Part 61: Key Evidence

_{content warning: severe eye trauma}

That's right, we officially have a time limit- and make no mistake, it's an instant game over the moment that timer reaches zero. And yes, that timer is going even while we're reading letters and solving puzzles- which means if you're playing this yourself you might have to scramble to solve the remaining letters based on how long these take you.

...As far as the LP goes, though, the timer's not particularly going to be much of an issue (since, well, I've played the game before, I know what our goal is here), but regardless- we're officially on a deadline now to help our remaining mortals... so we don't have any more time to waste.

[BGM: Lost Memories]






NEW MESSAGE: Ye



NEW MESSAGE: Let's Go Home



NEW MESSAGE: My Father



NEW MESSAGE: Key Evidence



NEW MESSAGE: This Is My Justice

We've got most of the remaining letters already here- though we still don't have all the answers as to what we're looking for, we still have an end goal in sight. We're going to start by continuing our path with Chang...



…

[BGM: No Escape from Here]


Key Evidence

The wind was so strong that I could barely open my eyes when I came out of Officer Min-Jun's home.
I held the recorder in my hand as tightly as I could.
It was the final lead that Officer Min-Jun had left for us.
It was also the only evidence that could prove Lieutenant Kang's innocence.

Lieutenant Kim had been behind everything the entire time.
No wonder he wouldn't let me get anywhere near the case.
I would never have expected that I would be living in a movie thriller about traitors in the police force.



I put the recorder into the back pocket of my pants, when I sensed somebody looking at me from a nearby building.
I looked up just in time to see a dark shadow moving away from the window.
I had a bad feeling, so I started running.
No matter what happened, I had to take the evidence to the police station and hand it to someone I could trust.

On my way back to the station there was a pedestrian bridge.
At the other end of the bridge were some woods.
I could see eight, no, nine amateurs hiding in the shadows of the trees, staring at me.
One of them had just turned off his flashlight.
Their weaknesses were out in the open.



So these were the people who Lieutenant Kim had sent after me?
No, maybe they had been sent here to kill me.
Perhaps the shadow I had seen earlier in the window saw me leaving, and they had realized that I might have something on them.

Even still, these losers were no match for me at all.
Fine, come at me. I might as well just send them all into jail!

I stomped my right foot hard on the ground and dashed across the bridge in a zigzag.
I heard 16 gunshots, but by the time the bullet casings fell to the ground, I was already hiding high up in a tree in the woods.

The mob beneath me was panicking. After all, they were just a bunch of pathetic lackeys who had no formal training.
Some of them were even stupid enough to turn their flashlights back on, exposing their positions.



I had always thought that the police were a symbol of justice.
Never would I have ever imagined that one day, I would be fighting against them.
But I knew better now.
It didn't matter who the opponent was.
What mattered was that------

Justice Will Prevail!



I checked again to make sure the recorder was still tucked safely in my back pocket. Then I held my “tail” in my palm.
I leapt down from the tree and pounced Baihui Xue on three men under the cover of the rustling leaves. These idiots all had their flashlights on.
One was wearing a Hawaiian shirt, another was in a pair of beach shorts, and the last one was in a leather jacket.
All three of them fell, one after another.

There were six other men nearby. I climbed back up the tree.
I repeated the attacks several times.
Soon, I had taken several of them out.

A bullet grazed me near my back pocket. I could feel the burn on my butt.
I reached for my back pocket.
I jumped down, out of the tree.

The ninth man was also taken out after I hit him in the same acupuncture point.



The bullet had punctured my back pocket.
The recorder I had put inside it was smashed into pieces and scattered all over the grass.
Damn it!! I was too careless!

I thought it was the ninth man who had fired at me.
But I realized that he wasn't even carrying a gun when I had come down out of the tree.

I looked around.
I couldn't see any sign of a tenth person.
Whoever it was, they must be someone good, and they might have already left the scene.

Their only purpose must have been to destroy the evidence, not to kill me.
They must have had total confidence that even if I had told someone about what I had witnessed and heard in person, no one would ever believe me.
Now I had lost my only concrete evidence.



Damn it, damn it! How could I let this happen!
I punched a nearby tree out of frustration.
I hit it so hard that a few bird nests fell out.
I heard birds chirping in panic above me, and the sound of their wings flapping.

Please, Buddha. Please guide me.
If I can avenge Officer Min-Jun, prove Lieutenant Kang's innocence, and defend justice.
I am willing to give everything I have.

Chang Gyeong-Min



Well, Chang's definitely got things covered combat-wise, but he needs to be able to avoid losing the recorder in the process, so let's see what we can do to fix this. We do have a few Bad endings, so let's show those off first.





“Don't move.”
I heard a man's squeaky voice not too far behind me.
I thought that it was the ninth man who had fired at me. I didn't realize that there was a tenth person.

“Where is it?”

I felt a chill go down my spine.
This one wasn't an easy opponent.
Nevertheless, I would never tell him.

