The Cop Is Too Strong [EN]: Chapter 203

< #203. Excessive Suppression>

The men looked at Jang Ha-yeon, bewildered.

“Uh, uh, uh?”

“Y-yes?”

Just then, a man approached, his face calm, not at all flustered.

“Ah, I’m so sorry. My girlfriend is very drunk. Honey, what are you doing? You’re embarrassing these people. Let’s go. I’m sorry…”

“Ah, no, it’s okay.”

The man grabbed Jang Ha-yeon’s wrist as if it were the most natural thing in the world and began to pull her away. The group of men tilted their heads, watching them go.

“Something’s weird…”

“Hey, hey, just let it go. You’ll only get hurt if you get involved.”

“That’s right. In this day and age… as long as it doesn’t affect me.”

The man grinned and pressed close to Ha-yeon, stabbing her again with the awl. This time, he stabbed a little deeper than before.

“Ugh!”

“See? There’s no one to save you. If you don’t want a hole in your lung, just look straight ahead and walk. There won’t be a second chance. You can try if you want.”

The college student, Jang Ha-yeon, felt a dizzy spell coming on and staggered.

The fear of death, which she was experiencing for the first time, was more terrifying and dreadful than she had ever imagined.

As if paralyzed by a nightmare, no sound came out even when she opened her mouth, and her hands and feet moved against her will, as if they were broken.

The group of men muttered as they watched her faltering figure.

“See, I told you she was just drunk.”

“Yeah.”

Ha-yeon, who heard all of this, felt her mind go blank, wishing that this situation would end quickly.

Her desperate attempt to escape had failed.

If she just obeyed this man, wouldn’t she be able to return to her normal life as if nothing had happened?

Ha-yeon’s body moved like a mannequin, listlessly following his lead.

Soon, they entered an alleyway with fewer streetlights and fewer people. The man covered Ha-yeon’s head with a plastic bag and then covered her with something like a blanket.

Ha-yeon could now only see the outside through a small space under the plastic bag.

Creak—Thud.

After passing through an iron gate.

Clunk, clunk. Creak—

After passing through a short yard, they went down three steps. A semi-basement apartment; they opened the aluminum door and went inside. She didn’t hear the sound of the door locking.

As soon as they went inside, a musty smell wafted out. It wasn’t just the smell of mold, but other strange smells mixed in.

The smell of disinfectant, a strong smell of disinfectant.

At that moment.

“Oh? She looks a little younger today?”

Another man’s voice was heard from inside. Ha-yeon understood the meaning of his words and felt goosebumps all over her spine.

*Today*, he said.

That meant he had kidnapped someone else in this way on other days. Two burly men, numerous blue tapes and kimchi-making plastic bags visible under the plastic bag.

Jang Ha-yeon was sure. If she stayed here, she would die.

Step, step.

The man seemed to have relaxed since he had brought her all the way to his house, and he took the awl away and moved away. It seemed like he was going to the bathroom. She could feel another man approaching.

She could see his feet. Bare feet without socks, thick hair on his legs, wearing shorts.

“Ooh, look at those white legs.”

The moment he knelt down and tried to put his hand on Ha-yeon’s leg, she kicked him in the face with her knee.

Thwack!

“Argh, you son of a bitch!”

Then she immediately took off the blanket and plastic bag, turned around, opened the door, and ran outside.

Bang!

She remembered whether the door opened by pushing or pulling when she came in, and that it wasn’t locked, so she was able to get out quickly.

She didn’t put on the shoes she was wearing, of course, and came out barefoot, stopping in front of the iron gate.

Even if she opened the gate and went out, the alleyway with few people continued for quite a while. It would be the worst if she was caught again and dragged back there.

She saw stairs next to her. Stairs leading up to the first floor of the same building.

She immediately ran up the stairs. Almost at the same time, she heard them running out.

“You fucking bitch!”

“Aish, you idiot.”

Ha-yeon immediately stuck to the wall, crouched down, covered her mouth, and held her breath. She couldn’t get caught if she tried to rush up the stairs.

Slowly, crawling up the stairs to the first floor, there was a long hallway, and a stroller was placed in front of the nearest house.

Ha-yeon bent down and crawled to the stroller, crouching behind it and hiding.

“Huff, huff, huff, sob, sob.”

Her body trembled with fear and tears flowed, but she did her best to silence her voice.

She could hear them opening the gate and going outside.

Ha-yeon’s hand trembled as she rummaged through her pockets. Her cell phone was gone. She suddenly remembered him groping through her pockets when she was stabbed with the awl. She couldn’t even report it.

Should she go out now? No. She needed to be calm in situations like this. It was dangerous when they were looking for her. It was safer to wait now, listen to them coming in, and then go out.

