Ambush

After looking around once, I took out a pair of gloves from my pocket.
They were ordinary latex gloves.

‘I was wondering what I’d do if I didn’t get to use them.’

Click, click.

Then, I started photographing the red-glowing evidence one by one.

Swoosh.

New evidence poured out every time I opened a drawer.
It was like the tears of the victims.

‘These are rotten in so many ways.’

I meticulously photographed everything from the dozens of fraudulent bank accounts in the names of victims to the stacks of old 2G cell phones.
What stood out among them were the memos attached to the back of each fraudulent bank account.

[Residence in Changhyeong-dong, single mother, mother’s mobility impaired…]

There were dozens of such memos.
Not only names and contact information, but also family details were meticulously written down.

‘This means they’ve been watching the victims for quite a long time.’

They seemed to be more thorough than I thought.
With this scale, it’s unlikely they’re only operating in the country.
But these were just simple pieces of evidence, not decisive evidence that could identify the suspect.

Click.

Still, it’s better to have even one more piece of evidence. You never know how it might work later.
At that moment, I remembered the guys who had come in the car earlier.

‘They didn’t just take things, they left some too. Then, upstairs…’

There was still a possibility that the guys were there.
I started to more thoroughly examine the surroundings with the flashlight on my phone.

‘If those bags were money, they would have modified the building to make it easier to go between floors for fundraising. The building owner is clearly an accomplice.’

Even if they were pretending to be an office upstairs, if they had gone up and down the building’s stairs several times a day carrying black, large bags like that, they would have definitely caught people’s attention.

Thump, thump.

After carefully tapping on the walls, I discovered a wooden door of the same color as the wall.
It was a wooden door like a normal house’s, but it was painted over with cement-colored paint.

Swish.

Only after carefully pressing my ear to the door for a few tens of seconds did I open it.

Creak.

After checking the stairs leading down with the flashlight, I carefully closed the door again.
And I went back to Lee Ilwoo.
Suppressing my presence even more.

“Mr. Lee Ilwoo, please watch this front door. I think I can go down to the lower floor from inside.”
“What? What do you mean?”
“I think they’ve renovated the building. There’s a secret space inside. There are stairs.”
“There are stairs, which means…”

For a moment, a look of worry clouded Lee Ilwoo’s face, which was not entirely visible with the small flashlight.
I nodded and deliberately answered as if it were no big deal to reassure him.

“Yes, it means those guys might be hiding on the lower floor. They might already know we’re here.”
“If they’ve noticed, why aren’t they coming up?”
“They either have something to protect there, are waiting for us to come down, or…”

I looked back for a moment and then spoke again.

“Both, probably.”

After asking Lee Ilwoo, I went back inside and quietly opened the door.
Considering the number of guys who had come and gone earlier, at most, there would be five or six, if I’m being optimistic.
Even if there were more, I couldn’t back down.
I have to open that door.
Especially if what those guys took earlier was evidence.

‘I hope they’re all asleep, considering the time.’

Swish.

I firmly gripped a wooden plank I had picked up from a corner on the 4th floor.
The stairs, which were roughly made with cement, were filled with the characteristic dampness of a cement space. The smell too.

Step, step.

I suppressed my presence as much as possible, but the sound echoed because of the space. As I lowered my head, I saw a red light once again from the door at the end of the stairs.

Swish.

I pressed my ear to the door and checked the other side, just as I had done before.

‘…It’s too quiet.’

Creak.

I had only pushed it slightly, but the wooden door let out a faint scream and opened weakly.

Static, static.

Through the ajar door, the first things that caught my eye were the static and faint light coming from a monitor on the left side of the interior.
I had turned off the flashlight before opening the door.

Step.

With my nerves on edge, I pushed my foot into the darkness.
It was at that moment.

[Be careful!]

Whoosh.

At the same time as the hologram’s shout, I felt a faint breeze on the back of my head.
I instinctively raised my arm to cover my head.

Thwack!

“Ugh!”

As I, who had been swinging the wooden plank while staggering, finally lost my balance, a barrage of indiscriminate blows rained down on me.
There was not even the usual question of “who are you?”.
I don’t know how long they had been holding their breath in the darkness, but their kicks, for the most part, accurately aimed at me, who had fallen to the floor without missing.

Click.

The sound of a switch being flipped was clearly heard, cutting through that moment.
My vision brightened as if it had exploded, and after a few grimaces, I found numerous eyes throwing sneers at me.
I had been dragged not to the front of the door, but to the center.
They were at least twenty able-bodied men.
Among them, a man who was sitting alone in a chair leisurely put a cigarette in his mouth and spoke to me.

“Hey, buddy. Did you have a good time taking pictures upstairs?”
“…So you were watching.”
“Of course. What do you take us for? We’re not amateurs who have been doing this for a day or two. Do you think we wouldn’t know if a tail was attached?”
“Since when were you watching?”
“Enough to acknowledge your patience? Not bad. You were wandering around all day like a dog that needs to pee.”

Just as I was about to speak, I heard someone running down the stairs behind me.

Thump, thump, thump!

“Lawyer!”

It was Lee Ilwoo, who had come running after hearing my scream.
The man blew out a puff of cigarette smoke and sneered.

“Aha, so you’re a lawyer. Then, what about the guy who just showed up? Is his profession as fancy as yours?”

Lee Ilwoo looked at me with a bewildered expression.
It’s understandable to be surprised to see me in such a state in just a few minutes.
I had avoided the blow to my head, but I think my forehead was cut.
My eyes and cheeks, where the blood had flowed, were warm.
A few drops had already fallen to the floor.

