The Shadow of the Past

Driving the car so recklessly and snapping at the innocent policeman was only because the current situation was so infuriating.

‘Hae Su. Just once! Really, let us do this just one more time. Please?’

She had only ended up in this state because of her senior’s earnest plea.

She had taken on a look she despised, all for the sake of the investigation.

Yes, she might have felt better if she had secured decisive evidence while looking like this.

But everything had gone down the drain because of the order to return immediately.

The more she thought about it, the more her anger flared, causing her brow to furrow.

“Relax your face, kid.”

Hae Su’s expression grew colder at the casual pat on her shoulder and the friendly, smiling face.

She only tolerated Jae Woong because he was her senior; if he had been her junior, she might have kicked him in the shins already for being such a sly snake.

Sensing her bitter gaze, he continued in a coaxing tone.

“You can guess the scale of the case if the Headquarters is bringing it down personally. Since it turned out like this, a big case is better for getting a special promotion slot. Is that not right?”

Hae Su’s sharp eyes softened slightly at the undeniable truth.

She had not heard the reason Headquarters sent a representative, but the fact that every team member out in the field was ordered back to the office confirmed it was a serious matter.

Taking advantage of her piqued interest, Jae Woong clapped his thick hands together.

“Now, now, let us change clothes and head to the briefing room first. They said even the Director is coming in. Huh?”

True enough, her short, tight skirt and crop top—which revealed her stomach if she even lifted an arm—did not match the police ID hanging around her neck.

It was even further from Hae Su’s personal taste.

“……Understood.”

Hae Su ruffled her hair irritably and stepped forward in her incredibly uncomfortable heels.

Thud.

Hae Su pushed open the bathroom door and set the tiny pieces of clothing—small enough to be mistaken for children’s clothes—on the sink counter.

She clicked her tongue and looked up to see her reflection in the mirror, letting out a hollow laugh.

Frowning slightly, she thrust her hands into her pockets and pulled them out.

She took out a black rubber band, gathered her long, loose hair, and tied it up high.

‘It is my first time seeing your face, do you come here often?’

‘It is too loud, right? Let us head out together.’

Her lip curled as she recalled the advances men had made toward her at the club.

She flicked the silver faucet, and a heavy stream of water poured out.

Swoosh.

Her eyes narrowed as she watched the water arc into the sink.

‘She only has a pretty face; she is probably busy opening her legs for any man who comes her way, just like her mother.’

‘What else would a whre’s daughter be besides a whre?’

Whenever she dressed like this for an undercover job, the words she heard as a child echoed in her ears like a disease.

Of course, no matter how much people encouraged her, the final decision was hers.

There was no more effective way to hide her identity and infiltrate criminals than this.

Though she hated to admit it, many men were captivated by her appearance, which she herself did not like.

It served as an excellent weapon for extracting information.

The problem was the self-loathing that followed after the job was done.

“Ha……”

Just as she let out a heavy sigh through her red lips.

Vrrr, vrrr.

The phone in her pocket vibrated.

Checking the screen, she saw it was a call from her senior, Jae Woong.

She stared at the screen for a moment before sliding the answer button.

– Time is up, where are you?

“I am in the bathroom. I am coming now.”

She hung up immediately after answering.

Looking down at the phone that had been pressed to her ear, it was clear she did not have time to linger.

She shoved the device back into her pocket and cut off the uselessly flowing water.

“……D*mn it.”

She reached out, grabbed a few tissues, and rubbed her red-painted lips.

With a short groan, Hae Su grabbed the clothes on the counter along with the crumpled tissue and threw them into the trash can.

Reaching the briefing room, Hae Su turned the doorknob.

The team members who were talking inside all turned their gaze toward her as the door swung open.

As soon as she gave a slight nod and stepped inside.

“If you are going to remove your makeup, you should do it properly. What is that, Hae Su?”

At Detective Hong’s nagging, Hae Su pulled out a chair and countered.

“I came looking like this because the senior hurried me, saying time was up.”

Jae Woong let out a huff of injustice at the accusation.

Just then, the firmly closed door burst open.

The team stood up at the sight of Team Leader Ki Young Do.

Behind Team Leader Ki, who held the door open, entered An Chang Young, the Director of the Yeocheon Investigation Bureau, and a strange man.