“Hehe, you must consider yourself loyal, someone with integrity, right? Let me tell you something, you're only being a fool. Farewell forever, you stupid fool.”

My life ended in such an unexpected and jarring manner.
I saw a blood-covered bullet fly out of my own forehead before everything turned dark, and I fell into emptiness...



Not ideal, obviously. We need to maneuver Chang into a position where he can deal with the tenth man without being killed or losing the recorder- so let's see what happens if we get Chang to play along.





I felt my butt with my hand.
Luckily, the bullet had only grazed my pants and hadn't hurt me.
Feeling a little relieved, I looked up to see where the bullet had come from.

The moon peeked out from behind the rain clouds.
The tenth person walked out from behind a tree four meters away.
Moonlight shone through the trees and cast a spotty shadow upon his face.

It was a face that resembled an old and cunning fox.
He looked to be around 40 years old. His eyes and mouth were slightly bent, forming a ruthless expression on his face.

“Where is it?”



Without saying one word, I flung my “tail” towards him and it quickly wrapped around his right hand, which was holding his gun.
The “tail” was wrapping more and more tightly around his wrist. But before I could force him to drop the gun he raised his left hand to support the other.
Then he pulled the trigger.

I raised my left arm in front of my face.
The bullet pierced through the skin and drilled into the muscle.
However, it stopped next to my radial bone.
I put down my arm, but before I could see what was going on the old fox had charged right up in front of me.
He poked two fingers straight into my eyes.



A horrifying scream echoed in the woods.
The birds fluttered and scattered as they flew away.

“I... I surrender...”
I knelt on the ground and covered my eyes with one hand while warm blood oozed out of them. I pounded the ground, defeated.

“What you want is in the hole of the trunk... of that tree... over there...”

The old fox heard what I had said, walked in front of me and pushed his gun against my head.
“Oh, that's an easy place to look. Thanks.”

A deafening gunshot exploded next to my ear.
I collapsed to the ground. Blood was coming out of my mouth.

“I feel like leaving you alive would cause too much trouble. I've always hated trouble.”



“Who... are... you?”
I wanted to know before I died.

“Oh, me? I'm Joo Min-Gyu, the Musun Gang's... next leader.”



Once again, obviously not ideal, but we now know the identity of our mystery assailant, I guess! He's not anyone we've encountered previously, though; this is more just a confirmation that Kim isn't just using his police unit to achieve his goals, he's working with Musun Gang members too- the corruption runs deeper than was initially obvious.

That said, we obviously don't want Chang to get shot here, so we're going to have to switch the order up a little- the thing we were missing was where Chang hides the recorder before getting involved with the tenth man. Hiding it close to us just results in Chang being shot on the spot, so we want to hide it before Chang jumps out of the tree...





I felt my butt with my hand.
Luckily, the bullet had only grazed my pants and hadn't hurt me.
Feeling a little relieved, I looked up to see where the bullet had come from.

The moon peeked out from behind the rain clouds.
The tenth person walked out from behind a tree four meters away.
Moonlight shone through the trees and cast a spotty shadow upon his face.

It was a face that resembled an old and cunning fox.
He looked to be around 40 years old. His eyes and mouth were slightly bent, forming a ruthless expression on his face.

“Where is it?”
His voice was squeaky, a perfect match for his looks.



Without saying one word, I flung my “tail” towards him and it quickly wrapped around his right hand, which was holding his gun.
The “tail” was wrapping more and more tightly around his wrist.
But before I could force him to drop the gun he raised his left hand to support the other.
Then he pulled the trigger.

I raised my left arm in front of my face.
The bullet pierced through the skin and drilled into the muscle.
However, it stopped next to my radial bone.
I put down my arm, but before I could see what was going on the old fox had charged right up in front of me.
He poked two fingers straight into my eyes.



A horrifying scream echoed in the woods.
The birds fluttered and scattered as they flew away.

“I... I surrender...”
I knelt on the ground and covered my eyes with one hand while warm blood oozed out of them. I pounded the ground, defeated.

“What you want is in a bird nest... in that tree... over there...”

The old fox heard what I had said and walked behind me and to my left.
He stood there for a moment and bent his knees just a little.
The final piece of evidence was going to fall into his hands.

[BGM: Evolving Mood]


Or not!

My “tail” morphed into a silver spear, heading straight towards the old fox's chest.
Attack #10 ------ Heart Piercing Spear!



The old fox must have never expected that a blind foe could still fight back.
He probably regretted not killing me when he had the chance.
But his chance was gone.

The “tail” went through his heart, and he could only let out a gasp.
Then he fell to the ground.
He was dead.



I stood back up, wiped the blood off of my face so that I could see a little, albeit not well.
Despite my mostly red, limited field of vision, I jumped up the tree and fetched the recorder from the bird nest.

I couldn't delay for one more moment.
I continued running towards the station, hoping tha tnothing else would go wrong.



…

[BGM: Lost Memories]




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