Violent crimes detective Seo Jaehyeok had been poring over the case files for quite some time.
At the moment, he had been dispatched to the task force dedicated to the serial disappearances.
A series of disappearances that had recently sent tremendous shockwaves through society.
The scale was enormous as well.
There were as many as ten missing persons.
Their occupations, ages, and daily spheres of activity were all different.
A director at the Ministry of Economy and Finance,
an incumbent judge, a prosecutor.
A university professor, a webtoon artist, a journalist,
even a director at the National Intelligence Service.
No matter how he looked at it, there was nothing they had in common.
There was no visible link that would tie them together as crimes.
No grudges, either.
The times of their disappearances were also similar.
After drinks, or after getting off work, they had suddenly vanished.
And there were no traces.
“What about CCTV?”
At Seo Jaehyeok’s question, his junior shook his head.
“Nothing at all. They disappeared completely.”
“Cell phone location tracking?”
“They were loaded onto another truck. Thanks to that, it took even longer to find them.”
Seo Jaehyeok fell silent for a moment, sinking into thought.
That was the problem.
It was too clean.
This was no coincidence.
It was meticulous to an excessive degree.
There was nothing one could call evidence.
No signs of a struggle, no signs they had been forcibly moved.
At some point, they had simply vanished.
Seo Jaehyeok checked the information densely written across the whiteboard.
He reviewed their final movements before disappearing.
Card transaction records, call logs, last sighting locations.
None of them were special places.
Their usual bar, their usual route, their usual behavior.
They had disappeared from there.
Honestly, this was not a disappearance.
It was kidnapping.
The culprit knew exactly what these people did.
And knew how to abduct them as well.
“A professional.”
Seo Jaehyeok set the documents down.
This bastard was a professional.
How to take someone away without leaving a trace.
How to hide a body.
How to slip past the dragnet.
And he even knew which points the police would suspect.
That was why this was a serial case.
Not because there was a common point.
But because they were disappearing in the same way.
“But have you seen this?”
“What?”
The junior detective opened a laptop and showed him.
On the screen was a post from an online community.
[What the Recently Missing People Have in Common]
It was a post he had already seen.
This post had even made the news.
But the number of comments had increased noticeably.
It was a case society had taken a great interest in as well.
- Honestly, it feels refreshing.
- Didn’t someone do what the law couldn’t?
- I used to get furious whenever I saw those pro-Japanese bastards, but I’m seriously grateful.
- Who’s next? They must be trembling.
Seo Jaehyeok stared at the screen for a moment, then turned his head away.
This was troublesome.
If they failed to catch the culprit, they would become incompetent police.
But even if they did catch him, it would be a problem.
With public opinion tilted this far, people would start talking the moment he was arrested.
Still, that did not matter.
The police did not investigate or give up according to public opinion.
Whether this person was guilty or not was not for a detective to decide.
That was the court’s job.
A detective’s role was one thing.
To catch the culprit.
The junior detective asked hesitantly.
“Do you think they’re alive?”
But Seo Jaehyeok could not answer.
There was no evidence, so he could not say.
But there was such a thing as a feeling.
And that feeling was not good.
“I don’t know. But the chances are probably low.”
“Why?”
“There haven’t been any demands. If it’s kidnapping, there should be demands, whether it’s ransom or negotiation. But there’s none of that at all.”
“Then?”
“Yeah. This isn’t about ransom. It seems like he believes he’s carrying out social justice.”
The junior frowned.
Cases like this were truly difficult.
If you did not understand the culprit’s thoughts and philosophy, you could not catch him.
“Haa... Isn’t he a complete lunatic?”
“Right?”
Seo Jaehyeok answered that way, but soon, as if dissatisfied with his own answer, he added,
“To be honest... he’s also someone I’d want to cheer for.”
“Pardon?”
His junior asked back in surprise.
“Never mind. Let’s go to the last disappearance site one more time.”
“We’ve already been there several times...”
“Let’s check it one more time.”
Seo Jaehyeok grabbed his junior by the arm and headed for the scene.
.
.
.
There was nothing at the scene.
It was clean.
Seo Jaehyeok opened the case file once more.
He examined who the missing persons were again.
Those who had engaged in pro-Japanese acts.
Those who had caused social controversy with pro-Japanese remarks.
To avoid falling into the trap of the label “pro-Japanese,” Seo Jaehyeok had excluded the term as much as possible and conducted the investigation as it was, but it seemed he could not go on like this.
Rather, he had to make use of “pro-Japanese.”
Based on that keyword, he tried to predict the next incident.
But there was a problem.
There were far too many candidates.
“Are there really this many sons of bitches in this country?”
It was realistically impossible to assign personal protection to all of them.
They lacked both police manpower and justification.
Amid all that, one name in particular kept catching his eye.
A uniquely outstanding son of a bitch.
“Seo Gwangho.”
A representative pro-Japanese figure.
Chairman of the Cheonghwa Society.
A man who wielded tremendous influence through the media.
A man who had driven many people to their deaths without breaking the law.
