The Cop Is Too Strong [EN]: Chapter 20

Six members of the Gangswoe Clan stood guard, blocking the hospital hallway, their faces grim.

The man carrying Mo Chang-gui piggyback, along with the rest of their group, hurried towards the elevator.

The men blocking Shin Hae-soo’s path brandished their makeshift weapons – pipes and clubs.

“We’re sorry, Detective.”

“It’s okay.”

Hae-soo gripped the steel bar horizontally and charged. The sudden attack caught the men off guard, and before they could react, Hae-soo’s bar struck.

*Thwack! Thud!*

“Ugh!”

The two men at the front crumpled under the force of the blow, while the rest were pushed back by the bar against their chests.

*Thump! Bang!*

After swiftly incapacitating six men, he moved to step over them, but one desperately grabbed his leg.

Hae-soo looked down, his eyes cold, and slammed the steel bar onto the back of the man’s hand.

*Crack!*

“Agh!”

He easily shook off the grip and continued after the man carrying Mo Chang-gui. But they were already inside the elevator, the doors nearly closed.

*Whirr. Click.*

He was too late. He frantically pressed the open button, but the doors remained shut. The ward was on the 6th floor, and Hae-soo bolted down the emergency stairs.

The men he’d knocked down scrambled to their feet and followed, but he ignored them.

***

Inside the closed elevator.

Mo Chang-gui, slumped like a corpse on the large man’s back, slowly opened his eyes. He met the gaze of the man standing behind him, watching.

“Peek-a-boo.”

Mo Chang-gui’s hands shot out, grabbing the man’s neck and twisting it with brutal force.

***

*Thud, thud, thud-*

As expected, the elevator didn’t stop on the first floor, but in the basement parking lot.

Hae-soo wedged the emergency staircase door open with the steel bar.

Two vans idled in front of the elevator, each with a driver inside. Instead of confronting Hae-soo, they ducked down, trying to hide.

-Ding-dong. Basement level 1. Doors opening.

*Whirr.*

The elevator doors slid open, revealing the man with the broken neck slumped out, collapsing onto the floor.

The elevator was a bloodbath, bodies sprawled everywhere.

In the center stood Mo Chang-gui, his patient gown soaked crimson.

‘These idiots…’

Mo Chang-gui should never have been left with his hands free. Hae-soo frowned, mentally screaming for a reset.

But nothing happened. Hae-soo was momentarily taken aback but quickly regained his composure. His opponent wouldn’t allow even a moment’s hesitation.

Mo Chang-gui found Hae-soo, a smirk twisting his lips into a sneer.

“What are you going to do without a gun this time?”

“You don’t have a knife either.”

Mo Chang-gui held a hammer in his left hand. Not his dominant right, but his left. His right arm had been broken before and hadn’t healed properly, and his left arm was also injured from a gunshot.

“Kihya!”

He bared his teeth and lunged at Hae-soo.

*Whoosh, whoosh-*

Hae-soo leaned back, narrowly avoiding the hammer’s deadly arc. Using the momentum like a spring, he surged forward, throwing a punch.

But Mo Chang-gui also leaned back, perfectly dodging the blow. The difference in reach was crucial; if Hae-soo had been empty-handed, Mo Chang-gui wouldn’t have been able to evade completely.

*Swish, swish, thwack-*

A flurry of blows exchanged in an instant. Both Hae-soo and Mo Chang-gui landed only glancing hits. Even in his weakened state, Mo Chang-gui’s dynamic vision and reaction speed were extraordinary. If the fight dragged on, Hae-soo, taking hammer blows with his bare body, would be at a severe disadvantage.

Hae-soo raised his guard, protecting his head, and closed the distance, pressing his body against Mo Chang-gui.

“This is open!”

*Thwack-!*

The hammer slammed into Hae-soo’s side. He felt his ribs crack.

But Hae-soo’s eyes gleamed. Gritting his teeth, he charged, driving Mo Chang-gui back into the elevator.

*Crash!*

He slammed him against the back wall, pinning him before lowering his guard.

“Got you.”

Mo Chang-gui’s eyes burned with wild fury. They seemed to question, ‘So what?’ but he had overestimated his own condition.

Hae-soo pressed his forearm against Mo Chang-gui’s chest and began to relentlessly pummel his chin and face with his fists.

