Cornering the Culprit

“How are you going to proceed from now on?”

Just like Won Youngoh.
Seeing him get straight to the point as soon as I saw his face, I felt a sense of relief.

“Mr. Lee Hyeonsu will receive the ‘Righteous Person Award’ from HJ and will soon receive medical support from a hospital under HJ.”
“That’s a relief.”
“Yes. Since he’s in a situation where he can’t make a living right away, he has also been promised financial support. But we’ve only solved one thing.”

I stared at Won Youngoh’s stomach as he lay there.
Won Youngoh raised his hand to cover the spot where the wound would be.

“What are you staring at? You’re making me feel embarrassed.”
“Do you get embarrassed too, lawyer?”
“Of course, that was a joke.”

I picked up a drink from the side table, handed it to Won Youngoh, and then opened one for myself and drank it.

“The bumper fragment was sent for analysis right away and was used as evidence. Now we need to catch the culprit with that evidence. And of course, the guy who stabbed you, lawyer.”
“…Can I take back what I just said? I think I’m feeling embarrassed. It’s a bit shameful to be lying here in this state.”
“That’s not your fault, lawyer. It’s those guys’ fault. It’s more amazing that you avoided a guy who came at you with full force.”

Won Youngoh let out a long sigh, seemingly not very comforted by my words.

“Hoo… Do you have a plan? I want to help even from here.”

Vibrate.

Just then, my inner pocket vibrated.

“Just a moment. It’s Detective Choi Suhyeok. Yes, Detective Choi. What is it? Yes, I’ll be right there.”

I added a word to Won Youngoh and stood up from my seat.

“Lawyer Won, don’t worry about anything and focus on your recovery. A clear mind helps you recover faster. This will help. Give me your phone.”
“What are you doing?”

I connected the Bluetooth speaker I had brought with me to Won Youngoh’s phone.

[Maha Prajna Paramita Heart Sutra…]

‘What is this kid?’

Leaving Won Youngoh, who was saying that with his eyes, behind, I left the hospital room.

“You look worse than I’ve ever seen you, Detective Choi.”
“I know, right? I wonder whose fault this is.”
“It’s probably my fault, right?”
“Are you teasing me now?”
“How could I tease you, detective?”
“See? You are teasing me.”

I answered Choi Suhyeok’s words with a smile, raising the corners of my mouth.
Choi Suhyeok had given up his days off for the past few days and had been tracking the culprit who had stabbed Won Youngoh.
We had gathered to catch the guy, following the clue that Choi Suhyeok had found.

“I was wondering how to catch him, so thank you.”
“I know it’s thanks to me, so can I hit you once after this case is over? You’re just so annoying, Lawyer Cha.”
“I won’t bother mentioning that assault, not battery, can be settled in a civil suit without going to the police, since you know that better than I do, detective.”
“…Should I just hit you now?”

As I was pretending not to have heard that, Choi Suhyeok’s partner, who had gone to look around, returned.

“He’s inside.”

At that short phrase, Choi Suhyeok and I stopped joking and changed our expressions.

“Let’s go up.”
“Lawyer Cha, let’s not be reckless today. The guy probably has another knife, so be especially careful.”
“I understand.”

And so, we went up the stairs and into the old adult arcade.
There were only two men inside.
A young man and a middle-aged man.

Step, step.

Choi Suhyeok naturally approached the young man who was playing pachinko, as if he were waiting, and Choi Suhyeok’s partner, Han Seungmin, blocked the door, pretending to be changing money.
I was heading for another arcade machine.

Swish.

The man, who had raised his head at the appearance of a new customer, pulled his hat down further and stood up from the machine.
Choi Suhyeok sat down in his place and called out to the man.

“Excuse me. I think you dropped this.”
“…It’s not mine.”
“You’re saying it’s not yours without even looking. Do you have eyes on the back of your head? Are you sure it’s not yours? It’s a wallet. Then can I have it? Let’s see how much is in it.”

‘Wow, this is no joke.’

At Choi Suhyeok’s top-level provocation, the man fumbled with his black hoodie and turned around.
But in Choi Suhyeok’s hand was not a wallet, but his official ID.

“You know what this is, right? Let’s talk at the station, you and I.”

Whoosh!

The man quickly turned his head to confirm that the only exit and entrance was blocked.
And then he rushed at Choi Suhyeok.
The guy really pulled out a knife from his pocket.

“Be careful!”

Even before I could shout, Choi Suhyeok skillfully threw a chair at the guy to create space.

“Ugh!”

Thud!

Then he picked up a cue stick that was lying randomly on the pool table.

“Let’s go quietly, quietly. It’s not good to hurt a detective. Well, I guess guys like you don’t care about that and even stab lawyers.”

The man, whose face was completely covered by a hat, did not waver.
Instead, he stood still and looked back and forth between the blocked door, me who was ready to jump out at any moment, and the closed window.

‘…The window?’

“No!”

Crash!

The man ran and broke the window, falling down.
My fingertips caught the man’s clothes as I also ran and chased him, but he immediately slipped away.

“That crazy bastard!”

Instead of checking outside the window, Choi Suhyeok cursed and ran down the stairs with Han Seungmin, pushing open the door.
I could see the man running away, limping, below the window.

[Aren’t you going to follow him? We’re going to lose him!]

‘If, by any chance.’

[…What kind of scary story are you going to tell me now?]

‘You said <Righteous Body> gets stronger when you use it for justice. Is that right?’

[Yes, that’s right.]

‘Then that’s fine.’

[…No, don’t tell me. Are you really crazy?]

