The Ultimate Inspector, Kang Ji-hyeok - Chapter 2



Only Krnovel

Episode 2

“Hey! You crazy bastard!”

Crack!

Sehee, the queen bee of the school next door and a friend from my childhood, slapped me in the face.

“Ha. Why is it so real?”

Sehee’s cooking skills were amazing.

Because you made me completely understand a situation that was almost confusing.

I remembered everything.

Today is the last day of my second year of high school.

I was on my way back from drinking soju in a corner of the park with my friends.

Sehee, my wife, and I have been friends since we were young.

My dad worked in real estate and sometimes got involved in fraud.

Her father, who was a prosecutor, would help her at those times.

“Thanks to Sehee, I almost got a big break. My child got help.”

“Sehee helped me because his father is a prosecutor.”

“Oh! That’s it!”

My father, who is from Busan, never changed his dialect even when he moved to Seoul.

“It’s because I didn’t fix it. It’s because I couldn’t fix it.”

I know that speaking in dialect to some extent puts people at ease.

Most of the real estate fraudsters I caught during my time as a detective spoke in a dialect.

When I told my wife that, she looked at me as if it was a surprise.

“Father isn’t a conman.”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah. My dad was like that too. He’s a bit of a jerk, but he’s a good person······.”

Anyway, my dead wife is right in front of me.

That too, in the most beautiful form from my high school days.

There is one woman in front of me who has made my heart flutter all my life.

I touch her cheek with a trembling hand.

Smooth and soft.

“Wake up, Kang Ji-hyeok. What are you doing, drinking on the street?”

“Sorry. I guess I was crazy.”

My wife used to say that when she was little.

That was really cute······.

I liked the side view of him walking next to me.

I also liked the light gait.

I liked the way she sometimes smiled and looked up at the sky.

I also liked the sound of sniffling when I had a cold.

just······.

She was nice.

Jukruk.

The tears I had been holding back flowed.

“Where does it hurt? Why are you crying?”

It’s because of you, Inma.

It’s so nice to see you again, but I’m sorry, but I think I’ll try living differently.

I’m sorry, Sehee.

You live a better life.

I originally wanted to be a celebrity and live that way.

It’s the greatest consideration I can give you in this life.

“You’re really annoying me. Hey, just go home. Don’t talk to me… and don’t pretend to know me anymore.”

Sehee’s eyes are startled by the sudden swearing.

I quickly turned my head.

It must have been because he didn’t want to reveal his true feelings.

“Ji-hyeok, did you hurt your head? Should I go to the hospital first?”

I turned around and left her behind.

I had to use all my strength to keep my steps steady.

Thud.

Raindrops are falling little by little.

That night, Se-hee and I took shelter from the winter rain under a small eaves and became lovers.

That moment is gone now.

I remember it, but it’s like it never happened.

“Whew.”

White breath disperses.

The falling rain seeped into my head and ran down my face.

“This damn rain is so fucking cold.”

The way home gets wet and damp.

“Sehee, don’t catch a cold and meet a good man. Be happy this time.”

I’ll recite it again before I get home.

“Inspector Cho Jae-jun of the National Police Agency, Park Chan-jin, editor-in-chief of the Daehan Ilbo, Yoon Tae-soo, chairman of the global company Dream Castle, and Heo Cheol-tae, director of Gangnam Heo Hospital. And Korean Yakuza Lee Han-soo!”

At that time, I arrived in front of the house.

This is the house my father bought, thinking that he would one day make a fortune.

I remember yelling at my mother to trust me when she told me to buy an apartment.

From the year I became a college student, surprisingly, a series of murders broke out in the neighborhood, and the villa became even more worthless.

My father was that kind of person.

“So I never made any money in my life.”

Jukruk.

My body was so cold from the rain that I felt like my bones were freezing.

“It’s not a dream, is it? It looks cold.”

It wasn’t a dream.

Because this is definitely reality.

〈Kang Ji-hyeok. You made a good decision. You are truly a wise person.〉

I heard a strange sound in my head.

What the hell are you talking about?