*Thwack, thwack, thwack, bang! Crunch!*

Mo Chang-gui dropped the hammer, feebly trying to push Hae-soo away, but he lacked the strength.

*Thud-*

Mo Chang-gui’s face was a mangled mess, unrecognizable, and he slumped to the floor.

Hae-soo looked at his bloodied hands, his eyes gleaming.

“This is a good opportunity.”

He dragged Mo Chang-gui to a spot out of the CCTV’s [Closed-Circuit Television] view and hammered both of his hands into a bloody pulp.

His hands were completely crushed, but Mo Chang-gui, already unconscious, couldn’t even groan.

*Swoosh.*

Turning around, blood-stained hammer in hand, Hae-soo saw the Gangswoe Clan members bursting through the emergency staircase door.

They met his gaze, flinched, and took a step back.

“Stay put and get arrested.”

“Yes, yes! Understood!”

One man shouted reflexively. At that moment, Detectives Kang Jin-seo’s Violent Crimes Units 1 and 2 arrived. The nurses had reported the chaos as soon as they realized what was happening.

Hae-soo saw Detective Oh Kang-seok getting out of his car, tossed the hammer aside, and wearily trudged towards the emergency stairs.

“I should go and get some rest now.”

***

After arresting Mo Chang-gui and the Gangswoe Clan members, Violent Crimes Unit 1 reviewed the elevator CCTV footage collected from the hospital to assess the scene.

The footage showed Mo Chang-gui, who had been carried in as if dead, suddenly springing to life and slaughtering the men in an instant. His movements and murderous intent seemed to leap off the monitor, making the youngest officer flinch.

“He’s a monster, a monster.”

“He’s a truly savage bastard.”

That was the only way they could describe it. With his body broken, both arms injured, he had overwhelmingly defeated eight burly men with weapons.

Then, Hae-soo appeared in the video. Detective Oh Kang-seok smirked.

“There’s also a monster who catches monsters…”

The other detectives nodded in agreement. When Mo Chang-gui was cornered and subjected to Hae-soo’s relentless barrage of punches, they even squeezed their eyes shut, expressing their horror.

In any case, thanks to the patient in the hospital room, the worst serial killer had been prevented from being released back into society.

***

Hospital room.

Shin Hae-soo stared out the window at the dark night sky, his expression serious.

‘Did the reset ability disappear after experiencing a near-death crisis?’

Clearly, among the Gangswoe Clan members in the elevator, two had died, and most were seriously injured. It met the conditions for a reset.

But no matter how much he willed it, it didn’t go back.

‘Wait, conditions?’

Hae-soo carefully reviewed the conditions again.

1. Once a day.

2. A scene where someone has died or suffered a fatal injury to the point of disability.

3. When you sincerely want to go back.

‘Sincerity…?’

The last condition was the problem. Had he sincerely wanted to go back when the gangsters were collapsing in the elevator?

He couldn’t confidently say he was 100% sincere. He had unknowingly started prioritizing who he wanted to save with the reset.

It wasn’t certain. Maybe the reset ability really had disappeared.

He would know for sure when he returned to work.

***

After being discharged from the hospital, Mo Chang-gui was imprisoned in Hyosung Prison, a maximum-security facility.

Hae-soo received a commendation along with the members of Violent Crimes Unit 1, and even received a special promotion.

On the day he received the commendation, the members of Violent Crimes Unit 1 each offered a word to Hae-soo as they parted.

“Sergeant Shin, no, I mean Inspector Shin now, be sure to apply to our team when the transfer season comes.”

“Inspector Shin, who risks his life to make arrests even when he’s off duty, is a true police officer.”

“Don’t worry about anything and apply. We’ll risk our lives to get Inspector Shin.”

Hae-soo bowed his head, looking at the members of Unit 1 giving him thumbs up.

“Thank you for your kind words. Good work.”

***

After disbanding, at Shin Hae-soo’s house.

As soon as Hae-soo arrived home, he threw all the cigarettes and lighters scattered around into the trash and headed to the gym.

He had become complacent. The fight with Mo Chang-gui replayed in his mind every night.

He practiced image training, visualizing scenarios where they both fought in perfect condition, or with knives. His probability of winning didn’t exceed 30%.

‘The world is wide, and there are many strong guys.’

