The Ultimate Inspector, Kang Ji-hyeok - Chapter 37



Only Krnovel

Episode 37

According to her profile, Jung Yu-ra is five years older than Park Chan-jin.

“Reporter Park Chan-jin is 35 years old and Jung Yu-ra is 40 years old?”

It’s been three years since we got married.

“I understand why the chief prosecutor is targeting Park Chan-jin, but why did he attach documents about his wife······.”

After looking at the two documents together, I thought that maybe the opposite was true.

“She graduated from a local university and didn’t have any special assets until she was 28. But she suddenly became a person with assets worth 300 million won when she turned 29. But around that time, she was at a temple called ‘Bulgaksa’ in Chungcheong Province.”

It was two years later, when he was 31, that he received his doctorate.

“It was the year after I got my PhD that I acquired the Gangnam room salon ‘The Times’······.”

Talk.

Talk.

I thought about it, tapping my fingers on the table.

Why did you even bother to get a PhD?

Did you need a PhD to run a room salon in Yeoksam-dong, Gangnam?

“Do you need that level of degree to run a room salon?”

No. Is it possible to get a master’s degree and a doctorate in one year?

A genius at studying.

Is that something like that?

“If he was such a genius, he wouldn’t have gone to a local university in the first place. Was it because he was so poor like the chief prosecutor?”

There were a few important things missing from the report on her.

Unlike her husband, who graduated from the Department of Journalism and Broadcasting at Hankuk University and immediately got a job at a leading newspaper company in the country, she appeared to be a mysterious person on paper.

“Even though you graduated from a local university with a degree in food and nutrition?”

At what moment did her life change so dramatically?

There’s no way this can be normal.

Talk.

I pointed to the word ‘Bulgaksa’ written on the document with my finger.

“Is this where we should start?”

I wrote down the pictures I’ve drawn so far on the transparent glass in the office.

[Jung Yu-ra]-[The Times]-[Bulgaksa]

[Park Chan-jin]-[Daehan Ilbo]

Their jaws didn’t match.

If we look into them one by one, we’ll find the answer, right?

“But how did these two meet and get married?”

widely.

He pointed to a room salon called The Times.

“A reporter for the Daehan Ilbo who graduated from Korea University marries a madam he met at a room salon? It’s not impossible, but it’s not common either······.”

widely!

I hit the glass with my hand.

“In times like these, you can’t rely on your head, right? The answer is out there.”

dripping.

While I was thinking that, someone came to my office.

“Prosecutor Kang Ji-hyeok. Here you go.”

It was a welcome voice.

Shh.

A smile came to my face.

“Come in. The door is open.”

A man comes in holding a large AA in both hands.

He had short hair and was dressed nicely in a black suit.

“I brought you your favorite iced Americano, sir.”

Kwak.

I approached him and shook his hand warmly.

“Welcome. Detective Kim Ji-cheol.”

“I didn’t know you would actually call me.”

“It’s nice to see you looking so cool, rather than just in military uniform.”

“I am the same. I was impressed by his incredible performance as soon as he entered society. He was truly the best prosecutor I know.”

He called in Kim Ji-cheol, who was the investigator in charge during his military days.

“Are you done registering?”

“Yes. Here.”

He smiled, showing the detective badge hanging around his neck.

“Take this.”

I handed him the car keys.

It was a car that came out of the prosecutor’s office today.

“What is this?”

“I have to go to Chungcheong Province now.”

“yes?”

“Let’s get going.”

“Okay, but where······.”

“A temple in Chungcheong Province. It’s called ‘Bulgaksa Temple.’”

Kim Ji-cheol squinted his eyes.

“Inspector. Do you believe in fortune telling?”

“No. I don’t believe it.”

“···Okay, let’s go. This is your style, inspector. You don’t shy away from things that require you to go to the scene.”

I headed to Chungcheong Province with him.

When I typed ‘Bulgaksa’ into the navigation, a small temple in the mountains appeared.

The car driven by Kim Ji-cheol got on the highway.

“It’s about two hours from now. But why are you going to Bulgaksa Temple?”

There was something strange in his speech.

It feels like I know you?

“There is a monk I know at Bulgaksa Temple.”

