked the doorknob.

Bang! Crack!!

Breaking the doorknob and entering, he saw a young woman with her arms and legs tied behind her back.

Her back is bent like a bow, and her hands and feet are touching her back, making it impossible to stand up at all in a terrible posture.

Hae-soo immediately picked up the walkie-talkie.

“Found Han Seo-young. Ogiro 43beon-gil 20 semi-basement.”

Then, he approached Han Seo-young, knelt down, took out a folding knife from his pocket, cut the rope, and looked at her face.

The vitality in her eyes is disappearing. She doesn’t seem to have heard Hae-soo’s voice either.

Hae-soo took out a handkerchief and a bottle of water he had prepared in advance from his pocket, wet the handkerchief with water, and put it to her lips.

The focus in her eyes seems to be reviving in real time with just that moisture.

Hope, the hope she had given up, is reviving and bringing her back to life.

Hae-soo made eye contact with her and opened his mouth.

“Han Seo-young, I’m a police officer. You’re okay now.”