Part 56: Lead: Blue Lady

_{content warning: sexual harrassment, hand trauma}

[BGM: Pensive Moments]


Lead: Blue Lady

The wind was getting stronger when I left the detention center.
Everyone on the street was walking very fast, probably anxious to get home.
I held on tightly to a piece of paper in my hand so that it wouldn't get blown away.
Earlier, I had written down a short note in a hurry.

Blue Lady, Jeagal Wan-Yeom

That was the message Officer Ji-Yeon had left me.

I hadn't expected that she would be the one that was being detained in place of Lieutenant Kang.
Maybe transfiguration was not as complicated as I had thought.
Then again, where was Lieutenant Kang?

I was hoping to see him.
That plan hadn't worked, either.
And now, this note was the only lead I had.
I had to go to Blue Lady, and find this person named Jeagal Wan-Yeom.

[BGM: Feast Away]


Blue Lady was an infamous gay bar in Busan.
For police and gangs in particular, it was infamous because it was an establishment that belonged to the Bungmun Gang.

I sat down at the bar and ordered a glass of orange juice.
I checked my surroundings. Quite a few people seemed to be giving me strange looks, and they were whispering something under their breath.
I didn't quite fit in at a place like this. Whatever. I had real business to worry about.

Speaking of business, who was this Jeagal Wan-Yeom?
Was he a frequent customer?
Or the owner of the place?

I waved the bartender over, hoping to ask him about this name.
But before I opened my mouth I suddenly felt a heavy blow to my head, and my face slammed into the bar.



After who knows how long...
I heard some slapping noises and I felt pain in my face. I finally opened my eyes.

Judging from the lights outside the window, I must be on the second floor of the bar.
I could see office desks, couches, folding chairs, tables and pool tables in the room. There was even a... coconut tree?
I tried to sit up, but I realized that my left hand had been cuffed to a desk leg.



Some young men surrounded me at the wall. They all looked like they were in a gang.
One of them had a full head of curly hair and he was crouched next to me. He kept slapping me in the face with what felt like a card.
I struggled to move my face away before I saw that he was holding my police ID.

“Who knew that a police officer would be hanging out here? If you don't tell us what you're really here for, we are going to think that you're here looking for some fun!”

His buddies all laughed.

This didn't look good.
But I didn't want to cause too much trouble. I just needed to get out of this as soon as possible.

The curly-haired man kicked me in the stomach.
“Talk! Do you think that we, the Bungmun Gang, are an easier target than the Musun Gang?! If we want, we guarantee we'll make you feel something... er... well... ecstatic!”

“Dude, that's the wrong word. It should be excruciating.”
A man nearby with split bangs tried to correct the curly-haired guy, who immediately slapped him on the head instead.



The door opened.
All of the men who were laughing hysterically took one glance at the door and immediately stood up straight, shouting,
”Good evening, sir!”

A very tall man had just walked into the room. He was wearing a pink, flowery shirt and a pair of leafy green beach shorts, and looked incredibly tropical.
He quickly noticed what had been going on.

“What do you guys have here?”
“It's a cop sneaking around the bar. We were just about to question him.”

The curly-haired guy very formally handed him my police ID.



The other guys picked me back up then slammed me, face down, onto the desk.
The man called “sir” then caressed my back with one hand.

“Hmm, very fit. Lots of potential!”

Potential? What potential?
Was he talking about joining their business?
What kind of sick joke was that? I was someone who had dreamt of defending justice and becoming a real hero!
But to keep myself from getting into more trouble, I had to keep it under control.



However, even though I could control my anger, I couldn't fully control my body.
If he didn't stop soon, I was going to let out a... loud fart.

I remembered seeing a diagram of a human brain way back when.
They would write lots of words on the brain, representing what the person was thinking at the time.
If someone were to draw a diagram of my brain right now, it would be filled with the word “fart”.
Even worse, it might be running out of space.