“Huff…”

Her mind was a tangled mess.

If only a strong man from another house in the hallway would come out and help her… But didn’t a group of men just pass by earlier?

Besides, there was no guarantee that the people living in their house weren’t on the same side.

Thinking that far, Ha-yeon became anxious even in her current state. She needed to hide in a place that was even less visible to people.

She remembered seeing several large rubber tubs in the yard earlier.

Would they come soon? She still couldn’t hear any voices or footsteps. They would be walking around for at least 5 minutes before coming back.

Ha-yeon lowered the sound as much as possible, went down the stairs, and lifted the lid of the rubber tub. It was full of kimchi in a blue plastic bag.

There were a total of three rubber tubs, and the other rubber tubs next to them were also full. Fortunately, the last one had a blue plastic bag, but the space inside seemed quite large.

Ha-yeon quickly went inside and closed the lid.

“…Huh?”

To completely put Ha-yeon’s body inside the rubber tub and close the lid, she had to be in complete contact with the kimchi inside. But the texture wasn’t kimchi. Something was strange.

Ha-yeon touched something in the plastic bag with her hand.

A familiar sensation of a living thing, five fingers, an arm, a face.

“Heup!”

It was a person. It was definitely a person. Not even the sound of breathing, just the pungent odor that she could now feel stinging her nose; decomposition was in progress.

Creak—

At that moment, she heard the sound of the gate opening, and Ha-yeon hurriedly covered her mouth.

—That fucking bitch, where did she run off to in the meantime, that crazy bitch.

—I went through so much trouble to bring her, what a waste of effort if you kill her right away. Let’s finish everything and then kill her, okay?

—First, the luggage… wait a minute.

—What, why?

Step, step, step.

—No, why? Why are you suddenly going up there? Shouldn’t we be running away right now?

—Shut up for a second.

Ha-yeon’s jaw trembled as she covered her mouth. She felt dizzy when she thought that she would have been caught without a doubt if she had been hiding behind that stroller earlier.

The sound of footsteps was not heard clearly because it was covered by the lid of the rubber tub.

—Aish, let’s just pack our bags, damn it.

Creak, thud!

The sound of the semi-basement door where they lived closing was clearly heard. It would take at least 5 minutes to pack their bags. Let’s get out of here and report it to the police before that.

Ha-yeon opened the lid of the rubber tub just a little and peeked outside. No one was in sight.

Swoosh—

The moment she opened the lid completely and raised her body, Ha-yeon paused. She felt a chill down her spine.

From very close by, she heard his devilish voice.

“Hide and seek, hide and seek, I see your hair…”

“Kyaa—! Ugh!”

“You fucking bitch, you used your head a little, huh?”

The man immediately grabbed Ha-yeon by the neck and took her out of the rubber tub. His accomplice, who had gone inside the semi-basement, quickly popped out and grabbed Ha-yeon’s ankle, dragging her inside.

“Ha, ha, good, good, damn it. I thought the cops were coming and I was scared to death.”

“Lock the door, you bastard.”

“Yeah, yeah, I have to lock it.”

The man put a stocking—which she didn’t know who it belonged to—in Ha-yeon’s mouth and completely sealed her mouth with blue tape. Then he wrapped both of her hands with blue tape.

“Ugh, ugh!!”

“Stay still if you don’t want to die.”

Ha-yeon, who had already seen the corpse, knew that she was going to die no matter what, so she couldn’t calm down.

“Ugh, ugh!!!”

She struggled wildly so that her wrists wouldn’t be tied, and then slapped the man’s face with her hand.

Thwack!

“Ah.”

At that moment, the man stopped, his friend stopped, and Ha-yeon stopped.

The man’s eyes, looking at Ha-yeon as he turned his head, changed scarily. He suddenly took his hand off Ha-yeon and headed to the bathroom, taking out a knife with a blade that looked like it was 30 centimeters long [approximately 12 inches].

“I’m going to kill this bitch first.”

“Hey, hey, Myung-shik, calm down, calm down! Why are you doing this? I told you I don’t like you killing people!”

“Let go.”

The friend was usually afraid of Myung-shik, but he couldn’t give up on this.

“Hey, you went through so much trouble to bring her, what a waste of effort if you kill her right away. Let’s finish everything and then kill her, okay?”

Then Myung-shik turned the knife towards his friend.

Now that he looked at it, his eyes were turned upside down.

“Do you want to die too?”

“…What?”

Thump, thump—

At that moment, someone knocked on the door. Their movements stopped.

“Hello. This is the police. Can we talk for a moment?”

