Inside the now-quiet luxury sedan, even the sound of the driver and Corporal An Seongsil swallowing seemed loud.
Kang Jinho adjusted his posture, covered his mouth with his clasped hands, and began to speak.
“First, I’d like to ask you something. What is a transaction?”
“Are you trying to have some kind of Zen dialogue with me?”
“No. I’m saying we should start from the fundamentals.”
“…”
Normally, Trace would not have had the patience to play along with this sort of nonsense, but seeing him speak with such gravity made her think, There must be some reason for it. She sighed and answered.
“A transaction is the act of giving and receiving something from one another. In this case, money and drugs were exchanged.”
“Yes. That is the core of it. Ultimately, if a transaction took place, then drugs must have been given and received.”
“Do I look like an idiot to you?”
Trace frowned sharply, irritated.
“I know how drug-dealing organizations operate! Throwing a plastic bag into a flowerbed and leaving, putting the goods in a subway locker and picking them up later—did you think I wouldn’t know that?”
“Mm.”
“I examined that subway station carefully over and over that day! But there was nothing suspicious at all!”
“Is there any reason a drug organization must conduct a transaction in a ‘suspicious’ manner?”
But Kang Jinho was not flustered. Rather, with a relaxed attitude, he tilted his head slightly and asked in return.
“Please tell me. At the subway station at noon, what acts were there that purely involved ‘giving and receiving goods’?”
“…All of them?”
“Yes. All of them.”
“Haa.”
Trace gritted her teeth as if fed up.
“People buying things at the convenience store. A homeless person stealing an entire roll of toilet paper from the restroom. A middle-aged woman handing out wet wipes in front of the exit. A bakery selling bread. Someone doing a secondhand trade of handmade merch across the ticket gate. People buying coffee from a takeout café. Someone getting a canned drink from a vending machine. A signature campaign booth handing out badges. And friends meeting up and handing over a shopping bag.”
Breathing hard, she rattled off the countless “transactions” she had confirmed in the past like a machine gun. Since she was naturally sharp and had an extraordinary memory, she did not stumble even once as she spoke.
“Does it look possible to you that a drug transaction happened in the middle of all that? Are you saying they hid drugs in flyers or deli manjoo and sold them? It was all the ordinary daily life of ordinary citizens. I checked every single thing with my own two eyes, thoroughly.”
Trace trusted her eyes. Even she, who could vividly see the past, had not noticed anything, so what could a mere police officer who had not even seen anything possibly know?
However, despite Trace’s sharp reaction, Kang Jinho remained calm. No, inwardly, he was actually cheering. In the game, Trace sometimes found the answer on her own, but the current Trace seemed to have no idea what the answer was.
“As you said, did you check the deli manjoo? There could have been drugs inside.”
“…Ha. Yes, I checked. I tore open the manjoo myself inside the past and checked the inside.”
“I see. Now I’m certain what method the criminal organization used.”
“?!”
“What?”
At Kang Jinho’s confident words, not only Trace but also the driver and An Seongsil, who had been listening quietly, were startled. There had been a way to identify the culprit from what she had just said?
“But before that, I’d like to ask about the specifics of your ability, Trace-nim.”
Kang Jinho slowly crossed his legs and asked.
“My ability?”
“I’d like to compare the rumors about Trace-nim that I heard on the internet with your actual ability.”
“…If that’s all.”
After hesitating for a moment, Trace soon spoke in a low voice.
“I can directly experience the time period I want in the space I want. I can fast-forward or rewind time, and the space is reproduced exactly the same as it was at that moment in the past.”
“Is it truly the same?”
“…What do you mean?”
“Is it really ‘perfectly’ identical to reality?”
“Officer. What I see is the record of the space itself. Are you doubting my ability right now?”
“No, I’m not doubting it. But what about taste and smell? Can you reproduce those as well?”
“…!!!”
Trace’s pupils trembled faintly. Kang Jinho had accurately pinpointed the part she had been hiding, leaving her flustered.
“Was my guess correct? Even if you can perfectly reproduce the sight, touch, and sound of a space… you cannot synchronize smell and taste as well.”
“…How did you know?”
“Because even among information-type supernatural abilities, synchronizing all five senses is nearly impossible. I simply pointed out a structural limitation of the ability.”
Kang Jinho had seen countless supernatural ability users in “Hishishi.” That was why he also knew the characteristics and limitations of information-type ability users very well.
If it was a top-tier ability capable of reproducing sight, hearing, and touch, he had thought that it would likely be unable to reproduce smell and taste as well.
“And in my opinion, the drug organization also seems to have known Trace-nim’s limitations.”
“…No way.”
“One of the ordinary transactions you listed earlier. ‘People buying coffee from a takeout café.’”
Kang Jinho leaned deeply against the seatback and finally gave the answer.
“There must have been a large-volume menu there. A large-volume item over one liter. Was there anyone who bought that?”
