Chapter 10: The First Button Fastened Anew

Scattered documents in disarray, a desk stained with blood.

And above all, Myung Jinhan trembling, sprawled on the floor.

Park Daehyung glanced around the Interrogation Room, his face hard, then spoke.

“What on earth happened here!”

“Well…”

He had no regrets about his actions, but he couldn’t deny that he’d caused trouble.

How was he supposed to explain this?

In truth, the situation was self-explanatory.

As he hesitated over how to put it into words, Se-re-hen’s voice came from beside him.

“Say he self-harmed.”

“He self-harmed.”

Perhaps because the voice came while he was still thinking, Lee Jaehyun found himself saying what Se-re-hen instructed without realizing it.

Naturally, he regretted it immediately.

Self-harm? Who would believe that?

“Self-harmed?”

Park Daehyung raised an eyebrow, his tone incredulous.

No matter how you looked at it, this situation could only appear as if Lee Jaehyun had assaulted Myung Jinhan.

Claiming self-harm was preposterous, and besides, there were still 0070/ in the Interrogation Room.

Just rolling back the CCTV would expose the lie.

Lee Jaehyun glanced at Se-re-hen, but she only smiled back silently.

“Are you not aware of what a CCTV is?”

It was a possibility.

She looked like a young girl, but Se-re-hen’s true nature was that of a demon.

Maybe she really didn’t know much about the human world.

As Lee Jaehyun was having these thoughts, Park Daehyung, who had been observing him with suspicious eyes, spoke up.

“I don’t know what happened, but let’s start by checking the CCTV.”

With that, he turned and left the Interrogation Room.

Lee Jaehyun followed Park Daehyung toward the Security Room.

When they rolled back the CCTV footage, they couldn’t help but be bewildered.

“What is this?”

“Exactly.”

Park Daehyung and Lee Jaehyun stared with baffled expressions at the CCTV screens showing the inside of the Police Station.

Strangely enough, only the CCTV footage of the Interrogation Room where Myung Jinhan had been was filled with noise, making identification impossible.

Park Daehyung turned to Lee Jaehyun, but he looked just as stunned.

“Wow, do you see this? I have no idea what happened either.”

“You really don’t know?”

“Didn’t the cameras catch me going into the Interrogation Room right after I changed my clothes? This is unfair.”

“So, you expect me to believe that the moment you walked into the Interrogation Room, the CCTV just happened to break, purely by ‘coincidence’?”

Park Daehyung asked with a half-laugh, half-sigh, but there was no evidence anywhere that Lee Jaehyun had tampered with the CCTV.

That was only natural—because he hadn’t.

Lee Jaehyun looked at Se-re-hen, who was floating idly in the air.

“What did you do?”

He asked Se-re-hen, who had been smiling silently since earlier.

She was clearly the cause of this mess.

When Lee Jaehyun asked, Se-re-hen finally opened her mouth after having simply smiled until now.

“It’s a service.”

“Service?”

“Yes. I’ve never eaten a job this delicious before. Oh, talking about it makes me want more.”

Se-re-hen said this, then smacked her lips with satisfaction.

At her audacity, Lee Jaehyun let out a laugh.

“So, Se-re-hen erased it, huh.”

He didn’t know how, but for someone who could even turn back time, this was hardly a challenge.

At any rate, it wasn’t a bad outcome for him.

When Lee Jaehyun fell silent, Park Daehyung let out a long sigh, as if trying to read the meaning behind it.

“Hah…”

At the sound of his sigh, Lee Jaehyun straightened his posture, growing a little tense.

Even if he had no regrets, beating up Myung Jinhan was a risky thing to do.

It could lead not just to a demotion, but outright dismissal.

Park Daehyung stared at Lee Jaehyun for a long moment, deliberating, then clicked his tongue.

“Tsk, never mind. It’s late. Just go home for the night.”

“Huh?”

Lee Jaehyun blinked at Park Daehyung.

Even if the 007″/ was broken, even a child could see that the circumstances pointed to him assaulting Myung Jinhan.

He had been prepared for punishment—now, suddenly, he was being told to go home?

Lee Jaehyun was startled by Park Daehyung’s words, but soon, realizing what he meant, furrowed his brows and spoke.

“Sergeant Park.”

“Yeah?”

“Are you planning to take all the responsibility for this…?”

Park Daehyung might not have known Lee Jaehyun for long…

But Lee Jaehyun had been watching him for ten years.

He could read his intentions just by the look in his eyes.

Park Daehyung blinked at Lee Jaehyun’s words, looking back at him.

“How did you know?”

“It’s written all over your face.”

Lee Jaehyun chuckled as he answered.

There was no way not to know—his face made it obvious.

Besides, the situation alone made everything clear.

At Lee Jaehyun’s words, Park Daehyung cleared his throat and spoke up.

“You punk, you’re quick on the uptake, at least. The senior always takes responsibility for the junior’s screw-ups, that’s how it is.”

After saying that, he cleared his throat again, as if embarrassed by his own words.

Lee Jaehyun watched Park Daehyung and smiled at the corners of his lips.

“Yeah, that’s the kind of person he is.”

He always helped out when things went wrong, always covered for others’ mistakes.

The man who was demoted to the provinces for helping Lee Jaehyun while he was chasing the Hyunmin Group.

He hadn’t changed at all in the past ten years.

But this time, Lee Jaehyun would be different.

“Let’s go together.”

Lee Jaehyun spoke in a firm voice.

Park Daehyung frowned and turned to him.

“What?”

“I was there too—how could I just walk away alone?”

“Hey, that’s—”

“Even if you say so, I’m not going.”

In his past life, he was always left with a debt.

Park Daehyung even got a scar on his face trying to save Lee Jaehyun.

