“Detective Oh-young Lim? The one with 16 years of experience…?”
Detective Oh-young Lim was a YouTuber and violent crimes detective considered a legend among enthusiasts.
To be honest, before I became a detective, I admired Sherlock Holmes, but back then, I liked Detective Lim more.
Moreover, he was the reason I aimed to become a detective.
He had outstanding reasoning speed, but I was also greatly inspired by his firm philosophy.
To think that the person I admired is right in front of me…
I wanted to get an autograph, but this was a public place.
“It’s a pleasure to work with you.”
“Ah… the pleasure is all mine.”
As we shook hands, I felt like my heart was about to explode.
I never thought I’d meet Detective Lim in a place like this…
Shaking hands with a role model is probably a once-in-a-lifetime event.
So, this hand I shook… I must never wash it.
“The detective in charge of this case was usually seven people… I hope Detective Lim can be of great help in the future.”
The scale of the case must be quite something.
The dedicated detectives have increased to eight.
“Detective Lim… can I ask you to stay at Detective Kim’s police station?”
“Really!?”
I was so surprised that I stood up from my seat, making me feel self-conscious.
After smoothing out my jacket and nodding calmly, I saw Chief Lim Young-beom getting up.
“Then, you don’t need to put in any more effort into the investigation, just finish it.”
…
[Rattle… Rattle…]
“Is this it?”
As the car neared the police station, I felt nervous.
My role model, Detective Lim, is sitting in the back seat right now…!
The thought of him visiting the police station and investigating together brightened my future.
Seven years as a detective.
It seemed like I was finally getting the reward for my seven years of service.
[Screech-]
As the car stopped, I saw Detective Lim getting out and trying to grab his bag from the trunk.
“Ah… I’ll carry the bag!”
“If you insist, I’d be grateful…”
As I carried the bag and walked towards the front door of the police station, I saw Detective Lim looking around at the windows for a moment.
[Click-]
After briefly entering the door and looking around the bustling police station, I noticed Detective Lim’s expression suddenly turning unpleasant.
“Is there… anything bothering you?”
“Oh, it’s nothing, it’s just that the city noise is very audible for an indoor space.”
Ah.
It finally happened.
To think that even my role model would be bothered by it…
I can tolerate it, but this is unforgivable.
I should make an inquiry about it later.
“Is… this Detective Kim’s desk?”
Looking at the desk, there were leftover jokbal (pig’s trotters) and haphazardly arranged documents everywhere.
It was my desk… but showing this to Detective Lim was a bit embarrassing.
“Ah! I’ll clean it up a bit, haha…”
“Well, it’s alright. We don’t have time.”
As he said, we didn’t have much time, so I roughly cleaned up the jokbal and moved it aside.
“Come to think of it, what’s in that bag?”
As Deok-young, who had been quiet all along, spoke up, Detective Lim briefly placed the bag on the desk.
“Actually, I was a bit interested in this case…”
“So I did some research related to it.”
Inside the bag were various documents and photos that seemed quite thick.
To do this much research in such a short period…
Above all, doing research before the investigation is quite impressive.
He deserves to be called the top detective.
“I couldn’t investigate some parts due to time constraints, so could I use the computer for a moment?”
“Ah… if you wish.”
…
“The cumulative number of missing person reports, including acquaintances and family, far exceeds 400…”
“Among them, 162 cases where the missing person stated that they went missing on their own.”
This was as investigated.
Certainly, even after hearing it again, it was a peculiar case that Detective Lim would be interested in.
“Ironically, most of those who made that statement went missing one day later.”
“Then… it seems like they participated in that game again…”
Detective Lim seemed quite perplexed as well.
Indeed, their words were too absurd and unrealistic.
Unrealistic meant that they were not credible.
Evidence was not properly collected, so we were often experiencing setbacks…
“Then, let’s narrow down the scope first.”
“Scope?”
I had judged that the very idea of a group of this size was absurd.
Could Detective Lim believe those words…?
“If you look at the CCTV records of the missing people’s neighborhoods…”
“You can see that they often disappear for some reason in blind spots where there are no CCTVs, right?”
“Then, we can explain this process by saying that they took a car to participate in the game again, right?”
Certainly, his words had credibility.
But that credibility was established on the assumption that their words were true.
“Are you believing the statements of those missing people?”
“A large-scale kidnapping organization that turns men into women and holds votes… frankly, it doesn’t make sense.”
“Well, we’re narrowing down the possibilities little by little like this.”
