The Ultimate Inspector, Kang Ji-hyeok - Chapter 8



Only Krnovel

Episode 8

When I went in, the bathroom was surprisingly small.

“It’s only big enough for two people to stand.”

“That’s right.”

Detective Kim Ji-cheol, who followed me in, frowns.

“What is that expression?”

“I don’t like small bathrooms.”

I grabbed him by the collar.

Kwak.

Ji-cheol, surprised, grabs my wrist.

“Why are you doing this?”

I didn’t answer, but pushed his neck with my elbow.

“Please don’t do this. I won’t let this go!”

As expected, he was from the special forces.

slap.

He turned his body away and tried to subdue me.

Ma. I’m a former detective.

He’s the one who caught and handcuffed so many guys in such a small space.

Sasak.

I turned around, grabbed the back of his head, and pressed his forehead against the wall.

Bam.

His forehead touched the wall.

Of course, just a little bit.

“uh?”

Kim Ji-cheol turns his head and looks at me with a surprised face.

“Am I being subdued now?”

“Thank you for your consideration, Lieutenant Kim.”

“···No.”

Ji-cheol frowned.

“The only person who has ever subdued me like this is the special instructor I met while training.”

“I guess you looked after me back then too.”

I let him go and muttered to myself, looking at the bathroom wall.

“Sergeant Park Chung-deuk was 184cm tall. So, similar to Lieutenant Kim······. He was a healthy young man weighing 74kg.”

Kim Ji-cheol looks at me muttering.

It’s a face of curiosity.

Slowly examine the walls inside the bathroom one by one.

“He’s 178cm tall. So, if a lieutenant who is 2cm shorter than me and weighs 58kg tries to subdue him······.”

I looked at Kim Ji-cheol and asked.

“What should I do? Or is Lieutenant Han a former special forces soldier like Lieutenant Kim?”

“No. From what I’ve seen, he’s an ROTC graduate. That means, he graduated from college and came in as a second lieutenant.”

“These days, ROTC doesn’t recruit UFC-level athletes, right?”

I made a gun shape with my finger and put it against Kim Ji-cheol’s stomach.

“······!!”

Ji-cheol looks at me with wide, surprised eyes.

“If you become a lieutenant, wouldn’t you be able to get a pistol from the military? Detective Kim?”

Kim Ji-cheol, who had been called a so-called detective until now, was called an ‘investigator’.

“I’ll check with the unit’s firearms manager tomorrow.”

Sigh.

I smiled.

“Since you’re here, why don’t you have a cold glass of cola and go in. I’ll pay.”

A lieutenant. I’m unlucky to be caught in your first case.

If just any military prosecutor had been in charge, it would have been over with just a report······.

“You’re going to have to hire a good military lawyer, Lieutenant. Otherwise, you’re not just going to be a manslaughter victim, you’re going to be a premeditated murderer.”

The cola I drank after work was refreshing.

It’s been a while since I drank priest cola, so maybe that’s why······.

It was a refreshing feeling that couldn’t be compared to the warm taste of Matsta.

“But, sir, if a lieutenant intentionally killed Sergeant Park, why would he do it?”

On the way back to the accommodation, Kim Ji-cheol asked me.

“I don’t know about that. His sentence will depend on the circumstances, but we’ll prove that it wasn’t intentional or negligent homicide. Then the bastards who killed Sergeant Park will be charged with murder, and in the worst case scenario, they’ll get the death penalty.”

Gulp.

Kim Ji-cheol swallowed dry saliva at my words.

“Hey, should I turn on the radio? You can listen to some music while you go, Inspector.”

“Of course. I guess I’ll just listen to music and look around the vast plains for the first time in a while.”

A white moon was rising between the clouds.

“Sergeant Han, you started showing up. You’re gone. You son of a criminal.”

* * *

The investigation into the two suspects in the so-called ‘Seven Bar Murders’ has begun in earnest.

Second day of investigation.

A phone call came to the office.

“Loyalty. This is Lieutenant Kim Ji-cheol from the 2nd District Military Court. Yes, that’s right. Our prosecutor in charge is Kang Ji-hyeok.”

He looks at me.

He looks a little surprised.

