The Seven Post Offices

[What’s with this package? And just a single pen inside?]
“Ah, you got it? It arrived faster than I thought.”
[And what’s this sound? Did you go to a temple? No, your location is at home.]

Ah, I’d gotten so used to it I forgot I had it on.
The Buddhist chanting that had filled the house until a moment ago stopped.
I turned off the speaker and answered nonchalantly.

“It’s a sound for clearing my mind. It’s good for concentration.”
[Buddhist chanting doesn’t really suit your new name, Yoon Yosep. And who is Kim Jiho?]
“Another one of your identities, Mr. Im Suho?”

A dry laugh echoed from over the phone.

[I have many aliases, but Kim Jiho isn’t one of them. I’ll keep it in mind for the future, Mr. Yoon Yosep.]
“I knew you’d realize it was me if I sent it that way. What was the courier service?”
[Daejin Express. So, what’s with this pen? No matter how I check it, it just seems like an ordinary pen.]

‘Hmm, so it wasn’t sent via the post office. I guess their disguise doesn’t go that far.’

Or maybe they don’t care if they’re found out.

“It really is just an ordinary pen.”

I told Im Suho about the events of the previous day.
About Choi Suhyeok visiting me, what happened before he came, and what we did throughout the early morning.

“And in that situation, you were the one who came to mind, Mr. Im Suho.”
[I knew something was up at the Songpa station. When you suddenly sent a pen, I thought it was a distress signal.]
“How did you know? It seemed like they were trying their best to prevent any leaks.”
[Isn’t that question meaningless by now?]

A hint of laughter was in Im Suho’s voice.
Perhaps he found it amusing that I asked every time something like this happened.
But I was curious how he knew about things the police were desperately trying to keep under wraps.
Sometimes I felt like if I was running on the ground, Im Suho was watching me from the sky.

“It’s just that I’m amazed every time. It makes me wonder if your day isn’t 24 hours long.”
[Did you get some sleep? You’ll die if you don’t sleep like that.]
“Yes, thanks to everyone worrying so much about my sleep, I slept a lot today.”
[Anyway… wait a moment.]
“Okay.”

As I sank my back into the sofa, the now-familiar white ceiling came into view.

‘I’m still tired even though I slept for quite a while.’

Yesterday morning, I had called Choi Suhyeok only after we had left the neighborhood where the post office was.

‘It’s more professional than I thought. Mostly elderly people come. I guess younger people tend to use convenience stores for their parcels these days.’
[You’ve worked hard. Anything else out of the ordinary?]
‘Hmm… It’s not strange, but they’re overly kind. To the point where it feels unsettling.’
[Like they’re acting?]
‘Yes, it’s natural, yet it doesn’t feel natural, if that makes sense.’
[Alright, I understand for now. I’ll contact you again. Until I call, Attorney Cha, you should get some rest. You must be tired.]

Even when I said I would help more, Choi Suhyeok was firm.
But the moment I felt the apology in his resolute voice, I decided to respect his wishes.

[You’ve helped more than enough already. Get some sleep first.]
‘Alright. Detective Choi, you get some rest too. It’s dangerous to drive like that.’
[I’m fine. Thanks to you, I’ve snapped out of it. I’m hanging up.]

But by the time I finished the call with Choi Suhyeok, it was already 9:30 AM, and it was Friday.
Which meant I also had to go to work.

[Take today off, Attorney Cha. Judging by your call, it seems you’ve been running around without a wink of sleep. Go home and get some rest.]
‘Everyone has been working hard all this time. I’ll come to the office in the afternoon.’
[It’s fine. There are no trials next week either. And you’ve been overworking yourself for a while.]
‘But a new client might come, so in the afternoon…’
[If you come to work today, consider yourself evicted from your office.]

I never thought Won Youngoh would resort to such a drastic measure…
I pretended not to hear Gram say that I looked rather pleased for someone who was just threatened, and returned home.
I fell asleep immediately and woke up in the afternoon.
I must have been tired, I thought, but I couldn’t rest comfortably.

[They say only those who have practiced resting know how to do it.]

‘I guess that’s not wrong.’

[Attorney Won Youngoh should see this scene….]

So, I spent the day with only my body at home, working continuously. I carefully reviewed Han Seungmin’s case and monitored news articles.
When I called Baek Soeun for a quick check, she seemed to know nothing.

[Ugh, there’s nothing to write about these days. Attorney Cha, do you know anything?]
“Ah, I do know one thing. I heard C9 is making a comeback. Mr. Kwon Saeha contacted me.”
[Saeha? This is my boys’ first time after changing agencies….]

I had tried to change the subject and ended up suffering through several minutes of her praise.
Ah, my head suddenly hurts.
As I rubbed my throbbing brow at the end of the recollection, Im Suho spoke.

[MH5, it appeared in Seoul about three months ago. It’s amazing how it established itself in just three months. The existing ones were all pushed out because of it.]
“Three months? Wasn’t it older than that?”

I thought Han Seungmin’s younger sibling died a year ago?

[Ah, MH is a series. At first, it was called ‘Mach’, and after that, it was referred to only by numbers.]
“So the current slang term is ‘Five?'”
[Five. But that’s all I’ve found out for now.]
“What?”
[I think I need a little more time. They’re distributing it only through untraceable messengers.]

But Im Suho continued in a tone that suggested it wouldn’t be a problem.

