Chapter 55: Golden Time

Meanwhile, at the Hanseong District Police Station.

“Lieutenant Park.”

“Hm?”

Detective Park Daehyung, who had just turned on the computer, shifted his gaze to Detective Min Ji-hye, who was speaking to him.

On the surface, Min Ji-hye might seem a bit stiff.

But inside, she was always warm, always the first to look after her team members, so her relationship with Park Daehyung wasn’t bad at all.

After all, Park Daehyung had worked alongside Min Ji-hye for several years, so he could usually read her moods and sense the situation.

Yet, the expression Min Ji-hye wore now was one of deep concern.

Park Daehyung looked at Min Ji-hye with a puzzled face.

“What’s got you so preoccupied that you look like that?”

“It’s just… Jaehyun has seemed really distracted lately.”

“Our Rookie?”

When Min Ji-hye brought up Lee Jaehyun, Park Daehyung tilted his head.

Indeed, Lee Jaehyun had seemed distracted recently.

But did Min Ji-hye really care about it this much?

The only thing Park Daehyung had seen was Lee Jaehyun obsessing over the cat case.

And since he wasn’t there after Jaehyun’s shift ended—when Min Ji-hye and Kim Junho arrived—he had no idea that Jaehyun kept reviewing the CCTV footage without rest.

So it wasn’t strange for him to feel curious.

Min Ji-hye nodded slightly and continued speaking as Park Daehyung looked at her questioningly.

“Right. I mean, it’s probably nothing, but… Ever since that Myeong Jinhan case, he seems off…”

“You still don’t know our Rookie.”

“…?”

“It’s not Myeong Jinhan that’s bothering him. I think it’s Junho.”

From what Park Daehyung had seen, Lee Jaehyun wasn’t the kind of person to suffer a Mental Shock just because Myeong Jinhan nagged him to pay for the broken door.

He was stronger, mentally, than any other patrol officer Park Daehyung had ever seen, and his actions matched that strength. That was Lee Jaehyun.

No, it wasn’t Myeong Jinhan—it must be Kim Junho.

With that guess, Min Ji-hye quietly watched Park Daehyung.

“Because of Posoon?”

“Yeah. As soon as he heard about Posoon, he went straight to the cat-related report. Remember when you and the Rookie were out on patrol over the weekend? He said something similar happened again.”

“Right. Someone seems to be feeding the cats something like Sleeping Pills. But I wonder if that’s really the only reason he’s like this.”

Min Ji-hye nodded, running her hand through her hair while her shoulder twitched slightly.

She had heard rumors that someone was going around giving Sleeping Pills to cats.

But would that really be enough to make Lee Jaehyun this distracted?

Sure, maybe he just really liked cats…

But last time she saw him, Lee Jaehyun honestly looked like he might collapse at any moment.

Park Daehyung shook his head slightly, as if agreeing that it couldn’t be just the cats.

“He’s worrying way too much for it to be just that. That’s why I think he’s deliberately trying to distract himself because of Junho.”

“So he was closer to Junho than I thought.”

“Yeah, seems like it. And, well… I think he’s also worried that something even more serious might happen. He said he’s got a bad feeling.”

At the mention that Jaehyun said he had a bad feeling, Min Ji-hye’s brow instantly furrowed.

Honestly, Park Daehyung had been feeling a strange sense of unease lately as well.

Not just because Jaehyun seemed deeply preoccupied these last few days.

It was a fact—someone out there was feeding cats Sleeping Pills…

“A normal person wouldn’t do that sort of thing.”

There was no way anyone would feel good about it.

There was definitely a tense, uneasy air, and Min Ji-hye responded to Park Daehyung’s words a little faster than usual.

“A bad feeling? And if it’s something even worse than that…”

“Ugh, I’m afraid to say anything and jinx it. Just… that’s how it is. We should be on our guard too. Let’s do a patrol around the playground later.”

Park Daehyung spoke in a calm voice.

There was a bit of unease, and his gut told him something was off.

Still, Park Daehyung wasn’t the kind of person to show his anxiety to Min Ji-hye.

No need to worry his colleagues unnecessarily.

Jaehyun was a Rookie, and sometimes he might appear unstable, but Park Daehyung felt he needed to remain the solid one.

‘Even the Rookie, who’s usually so reliable, looks so anxious this time…’

Park Daehyung was mulling over that thought when Oh Cheol-jin, the team leader, appeared.

He entered the office and immediately spoke.

“Child Missing Case just came in. Eleven-year-old boy, should have been home by now, but hasn’t returned. Ready to head out?”

Child Missing Cases happened from time to time.

Well, it’d be bad if they happened often, of course.

To be exact, most cases weren’t true Child Missing Cases but ‘runaways’ or brief disappearances.

Usually, after a report came in, the case would be resolved in as little as thirty minutes, sometimes an hour or two at most.

Even so, they always patrolled, and when they found the child, they did their best to reassure the parents.

Yeah, definitely… It was something that happened from time to time.

But.

Why…

Suddenly, a wave of anxiety swept over him.

In that moment, Lee Jaehyun’s words flashed through his mind.

“It could be Premeditation Practice,” Jaehyun had said.

As that thought struck, Park Daehyung’s expression hardened.

