Chapter 9 : Seoul Sea Of Fire (2)

Zzzip.

The zipper of the body bag opened, and the corpse in police uniform was revealed, releasing a foul odor.

Detective Lee frowned as he looked inside, and a curse slipped from his mouth.

“Do you recognize them, Detective?”

“Are you messing with me?”

There was barely a face left—how could he recognize them?

Both had been shot in the back of the head; the bullets had exited through their faces.

A bullet is designed to tear through the inside of a body, and with that tearing action pushing outward, the exit wound is always bigger than the entrance.

The skull was pierced, and the bullets had circled the inside of the brain before exiting, with the exit wounds looking like red flesh blossoming outward, like a flower blooming…

Ugh, damn it—ugh, ugh.

Detective Lee decided to erase the image from his mind.

“Well, they are people I know.”

He picked up the blood-stained name tags, and it was impossible not to recognize the names.

They were the same people he had worked with.

How could he not know them?

But the problem was that these guys had taken the day off today, and this patrol car had been taken out for repairs.

Why were these guys wearing police uniforms, found with their heads blown off in the patrol car?

“Damn it, these assholes… I told them to take it easy with that stuff.”

They were the type to take any money, clean or dirty, without hesitation.

He had warned them repeatedly, yet one of them had been caught last time for taking money from gangsters and disciplined by their superior.

It was going to be the same thing again.

They had most likely gone out to collect dirty money, and something had gone wrong.

Witnesses testified that they had been trying to take a woman with them, which led to this mess.

Had they been given a mission to kidnap a gangster’s wife or something?

Even though the chance of getting shot in Korea is low, those who deliberately provoke trouble like that are bound to end up dead.

Detective Lee was boiling with rage, wondering which reckless bastard had killed the cops, and even more so at the thought that this entire mess was because these idiots couldn’t do their jobs properly.

“Secure the CCTV footage, and contact all the cars parked nearby to ask for their cooperation.”

“Yes, sir.”

Something didn’t feel right.

A report came in suddenly, saying that men were collapsing and bleeding on the street a block behind.

But when they arrived, the minivan that had crashed and the bodies were all gone.

All that was left were faint traces of blood, as if someone had given up trying to wipe it away.

It clearly seemed like a gang fight, but it was way too violent for that, and yet it was eerily quiet for a gang dispute.

From the looks of things, one side didn’t seem to care about shooting or making noise, while the other side was clearly trying to cover things up.

Either way, shooting a cop right in the middle of an intersection was something Detective Lee had never seen in his career.

“Ah, Detective Lee. And we found this in the patrol car.”

“Is it the blue powder again?”

Detective Lee took the bag of blue powder.

It was a drug from Hong Kong that had gained some popularity, but after the Chinese authorities blockaded Hong Kong, its export routes had been completely cut off.

Yet somehow, it was still occasionally turning up in Korea.

It wasn’t yet being sold in bulk, but perhaps it was still in the promotional phase?

The National Forensic Service still hadn’t figured out much about it, likely because they hadn’t secured enough of the substance to analyze.

Apparently, it had a molecular structure unlike any other drug known to exist.

Detective Lee had a bad feeling about it, thinking it was a new addition to the narcotics team’s repertoire.

“I’m heading back from the scene now, rookie. The dead guys are ours, and we found blue powder in the car—”

[Detective Lee! There’s an emergency! A shootout on the Seobu Expressway, support requests coming in, it’s a mess!]

“What?”

Detective Lee felt a chill run down his spine.

A shootout? In the middle of the road?

Just a moment ago, they were fighting silently and elegantly with silencers, and now this?

[Oh, never mind! It was a tanker explosion accident!]

“How the hell do you mistake an explosion for a shootout?”

[Maybe there was a series of explosions?]

“Alright, alright. Tell them I’m heading over to help with the road control. I’ll be there soon.”

[Got it… Wait! Detective Lee, they’re asking you to go to the Gwangjin District for support!]

“What the hell?!”

Detective Lee snapped, hanging up the phone in frustration.

When he checked again, it was true.

Without any explanation, a vague text came through saying that personnel were being redirected to Gwangjin District.

Why him? Why specifically him?

“Damn it. They’ll just use me for a punishment.”

He clicked his tongue and stepped on the accelerator.

He had to see what had happened on the Seobu Expressway with his own eyes.

At the Dongyang Department Store intersection, a white cargo van sped off, followed by a black sedan carrying Mr. Park. Mr. Park checked the license plate of the car ahead against the one in the picture sent by his staff, then smirked.

“Those bastards, U and Jeong—what were they up to behind my back? Trying to mess with the rookie again, huh? Oh, these idiots. This is ridiculous.”

Team 1 had been acting on their own without telling the higher-ups.

He thought they might be going after someone from the Oriental group, but now it was clear they were just covering up a mess they’d made.

The big operation was nothing more than trying to catch a rookie from Team 1 who had gone rogue, using Jeong’s name to get some high-tech equipment.

It was so absurd that all he could do was laugh.

“Yeah? Why are you calling?”

[Where are you right now, Director?]

