The Cop Is Too Strong [EN]: Chapter 150

150. The Theft

A few days prior, Hae-soo called Ahn Seo-eun.

They met at an upscale restaurant where a bamboo forest was visible through the large glass windows.

*Smack, smack.*

The sound of a middle-aged man with snow-white hair chewing his food echoed through the quiet space. Then, a man with a bear-like physique entered.

“Mr. Cheon.”

The middle-aged man, called Mr. Cheon, slightly raised his chopsticks, gesturing for him to speak.

“Team Leader Ban has been dismissed.”

“Oh, is that so.”

Mr. Cheon finished the food in his mouth, wiped his lips with a tissue, and then looked at the large man, Manager Ma.

“What do you think, Manager Ma?”

Asking without a subject was Mr. Cheon’s unique way of speaking. Anyone who couldn’t figure out the subject couldn’t stay by Mr. Cheon’s side for long.

And Manager Ma was the troubleshooter who had worked with Mr. Cheon the longest.

“I think I was underestimating him.”

Manager Ma became more concerned about Shin Hae-soo because of this incident.

Even if Team Leader Ban had carried out the assassination independently, he was still a team leader.

Although he might be slightly less capable in direct combat than the younger employees due to his age, he possessed skills far exceeding his raw combat power because of his extensive experience.

The situation was very different from the previous incidents where employees were ambushed and captured by Shin Hae-soo.

In particular, the fact that he failed in a surprise attack, which was the specialty of company employees, was significant.

After hearing Manager Ma’s thoughts, Mr. Cheon stared blankly into the air before getting up from his seat.

“We made a mistake. Try to reason with that detective.”

Manager Ma’s eyes widened at Mr. Cheon’s conclusion.

He was positively considering it. It meant he was willing to bring someone who wasn’t already a trained employee into the organization.

The method of bringing him in…

“Yes, I understand.”

* * *

On the same day, at the Ahn family’s main residence, the heart of the Daesung Group.

A middle-aged man with graying hair sat on a single sofa, while a woman with striking features and a kind impression, like an actress, sat on a three-person sofa.

“Her behavior hasn’t changed at all.”

The dignified voice echoed through the spacious living room.

The middle-aged man was Ahn Seo-eun’s father and the chairman of the Daesung Group, Ahn Gi-won.

Ahn Seo-eun stared straight at Chairman Ahn and replied without blinking.

“Yes.”

Chairman Ahn sighed softly, picked up the teacup on the table, took a sip, and then put it back down.

*Clunk.*

“I don’t expect you to understand.”

At his gesture, two men and a woman behind him approached Ahn Seo-eun. Seo-eun quickly predicted what they were going to do and frowned, abruptly standing up.

“What are you doing?! Chairman, no, Dad!”

“Stay still; that’s how you’ll survive.”

In the meantime, the two men approached and stood on either side of Seo-eun. And the woman stood facing Seo-eun and bowed lightly.

“Excuse me.”

*Thwack-*

As she tried to touch Seo-eun’s body, Seo-eun knocked away the approaching wrist and glared at Chairman Ahn.

“Are you really going to do this?”

Chairman Ahn took a sip of tea and calmly continued, looking at Seo-eun.

“Forget about clinging to the housekeeper to get out like last time; that woman has been reported for theft.”

*Thud.*

Ahn Seo-eun’s legs gave way at Chairman Ahn’s words, and she slumped back onto the sofa.

For the Daesung Group, dealing with a housekeeper was nothing. However, they wouldn’t fabricate something out of nothing, so they must have turned a small matter into a big deal and sent her to prison.

As she lost her strength, the woman approached again, rummaging through her clothes and confiscating all electronic devices such as her cell phone and watch.

The bodyguards and secretary were newly appointed by the chairman.

She was effectively confined to the Ahn family’s main residence and even had to handle company-related approvals from there.

* * *

In front of the Gangjin Police Station.

As Shin Hae-soo came out, reporters swarmed him.

“Oh, he’s out, he’s out.”

“Detective Shin! Detective Shin, please give us an interview!”

“Is it true that you hit an organized crime member in the head with a blunt weapon even though they didn’t resist during the Mujin gang arrest?”

“You’re always criticized for excessive force; why do you insist on it?!”

“Please transparently reveal how you resolved the hundreds of millions of won in excessive force settlement money with a detective’s salary?!”