Even if it was not immediate, he was certain that the culprit would come for Seo Gwangho.
If the culprit’s justification was punishing pro-Japanese traitors, then he would certainly come for Seo Gwangho.
Fortunately, Seo Gwangho had recently been holed up in seclusion.
He had canceled all outside engagements and was staying shut inside his home.
It was fortunate,
but even so, just in case, they assigned police there.
However, the scene was so full of bodyguards that the police were hardly necessary.
Bodyguards stood along every route, holding radios.
‘With this much, he won’t get kidnapped.’
Even as he assigned police, a bitter taste lingered in his mouth.
To protect a traitor to the nation,
they had to use public authority. He did not like that fact.
On the way back after checking the scene,
he ran into a young man.
There was something unusual about his gaze.
His long-honed detective’s instincts told him.
He was no ordinary man.
He was dangerous.
Seo Jaehyeok called out to him first.
“Excuse me, just a moment.”
“Yes? What is it?”
The man answered kindly.
Even though Seo Jaehyeok had called him, he was neither startled nor tense.
“Would you be able to talk for a moment?”
“Who are you?”
“I’m with the police.”
“What is the purpose of this conversation? I’d like that to be clear.”
“Pardon?”
“If this is an arbitrary police questioning, and what I say has legal effect, then I refuse. If it’s just a simple conversation, then I’ll comply.”
After pondering for a moment, Seo Jaehyeok nodded.
“Let’s call it a simple conversation.”
“Then that’s fine. Detective Seo Jaehyeok.”
Seo Jaehyeok’s eyes widened.
Seo Jaehyeok’s name had come from the man’s mouth.
That meant the man already knew him.
Startled, Seo Jaehyeok reached out first.
He was dangerous.
Perhaps this man was the culprit.
He had to grab him first.
He had to seize this man by the collar, at least, and ask what was going on.
But the hand he extended was instead caught by the man.
His arm was twisted behind his back.
He was the one being subdued.
He tried to call for help from the people nearby, but at some point, vans had blocked off the area around them.
From the street, the two of them could not be seen.
He had thought it was one person, but was it a team?
Well, an act like this could not be done alone.
The man holding Seo Jaehyeok was not nervous or excited.
He was far too calm.
That made him even more chilling.
“Detective. Are you going to shout? If you are, I’ll restrain you a little more. If not, I’ll let you go. I don’t have any ill feelings toward you, Detective.”
“Okay, got it. I won’t shout.”
“Then let’s sit and talk.”
At that moment, a folding chair came out of the van, and coffee came with it.
The situation was bewildering, but he simply sat in the chair for now.
The two began talking while seated in camping chairs.
“Detective. I’m well aware that you’re currently investigating the disappearance case. Investigating is your job, so of course you would. But is there really any need to work so hard even on something like this?”
“What?”
“Sometimes, I think it wouldn’t be bad to have a case where you just pretend to do an adequate job and move on.”
At the man’s words, Seo Jaehyeok flared up.
“You know that’s an incredibly insulting thing to say to a detective, don’t you?”
“I do. But we can’t do our best at everything, can we? Detective, you should catch the truly evil bastards.”
“You’re the evil bastard.”
“I know. I’ll receive the punishment for my sins later. So, Detective, you catch the people who torment innocent citizens. You can’t catch bastards like Seo Gwangho anyway.”
This man was worse than he had thought.
He hit where it hurt with facts.
It was true.
Seo Gwangho had no legal problems whatsoever.
He was selling out the country, but legally, punishment was impossible.
Even now, had they not just assigned police to him not to arrest him,
but to protect him?
“So you’re saying you’ll do it?”
The man nodded.
“Shouldn’t someone?”
Seo Jaehyeok could not answer.
In his heart, Seo Jaehyeok had been cheering him on too.
He had hoped that someone would sweep away bastards like this.
But a detective could not do that.
He had to arrest criminals without discrimination.
If this man was the kidnapper, he was a criminal.
The thought came to him that he had to arrest him, but his hand would not move.
As a police officer, he had to catch the culprit, but he hesitated.
Honestly, he did not want to catch him.
But the crimes had to stop.
“That still doesn’t mean you can stand above the law.”
“Those bastards are already playing with the law, but we’re not allowed to stand above it.”
“......”
“They use the law however they like, but we have to follow every last tiny clause. Every time the standards change, we have to flatten ourselves accordingly.”
It felt as though he had been hit again.
No matter how he thought about it, Seo Jaehyeok found that this man was really good at striking with facts.
“So you’re saying you’ll become the standard? You’ll punish people however you want?”
“No. It’s nothing that grand. I’m just sweeping away the filthy bastards.”
“There will be innocent people who suffer.”
“From what you’ve seen, Detective, was there anyone innocent?”
“.....”
“I’m not asking for your cooperation, Detective. I’m notifying you. For now, Seo Gwangho will be the last. I’ll go as far as Seo Gwangho, so until then, please wander around somewhere else.”
“What if I arrest you right now?”
