I’m Obsessed With the Suspect - Chapter 37
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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37
“Bokseon. Do you happen to like roleplaying?”
“…What?”
Cheong-a frowned at the nonsense that followed as naturally as breathing.
“Last night you grabbed onto me asking me to stay with you.”
“What kind of crazy talk is… Wait. Really?”
“Yeah. You grabbed my arm like this and made it so I couldn’t move, right?”
“…”
Cheong-a was left speechless by Wujin’s imitation of the movement.
An arrest technique that involved bending the elbow inward and securing the shoulder.
It was one of the methods Cheong-a used most often during arrests, being somewhat lacking in strength compared to other detectives.
Though Cheong-a couldn’t recall it, it was also the technique she had used on Min Yoo-shin at Boksan University Hospital before.
“And then what did you say. Emergency arrest? Something about preventing escape or whatever.”
At Wujin’s continued words, Cheong-a’s face instantly turned pale.
“Wow, but your voice tone and movements were so precise it gave me chills. Ahaha.”
Wujin rolled his shoulders and brought his hand to his shirt buttons.
“Want to see? I probably have bruises here.”
Waaah!
No? I don’t want to see.
“I’m sorry!”
Cheong-a squeezed her eyes shut and screamed while waving her hands.
“Ah, you don’t need to be sorry. I like that kind of thing too.”
“…What?”
“They call this kind of thing roleplaying, right. It was my first time trying it, but it was kind of thrilling.”
Cheong-a chewed on her lips.
Identity exposed vs. becoming someone who likes roleplaying.
Neither was a choice she wanted to make.
“I… I’m really busy so I’ll get going now.”
Cheong-a chose ‘quickly disappearing from Wujin’s sight.’
“Alright. If you’re busy, let’s head out quickly. Where should I drop you off?”
“No! It’s okay!”
Cheong-a put on her jumper and zipped it up while waving her hands dismissively.
“I have another appointment. I’ll just take the bus from here and go on my own.”
“Where to? I’ll give you a ride.”
“It’s f-far… I’m going to Seoul. I have to go to Seoul. I appreciate the thought.”
Wujin smoothly pulled Cheong-a’s shoulder into a natural arm-around-shoulder and grinned.
“What do you know. We’re on the same wavelength. I also have business in Seoul today. Perfect timing.”
There was no way out anymore.
***
Getting into Wujin’s car, Cheong-a was finally able to borrow a charging cable and start charging her phone.
A moment later, as soon as the power came on.
Blink.
Blink.
Silent popup notifications began flooding the phone screen.
“…?”
92 missed calls.
127 messages.
All from Park Inkyu.
Yushin glanced at Cheong-a’s pale face and phone screen and chuckled.
“Isn’t your phone ringing?”
“No!”
Cheong-a hurriedly hugged her phone to hide Inkyu’s name from view.
“As soon as you turned on your phone, the screen was completely filled with something.”
“A friend. It’s a friend. Asking when I’ll arrive…”
“Ah. Give them a call.”
“It’s okay. Later. I’ll do it later.”
Cheong-a pretended to look out the window while secretly unlocking her phone to compose a message.
「I’m alive」
Out of hundreds of contacts, she could only send a reply of five short characters.
“You said to drop you off near a bookstore in Gwanghwamun, right?”
“Yes.”
“You must be tired, so get some sleep. I’ll wake you when we arrive.”
“No. Uh. Um. Thank you.”
Last night. Cheong-a had asked Park Inkyu to submit a vacation request form for her.
If she was using precious vacation time, it was only natural to spend that time in blissful rest.
However, because she had told Wujin she was going to Seoul, catching up on sleep would have to be postponed a bit.
‘Since it’s come to this, let me go see Yeonhui. Right, when else would I make time if not now.’
Naturally, her destination was decided to be headquarters.
Of course, she couldn’t tell Wujin that honestly, so she had roughly mentioned the Gwanghwamun area where headquarters was located.
The roads during the ambiguous morning hours had no traffic.
Along the quiet roads, Yushin’s car smoothly headed toward Gwanghwamun.
***
“…”
After parting with Wujin near Gwanghwamun, Cheong-a walked toward the Cultural Center.
This was because she had received a message from Yeonhui telling her absolutely not to come to headquarters.