“Why do you ask? Are you guys cleaning up the mess you made? What? Did you seriously make a huge mess without me knowing?”

[Director, just give us Min Cheol-woo’s location and step back.]

“Yoo, are you out of your mind? Because the boss has been taking care of everything for you, you think you can act like you’re above everyone else now? You son of a bitch. You didn’t even know Min Cheol-woo’s location until we found it, and now you want me to step back? Is that how it works? I’m the one cleaning up the mess that your team made. Is that how it’s supposed to be?”

[….]

Yoo, that son of a bitch—no response.

She had suddenly taken the position of team leader and was now in charge of Team 1.

That alone wasn’t the problem, but from the first day, she started firing the team leaders one by one, filling Team 1 with complete thugs.

After nearly two years of purging, Team 1 was completely made up of new faces, except for Jeong and his few lackeys.

This had all been possible with the tacit approval of President Kim.

What was even worse was that President Kim gave Team 1 full autonomy.

So, even if the executives gave orders to Team 1, if Yoo didn’t want to follow them, she could easily ignore them.

The hierarchy existed, but it meant nothing.

Thanks to this, Yoo and Team 1’s power grew, and now they were operating completely independently, not even sharing information with other teams, like a completely different company.

‘This is supposed to be a subsidiary of a big corporation? Ugh.’

The downfall of the company could be traced back to President Kim’s paranoia.

Now, Kim Myung Security was filled with informants and undercover agents from the police, the National Intelligence Service, and even the Oriental group.

So, Team 1 had been formed with loyal agents to handle sensitive and dirty jobs within Korea.

As such, Team 1 was especially secretive, and its atmosphere was grim.

Meanwhile, Team 2, which employed capable operatives and information gatherers, was running overseas branches and making good money, creating a cheerful atmosphere.

On the other hand, Team 1 was known for abducting families or turning people into debt slaves whenever someone even mentioned resigning.

What the hell—this isn’t even like the thuggish behavior of the past.

How are they even running a PMC like this?

[Jeong is handling it. We don’t need Team 2’s help.]

“Really? You think he can handle someone who took machine guns and hundreds of kilograms of explosives? Yeah, I’m sure he’s fine.”

[Director, do you realize what you’ve done?]

“Yoo, Director. Try saying that again. What did you just say?”

[Sigh. Director, you’re acting without any judgment. You put a tracking device on equipment meant for Team 1? I turned a blind eye to that, because it helped us find Min Cheol-woo. But why did you start talking about him on the public frequency? You’ve gone and spread rumors everywhere.]

“What? Is it that embarrassing that you got backstabbed by your rookie? Team 1 is the elite team, but when word spread to Teams 2 and 3, your face got red, huh?”

[Wow… You really don’t understand the situation, do you? Because of you, everyone knows about the loose cannon now. Do you not realize that your team is getting microphones shoved in their faces from every direction? You should be making money from Iraq and Afghanistan, like you always do, but why are you airing your internal problems for the enemies to see? What if someone else snatches Min Cheol-woo now?]

Yoo’s words hit like a bomb.

Park, the director, was speechless.

Was this rebellion? This was absurd.

The frustrating part was that, no matter how reckless Yoo acted, she had the backing of President Kim, so even the executives couldn’t get rid of her.

[What could have been quietly handled is now a mess. Now, the Oriental headquarters, the National Intelligence Service, and the prosecution are going to get involved. I was trying to manage this on my own, but now it looks like you’re the one who has to handle it. I’m out of it. You started this, so clean it up.]

“Hey, you need to speak properly. Did I start this? Your cheap ass and your stingy ways turning an innocent kid into a debt slave—that’s what caused this mess! If you just beat them with a stick, do you think they’ll want to be loyal to you? Fine. I’ll handle it. You probably already made that rookie fall into debt, didn’t you? I’ll pay that off for him. Do you think he won’t fall for that?”

[If you bring him in like that, fine. But you should know this: Min Cheol-woo will not be handed over to Team 2. It’s President Kim’s decision. You either send him back to Team 1 or get rid of him. Those are your only two choices.]

What the hell was so special about Min Cheol-woo that they were going to such lengths to protect him?

Park couldn’t understand it at all.

There was no reason to hide him even from other teams in the company, let alone from the outside world.

Could he be some kind of secret weapon for President Kim’s ambitions?

To Park, it seemed like everyone, including President Kim and Team 1, had lost their minds.

Min Cheol-woo, who was recruited with the help of his shady associates, the police chief, and even drug addicts, had always seemed like a bad idea from the start.

But now, this had crossed the line.

[Well… Good luck, Director. Be careful with that dog you’re dealing with.]

“I’ve already been bitten. They shot four of our guys. Just because there’s no one around in the underground parking lot, they think it’s a free-for-all. Crazy bastard.”

[That dog won’t only bite when no one’s around.]

What the hell does that mean? Park was about to ask, but then…

The truck in front opened its window and, bam bam bam, started shooting at the sedan driving next to it.

“?!”

Then, a grenade flew through the shattered window.

“Shit, what the hell is this?”