“There’s no evidence, is there? And this conversation can’t be used as evidence. Even if you take me in, it won’t mean anything.”
He did not yield even a single word until the very end.
This bastard was a fact thug.
“Then Seo Gwangho is the end?”
“Unless someone even worse appears, for now.”
“And when will Seo Gwangho end?”
“He’ll disappear tonight.”
Seo Jaehyeok stared into the distance for a moment and let out a sigh.
“I’m going to get chewed out by the chief.”
As he said that, Seo Jaehyeok’s expression seemed much brighter.
******
Seo Gwangho, chairman of the Cheonghwa Society, had not been able to sleep properly for the past few days.
On the news, on the internet, at drinking gatherings.
Every person he met talked about the same thing.
Disappearances.
Pro-Japanese traitors.
Justice?
Private sanctions?
The world was boiling over with this story.
But to Seo Gwangho, this case felt different.
The people who had disappeared.
They were all people familiar to him.
People he had personally summoned and used.
People who, if he told them to, would twist the law, produce verdicts, and shape public opinion.
Those people had disappeared.
Friends? No.
Subordinates? If not, they were closer to business partners.
He had given them work, and they had done it.
He had paid them accordingly.
That was all.
There had also been a need to instill belief in them.
They needed the consolation that what they were doing was for the sake of building a better nation.
They needed an organization that would protect them.
They needed a sense of belonging.
That was why he had created the Cheonghwa Society.
On the surface, it was an academic gathering, a volunteer organization, a private network for Korea-Japan exchange.
But inside, it was different.
Funds came in from Japan,
and that money flowed into academic societies, media outlets, and foundations.
The members of the Cheonghwa Society who received that money carried out their roles from their respective positions.
They had no awareness that they were selling out the country.
They had merely chosen the side that made money and was comfortable.
They had no standard for right and wrong.
They simply followed the side that made them prosperous.
Seo Gwangho was the same.
Owner of a conservative media company.
A person anyone would know by name.
But his power was not what it had once been.
Circulation had fallen, and his influence had declined.
The younger generation mocked his newspaper.
They dug up very old material and mocked his newspaper.
It didn’t matter.
It was only a means of survival.
Even now, he continued to write articles that fomented conflict.
Conflict made money.
That was all.
He wrote articles for people who sympathized with conflict and were afraid.
The content didn’t matter.
As long as it made money, whether the country fell to ruin or not had nothing to do with Seo Gwangho.
But a problem arose in this atmosphere.
The members of the Cheonghwa Society started refusing to listen.
The plans Seo Gwangho had made began to go awry.
“I’m sorry. The situation isn’t good right now.”
“I’m not feeling well, so I’ll do it next time.”
“I have to be overseas.”
“I think it’ll be difficult right now because of family matters.”
“It’s inconvenient at the moment.”
The Cheonghwa Society had handed down orders, but every single one of them refused.
Before, they had all volunteered to do it.
Now they were refusing.
All because of this disappearance case.
Because of the disappearances, they were frightened, and no one wanted to work.
Afraid they might end up on the list of the missing, they had all gone into hiding.
They felt pressured by the public opinion now boiling over, and were keeping their heads down.
Seo Gwangho, too, had no ability to turn that public opinion around.
When a fire blazes too fiercely, you simply let it burn everything down.
Then only ashes will remain, and you can sow new seeds in that place.
So Seo Gwangho also went into seclusion mode.
He increased his security and reduced his outside schedule.
No, he canceled everything.
Unless it was something special, he did not leave the house.
His house had been fashioned like a fortress.
No one could enter recklessly.
He was confident.
Confident that he himself would not be kidnapped.
On top of that, he had recently more than doubled the number of his bodyguards.
They were all foreigners.
He didn’t like that they were from the Philippines,
but he was told they were former members of overseas special forces.
He had verified their skills, and they were impressive.
It was difficult to hire bodyguards these days.
Everyone was increasing their security.
So he hired them.
The background checks were replaced with the profiles provided by the agency.
They were foreigners anyway.
They knew nothing of the domestic political situation.
They simply focused on protecting Seo Gwangho.
The security facilities were top-class as well.
No one would be able to come here and kidnap Seo Gwangho.
Even so, he was careful, and then careful again.
That was how Seo Gwangho had survived.
The people who had disappeared?
He had no interest in them.
They had served their purpose anyway.
They had grown too big for their britches and become a headache, so if anything, this was for the best.
They had been acting far too conspicuously.
They should have known moderation.
It didn’t matter that they had disappeared, but it was uncomfortable that pro-Japanese collaborators and the Cheonghwa Society were becoming an issue.
Nothing good would come of keywords like that becoming known.
The Cheonghwa Society had to remain quiet.
There was no benefit in provoking public opinion.
They only had to quietly build their own world and reap profits without anyone knowing.
With that, he went to bed.
He comfortably laid himself down on a custom-made bed worth over a hundred million won.
A moment later, the door clicked open, and the bodyguards came in.
What business did the bodyguards have?
Before Seo Gwangho could even wonder, his consciousness vanished.