The Reunion

♣ Chapter 3

“Those guys are venting because it’s just us in that meeting room,” said Yonghyeon. “If they really hate this job, why aren’t they requesting a transfer?”

Joowon nodded and inhaled some of the smoke that came from Yonghyeon’s cigarette. She thought she’d quit smoking for good, but the smell of it reminded her how much she enjoyed its bittersweet taste. She found it harder to resist them in times like this.

Joowon took out the small tin case again and popped another candy in her mouth. She crunched it like she always did.

“If I were you, I’d rather start smoking again. How can you quit cigarettes but not candies?”

“Oh, I don’t know. I just feel empty without these.”

“I’m telling ya, it’s your heart that feels empty.”

“Ugh, here we go again.”

Yonghyeon was talkative, and most of his talking consisted of life lectures. Joowon estimated that he had lectured her more than both of her parents combined. No wonder everyone called him a boomer, but she dared never say that to his face. She still respected him as a superior officer. Instead, she started picking her ear to tune some of it out.

“You should start seeing somebody before you lose those good looks of yours. You’ll regret it if you miss out on the prime of your life.”

“I think I need rest more than love after being on a stakeout for days, partner.”

“Ehh, there you go making excuses again. You gotta stay motivated! Let me tell you how I met my wife and got married. I was—”

“Oh, please. You’ve told me this story while drunk at least 560 times. You went on a blind date because your mother told you to, and there she was, the love of your life.”

“Did I...? Well, who else am I going to tell if not you?” Yonghyeon said, awkwardly nudging Joowon’s shoulder. “It’s just... you know how rough our jobs can be. All we see are lying criminals, and even if we do a great job, not many people recognize that. I mean, I have someone to think of when I’m having a hard day, but you don’t seem to have anyone.”

“What’s up with all this cheesy stuff?” teased Joowon. “Someone’s sentimental today.”

“Hey, that reminds me... I remember you were seeing someone in your rookie years. That was the last time you dated, wasn’t it? Man, time just flew. And how old are you this year?”

“I’m thirty-two.”

“Aw, man, really? I was thirty-two when you transferred to the unit!”

Joowon forced a faint smile. The conversation had taken an unexpected turn. It also felt strange to realize that years had passed.

Just hearing the story made her tense as her ex’s face resurfaced in her mind. This happened every time, and she had accepted that it was beyond her control. Every time she was reminded of the story, this feeling caught in her throat.

“Do you still have feelings left for...?”

“Ugh, come on. Stop bringing this up already.”

“But you cried like a baby when you broke up.”

“Let’s wrap things up and call it a day. I really want to go home.”

“I also remember you saying that was your first love—Ow!” Yonghyeon yelped as Joowon pinched his arm as they walked back inside the station. “Ouch! That hurts! I’m still your superior, you know.”

Yonghyeon got back at Joowon with a brief headlock. As they wrestled, Joowon was able to swallow her uneasy feeling.

I guess this is something I gotta deal with as well, Joowon thought. It was just another ordinary day for her.

***

When she was in the third grade, Joowon spent her winter break at a sports club. She had a talent for track, so people suggested she make a go of becoming an athlete. The next year, she transferred to a school with a track and field team. After she chose to commit to athletics, coaches invited her to try their sports. From fencing to soccer, every coach wanted her for her quick feet.

But of all the sports she tried, Joowon liked the track the most. She didn’t care that it wasn’t a popular sport, she just loved outpacing competitors, overtaking other runners on the course. She loved the way her heart pounded so hard that it felt like it might explode.

Most of all, she was good at it. With everyone around her praising her talent, she really thought she was born to run. She always wanted to do better, and she believed she had talent enough to match her competitive drive. But she soon realized that the other athletic kids were just as talented.

Even so, through sheer effort, Joowon had decent prospects throughout high school. She even planned to run as a professional athlete. So when most of her friends were studying to get into college, she was preparing for a different path. Instead of preparing for the KSAT, she was preparing for a tournament that recruited athletes for the national team. Of course, every athlete’s dream is to make it onto the national team, but she aimed for it nonetheless.