It was a case that was already scheduled to be put on hold anyway…
But still, this method could be seen as doing our best in its own way.
There were one or two things I wanted to protest, but at least for today, I decided to trust my role model’s words.
“Excuse me… but even so…”
Deok-young tried to continue speaking, but after giving him a look, he seemed to back down a bit.
“It seems likely that they also took a boat… let’s check all the ships that moved on March 18th and 19th as well.”
I wondered if it was a pointless act, but I couldn’t touch it due to my respect for him as a role model and my current seniority.
Just as my head was getting confused and I was about to put jokbal in my mouth again.
[Click-]
“We just received a similar missing person report!”
“…Tell me the location over the radio later.”
It was sudden, but it could be an important clue for us now.
The police officers at the police station also began to pack their equipment busily.
Fortunately, since we had just gone out, we didn’t need to pack much equipment.
“Then… shall we go first?”
“Yes, let’s do that.”
[Click-]
The surroundings were quite dark by the time we came back.
I guess it’s almost evening.
“Detective Lim, please sit in the front seat. Deok-young, sit in the back seat just this once.”
“Hey…”
A sigh escaped from Deok-young, but since the situation was what it was, he started to sit in the back seat without saying much.
I quickly got in the car, turned on the ignition, and the car started again.
…
[Click-]
Fortunately, the distance was quite close, so we were able to arrive within 10 minutes.
The location seemed to be an abandoned factory in the mountains.
The rest was to find clues around this area until the police collected evidence.
The surroundings were so dark that it was hard to see even with a flashlight.
It looked like something out of a horror game.
“There’s another building over there?”
As Deok-young pointed his finger, there was a building similar in shape to an old warehouse.
But that place was also part of the investigation.
“Wait a moment.”
Until the evidence was collected, the limit was to look around this building.
But that didn’t mean it was difficult to find clues.
Rather, clues often come from the paths around this area.
“Let’s split up and look around for a moment! Don’t miss a single piece of trash~”
As if they had been prepared, the surrounding detectives began to disperse without me having to say much.
I was about to look around the road, but Deok-young kept not dispersing.
“If you’re going to be efficient, you should split up and look around too.”
“…”
For some reason, he was silent.
His expression seemed a bit pale.
His gaze was constantly directed towards the warehouse.
“I have something to check inside the warehouse for a moment!”
[Thump. Thump.]
“Hey! Don’t act alone!”
As Deok-young suddenly ran towards the warehouse, I realized that the situation was unusual.
[Thump! Thump!]
“Detective Kim!? Where are you going?”
“I have something to bring back!”
If possible, I wanted to get help from Detective Lim as well…
But since I had been showing a disgraceful appearance since earlier, I didn’t want to show another one.
Deok-young’s unilateral action was clearly my responsibility, so it was a problem I had to solve myself.
I kept chasing after Deok-young, but for some reason, I couldn’t catch up.
I should be faster at running…
Deok-young seemed desperate, like a wolf chasing sheep.
Before I knew it, Deok-young entered the building, and I barely followed him inside.
I never thought he would come all the way inside the building…
I thought it was a warehouse, but when I came inside, the structure seemed more complicated than I thought.
If you went forward, there was a wall, and if you went to the side, there was a wall there too.
It felt like a maze.
“Haa…”
How am I supposed to find Deok-young in a place like this?
Now it was no longer a personal problem.
[“One detective assistant acted unilaterally.”]
[“Currently entered the warehouse, please find him.”]
[“Confirmed.”]
I showed a disgraceful appearance again this time, but I couldn’t help it.
To prevent further damage, this much is…
Still, I thought that I would be able to find him easily soon since I had reported it.
But.
“Aaaaaah!?!?”
As I heard Deok-young’s scream from afar, I sensed that it was a dangerous situation.
Could there be someone inside the warehouse?
What if that person is involved in this case?
It was quite a dangerous situation.
“Deok-young!? Where are you!”
[Thump! Thump!]
I kept running, but I couldn’t get my bearings in the maze-like structure.
[Thump. Thump.]
Then, as I heard the sound of someone running with light from behind, I turned my head and saw Detective Lim.
“That scream just now…”
“It’s Deok-young. Let’s find him quickly!”
Fortunately, the front here was a corridor with a straightforward structure.
No matter how complicated the structure is, the end will be visible due to the size limit of the building at this pace.
As expected, a wide space came into view before long.
And in that place…
“Wh- Who…?”
“Huh? What’s wrong… Detective Kim…?”
In that place, there was a beautiful woman standing, not Lee Deok-young.
