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chapter 28.1




The Surviving Victim in Hwanak Neighborhood (1)
“No matter how much I think about it, this still feels so unfair. There’s this thing called opportunity costs, you know. Do you get how much I’m losing, just by being stuck in here? I did some rough calculations in my head and it came to around a billion.”
Around a billion, huh?
A billion punches to the face maybe.
After all, that’s the real price of living a life of crime.
I smother a smile of derision and replied to his words.
“So what?”
“Even so, I’m aware that as people working for our country, you all are getting paid a pittance. That’s why I’m only asking for a bit of pocket money. If you just pay up, I’ll tell you everything. Including where to find her.”
He tried to entice me with sweet words.
“You’ll get to close the case, and you’ll save a life. Hmm? This is the chance of a lifetime.”
I crossed my arms and laughed.
It was a huff of utter disbelief.
Chu Oh-Myeong may have been displeased by reactions, as he licked his lips and pulled out another cigarette.
Since he didn’t usually get to smoke this brand, I guess he was trying to enjoy them while they lasted.
“After all, the reason she is dying is all because of you guys.”
“Sorry, but I call bullshit.”
“If I was just released on time, then wouldn’t she get to live even a few days longer? It’s all because of you guys finding the bodies that she’s going to die without me even lifting a finger.”
His words were so ridiculous it couldn’t even be called sophistry.
However, his expression was sincere.
But just thinking about it…
I felt that there was something behind what he just said.
Mhm. Why don’t I just get started?
“But after looking at the corpses, it looks like they all starved to death.”
“Ah, that. Just think of it as my fetish.”
“According to you, there could be a victim who is slowly dying right now.”
“Like I said, it’s not ‘could be’, there really is one.”
“If so, then why are you telling us this?”
Although Chu Oh-Myeong was asking for money, that was just a paper-thin act.
His real intention was probably to make me ‘eat crow’.
Because everything had fallen apart due to this detective who had suddenly popped up out of nowhere.
“After all, we’ll know where your true hideout is as soon as we take a look at the CCTVs that recorded you on your way to the police station.”
He laughed quietly.
“Will you really? By then, I think she will already be cold and stiff.”
Chu Oh-Myeong was a drifter who lived by squatting in one vacant or abandoned house before moving on to the next.
It was due to this that they had managed to arrest him in my previous life, but it was also because of this that it was difficult to find any evidence of his crimes.
Because he lived by wandering from place to place, even he was confused about who he killed and where he killed them.
Even so, wasn’t he being way too confident right now?
His attitude screamed that he was certain that we would never find her.
‘After all, the reason she is dying is all because of you guys.’
Those were Chu Oh-Myeong’s exact words.
No matter what method he was using to kill her, he was absolutely certain it would work.
That she would definitely be dead before the police ever found her.
‘What kind of places did Chu Oh-Myeong mainly favor again?’
They were usually remote places like a suburb or an area slated for redevelopment.
Redevelopment… If it’s a place slated for redevelopment…
Fuck. I think I’ve got it.
“Have you been living in Hwanak Neighbourhood?”
Although there wasn’t a huge shift in his expression, the atmosphere around him changed completely.
After laughing in exultation, I started tearing into him.
“You cockroach-like bastard. I’ve got it now. You really thought we wouldn’t be able to find it, just because it’s going under redevelopment? Just because it doesn’t have things like CCTVS.”
Sorry. But I learned everything about you from an expert analyst’s examination of you.
“What else can I do but say sorry? Because I need to go look for the victim, I won’t be able to show you the sight of me desperately running around like a headless chicken. First you wanted to scam some money off of me, and then you would make a fool out of me by feeding me false information. That’s how it should have gone, but since I don’t have the time, I can’t afford to play along with you.”
He silently stared at me.
As if he couldn’t believe that there was someone like me in this world.
Then he slowly started grimacing as if something was slowly building up inside of him.
From one moment to the next.
Unable to control his erupting fury, he leapt onto the table.
“Aaaaargh!”
Bang!
The cigarette butt he was smoking fell beside me as he started flailing his handcuffed hands around.