By the time she realized she’d never make it, she couldn’t imagine living a different life. She no longer knew what future she had to run to.

But that had all happened more than a decade ago.

“Joowon! The other side!”

Even before Yonghyeon finished his words, Joowon pivoted.

They were inside a subway station during the early morning rush hour. People were literally swarming the place, so it was hard to make her way through.

The guy who planned this must’ve taken all these variables into account, Joowon thought. She jumped nimbly over the turnstiles, descended taking several stairs at once, and quickly made her way to the platform. She was running out of breath, but had no time to catch it.

Their operation was to arrest the general manager of the gang, Gwangsoo Choi. While the unit was waiting for direction from the brass, the manager of the scam call center, Dongyoung Lee, sent them a text message. It said that Gwangsoo Choi told him to stash the money inside a locker at a subway station.

The detectives let Dongyoung Lee follow the instructions under surveillance and went for a stakeout. About an hour later, Gwangsoo Choi showed up.

Team leader Giseok was monitoring the whole thing through the CCTVs; Sunggook and Jaepil were stationed at the convenience store nearby; and Yonghyeon and Joowon were sitting on a bench inside the station. It seemed like everything was going well.

[Hold up. He’s got company following him,] Giseok announced over the radio.

Giseok was sure that this guy was working with the target of the day, Gwangsoo, but couldn’t tell if he was a lookout or a superior. Judging by how he gave orders to Gwangsoo, Giseok thought it could be the mastermind behind the whole scam. Even if he wasn’t, he was at least a key suspect. They couldn’t miss this chance.

[Sunggook and Jaepil, you two take the guy in the back. Joowon, Yonghyeon, you go after Gwangsoo Choi. Stay sharp, people. If we lose them now, things will get much more complicated.]

In cases like this, speed was everything.

If they slipped out of this country and maybe ran off to China, it was game over for the unit. The detectives could request international cooperation, but the bureaucratic rigmarole would give the criminals time to destroy evidence and flee. From there they would probably resume the scam, as it had been successful, sending the unit back to square one.

In that case, it was likely Joowon and her team would continue working overtime for many more months.

They couldn’t let that happen. It needed to stop.

The plan was to catch the suspects as they took the money from the locker, but things started to go wrong when Gwangsoo Choi’s phone rang. If he realized he was being followed, he would try to escape, so the officers were coming from both directions. But when he got the call, he started scanning the area, and he and his company split off and started running.

“Sh*t...”

Joowon’s steps faltered. As the train was arriving at the platform, a crowd of people briefly blocked Joowon’s line of sight, and she lost Gwangsoo Choi. She was growing frustrated.

She was trying to decide why she was a detective, but she already knew one thing: she wanted to get him. They couldn’t miss this chance, no matter what. Whatever it took.

Joowon wasn’t a detective out of a sheer sense of justice.

Whenever she chased a lead, she always spoke to the victims first. This time, there was an eighty-year-old lady who’d fainted after losing the college fund she had saved for her grandchild. A lady even once brought her kids with her to the station, looking for the middle-aged father of the family. He had disappeared, too ashamed to tell his family he had fallen for a scam.

Victims were often berated for being foolish. Some looked like they’d lost their will to live.

It wasn’t just money that the scammers stole—they robbed their victims of their lives. It was totally different from a crime of passion or impulse; it was more like a carefully planned assault that left victims unable to return to their old life.

No human being had the right to do such a thing. That was Joowon’s bottom line, a minimum rule she tried to keep.

[I don’t think Gwangsoo Choi made it out yet.] They heard Giseok’s voice through the earpiece.

In a situation like this, it was nearly impossible to identify the suspect through cameras. What was more, there were many blind spots where the team could lose line of sight. And there were just too damn many stairway entrances.