Everyone bowed in unison.

At the Director’s slight gesture, several pairs of eyes turned toward the Team Leader.

One by one, they sat down at the signal that they could do so.

Team Leader Ki turned his gaze from the team to the man beside him.

“Shall we start immediately?”

“Yes, let us.”

The man pulled something from his inner jacket pocket and handed it to the Team Leader.

It was too small to see, but judging by the laptop bag in his hand and his walk toward the podium, it was a USB drive.

With a button press, the roll screen descended, and another press sent blue light pouring from the projector.

With a beep, the man stepped up to the podium.

“Thank you.”

While the Team Leader took his seat, the man stood straight behind the podium and scanned the room.

Soon, he gave a polite greeting.

“It is a pleasure to meet you. I am Superintendent Jeong Min Cheol from the National Investigative Service at Headquarters.”

The fact that someone from Headquarters—specifically the NIS—had come here personally was not something to be taken lightly.

The team members, well aware of this, sat with stiff faces.

In contrast, Superintendent Jeong looked relaxed as he flashed a brief smile and clicked a file on the screen.

[Investigation Status of the Cheongun Organized Crime Group]

As soon as the screen appeared, Detective Hong raised a finger, his eyes wide as he looked at the head of the table.

“Di… Director. That is……!”

Detective Hong’s voice cracked from sheer shock.

However, Chang Young merely stared at the screen with his lips pressed firmly together.

“I mean… did you not tell us not to touch anything related to the Cheongun Group because Headquarters would handle it even if we got a tip? Why now?”

As Detective Hong watched with a confused expression, Superintendent Jeong took a deep breath.

“……The Headquarters officer who was undercover in the Cheongun Group has been exposed. Consequently, it has been confirmed that they now know the personal details of the entire handling team.”

The voices echoing in the room stopped.

Superintendent Jeong caught his breath and continued in an even lower voice.

“I regret that Yeocheon was excluded from the Cheongun case until now, but we have judged that it is difficult for Headquarters to conduct the investigation directly under current circumstances.”

“So, is Headquarters telling us to clean up the mess they made? If they found an undercover, those b*stards will be on high alert to weed out their own.”

They could not help but be sensitive regarding the Cheongun Group.

It was the largest criminal organization in the country, yet the Yeocheon Bureau could not even investigate minor incidents related to them.

This was due to twenty-eight years of suppression from Headquarters.

Hae Su remembered hearing that the reason Yeocheon was barred from investigating Cheongun was not much different from what was happening now.

That a police officer who contacted the organization as an undercover had died, and the person in charge of the team at that time was the current Director of Investigation, An Chang Young.

“……Director An, you know this well, do you not?”

Superintendent Jeong’s gaze fell on Director An.

Without taking his eyes off him, he clicked the mouse again.

The presentation slid over, and a photo of Lee Ja Cheong, the leader of the Cheongun Group and Chairman of the Cheongun Business Group, appeared on the screen.

“That to catch the Cheongun b*stards, we must cooperate.”

Hae Su, who was scanning the atmosphere while slowly shifting her eyes, lightly tapped the table.

There was likely no detective investigating organized crime who did not know of Cheongun.

Cheongun.

Cheongun was a large-scale violent organization created by Lee Ja Cheong, who was an action leader of the Namseoul Gang in the 1980s, in his hometown of Yeocheon City.

It grew nationwide by absorbing other organizations that had crumbled during the war on crime.

The organization, which initially grew by committing illegal acts such as running entertainment establishments, private loans, and gambling, seized a construction company through a corporate raid and eventually became the respectable-looking Cheongun Group.

However, the first time Hae Su learned about the Cheongun Group was before she even passed the police exam, and it could be called a fated relationship.

‘I thought Sogol would never disappear, but this is really the end, huh?’

‘Only the pimp made a fortune. He probably sold the prime land and ran off with the money himself.’

Six years ago, Sogol, which was considered one of the few remaining red-light districts in the metropolitan area in front of Yeocheon Station, was demolished.

Everything from the glass rooms emitting red light to the small rooms where the older women called “has-beens” stayed was destroyed.

It became a ruin, unrecognizable from its previous form.

The reason Hae Su remembered the collapsed Sogol so vividly was because she was one of the people who would have been kicked out onto the street if she had not escaped that place.