Rust - Chapter 35



Only Krnovel

RUST -35

Narcotics Division 2, Manager Na slammed the desk.

bang!

The objects on the desk shook.

bang!

Chief Na, who had slammed the desk twice in succession, shouted at one of the detectives.

“What the hell were you, detective, doing?”

“······.”

“I thought there was no politics within the narcotics unit because there were many cases that were handled well through cooperation between the 2nd and 3rd units. Was I wrong?”

“······.”

“You planned the operation alone, excluding Detective Ahn, and this is the result!”

“······.”

One detective remained silent.

Who did that damn politics?

A case that was handled well? You diverted everything that the 3rd division was investigating and made a mess of it?

If we don’t rule out Detective Ahn, and if we don’t rule out the person who climbed onto the witness’ boat in the bathroom and threatened him, then who else should we rule out?

“What is this result? If you were to go on a solo mission to build up your own reputation, shouldn’t you be held responsible?”

“······.”

Why did you do a solo operation? Are you asking because you don’t know?

Why did Detective Ahn threaten Hamaru? Why did he tail Hamaru? Why did he seem to be commanding a dozen or so people who seemed to be members of an organization? Why did he just let the patrol car that was dispatched after receiving a report go by? I didn’t know if such a situation would arise, but I tried to prepare for it if it did.

“Detective Ahn is dead, and that too from a gunshot by gangsters. Shouldn’t we catch and punish those who dare mess with the police! But where did that bastard escape? You said you secretly installed wiretapping devices, location tracking devices, and surveillance cameras to catch that bastard Hamaru, but why aren’t you releasing that data? Why aren’t you arresting that bastard Hamaru?”

“······.”

Section 2: Section Chief Na shouted loudly. How clever.

There was no evidence that the shooter was the Yakuza, the Triad, an organization, or even the government. On top of that, they were talking as if Hamaru was a prime suspect, even though they knew Hamaru had a solid alibi. What should I say about them shouting so that others could hear that they had secretly used wiretapping devices and location tracking devices?

If the wiretapping data is made public, the situation in which Hamaru was promised protection but then turned a blind eye to it will be revealed. Then they will find fault with that.

If I don’t disclose it? I’ll be labeled as the guy who left his fellow detective, Detective Ahn, to die in order to monopolize important information.

If they catch Hamaru, they’ll say they’ve framed a witness with a solid alibi as the prime suspect, and if they don’t catch him, they’ll frame him as the prime suspect just like they did now.

It was Chief Na who spoke in a very dirty tone. And until the end, one detective remained silent.

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A detective and a police officer sat down with coffee and cigarettes from a vending machine. Even the police officer, who rarely smokes, couldn’t stand it this time, so he took a sip of coffee and lit a cigarette.

“Ah- This is driving me crazy. No, Detective Han. That bastard, Chief, was talking nonsense, how could you just endure it and listen to him? If it were me, I would have just taken it in.”

A detective took a deep drag on his cigarette and remained silent, wondering what was on his mind.

“What on earth did we do wrong? And Detective Ahn is really weird. It’s understandable that a detective would plant one or two informants in an organization, but 15 people, like mid-level executives of some organization? 15 people. Is that normal?”

Hoo-woo- A detective exhaled a long puff of smoke. The detective was lost in thought, with the officer chattering like a sparrow next to him as background music.

What could have been the problem?

A detective wanted to confirm whether Hamaru was a member of World’s organization and thus the person who reported about the World Livestock underground warehouse.

Is he not the murderer who created the bodies of Director Choi and Director Baek that were found in the semi-basement Hamaru house?

Or maybe he was the culprit of the mass murder in Workshop 4, or maybe he was connected to that incident. I wanted to confirm that.

Hamaru’s alibi was perfect. But one detective’s intuition told him that there was something wrong with it. It was too perfect, like a script for a movie or drama, but it was so perfect that it felt out of place.

When we first met, he was wearing glasses that he wasn’t wearing before…

Hamaru answered that they are safety glasses that he wears when playing games, but are there really that many people who wear glasses that they don’t wear in everyday life when playing games?

Even in the morning, he reported his mother for using drugs, and he said he relieved stress by playing games in a PC room all day, saying, ‘My eyes are precious, so I wear safety glasses while playing games.’

Is this a normal person? Let’s say that he is very sensitive to eye health.

Then, after the game was over, shouldn’t he have taken off his glasses? But when he reported that he found the bodies of Director Choi and Director Baek at home, he reported it while wearing glasses. He was wearing glasses even though his home wasn’t a PC room.

And when he came to the police station and gave his statement, he was wearing glasses. He even wore a hat. It’s just like the image captured on the PC room CCTV. It’s the same. It seemed like he was making that appeal.

Logically, it was a perfect alibi. But intuition said it wasn’t. One detective just wanted to confirm.

How would Hamaru respond if a crisis occurred?

In a situation where you have reassured others that you will help, what if a real crisis arises?

Detective Han thought that if they were going to kill Hamaru, whether it was Detective Ahn or Worldpa, they wouldn’t have deployed so many people. If they were going to kill Hamaru, they would have hired Southeast Asian or Chinese killers, or sent the youngest member of the organization to quietly poke at him.

After much thought, the detective decided to wait.

Detective Ahn followed Hamaru like that, and surprisingly, Detective Ahn pressured Hamaru with 14 members of the organization.

