“Handsome oppa, I’m scared, why are you like this?”
Now the woman began using her feminine charms on the detective who was glaring at her too intimidatingly. She stretched out her long legs, characteristic of foreigners, and began to feel between the man’s thighs with her toes.
“Don’t be like that… how about me, oppa? I’m really good at blowjobs… I’ll suck you off real clean. Hmm?”
Although he wouldn’t fall for the provocations of a foreign woman who knew Korean slang better than most Koreans yet was cunningly lying, Kyung Jiho, annoyed by the slow progress, decided to fight fire with fire. For feminine wiles, he’d use masculine charm.
So he took off his leather jacket. During the grand motion of removing it, the contours of his chest muscles briefly showed through his not-so-tight t-shirt. As he casually tossed the jacket onto the chair beside him, he displayed his sexy, practical muscle-toned arms.
Within the Metropolitan Investigation Unit’s organized crime task force, where it was impossible to distinguish between cops and gangsters if mixed together, only Kyung Jiho could employ the handsome man strategy. The Gangseo Police Station Chief, who had no choice but to assign him to the Metropolitan Investigation Unit because of his tattoos, had expressed regret, saying that if it weren’t for the tattoos, he would have been perfect as a promotional “flower boy.”
The good-looking detective with a nice body and handsome features all around, who could pull off the handsome man strategy when he chose to relax his stern expression, sat down loosely with his legs spread wide. He was offering himself to be touched all she wanted. Then he said to the woman who was moving her outstretched feet energetically enough to get a cramp while handcuffed to the chair:
“There are CCTVs everywhere and the guys outside are all watching, so instead of doing this here, let’s meet separately and do it properly after this case is resolved. It would be better for your life as a foreign sister to stick with someone like me who can look after you continuously, rather than with that Chinese boss who scammed you and took your money. Don’t you think?”
The skilled foot movements probing between his thighs stopped. Although the woman hadn’t revealed who the man she’d brought to her lodging was, it seemed his fishing comment, already one step ahead, was working. Above all, when a handsome detective with a good body was suggesting they hook up properly, she couldn’t help but waver. If she played her cards right, she might even be able to settle in Korea. Now it was not her toes but her blue eyes that began to shift back and forth.
* * *
In the quiet living room with a high ceiling where air vibrations felt large, the man sitting on the central sofa was motionless.
Two identical phones were placed side by side on the table. Though they were placed perfectly straight without any deviation, the man could see an angle of tilt. He touched the corner of the right phone with his finger to correct the angle only visible to his eyes. Not only the alignment of the phones, but also his life, and the child he had raised, had to be perfect.
Irregular noise mixed into the quiet space. It was crying. It was noise created by a woman who had once been thought to play perfect music. The buzzing noise in his ears was unbearable. The slight misalignment that bothered his eyes continued to disturb the man’s mood. As he reached for the phones, a sudden surge of irritation became unbearable.
With a large recoil, the man rose, grabbed both phones, and lifted them behind his head, intending to throw them. And in that moment, the perfect boy he had created flashed through his mind.
That child had filled in the dented corner of a circle. He had gifted perfection to a life that couldn’t be perfect. By focusing on the process of making that child his own, he could endure all sorts of distorted things around him.
But that boy had disappeared in an unidentified car. Now that he was gone, the man couldn’t even tolerate two phones placed slightly askew. He needed that child, that boy.
One of the phones held high was vibrating. The man, who had been exhaling rough breaths due to anger and irritation, calmed his breathing and lowered his hand that had been holding the phones. The one ringing wasn’t the boy’s. The caller was someone whose call history should not become public knowledge.
“Yes. This is Ji Seokhun.”
[I’ve checked the vehicle registration you sent.]
When he saw the car captured on the CCTV in front of the medical supply store, Ji Seokhun groaned in dismay. It was the same car that had dropped off Geun-yeong on the back road of the hospital previously. Sensing that this was a situation where he couldn’t delay even for a moment, he called a private investigator immediately upon returning home. He had occasionally secretly requested investigations regarding Geun-yeong’s matters from this man, and now he commissioned an identity check on that car.
[But that car came up as having a stolen identity.]
“Stolen identity?”
[Yes. It’s a ghost vehicle. Either it belongs to a criminal with a lot to hide, or a government agency has erased and replaced the registration—one of the two.]
“In what cases would a government agency erase a vehicle registration?”
[Well, it means someone doing secret government work.]
“By government work, do you mean police or prosecution, something like that?”
[Police, prosecution… they don’t usually go as far as erasing vehicle registrations unless it’s an extremely special case. It likely means someone even more confidential than that. Anyway, whether it’s the former or the latter, I don’t think getting involved would be good.]
No. It didn’t matter whether the guy was a criminal or a confidential government figure. He had to find him no matter what.
Just as he was about to get angry at the man who was taking a very long time to essentially say that he hadn’t found out anything at the moment, the man said:
[However, I did catch one route this car took. There’s a method where we wait along its path and follow it to find out where they live, but it involves high risk and is difficult work, so there’s a significant additional fee. What would you like to do?]
That beggar…
Gritting his molars to avoid cursing at the miserable man who was essentially begging for more money, he said:
“…Please do it.”
The boy who had made his life perfect had disappeared in a car with unclear registration. It didn’t matter whether the driver was a criminal or a shady government agent. He had to get him back. To the man who finally showed willingness to move after being told he would be paid more, he asked:
“Besides the car, have you found that man?”
He had also requested a background check on Kyung Jiho, the man Geun-yeong had previously contacted, who had been hospitalized in the surgical ward with a stab wound.
[Ah, Kyung Jiho? Property registry checks take longer than vehicle registration checks. They also carry higher risks. But I did find out the owner of the phone number—his name is Lee Dongjae, a police officer affiliated with the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency.]
A police officer?
That couldn’t be.
‘Flank approach excision d/t tattoo(dragon)’
It was written in the progress notes of the rookie who performed the surgery. That man had a dragon wrapped around his upper body. That’s why they approached from the side rather than the abdomen, to avoid the dragon tattoo. He also knew people had whispered that he was a gangster for that reason. But how could a police officer be listed as the emergency contact?
His pupils moved rapidly from side to side between narrowed eyelids.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
