The Cop Is Too Strong [EN]: Chapter 168

161. Can I bum a light?

As Team Leader Kwak listened to Kim Hoon’s words, he immediately thought of the man who had asked for a light at the pork belly restaurant.

He held the phone between his ear and shoulder, placing both hands on the keyboard as he spoke.

“What did he look like? Do you remember?”

-Um… well, I don’t think he had a very memorable face.

“Did he wear glasses?”

-I don’t think he wore glasses.

“Perhaps his eyes, nose, lips, and face size were all just average?”

-Ah… yes, yes, I think so. I remember the conversation, but I don’t really remember his face. Just a nerdy type, but with a scary feeling. Even though I retired from being an athlete a long time ago, I don’t usually get intimidated by ordinary people.”

“I see. Was his hair straight or curly?”

-I don’t really remember that either…

“Is there anything else you can remember?”

-Well, for now… I’ll call you if I think of anything else.

“Alright. Thank you for the call!”

As soon as the team leader hung up, the team members swarmed around him. Seeing his phone call and sparkling eyes, they realized he had caught a break.

“Guys, when does a hunter who hunts perfectly let his guard down?”

Hae-soo immediately answered the team leader’s sudden question.

“When they’re not hunting.”

The team leader looked at Hae-soo and snapped his fingers.

“That’s right, let’s go.”

“Where to?”

“To the pork belly restaurant.”

“Huh?”

“Eung?”

There is no hard evidence that he is the culprit. He came to find Kim Hoon at least two months ago, so CCTV records won’t be available.

No traces or evidence were found at the three murder scenes, and he wasn’t even caught on CCTV.

Even the back view captured during the recent Kang Cheol-kwon case, a Taekwondo master, cannot be confirmed to be the same person, and it can be regarded as not being captured since it was a back view.

The time when such a thorough person makes a mistake is when there is no need to be thorough.

Team Leader Kwak grabbed his car keys and walked towards the headquarters door. The team members, not knowing what was going on, hurriedly gathered their things and followed him.

“Oh Gyeong-ah, do you remember the guy I was talking to when I was smoking?”

“Uh, yeah, I remember. Your face turned pale. Why, what about that guy?”

“Let’s find footage of that guy’s face.”

“I didn’t see that guy’s face.”

“Ah, really? Let’s just go, go go!”

The Violent Crimes Unit immediately went to the pork belly restaurant and began collecting all the CCTV footage and black box recordings from nearby.

“…So, you’re saying that the guy we saw back then is a suspect? How?”

“It’s the back view, the phone call with Kim Hoon, anyway, it’s complicated. Let’s go and talk about it there.”

“Okay, okay.”

Team Leader Kwak was the only one who knew his face accurately, so he was anxious.

And, someone was watching them from the top of a three-story building near the pork belly restaurant.

* * *

They returned to the Violent Crimes Unit headquarters with a large amount of collected material.

The team leader explained why he had a hunch and described the man’s face in words for efficient analysis.

“Uh, so he looks very ordinary. Eyes are normal size, nose is a bit… tall? No, just normal. Lips are moderate, hair is straight and the length is moderate too? Clothes… I think they were achromatic [neutral colors], but I can’t remember. Ah, and he had calluses on his hands, especially deep on his thumb and index finger.”

Oh Gyeong frowned as he listened.

“Why don’t you just draw a composite sketch?”

“Ah… damn it, I’ll try for now.”

Team Leader Kwak picked up a black marker and began to draw a composite sketch seriously on the whiteboard. He drew it with such care that he was sweating, but….

“This is….”

“Let’s pretend we didn’t see that.”

“Hey, seriously… wow, really… even our Ha-yoon draws better than this.”

“Ah, damn it, that’s why I said I wouldn’t draw it!”

“How can a person be like this?”

The team leader crossed his arms at the sketch that looked like scribbles and pushed away Oh Gyeong, who was approaching, and shouted.

“Anyway, find him quickly! Time is gold!”

“Yes sir!”

“Understood!”

As he knew the face accurately, Team Leader Kwak analyzed the CCTV footage the most diligently.

At that moment.

Zhee-ing, zhee-ing

Team Leader Kwak’s phone rang. It was his wife.

It wasn’t his wife’s usual quitting time, and she had never called at this hour, so the team leader answered the phone despite being busy.

“Uh, uh.”

The team leader’s eyes were still on the monitor. But even before he could hear his wife’s voice, the brief silence felt strange.

-Honey…

The team leader stopped what he was doing and asked, hearing his wife’s unusual tone.

“What’s wrong?”

-Eun-jeong got hit by a hit-and-run motorcycle…

Deureureuk

The team leader immediately got up from his seat.

“Where are you? I’ll go now.”

