Sae-Bom’s Tracks (1)
I immediately caught a cab and headed over to the address in the message.
The destination was a small building tucked behind the main street, not far from Dongsu Neighbourhood.
Although I didn’t know where the signal had come from, just by looking at the signboards, I had a strong feeling.
‘The first floor is a convenience store. The second floor is a go club. The third floor is a loan shark’s office.’
I’ll have to start with the third floor and work my way down.
Racing up the stairs, I knocked on the tightly shut iron door.
Knock, knock, knock-
“Business is closed for today.”
A muffled voice was heard from inside.
I silently kept knocking on the door.
Only louder this time.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Click-
“Hey you mother fucker. Which son of a bitch is doing this? Are you deaf? Didn’t you hear me say that we’re shut-!”
As soon as the door opened, I pushed past the man and entered the office.
Men in shirts were gathered together in one spot, counting their money.
Blue bills were piled on top of a table like a mountain.
It was probably the money they got from charging interest on their loans.
“What? Who’s this son of a bitch?”
I just ignored them all and steadily walked deeper into the office.
Although it was just a typical office, it was full of the dark atmosphere particular to a loan shark operation.
Then I spotted the boxes stuffed into the corner.
There were a lot of cellphones of different models all heaped together.
At that moment, one of the men grabbed me by the shoulder and spun me around.
“Hey. Didn’t you hear what I just said?”
“Where did you get those handphones from?”
The man looked me up and down before looming over me menacingly.
“You a pig?”
If I said that I was, he would probably just tell me to come back with a search warrant while whining about the law.
This was the usual procedure for these guys, who toed the line between legal and illegal activities.
There were many such cases where they clung to the law and used it for their own advantage.
Sometimes, you just need to keep things simple.
I picked up a nameplate from the top of a desk and smashed it down on his head.
Bam!
“Ugh!”
“So what if I am a pig, what are you gonna do about it? Hurry up and tell me, or else. Where did you get these handphones from?”
“This crazy bastard! His liver must be swollen!”
He who strikes first wins.
Although it might be one against many, it wasn’t too hard to deal with these bunch of neighbourhood bullies.
While protecting my left shoulder as best as I could, I started teaching these punks a lesson.
All of the money piled up on the table was sent flying, as men were sent reeling back with blood pouring from their noses.
Not long afterwards, I was sitting on the sofa and watching over them as they turned on the handphones one by one.
It looks like they had answered my call earlier by mistake while they were in the middle of organizing these phones.
“Th-they’re all on.”
“Hold on then.”
I called Sae-Bom’s handphone.
A phone on the far right started ringing.
When I jerked my head, one of the men went up to the handphone and opened the battery compartment.
“One moment. It’s been set aside with all the other phones that might cause some problems. The ones with their IMEI locked and things like-”
“That’s enough. Just hurry up and check it.”
After searching for something on his computer, he nodded his head when he found the information.
“We got this through a direct deal. Aaah, now I remember. Someone said that they had just picked it up, and asked if we were willing to buy it since it was unlocked.”
“He picked it up?”
“What did he say again? Something about it just being dropped somewhere along with some clothes?”
“You’re saying he brought it to you to sell it, instead of handing it over to the police?”
“That sort of thing isn’t too bad in the grand scheme of things. Most of the kids who bring stuff to us actually stole their items from public baths or other such places. In any case, since the phone really wasn’t locked, we just said thank you and paid him.”
“And you didn’t record who sold it to you?”
“Yes. That’s all we know….”
I tucked away Sae-Bom’s handphone and got up.
For now, I had at least managed to confirm something today, something had happened to her.
***
“Newbie. What happened with that business yesterday?”
Black asked me this as soon as I got to work.
Mong-Doo’s expression showed he was curious about what had happened.
“What? What happened yesterday?”
“The newbie picked up another case even though he was on a half-day.”
“Ah, well that-”
Just as I had opened my mouth, the chief entered the office.
What’s going on so early in the day?
Unless there was something special going on, there was no need for him to come down to our offices.
“Have you all seen the news?”
Only some of us seemed to be aware of what he was talking about.
“We’ve received a report that Congressman Jang Man-Chun’s granddaughter has gone missing. Although it’s not under our jurisdiction, just keep your eyes open for her as you go about your day.”
It looks like Jang Ma-Chun seems to have properly filed a missing person’s report.
That’s right, that was the best thing he could do.
No matter the investigation, the first steps are the most important.
In response to the chief’s orders, Team Leader grumbled.
“These days, the number of reports about people disappearing have exploded. What’s with this special treatment for a congressman’s daughter.”
“Hey! I see you over there, Hwang Joong-Woo! What did you just say?”
“It was nothing, nothing at all-”
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Drawing back from Team Leader’s argument with the chief, I whispered to Mong-Doo.
“Have there been a lot of missing persons reports?”
“Yep. The numbers have soared all of a sudden. I think it’s about three times more than usual.”
Three times more than usual.
A sense of uneasiness washed over me.