The Ultimate Inspector, Kang Ji-hyeok - Chapter 70



Only Noblemtl

Ji-cheol started the story by investigating the surroundings of the victim’s acquaintance.

“There’s nothing unusual. He was quiet for a civil servant, and he even ate cup ramen alone at a convenience store for lunch.”

“It’s not easy for a civil servant to eat alone.”

“That’s true.”

Chief Prosecutor Lee Cheol-jung watched quietly, lost in thought.

I drew a star next to the victim’s name on the whiteboard.

“Considering his situation and personality, it seems possible that he might commit suicide. But I found one thing strange.”

Everyone focused on the whiteboard.

“Car. This is a picture of the car used in the incident.”

Bam.

I put the photo next to the name.

“That’s a nice car. It’s a Hyundai Genesis.”

“That’s right. Genesis. It’s a luxury model and the model that was released was 45 million won. It’s been three months since I bought this car with a lump sum of 25 million won and the rest in 20 installments.”

Next to it, I wrote some words with a red marker.

At the time, it was a product announced by Hyundai, the largest automobile manufacturer in Korea, as a luxury sedan with a Hurun engine.

It is famous that around 3,000 people flocked to the Namsan Hyatt Hotel when the new car was announced.

I continued the briefing with a serious face.

“In the testimony of an acquaintance that Ji-cheol recorded, the victim said that he waited overnight in front of a car dealership to buy a car on a first-come, first-served basis.”

“That’s right! That’s right. I remember hearing that story. Wow, the inspector really has a great memory.”

Ji-cheol raised his thumb, but I tilted my head and looked at the picture of the car.

“Would a person who was going to commit suicide really need to go through that much trouble to buy a car?”

“Does that mean that at that time, Ji In-hu had no intention of committing suicide?”

“At least it didn’t exist at the time.”

I looked at the car photos again after the incident.

Both the front and back doors showed clear signs of being wedged in the wood.

“They meticulously wedged the car between the trees. It wouldn’t have been easy to wed the car so precisely to block both the front and back doors.”

Everyone nodded.

“Well, it’s not even a normal street, but in the middle of the night in the forest.”

“Are you starting to wonder just how strange this case is?”

“Yes, sir.”

Chief Prosecutor Lee Cheol-jung also looked at me with his arms folded, as if he was interested. I pointed to the photo with my finger and continued talking.

“If it’s stuck like this, you can’t open the door no matter how hard you try. But Hyunju Lee broke the window and came out.”

He said, looking at the broken window in the photo.

I looked at everyone and asked.

“Has anyone ever broken a car window by kicking it?”

“Me.”

As expected of an active detective, Hyejin raised her hand and spoke.

“It wouldn’t have broken in one go, would it?”

“It’s no joke. I was chasing the criminal in a hurry and got trapped in the car, but I broke it by kicking it with both feet several times······.”

Hyejin continued talking, squinting her eyes.

“Thanks to that, I have a deep scar on my right ankle. It was torn by glass······.”

I walked over to the whiteboard and added another picture of red high heels.

“Lee Hyun-joo was not injured at all, and the police concluded that it was thanks to the high heels with heels exceeding 10 cm that she was wearing that day.”

“Are you saying that a woman who is about to commit suicide is wearing red high heels?”

Ji-cheol said as if he found it strange.

But Hyejin said it could be possible.

“You might want to wear the prettiest high heels before you die.”

chuck.

While I was talking, I attached the last photo.

“I think Hyejin has a point, but when you look at the photos of Lee Hyunju at the time of the incident, it looks like she only chose the worst clothes in the house and wore them.”

It was a photo of Lee Hyun-joo wearing shabby clothes, with her hair unwashed and no makeup on.

“Lee Hyeon-ju, who went into the forest to commit suicide, was lucky to survive thanks to wearing 10cm high heels.”

Everyone shut their mouths and looked at the incident briefing that filled half of the whiteboard.

I said, scratching my head.

“Let’s stop the briefing here for now. We’ll start investigating this case tomorrow, so let’s finish work here for today.”

It was before six o’clock.

Everyone raised their hands in joy at the early departure from work.

“I’m getting off work on time!”