Team Leader Kwak left the headquarters with the most serious face in the world. Oh Gyeong grabbed the other team members who were trying to follow the team leader and ask what was going on, and sent a text message instead.

-Oh Gyeong: Hyung [term for older brother or respected male figure], tell me what’s going on when you have time.

* * *

Team Leader Kwak headed straight to the hospital where his daughter Kwak Eun-jeong was hospitalized.

Eun-jeong was on her way to school when she collided with a motorcycle and fell badly, injuring her wrist and leg. Fortunately, her life was not in danger, but the father’s heart broke when he saw his daughter with bandages all over her body.

“You don’t remember the license plate number, do you? Do you remember what the motorcycle looked like? Was the person wearing a helmet? Is there anywhere else that hurts?”

Team Leader Kwak looked at Eun-jeong with tired eyes, having not slept properly for several days, and asked her this and that.

His eyes were slightly moist. It wasn’t his fault, but he felt sorry that he was working at that time and couldn’t protect her.

The daughter stared at her father quietly and smiled.

“It’s okay, Dad, I’m okay. You’re very busy right now, catch the culprit first. I’ll leave this to the other police officers.”

Everything she said was right. In fact, he knew what was more important in the current situation.

No, he hated and was tormented by the fact that he was weighing what was more important.

“Ha… Dad is sorry, sorry, my daughter….”

“I said it’s okay, Dad, go now.”

Team Leader Kwak met with the detectives in charge of the hit-and-run case, asked them to take good care of it, and left the hospital to return to headquarters.

“Hoo….”

It was already dark. The team leader walked weakly.

His daughter was hit by a hit-and-run, and the fact that her father, a police officer, was leaving the case to others and taking on another case was too painful.

He came out of the back gate of the hospital, put a cigarette in his mouth under the well-decorated park streetlights, and picked up his cell phone.

He checked the text message Oh Gyeong sent him just now and closed his cell phone again.

At that moment, a shadow loomed silently.

Swoosh

“Excuse me, can I bum a light?”

The team leader’s eyes widened slightly. His pupils trembled slightly.

The same voice, the same line as back then.

He definitely knew and came looking for him.

The opponent is a skilled person who went to martial arts masters and killed them with his bare hands. He doesn’t have other team members with him, and he’s not an opponent he can beat alone like this.

He didn’t bring a gun because it wasn’t a dispatch [official assignment].

There are no people around. He will also have a knife to stab and finish when he is done killing.

Subduing him with bare hands like the others and then finishing him off with a knife? Unlike the martial arts masters, the purpose of coming to him is different, so he may rush at him with a knife from the beginning.

In that instant, Team Leader Kwak thought of tens of thousands of things, and his hand lifted the lighter and lit it for him.

“Ah, yes.”

He glanced at his face and saw that it was the same man from back then. He pretended not to recognize him and turned his head again.

However, Team Leader Kwak clearly saw it. The smirk on the man’s lips.

“Sss, hoo….”

The man took a long, leisurely puff of smoke and looked at the team leader.

“Did you find the picture of my face, sir?”

It’s 100%. Team Leader Kwak threw the cigarette at his face and kicked him in the stomach.

* * *

Zhee-ing

It’s Team Leader Kwak’s phone. Oh Gyeong answered the phone immediately before the second vibration rang.

“Hey, Hyung, what’s wrong?”

-Excuse me, can I bum a light?

A strange voice is heard in the distance. Did he dial the wrong number? But he didn’t hang up the phone because of Team Leader Kwak’s serious face when he left the headquarters and the ominous feeling.

Oh Gyeong got up from his seat, pressed the speakerphone, and turned off the microphone.

Other team members noticed his strange behavior and approached, and Oh Gyeong put his index finger to his lips, gesturing to be quiet, and they all listened.

-Ah, yes

-Sss hoo-

-Did you find the picture of my face, sir?

Oh Gyeong’s eyes widened. He made eye contact with the youngest member, who had the same expression.

Hae-soo gently pressed down on the youngest member’s shoulder and said quietly.

“Track Team Leader’s phone location.”

“Yes, yep.”

The youngest member took out his cell phone to call the Information Division and went outside the headquarters.

Hae-soo also grabbed his motorcycle keys, told Haru to keep him informed of the situation in real time, and left the headquarters.

Brrr, brrr

As soon as Hae-soo started the motorcycle, he immediately called Young-soo and asked him to send Team Leader Kwak’s phone location by text message every minute.

Oh Gyeong also roughly realized how the situation was unfolding as he saw Hae-soo leaving, grabbed his car keys, and moved to the van.

The youngest member, who was calling the Information Division, and Haru also followed Oh Gyeong and got into the van.

Even at that moment, strange noises continued to be heard over the phone.

