Old Ties

Yoon Eunho had no immediate family left.

Yoon Gayeong was the only person I had kept in touch with.
Even when our family was in an uproar over inheritance issues after my parents passed away, even when the rest of our relatives turned their backs on me.

“Congratulations on achieving your dream. You said you wanted to be like that uncle, but you became a judge instead of a lawyer.”
“I thought I might be able to help more people. I heard you became a police officer too, Gayeong.”
“Yeah, because I want to lock up more people. With my own hands.”

Just as I had dreamed of becoming a legal professional since childhood, Yoon Gayeong had dreamed of becoming a police officer.
She had passed the police academy entrance exam with flying colors and, after several transfers, finally made it to the violent crimes unit.
She had even handled several violent crime cases that were well-known.
That’s why we would occasionally have a meal together when our schedules matched. Just a meal, to be exact.
Because she didn’t drink at all.

“I really want to drink today too. It’s not that I can’t drink, it’s that I don’t.”
“Should I order you a glass?”
“No, it’s fine. Who knows when I’ll have to rush out again, how can I drink leisurely? What could be more embarrassing than missing a criminal bastard because of alcohol, because of a hangover.”
“…Did the prosecutor let him go again?”
“You know without me saying it now.”
“Your expression is the same every time.”
“Oppa, you can’t become a judge like that. You know? If you do, with my own hands… I’ll personally pass judgment on Judge Yoon Eunho.”
(TL note: Oppa is a term used by females to address an older male friend or brother.)
“I’m too scared to live. I guess I’ll have to always stay on my toes.”
“You have to stay sharp every day, always. Understood, Judge Yoon?”

The reasons we met were similar.
When Yoon Gayeong and I were shuddering with a terrible sense of futility.

“I thought that if I worked my ass off like this, well, I don’t really have an ass to work off, but anyway, if I caught the bad guys until my body broke, then something would be solved?”
“……”
“But the prosecutor releases them, saying there’s no charge, not enough evidence, the judge gives them leniency because it’s their first offense… At times like these, I don’t know why I’m doing this.”
“…Gayeong.”
“But I have to do it, even if it sucks, I have to… I’m ashamed to face the victims, so I have to do it even if my body breaks… That’s what I think, but…”

Every time, she would pour water into a soju glass and down it in one go, as if drinking alcohol.

“…But it’s so futile, sometimes.”
“Did something happen today?”
“There was a case I was in charge of… That person was truly innocent. Today, the perpetrator bastard countersued him.”
“……”
“The bastards who know a little bit about the law turn the victim into the perpetrator, right in front of my eyes. But there’s nothing I can do.”

A police officer who cries for others.
I had thought, watching Yoon Gayeong, that that might be a true police officer.
Every time, she would rub her eyes with the back of her hand as if nothing was wrong.

“I’ve been talking too much about myself. Did anything happen to you, oppa? It was grandpa and grandma’s death anniversary a while ago. I couldn’t go because I was busy.”
“It’s okay. I went to see them. And… I’m thinking of quitting being a judge.”
“What? So suddenly?”
“I’ve been thinking about it for a while. For quite a long time. And like you said, because I want to help those who are unfairly treated.”

At that time, Yoon Gayeong had smiled playfully at my story and asked back.

“Everyone’s trying to stop you, right?”
“Huh, how did you know?”
“It’s obvious without even looking. But I’m rooting for you, oppa. Yoon Eunho is not the type to make a wrong decision.”

Yoon Gayeong was the only person who had supported me when I took off my judicial robe.

‘The last time I saw her was when I quit being a judge.’

After establishing ‘Justice,’ I had been so busy for a few years that we had only talked on the phone a few times.
And even that had eventually stopped.

[Then is there a reason you haven’t contacted her until now? She seems as skilled as Detective Choi.]

‘That’s,’

Just as I was about to answer, Yoon Gayeong’s sharp voice took over the scene.

“What kind of crazy person comes into a crime scene wearing their shoes! Pay attention! Are we playing around here?”

I saw it.
The scene of dozens of people simultaneously bowing their heads to check their feet.
Of course, I was no exception.
Me, Lee Ilwoo, and Choi Suhyeok.

“Whew…”

I willingly joined in someone’s sigh of relief.
Even though I was wearing the shoe covers Choi Suhyeok had given me earlier, I had reflexively bowed my head…

‘She’s still the same.’

I shook my head a couple of times and let out a low laugh.

‘She’s thorough with her work, but just as relentless. Well, there’s no way she’d believe I’m Yoon Eunho, but I’d be treated like a madman.’

Yoon Gayeong could have easily gone to law school, but she went to the police academy because she wanted to.
And now, she was not a person I could approach carelessly.

[Listening to the conversation earlier, it seems she’s about to be promoted to Senior Inspector.]

‘She’s skilled. It’s a natural result. And Choi Suhyeok is a skilled enough detective, so there was no need to seek out Gayeong.’

[There must be something in the Yoon family’s blood. Is that kind of thing genetic… It’s strange.]

‘Who knows. It might be.’

Just as I was shrugging while looking at Yoon Gayeong, our eyes met.
She had been directing the forensics team for a while, then suddenly turned her gaze towards us.

“You there, I haven’t seen you before. Where are you from?”

I couldn’t answer easily.
To make matters worse, Choi Suhyeok was not nearby.
If I lied for no reason, or told the truth, Choi Suhyeok could get into trouble.
While I was contemplating, Lee Ilwoo took a step in front of me.

“That thing you just found, is that a propane gas tank?”

Lee Ilwoo pointed a fingertip at the evidence neatly laid out on a white cloth on the ground.
Yoon Gayeong’s eyes flashed as she asked back.

