Jung-yoon turned his upper body with a completely unapologetic face.
Staring expressionlessly at Jeong-rok, who was rubbing his chest, he lightly tapped the armrest of his chair with his fist.
“Sounds like you had a tough time with the illegal mountain settlement.”
Jeong-rok, staring back coldly at Jung-yoon, who was cutting his words short, straightened his upper body as if nothing had happened.
Jung-yoon feigned indifference and held back once more at Jeong-rok’s reaction, who was giving a normal reply.
He wanted to say something but saw Gwang-jang and Joon-hyuk entering from behind Jeong-rok, so the timing was off.
Jung-yoon gave them a warning with his eyes and bowed his head to the approaching two.
“Oh, you’re already here.”
“Yes. Where have you been?”
“Someone already filed a complaint about you guys coming down there, and I came back with a busted head. Damn it. Then why did they tell us to reopen the cold case? If they’re just going to meddle every time, why make us dig up a case that was already closed? Are they messing with us or what?”
“Whoa…”
Chief Choi Hyun-chul, who pretended like he was about to hit Jeong-rok for his impressive reaction to the case file, put his hands on his hips.
“Hey, man.”
Jeong-rok clapped his hands cutely while watching Hyun-chul fan himself, still upset.
At that moment, behind the dismayed Hyun-chul, Ki-jun-hyuk peeked his head in.
He scanned Jeong-rok’s body as if searching, then yelled loudly.
“What, you didn’t buy anything? What about my lunch?”
Pushing past Hyun-chul, Joon-hyuk leaned forward and opened Jeong-rok’s pants pocket.
Despite his large body, he skillfully twisted around and even turned up Jeong-rok’s shirt.
When Joon-hyuk gave him a disappointed look, Jeong-rok sighed deeply.
“Lose weight. You’ve gotten way too fat. Your pants are gonna rip soon.”
“You bastard. My waist is still roomy, okay?”
“Your ass. No, but even if you’re my friend, I’m the team leader—bastard?”
Ki-jun-hyuk, who was making a scowl, twisted one side of his lips when he heard ‘team leader.’ Clicking his tongue, Jeong-rok nodded his head, then added casually:
“Team leader bastard, what’s wrong with my ass, huh?”
“Yeah, be polite like that. And you have to get rid of that ass. It’s rotten.”
“These crazy bastards, seriously.”
Watching Joon-hyuk politely clasp his hands together and Jeong-rok pat his shoulder, Hyun-chul put his hand to his forehead.
Jeong-rok moved his hand from Joon-hyuk’s shoulder to Hyun-chul’s forehead and whispered to soothe him.
“So, what are they telling us to do again?”
The chief rubbed his forehead, looking very sulky as if he had a headache.
He pushed Jeong-rok aside and sighed deeply.
“Criminal psychological analysis? The analyst’s coming, so they say we have to start over. From scratch. Like it’s the first investigation. What’s the point of following the old investigation? What a pain. They say be careful with nearby inquiries because of complaints, then what do they want us to do, huh? Only the ones on the ground get screwed. Damn it.”
“Jung-yoon, was the atmosphere really bad over there?”
Joon-hyuk, who had already sat down on the edge of the desk, nodded toward Jung-yoon.
“The redevelopment project that’s been stalled for years is being discussed again. There are unfinished buildings. And then this case broke out at the same time… It wasn’t good. Some people wouldn’t even talk to us.”
“Ha… that redevelopment. Redevelopment, yeah… it’s important.”
Jeong-rok quietly nodded at Joon-hyuk’s words.
Jung-yoon turned away from both of them.
“I don’t disagree, but I think we have to dig deeper. There are parts that don’t add up.”
“Of course we have to. Damn, should I even pray for another case to break out? At least it’d make the news bigger. Damn it. These celebrity gambling scandals are breaking out everywhere… Hey? Boss! Boss! Hey, come here. Look at me.”
The chief muttered quietly, telling them to come up with some clever ideas.
He spotted the chief of police entering from afar and lifted his head.
The chief of police shrank his neck under the chief’s sharp gaze.
Even though he waved his hand to say it was okay, the chief didn’t care.
Jung-yoon blinked wearily, his heavy eyelids fluttering without strength.
“Scheming…”
He pondered for a moment, then his vision shifted to Jung-rok’s profile as he glared at his vibrating phone.
