In his bewilderment, he got irritated without even listening to the end of the explanation that it wasn’t Ansan Police Station’s investigation team.
“Came here for nothing.”
My money…! With today’s taxi fare, just how many more nights would he have to carry beer?
After clutching his wallet and letting out one big shout, he calmed his excitement. What was important was that the arrest happened at super speed, not a few tens of thousands of won. Yeon Cheonguk, who had regained his rationality, asked the next question.
“Okcheon means he didn’t even get far. Why was he caught there?”
—It seems they approached disguised as a private currency exchange and caught him. They discovered everything from 40 million won in cash to a safe with hidden gold bars.
To think Korean police were this competent. Just moments ago, they’d been shaking their heads saying they couldn’t attach investigative personnel to a scammer who’d fled with a mere fifteen million. It was incredibly fortunate that even the hidden funds had been uncovered.
“Then I can get all my money back, right?”
—Probably. You’re the first person who filed charges.
His insides felt so relieved that tears welled up. It felt like he’d completely parted ways with the pathetic agency and himself for clinging to false hope.
—Where are you? Are you in Goesan right now?
“Yes. I’m at the gas station across from Seolwoo Mountain. Thanks to this, I’ll get to see the countryside for a day. Anyway, thank you for contacting me. But!”
Yeon Cheonguk, who had been cheerfully bouncing out of the gas station with lightened steps, grabbed the phone and asked again.
“That bastard really got caught, right?”
—Yes. He’s been arrested and is being transferred here now, so don’t worry too much.
“Yes! Thank you.”
Without realizing it, he shouted loudly with a deep voice. Since it was an outlying road, no taxi would come, and if he called the gas station owner one more time he’d probably get cursed at, so he first walked toward the town center. He thought that if he walked along trudging and met a resident passing through the farm road, he’d ask where the bus stop was.
They said this year had abnormal weather, but even though it was mid-July, it wasn’t that hot. Yeon Cheonguk, who had been walking beside the two-lane road, took off his cap. He ruffled and arranged his hair while looking up at the sky.
“I guess there’s no law saying you have to die. Seeing heaven helping me, does it mean I should try doing musicals?”
The muggy summer poured in between the fingers shading the sunlight.
“…Did heaven really help?”
He’d never actually experienced the saying that heaven helps, but this time it seemed like luck that couldn’t be explained any other way. To think they’d mobilized such care as to conduct an undercover investigation to catch one scammer. If he could, he wanted to give those police officers commendations, certificates, and even add deep bows on top.
Walking in a daze, time passed endlessly. When he checked his cell phone clock, an hour and twenty minutes had already passed. His striped shirt was soaked with sweat.
There was something he’d resolved once more while walking.
When he returned, no matter what, he had to confirm Hwang Jegu and his grandfather’s well-being. Only then would the second act of his life properly begin.
Yeon Cheonguk, who had been slowly walking beside the rice paddies shining green in the summer light, suddenly turned his head to the right.
It was because he’d discovered a streak of pure white flash from across the way.
Yeon Cheonguk stopped walking, drawn to the ray of light that had flashed from the window of a country house across the road.
A transparent, white-shining flash….
When had he seen it before?
A few years ago, it was inside a recording studio. The summer when he’d seen fragments of light reflected on a lighter that had fallen to the ground. The rolled lighter and the hem of a basketball uniform…….
Why did that moment suddenly come to mind? Jeez, did he walk too much in the blazing sun?
Yeon Cheonguk, who had stopped as if entranced, looked at the country house for a while. Next to a small one-story house, he could see a spacious garage they’d built themselves. In the garage, one pickup truck and three passenger cars were parked in a row.
…Why are there four cars at a small house? It’s not even a holiday.
Yeon Cheonguk, who had been tilting his head, discovered two black passenger cars running from the opposite direction. He stepped back a few paces below the embankment. The cars passed Yeon Cheonguk at quite a fast speed.
Both cars turned left right in front and boldly climbed toward the house and garage Yeon Cheonguk had just seen. The people who got out of the cars one after another were all suspicious characters wearing black clothes, masks, and gloves.
‘What the?’
Yeon Cheonguk backed down below the embankment and hid his body. Bang, bang, bang, bang. Only after confirming the sound of car doors closing one after another did he poke his head out. Hidden by the cars parked on the uphill road, he couldn’t see well what was happening. What he could roughly make out was the scene of people who’d gotten out of the cars dividing up and entering the house and garage.
Thud thud. The sound of knocking on a door could be heard. He could also hear a voice shouting, “Is anyone there?”
It seemed that the suspicious characters who’d split up into two cars were targeting someone in that house.
They didn’t seem to be holding weapons, but what was going on?
Should he report it? The moment he took one more step up the embankment, he heard the sound of something being smashed inside the house.
Yeon Cheonguk hid his body among the weeds again. His heartbeat raced like crazy.
No way…… a kidnapping case in broad daylight?
—Let go! I said let go!
—Fuck, what the hell, you bastards! Ah… ahhh!
—Run!
Along with the terrifying scream of an adult man, the window shattered with a crash. Several men ran out from inside the house. Three of those who’d escaped managed to get into a car that had been in the garage.
A white car backed down the slope, even pushing back its own allies standing behind. The suspicious characters with black masks covering their faces chased after them, but couldn’t catch up to the car that had picked up speed.
However, the car that had recklessly picked up speed while crossing the center line couldn’t go far before toppling over.
Screech—!