“You think so too? The others said they weren’t sure.”
“Yes, in my opinion, the distorted shape on this side…”

Choi Suhyeok, seeing us talking with Yoon Gayeong from a distance, rushed over.
He couldn’t hide his bewilderment at the unexpected conversation and looked back and forth between Yoon Gayeong and Lee Ilwoo.

‘What is this situation?’

I shrugged in response to his gaze, which seemed to demand an explanation.
The only thing I knew was that Lee Ilwoo had drawn her attention.

For the next few minutes, Lee Ilwoo and Yoon Gayeong conversed as if they were not strangers, but people who had worked together at a scene a few times.
The attention of the people who had not been focused on them at first also turned this way.

“So, according to Inspector Yoon, this is a bomb, is that right?”
“Yes. It’s propane gas, that is, liquefied petroleum gas, LPG.”

LPG was still widely used in areas where city gas could not be connected, from the past to the present.
Lee Ilwoo naturally took up the conversation.

“But there’s no reason to use it here. This is a place where city gas is fully connected. The fact that this is here is strange in itself.”
“Then isn’t it natural that the people in the house would have noticed? If it’s so obviously strange.”

Han Seungmin, who had come over with Choi Suhyeok, asked with a tilt of his head, as if it were strange.
I met Lee Ilwoo’s eyes, shook my head once, and answered the question.

“They wouldn’t have known.”
“Even though it’s all broken now, something this big must have been sitting in the garage or the backyard.”
“Yes. In the first place, not only Prosecutor General Nam Eunsuk, but also the household staff and the family wouldn’t have paid attention for their own reasons.”
“Why is that?”
“Um, Detective Han, are you the type to immediately notice when there’s a new bowl or spoon at home?”

Han Seungmin looked up as if trying to recall, then opened his mouth.

“No, I don’t think I would. I’m barely home, and even when I am, I don’t eat often. If I happen to find something, I just think my mother bought it.”
“It’s a similar case. Besides, Prosecutor General Nam Eunsuk’s family has staff.”

I stared at the gas tank and added.

“They wouldn’t have known that something like this existed in the backyard in the first place. Even if they had, they would have just thought the staff brought it because it was necessary.”

Yoon Gayeong nodded as if in agreement.
I glanced at her and spoke again.

“The opposite is also true. The staff could have thought that the Prosecutor General or his wife had brought it because they needed it, conveniently in the garage, conveniently in the backyard. Rather than making a fuss over nothing.”
“But is it possible for just this one gas tank to blow up a whole house like this?”

As Choi Suhyeok expressed his doubt, Lee Ilwoo glanced at the pit.

“We’re lucky it was only this scale. One gas tank can easily take out a few hundred pyeong.”
(TL note: One pyeong is about 3.3 square meters or 35.5 square feet.)
“…A few hundred pyeong? Is that possible?”
“Yes. Even assuming all the flammable materials in this house exploded together, this scale is fortunate. At least the city gas didn’t explode in a chain reaction.”

The people gathered there instinctively looked around.
The earth turned up by the shock of the explosion, the trees all broken and blackened, the vehicle fragments, the frame that used to be a house…
But even in the midst of it all, Yoon Gayeong was staring at us.

“Are you two by any chance explosives experts? It’s been a while since I’ve met someone I could connect with after just a few words. May I have your affiliation and name?”

Lee Ilwoo turned his gaze to me.
The time to reveal our identities had come.
Yoon Gayeong’s clear gaze naturally turned to me as well.
I didn’t want Choi Suhyeok to get into as much trouble as possible.
The answer I came to after some thought was simpler than I expected.

‘In times like these, a direct approach is the answer.’

Especially with a type like Yoon Gayeong.
One lie begets a bigger lie.
I stepped forward, blocking Choi Suhyeok who was about to step forward on our behalf, and opened my mouth.

“I am not a detective, but a lawyer. My name is Cha Yohan.”
“I am Attorney Cha’s bodyguard. …Before I was a bodyguard, I was a soldier. That’s why I’m familiar with explosions.”

As Yoon Gayeong’s eyebrows shot up, Lee Ilwoo hurriedly added.
In the meantime, Choi Suhyeok ran a hand through his hair, and Han Seungmin scratched his cheek.

“A lawyer and a bodyguard? Detective Choi, did you call them?”
“Haha, well… I didn’t call them, but…”

Yoon Gayeong’s gaze, which had been friendly just a moment ago, turned colder than anyone’s.
So much so that a chill could be felt.

‘I can hear every breath…’

The three of us were summoned to a cafe near Prosecutor General Nam Eunsuk’s house by Yoon Gayeong.
After a long, suffocating silence, Yoon Gayeong opened her mouth.

“You shouldn’t open your mouth when you’re angry. It’s easy to make a mistake then.”

It was her habit not to speak until she had organized her thoughts.

“Detective Choi, I have no objection to their opinions from earlier. But there’s a thing called a situation, isn’t there?”
“…Yes, that’s right.”

The scene of a terror attack on a high-ranking public official, and an outsider brought in by reinforcements.

[…Isn’t Detective Choi really going to have to write a report at this rate?]

‘What should I do…’

If it were someone I would never see again, I would try to be brazen, but that was also impossible.
Yoon Gayeong smiled brightly and spoke again.

“I’d like to understand the circumstances under which you ‘had’ to bring an outsider into the scene, Detective Choi.”

Choi Suhyeok had the most troubled expression I had ever seen.

‘…My face must be the same.’

Had I ever been this flustered?
I could say with certainty that I had not.
The only person smiling in this place was my former cousin.
Though that smile was exceedingly chilling.