11. Thirty One
“Mother, do you know the back door of the apartment?”
In-cheol’s mother answered Kim Jeong-soo’s question.
– Yes, detective.
“If you go out the back door and turn left… Is the Southern Ring Road coming out right away?”
-yes that’s right. However, even if you go out the main gate, you can ride the Nambu Beltway, which depends on which direction you are going.
“Then, if you go out the back door, which way are you going?”
– That is the direction of Gimpo Airport. And if you go out the front door, it’s the opposite direction, Banpo.
“all right. mother.”
-Perhaps… Did you find the place where Incheol is?
“Mother, I’m sorry… We are preparing to dispatch now, so it is difficult to give details. Maybe I can get back to you before lunch.”
After the call, team leader Kim Jung-soo opened his mouth.
“Detective Min, apply for a warrant for Kim Beom-min’s arrest right now, and contact the Bucheon Police Station to request military support. Inspector Choi, let’s depart with me now.”
Inspector Choi picked up his coat and said.
“Team leader, are you sure that Kim Beom-min is an accomplice?”
“Yeah, sure. Do you know the tip call that came in yesterday?”
“yes.”
“I almost thought it was a kid’s prank call, but it actually gave us all the information we needed.”
“Is that true?”
“Did you see the memo that General Choi also brought from Team 2?”
“sure.”
“They said the criminals put the missing child in the car and went to the back door of the apartment.”
“Yeah, I saw that too.”
“If you go out the back door, it’s in the direction of Gimpo Airport.”
“ah… ! You went to Kim Beom-min’s house in Bucheon.”
“right.”
Team leader Kim Jeong-su left the office of Team 1 with Inspector Choi and told Detective Min.
“Detective Min, when an arrest warrant is issued, contact Team 2, Inspector General Park, to see if the identity of the informant can be secured.”
“Yes, chief.”
* * *
The next day after reporting to the police.
I was on my way home from school with Youngmi… .
As I entered the apartment complex, a broadcasting station car caught my eye.
Youngmi opened her mouth.
“Oh, there’s a KBC news car over there. Guess what happened in Building 105. What’s going on?”
105 is where Incheol’s house is located.
A station car never came to a small apartment complex located in the corner of Seoul.
“It seems like In-cheol is working… .”
“Your classmate who went missing yesterday?”
I nodded my head at Youngmi’s question.
“I wish it wasn’t a bad thing… .”
That evening.
Through the 9 o’clock news, In-cheol could hear the full story of the disappearance.
Of course, In-cheol’s name did not appear in the news, and it was introduced as a case of kidnapping children in Namseo-dong.
In-cheol’s uncle started investing in stocks at the recommendation of a college classmate, and it is said that he has suffered huge losses over the past four months.
He thought that his older brother, who ran a medium-sized business, died three years ago and that his brother-in-law, In-cheol, left a lot of inheritance to his mother, so he arranged a kidnapping of In-cheol with his high school classmate.
In response to the reporter’s question, he said, with a jumper on his head, that he tried to return the money to his brother-in-law when stocks went up to make up for the loss.
And in a weeping voice, he emphasized that he had no intention of harming his nephew.
The most fortunate thing is that In-cheol, who had been kidnapped, was safely rescued.
Of course, the news only said that they were children from Namseo-dong, so only me and Young-mi knew that the rescued child was In-cheol.
In-cheol returned to school three days later.
In-cheol had lost a lot of weight, but fortunately, his chatty and cheerful personality remained the same.
When the children asked what had happened in the meantime, In-cheol said that he had received a special lesson at his uncle’s friend’s house with his characteristic exaggerated tone.
The children asked what lesson they had taken, and In-cheol started chatting with a serious expression, muttering that it was a special survival technique.
Hmm… Come to think of it… .
It’s true that the classroom has been quiet for the past week because In-cheol isn’t there.
After class and ceremonies that day, I was packing my bag.
Instead of going out of the classroom, Incheol, who first organized the bag, came up to me and said,
“Jungho, would you like to come over to my house tomorrow evening?”
“In your house?”
“Yeah, and my mom asked me what kind of food you like… .”
my favorite food?
What is this atmosphere?
Besides, In-cheol didn’t tell the other children, just picked me up and invited me to his house.
no way… Do you know that the person who reported to the police is me?
It can never be.
To track the other party’s phone number… .
Obviously, I said that I had to talk for over 1 minute and 30 seconds… .
Perhaps… … .
Wasn’t the information in ‘Chief of Investigation’ not real?!
I asked Incheol.
“By the way… What’s up? Is it your birthday?”
Incheol said with a smirk.
“It’s not my birthday, my mom told me to bring my favorite friend home.”
“ah… okay?”
“But don’t you have a favorite food?”
“me… I like bulgogi… Pork Bulgogi.”
“Pork Bulgogi? Is that black bulgogi? Or is it red bulgogi?”
