episode_0032

March 10th.

Current time 01:00

In front of Jayu Park, Seungcheon-gu.

There, two police officers were patrolling at night in a patrol car.

The two police officers walked around the area, then stopped the car at a quiet park and took a short break.

━━Patter

It was raining that night. Rain poured down from the sky and poured out the car window. The two police officers looked out the window and talked.

“What on earth are you doing in the middle of the night? ? Sehun.”

“That’s right. It’s raining and the weather is stuffy.”

Inspector Oh Tae-sik and Constable Min Se-hoon.

The two people belonged to the Life Safety Department of Seungcheon Police Station.

Normally by now the two would have had time to get off work, but that wasn’t the case today. They were urgently deployed and were patrolling because of a gunman who had been appearing in Seoul.

“No… What on earth is that guy doing? Why do you wear a mask and go around stabbing people?”

“He’s definitely a psycho.”

“You can run away like a loach when it comes to psychosis. I have to get dressed quickly so I can get off work… .”

A monster wearing a traditional mask.

This was the reason why Inspector Oh and Officer Min were patrolling at night. A masked assailant killed 12 people at a camping site in Cheonggyesan Mountain and fled. He even killed an additional police officer while running away. It was a serious problem that even a police officer was killed. If they are not caught quickly, the status of the police will fall.

“Just show it. I’ll just have to completely destroy the talva.”

“But. They said a police officer was killed. Aren’t we in danger too?”

“Hey Sehun! Did the murdered police officer use his powers properly? I guess he died because he was attacked while gently hitting him to avoid excessive force.”

“Is that so, senior… ?”

“Anyway, we are going the right way from the beginning.”

A police officer was murdered near the Cheonggyesan camping site. However, there was no way to confirm exactly how the police officer was actually killed. When the crime occurred, for some reason, there was a lot of noise in the surrounding CCTV. Even when I tried to watch the video again, I could only hear a crackling noise. At that time, there was a power outage at the campsite.

“Let’s move slowly.”

The two people, who were taking a break, drove the patrol car again and tried to leave near the park.

Inspector Oh turned on the engine and grabbed the steering wheel.

It was right then.

For some reason, the street lights around me started blinking. Not only the streetlights in the park but also the streetlights along the road flickered uneasily.

“Huh?”

Then, all the street lights around went off at once.

In an instant, the patrol car they were in was immersed in darkness.

“Is it a power outage?”

“The lights are off only where we are.”

It was a strange thing. The lights were clearly visible from buildings in the distance. The power outage occurred only around the patrol car.

“First, let’s report that a power outage occurred.”

Inspector Oh picked up his walkie-talkie and tried to contact the police station. However, only a crackling noise was heard from the radio, and the signal was not received properly.

The police officer next to me tried to contact him on his cell phone. However, the cell phone did not work properly.

[Your current location is out of service.]

Even when I made a phone call, I only heard an incomprehensible tone. Even though this was not a remote mountainous area, I heard an announcement that it was a service-free area. Lieutenant Oh’s cell phone also had no signal.

“What, what is it? My phone is broken too.”

“I can’t get a signal.”

It was a time when the two police officers were panicking.

A pure white mask appeared on the side of the park. It was a traditional Korean mask with prominent cheekbones.

The two police officers who were looking around soon discovered a masked assailant.

“Um, that!”

“Heo Eok.”

A masked man was standing suddenly at the entrance to the park.

I was staring at the patrol car with the police officers in it while my whole body was being hit by the pouring rain.

“Come down and catch me!”

“Yes!”

Inspector Oh and Officer Min quickly got out of the car, nervous. He was a gunman who killed 12 ordinary people and a police officer.

The two police officers patrolling were sufficiently armed.

Inspector Oh took out a revolver and Officer Min held a Taser gun. They had no intention of engaging in close combat with a three-stage baton. As I said before, I planned to suppress it properly from the beginning.

“Sehun! As soon as it moves, shoot it! Don’t expect me to treat you moderately!”

“Okay!”

Inspector Oh shouted while aiming his revolver at the masked assailant.

A harsh curse flowed from his excited mouth.

“Hold your hands high and kneel! You bastard!”

There was no reaction from the masked gunman. He neither kneeled nor raised his hands.

“Say it one more time! Get on your knees!”

“No response!”

“It won’t work! Just use the taser!”

Lieutenant Oh said to the police officer holding the Taser. The police officer swallowed his saliva and aimed his Taser gun at the masked assailant. It was the moment when the police officer’s finger was about to pull the trigger.

━━Wood click

An ominous sound was heard from the police officer.

Inspector Oh was looking at the police officer and was shocked. The police officer’s limbs were twisted as he tried to pull the trigger. The police officer’s entire body was crushed as if he had been crushed by an industrial press.

“Uh, uhuhuh? Ahhh!!”

