The Bait and the Trap

Thud.

The door closed, and she walked slowly to the end of the long corridor.

Hae Su fidgeted with her hands, which she had pulled from her pockets, and looked at Jae Woong.

“What? What is it?”

Jae Woong urged her as she continued to stall.

After hesitating, Hae Su opened her lips.

“……Senior, about the Ssangyong Gang case.”

“Ssangyong Gang?”

“Should we not find evidence before the cases are reassigned?”

While everyone else was preoccupied with the sealing of their personnel records, Hae Su was troubled by the mention of reassignment.

Jae Woong looked at her with wide eyes and waved his hand, letting out a dry laugh.

“Hey, how are we supposed to find evidence now? From tomorrow, we have to go all-in on the Cheongun Group. Besides, once we hand the case over to another team, they will handle it. Why are you looking for trouble?”

Hae Su shoved her hands into her back pockets.

She tapped the floor with the toe of her sneaker and spoke in a low voice.

“……The Ssangyong case will probably go to the Narcotics Unit, but we have nothing solid prepared.”

“Those guys are just mid-level mules moving drugs. Even if we catch them, it is hard to reach the head. If we just give the Narcotics guys the details about drugs circulating in clubs, they will……”

“If we hand it over like this, the Violent Crimes Unit will look incompetent. That is why I dislike it.”

In truth, the Ssangyong Gang case was a matter for the Narcotics Unit.

However, it had been assigned to the Violent Crimes Unit first because of gang involvement, and for Hae Su, it was the first case where her name was officially listed as an investigator.

So, to be precise, she was worried they would point at her specifically as incompetent, rather than the unit as a whole.

Jae Woong narrowed his eyes, as if reading her thoughts clearly.

He pulled out a cigarette, put it in his mouth, and stepped closer, patting her shoulder with his large hand.

“Case reassignment happens all the time. If you think about it, the Cheongun case was handed to us from National Headquarters too.”

“……”

“Do not waste your feelings on something leaving your hands. I am telling you, sometimes you think too much. Let us take it easy, Hae Su.”

Her dark brown eyes dropped weakly.

Hae Su pulled her hands from her pockets and bit her lower lip.

Thinking she understood, Jae Woong patted her shoulder again and left, saying he was going for a smoke.

But Hae Su had no intention of taking it easy.

If there was a problem, it was her personality—she couldn’t rest until she had done her part.

Passing through the street filled with acrid smoke, Hae Su stopped under a flickering neon sign.

She bit the soft flesh inside her lip as she heard the music leaking from the stairs below.

Finally, having made up her mind, Hae Su stepped down into the basement.

‘Do not waste your feelings on something leaving your hands.’

Despite her senior’s advice, Hae Su had come here to put her mind at ease.

The drugs circulating here did not seem to be the commonly known types like marijuana, heroin, or cocaine.

That was why she had come to the club on her own despite the risks.

She felt she could only be satisfied if she at least identified what those drugs were.

“……”

After glancing around the crowded club, she took a seat at the bar.

She ordered a drink from the bartender, acting as if she were a regular.

As she lightly quenched her thirst, the phone inside her small, palm-sized bag on her lap vibrated.

Hae Su pulled out her phone and looked at the screen.

[Did you take annual leave for tomorrow too?]

It was a text message from Jae Woong.

Hae Su hesitated for a moment before tapping the keypad to reply.

[Yes. I am going to get some rest.]

Using the excuse of resting, she had taken the afternoon off and followed it with annual leave for tomorrow, but it was not true.

She had lied to come here without reporting it.

[You are not sick, are you?]

[Or is it because of what I said earlier?]

The continuous vibrations made her palm itch.

Since she was usually the type who didn’t even blink when told to take a vacation, his misunderstanding was natural.

Hae Su wrinkled her nose slightly.

[It is nothing like that.]

She wasn’t sick, and she wasn’t hurt by his advice about thinking too much.

However, she figured that if she continued the conversation, the messages would get longer or he might call, so she sent a closing greeting immediately.

[See you the day after tomorrow.]

After sending the message, Hae Su let the bright light on the screen fade.

She let out a short sigh and picked up her glass.

But at that moment.

“Oh? It is you, right?”