“Do you know any monks? Your Majesty. To be honest, you don’t know anything about Bulgaksa Temple, do you?”

“I don’t know.”

I spoke honestly.

Kim Ji-cheol, who was driving, squinted his eyes and said.

“After the inspector left, there was a case where someone killed his senior, claiming he saw the devil.”

“You see the devil?”

“They said that the senior was possessed by a demon. It was roughly dealt with as a problem caused by the senior’s scolding and the junior’s stress-related illness······.”

Squeak.

I carefully exited the tollgate.

“I heard that letters came from Bulgaksa Temple every week. To the successor······. So I looked into it.”

“It was like that?”

“The content of the letter was strange. It was written in Japanese. One of the corporals who knew Japanese said it was a language used by cults.”

As I entered Chungcheong Province, I saw mountains and green forests.

Jiying.

I rolled down the car window a bit.

A cool breeze came inside.

“You’ll know when you go. What kind of secrets are there······.”

“I was wondering if this incident was something like that.”

“Actually, that’s not the case, but I’m more curious.”

“If you’re the inspector, you wouldn’t do anything half-heartedly, so I’m curious too. I wanted to see what kind of place Bulgaksa Temple is anyway.”

After leaving Cheongdo and going for a while, we arrived at the bottom of a forested mountain.

“What a lush mountain.”

“I think there is a mountain called Bulgaksan up here.”

The entrance to the mountain.

A few Marines stopped us.

No, aren’t you a soldier?

Those military uniforms are those of retired soldiers.

I stopped the car.

They surrounded us and had an oppressive atmosphere.

“I can’t go any further. Go back.”

In that moment, an idea occurred to me of how to respond.

no way······.

If this works······.

“I’m from The Times. Jung Yu-ra has a special order for me.”

The one who seemed to be the smartest of the bunch of Marines saluted.

“Sure victory.”

To my surprise, I was saluted.

“Are you new here?”

“I started running errands a week ago. Why are you suddenly asking me to come here and check today?”

“Is the Virgin of God coming soon?”

What are you saying?

The Virgin of God?

“You can’t say that so casually.”

“Is that so? Well… it’s not something you should tell believers like us. If you want to meet the representative, just go straight up this road.”

And as a believer, you are my agent······.

You’re saying that it’s a complete cult group.

Jiying.

I rolled up the window again.

Several Marines who had been blocking the road moved out of the way to make way for them.

“Look at this. Those guys have police batons hidden under their clothes.”

“Is that so? Can you see that?”

“Okay. You can see it. The left side is convex.”

“I’ve been curious for a while now, but did you originally work as a detective?”

Boohoo.

The car powered up the narrow road.

Even though it was still morning, the mountain was dark.

“It’s too dark?”

After passing through the dark forest, we came across a fairly large temple.

“There’s a temple that big?”

Bulgaksa Temple.

It felt like five huge buildings were forming a ㄷ shape and surrounding the central space.

The center of the square was made dark as night even during the day.

– The memorial service will now begin for 20 minutes.

A quiet announcement flowed out between the buildings.

A memorial ceremony.

Does it mean to honor something?

Or does it mean to wait?

“Park your car over there in the woods.”

“Yes? Excuse me?”

“Yeah. Over there.”

Rattling.

The car shook once.

I pulled off the road and parked behind some bushes that were not easily visible.

Squeak.

I stopped the car and got out.

At first glance, the car was not visible.

“Put the recorder and recording equipment in the glove box and follow me.”

“All right.”

I went up to a place hidden in the D-shaped building, with a good view of the central courtyard.

“Huh, huh. Are you some kind of mountaineering expert? Why are you so fast?”

It’s going slowly.

I think I can see well below if I stand on that rock.

Let’s go up and check first.

“I’ll go first, so follow me.”

“Huh? You’re going faster?”

Sasak.

I went up first and checked by making good use of my quick footwork.

It was definitely a good location.

The optimal position to be visible from above but not visible from below.

“It comes out over there.”

Dozens of believers came out into the square wearing strange clothes.

Kim Ji-cheol, who had now arrived next to me and was bending down, said:

“Isn’t that the clothing worn by Japanese monks? In that ‘Peacock King’ manga······.”

Yeah. That was a cartoon I liked too.