Chief Prosecutor Lee Cheol-jung looked at us with his arms crossed as if he found it amusing.

“Chief Inspector. Are you satisfied with what we have today?”

“It was an interesting briefing, Kang Ji-hyuk.”

“thank you.”

I went to Se-hee’s house in the car of Chief Prosecutor Lee Cheol-jung, who seemed so satisfied.

* * *

The scenery passing by outside the window was familiar.

‘It’s been a while. This place is full of memories from my childhood······.’

Squeak.

As I passed by the house I used to live in, I turned my head slightly and looked.

“This is the house you lived in.”

“That’s right.”

“You live in an apartment now? I heard from my juniors that the price tripled as soon as you bought it?”

“Yes, that’s right. I was lucky.”

“Unlike my father, who was a money savvy bum who saved up money to buy a villa, he’s quite the person.”

“That father, a bakery owner with a good economic sense, is now dreaming of becoming a real estate tycoon by buying a villa in Shanghai.”

“I heard from my wife that you make a lot of money in Shanghai.”

“You need money. Then you won’t be swayed by those around you.”

“I guess so.”

Squeak.

I turned into the last alley.

I knew it was coming soon.

“Thank you, Kang Ji-hyuk.”

“If you’re talking about Se-hee, let’s stop now.”

“No. I appreciate you telling me to be careful of the man with white hands when you play golf.”

I said that to prevent myself from unknowingly receiving a bribe from Park Shin-soo.

The craftsman, or rather, Chief Prosecutor Lee Cheol-jung, completely escaped the incident in which he was framed for accepting bribes.

In addition, he has reached the position of Chief Prosecutor, which he was unable to achieve in his future life, and now he will rise even higher.

“A while ago, while I was practicing golf, someone put his bag down on my seat, and then I saw that he was wearing white gloves. Not golf gloves, just regular white cloth gloves.”

“So what did you do?”

“I caught him on the spot and reported him to the police.”

“That guy was Park Shin-soo’s driver.”

“How did you know? That’s right. He was the driver of Dadurim CEO Park Shin-soo. How amazing······. But? How did you know he was CEO Park Shin-soo’s driver?”

Lee Cheol-jung looks at me with a surprised face.

It was a face that seemed to be asking something.

‘This is so difficult······. It’s hard to explain that I know that.’

Squeak.

The car came to a sudden stop.

It was because of the person who came out into the alley and waved his hand.

“Why did you come all the way to the front of the house and do that?”

“I’ll get off here, Mr. Inspector.”

“Okay. Let’s talk about that next time.”

Sehee was alive and well.

Thanks to her, I was able to overcome a difficult situation.

As soon as I got out of the car, Sehee came running.

Wow.

He hugged me with a happy face.

It was so sudden that I stood there blankly. Sehee’s familiar scent tickled the tip of my nose.

I was using the same shampoo I used before.

The senses are sharper than memory.

Kwak.

I hugged her without realizing it.

“Sehee.”

I ended up muttering her name, intoxicated by the scent of her shampoo on the tip of my nose.

“You missed me too, didn’t you?”

Sehee’s happy voice brought me back to my senses.

“Oh, no. Sorry.”

He apologized, pushing her away with both hands.

Sehee said with a disappointed face.

“It shouldn’t have been like this. It’s disappointing.”

“Still, I’m sorry for touching your body so carelessly.”

“Again?”

“Let’s go in. Are you going to leave it like this?”

I changed the mood naturally.

We had a light birthday party and ate delicious home-cooked meals.

As expected, my mother-in-law’s cooking was amazing.

I left home late at night after eating two bowls of rice for the first time in a long time.

“Ji-hyuk. Drink this.”

“thank you.”

Sehee naturally drank the beer he poured for me along with the perilla leaves he put on my rice.

Since I’m not good at using chopsticks, Sehee would always pick up a perilla leaf one by one and put it on my spoon.

It just comes so naturally.

Mother-in-law… no, Se-hee’s mother brought me back to my senses.

“You two are eating well, putting perilla leaves on top of each other like a married couple?

After that, I refused the perilla leaves that Sehee gave me.

After dinner, we started talking about our childhood and it was late at night.

“I’m going to go now.”