Reporters pounced and tore at him like hyenas. Unlike before, the reporters were quickly firing hostile questions.

Hae-soo tried to pass by but stopped and slowly looked around at them.

At his presence, the reporters’ mouths all shut for a moment.

“Come in, to the auditorium like before.”

Hae-soo had no intention of avoiding it.

He gathered the reporters in the auditorium and gave them a warning before starting the interview.

“Before we begin, please recognize that I am a detective from the Violent Crimes Unit. Spreading false information and defamation are subject to punishment.”

“Are you threatening reporters right now?”

Hae-soo turned to the reporter who immediately provoked him, looked him straight in the eye, and nodded.

“Yes.”

The reporters swallowed nervously at Hae-soo’s murderous answer.

“Then, let’s begin.”

However, even Hae-soo’s terrifying energy could not subdue the reporters.

[Violent Crimes Unit Detective Shin of Chungnam, Does Not Regret Excessive Force.]

[Violent Crimes Unit Detective Shin, Says the Law Calling it Excessive Force is Wrong, Targets the Legal Community]

[Violent Crimes Unit Detective Shin, From Debtor to Suddenly a Multi-Billion Won Asset Holder? ‘Just Lucky.’]

Now that Daesung’s barricade was gone, the Commissioner General of Police alone could not stop the flood of articles and the created narrative.

Even though this public opinion could have a real negative impact on the police and damage the police image, Hae-soo suffered less mental damage since he was not a celebrity.

Hae-soo went to visit Ha-ru in the hospital first, rather than looking for Ahn Seo-eun right away.

He entered the hospital and looked around.

Even though public opinion had changed and Ahn Seo-eun wasn’t answering his calls, Ha-ru was hospitalized at Daesung Hospital as usual.

Nevertheless, the hospital was still polite and kind to the police as if nothing had happened, and the treatment costs remained the same.

*Knock knock.*

“I’m coming in.”

He entered the private room and found Ha-ru reading a book instead of using her cell phone, which was unusual, and she greeted Hae-soo.

“Have you come?”

Ha-ru had gauze on her forehead and above her eyes.

At the scene, he was covered in blood, which was worrying, but the injury wasn’t as deep as he thought.

However, Hae-soo was still worried about Ha-ru.

*Thump.*

“Are you okay?”

Hae-soo placed the fruit basket he had bought on the table.

“Yes, I’m fine. I want to go to work tomorrow.”

Hae-soo listened to Ha-ru’s enthusiastic words, remained silent for a moment, and then shook his head.

“You have a three-week diagnosis. Take the full three weeks and come back.”

“…I don’t want to. The hospital is so boring. I’m fine.”

Hae-soo stared at Ha-ru’s eyes and brought up the words he had been thinking about.

“Ha-ru, consider a different department. The Violent Crimes Unit isn’t the best fit for you. It’s often on the front lines, and frankly, there are many roles these days that specifically need female officers. There are plenty of places that need a strong female police officer like you.”

“Um….”

Ha-ru couldn’t bring herself to say that she became a police officer to protect Hae-soo by his side. She couldn’t voice her true feelings in this state.

And as she worked as a police officer, Ha-ru’s sense of duty was gradually growing, like a sprout, so she could partially agree with Hae-soo’s words.

She slightly lowered her head.

“I’ll think about it.”

*Ziiing, ziiing.*

At that moment, Hae-soo’s cell phone rang.

[Chief Gu Savior]

“Yes, Chief Gu, it’s been a while.”

-This isn’t the time to ask how I’ve been! What’s going on? Suddenly, the National Tax Service [Korean IRS] is investigating and making a fuss! What’s going on?

Chief Gu Savior, after consulting with Hae-soo, started an investment company, and now he had ten employees.

“Suddenly?”

-That’s right! Lately, the atmosphere has been a bit strange, and they keep trying to dig up things, especially focusing on President Shin’s assets!

“Isn’t it okay since there’s nothing to be caught?”

-Even if you manage things cleanly, there are so many ways to frame it as illegal if they push it. And even if we get through it well, if word gets out that the company was investigated by the National Tax Service… Ah, anyway, I’m calling to let you know the situation. I’ll hang up now!

“…Yes.”

Hae-soo hung up the phone and stared at it, lost in thought. It seemed that this incident was also related to Daesung.

When they were on his side, they were so reliable, but when an ally who knew him well turned into an enemy, they became more terrifying than anyone else.

Hae-soo turned his head and asked Ha-ru.

