Chapter 168 – Peace – Part 4

Chapter 168 – Peace – Part 4

Kim Hakcheol involuntarily flinched.

Woojin put the extended cellphone back into his pocket and nodded slightly.

“I guess I was right?”

Woojin now spoke informally to him without hesitation.

He had judged that he was not worth respecting.

All criminals who committed violent crimes were now like viruses to Woojin.

They seemed to be nothing more than organisms polluting the peaceful world.

“Now you only have two ways. When cornered, people always make two choices. Accept the mistake or get angry instead. It’s the same in this situation. Either run away or charge. It’s your freedom to choose which one, but getting caught won’t change.”

“Damn it… What are you rambling about, breaking into someone else’s house without any evidence?”

“Evidence will come from the burnt clothes. And more crucial evidence will come from your shoes. If you’re confident, you can show me the bathroom.”

“B-bring a warrant!”

Woojin unfastened the taser he was wearing.

“This… I wanted to shoot it.”

He really wanted to shoot it.

“Are you, are you really a police officer?”

“If you want to sue me for being tasered, go ahead. I have a lot of money on the righteous path to hire a more expensive lawyer. And whose side do you think the police will be on?”

Kim Hakcheol’s eyes quickly darted around the room.

He ignored the nonsense about an officer having a lot of money.

If I went through the main gate, he was closer, and if I climbed over the wall, he would pull me down.

And he’s also holding a Taser.

If I get hit, will my body be paralyzed? Will it be excruciating pain?

Then Woojin said,

“I already told you the answer. You’ll be caught no matter what. It’s only a matter of time before you’re caught. 30 seconds? A minute? It’ll just be decided within that time.”

“Fuck…”

He held out his hands as if to be handcuffed.

Woojin nodded, looking at him.

His demeanor was.

“That’s not the posture of someone wearing handcuffs for the first time.”

Suddenly. Kim Hakcheol thought he heard a crackling sound in his ears. At the same time, a thrilling pain, like being pricked by needles, coiled around his entire body like a snake.

Woojin had fired the Taser.

“Ugh!”

Woojin watched him writhe on the floor, groaning, and then admired the Taser.

“Wow… It’s more effective than I thought.”

It seemed like all he needed to do was put on the handcuffs.

But Woojin didn’t. The Taser Woojin was holding was a new model that could fire three shots with a 1 to 2 second interval between each shot.

To prevent misuse, the Taser’s location and the time it was fired were fully recorded in the gun.

So, less than 3 seconds later, Woojin pulled the trigger again.

Of course, he only aimed at a location away from the heart, just like the first time.

To prevent cardiac arrest, that is.

“Ugh, no, no, no, ugh!”

Despite his groans and drooling, Woojin added one more remark.

“There’s still one more shot left.”

Zzzzt-

“Aaaargh!”

Woojin then twisted his arm behind his back and put him in handcuffs.

He helped Kim Hakcheol to his feet and kindly brushed off his clothes.

“Anyone would think I rolled him on the floor. Can’t have that.”

Woojin pushed him and entered the living room.

There was nothing special in the living room, only a soju bottle rolling around. Woojin led him to the kitchen.

He pulled out a tissue from beside him and grabbed the knife on the sink.

So his fingerprints wouldn’t be on it.

“This seems to be the weapon used in the crime?”

“No, it’s not.”

Kim Hakcheol replied in a slightly softer voice.

“This looks like it, though?”

Kim Hakcheol replied in a more subdued tone than before.

“No, it’s not.”

“Hold it.”

Woojin forced the knife into his hand and slowly shook his head.

“Doesn’t seem like it.”

With that, Woojin pressed the knife against the back of his own hand, creating a scratch.

It was a long but very small scratch.

It was a scratch that would leave no trace once it healed.

“W-what are you doing!”

Kim Hakcheol couldn’t see what Woojin was doing behind his back, but he guessed and yelled out.

“It’s nothing.”

Woojin threw the knife aside and pushed him into the bathroom.

A few bottles of bleach and cleaner.

And there were also shoes in a washbasin full of water.

He thinks if he soaks them in detergent, the bloodstains will disappear. He thinks if he doesn’t show it, he won’t get caught.

Woojin fixed his gaze there and muttered.

“I’ll catch them all.”

Just then, his cellphone vibrated.

Even when facing Kim Hakcheol, Woojin had ignored the calls that kept coming in.

He’d also tuned out the radio.

He checked and saw that this caller was the Senior Officer.

-Where are you, you idiot! Why aren’t you answering your phone! Didn’t you hear the radio?

“I caught the criminal.”

-What criminal…? You caught a criminal?

“Yes. I’m at Kim Hakcheol’s house, 300 meters from the crime scene. He was burning the clothes he wore during the crime and washing his shoes.”

-What are you talking about? You caught the criminal?

It was truly an unbelievable story.

Even if finding the murder weapon was a coincidence, the guy who had briefly disappeared and no one knew where he went, claimed to have caught the criminal.

He thought he was an unusual guy, but this also wasn’t easy to accept.

“Just a moment.”

Woojin immediately switched to speakerphone and asked Kim Hakcheol.

“Mr. Kim Hakcheol, is it true that you murdered Ms. Kim Eonju?”

Woojin said that and raised his taser for Kim Hakcheol to see.

He couldn’t use the taser anymore, but Kim Hakcheol, who had tasted the otherworldly flavor of 50,000 volts, had no way of knowing that, and soon spoke.