“…There were a few people who bought one-liter PET bottles of ‘cold brew concentrate.’”
An Seongsil’s eyes slowly widened, and the driver, who had been silently holding the steering wheel, looked at Kang Jinho through the rearview mirror.
He hadn’t even seen the past himself, yet he could give such a precise example?
“You probably opened them and checked too. Since there was a sloshing black liquid inside, Trace-nim must have thought it was just a proper product.”
“That’s right.”
“But if you had been able to smell it, the moment you opened the cap of that PET bottle, a disgusting chemical stench would probably have filled the air. They likely mixed black food coloring into liquid drugs. If it were another dye, it could mix with the drug’s original color and turn strange, but black would cover everything, so there’d be no need to worry about that.”
“Ah…”
“Since it’s cold brew concentrate, it wouldn’t be strange not to drink it or taste it on-site. People usually take it home and dilute it before drinking. And many concentrates have a texture close to syrup, so it wouldn’t be much different from a sticky drug.”
Kang Jinho concluded firmly.
“I don’t know whether the café part-timer was an accomplice or simply handed over the concentrate without knowing anything. But the buyers definitely knew it was drugs. It’s a cunning trick that took advantage of the fact that Trace-nim can’t perceive taste or smell. How about tracking the buyers?”
There was no definite evidence. There was no flawless logic.
But Trace could instinctively tell. This was the answer. This was the truth. If there was an answer to the problem that had been tormenting her for a week, then this had to be it.
To be honest, she had doubted Kang Jinho at first. How does he know about my ability? Are these guesses he’s making really pure insight? Is he actually a supernatural ability user hiding his powers while working as a police officer?
Now, she had no choice but to admit it. Terrifying intuition. The confidence that he could not possibly be wrong. Trace had thought she was the best when it came to intuition, but what Kang Jinho was showing her now easily overwhelmed her.
Trace’s job was to chase people down. She had confidence when it came to seeing people.
That man was a gem. A genius. She could not let him slip away.
Could he quit the police and immediately get a job as a hero’s assistant? She had a lot to look into once she got back.
“…This is insane, seriously.”
Meanwhile, Corporal An Seongsil unconsciously inhaled sharply and muttered. In truth, she had only heard people say “he’s a genius, he’s a genius,” but seeing him hit the truth right in front of her eyes made it feel unreal.
“For now…”
Trace spoke with her head lowered.
“For now… I’ll take you back to the police station. I’ll contact you again next time.”
“Ah, of course.”
Kang Jinho answered casually, but inwardly, he shouted in joy.
-You have solved a case, reducing your karma by 1,000.
Perhaps because it was indeed a big case, this time his karma had been reduced by 1,000 all at once.
This case was only the beginning.
Now, if Trace spread rumors about him to the heroes around her, and other heroes came asking for help, and he even received a commendation from the police higher-ups…
‘Maybe I can pay off my karma pretty quickly?’
At the same time as gaining the fame he had longed for so desperately, the life of the young and rich seemed to have come that much closer.
Now, the days of hardship would not last much longer!
**
One week later.
-With the recent conflict between Heuksapa and Dokkipa becoming more visible…
“Jinho, can you change the paper here?”
“…Yes, ma’am.”
With the sound of the TV as background noise, Kang Jinho shredded paper.
Contrary to his expectations up until just recently, he had not become famous at all.
Why? Doshite? Surely Trace should have spread the rumor that “there’s a strange police officer,” and other heroes who heard that rumor should have come flocking to him. Wasn’t that only natural? Why was he still standing here feeding documents into a shredder?
Kang Jinho was truly displeased with this situation, but it was not as if he could go around voicing complaints anywhere.
“Jinho, it looks like you had a fun time playing with that hero?”
“No, ma’am!”
“What do you mean, no? I heard everything from Corporal An Seongsil. They said you were quite active. At this rate, aren’t you going to end up working as a hero later?”
“Nooo, ma’am! I like being with you best, sunbae!”
“Really? Right~ You like working as a police officer with me, don’t you?”
“That’s right!!!”
Because after he had gone out at Trace’s request and returned, Park Eunyoung’s attitude had subtly changed.
Before, Park Eunyoung had been like a cat poking at a new toy from afar. But now, she had become subtly kinder… and subtly scarier.
“Haha, you two are as close as ever today.”
“He’s a hardworking junior, so I should take even better care of him. Hehe.”
“Mm, sure. Keep up the good work!”
Right after Raphael, the police substation chief, passed by holding a coffee mug, Park Eunyoung spoke while maintaining her bright smile.
“Jinho, shall we go on patrol?”
“Uh, isn’t patrol a bit sudden like this…”
“I said let’s go.”
“Yes, ma’am!”
Kang Jinho immediately put on his clothes.
Those eyes smiling warmly, those crimson eyes, were far too terrifying!