The Cop Is Too Strong [EN]: Chapter 240

< #240. Exposure of Ability >

Clatter.

Seung-jun’s dad placed a small table with ramen, a bowl of rice, and kimchi in the middle of the room.

“Eat up.”

Tapping, tapping.

Seung-jun ignored him and continued typing on the keyboard.

Seung-jun’s dad quietly watched his son’s back.

Thin wrists, dark circles under his eyes, and most heartbreakingly, eyes that were hollow and devoid of emotion, like those of a dead person.

Ever since his mom went out that night because of him and never returned, Seung-jun had been afraid to leave the house, only feeling safe in spaces he could completely control. He stayed cooped up, surviving on minimal nutrition.

Seung-jun’s dad stood up and grabbed his son’s wrist.

Clack!

But Seung-jun violently shook off his dad’s hand. Eventually, Seung-jun’s dad also became enraged.

“You’re going to die like this! Do you want to die like your mom?”

Seung-jun’s hands, which had been typing on the keyboard, stopped as if by magic. He turned around and glared at his dad. His eyes were filled with a murderous intent that was chillingly different from before.

Bang!

Seung-jun stood up and kicked the table. The pot of ramen, the bowl of rice, and the side dish of kimchi all overturned and scattered on the floor.

“You little punk!”

The dad raised his hand to Seung-jun but stopped when he met his eyes.

“Haa…”

The dad sighed deeply, lowered his hand, and cleaned up the spilled food with a dishcloth.

Then, he took out a few 50,000 won bills [approximately $40 USD] from his pocket, placed them on the floor, and left the house.

Click.

Seung-jun stared at the front door his dad had exited, then turned back and focused on the monitor.

Click.

He immediately minimized the game window and looked at a man’s Instagram. One side of the monitor was filled with text.

Seung-jun hadn’t just been playing games.

Gnawing, gnawing.

He bit his nails as he looked at the photos.

Photos of the man with a slender woman beside him, blatantly fondling her chest, photos of them kissing deeply, and photos taken in a nice car were reflected in his eyes.

[Having a drink with a beautiful lady again today]

-pps: Can a designated driver even drive that car?

-sukan: Why would I call a driver, you idiot? In Korea?

-pps: This bastard still hasn’t come to his senses, is he trying to kill someone again?

-sukan: Who cares if those ant-like bastards die? Anyway, their shitty lives helped me graduate early. They’re probably grateful, right?

-pps: Kim An-seok is a real psycho, lol.

Swish.

Seung-jun grabbed a folding knife he had secretly purchased from an illegal site, pulled his hat down low, and left the house.

The first outing the father had so desired for his son was filled with a thick, murderous intent.

He already knew the house. And the daily routine.

A deep night where even the moonlight was obscured.

Although the darkness was heavy, it was the most active time for that bastard.

* * *

Thump, thump, thump-

A heavy sound reverberated outside the club, shaking the insides.

Men and women who hadn’t left their excitement inside were shaking their bodies at the club entrance.

Clack.

“ID.”

“…….”

“If you don’t have an ID, go home. Don’t bother me, next!”

Seung-jun frowned.

It was his first time at a club, so he didn’t know he would be stopped right at the entrance.

He thought he could stab the bastard’s stomach without being noticed inside the club, which was dark, with confusing lights, and many people bumping into each other at close range, but there was a setback.

Seung-jun obediently stepped back and headed to the underground parking lot. Fortunately, no one stopped him in the parking lot.

The parking lot wasn’t large, so he quickly found the bastard’s car.

He hid behind the trunk of a car parked next to the bastard’s car, holding his breath and waiting for him to come.

“Kyahaha, ah, it tickles.”

“Shut up and come here, don’t pull away, damn it.”

It was noisy even before the elevator doors opened. The two men and women staggered out into the parking lot as the doors opened.

They were walking forward, but their heads weren’t looking ahead. They were passionately exploring each other’s mouths.

The smacking sounds were heard explicitly in the quiet parking lot.

‘He’s here.’

10 meters, 5 meters, 3 meters, the woman got in first, and the bastard was about to open the driver’s seat door and get into the car. He was clearly drunk, about to grab the steering wheel to kill someone again.

Thud.

Seung-jun took out the knife from his pocket and was about to step out towards the bastard when.

Thud-

A heavy object pressed down on his shoulder. He turned around, startled by the overwhelming force that felt like being caught in a rock.

A muscular man with a fierce look was standing there. He didn’t know when he had gotten so close.

Seeing him appear at this timing, it was obvious. He was the bastard’s bodyguard.

“Eek!”

Seung-jun stopped trying to swing the knife at him, shook off his shoulder, and kicked him.

Thud.

However, Seung-jun’s foot was easily brushed aside, and the wrist holding the knife was grabbed by him.

He leaned his upper body slightly and looked at Seung-jun with gleaming eyes.

“Stop what you’re about to do.”

“I’ll kill you first.”

Snap- Clang.

Shin Hae-soo slightly twisted Seung-jun’s wrist to make him drop the knife and lose his will to fight, then opened his mouth again.

“I’ll help you, I will.”

Seung-jun’s eyes were filled with confusion at Hae-soo’s words.

It was a very strange thing for a bodyguard to say.

Vroom!

At that moment, the bastard’s car spewed out a loud exhaust sound and sped out of the parking lot.

Seung-jun frowned and looked at the back of the car, then met Hae-soo’s eyes again.

“What are you…!”