He hadn’t faced particularly strong opponents in years, and his training had suffered.

Hae-soo decided to quit smoking and train his body even harder.

***

*Bang, boom-*

“Wow!”

“Congratulations on Inspector Shin’s special promotion!”

“Congratulations on your discharge from the hospital!”

Dongbu Precinct. When Shin Hae-soo returned after two months, the team leader and team members welcomed him with firecrackers.

It was relatively quiet in the morning, but the usual drunks were already causing trouble, making him feel unnecessarily annoyed.

Then, Officer Lim arrived with a cake with a single candle lit.

“Inspector Shin, you’ve worked hard. Congratulations on your special promotion and discharge from the hospital!”

“Thank you. Hoo-”

Hae-soo blew out the candle and took the cake.

“Let’s work now.”

The team leader waved his hands dismissively at Hae-soo’s stiff demeanor.

“Hey, we can’t kick out someone who’s already been stabbed and shot, just wait, just wait.”

“I wouldn’t have come to work if that were the case. I’ll be back. Officer Lim.”

“Yes, sir!”

Hae-soo immediately left the police station with Officer Lim.

While patrolling in the car, a report of a drunken disturbance came in early in the morning. When they arrived, a middle-aged man was causing a ruckus alone, then tripped and fell onto a broken glass bottle, stabbing himself in the eye.

“Ugh, aaaaagh!”

The ambulance hadn’t arrived yet because they hadn’t received a clear report of the situation. Looking at the eye with the glass embedded in it, blood and a thin fluid were flowing.

The glass was lodged deeply, and it seemed almost certain he would lose his sight.

A wallet, presumably belonging to the middle-aged man, lay on the floor.

Inside was a photo of the man and two children who appeared to be in middle and high school. It seemed he was raising them alone, as there was no wife in the picture.

Sympathy for the children washed over him.

‘Will it reset with blindness…?’

At the same time as he thought that, the surrounding environment changed drastically.

***

“Congratulations on your discharge from the hospital!”

It was the police station. He had just arrived at work. Hae-soo clenched his fist tightly, inwardly rejoicing. The reset ability hadn’t disappeared.

Hae-soo deliberately patrolled near that area, and as soon as the middle-aged man started causing a disturbance, he immediately arrested him and brought him back to the station, preventing him from losing his sight.

After a busy day, it was almost five o’clock, time to leave work.

*Vroom, vroom-*

On the way home on his motorcycle, he drove slowly in front of a girls’ high school, keeping to 30 kilometers [~18.6 miles per hour].

A peaceful scene of female high school students laughing at the sight of falling leaves.

*Screech-!*

“Aah!”

A white sedan suddenly swerved towards the school and hit a female high school student.

“Kyaaaa!”

Being hit wasn’t the only problem. The school wall behind her was made of bricks. The female student was pinned between the wall and the car.

It seemed she had been hit due to careless driving while turning the car in front of the school.

The female student couldn’t even scream from the pain of her internal organs being crushed, and coughed.

The middle-aged woman driving the sedan was just screaming inside.

*Vroom.*

Then the car spun its wheels and lurched forward even more. The female student’s face turned pale, and she spat out blood. Her pure white uniform was stained crimson.

“What the…”

Hae-soo threw his motorcycle aside and ran to the car door. But it wouldn’t open. Even when he knocked, the driver just screamed at him.

Hae-soo gritted his teeth in anger, smashed the window with his elbow, opened the door, and dragged the middle-aged woman out by the scruff of her neck.

“Kyaa! What are you doing!”

Then he shifted the gear to neutral and pushed the car back.

*Screech-*

As the car moved back, the female student collapsed weakly to the ground. Hae-soo rushed to her and checked her condition.

“Student, student, stay conscious.”

Her eyes were half-open and unfocused, but she was still aware. Her breathing was shallow.

If the organs were compressed, it was best not to move her until the paramedics arrived, as simply changing her position could worsen her condition.

Hae-soo pushed away the car owner who was trying to lift the female student and waited for the paramedics.

Fortunately, another student had reported the accident as soon as it happened, and the ambulance arrived quickly.

“Student, student, are you okay? Can you see me?”

The female student, being carried on a stretcher, sobbed as she answered the paramedic’s question.

“I can’t feel, I can’t feel my legs…”

< #20. Special Promotion > End