After giving me a pinch on my butt, the man finally stopped molesting me.
“Oh, I didn't know you were here looking for me?”

I turned around, and I saw he was holding the note I had put in my pocket.



I finally understood. The “sir” in front of me was Jeagal Wan-Yeom, the boss of this bar. But I never would have imagined him to be a bona fide gangster, and the leader of the Simsu Group within the Bungmun Gang.
Why would Officer Ji-Yeon ask me to come and find him?

“You are Kang Baek-Ya's man, what do you want from me?”

I caught the ID that he had thrown back at me.
The ID only said that I was in Unit 4 of the Busan Police Precinct.
So he must know about Lieutenant Kang.
I still couldn't figure out what their relationship was.
Friends or foes? Or maybe he was Lieutenant Kang's informant?



In any case, since Officer Ji-Yeon had asked me to find him, he must be someone who could help.
I briefly explained the reason for my visit, and I mentioned that Officer Min-Jun had been murdered.
Although I withheld most of the details about Lieutenant Kang's situation, I was thinking that I should at least feel him out first.

He just chuckled and lit a cigarette.

“Kid, are you trying to hold something back? You're 10 years too young to play this game with me. Let me put it this way. I'm an information broker. I fyou want information from me, you need to trade something. It's that simple. Understand?”

He blew smoke in my face, smiling...
…and held my left hand steady.



I took out the “tail” that I hid in my right palm.
...and reached for the pocket on my shirt.
I bit my lip, and said, “Fine. How about this?”

I handed him my weapon and pulled out a small notepad from my pocket.
It had all of the trivial information I had collected during all of my cases since joining the force.
Most of the information was about the Musun Gang, although there was some about the Bungmun Gang, too.
There was nothing particularly important or classified, otherwise I wouldn't be carrying it on me like this.

Since he had mentioned “trade”, he must mean with something like this, then?
I supposed I wouldn't be able to buy it with money.



He took my notepad, flipped through it quickly and tossed it into the trash can.
Then he made a gesture. The men who had been watching us in the room the whole time immediately surrounded me.
Then they started to mercilessly beat me up.

Jeagal Wan-Yeom stood outside of the circle and gently said,
“Young man, you are not cut out to be a policeman, and you are definitely not cut out to be Baek-Ya's man. If you ever dare show your face on my turf again... you will be dead.”

After those words, they tossed me out from the second floor window.
I fell into the garbage container in the back alley. It hurt so bad that I couldn't move for a while. The night was freezing cold.

I was so stupid to make such a careless move.
What exactly did he want, though?

Chang Gyeong-Min



Despite this seeming like a puzzle that might be complicated, there's actually not that many outcomes- in fact, there's only one more before we hit the S ending.



...So let's get that taken care of first.



A beam of silver light flashed in the air, and the cigarette in Jeagal Wan-Yeom's mouth was cut in half.
My “tail” had also left a bloody scratch on his face.
The people in the gang were all evil. I had to teach them a lesson.

The men who had been watching by the walls immediately had me surrounded, with all kinds of weapons in their hands.
I had planned for the worst possible case. If necessary, I would knock every single one of them out.

Jeagal Wan-Yeom waved his hand and stopped his men.

“Baek-Ya has mentioned you to me several times. You are exactly like what he said. What a shame. Brave, but stupid. Tell you what, we'll take care of this case. As for you, you should consider staying here and helping us out. I could use someone like you.”

I felt a sudden spell of dizziness.
The smoke he had blown at me earlier was hypnotic.



When I woke up I found myself locked in a small room.
Someone brought me meals every day.
I recognized his face, and I realized that I was probably still in custody of the Bungmun Gang, although I couldn't figure out what their purpose was.
Meanwhile, I was really worried about Lieutenant Kang, and how the investigation of Officer Min-Jun's murder had been going.