The moment she felt someone close by, her eyes met a man who had leaned his head toward her.

A look of wariness filled Hae Su’s eyes as she stared at the man’s face filling her vision.

With the flashing lights behind him, he gave a bright grin.

“It must be fate. We meet again?”

The moment she heard those words, she remembered.

‘It is my first time seeing this face. Do you come here often?’

He was one of the men who had approached her and flirted during her last visit.

Fortunately, he didn’t seem to suspect anything else.

Hae Su moved her lips and slowly turned her chair.

The man filled the empty seat next to her, leaning against the bar to get close.

“Are you alone today too?”

Hae Su did not respond to the man’s loud voice, which cut through the noisy music.

Feeling his blatant gaze, she glanced sideways, and he wore a smile again.

“Babe. Let us not stay here, let us move. It is too noisy.”

Hae Su curled one side of her mouth.

She folded her arms on the bar table and tilted her head.

“Why am I your babe?”

“Because I do not know your name? Then tell me your name.”

At the man’s sly expression as he shrugged, Hae Su’s smile quickly vanished.

Since she didn’t want to give away her name recklessly, she ignored him again and turned away.

In response, the man snatched the glass in front of her.

Gulp. The drink she had barely touched went down his throat.

The man set the empty glass down and thrust his face forward.

Hae Su did not flinch and looked him straight in the eye.

The man’s persistent gaze moved from bottom to top.

“You do not look like you want to dance, and you do not look like you came here to get wasted.”

“……”

“Then, babe, what did you come here for?”

At the man’s unnecessarily sharp question, Hae Su slowly clenched her hand hidden by her arm.

When the answer was delayed again, the man raised his eyebrows and pulled back.

From the distance, she felt his blatant gaze scanning her.

As she was debating what kind of excuse to make to avoid suspicion.

“……By any chance, did you come here looking for that?”

Signficant words tumbled from the man’s mouth.

He didn’t say exactly what “that” was, but Hae Su could guess from his subsequent actions.

With a gesture as if pouring something into his mouth, the man rolled his tongue and puffed out his cheek.

Hae Su was certain that the “that” he referred to was the reason she had come here.

After a moment, she gave a slight nod.

“……Yeah.”

She offered the man a faint smile.

Finding people was not difficult, even if they hid like rats.

Especially on the streets of Yeocheon, how easy would it be?

In less than half a day, Yu Seong Tae’s final destination was found to be a club.

Do Guk, having finished all his scheduled tasks, arrived at the club immediately to carry out Lee Ja Cheong’s order.

He walked down the long corridor following the thumping music.

While he massaged his furrowed brow with his fingertips, Chi Oh, who was leading the way, stopped in front of a firmly closed door.

Do Guk stopped Chi Oh from grabbing the door handle and opened the door himself.

Through the swung-open door, he saw Seong Tae sitting alone.

As if a glass wasn’t enough, he was drinking straight from the bottle, his eyes rolling slowly from the intoxication.

“Wha……”

He seemed to realize what was happening only after Do Guk entered the room.

The color instantly drained from Seong Tae’s wide-eyed face.

The moment he stood up awkwardly, the bottle in his hand fell to the floor.

As the glass bottle hit the marble floor, fragments flew everywhere and the liquid inside splashed.

“……Br, Brother!”

Terrified, he scrambled around the table and threw himself flat on the floor.

Do Guk, looking down at Seong Tae who had his face pressed against the floor, took a slow step forward.

“Ho, how… did you… here……”

“Are you asking because you really thought I couldn’t find you?”

As the distance closed, the body that was lying flat curled up and winced backward.

However, there was a limit to how far he could go.

Seong Tae, backed into a corner with nowhere else to retreat, lifted his head while trembling.

Do Guk withdrew his gaze from the man looking up with bloodshot eyes and scanned the messy table.

It seemed he found it hard to endure with a sane mind after killing someone.

Seeing as he had recklessly poured down alcohol he couldn’t even handle well.

“Seong Tae.”

“……”

“You should not have caught Go Je Won’s eye. Then nothing would have happened.”

“……Br, Brother. I am sorry, I am sorry. Sob.”

Do Guk withdrew his gaze from the weeping man, tilted his head back, and let out a short sigh.