The two men’s eyes were intricately intertwined, and Myung-shik immediately grabbed Ha-yeon by the neck, put the knife to her side, and dragged her to the bathroom.

“Ugh, ugh!!”

Ha-yeon made a sound with all her might, but when Myung-shik twisted her body and stabbed her with the tip of the knife, she couldn’t scream anymore because of the pain.

He took Ha-yeon to the bathroom and covered her mouth.

The sound was heard from beyond the bathroom door.

Thump, thump—

—I heard voices inside, can you spare me a moment?

Creak

—What is it?

—Yes, thank you for your hard work. I’m Shin Hae-soo, an investigator from the Gangjin Police Station’s Violent Crimes Unit 4. We’re searching because there’s a case in this area. Can I take a look inside for a moment?

—I don’t want to. You should catch the murderer, why are you searching our house? I’m busy, please go.

—Oh, I didn’t say it was a murder case.

A moment of silence.

Jang Ha-yeon closed her eyes tightly and prayed. The blade was tearing the skin on her side and slightly inside, and the rough hand full of calluses was gripping her neck so tightly that it seemed like it would break at any moment, so she couldn’t make a sound.

She could only hope that the police would notice and come in.

‘Please, please, please…!’

—Ah, no, all the rumors have spread in this neighborhood that a murder happened, so how could you not know that? Are you suspecting me now? Huh? Wow, I’m going to report you for defamation!

—…I’m sorry. Then when will you not be busy? Should I come back in an hour or two?

When the detective spoke in a rather low voice, the friend’s voice softened slightly.

Ha-yeon, who was listening to this, felt her vision turn black and staggered.

She didn’t even feel the knife that was touching her side stabbing deeper.

—Ah, really… come tomorrow. Tomorrow. Annoying…

—Okay. Thank you for your cooperation.

Creak, thud. Clunk.

The sound of the door locking; a stream of tears flowed down Ha-yeon’s eyes. Her last hope was gone.

“Pfft, hehehe.”

Myung-shik, who had been watching Ha-yeon fall into despair right in front of him, smiled with pleasure.

“What should I do? The police who were going to save you are gone? Shall we have some fun with *oppa* [older brother/term of endearment for a girl to call an older male] now?”

Myung-shik grabbed her by the back of the neck, pressed her body against the bathroom wall, and then pressed his body against her.

“It’s always like this. Most of the criminals that the Korean police miss are because of this damn human rights issue. Blame the law, not me.”

Just as he was about to pull down his pants and lift her skirt.

Thump, thump—

Myung-shik was startled by the sound of knocking on the bathroom door.

“Aish, damn it! I’m not killing you, you bastard. I’m going to play first, so you…”

Creak—

Before Myung-shik could finish speaking, the bathroom door opened. In front of him was his friend’s face, his mouth completely sealed with a large hand.

His pale eyes were glancing to the side.

Swoosh

Soon, the owner of the hand peeked out. A detective with an impression that made you shrink just by making eye contact opened his mouth, gesturing to Myung-shik.

“If you come out quietly, I’ll kill you without pain.”

Myung-shik and his friend’s eyes met for a moment. His friend’s eyes were rolling around.

Myung-shik’s eyes, which had been flinching, suddenly sharpened.

The detective didn’t look easy, but Myung-shik also had strength that wasn’t inferior to anyone, and he had learned judo for a long time, so he was confident in fighting.

He also heard the sound of the door locking, which meant there was only one detective inside. If he killed or subdued that detective, there would be plenty of opportunities to escape.

After finishing his thoughts in an instant, Myung-shik threw Ha-yeon forward as a shield and rushed out with a knife.

Bang! Thud—

But the detective’s reaction was faster than he expected.

Shin Hae-soo threw the accomplice he was holding against the wall, caught Ha-yeon with both hands, turned around, and stretched his foot towards the criminal. Naturally, he took a perfect back kick stance.

Of course, the criminal’s knife was not longer than Hae-soo’s leg, and his foot was accurately planted in the criminal’s stomach.

Thwack!! Crash!

The criminal dropped the knife and flew all the way to the end of the bathroom, breaking all the bathroom shelves and hitting the wall.

Hae-soo put down Ha-yeon, who fortunately seemed to be okay to the naked eye, and grabbed the accomplice by the collar and threw him into the bathroom.

Thump, thump!

Two men were piled up and lying face down in the narrow bathroom.

Creak, creak—

Hae-soo went into the bathroom, picked up the porcelain toilet tank lid with one hand, and opened his mouth.

“The criminal resisted severely with a weapon, so inevitably in the process of suppression…”

Hae-soo raised the tank lid and grinned coldly.

“He died.”

Whack!!