It was because of one car that had been driving at steady speed from the opposite side. The bastards’ car, which had violently jerked the steering wheel at the danger of a head-on collision, fell into the rice paddy embankment and crashed.
Gasp! Yeon Cheonguk, who had been looking for timing to run away, squeezed his eyes shut.
Following the ear-piercing sound of sudden braking, the car whoosh, crashed into the dirt road. At that moment, Yeon Cheonguk was gripped by great fear. There was nowhere visible to hide his body in the wide field.
The car that had been coming from the opposite side also stopped. The driver’s seat of the black car with dark tinting was quiet.
Men crawled out of the accident vehicle with steam rising. Three men wearing flashy shirts that advertised “I’m a thug” to anyone who looked got out of the car and started running along the farm road.
“What the hell are those guys?”
“Plainclothes police! That bastard Manager Pyo ratted us out!”
“How can you believe that! Did you see what the last guy who came in was doing? How is that a cop, he’s from some organization! Did you see a police badge?”
Those gathered at the house were definitely used car dealers and third-rate organized crime riff-raff who had helped the agency manager’s escape. Then that meant the suspicious characters who’d raided them were plainclothes violent crimes detectives.
“Then won’t we get caught too for handing the car over to Manager Pyo?”
“Of course, you blockhead! That’s why I’m telling you to run!”
Yeon Cheonguk secretly crawled toward the car that had crashed into the rice paddy embankment. He was thinking of hiding behind it and waiting for the plainclothes police.
At the moment he was taking duck steps while the bastards were running away at full speed, the sound of a door closing hard came from the road. It seemed the driver who’d nearly collided with the accident vehicle had gotten out of the car.
Because of that, the bastards who turned around all focused their gazes on Yeon Cheonguk at once.
“Wait. What’s that? Hey, hey!”
“Catch that guy. What the fuck is that bastard?”
Yeon Cheonguk gripped his cell phone and ran at the fastest speed of his life, but couldn’t get a few dozen meters before being caught by the thugs. The bastards who covered Yeon Cheonguk’s mouth and laid him down on the rice paddy path pulled out a knife first.
“You’re one of them, right?”
“Just catch him. We’ll hold him as a hostage, so you go get another car. Hurry!”
“Got it.”
In an instant, a blade touched his neck. The rough breathing the bastards were emitting was unpleasant.
While one bastard snuck back into the garage, one held a knife to Yeon Cheonguk, and the remaining one quickly searched through Yeon Cheonguk’s wallet.
“Is this bastard a cop too?”
“No. Yedae Practical Music Department? Seems like he’s a college student.”
“An entertainer? If you make a fuss, I’ll slash your face wide open.”
A loud siren sounded on the road. A police car was following to the accident scene. The knife touching Yeon Cheonguk’s neck stabbed his cheek. A much more distant fear came than when the blade had touched his neck.
At that moment, the man who’d been breathing dirty breath behind Yeon Cheonguk let out a faint scream. Urk, before he could even fully spit out the scream, he seemed to lose strength in his arm, and before Yeon Cheonguk’s eyes, the bastard’s right arm was crack crack crack broken outward.
Surprised, he looked to the side. The bastard who’d been searching Yeon Cheonguk’s wallet had collapsed in the field, knocked out. It seemed like he’d been hit with an electric shock.
Whatever was happening, he first wanted to avoid the situation. The moment he instinctively tried to run to the road, he felt an ominous presence from behind. Yeon Cheonguk was caught again by someone who approached from behind.
“Hup…!”
It was a distinctly different physique and strength from the bastard who’d just held a knife to Yeon Cheonguk. Yeon Cheonguk, unable to tell whether the shadow cast behind him was on the side of good or evil, was once again engulfed in terrible fear.
If this suspicious character is in league with the thugs… this time I might really end up with a scar from a knife on my face…!
Yeon Cheonguk quickly bent at the waist and swung his elbow hard toward the back. He was aiming for a vital point. It was an attempt to strike a vital point momentarily and then escape the range with a forward roll.
However, the suspicious character was a professional who was no match. He snatched Yeon Cheonguk’s knee bend with one hand.
Only the moment remained when he’d helplessly smash his chin on the rice paddy path. At that moment, the suspicious character tightly embraced Yeon Cheonguk’s chest from behind. After catching and briefly lifting Yeon Cheonguk who was about to fall forward, in an instant they lay down prone together.
His head spun from being subdued in one moment. The suspicious character, who firmly grasped Yeon Cheonguk’s resisting right arm twisted behind his back, mounted his waist. A low voice fell down from the presence that had covered him from behind.
“Fuck… I’m telling you, you really like balls.”
“……?”
A hazy voice flowed down his spine. It was as if all the blood vessels in his body had frozen white.
Yeon Cheonguk raised the head he’d dropped. The white flash reflected from the suspicious character’s wristwatch blinded him for an instant. The moment he squeezed his eyes shut and trembled with goosebumps, a voice covered the top of his head once more.
“Did you think you’d get caught twice?”
“Urk!”
A black glove grabbed Yeon Cheonguk’s jaw. What came into view again was a black leather blouson sleeve and leather gloves.
His jaw was pulled up as it was and his face was lifted. Yeon Cheonguk, who had been blinking his eyes upward, let out a trembling breath.
Under the stinging summer sunlight, the face placed upside down was backlit. The deep backlight held a fishy eye-smile.
“What were you doing all night not answering your phone, you slacker?”
