The Cop Is Too Strong [EN]: Chapter 250

< #250. The Final Reset >

Before the Reset.

Hae-soo steeled himself against the terrible situation, periodically glancing at the table clock in the corner.

Finally, just after midnight, the moment arrived when Teacher Cheon approached him, gun in hand.

In that instant, a torrent of thoughts flooded his mind.

What if he reset to an hour earlier? It would be the same scenario. Worse, Teacher Cheon might realize he’d turned back time, making the situation even more dire.

Hae-soo recalled his first reset, now a distant memory.

It was when a nail-studded plank had been hammered into his head in prison.

Facing death, he’d returned to a point where he could correct his past mistakes.

Having made his decision, Hae-soo pointed the gun at his own head.

It was a gamble with his life. He had only one chance, and he was betting everything on it.

Hae-soo pulled the trigger without hesitation.

Bang!

* * *

“Become a lucky adult like me!”

His vision cleared.

Team Leader Kwak, blissfully unaware of the future, was strutting around, full of self-satisfaction.

Hae-soo fixed his gaze on Kwak’s face, committing it to memory.

He’d realized it when Kwak was in danger: he liked and respected this clumsy, seemingly insignificant team leader far more than he’d thought.

“Team Leader.”

“Huh? Oh, Rock, what’s up? Need something? Should I get you some Jeju [a volcanic island in South Korea] chocolate? Or some omegi [a type of Korean rice cake] rice cake? Actually, you can pay for the rice cake.”

Hae-soo offered a faint smile.

“Have a safe trip.”

“What’s with the dull response? If you’re jealous, just say so!”

Hae-soo didn’t stop Team Leader Kwak.

* * *

In front of Hyosung Prison.

A middle-aged woman hesitantly approached a sleek, black luxury sedan. A man in a crisp suit emerged from the driver’s seat and opened the back door for her.

The woman smiled awkwardly and slid into the back seat.

Shin Hae-soo, wearing sunglasses, sat beside her.

“I asked my son, and he said there’s no one in that room—I mean, no one named Manager Ma. He heard it straight from someone in the same cell. Said he was transferred to support another region or something.”

“I see. Thank you for your trouble. Here’s the initial payment.”

Hae-soo handed her an envelope stuffed with 50,000 won bills [approximately $40 USD]. Her eyes widened, and a wide smile stretched across her face as she bowed deeply.

“Oh, thank you so much. It’s really nothing, but you’re giving me so much…”

It was as he expected.

Hae-soo could have checked himself, but Manager Ma’s absence from Hyosung Prison confirmed that Teacher Cheon still had influence within the system.

It would be dangerous if word got out that Hae-soo was looking for Manager Ma, so he’d outsourced the task.

Hae-soo watched the middle-aged woman leave the car before turning to gaze out the window.

Tomorrow was the day everything would come to a head.

Earlier today, he’d encountered a man on the verge of death in a car accident. The man had cried out for a reset, but it hadn’t worked.

Hae-soo guessed it was because the reference time for his ability hadn’t passed yet.

The more things went this way, the more Hae-soo steeled his resolve and prepared as thoroughly as possible with the time he had left. There would be no more resets.

“I’m taking a day off tomorrow, too.”

Oh Gyeong-i was taken aback by Hae-soo’s sudden announcement.

“Huh? You too? Out of the blue, especially with the Captain gone?”

“Yes.”

“What’s going on? Are you following the Captain’s lead or something?”

“No. Anyway, I’m taking it.”

Hae-soo stubbornly insisted on taking the day off.

Since Hae-soo had barely taken any vacation in the past three years, Oh Gyeong-i couldn’t actively prevent him.

Swoosh—

Hae-soo discreetly took his gun and bullets when he left work.

* * *

Finally, D-Day.

Team Leader Kwak appeared in the parking lot wearing a wide-brimmed straw hat and a floral shirt, grinning from ear to ear.

As he was loading luggage with his family, Hae-soo suddenly materialized.

“Ah, you startled me! Rock, what brings you here?”

“Have a safe trip.”