At least in this life, he didn’t want Park Daehyung to bear the burden alone.

Maybe he read the stubbornness on Lee Jaehyun’s face.

Park Daehyung let out a sigh.

“Fine… Let’s go report to the Team Leader.”

And so, the two of them headed together to see Team Leader Oh Cheol-jin.

***

Team Leader Oh Cheol-jin looked at Park Daehyung and Lee Jaehyun, standing in front of him, with an incredulous expression.

“…You expect me to believe this?”

Then, he repeated the same words as Park Daehyung.

At Oh Cheol-jin’s words, Park Daehyung, looking awkward, spoke up.

“Team Leader, please don’t be too hard on him. Thanks to the rookie, we caught the serial killer and found the evidence, didn’t we?”

“Even so, this is… ha, really…”

Oh Cheol-jin slumped back into his chair, looking dumbfounded.

He had already heard that Lee Jaehyun found the evidence.

They’d caught the criminal and found the evidence—perfect results for Lee Jaehyun, and by extension, for Oh Cheol-jin’s team.

Now, all that was left was to transfer Myung Jinhan to the appropriate Police Station—and then disaster struck.

Oh Cheol-jin, who had been laughing, straightened in his chair and looked at Lee Jaehyun.

“By the way, you said you were leaving work, so why did you go to the place where the evidence was?”

“As a police officer, I wanted to see the case through to the end.”

Lee Jaehyun replied in a firm tone to Oh Cheol-jin’s question.

Based on his record and appearance, he looked like a model for all the other officers.

He’d said he was going home, but then returned to the Capital Region Police Station to find the evidence.

If only he’d stopped there.

“But why didn’t you finish it there?”

Oh Cheol-jin muttered with a helpless laugh, and Lee Jaehyun simply kept silent.

Right now, no matter what he said, it wouldn’t help.

He would accept any punishment he received.

But—

“Fine, that’s enough. Both of you, just go home for now.”

“What?”

Oh Cheol-jin waved his hand dismissively at them.

Lee Jaehyun, bracing for punishment, stared at him in surprise.

“Why are you looking at me like that? You worked hard, just go home already.”

“No, it’s just…”

“What, you wanted to be punished?”

Seeing Lee Jaehyun close his mouth, Oh Cheol-jin smiled.

Assaulting a suspect inside the Police Station.

If Myung Jinhan made a fuss about this, not only Lee Jaehyun but also Park Daehyung and Oh Cheol-jin himself wouldn’t be able to escape responsibility.

Of course, it was something that deserved disciplinary action.

But Oh Cheol-jin couldn’t bring himself to reproach Lee Jaehyun.

Could he really scold a rookie who caught a serial killer in his first month, who couldn’t contain his boiling anger and landed a few blows on a criminal?

No, he couldn’t.

“Team Leader, what are you going to do?”

Worried, Park Daehyung furrowed his brows and asked, since he’d been ready to take the fall for this.

Oh Cheol-jin shrugged and answered.

“Well, the Chief will probably nag at us, but how bad can it be?”

After saying that, he burst out laughing.

Though Oh Cheol-jin spoke lightly, Lee Jaehyun knew better than anyone that this was not something to be taken lightly.

If word got out, people would say the police tried to cover up the case institutionally.

“Will you be all right?”

“Isn’t it a boss’s job to take responsibility for their subordinate’s mistakes? Besides, there’s no evidence, so what else can we do?”

Even as Lee Jaehyun asked, his face stiff, Oh Cheol-jin replied with the same words as Park Daehyung.

You could tell just who Park Daehyung had learned his ways from.

Even after all that, as Lee Jaehyun and Park Daehyung hesitated, Oh Cheol-jin waved his hand at them.

“What are you doing? You guys are way past quitting time! Get out, hurry up!”

“Team Leader, but…”

“So what, you want to go have a sit-down with the Chief? If you go, I’ll just get scolded alone! Go, you idiots!”

Though Oh Cheol-jin spoke with a grumble, he couldn’t hide his true intent.

If the Chief heard the story, he might come looking for them—he wanted to get them out first.

In the end, as Lee Jaehyun and Park Daehyung were all but pushed out of the Capital Region Police Station—

“Hey, rookie!”

From behind came Oh Cheol-jin’s voice.

Lee Jaehyun turned back, his eyes questioning.

Team Leader Oh Cheol-jin continued.

“Good work.”

“Huh?”

For a moment, Lee Jaehyun didn’t understand and asked again.

Good work, all of a sudden?

He doubted Oh Cheol-jin meant beating up Myung Jinhan.

As if answering the question on his mind, Oh Cheol-jin continued right away.

“The woman who was in the Travel Suitcase woke up just a little while ago.”

“You saved her.”

Not knowing how to respond, Lee Jaehyun simply closed his mouth.

Oh Cheol-jin cleared his throat, lowered his voice, and went on.

“And honestly, it felt satisfying.”

With that, he grinned.

For a moment, Lee Jaehyun stared blankly at Oh Cheol-jin, then soon smiled back.

“Now it’s really over! Go home and get some rest!”

“Yes, sir.”

Oh Cheol-jin waved him off.

Lee Jaehyun gave a salute, and this time, finally left the Capital Region Police Station for real.

Yeah.

There had been plenty of twists and turns…

But Jung Mi-rae, the third victim,

And Father, too,

“In the end, I saved them.”

He did it.

With his own hands, he caught Myung Jinhan.

He found the evidence, ensuring the criminal would be judged by the law.

He finally righted the regret that had tormented him for ten years.

“But…”

It still wasn’t enough.

He had only just fastened the very first button properly, which had been off from the start.

There was still so much to do, and from now on, he would leave no more regrets behind.

With a smile, Lee Jaehyun set off.