🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter 72
“Looks like this is the place. Cha-rin, let’s go in.”
“I don’t think I can go in.”
“Why not?”
Sung-jin stopped in his tracks at Cha-rin’s awkward expression.
“This is a room salon.”
Even though it was inside a memory, the location had been recreated exactly as reality. There was no way a high school girl could safely enter a room salon.
If, by chance, anyone in the memory reacted strangely to Cha-rin’s presence, it could influence Jin-young under hypnosis and ruin the entire plan.
“Ah, right. Cha-rin, then could you wait over there for a bit?”
Sung-jin pointed to a small bench set aside for valet parking.
“Yes. I’ll wait here, so go ahead.”
“Okay. But is there anything I should be careful about? Other than not getting caught by Jin-young in the memory?”
“Other than that, just act naturally, like it’s real. This place is created from Jin-young’s memories and experiences, so behaving differently would actually seem weird.”
“Got it. Act as naturally as possible.”
“Yes.”
“I was thinking… should I try filming with my phone? We can still use phones here, right?”
Sung-jin took his phone out of his pocket.
“In the memory, you can only use phones to check time or receive messages from the outside. You can’t really use other functions, and you definitely can’t send videos or information out from here.”
Cha-rin had tried before, thinking sending a video of the evidence or witnesses could simplify things—but this was a memory, not reality.
“Right, that makes sense. I’ll be quick. Wait here a bit.”
Sung-jin shook his head a few times to loosen his tense body, then resolutely opened the thick door of the room salon.
“Welcome! Are you alone?”
A waiter greeted Sung-jin politely, scanning him from head to toe.
‘Amazing… this even feels real.’
Sung-jin stared blankly at the waiter. The memory recreated reality so vividly that everything felt astonishing.
“Alone?”
The waiter repeated the question to Sung-jin’s vacant expression.
“I… wanted to ask a few questions.”
Sung-jin remembered the repeated instructions from Cha-rin and In-hye to behave exactly like in reality, and looked at the waiter seriously.
“Ask questions?”
The waiter’s smiling face momentarily turned annoyed.
“Yes. Today—”
“Please leave. This place is too expensive for you to drink. Go out.”
He cut Sung-jin off, waving him away like a street vendor.
“Wait. Did Yoon Jin-young come today?”
“Huh?”
Hearing the name, the waiter’s annoyance turned into caution.
“Yoon Jin-young didn’t come today? Doesn’t he come here often?”
Sung-jin didn’t miss the change in expression and pressed further.
“Why are you asking? Are you a cop?”
The waiter glared sharply.
“No, I’m not a cop. I just wanted to see him because I’m a fan. Never mind. Just give me the biggest room.”
The waiter had assumed Sung-jin was a penniless outsider, but when he requested the largest room, his expression instantly shifted to a wide smile.
“Any room is fine. Follow me.”
‘James? I’ll have to summon him as a witness later.’
Sung-jin memorized the waiter’s face and name tag.
Moments later…
“Here we are.”
“Okay.”
Following the waiter, Sung-jin walked down the luxurious corridor bathed in dim red lighting, arriving at a golden door.
“Please, go in.”
Stepping inside, Sung-jin’s eyes widened. The lavish interior and bottles costing more than his monthly salary were set on the tables.
“How would you like things prepared?”
“Not yet, I have company coming.”
Sung-jin tried to hide his surprise, acting as naturally as possible.
“Okay. Should I call them first?”
“No, that’s fine.”
Sung-jin waved his hands. Even in a memory, he couldn’t commit a crime.
“Understood. If you need anything, let me know.”
The waiter’s caution returned as he quietly left, closing the door.
“Phew… this isn’t easy either.”
Sung-jin picked up a can of cola from the table and collapsed onto the plush sofa.
“Wow… the more I think about it, the more amazing this is. Feels like I’m really drinking it.”
He took a sip, turning the can in his hands, marveling at how realistic everything felt. Yet part of him worried: what if he couldn’t distinguish memory from reality?
“How does Cha-rin even have this ability…?”
Suddenly, curiosity about Cha-rin’s extraordinary skill began to rise.
At that moment…
[“Ha-haha, really? Is that so? Hahaha!”]
A familiar voice came from the hallway.
“He’s here!”
Jin-young.
Sung-jin jumped from his seat, peeking through the door into the corridor.
[“You know who I am? I’m Yoon Jin-young! Hallyu star Yoon Jin-young! The king of idols, Yoon Jin-young!”]
“Looks like he’s already had a drink.”
Jin-young staggered down the corridor, holding the waist of a model-like woman. His drunken face was loud and boisterous.
[“Say anything, I’ll buy it for you.”]
[“Really? You’re the best!”]
Due to her long hair and large sunglasses, Sung-jin couldn’t see the woman’s face, only hear her voice.
“So he didn’t come alone. Why didn’t he tell me he came with her? Damn… I can’t see her…”
Sung-jin tried to peek through the narrow doorway.
[“Shall we have some fun?”]
[“How? How will you make it fun?”]