[Detective Ahn, please save me!]

[Save the people!]

[Detective Ahn, I really don’t know anything!]

[Please save me!]

A detective waited, watching the cries for help coming from the wiretap and the images captured on camera.

[Someone please report this to the police.]

[Please call 119.]

[Kidnapping. Save the person!]

A detective waited, even as he heard sounds like he was being beaten by a group of men, clothes being torn, and cries for help.

[Detective Han! You said you’d come if it got dangerous!]

[Detective Ahn. I really don’t know. Please save me!]

[Please save me, Detective Ahn. Just save me.]

One detective realized he couldn’t wait any longer, so he was about to intervene.

Detective Ahn was shot and killed. Then came a barrage of gunfire. 10 to 12 seconds? In that short time, 15 people were shot and killed. Fortunately, the gangsters were controlling the area, so the civilians retreated far away, and there were no civilian casualties. Except for Detective Ahn.

One detective was suspicious of that too.

Why did they shoot Detective Ahn first? There were some suspicious circumstances surrounding Detective Ahn, but it always felt bad when someone was killed without any clear evidence or clear results.

It’s starting to get tangled up again.

This shooting has led to the conclusion that Hamaru may not have had anything to do with it.

And before there could be an apology or explanation, Hamaru spoke bluntly.

I don’t want to get involved with the police anymore.

If you have any questions, talk to your attorney.

If you bother me, I’ll reveal everything.

Now, it’s gotten to the point where you have to talk to a lawyer to summon a witness. It’s even a witness who has evidence that was neglected after being promised protection. In effect, it’s telling you not to call them.

“···That’s what I mean. Isn’t it strange? There’s no reason to hide the fact that Detective Ahn was shot and killed like this. It’s even being reported on the news as a movie shoot or something. This is really strange.”

Yes, that was strange too. But I also understand why they hid it at the scene. The police and the gangsters tried to beat up and kidnap a man, but he got shot. What if they got caught like that? The rumor would spread that the police and the gangsters were in cahoots.

At a time when the perception of the police is already bad, the higher-ups would have wanted to avoid that. What if a story about a person being shot and killed in the middle of Seoul were to spread?

Since we don’t know how far the repercussions will spread, it must have been decided from above to just seal it up.

“···Detective Ahn, that guy was really annoying, but he’s still a cop. But if you look at the guy who was shot while directing the World guys, isn’t it the Crystal guys who did it?”

“······.”

“···Last time, the guys who seemed to be part of Crystal’s organization fed them Chinese drugs, so the Crystal guys were already gnashing their teeth, and then it turned out that Detective Ahn was in league with World? He sent them away as a warning, but then he said he’d cause trouble if they touched his rice bowl? That’s how much trouble he caused···”

“······.”

In the mind of a detective, various cases were combined and dismantled. Small organizations disappeared and corporate organizations emerged. There must have been a reason for this. What did I miss? No, that is not what is important now.

I had to backtrack from the results. World Livestock. New drug. World Livestock fire. Hamaru semi-basement murder case. Director Choi and Director Baek. Sniper case.

Gulp-

“···Detective Han! Detective Han! Are you okay? Is your nose bleeding right now? No, Detective Han, your nose is bleeding profusely.”

A detective shook his head to regain focus. His nose was bleeding heavily.

The officer took off the socks he was wearing and used them to stop a detective’s nosebleed.

“Ah- (hey)- You’re a bit (slightly) annoying”

“Okay. First, hold your nose. What the hell is that nosebleed… It’s like sashimi got stuck in your stomach and got pulled out. Wow, I’m really surprised.”

“It’s athlete’s foot”

“So I told you to get some sleep and then why are you like this?”

It was this police officer who ignored the small cries of a detective.

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Maru woke up to the news of the gas explosion at the Yeongdeungpo women-only motel. He immediately sent a text message.

[Hey, what’s that? Is that you?]

[?]

No, this bitch is pretending not to know?

No, really… You cut off the front and back too much.

Maru took another deep breath and pressed down on the touchpad.

[Are you the one who caused the Yeongdeungpo Gositel gas explosion?]

[No.]

The answer came immediately. It felt decisive.

No? Did I make a mistake? Maru felt a bit strange, but he let it go, thinking it must have been so.

[What time is the train?]

[I’m taking the bus to the train station. It’s so heavy.]

Oh? You said you were bringing guns, bullets, and explosives.

[Upon arrival to Royal Marina]

[It’s so heavy.]

[I took a bus from Busan Station and went for a while···]

[It’s so heavy!]

While Maru was thinking about what to say in response, he couldn’t hold back any longer and received another text message.

[It’s so heavy. It’s real.]

Hehehehehe.

No, really. What the heck? Should I write it like this?

Maru felt his head become heavy.

This year, something is strange. First, I had to get the coordinates and time.

[Train departure time. Arrival time.]

[yep]

“The next stop is Busan Station, Busan Station. This is the last stop for this train. Passengers, please…”

Maru, who had caught his breath, tapped Ki-sun, who was concentrating on his laptop, and said.

“Hey- It’s Busan. Busan. We’re here. We’re here. We should start to get things organized.”

Ki-sun’s face, which had turned away from his laptop, was filled with deep fatigue.

It’s a matter of the account.