Even though he didn’t touch anything, the police officer’s body was twisted like a twist. The police officer who was screaming in despair lost his life. Inspector Oh, who was watching the strange scene right next to him, was so shocked that he couldn’t even breathe properly.

“Ugh!”

My instincts were warning me that there was danger.

I couldn’t possibly understand what was happening. Inspector Oh decided to rely on instinct rather than reason. My instincts told me to shoot the dangerous thing in front of me.

The masked man took a step forward.

The gunman took out a sharp sashimi knife from inside his thick coat.

A gunman was walking toward Inspector Oh, holding a sashimi knife.

“Don’t come close!”

Lieutenant Oh fired his revolver at the gunman. The first shot was a blank bullet. The moment the gun was fired, a loud sound echoed around the area.

In fact, anyone who heard gunshots was bound to get scared. However, the gunman walked towards Inspector Oh without saying a word. The pure white mask buried in the darkness gradually got closer to Inspector Oh.

Inspector Oh fired his revolver at the gunman again.

From now on, it was not blank bullets but live bullets.

━━Tang

When the trigger was pulled, the Smith and Wesson revolver smoked. 38 caliber bullets were fired at an invisible speed. Although the shooting took place on a rainy night, Lieutenant Oh’s skills were decent.

puck! The bullet hit the mark. The masked assailant’s chest was pierced and blood splattered out. The gunman stumbled after being shot.

‘Is this the end?’

Inspector Oh thought he had killed the assailant. I felt relieved that I had survived. But the relief only lasted for a moment.

━━Slap, slap, slap

A stranger moved in the dark. I walked while stepping on puddles on the ground. Inspector Oh couldn’t believe what he was seeing. A person was shot but was moving normally. This was not a dream, it was reality.

━━Tang

Inspector Oh fired the revolver again with trembling hands. My hands were shaking and the bullet missed by one shot. The remaining bullets hit the gunman. The gunman’s body was pierced and blood splattered. The gunman did not stop walking.

All bullets are gone.

Inspector Oh was scared and tried to get into the car. The patrol car with the engine running was right behind. However, that was the moment when Inspector Oh grabbed the car door. A masked man ran towards Inspector Oh. The gunman closed the distance in the blink of an eye and raised his sashimi knife.

A pure white mask flickered on the police car’s windshield.

There was a gunman behind Inspector Oh.

━━Wheeik!

The sashimi knife flashed.

Inspector Oh’s breath stopped in the darkness.

*

“Jinwoo.”

I woke up to Sarah’s voice calling me.

This was Hyehwadang.

When I opened my eyes in the morning, Sarah was next to me looking at me.

“I have to go to school soon. Time is up.”

“Huh? Yes… .”

I got up from the sofa.

The TV was on in the living room. The anchor’s voice continued to flow from the TV channel covering the news. It was probably something Sarah played.

“Haam.”

A yawn escaped me.

I spoke to Sarah, who had been watching the news since morning.

“I heard the culprit was caught? There is a murderer wearing a mask and wielding a weapon.”

“Not caught yet. The police are still investigating, but I don’t think they’ve found any clues.”

From what I heard, it seemed like the culprit wasn’t caught today either.

Today was Wednesday. Two days have already passed since the murder occurred at the campsite. However, the assailant wearing the pure white mask had not yet been arrested. I couldn’t figure out how a single murderer was avoiding the police’s investigation net.

It was when I woke up and was eating a light breakfast.

Sarah told me some news.

“Jinwoo, a police officer was murdered in our neighborhood last night. It was on the news that police officers were found dead while patrolling near Jayu Park.”

“Jayu Park… ?”

I stopped eating for a moment. Jayu Park was a familiar name. Jayu Park in Seungcheon-gu was close to the school we attended. It was a 10-minute walk from school.

“It’s near the school.”

“Yes. So, a masked assailant came to our neighborhood. The news also said that there was a high probability that it was the same criminal. Because it seems like similar weapons were used in the crime.”

“What kind of weapon?”

“A sharp knife, and the other is an unidentified weapon.”

It seemed like two police officers had been killed by masked assailants.

The number of victims has now risen to 15.

Unidentified weapon.

I also heard this yesterday.

Among the victims killed by gunmen, there were a small number of people who died strange deaths. These people died because their bodies were crushed as if they had been pressed in a press. I was curious about what kind of weapon would be used to crush a person.

“It’s not like the gunman is carrying a press machine. One of the murdered police officers was crushed.”

“It’s definitely strange.”

Sarah quietly asked a question towards me, who nodded.

“Jinwoo, that’s what I’m saying. Don’t you want to see the murder scene at least once?”

“Of course I want to see you.”

If it was an ordinary murder case, it would have been up to the police to solve it on their own. However, with the mystery involved, I couldn’t stay still. We wanted to solve the mystery.

“Let’s go together after school.”

After school that day.

Sarah and I set off towards Jayu Park.