Min Ji-hye, sensing his change, called to him in a startled voice.

“Lieutenant…”

“Ji-hye.”

“Yes?”

Park Daehyung grimaced for a moment, then continued.

And at his next words, Min Ji-hye’s face changed quickly too.

“A Child Kidnapping Case—what’s the Golden Time again?”

“What? Lieutenant, you don’t mean…”

Min Ji-hye hesitated, eyes wide.

Even Oh Cheol-jin, on his way to his desk, paused to look at Park Daehyung.

There were too many variables to state the Golden Time with certainty.

It could just be a missing child.

Even if it was kidnapping, sometimes the child simply went along with the Kidnapper.

Usually, kidnappings were committed by someone the child knew, and sometimes even incidents within the family could be called ‘kidnapping.’

There were many possible cases.

But if he assumed the absolute worst…

“Three hours. If it goes over twelve hours, the probability of not finding the child exceeds fifty percent.”

You had to find the child within that window for them to be safe.

***

The first thing he saw upon opening his eyes was the form of a young girl.

With horns on her head—anyone would say she was exceptionally pretty.

Lee Jaehyun took a deep breath and sat up quickly.

“Oh, you’re finally awake. How are you feeling?”

“What happened to the Grandmother?”

“She left. She came back to make sure you were asleep, then left right away.”

“Damn it!”

Lee Jaehyun ran a hand through his hair in frustration.

How foolish.

He’d gotten too careless, thinking he knew the future.

In the Choi Daehyun kidnapping-murder case, the culprit was Park Yech’an. There was a chance of an accomplice, but not a high one.

Of course, the case had ended with Park Yech’an acting alone.

Stupidly, Lee Jaehyun hadn’t considered that what was revealed in the future might not be the whole truth.

He clenched his fist and struck his own thigh.

“Oh my, if you act like that as soon as you wake up, you’ll just hurt yourself, Client.”

Se-re-hen looked at him in disbelief.

After confirming the floating figure in front of him, Lee Jaehyun quickly gathered his senses.

This was seriously messed up.

He was disgusted with himself.

He had only believed what looked obvious, convinced that what he knew was the truth.

Because of that, his perspective had narrowed.

If it were any other day, he would have doubted many things.

But he’d let his guard down and even drank the ginger tea the Grandmother offered.

No one would ever suspect the Grandmother.

Naturally, it would be easy for her to approach Choi Daehyun.

As long as she could get him to drink something with a Sleeping Pill in it, kidnapping him wouldn’t be so hard.

He could only blame himself for his stupidity, but there was no time to waste on self-recrimination.

He had to grasp the situation—if he couldn’t stop the kidnapping, then at the very least, he had to try to prevent the child’s death.

“First, I need to check the time. How long was I out?”

“Um… you should have slept for about four hours, but I woke you up after just one. I was worried you’d have facial paralysis.”

An hour.

That was a relief.

If he’d been out for several hours straight, no matter how hard he tried, he wouldn’t know what had happened to the child.

“The situation has changed.”

Originally, the incident was supposed to happen tomorrow, not today.

But now, since he’d been made to drink a beverage with Sleeping Pills today, it was clear—the plan was to do it today.

He didn’t need to think deeply about why the situation changed.

Lee Jaehyun.

As they said, he was the “suspicious young man who’s been showing up often lately,” and he’d been on high alert, constantly appearing at the scene.

The Grandmother had probably always been nearby, and perhaps, growing anxious, decided to end things quickly.

“There could be side effects on your mind, so I couldn’t completely remove the drug’s effects directly. You might feel fatigue, as if you exercised intensely all of a sudden, so be careful. Thankfully, there was nothing else but the Sleeping Pill.”

Lee Jaehyun nodded absently.

He wasn’t particularly tired.

If anything, he felt refreshed, like he’d had a deep sleep.

However… just as Se-re-hen said, his muscles ached as if he’d done some intense exercise.

But it wasn’t so bad that he couldn’t move.

Even if it had hurt that much, he would still have to move.

What should he do first?

There was no need to think.

Lee Jaehyun immediately grabbed his Smartphone and called Park Daehyung.

The ringing went on for a long time, but Park Daehyung didn’t answer.

Anxiety crept up on him.

He called again.

He had to wait quite a while before Park Daehyung finally answered.

—Hey, Rookie.

“Lieutenant Park, I’m right now—”

—Where are you?

Before Lee Jaehyun could even finish, Park Daehyung cut him off with a question.

From his tone, Lee Jaehyun immediately realized something had happened.

“I’m in the alley by the Bamtol Village apartment complex. What’s going on?”

—A Child Missing Case just came in. Name: Choi Daehyun, age eleven. Something’s off about this.

At Park Daehyung’s words, Lee Jaehyun grit his teeth.

Damn it, the child was in danger.

Struggling to steady his rough breathing, Lee Jaehyun spoke.

“I have something to report as well.”

—Go on.

“I just woke up after drinking something with Sleeping Pills in it.”

Lee Jaehyun threw it out there.

That alone would be enough for Park Daehyung to grasp the situation.

As expected.

—Wait for me, I’ll be there right away.

The tone of Park Daehyung’s voice was chillingly calm.