Just as Seung-jun was about to continue speaking, a scene suddenly washed over his mind like a wave.

-Ah, ah! It hurts!

In the scene, which he couldn’t distinguish from a dream, an imagination, or reality, Seung-jun jumped out and stabbed the bastard’s stomach with a knife.

However, the bastard twisted his body in that instant, and the knife was blocked by his ribs, failing to inflict a fatal wound.

He tried to attack again, but the strength of a growing boy weighing only 40 kilograms [approximately 88 pounds] was no match for an adult male, even if he was drunk.

The bastard pushed Seung-jun against the car, causing him to drop the knife, and picked it up.

-You, you little shit! You’re that bitch’s son, aren’t you? I’m telling you, I didn’t do it on purpose! The law says I’m innocent, so why are you being like this, you bastard!!

Seung-jun glared at the bastard as if he would kill him, and the bastard, seeing the murderous intent in his eyes, seemed to make a decision and gripped the knife tightly.

-Die! Die! Go to your mom!

Seung-jun struggled and flailed his arms, but he was stabbed more than ten times in the stomach and neck and collapsed on the spot.

The brain kept ordering the arms and legs to move, but they wouldn’t move.

As his vision blurred, he heard a clearer voice.

-Kyaa! Ugh!

-Shut up, you fucking bitch! You, you take this, you killed him. I’ll take all the responsibility, so say you killed him to protect me.

That bastard doesn’t hesitate to commit trashy acts until the very end.

“…What? Heup! Heok, heok…?”

Seung-jun’s eyes were wide open as if they would pop out, and he gasped for breath.

He raised his hand, pinched his cheek, slapped it, and looked around.

It wasn’t a dream or a delusion. It was as if God was helping him, showing him his desperate future in that short moment.

The sensation of metal digging into his stomach was vividly felt. The cool chill of the knife, the heat and strange pleasure felt as the blood drained out, were clearly etched in his mind.

“Huh?”

Seung-jun turned his head and looked at Hae-soo. A person who hadn’t appeared in the scene he had just seen.

The person who had grabbed him at just the right time and saved him from the pit of despair.

It could be dismissed as a coincidence, but Seung-jun found him very mysterious.

“…Who are you?”

Hae-soo folded the knife he had taken from Seung-jun, put it in his pocket, and looked at him with dry eyes, opening his mouth.

“As I said just now, I’m someone who will help you.”

Hae-soo said that and turned his head to look beyond the parking lot.

Seung-jun naturally followed his gaze, and he saw the bastard being caught by the police who were conducting a drunk driving crackdown at the entrance of the parking lot and getting out of the car.

Seung-jun opened his mouth blankly.

* * *

“What are you? An angel? A psychic? A hero?”

“You have a rich imagination.”

Seung-jun, who had been chattering, pouted.

What helped Seung-jun escape from his endless despair were games, webtoons [Korean webcomics], and novels.

Although he didn’t go to school, he was flexible in accepting supernatural situations because he was young.

“I definitely saw the future, but you weren’t in that future. But you appeared and changed my future. Then I’m not the psychic, you are.”

He doesn’t seem very bright, but he’s unnecessarily sharp.

Hae-soo quietly took out his wallet, showing his police ID while maintaining his expression.

“I’m not a psychic or a hero, but a police officer. I live next door to you, and your dad asked me to take care of you, so I just followed you.”

Seung-jun, who had been excited at the word ‘dad,’ suddenly sank.

His eyes were filled with complex emotions such as sorrow, resentment, and guilt.

“Now, shall we have a deeper conversation?”

Seung-jun stared at the air, lost in thought, then slowly turned his head, looked at Hae-soo, and nodded greatly.

“…Yes.”

Seung-jun told Hae-soo his story in a trembling voice.

His mom had an accident because of him, he lived in despair, and he vowed revenge to survive.

In the meantime, resenting his dad and treating him harshly was an additional misfortune that came out of his wounded mind.

He had a share of resentment, thinking that if his dad hadn’t only come on weekends, if his dad had come even just for his birthday, this accident wouldn’t have happened.

This is also a kind of defense mechanism to prevent the destruction of going to the end of self-blame.

The dad, who had lived a life of being worn out without receiving love or giving love, didn’t notice it. So he couldn’t comfort his self-blaming son, and the two went astray.

“What’s that bastard’s name?”

Hae-soo changed the course of the story as he watched Seung-jun fall into an endless pit while talking about his dad and mom.

“Kim, An, Seok… He’s the son of Congressman Kim Cheong-won.”

Seung-jun knew Kim An-seok’s recent six-month history in detail. Half of it was speculation, but the evidence was clear and credible.

Hae-soo listened to everything about Kim An-seok and was lost in thought for 5 minutes in silence.

Seung-jun interpreted that action as a negative meaning.

The hesitant boy lowered his head.

“…I know. The world isn’t a drama. How can a police officer touch a congressman’s son alone? I’ll take care of it myself. Please save other people with that ability of yours.”

Hae-soo unknowingly let out a hollow laugh.

“You know the world isn’t a drama, but you firmly believe in abilities.”

Seung-jun stroked his neck with his hand and replied in a trembling voice.

“The knife that came in here, that feeling was real.”

Hae-soo put both hands on Seung-jun’s shoulders, who was giving a bitter smile, and looked him straight in the eye.

“The world is more than a drama, both the bad guys and the heroes.”

Seung-jun’s eyes twinkled for a moment. It seems that a speck of hope has arisen in his dead fish-like eyes.