“Are you going to sleep? You can sleep with your dad like when you were little.”

I waved my hand at Sehee’s words.

“You’re my boss now. I need to get some sleep because I’m taking on a new case these days.”

“Okay. Ji-hyeok has a new case this time, so let’s call it a day.”

Sehee nodded with a regretful face.

“Sehee is having a drink with her dad. She’s been complaining that she can’t have a beer with you because her schedule doesn’t match up with yours these days. I’ll pick Jihyuk up. I have something to say······.”

“Okay, Mom. Jihyuk, are you okay?”

“of course.”

My mother-in-law, no, Se-hee’s mother, followed me out of the house. After hesitating for a moment, she opened her mouth cautiously.

“My mother was very worried. She asked if I was hurt because I was working on such a big project······.”

“It’s okay, mother.”

“Ji-hyuk will do well. He’s been very healthy since he was little. Even when Se-hee caught a cold, Ji-hyuk was healthy.”

“That’s right. That’s right.”

“Thank you, Ji-hyeok. Se-hee has been a hot topic since that incident, so he’s been getting better roles these days.”

“You must have been very emotionally distressed, but you overcame it bravely.”

“You know? Our Sehee’s dream.”

“I know. You win the Oscar for Best Actress.”

We were nine years old.

There was a time when I lived at Se-hee’s house for a week because my parents had to go down to Busan because they were being chased by debt collectors.

At that time, by chance, the whole family watched the recording of the Oscars ceremony.

After the broadcast ended, Sehee shouted with sparkling eyes.

“I, Lee Se-hee! I will definitely become a world-class actress and win the Oscar for Best Actress! From today on, that is my dream!”

From that day on, we teased Sehee and called her ‘Oscar’s girl’.

Sehee’s mother held my two hands with an apologetic face.

“Ji-hyeok. Our Se-hee likes you very much. But I want Se-hee to continue his career as an actor.”

“I feel the same way.”

He meant it.

I hoped to fulfill her dream of doing only housework because of me in her past life.

Instead of dying a miserable death, live a happier and more wonderful life.

“It’s hard to say this as Se-hee’s mother, but Ji-hyeok, please avoid Se-hee. I know it’s embarrassing, but I’m asking you.”

Shh.

I smiled at that.

“I will, Mother. Please take good care of Sehee and take him to Oscar.”

“Haha. Does that make sense? How can a Korean actor win an Oscar?”

There’s not much time left.

That day will come.

The time that felt like going back in time and recharging my energy for the first time in a long time has ended.

“I want to ask the guide. Did our Se-hee win an Oscar?”

The guide in my head had no answer.

Come to think of it, it’s been quite some time since I’ve been able to cooperate with the guide.

‘What’s wrong? The guide hasn’t spoken to me at all lately.’

* * *

We had gathered some evidence, and our investigation was increasing the possibility that Lee Hyun-joo was murdered.

“I bought the helium gas at the event shop.”

“Yes. I went there and checked the CCTV and card usage history.”

“Lee Hyun-joo, did you come to buy it alone?”

“That’s right. The store owner remembered it that way, and the cardholder’s name was also Lee Hyun-joo.”

“All the items needed for this incident, including nitrogen gas, plastic bags, cable ties, a knife, and shoelaces, were purchased by Lee Hyun-joo.”

“Yes, I checked it all myself.”

Hyejin gave me information about propofol.

This was also questionable.

“Hyejin’s friend, an internal medicine nurse, gave her the remaining propofol she had collected over two months.”

“You said you collected the remaining propofol from the used syringe and gave it to me?”

“It is said that Lee Hyun-joo purchased the propofol that was collected and made into a bottle with 3 million won in cash.”

“So Lee Hyun-joo did all the preparations?”

Breaking news came on the TV in our conference room.

– This is breaking news. A hacker died after being shot by the police at a PC room near Seoul National University Station. The hacker was holding a knife and tried to stab the police officer, but the police shot him in the head and killed him instantly. This incident······.

Everyone couldn’t take their eyes off the news because the picture of the detective who opened fire and killed the hacker appeared on the screen.

Hyejin muttered with a surprised face.

“Kim Ha-jin? That kind Ha-jin killed the criminal with a gun?”