Bang—
Jin-young entered a room with the woman. Sung-jin cautiously opened the door and stepped into the hallway.
“So it’s true that Jin-young was with a woman…”
Seeing that Jin-young’s alibi checked out, Sung-jin couldn’t hide his slight disappointment.
[“I’ll just make a quick call.”]
At that moment, the woman holding a phone exited the room. Sung-jin slouched against the wall like a drunken man, ducking his head.
“Yes… hold on, there’s someone next to me… okay, it’s fine now… tomorrow’s filming.”
She kept her head down, focused on the call, thinking he was drunk.
‘That voice… I’ve heard it before… Ah!’
Sung-jin suddenly recalled a face in his mind.
‘No way… it can’t be.’
But dismissing the thought, he cautiously looked at her face—and…
“….”
Sung-jin, unable to hide his disappointment, quickly left the room salon corridor.
“What happened? Jin-young’s alibi checks out?”
Cha-rin jumped from the bench at the sight of Sung-jin exiting the room.
“Yes, it does.”
Sung-jin slumped onto the bench, exhausted.
“Really? Phew… thank goodness.”
Cha-rin exhaled in relief.
“Then we just need to find the woman with Jin-young and get her testimony. Do you recognize her? Or someone you suspected during the investigation?”
Sung-jin’s expression made her curious.
“….”
But Sung-jin didn’t answer, only showing disappointment.
“Detective Kim!”
“You know her too.”
Sung-jin sighed deeply.
“I know her? Who?”
“Im Yoon-ji.”
Sung-jin lowered his head.
“Im Yoon-ji? That idol Im Yoon-ji? The one filming a drama with Jin-young recently?”
Cha-rin could hardly believe it, asking repeatedly.
“Yeah… damn. I was a fan…”
Even missing a gold medal in judo couldn’t have disappointed him like this.
“Then why did Jin-young say he didn’t remember the woman?”
Cha-rin was equally shocked.
“Celebrities… can’t reveal everything about their love lives.”
“True, but still…”
Learning that Jin-young was with Yoon-ji, Cha-rin couldn’t hide her disappointment.
“Well, we’ve confirmed it. We can leave now.”
“Already? Don’t you want to investigate more?”
“No. We should go meet Im Yoon-ji first.”
Sung-jin got up, brushing off disappointment for the sake of the case.
“Yes. Then close your eyes.”
“Chief, we found out who the woman is.”
Sung-jin immediately ran to Chief Choi, eyes wide open.
“What? Already done? Only three minutes into the hypnosis?”
The chief glanced at the wall clock, astonished at how quickly they had returned from the memory.
“Anyway, we need to meet her quickly.”
“Who?”
“Im Yoon-ji.”
“Im Yoon-ji? Who’s that?”
The chief looked puzzled.
“You might’ve seen her at the filming site. We need to go meet her now. I’ll explain on the way.”
Sung-jin grabbed the doorknob, urging Chief Choi.
“Go ahead first. I’ll finish the Jin-young interrogation and meet you later. Call me then.”
The chief, concerned, glanced at Cha-rin seated in the chair.
“Yes, we’ll contact you later. Cha-rin, good work.”
“Thank you.”
Cha-rin nodded lightly at Sung-jin rushing out, then turned to watch Jin-young still under hypnosis in the interrogation room.
[“Jin-young, now let’s recall the event that caused you the most stress.”]
In-hye’s gentle voice continued to flow from the speaker, unaware that Cha-rin had exited the memory.
“Hmm… there was something, of course…”
Jin-young still stared blankly at In-hye.
“What happened?”
“…There was an incident.”
“An incident?”
“Yes… nothing serious though…”
Jin-young smiled oddly, like he had woken from hypnosis, his facial muscles subtly twitching.
“Jin-young, take a deep breath again. Deeply, deeply.”
Noticing Jin-young’s near-wakeful reaction, In-hye carefully observed his eye twitches, breathing, and small gestures to maintain the hypnosis for the full ten minutes.
“Ha—hoo—”
“Good. Relax like that. Now, can you tell me about the incident again? Did it stress you out?”
“It was stressful, but… it was also kind of fun.”
Jin-young spoke again with a vacant, unfocused gaze.
“Jin-young, can you tell me about it?”
In-hye, relieved he hadn’t fully woken, coaxed his memory gently.
“We were in the same class. We lived together at my house…”
“With whom?”
“That girl… her father was my father’s chauffeur.”
“Who is she?”
“Min-ji. Han Min-ji…”
Jin-young smiled faintly again.
“Han Min-ji?”
“Han Min-ji.”
Cha-rin and Chief Choi, listening through the speaker, murmured the unfamiliar name simultaneously.
“Chief, how much time is left?”
Cha-rin suddenly asked urgently.
“About two minutes. Almost done. Why?”
“I’ll just go check quickly.”
“Why? For what?”
“Just… something I need to confirm quickly. Don’t worry.”
“Cha-rin!”
“I’ll be back.”
Ignoring the chief’s warning, Cha-rin glanced once at Jin-young under hypnosis and tightly closed her eyes again.