“Haha–, the red one.”
Incheol nodded and said.
“I see. The red one was pork bulgogi.”
I asked Incheol.
“then… When I go to your house tomorrow, is it okay if I go with one of my friends?”
“Class 7? your bastard?”
It’s true that Youngmi is the head of class 7… .
But was Yeongmi my goofball?
I smiled and nodded, and In-cheol smiled softly.
“Okay then, see you tomorrow. and… thank you.”
After he finished speaking, he turned around and ran out of the classroom.
Incheol’s words of thanks.
It means that In-cheol knows that the person who called the tip is me.
The next day, Incheol’s house.
Wow—!
The expression that the upper leg is about to break was used at this time.
In the center of the table, a large plate was filled with pork bulgogi, and all kinds of seafood were placed on the table.
Youngmi, who was sitting next to him, swallowed and said.
“Pork Bulgogi! It’s my favorite food, how did you know? Wow! Auntie, I will eat well.”
The whole time we ate Yeongmi, she repeatedly praised it, saying, “It’s delicious, it’s the best.”
It was also nice to bring Youngmi along.
So after we ate, we started playing video games connected to the TV in the living room.
While Yeong-mi and In-cheol were playing games, In-cheol’s mother quietly called me to the living room.
“Did you say Jung-ho?”
“yes.”
In-cheol’s mother said, holding my hands tightly.
“Thank you, thank you very much. Thank you so much for helping our In-cheol find it.”
I’ve been guessing since yesterday when In-cheol said thank you.
When I called the police station, the police station left our house number, and it seems like In-cheol gave her mother the phone number and address left by the police.
In the current situation, I decided that it would be strange for In-cheol to pretend not to know her mother.
“no. just… I was lucky enough to see In-cheol get into the car. I’m really glad that In-cheol came back safely.”
In-cheol’s mother nodded and said.
“The detective over there said… You said that if it hadn’t been for the information you provided, we wouldn’t have been able to catch the culprit. And this… .”
In-cheol’s mother held out a small box to me.
“this… What?”
“The detective in charge said thank you and asked me to tell you. Go home later and open it.”
“thank you.”
“And this is what the detective asked… .”
“yes… .”
“He wondered why he hung up the phone without saying his name.”
“ah! I… that is… .”
Seeing my bewilderment, In-cheol’s mother smiled and said.
“It’s okay if you don’t tell me. And, according to the detective, he said that he wanted Jung-ho to contact him by all means. He told me not to worry, I’ll keep it a secret.”
“yes… .”
“And I think In-cheol and I don’t have to worry about it either.”
“… .”
“It is true that In-cheol talks a lot and jokes a lot… He is a child who knows what to say and what not to say.”
“yes.”
* * *
At the same time, the Southwest Police Station.
Inspector Choi returned to the Detective Team 1 office.
“Captain, I finally got a confession.”
“Good job. Did it burn faster than you thought?”
“Even if it’s a shovel and a pickaxe, why don’t you bleed it out without blowing it when all the evidence, including anesthetics and syringes, is out?”
Team leader Kim Jeong-soo nodded without saying a word as if thinking about something, and Inspector Choi shook his head and continued speaking.
“By the way, Kim Beom-min, this guy is also evil… Jinsoo Kim, this bastard really feels like an asshole. Ugh!”
“He was trying to kill his nephew, of course he would.”
Inspector Choi sat down and began to organize the interrogation materials, and Team Leader Kim Jung-su put a cigarette in his mouth and lit it.
The cigarette smoke he exhaled suddenly filled the office, and police officer Min, who was sitting across from Team Leader Kim Jeong-soo, snorted.
“Ah—, team leader, can’t you go out and burn a cigarette?”
“Uh, no.”
“Team leader, this kind of thing is called secondhand smoke. It also appeared in today’s newspaper. Secondhand smoke accounts for 63% of lung cancer cases.”
“Don’t worry about that. Our police officer Min will not die of lung cancer.”
“haha! How does the manager know that?”
“Well… You can know everything.”
Team leader Kim Jeong-soo took another sip of his cigarette and thought, exhaling smoke with a serious expression.
The kidnapping of children in Namseo-dong.
In the past life, this was definitely a permanent unsolved case.
But the culprit was caught.
And the child who should have disappeared forever came back alive.
A change has taken place in a set schedule.
It was the 6th grader of elementary school who made all these changes.
My name is Chae Jeong-ho.
He appeared on a live broadcast called ‘Challenge IQ 250’ 8 years ago, but it turns out that the challenge was unsuccessful.
There are no special records other than this.
School grades are also average.
In the evaluation of ‘Soo-Mi Yang-ga’, all subjects received ‘Woo’ for the past 5 years.
Physical education was the only subject that received ‘Skill’.
Team leader Kim Jeong-soo slowly exhaled the cigarette smoke that he inhaled deeply.