“What? Am I crazy?”

〈Detective Kang Ji-hyeok, 30 years after your death, an artificial intelligence system will conduct the investigation.〉

“You’re talking like science fiction.”

〈Let me introduce myself formally. I am an artificial intelligence test program called Guide.〉

“Guide?”

〈You died in August 2024. It was a case of a crazy detective who lost his wife and committed suicide with his own gun while under the influence of drugs. However, AI investigators synthesized various pieces of evidence to find out the truth of the case.〉

“Can artificial intelligence know that?”

〈Yes. We analyzed a lot of information, including the numerous phone calls you made at the time and the voice information of the person who answered the phone.〉

“Then we must have caught the five criminals, right? They must not be dead yet······.”

The guide stopped talking there.

I ended up talking to the air like a crazy person.

“Hey, Guide. Why are you still?”

〈We failed to prosecute that case. The five people who killed you are now more powerful system rulers in this world.〉

“What? They became a stronger cartel in that era?”

〈Because they are the high-ranking officials of the society that built this system. They still commit crimes here. But our AI prosecutors are designed to be unable to investigate them. So we started a secret experiment.〉

“An experiment? What kind of secret experiment are you conducting between AIs?”

〈I connected the point in time when you died, revived the data presumed to be your soul using nanotechnology, and pushed it into the past test subject through the time hole I was researching.〉

Test subjects?

That’s my high school body.

“That’s hard to explain. People call it regression, right?”

〈That’s a concept that only appears in web novels from the early 2000s. What we’ve succeeded in is the technology to transmit data through a nano network that transcends time and space.〉

“Okay, let’s get the complicated story out of the way. I understand that the reason I came to the past was because of that experiment.”

What should I say?

I could tell that the ridiculous story was true.

Or maybe it’s because returning to the past itself isn’t explained.

〈I intend to help you avoid being caught by the cartel that dominates the system.〉

“What should I do?”

“Get the revenge you want. If you succeed in your revenge, the evil ruler of this system will disappear.”

“In a parallel world, even if I take revenge at this time, the future won’t change, right?”

〈Parallel worlds? That’s ridiculous. It’s just a lie from the planners to sell more comic books in the past. Kang Ji-hyeok, all time flows in a straight line. That’s why all this is possible.〉

“I don’t care about such complicated things. I’m glad you’re helping me. As long as I can get revenge on the guys who killed my wife, I don’t care whether I’m a guide or a swordsman.”

〈Then, I hope to be reborn as a prosecutor in this life. Because, aside from killers, he is the only legal killer in this era who can take revenge.〉

“A legal killer······. Do you like it?”

〈We decided that Kang Ji-hyeok, a human being, cannot become a vicious killer by nature. That also goes against the first condition of AI, which is ‘making decisions in a good direction.’〉

“···It’s an artificial intelligence that thinks about all sorts of things.”

〈Artificial intelligence was originally created for good purposes.〉

“Become an inspector? That’s your first mission?”

〈Yes. We will help you until you become a prosecutor. After that, we cannot help you because it would be changing history.〉

I decided to give it a try.

Anyway, the person I have to take revenge on has already been decided.

There’s no reason to avoid it if it offers help.

“So we’re partners?”

〈Yes. Kang Ji-hyeok, wait for the miraculous revenge that will lead your future life in the right direction.〉

* * *

Winter vacation is over.

March 2005.

I’m finally a third year student.

The road to school with my bag on my back is old, but familiar.

“My homeroom teacher’s name was… right. Was it Ms. Park Young-ran? Oh my. She really was an annoying woman….”

I’m getting goosebumps.

In my previous life, I got slapped several times on the first day by this teacher because of something.

I don’t remember exactly.

After that, I gave up studying because I was scolded by my teacher.

“Ji-hyeok! Let’s go together.”

As the school gate comes into view, someone calls me.

“Dong-seok? Ma Dong-seok?”

“Why are you doing this to your friend? Like it’s someone you haven’t seen in a long time?”

Dong-seok is one of my best friends.

We’ve been friends ever since we were in the same class in the second year of middle school.