Hae-soo held out a pair of shoes. Even Team Leader Kwak, who wasn’t brand-conscious, could tell they were expensive luxury shoes.

“What… what’s this?”

“It’s a gift.”

“Out of the blue?”

Hae-soo suddenly sat Team Leader Kwak down on the car seat, personally removed his old shoes, and put the new ones on him.

“I’ll get rid of these.”

“Hey, hey! I bought those on sale for 19,900 won [approximately $15 USD]…!”

Hae-soo had already disappeared into the distance with Team Leader Kwak’s old shoes.

Team Leader Kwak exchanged bewildered glances with his wife and shrugged.

Click, clack.

Hae-soo got into a van parked in a secluded spot not far from Team Leader Kwak’s car.

“You’re here?!”

“Alright, alright.”

Inside the van, Jjoksae was behind the wheel, Hwang Jang-soo was in the passenger seat, and Haru was sitting by the back door.

As soon as Hae-soo got in, Haru handed him a bulletproof vest, which he put on under his coat.

Hwang Jang-soo, Haru, and Jjoksae were all fully armed.

Beep, beep, beep, beep.

A strange device installed in place of the navigation system emitted a steady tone. The screen displayed a detailed map, and a red light flashed.

It tracked Team Leader Kwak’s location, not the van’s.

“Follow him.”

“Yes sir!”

On the way to intercept Kwak’s car, Hae-soo stared at Haru for a moment before taking a gun from his chest and offering it to her.

Haru stared at it silently, hesitant to take it.

Hae-soo grabbed her wrist and forcibly placed the gun in her slender hand.

When Hae-soo went that far, Haru didn’t refuse.

“If you see Manager Ma, shoot without hesitation.”

“…Yes.”

The company employees sent by Teacher Cheon arrived like thieves.

As Kwak’s family entered the airport parking lot, two black vans followed them.

Screech—

The gray van blocked the vans as soon as Kwak’s car passed by, descending from the 1st basement floor to the 2nd. Kwak’s car, oblivious, continued forward.

When the gray van didn’t budge even after repeated honking, the company employees piled out of their vans, and Hae-soo, Haru, and Hwang Jang-soo emerged from theirs.

Crack, crack.

Hwang Jang-soo cracked his knuckles and muttered.

“Damn, these bastards all have faces like jewels [meaning they look harmless or innocent].”

Hwang Jang-soo still mistakenly believed his own appearance was kind.

Ta-dat—

Before he could even step out, Haru charged forward, drawing a karambit [a small Indonesian curved knife] from her waist.

They were supposedly elite company employees, the One-Against-a-Hundred, but when Haru entered the fray, it was like a lion leaping into a pack of hyenas.

Kwak and his family, completely unaware of the chaos unfolding behind them, happily pulled their luggage toward the airport.

Stab, stab, slice—

“Ggrrr.”

The strong scent of blood filled the air.

1 minute 18 seconds.

That was how long it took Haru to deal with the ten company employees from the two vans.

Hwang Jang-soo, who had been cracking his joints in anticipation, didn’t even get a chance to participate.

Jang-soo, smacking his lips in disappointment, helped Hae-soo load the bodies into the van and checked the van’s route on the navigation system.

Since they’d been blindfolded and transported before, they still didn’t know the location of Teacher Cheon’s hideout.

“It’s there. The point where the two cars meet—the destination is the same.”

Haru spoke after examining the navigation system and the driver’s cell phone.

Even the meticulous company employees hadn’t considered the possibility of being reverse-tracked if the mission failed, making the hideout easy to identify.

Hae-soo’s group left immediately, arriving at an abandoned factory on a pier.

Clunk.

As soon as he got out of the car, Hae-soo was certain this was the place, thanks to the salty sea air.

“Let’s go in.”

“Wait, there’s a back door here? Shouldn’t we just break it down and go in?”

That was a valid point.

Hae-soo suddenly got back into the van and used its side to completely block the small side door.

As if that weren’t enough, Jang-soo also parked the van full of corpses there.