“You there, you’re not a lawyer, are you? In charge of the muscle? Even if you’re the muscle, you can still think, right? Stay right there. No matter what you do, we’ll kill this lawyer faster.”
“Don’t come.”

I deliberately didn’t call out Lee Ilwoo’s name.
Because those guys could mention Lee Ilwoo’s name later.
I tried to support myself with my arms to get up, but my strength quickly gave out. My vision was blurred by the blood.
I wiped my messed-up face with the back of my hand.

“Hey, lawyer. Even if it’s a world where you only believe what you see, you can’t assume something doesn’t exist just because you can’t see it. Whatever it is.”

As I turned my head, I saw the monitor that had been bothering me from the beginning.
Among the many divided screens of the monitor, there was also the cafe where I had been earlier.

“Ha.”

I let out a hollow laugh and then looked at the screen for a while longer, feeling a sense of unease.

‘That car is…’

The man followed my gaze to the monitor once more, but soon lost interest and looked back at me, who was lying on the floor.

“Well, a guy jumped out the window a few days ago. After that, I told the kids to watch it more carefully, and what do you know. Some small fry keeps wandering around our place.”
“You were anxious?”

I let out a smirk and threw a taunt.
The man tilted his head to the side and stubbed out his cigarette on the desk.

“It was fun. I thought you’d come in right away, but you were more careful than I thought. So I even moved some bags around for you to see. Our business needs a bit of showmanship.”
“…’Business’?”

I asked back, clenching my teeth.
Even as my head was ringing with pain, that word alone clearly pierced my ears.

“If it’s to make a living, it’s all business. We’re a profession that risks our lives too. Isn’t that right, guys?”

At the man’s words, the men who were standing in a circle around us snickered and jeered.

“Actually, I was a little worried that you might be a righteous cop. But since you’re a lawyer, the conversation will be faster.”
“Yeah, I was curious too. Why didn’t you attack me on the 4th floor?”
“Because it would be a hassle if you ran away. Unlike the 4th floor, there’s no way out on this 3rd floor. Even if you break the 3rd-floor door, it’s just a cement wall.”
“You deliberately lured me in here.”
“Of course. Well, it was also meant for you to enjoy it for a while.”

I spat out the blood that had pooled in my mouth at the man’s feet.
At that, the man laughed loudly and wagged his index finger.

“It’s a relief that you’re not a cop. You must have a lot of money since you’re a lawyer. Ah, I’ll be generous. Let’s go with five sheets.”
“Don’t talk nonsense.”
“You’d better be good at judging the situation. Since it’s come to this, we need to get some moving expenses. We’ll let you go if you just give us the money.”

As the man leaned his head forward towards me, I could smell the acrid smell of cigarettes.

“Of course, after we’re done moving.”

I reflexively frowned.

“Guys, search him.”
“Yes, boss.”

Step.

Just as the men who were near me approached to search my clothes.
I nodded to Lee Ilwoo, with whom I had been making eye contact.
I had no intention of begging for my life by giving these bastards money, nor did I intend to end it like this.

‘…Just a little more to endure.’

I wanted to see that bastard go to jail with my own two eyes.
At least, that’s what I consider justice.
Paying for one’s sins justly through the law.
As the man approached me, I started to crawl on the floor to escape.

“Oh my, you’re desperate. It’s no use running away like that.”

Thwack!

In a physically disadvantageous situation, the only way is to make the opponent let their guard down.
The subordinate who was approaching me snickered as he saw me trying to escape by crawling.
Then, the snickering suddenly stopped and a scream followed.

Thud!

“Ugh! You crazy bastard!”

By then, that subordinate had already been caught by the legs and had his ankle twisted as he fell with me.
At the same time, Lee Ilwoo, who was standing in front of the door, rushed in.

“Lawyer, are you okay?”

I quickly got up and shouted.

“I’m fine, so don’t worry about me!”

Soon, a brawl broke out.
My head was still ringing from the impact of the assault, but I could still hold my own.

Thwack!

“Ugh, f*ck! These bastards! What kind of bastard are you, you bastard!”

The name-calling that hadn’t been directed at me was now directed at Lee Ilwoo.
Because while I was holding my own, Lee Ilwoo was flying around.
But soon, we started to be pushed back by the numbers.

Thwack, thwack!

Just as I was about to be knocked to the floor again by something that struck my back, a sound that seemed to tear my eardrums rang out.

BANG-!

It was none other than a gunshot.

“Everyone, drop your weapons and put your hands up! This is a live round now!”

The guys who had been indiscriminately beating me and Lee Ilwoo until just now, the man who had been watching the scene with a bored expression, and I and Lee Ilwoo all looked at the men who had suddenly appeared amidst the chaos.
It was Choi Suhyeok.
Next to him, a man who seemed to be Choi Suhyeok’s partner was also aiming a gun.

“Police! I said drop your weapons and put your hands up!”

There was a stir at the word “police,” but no one dropped the various weapons they were holding.
The man picked his ear and sneered.

“Just two of you? Ah, that hurts my pride.”

Despite the sneer, Choi Suhyeok still spoke with an expressionless face.

“This is the last warning. Drop your weapons and put your hands up.”

Clang, clang.

The man got up from his seat and dragged a steel pipe as he approached me, who was lying on the floor.
It was no different from a hostage situation.

Whoosh, whoosh!

The man moved his hand as if he were playing golf, threateningly moving the steel pipe as if to strike my head, and mocked Choi Suhyeok.

“Hey, have you ever even shot it properly? That, what is it. I’m a little acquainted with the police officers myself. They said there’s a lot of hassle to shoot a gun? It’s tricky.”
“Oh, really?”

BANG-!

Choi Suhyeok uttered only that one word before pulling the trigger without hesitation.