“……I’ll surrender.”

Woojin, who had turned off the speakerphone, spoke to the Senior Officer again.

“His surrender is a lie. He kept swinging his knife until I subdued him with the taser. He was so nimble I had to fire it three times.”

Kim Hakcheol stared at Woojin with wide eyes.

“When did I……”

Woojin was briefly answering the Senior Officer, regardless of what Kim Hakcheol was doing.

“Yes. Understood.”

Soon, Woojin, who had come out of the bathroom, pushed him onto the sofa as if throwing him.

Thud.

Woojin looked at Kim Hakcheol, who had slumped onto the sofa, and said,

“Comfortable, isn’t it? It’ll be your last comfort. Enjoy it thankfully. Oh, you wouldn’t know the meaning of gratitude. You’d probably hate to have such a feeling.”

He is a person floundering in a sea of victimhood.

Happiness does not easily come to those who do not know gratitude.

One could also say that a ‘hormonal imbalance has occurred’ as a slave to desire.

“Well, you don’t need to know. Keep floundering. Unhappily. I want you to.”

Just then, with the sound of a siren, people in police uniforms poured in.

Woojin quickly approached the Senior Officer and showed him the scratch on the back of his hand, saying, as if tattling,

“I thought I was going to die.”

The Senior Officer shouted, seeing Woojin’s hand and the knife lying nearby.

“Hey! You idiot! You should’ve requested backup first! What are you doing, being so dangerously alone?”

“I’m sorry. I was burning the clothes, and the blood-stained shoes were soaking in water.”

The Senior Officer took off his hat and ran his hand through his hair.

“Never act alone again. Understand? It’s crazy. What if you had gotten seriously hurt?”

“I’m sorry.”

He sighed and continued speaking.

“We’ll take care of things here. Return right now. Quickly.”

“Huh?”

“They want you to fly back immediately. Go quickly.”

“I don’t think I did anything wrong…”

Woojin began to quickly search his mind.

Could it be about eating Tteokbokki with the children at the elementary school yesterday?

Was it too much to eat even the blood sausage then?

Or was it that he was caught drinking fish cake broth?

As Woojin’s expression grew serious, the senior officer spoke again.

“Drive the car and go straight there.”

“Yes, sir. Understood. Loyalty.”

Woojin immediately turned and moved towards the entrance.

At that moment, the senior officer called Woojin again.

It was because he felt he had been too hard on the new recruit, Ira, and had only disheartened him.

“Woojin.”

“Yes?”

“Well done. You were faster than the Forensics Team.”

Woojin replied with a faint smile.

“Thank you. I was lucky.”

“Go quickly.”

***

Woojin, who was driving the police car back, suddenly stopped his car at a small intersection, even turning off his lights.

Given the time, people were occasionally seen, and so were passing cars.

Woojin’s gaze was fixed on a place piled high with trash.

There, where a cat’s meow could be heard, a masked grandmother was rummaging through the trash.

Empty cans and waste paper were neatly stacked in the stroller beside her.

Woojin’s eyes gleamed as he watched her and the area around her.

Only a few knew her circumstances, and among them, Woojin knew exactly.

“I’ve been waiting for this day… If I just rotate it 60 degrees…”

Woojin, who had been watching her like a tiger, quietly pressed the accelerator.

The car was heading exactly to where she was located.

Vroom-

The car suddenly took off, spewing exhaust fumes.

And then.

Thud!

The stroller, hit by the car, spun 60 degrees.

Woojin quickly stopped the car and got out.

“I’m so sorry. I was in a hurry and didn’t see the stroller. I’m truly sorry. Are you okay?”

She, calming her momentarily surprised heart, smiled, wrinkles forming around her eyes.

She was laughing.

“I’m fine.”

The car hadn’t hit her, nor had the spinning stroller bumped into her.

Woojin quickly started stacking the cans and waste paper that had fallen from the stroller.

“I’m really sorry.”

She said in a kind voice.

“Ho ho ho. These things happen. You must be working hard day and night.”

“What should I do about this? The stroller is dented.”

“Huh?”

She came closer and checked the stroller.

As Woojin said, one side of the stroller was slightly dented.

She said as if it was no big deal.

“Oh, it’s fine. It doesn’t affect pushing it.”

Woojin shook his head, reached into his pocket, and held out a white envelope.

“I should compensate you. Here.”

She waved her hand.

“No, no. I’m really fine, I tell you. I’m okay~.”

“I’ve seen many problems arise later if the police get involved… Here. I’m in a hurry right now. I’m truly sorry!”

Woojin forced the envelope into her hand, then immediately got into his car and drove away.

Woojin knew her situation well.

Raising a first-grader grandson alone, the grandson wanting to be a soccer player but not having soccer shoes, and her rummaging through trash cans in the middle of the night, afraid her grandson might be embarrassed.

She stared blankly at the disappearing police car, then checked the bag.

It contained 60 50,000 won bills.

Woojin, driving the car, checked the rearview mirror and muttered.

“Good, that was natural.”

***

At Woojin’s return, the police officers’ gazes immediately turned to Kim Cheolung.

Woojin spoke to Kim Cheolung in a calm, righteous manner.

“Why are you here?”

Kim Cheolung scratched his eyebrow.

“Oh, come on, that’s hurtful…”

And then he showed his characteristic smile.

“I came because I missed you! Why not!? I also have something to say!”