With that much obstruction, even a monster like Manager Ma wouldn’t be able to open the door easily.

“Let’s go.”

“Oh, okay.”

It was a last stand. There was no escape once they went in. One of them would meet their end.

“Is anyone there—?”

They were lucky.

Inside the factory, there was a secret door leading to the basement.

It would have taken a long time to find it, but one of the company employees carelessly opened it and peeked out, revealing its location.

Pow!

Hae-soo immediately punched him in the face, dragged him out, and descended the basement stairs.

The company employees, realizing their plan had failed, were emerging to execute their next move.

Thwack, thwack! Crack!

“One, two! Three!”

Hwang Jang-soo unleashed the skills he’d honed through special training with Haru, holding nothing back.

They were supposed to be company employees, but they couldn’t even exchange a few blows before collapsing on the floor.

Stab, shiiick—

Haru quietly approached a fallen company employee and slit his carotid artery.

Then, she glanced at Hae-soo. Hae-soo calmly met her gaze, knelt, grabbed another company employee’s neck, and snapped it.

Snap—

The company employee’s body slumped.

Hae-soo rose, his eyes burning with anger, and moved forward, declaring:

“Today, we’re the only ones walking out of this basement on two feet.”

“Oh…”

“Yes.”

* * *

At the same time.

In the basement control room, Teacher Cheon was watching the monitor with Manager Ma and Young.

Teacher Cheon, unlike his usual composed self, gnashed his teeth as he watched Shin Hae-soo on the screen, his voice filled with agitation.

“How did he get here? It’s obvious—he turned back time again! Can’t he just do it once? What is this…!”

His reaction was intense.

Teacher Cheon was a man who had always achieved his goals.

Even when his plans went awry, he always managed to salvage them.

Money, fame, power—he held them all in his grasp, controlling South Korea.

No matter how vicious, how pure and kind, or how incorruptible someone was, he could manipulate them as he pleased.

But for the first time, something he couldn’t control had emerged, and Shin Hae-soo was gradually taking everything away.

The cause wasn’t anything tangible, but a supernatural ability that created countless uncertainties.

An ability that could render any plan and effort meaningless in an instant.

He had to be eliminated. Only then could everything be restored to its proper place.

That anxiety made him react sensitively even to the name Shin Hae-soo.

“Teacher, there’s nothing those three can do. I’m here, and Manager Ma is here, right?”

Teacher Cheon, still agitated, glanced around and focused on the mention of Manager Ma.

“Oh, right, Manager Ma.”

He clasped Manager Ma’s hands in his own.

Young’s brow furrowed slightly at the sight.

“You can tear that bastard apart, right?”

Manager Ma stared down at him with emotionless eyes and nodded slightly.

“Yes, I knew you would. I trust you. Break that bastard’s arms and legs and bring him to me. You’ll never have to go back to prison again.”

“Yes.”

Manager Ma left first, and when the door closed, Teacher Cheon summoned Young.

“When that bastard is exhausted from catching Shin Hae-soo, kill him.”

“…Yes, Teacher.”

Teacher Cheon nodded in satisfaction.

He didn’t trust anyone. He’d released Manager Ma out of necessity, but he knew the man could betray him at any moment.

A hunting dog that’s too big to control is dangerous. You have to get rid of it as soon as you’re done with it to avoid future problems.

Young left the control room with the four company employees from Sales Team 1 who were always at his side and headed for the hallway.

As they rounded a corner, a brutal hand suddenly shot out.

“Cough!”

Before he could even identify the attacker, his face was slammed into the wall. Through his blurred vision, he saw a man with a monstrous physique grabbing his teammates by the heads and smashing them against the wall.

It happened in an instant.

“Ma, Manager Ma, why…!”

Manager Ma brought his face close to Young, whose vision was now obscured by blood in one eye, and said:

“I was going to kill you all anyway. Only the order has changed.”

With a voice as dark as the abyss, Manager Ma’s large hand covered Young’s vision.

Thud!

Manager Ma wiped the blood from his hands on Young’s clothes and disappeared into the darkness.