Who on the phone is making his eyes widen like that?

“I will convey that. Loyalty.”

Ji-cheol hung up the phone, came over to me and spoke to me.

“Inspector, please decide on personal matters first.”

“Go ahead, Lieutenant Kim.”

Kim Ji-cheol said with a confident face.

“You are a lieutenant, sir. Although we are the same age, there is definitely a hierarchy in the military.”

“That’s right. But?”

“So, please call me Lieutenant Kim and leave it at that.”

You want me to let go?

Are you feeling a bit uncomfortable with the honorifics we are currently using?

Lieutenant Kim Ji-cheol has more fried rice than me.

Well, to be honest, I’m fifteen years older than I was before I regressed.

Let’s just take it easy.

You’re not going to be driving stakes in the military anyway.

I’ll be discharged in two years······.

Lieutenant Kim Ji-cheol confirmed it once again.

“This is the military. And I’m much more comfortable here, Lieutenant.”

If that’s what you want, then I should listen.

“Okay. Then I’ll just talk freely, so don’t say anything like palm tree time later, Lieutenant Kim.”

“all right.”

So now that the order of the two has been sorted out, shall we move on to the next story?

“What did you say on the phone call that just came?”

“The two suspects have been transferred to a military detention center to face a military trial. From now on, you can take them to the field investigation if you want.”

It was only a month after the incident that the trial began in earnest.

I intend to give those beasts the maximum sentence of a military court.

Even for the sake of the deceased Private Park Chung-deuk······.

“But, the commander of our 2nd Regional Military Court Division called me personally.”

“Really? I guess it’s because it’s a difficult case for a rookie military prosecutor to handle for the first time.”

“But that’s not a common occurrence. Tell him I’ll keep a close eye on it.”

It must mean something good to say that you will watch closely.

Surely the division commander isn’t talking about applying external pressure himself?

“I guess he was curious about who the prosecutor was who took on the case that no one else wanted to take on.”

“That’s right. Otherwise, it would be ‘external pressure’······.”

I look at Ji-cheol while putting my favorite coffee to my lips.

Ji-cheol, who is quick-witted, smiles.

“I met with the firearms officer.”

“Really? Report it.”

Ji-cheol took out his notebook and read it.

“On the day of the incident, it was confirmed that one lieutenant had returned his pistol.”

I knew it.

I had given the order with confidence from the beginning, and Ji-cheol seemed to have followed along well.

“As the inspector said, it has been confirmed that Lieutenant Lee Hyeon-su did not return his firearm before leaving work.”

“If you’re an executive, you can call and tell them to return it anyway, right?”

“That’s right. So the firearms officer called Lieutenant Lee Hyun-soo himself around nine o’clock that night and asked him to return it.”

“But Lee Hyun-soo didn’t return it?”

“Yes, the so-called was returned the next morning.”

“Why didn’t you return it immediately?”

“He said he got drunk the night before and passed out, then returned it in the morning.”

“Really? You lied like that without even drinking?”

Kim Ji-cheol smiles.

It looked refreshing.

“Yes. We have also secured the recording of the person in charge at the time. And he said he can testify if necessary.”

It’s neater than you thought, isn’t it?

As rumored, he was a hard worker.

“Good job. You should always make recording a habit.”

“Thank you for letting me know.”

This is what I said while drinking a glass of cola that day.

You remember that.

Good posture.

Slurp.

I poured myself some coffee.

I also took out the ice I had prepared.

“It’s an iced Americano. Is that okay?”

“Yes. Thank you.”

“Let’s do today’s briefing while drinking coffee on the sofa.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

We sat on the sofa.

I handed him the materials I had prepared in the morning.

“I investigated Private Park Chung-deuk. Even before he came to the military······.”

Huruk.

I put the coffee to my lips.

As expected, cold coffee.

A bittersweet taste touches the tip of your tongue.

“You graduated from a good university?”

“I told you, what do you need after name and age?”

“It’s a job.”

“Yeah. That’s important.”

“uh?”

He looks at me with surprised eyes.

“Even before I graduated from college, I was hired by Atlantic Cosmetics and worked in the link business for a year.”