“Chief Moon’s son?”
The thought seemed plausible for a moment.
Then the words on the screen came into clearer focus.
[“Chief Moon”]
Jung-yoon swallowed a retort that almost escaped and turned away from him.
Jung-rok, who had contacted him repeatedly despite being refused several times, finally gave up and stood up from his seat.
As Jung-rok left, Jun-hyuk, who had been sitting upright in his chair, poked his head over the partition.
“What the hell is going on between you two?”
“What do you mean? We’re just terrible partners.”
“Exactly. So why are you partners?”
“That’s what I want to ask. Could you ask the section chief for me? Then I’ll go out and get you something to eat.”
Jung-yoon replied without even looking at Jun-hyuk.
As usual, he was expressionless and cold.
Jun-hyuk, embarrassed by his attitude, clicked his tongue and quickly lowered his gaze.
“That makes no sense. Everyone knows this is a dead-end post. If he wanted to, he could climb up the ranks via the Gwangsu Unit main route easily, so why bother here?”
“Ask the team leader that. What do I know? The… big plan.”
Jung-yoon almost called him crazy but clenched his teeth to hold back.
Furrowing his brows, he started reviewing photos related to the case again.
“That’s strange… The team leader mentioned the inspector when he came here.”
Han-gyeol, who had been watching quietly like an outsider, poked his head out.
His fingers stopped scrolling the mouse wheel, and his eyes shifted away from the monitor.
“What?”
“I’m tied to school and regional connections, right? But Woo, the detective, is not connected by school. Regional? He was in the U.S. until middle school and lived near Cheongdam in Korea afterward. So that’s not it. And blood ties? That can’t be.”
Jun-hyuk looked incredulous at his own words, but Jung-yoon just stared silently.
Suddenly, the conversation paused, and Jun-hyuk’s expression shifted to one of disbelief and suspicion.
Han-gyeol, who was only half-listening, turned his gaze toward Jung-yoon.
“No way, right? It’s not like suddenly ‘Actually, I’m…’ some ridiculous plot, right?”
Jun-hyuk was the kind of guy who never gave up.
Jung-yoon finally couldn’t stand the disgusting assumption.
“Does it make sense? Do I look even remotely like that guy? Ridiculous…”
“I thought you resembled him a bit…”
“Han-gyeol, you’ve never been bullied by a guy before, right? Want to try starting today?”
Jung-yoon threw down the mouse and half rose, causing Han-gyeol to quickly scoot back.
“That’s a compliment,” he said timidly.
Jung-yoon muttered curses under his breath and frowned deeply.
“I was driving at 200 km/h on a clear highway, then suddenly took a national road at 40 km/h. And you say I have nothing to do with the three big connections of Koreans?”
“Sometimes taking the national road is faster. The cold case team is a dead-end post, but if you solve a big case well, you can get two rank promotions. It’s also good for fame. Higher-ups often pass down the jobs no one wants, so if you volunteer and put your mark on it, you might reach the goal much faster. In my opinion, he’s just a sly bastard, no, a fox.”
Jung-yoon fired back without losing ground.
Somehow, he ended up echoing Jung-rok’s intentions, but it was better than carrying strange misunderstandings.
As he reached for the mouse, he caught Jun-hyuk’s gaze.
He rolled his eyes and looked awkward.
Feeling his stare, Jung-yoon suddenly felt a chill down his spine.
“After all, isn’t a fox still a member of the canine family?”
“Damn…”
Jung-yoon swallowed dryly, hearing footsteps steadily approaching.
Jung-rok sat down in an instant, propping his chin on his hand and smiling slightly as he met his eyes.
His stiff, awkward body didn’t move.
Jung-yoon tried to avoid his gaze but it was too late, so he forced a faint smile, barely lifting the corners of his mouth.
“Siberian… something like that. Brave…”
“Isn’t he usually compared to a wolf?”
“Hmm?”
Jung-yoon muttered with complicated feelings, biting his lip.
His mind was racing.
What should he do?
He could bluff his way through, but no matter how favorable Jung-rok was to him, he was still a crazy old-school tyrant.
It would only get more complicated from here.
He couldn’t afford a single weakness.
Sighing deeply without realizing it, Jung-yoon rapidly moved his fingers while maintaining eye contact with Jung-rok.
Jun-hyuk and Han-gyeol exchanged glances, clearly interested in the two of them.