[It’s safe to say they’ve taken over Seoul and Gyeonggi Province. I’ve heard it’s been popping up in Busan since about a month ago… This is related to K, isn’t it?]
“Probably.”
[The picture looks strange, this one. I’ll look into it more.]
“Okay, make sure to eat your meals. It’s spring now, but be careful not to catch a cold.”
[…This is the first time I’ve heard someone say that.]
“Were you moved, Mr. Kim Jiho?”

Beep, beep, beep…

Wow, he hung up so coldly. At least Choi Suhyeok says he’s hanging up.
But maybe this was his way of showing affirmation.
I smiled, fiddled with the speaker, and picked up my phone again.

“Detective Choi, is it a good time to talk?”
[Yes, it’s fine now. What is it?]
“It might be a long story, so let’s meet in person. If you’re busy, I can come to the station.”
[Just a moment.]

The clamor from the other side of the line flowed through the speaker to me.

Click.

The noise subsided as if Choi Suhyeok had gone somewhere, and his voice became a little clearer.

[I told you to get some rest. Even if I asked you for help, this is a job for the police.]
“And finding evidence favorable to a client is a lawyer’s job.”
[…You never lose an argument, do you.]

I knew by now.
When Choi Suhyeok talked like this, it usually meant yes.
I got up from the sofa, grabbed my car keys and coat, and replied.

“And when do lawyers get weekends? Same for detectives. Let’s not waste our energy on the obvious between us.”
[Haa… I’ll send you the address. See you there in an hour.]
“Okay, I’ll be there soon.”

“So this is the post office manager’s house?”
“Yes. It seems he doesn’t even consider being tailed. I don’t know if he’s brazen or just that confident.”

We met at an apartment in Gangnam, the address Choi Suhyeok had sent.
We were currently in the middle of a quasi-stakeout in the parking lot.
Across from the car I was in with Choi Suhyeok, his fellow detectives were also on a stakeout.

“The post office manager’s name is Kim Dongcheol, six prior convictions. Two counts of fraud, three counts of assault, one count of battery. What else was there, ah. Organized crime.”
“Quite the record. You really can’t judge a person by their appearance.”

The last time I saw him at the post office, he couldn’t have been kinder.
I sighed inwardly and nodded at Choi Suhyeok.

“So what’s the plan now?”
“First, we’ll bring him in for an emergency arrest. We can gather evidence by raiding the post office in the meantime. Something will turn up. MH5, or something else.”

Tap, tap.

Choi Suhyeok tapped the steering wheel with his index finger, unable to hide his anxiety.

“Then it’s a good thing I came.”

I took a tablet out of my bag and handed it to Choi Suhyeok.

“What’s this?”
“Our office manager found it. He’s a very capable person.”

I shrugged once and glanced at the box in the back seat through the rearview mirror.

“By the way, what’s in that box?”
“It’s nothing, I mean… You’re saying there are seven of these in Seoul alone.”
“There could be more if we look. You said you only searched for a day.”

Choi Suhyeok showed his undisguised shock.
He seemed to have frozen, clutching the tablet.
He stared at the map with red circles drawn all over it.

“Attorney Cha, I’ve found seven locations within Seoul by cross-referencing with street view, but considering the scale, we can’t rule out the possibility of there being more.”

They could be disguised as something other than a post office.
There were too many possibilities.
I pointed at the screen and opened my mouth.

“If we catch Kim Dongcheol now, all the remnants will disappear.”
“…Do you have a plan?”

When I left the post office, a question had occurred to me.

‘Is this really the only one?’

I had been forming a plan since I received this map from Jeong Donghyeok last night.
And I had reinforced it after hearing from Im Suho that they had essentially taken over Seoul and Gyeonggi Province.

“Yes. First of all…”

After I finished speaking, Choi Suhyeok sighed and then hurriedly made a call.

“Hey, Detective Kim. We’re pulling out today. We need to replan the operation at the station. Let’s head back. …There’s a reason. Yesterday’s place wasn’t the only one. I’ll tell you the details when we get there.”

[A gang that distributed illegal drugs by impersonating a public institution has been arrested. They boldly disguised themselves as a post office, even sending actual packages for visitors…]

“That’s the only thing on the news all day. Oh, Detective Choi, you’re on the news again.”
“He looks terrible. He must have been on stakeout for a week straight.”

Just as Jeong Donghyeok said, a brief image of Choi Suhyeok apprehending criminals flashed across the screen.
It had been a week since I met Choi Suhyeok in the parking lot.
For the first time in a while, we were eating at the Family Diner instead of the office, and we stopped our hands to watch the screen for a moment.
The post office I had visited appeared on the screen. After that, numerous other locations flashed by.
I turned my gaze to Won Youngoh across from me.

“It’s all thanks to you, Attorney Won. Detective Choi asked me to pass on his gratitude.”
“It was nothing, I just did my job.”

Despite his words, it was Won Youngoh who had persuaded the prosecutor who was about to reject the warrant, calling the story absurd.
It also helped that the prosecutor in charge was from the same class as Won Youngoh.
Thanks to that, the case was officially processed, and the investigation gained momentum.

[Currently, it has been revealed that hundreds of individuals are involved. The police have announced they will reinforce their personnel to root out the organization.]

This story was on every channel.
Platforms were rapidly churning out sensational videos all day long.
The announcer’s clear pronunciation pierced my ears.

[Ironically, the death of a suspect during an arrest became the starting point of this investigation. However, this suspect…]

Lee Ilwoo, who had often asked about it while the case was ongoing, asked again today with a worried face.

“Um, Attorney. Is Detective Choi’s partner alright?”