“Has Ahn Seo-eun been here?”

“Yes, is something wrong?”

Hae-soo calmly organized his thoughts, sat next to Ha-ru, and opened his mouth. Ha-ru was the only person he could confide everything in.

“Ahn Seo-eun….”

After listening to Hae-soo’s explanation for a while, Ha-ru tilted her head.

“Something’s strange. Ahn Seo-eun isn’t that kind of person.”

“I want to believe that too….”

Hae-soo looked at his watch and got up from his seat.

“Anyway, take good care of yourself. I’m going back.”

“Okay. Be careful. Answer your calls!”

“…Huh? Oh, okay.”

* * *

*Brumble-*

It doesn’t take more than 30 minutes from Daesung Hospital to the Daesung E&M building. Just as he turned on the motorcycle and was about to pull the accelerator, a text message rang.

Seeing the name on the text message, Hae-soo quickly unlocked his phone and checked it.

[Director Ahn Seo-eun: I’m on a business trip abroad. I’m too busy with work here to contact you often. I ask for your understanding.]

“Hmm….”

Since Hae-soo had never exchanged text messages with Ahn Seo-eun, he couldn’t know if her style was originally like this.

While Hae-soo was lost in thought looking at her text message, a new notification appeared on the phone screen.

*Ting-*

A KakaoTalk [Korean messaging app] group chat notification.

[Chin King Cloud: @Detective Shin, are you okay? I saw the articles these days. There are many bad guys. Ignore them all.]

[Chin King Executive Jong: Ignore them! We’ll smash them all!]

[Chin King Executive Eung: I love you, bro!]

Hae-soo chuckled at their small and violent support and sent a KakaoTalk message.

[Shin Chin Shin: Let’s see each other on the weekend.]

Every weekend morning, they do Chin King club activities at the playground with the horizontal bar [pull-up bar]. Hae-soo participated there whenever possible and did pull-ups with them.

* * *

A few days later, public opinion towards the Violent Crimes Unit and Hae-soo remained unfavorable but slowly subsided, and Hae-soo was spending a normal weekend.

He bought a new cell phone for Ha-ru’s broken cell phone at the cell phone store, got on his motorcycle, and was about to start it.

“Everyone in the neighborhood! There’s a thief here! A thief!”

Hae-soo immediately took off his helmet and turned his head towards the shout.

There, a tall, model-like man and a fat man with tattoos on his arm were confronting each other.

“Ah, no, I’m not a thief, I’m the owner of this laptop…”

“Have you ever seen a thief say he’s a thief? Are you not going to let go of this?”

The tattooed man raised his hand to swing at the model man. At that moment.

*Tuk.*

His baby-like chubby wrist was grabbed by a hand with steel-like muscles.

“What, what is it?”

Hae-soo looked at the tattooed man, raised one corner of his mouth, and replied.

“Passing police officer. If you swing that, you’ll also be punished. Put it down and let’s hear the details.”

“Police? What police…!”

He swallowed the words, “Are you like a gangster?” inside.

The tattooed man involuntarily loosened the strength in his eyes at the appearance of a much more ferocious detective than the bosses he had seen so far who put some strength in their shoulders.

“Oh, thank you. Police, I’m wronged.”

The model man’s face was as handsome as his physique, and his tone was cheesy.

The incident was like this. The model man was in a cafe when a woman at the next table suddenly left her laptop on the table and left.

So he picked it up to give it to her and came out in a hurry, but the tattooed man caught him, saying he was a thief.

However, it turned out that the laptop woman had reserved her seat with the laptop while she went out for a meal.

Strictly speaking, the model man could be punished legally, but the laptop owner checked the cafe’s internal CCTV and did not want the model man to be punished, so it passed as a happening.

“Oh, police, thank you so much. I almost filmed ‘Royce Prison Break’.”

The man who introduced himself as Royce Kim said that he had lived abroad for a long time and came to Korea this time.

Hae-soo explained the security of Korea to this innocent man in a calm tone.

“Korea has very good security and public awareness. Even if you leave your cell phone, wallet, or laptop in your seat, they won’t take it for hours. It’s probably because there are CCTV cameras and black boxes in almost every place.”

Royce Kim gave a thumbs up.

“I see. Amazing! What’s your name, cool friend?”

“I’m Shin Hae….”

Hae-soo stopped walking with Royce Kim. The motorcycle that was here was gone.