I’m just using the method given to me, that’s all.
No matter what the hologram said, I took a few steps back, took a running start, and jumped out the window.

Thump!

It was a three-story building, but it wasn’t that high because it was an old building.
I also landed well.

Thump, thump, thump!

I immediately chased after the man who hadn’t gotten far yet.
Unlike the man who was injured from the fall, including glass shards, my body was fine.
It didn’t even take a few minutes to catch up to him.

“F*ck, stop chasing me!”
“You’re not making any sense.”

The man shouted and then stopped and brandished his knife wildly.

“You recognized me, didn’t you?”

At my question, the man suddenly shut his mouth.
I didn’t miss that opportunity and used the technique I had learned from Lee Ilwoo.

‘I can’t believe I’m using this in a real situation so soon.’

Whoosh!

I kicked the man’s knee and immediately went behind him and twisted his shoulder.

“Aah!”

Clang!

I kicked the fallen knife far away.
Choi Suhyeok, who had caught up, looked at the knife once, then at me who was subduing the man, and then let out a deep sigh.

“I really… I’m going to die before my time because of that Cha Yohan…”
“Hey, Suhyeok… that, that lawyer, what the hell is he? Is he really a lawyer? How did he just jump out of there?”
“I know, right? From what I’ve seen, he’s just a crazy person.”

[Did you hear that? My opinion is similar.]

The hologram agreed with the two men’s words.

‘I caught him, so it’s fine.’

Thanks to that, my body feels stronger too.

[No matter how righteous the act, you have to take care of your body! You could have been seriously hurt!]

I just answered with a shrug.

“What? There are no registered fingerprints?”
“…Yes.”

Choi Suhyeok nodded with a more dejected expression than before.
It was smooth sailing until we brought the man to the police station.
The problem was after that.

“What, what…”

None of the man’s ten fingers had an identity registered in the database.
The man answered Choi Suhyeok’s question of “what’s your identity?” with silence.
He didn’t give his name, his age, or anything else.

“This feels strange. I have a bad feeling about this.”

Choi Suhyeok rubbed the back of his neck with a dissatisfied expression.

“He seems to be a ‘mujeokja,’ a person who hasn’t been registered at birth.”
“But we’re looking through his phone, so won’t something come up?”
“We have to hope so. I’m going to send the knife to the National Forensic Service soon, and I’ll ask them to hurry up with the analysis. It’s an emergency arrest, so we can’t hold him for long.”

As I listened to Choi Suhyeok’s words and looked at the knife in the evidence bag, a thought flashed through my mind.

“Uh, Detective Han. Just a moment.”
“Yes? Lawyer!”

I picked up the evidence bag and examined the knife.
Instead of stopping me, Choi Suhyeok watched to see what I was doing.
I took the knife, brought Choi Suhyeok into an empty conference room, and spoke.

“Here, the handle of the knife.”

I pointed to the handle, which was treated with a non-slip texture, and added.

“When Lawyer Won Youngoh was fighting with that guy, he grabbed this part. That’s why he got his hand cut a little.”
“What? Why are you guys so reckless?”
“No, that’s not the point right now… Since Lawyer Won’s hand was already full of blood at that time, and he bled again when he got hurt, the blood would have seeped into these cracks. If this is the knife he used in the crime.”

It must be.
Because a very faint red light was seeping out of the knife.
It was the ‘evidence before my eyes’.
I pointed to the bolster part of the knife with my fingertip.
Choi Suhyeok squinted his eyes and looked at it once, then nodded in agreement.

“If we’re lucky, we might find something.”
“Yes, could you please ask them to focus their analysis on the cracks from the bolster to the handle?”
“…Anyway, you guys. Hoo, I’m going to get my sigh’s worth.”
“By all means. I’ll come running whenever you need me, Detective Choi.”
“You’d better be prepared. I’m going to torment you all the time.”

Just then, another detective who was examining the man’s phone called out to Choi Suhyeok at a good time.

“Detective Choi!”

We all went into the conference room together.
Just before the door closed, I glanced at the man sitting in the chair one more time.
Choi Suhyeok spoke.

“Did you find anything?”
“Well… it’s a bit strange.”
“What is?”

The cards in the man’s wallet, which had been recovered to confirm his identity, were all in different names, and so was his phone.
Not a single name matched in the internet banking app.

“Are any of these reported as lost?”
“None of them.”

At that answer, my face and Choi Suhyeok’s face contorted at the same time.
Four different names, and yet not a single one reported as lost…

“Whatever it is, they’re moving in an organized manner.”
“It seems so.”

The youngest detective showed the screen of the broken phone and spoke again.

“Uh, there are no numbers in the contacts, but this number has been in constant communication in the call history. I requested a search from the telecommunications company, and they said it’s a prepaid phone.”
“A prepaid phone? Not a burner phone?”
“Yes. They said they could only search the base station of this number, so I asked, and it’s all over Seoul. It has never stayed in one place.”
“Can I take a look for a moment?”
“Uh? Yes, yes.”

I took the phone and scanned the call history.

‘There are records several times a day. Is he receiving orders?’

At my action, Choi Suhyeok, who had become reflexively anxious, hurriedly said.

“Lawyer Cha Yohan, let’s not do anything strange.”

I nodded and moved my finger just once.
I called that number.

Ring, ring.

“Lawyer Cha!”

I raised my index finger to the flustered Choi Suhyeok.

“They probably don’t know that guy has been caught yet. We have to use what we can when we can.”

I put the phone down on the desk and pressed the speakerphone button.

Ring, ring, ring, ring…
Click.

After a long ringtone, the other person answered the phone.