Two weeks later.
They finally let me out.
Jaegal Wan-Yeom told me in person that Lieutenant Kang had fled to another country and he was fine.
He even set up a video chat with Lieutenant Kang, showing me that he was indeed safe.

In the end, I wasn't able to help Lieutenant Kang at all, neither could anyone on the police force. It was someone in the gang who had saved him.
My sense of justice had taken a shock. I became depressed for quite some time.



After Lieutenant Kang left, Officer Ji-Yeon and I were transferred to Unit 1.
Those days without Lieutenant Kang were not only boring, but they also had nothing to do with justice whatsoever.

I eventually came to terms with what had happened.
Maybe it was out of my curiosity about Jeagal Wan-Yeom, or my gratitude with his help with Lieutenant Kang, but I decided to resign from the police and went back to Blue Lady once again.
I became a bartender.



Every day, I heard all kinds of interesting stories from the customers.
Occasionally, I would help deal with some of the guests who were causing trouble.
One day, some customers told me that something major had happened at the Busan Police Precinct. However, I didn't really care about that place anymore.

As long as I have justice in my heart, I could still be a hero.



As great as it is that our hero quit being a cop and found a better life for himself, it's unfortunately still a Bad ending because there's more going on we haven't seen for ourselves yet. This might not be Bad in terms of how things pan out for him and Kang, but it's Bad in regards to our own personal goals here.



So now let's go back and get the S ending.

[BGM: Silence]


A beam of silver light flashed in the air, and my left middle finger flew off from my hand.
Blood was dripping out of the wound and left some red dots on the floor.

I covered my entire left hand with my right one and dropped to the ground, rolling in pain.
“Hehehe... it's yours... FUCK... YOU...”

And I fainted.

“Call a doctor! No, you idiot! Not Dr. Chang, Dr. Wang! The one who lives at Gaegeum-dong!”

I heard Jaeagal Wan-Yeom yelling at his men, and opened my eyes just a little bit to take a peek at what was happening.
He threw away the cigarette in his hand and carried me over to a couch.
His men were in complete disarray after being shouted at by their boss.

[BGM: Evolving Mood]
I had made the right call.
If this man were a true friend of Lieutenant Kang, then he must value loyalty and bravery.
If all he had cared about was profit and benefit, then even if he had seen through my performance, I would at most get a beating.
Then I could still give him what he had wanted to trade for the information.
Nevertheless, this was the best result I could have hoped for.



“... Pfft... hahahaha!!”

I finally burst out laughing and sat back up on the couch, with a hand holding my stomach.
Then I stood up as Jeagal Wan-Yeom looked on, stunned, and picked up the severed finger from the ground with my perfectly intact left hand, smiling at him.

I bought the fake finger in a small shop on my way here.
Not only did they have fake fingers, there were also fake ears, eyes, and everything.
The owner had said to me that if you wanted to survive in a gang, these were all necessities. And if I bought the whole set, he could give me a discount.
So I did, and I had hidden them all on me.
It turned out they were indeed quite valuable.



“You bastard!” Jeagal Wan-Yeom fell into the couch, laughing hysterically.
“...Well, I guess Baek-Ya had pegged you wrong completely. He told me you were just a serious and boring fool! Hahaha!”

He told his men to make us some tea, and then began to tell me everything he knew about this case.
Two hours later, I drank the last cup of tea and left Blue Lady.
I started walking towards Officer Min-Jun's home in the cold, biting wind.



…

[BGM: Lost Memories]






NEW MESSAGE: Lead: Key Fob



…

[BGM: Pensive Moments]


Lead: Key Fob

Officer Min-Jun's home was very clean.
On top of that, the superior investigation agency and Unit 3 had been combing through this place for quite a few days, so it was very “clean” too.

There were no other visitors anymore. Police tape was stretched across the door.
The calender in the living room was still on Wednesday's page. It was the day of his murder. It had already been three days since then.