Kwagwang, kwang kwang! Pow! Pow-

Pit, cheee-

-Keo, keoheok

Only groans can be heard, but anyone can tell it’s Team Leader Kwak’s. Oh Gyeong turned on the ignition, trembling.

“Q, quickly, let’s go.”

-I guess, why did you have such a good memory for no reason… close your eyes.

Wooddeuk!

A terrible sound was heard over the receiver, and Oh Gyeong slammed the steering wheel with both hands and shouted.

“You son of a bitch!!”

“Oh Gyeong Hyung, Hyung, calm down, you must calm down!! I’ll drive, I’ll drive.”

Oh Gyeong stepped on the accelerator deeply while shedding tears, and the youngest member tried to switch places with him but failed and continuously checked the location received from the Information Division.

At that moment, a voice suddenly got closer.

-Look at this… how fun.

Ttuk

The culprit found the phone that was connected to the call. The phone was cut off, and when he called again, it was already turned off.

Oh Gyeong opened his mouth with a pale face.

“R, request support, police box, release all the patrol cars in the nearby police box!! You son of a bitch!”

“Yes, yep!”

The youngest member’s hands were also trembling as he called the Dongbu Police Station.

* * *

Shin Hae-soo received the location from Jung Young-soo and arrived at the scene.

The location tracking has a margin of error of 50 meters in front. There was nothing immediately visible.

It had been 30 minutes since he received a text message from Haru, who was moving in another car, saying that Team Leader Kwak seemed to have already been attacked.

“Reset, reset! Reset!!”

No matter how much he shouted reset, time would not go back. It seemed that he could only reset if he arrived exactly at the place where the person was murdered or the place where they were murdered.

Hae-soo rode his motorcycle and searched the surroundings like crazy. But the team leader was not easily found.

He keyed the radio out of frustration. Support from the police box would arrive soon, but time was running out.

“Is it not yet?”

-I can’t see him here, you son of a bitch! Where the hell is he!

Hae-soo also cursed and searched anxiously, and finally found a place where a large amount of blood had been spilled.

“Park near the back gate of the hospital, bench at 12 o’clock, a large amount of blood found….”

-Ah…

The blood had not yet hardened and the color had not changed. Not much time had passed. The amount is considerable.

It looked like a murder scene, but the reset still didn’t work.

Hae-soo began to fall into despair.

He did not wait for the support team to arrive and followed the trail of blood.

Familiar clothes can be seen through the bushes. Hae-soo rushed towards it.

Tuk

Hae-soo’s hand lost strength and dropped the radio he was holding.

On the floor, Team Leader Kwak was coldly frozen with his eyes wide open.

“T, Team Leader, Team Leader? Team Leader Kwak!”

Hae-soo was temporarily unable to come to his senses from the shock as if he had been hit with a hammer.

This is not the time. After checking the time, 50 minutes had already passed since the estimated time of death.

Hae-soo shouted immediately without hesitation.

‘Reset!’

Immediately, the night sky covered the world in black, and a completely different sight unfolded.

“…So far, we’ve seen District 32-1, and Oh Gyeong Hyung should look from 40 onwards.”

“Ah, it’s not that important right now, hmm, where did Hyung go.”

Inside the Violent Crimes Unit headquarters.

Hae-soo was standing blankly in the center of the headquarters with a dazed expression.

The image of him as a cold corpse could not be erased from his eyes.

“Hey, hey, Hae-soo-ya?”

“Yes, ah…!”

Hae-soo immediately came to his senses, called Team Leader Kwak, and burst out of the headquarters door.

Trr Trr

Unfortunately, he doesn’t answer the phone. Hae-soo called Haru and told him to keep calling Team Leader Kwak, and to tell him to take refuge in a safe place if he got through.

When he took a picture of the navigation from the police station to the hospital, it took 13 minutes. One minute has passed now, so 4 minutes, no, 5 minutes is not enough. Time is running out.

Hae-soo pulled the accelerator hard.

Brrr Brrr-!

He ignored all the signals and drove like a biker towards the park near the back gate of the hospital.

A text message came from Haru on the way. The text message was read aloud in his earphones.

-Haru: I’m talking to Team Leader, but something is wrong.

‘Damn it, damn it, he’s already met that bastard.’

Buaaaaaang!!

He pulled like crazy and arrived at the back gate park, dragging his motorcycle into the park.

Team Leader Kwak is visible. A man is twisting the team leader’s arm.

Wooddeuk-

“Kkeuaaak!”

He took out a knife. It’s right in front of him, but it’s not close enough to stop it. They are tangled together, so he can’t shoot. There is not enough time to take out the gun.

“No!!”

At the cry like a roar, the man raised his head and glanced at Hae-soo, then smirked coldly and swung the knife.

Pit Cheeeik-

A clear blood line bloomed from Team Leader Kwak’s neck.