Following Yeonhui’s instructions, she hid behind a secluded pillar on the second basement floor of the Cultural Center near headquarters and spent quite some time there.
And after a while, a familiar car slowly approached.
After quickly looking around once to confirm no one was there, Cheong-a rapidly opened the passenger door and got in the car.
“What is this? Are we filming a spy movie?”
“Right?”
Yeonhui smiled bitterly.
“Sis, I think I’m being watched too.”
“Huh?”
Cheong-a’s hands froze while fastening her seatbelt. Her mind, still hazy from lingering alcohol, suddenly snapped back to alertness.
“I think it’s been since the investigation into your wiretapping started. When I just step away and come back, the angles of my keyboard and mouse are slightly different. Even the office CCTV. That seems to have been subtly changed to face my desk direction too.”
Yeonhui had a habit of obsessively organizing her work environment.
The subtle changes she noticed were definitely signs that couldn’t be ignored.
“Is the wiretapping the problem, or is meeting me the problem?”
Yeonhui shrugged her shoulders,
“Since I don’t know, that’s why I suggested meeting outside.”
Cheong-a nodded.
“So there is something inside headquarters.”
“Seems like it.”
“Haa… This doesn’t look good.”
As Cheong-a let out a deep sigh, Yeonhui asked her question.
“Sis. Did you bring the wiretapping device?”
“That… I couldn’t find it. I really cried every day… I searched so hard for it. It was a failure. Sorry.”
Her mumbling voice was small.
Her eyes were squeezed shut as if recalling memories of seeing something terrible.
Yeonhui reached out and patted Cheong-a’s back a few times.
“I thought so. Since you said it was inside the vitamin pills. The size is very small… maybe it could be specially made equipment designed not to be discovered. Wow, but if that’s the case, the investment cost would be really enormous?”
Yeonhui, who had been tapping the steering wheel with her finger, let out a troubled breath.
“Unnie… I think this definitely needs to be reported to higher-ups. This really isn’t something the two of us can handle.”
Cheong-a fell into silent thought for a moment.
Her memory went back to a year ago, to the day of the incident that led to her transfer to Central Police Station.
The operation to arrest Jung Gwang-seop, the domestic drug Total Responsible. Cheong-a, who was in charge of information coordination for that project, identified the transaction location, time, and personnel, reported to higher-ups, and even got approval for special task force deployment.
However, there were those who occupied the scene before Cheong-a and the special forces.
Namely, reporters.
Somehow knowing to swarm there, the operation failed completely with just one flash they set off.
“We can’t report this.”
“Why not?”
“Remember the Jung Gwang-seop operation from a year ago? It’ll end up exactly the same way.”
“…Ah!”
Cheong-a chewed her lips and muttered in a low voice.
“So for now… we need to dig up more information on our own.”
Cheong-a’s gaze turned directly toward Yeonhui.
“Oh right, I met the woman who claims to be the Cheongwha Faction Boss’s girlfriend.”
Screech.
It was fortunate the parking lot was empty, because if there had been parked cars, Yeonhui would have crashed straight into a front bumper.
“You met what? The Cheongwha Faction Boss’s girlfriend?”
“Yeah, remember the location I heard about from Straw when I infiltrated Boksandae? I met that woman there. She said she’s the Cheongwha Faction Boss’s girlfriend. With a really serious face, she asked me to help her.”
At the sudden story, Yeonhui’s hands gripped the steering wheel tightly.
“Asked for help? With… what exactly?”
“I couldn’t hear that. Someone else interrupted.”
“…”
A fairly long silence followed between them. Yeonhui was the first to speak.
“Unnie.”
“Yeah.”
“After you were transferred to Central Police Station.”
Yeonhui hesitated, cutting off her words mid-sentence.
Only the sound of her fingertips tapping the steering wheel echoed in the car for a long while.
Only then, as if she had finished preparing herself mentally, did she open her mouth again.
“It’s been classified as internal security, so I couldn’t say anything until now,”
“…?”
“The Cheongwha Faction Boss has gone missing.”
“What?”
“A few months ago.”
Rachel’s expression as she gripped Cheong-a’s hand flashed through Cheong-a’s mind.
−I’m asking you to help me right now.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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