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CHAPTER 07
Thanks to his naturally gifted body, Jincheol had never even broken a bone in his life, let alone fainted before.
Even when fighting gangsters on the streets, Jincheol was always the one left standing at the end.
That was how he had lived, trusting only his body…
“Awake?”
But now, even that body couldn’t be trusted anymore.
Fainting had become normal.
Jincheol slowly got up from the middle of the living room as warm sunlight streamed in and answered bluntly,
“Yes.”
At this point, he could recognize who it was just from the voice alone.
And at this hour, there was only one person who would be taking care of him.
His new senior, Seungcheol.
As if it were his own house, Seungcheol was casually pouring himself orange juice in Jincheol’s kitchen.
“You should head to work soon.”
“Yes, I’ll wash up and come out.”
“Alright.”
The moment Jincheol entered the bathroom, he suddenly came back out.
“Wait… how do you know my house password?”
“I worked in Missing Persons. Figuring out house passwords is nothing.”
“…Really?”
Jincheol tilted his head suspiciously for a moment, then just accepted it and went back into the bathroom.
‘Missing Persons Team…’
Repeating the unfamiliar team name to himself, Jincheol let out a long sigh.
= = =
It had been exactly three days before he returned to work.
The moment Jincheol came back to Jongam Police Station, he had to face Chief Jo sitting in his seat.
‘Shit…’
There was no reason for Chief Jo to come to the Missing Persons Team.
Unless it was for one thing.
‘The evidence…’
His eyes met Junseong’s, who looked extremely nervous standing beside Chief Jo.
“Uh, I need to use the bathroom for a second… why does my stomach suddenly hurt?”
The moment he opened the Missing Persons office door, Jincheol tried closing it again.
He needed a moment to think of a way out of this situation.
But Seungcheol, standing behind him, completely ruined his plan.
“You literally just went to the bathroom. Stop talking nonsense and get inside.”
Seungcheol shoved him forward with his foot.
Jincheol stumbled inside and looked back at him.
Seungcheol simply smirked and confidently walked toward Chief Jo.
“What brings the former Violent Crimes Unit 2 chief here? Ah~ wait, I guess that title doesn’t exist anymore, huh?”
Jincheol had been shocked that Seungcheol managed to physically push him.
But what Seungcheol just said shocked him even more.
“What do you mean Violent Crimes Unit 2 doesn’t exist anymore?!”
“Oh~ you didn’t know? It got dissolved while you were on medical leave.”
“W-why?”
“Why else? You know how police stations work. Teams with poor performance naturally…”
Vrrrrrrrr.
Somehow, Seungcheol had suddenly pulled out a blender.
He casually tossed bananas into it and shrugged while blending them.
“Get blended.”
Then he smoothly poured the banana juice into paper cups.
And handed them to Chief Jo, Junseong, and Jincheol.
“And remade.”
Seungcheol smirked mockingly at Chief Jo.
Chief Jo twitched angrily but couldn’t do anything.
“Ugh…”
“What? You gonna hit me here? Go ahead. Your penalty gauge is already maxed out. If you cause trouble now, it’ll be over instantly.”
Seungcheol dragged his thumb across his neck in a throat-slitting gesture.
Watching Seungcheol openly mock Chief Jo made Jincheol naturally start smiling.
Then he immediately asked what he’d been most curious about.
“So you’re not here because of the evidence?”
“Evidence? What evidence?”
“The… missing stone.”
“A stone? There was something like that?”
Had he forgotten he personally replaced the missing evidence with a random rock?
But seeing Chief Jo’s shaky eyes made Jincheol’s expression stiffen.
Seungcheol patted his shoulder.
Then he looked down at Chief Jo.
“There was evidence like that?”
“…There wasn’t.”
“What…?”
Chief Jo’s answer filled Jincheol with conflicting emotions.
Relief that the evidence tampering hadn’t been exposed.
But also confusion over why Chief Jo answered that way at all.
“See? He said there wasn’t. If something like that really existed, Chief Jo wouldn’t hide it.”
Flap.
A document fluttered in Seungcheol’s hand.
Jincheol instantly recognized it.
“Ah! Since the case got transferred, all the evidence connected to it…”
“Now belongs to me.”
Chief Jo’s face twisted angrily.
Seungcheol slowly looked him up and down.
“So Chief, how does it feel? Throwing away a golden axe with your own hands before getting transferred?”
Transferred?
What the hell happened while he was gone?
“Hurry up and hand it over.”
“Yes sir~ yes sir~”
What Jincheol thought was one document was actually two.
The second paper hidden behind the first fluttered down into Chief Jo’s hands.
“That bastard Manager Park really mocked me until the very end… None of the things you people do will ever work out.”
Taking the document, Chief Jo stood up without even looking back, throwing curses behind him.
“Thank you for the kind words. Looks like your wish came true. Nothing exciting’s gonna happen at that tiny countryside police substation you’re being sent to. Go there and keep doing absolutely nothing like always.”
As he walked out, Chief Jo raised his middle finger without turning around.
“I’m jealous~”
Bang!
The Missing Persons office door slammed shut violently.
Seungcheol looked at the closed door with a mocking smile.
“Heh. Pretty satisfying, right?”
“What happened?”
“Manager Park’s work. You know him, right? Elite Manager Park of Jongam Police Station. The man who transferred you here and helped dissolve Violent Crimes Unit 2. You know that better than anyone.”