I remembered that Min-Jun once mentioned that he didn't like those calenders that had Sunday as the first day of the week.
He said he had always preferred Monday as the start of the week. To him, it represented a new beginning for our work.
Although, as police officers, we never really did enjoy and relax on the weekends.



The bowls and dishes in the cabinets were all spotless and meticulously stacked.
There weren't many clothes in the closet. I remembered every single one.
A whole bunch of old DVD discs were stacked on the TV stand. All of them were military documentaries about wars and weapons.

I walked around the whole apartment several times, but I couldn't find anything relevant to his personal connections.
I lay down on the couch and stared at the ceiling that wasn't too high up, feeling like I had run into a dead end.



According to Jeagal Wan-Yeom, Lieutenant Kang was definitely innocent, because they were drinking together at the time of Min-Jun's death.
However, drinking with a gangster was not going to be a very convincing alibi for him.
Besides, it might cause other unnecessary problems.
At this point, the only way to prove Lieutenant Kang's innocence was to find the real murderer.

I had also gotten some information about Officer Min-Jun himself from Jeagal.
Officer Min-Jun used to have a criminal record because he had been involved in a murder.
For some reason the case had been dropped, and there probably weren't any records of it, either.
At the very least, there had been nothing about this in the electronic records in the police station's archives.
Of course, not many people knew about this at all.



Moreover, Officer Min-Jun was not just a casual military and weapon aficionado.
He had privately purchased lots of regulated and even banned weapons through multiple shady channels.
His arsenal could probably arm a small team of special ops soldiers.
However, Jeagal had said that he wasn't sure if his special hobby was relevant to his death.

The information that did have a direct connection to the case was in regards to surveillance tapes.
All of the surveillance videos from near the apartment building on the day of the murder were gone.
Therefore, it was very likely that Officer Min-Jun had been killed in his own home.
Unfortunately, there hadn't been any witnesses who might have seen if he had any visitors that day.

Overall, although I had gathered a lot of potentially valuable information, I still had no clue as to the true identity of the killer.
Yawn, and I was getting sleepier the more I thought about it.

Just as I was falling asleep, I felt something on my butt.
I put my hand into the back pocket of my pants and took out Officer Min-Jun's keys.
There was a key chain fob that was in the shape of a telephone.



I remembered the fob really well.
There were not many keys on the chain, but the fob, however, seemed way too big and inconvenient.

I remembered that I had once been pouring some water for Officer Min-Jun while he was reading a new edition of a firearms encyclopedia.
I was peeking at the book over his shoulder when I accidentally spilled the water all over his desk.
Officer Min-Jun immediately pulled out some napkins and started wiping his keys and the fob while cursing at me.
He did not wipe the book first!

…
…...
…......
Could it be?

I went into the kitchen, found some flour and sprinkled it on the fob.
I shook it and then blew on it.

It worked!



1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9.
These were probably the most frequently used digits.
I tried pushing them. The buttons on the fob could indeed be pressed!

It looked like this could be a passcode to something.
However, I didn't know what the passcode was for, or what the passcode would be.

Speaking of code, I could vaguely recall that Officer Min-Jun had once told me about a series of mystic numbers, which might just have something to do with this.
But I remembered that those mystic numbers had only six digits, but there were seven potential digits here.
Could it be that the passcode was changed often?

I seemed to recall that there were some relevant formulas.
Officer Min-Jun had written those down for me while trying to explain how mysical the numbers were.



Okay, regardless, I should give it a try.
Let me think... the code was probably ------
1,
2,
8,
5,
7,
4,

Nothing happened.
No, I couldn't just try a random combination. There were too many possibilities.
Six digits... six digits... why would there be one too many being pressed on the fob?

I was certain that Officer Min-Jun had written the numbers down on the corner of the piece of paper that I had written my report on.
Maybe I had written something else on it later?
It was so long ago! I must have thrown it away.

Argh, this was so frustrating! What on earth was the passcode?!

Chang Gyeong-Min



***

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