The Peacock King.

There was a movie coming out too.

“Similar. Are you filming?”

“sure.”

About 20 female believers stood in a circle.

They began a circular dance, swaying like tree branches, to the religious mood.

“The music is unpleasant.”

A little bell.

The sound of running water.

The sound of breaking branches.

The sound of leaves rustling in the wind

A strange music mixed with a strange muttering flowed out.

The strange music echoed through the forest, and the believers continued to dance.

“Inspector. This isn’t something you would do in a normal temple, is it?”

“No, of course not.”

After 20 minutes, the dance ended with a stamping of the feet on the floor.

“It’s over.”

“It seems like they’re preparing something······.”

“Right. It’s probably just a preparation phase. They won’t show you the real thing in broad daylight. Then, should we go down and face it ourselves?”

“Yes, sir.”

He hid the memory card containing the recorded footage by sticking it under the back seat of his car.

“Why do you have to hide it?”

“Just. It feels that way.”

* * *

Daughter.

As we entered the central building, the sound of wind chimes rang out.

It’s a building that’s about 10 years old.

It looks like it’s been well maintained, as the paint hasn’t peeled off yet.

Squeak.

The wooden floor was well waxed.

“What brings you here?”

“I guess you didn’t receive any contact from down below?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

A giant over 190 cm tall.

A man with a cold expression.

A wound next to the nose.

There’s also a knife wound on the neck.

Looks like he’s lived a pretty rough life.

I asked him.

“Are you from Japan?”

“Does it look that way?”

“That sounds like it.”

Among the Japanese yakuza, there are some members of the Chongryon group who speak Korean well.

This guy had that kind of scent.

“That’s right. I’m a Zainichi Korean. My name is Choi Seong-heon.”

“Nice to meet you. I’m here because reporter Park Chan-jin introduced me. I heard that this place is good at reading fortunes······.”

“Reporter Park Chan-jin?”

He thought for a moment and then frowned.

“Are you talking about Jung Yu-ra’s husband?”

“Yes, that’s him.”

chin.

He grabbed my shoulder.

It was so painful that I felt a tingling sensation even though I held it with one hand.

“Please go back. This is not a place for just anyone.”

“You, if you don’t let go of your shoulder, you’ll get hurt.”

“Me? How could I get hurt?”

Bam.

I hit his knee with my fist.

I saw earlier that he was limping a little bit as he walked out.

His knees are clearly not normal, probably from a knife or gunshot wound.

“Ugh.”

As expected, he squinted his eyes in pain.

Sasak.

Moving backwards, he turned the arm that had been holding his shoulder and bent it toward his back.

“Don’t grab my shoulder without permission, you yakuza bastard.”

“What are you? Where do you come from?”

“I told you, I’m friends with reporter Park Chan-jin, so I came to look at his important fortune.”

“Okay, okay. Arm······.”

As the ligaments in my arm reached their limit, a ‘pop’ sound was heard.

If you bend it any further, the ligament will break.

“I’m still active duty since I was discharged not long ago. So, if you want to live a nice life in this country, don’t bother me.”

“Are you from somewhere like the Korean Special Forces?”

“No? But he is still an officer.”

I released his arm in the opposite direction.

Clap clap.

There was a clap behind us.

“You’re amazing. This is why I like Korean men. They’re so strong.”

A woman in a red priestess’ attire with her hair tied back.

She was a white-skinned woman who looked to be in her thirties or sixties.

Even without the horn-rimmed glasses, his face looked like that of a celebrity.

“Your Majesty, how did you get here······.”

“I came out because it was noisy. I had such good luck with love today, so I was hoping you’d show up. Did you find my style?”

“It’s not as good as I thought, is it, here?”

She stood upright and looked at me.

“It looks like you came to check whether or not I will be nominated this time.”

“Nomination? Something similar.”

She took a business card out of her bosom with a wicked smile.

“The words I received from the Jukrim Shaman Ghost will be published in ‘The Times’ soon. Please meet with your family there.”

I look at the business card she handed me.

“Agent Ashara Yukira······.”

“Yes. I am Ashara Yuki. I am called a proxy at the Buddhist temple.”

I smiled and said to her.

“I’ll definitely see you soon, Yuki-san.”