“Manager… Park?”
Seungcheol dropped into a chair and casually sipped banana juice.
“What? You thought he hated you or something?”
“Well… he personally transferred me here…”
“Nah. Honestly, you’re lucky you ended up here.”
Seungcheol put down the paper cup and looked toward Junseong, who was still standing there awkwardly.
Jincheol turned toward him too.
“So… what am I supposed to do now? I haven’t received any orders…”
Junseong looked incredibly nervous.
Jincheol immediately turned toward Seungcheol.
And noticed another document in Seungcheol’s hand.
“The order’s right here. Congrats, Jincheol. You’re not the youngest anymore.”
“The youngest? Wait… Junseong got transferred to Missing Persons too?!”
Jincheol instantly stood up with a bright expression.
“Hey rookie. What are you doing? Aren’t you gonna make coffee?”
Watching Jincheol’s reaction, Seungcheol smiled faintly.
“Yes, sir!”
= = =
Manager Park.
He really wasn’t what Jincheol expected.
Honestly, the decision did feel very “Manager Park-like,” but the judgment Jincheol once hated now felt satisfying because it got revenge on Chief Jo instead.
Jincheol was actually starting to feel grateful.
At least until they spent the whole day sitting around doing absolutely nothing.
“Junseong.”
“Yes, Senior.”
“Go ask Senior Seungcheol if he plans on investigating the case or not.”
“Uh… this is already the fourth time, isn’t it? Can’t you ask him yourself?”
“You’ve asked four times? I got rejected eight times already.”
Both Jincheol and Junseong turned toward Seungcheol.
Seungcheol was sitting there laughing while watching videos online.
Jincheol sighed deeply.
“Haa… seriously, is this a library or something? Does the Missing Persons Team never work? If we got assigned a case, shouldn’t we investigate instead of just sitting here?”
He whispered quietly enough that only Junseong could hear.
But—
“I heard all of that.”
How sharp were this guy’s ears?
He was even wearing earphones and still heard everything.
Jincheol immediately shut his mouth and quietly turned back toward his laptop.
“Haa…”
It had already been an hour.
He’d been staring at the desktop screen since coming to work, and it was driving him insane.
He wanted to get up and investigate alone if he had to.
But the paper under his hand glued his ass firmly to the chair.
[No investigating until the rookie settles in. Manager Park’s orders.]
In simple terms, they were forcing him into rookie standby duty.
Jincheol sighed heavily and buried himself in the chair.
After sitting there bored for a while, he closed his eyes, trying to nap.
Then suddenly he opened them again.
‘If I’m just going to sit around doing nothing…’
His eyes sharpened while staring into empty space.
‘I might as well experiment.’
The blue haze he’d been pretending not to see floated before him.
Slowly, Jincheol reached his hand toward the transparent mist.
And the moment his hand touched it—
Flash.
Just like back at home, a sharp lightning-like shock struck through his brain.
= = =
“Seungcheol.”
“Yeees~”
It was early morning before everyone arrived at work.
Manager Park called Seungcheol over.
Then he pointed toward Jincheol’s seat and said,
“Keep an eye on him. Soon our Jongam Police Station will also have an ‘Unsolved Cases Investigation Team.’”
An Unsolved Cases Investigation Team?!
Jincheol was shocked for only a moment.
Seungcheol immediately covered Manager Park’s mouth and nervously looked around.
“It’s already decided? More importantly… you should be careful saying that out loud. What if someone overhears…”
“Don’t worry. It doesn’t matter if people hear anymore.”
“If you’re saying that…”
“It’s confirmed. The team will be created under my command within a month, so start selecting people.”
A smile spread across Seungcheol’s face.
“I already have a few people in mind…”
“You’ll need to build the team carefully. Since it’s the first newly created Unsolved Cases Team, we absolutely need results. For example… the Wolgok Station black raincoat murder case…”
Flash!
“Huff… huff…”
Jincheol gasped for breath as a loud ringing echoed through his head.
Junseong immediately looked worried.
“Are you okay? Why are you suddenly sweating so much…”
“Ah, I’m okay. I think I had a nightmare.”
Looks like he fainted again.
“A nightmare…? You only closed your eyes for less than a minute…”
Only one minute?
But the haze vision he experienced lasted almost four hours.
Which meant—
‘The more I use this, the shorter the blackout period becomes?’
Jincheol looked down at his drenched hands.
It felt like he had discovered an extremely important clue.
And some very good information too.
Smack!
A dizzying impact exploded against the back of Jincheol’s head hard enough to make his eyes pop out.
“Ah!”
He whipped around angrily.
And saw Seungcheol’s face.
“Huh? What’s with this bastard? Why are you grinning like that… creepy…”
“I love you~”
The Unsolved Cases Investigation Team.
And the black raincoat murder case being included among its cases.
Now that Jincheol knew Seungcheol was the key figure behind the creation of that team, Seungcheol looked completely different in his eyes.
Jincheol suddenly lunged forward and hugged him tightly.
“Let go! Let go of me, you crazy bastard!!!!”
“I love you~”
But Seungcheol had no idea what was going on.
Thinking Jincheol had gone insane from a bad dream, he repeatedly smacked Jincheol’s head.
Ah… of course, with his fists.