“He graduated from a good university’s chemistry department, and his grades were also very good. That’s why I think he got in through special recruitment.”

The Link Project is a project that aims to foster future talent and foster entrepreneurial universities by expanding the government’s industry-academia-research cooperation growth model. Through this project, excellent talent will be able to gain work experience while attending school under special agreements between universities and companies.

Since the country provides more than 50% of employees’ salaries to companies, it is also an opportunity for companies to acquire good talent without significant cost loss.

“My mother has been sick for a long time, and my father passed away five years ago.”

“So that’s why you needed money.”

“That’s right. You must have been receiving a salary through the link business.”

Huruk.

Detective Kim Ji-cheol squinted his eyes.

It’s not just because the coffee is bitter, right?

“A fine young man has died. A mother has suddenly lost her only son.”

“So, I can’t forgive that son of a bitch.”

“He died in the military. His mother in the hospital must be so sad.”

Huruk.

I filled my mouth with bitter coffee and swallowed it.

“Sad? I can’t explain it with those words. The heart of a parent who has lost a child······.”

Kwak.

I bit my lower lip.

Boiling anger.

“That must be true. If that’s how parents feel when they lose a child······.”

“Let’s investigate thoroughly and solve this case properly.”

I look up and look at him.

Kim Ji-cheol has a surprised look on his face.

“Huh? Inspector. Did you shed tears?”

I wiped my tears with my hand.

I guess tears flowed without me knowing.

“Wipe the blood from your lips, too. You may have bitten them too hard, Inspector.”

Ji-cheol gives me some tissues.

It was covered in red blood.

“But it’s strange.”

“yes?”

“Why did Private Park Chung-deuk die just a month before his discharge from the military?”

“Well, a month before I’m discharged from the military, I’m even careful of falling leaves.”

“In addition, the fact that Private Park Chung-deuk consistently paid his mother’s hospital bills, and above all······.”

I take out the last page of the document and look at it.

“Despite paying over 5 million won in hospital bills every month, he still has over 60 million won in his bank account.”

Ji-cheol looks at the documents in surprise.

“I see. About ten million won has been deposited once a month. Since two years ago······.”

“That’s right. I think it started when I joined the military and was promoted to private.”

He thought deeply and then looked at me.

“It wasn’t when I became a private. It was when Second Lieutenant Han Ji-min joined the unit.”

“okay?”

“Yes. I’ve been looking into a lieutenant for a while. He was assigned to the unit two years ago.”

“Didn’t you say you were a ROTC graduate?”

“From what I found out, he worked at a club in Gangnam before he enlisted in the military. He was a pretty popular waiter.”

Clearly, this is a murder case.

According to the report, the two men and a sergeant were drinking together at a bar near their duty station.

Then, after going to the bathroom together while drunk, a second lieutenant accidentally pushed a sergeant who had been acting insubordinate.

The sergeant, who fell and hit his head against the wall, passed out with a mild concussion.

After that, he choked to death because the food he had eaten before got stuck in his throat.

“The incident report is all a lie.”

“okay.”

Click.

I tore up this incident report.

“You almost had a trial based on a few pieces of paper full of lies.”

“If that were the case, he would have died a dog’s death.”

Ji-cheol said in an angry voice.

At first I thought it was just an ordinary garden with one dead sunflower, but when I dug into it, I found that something evil was lurking in the ground, giving off a rotten smell.

“Where did the autopsy report that he died from asphyxiation come out?”

“This is the military police hospital.”

“Let’s leave right now. We’re going there.”

“Understood, Inspector.”

If the report is false, then the report on the cause of death will also be false.

So, we need to check it out.

“Don’t call me in advance. I’ll barge in suddenly.”

“Please do so, Inspector.”

* * *

〈National Police Hospital〉.

Autopsy room on the first basement floor.

There, I received shocking news.

The story was that the doctor in charge at the time had recently gone to China.

“You quit two weeks ago?”

“Can I have your contact information?”

The person in charge writes down a phone number with a slightly reluctant expression.

“Here’s your phone number. I heard you’re going to a Chinese hospital urgently. I heard you got a raise······.”

okay?

I thought they wouldn’t find me if I hid in China.