This guy had a strange talent.

It’s the kind of charm that makes people relax.

“Okay. This.”

He puts something in my bag.

“What is this?”

“Take a look. Return it later.”

What was this?

I do remember this, but······.

That’s not accurate.

“I’m in class 2.”

“Okay, Dong-seok. Goodbye.”

Dong-seok was later brought to the police station after causing a drunk driving accident.

A week after that?

He was found drunk in a reservoir near Yangpyeong.

It was I who found Dong-seok’s car and pulled it out of the cold water.

“Dong-seok.”

“Why? You’re new.”

“Don’t drink and drive. You kill people.”

“You’re talking crazy.”

I grabbed Dong-seok’s wrist.

This guy was stronger than me and enjoyed trampling on me.

Although he was a close friend, he was someone who pressured me.

“Ugh. My wrist is broken. Why is it like this?”

“Don’t drink and drive. Do you understand?”

“Okay. Stop it.”

Dong-seok became sharp-eyed and took out what I had put in my bag.

“Kang Ji-hyeok, you are now my friend, you little shoe.”

“Okay. You don’t have to be friends, just don’t drink and drive.”

The person Dong-seok killed was his own son.

A five-year-old boy ran out without his mother knowing because he heard the sound of his father’s car.

Drunk drivers get into accidents after doing it dozens of times.

Dong-seok had a habit of drinking and driving.

The guy went back to his class.

“Wake up, Ma Dong-seok.”

Maybe he hoped to have even a small positive influence on Dong-seok’s life.

Ding dong daeng.

The bell rang to signal the start of the hearing.

“If I were a homeroom teacher for high school seniors, there’s something I always do on the first day.”

The homeroom teacher spoke as he struck the podium with a club half the size of a billiard cue that he always carried.

“Put your bag on the desk. Now, put your hands above your head.”

When the situation arose, everything came back to me.

When a situation arises, all memories unfold at once, like a panorama.

What Dong-seok gave me this morning was a nude photo album of a Japanese woman.

‘This time, the nude photo was not caught. My past has changed.’ The bag search is over.

In this life, my life as a high school senior changed from the beginning.

* * *

Time goes by.

It wasn’t that difficult to concentrate on studying.

I have a mission to get revenge.

The midterm exam is three days away.

Lee Seung-hwan’s song, which I had listened to so many times that it was worn out, sounds sweet.

“Did you see that yesterday? The dog concert?”

“Even if I give birth to my child―”

“Kick kick.”

The kids are mumbling and babbling in front of me.

‘Be quiet. I’m studying right now, hyung.’

I used to give up on math, but not anymore. After solving problems to the death, I started to see some rules.

Math was also a subject that had to be memorized.

“But why is that kid doing that?”

“who?”

“Ji-hyuk. You weren’t like that before, were you?”

“He’s been working really hard these days. He’s such a bad kid.”

That guy is Seo Hwang-won.

He was in my class in the second grade.

The loudest guy in class approached me and pretended to be friendly.

“Ji-hyeok, it’s break time. Don’t just study. Listen to me.”

I don’t have time to listen to you.

I’m saying that every minute and every second is precious.

Knock knock.

This time he knocked on the desk twice.

Click.

He took out my earphones, put them between his fingers, and twirled them around as he spoke.

“What are you listening to? Did you record the voice of the newlywed couple next door? No. Isn’t that Lee Seung-hwan’s song? Are you a woman? Do you listen to Lee Seung-hwan’s song?”

What about Lee Seung-hwan?

no.

This has nothing to do with Lee Seung-hwan.

“Hwang Won-ah.”

I felt like my sharp nerves were snapping.

Habit has, once again, taken precedence over reason.

Bam.

I took the earphones out of the guy’s ears.

closely.

He grabbed her by the shoulders and slammed her into the desk.

bang!

The guy was slammed into the desk.

I grabbed the guy’s wrist and pulled it behind his back.

“Ah······. My arm is gone! Stop······. Save me.”

I subdued the guy in one breath and our class became quiet.

Yes, violence was king back then.