Chapter 3: Strays of Seoheung

March 7th

The steering wheel moved in his hands, turning along its axis.

Mu-yun turned it appropriately, then held it steady and drove down the road.

“If you turn left here, where does it go?”

At Sergeant Park’s question from the passenger seat, Mu-yun glanced to the left.

He saw Seoheung Cheonggu Apartment complex.

“Seoheung 12th Street.

The left turn leading to Hongdu Elementary School.”

“Correct.”

Mu-yun’s tense shoulders relaxed slightly.

Sergeant Park grinned at him.

“If you go straight north along this road?”

“You reach Bongosan Mountain following the Donghaean-ro.”

Mu-yun answered as calmly as possible.

“You’ve gotten familiar with the main roads, haven’t you?”

“…Yes.”

Patrolling and driving through every corner of the neighborhood, he had ended up memorizing large sections as a whole.

The jurisdiction of Seoheung Police Box included Seoheung 3-dong in Jeongpyeong City, as well as the surrounding Bongosan Mountain and part of the industrial complex.

“I sometimes go around even after work, too.”

Since he couldn’t rely on the navigation every time a report came in, the answer was to learn the roads by driving them as much as possible.

“Good job, Officer So.”

Sergeant Park Da-ho clapped his hands mischievously.

Whenever he made that expression, something inevitably came up that he had to do like a homework assignment, so Mu-yun swallowed dryly.

“Then let’s go to Motgol Park.”

Mu-yun’s eyes moved busily.

He needed to turn left from the current road, so he changed lanes.

Instead of giving directions, Sergeant Park looked around, checking the front and sides.

Mu-yun let out a long breath and turned the wheel according to the signal.

A sign indicating Seoheung 12th Street appeared above his head.

Passing the high-rise apartments on both sides, he changed lanes again to turn left and waited.

After making several turns, Mu-yun spotted a familiar elementary school and narrowed his eyes.

“This is…”

“20th Street.

You should have gone a bit further and turned down 19th Street.”

It seemed he had come down the wrong alley.

Mu-yun let out a pained groan.

As Sergeant Park said, after going around one more alley, a small park wedged between apartment buildings came into view.

When he parked the patrol car in front of it, Sergeant Park unbuckled his seatbelt and got out.

Mu-yun immediately followed.

All public restrooms in parks within their jurisdiction were subject to inspection.

“Let’s just check here and head back.”

Wondering if they were already going back, Mu-yun raised his wrist to check the time.

There were exactly ten minutes left until their return time after finishing patrol.

He walked toward the public restroom at one end of the park, memorizing the route as if reviewing the drive.

After confirming that the emergency bell and security devices were working properly, the two washed their hands and came out.

A person flinched upon seeing Mu-yun emerge from the women’s restroom, but upon noticing the familiar police duty uniform, they became indifferent again.

Still feeling awkward about that, Mu-yun fidgeted with his fluorescent vest.

Sergeant Park saw that and laughed again.

“Officer So, how long are you going to keep hesitating like that?”

“I know, right.”

Mu-yun let out a sigh with an awkward smile.

“Alright.

On the way back, let’s stop by Seoheung Senior Center.

Where do we need to go?”

At the sudden question, Mu-yun wrinkled the bridge of his nose.

“Take Geumjin-ro, turn left in front of Saman Park Mansion, and it’s on the right on Seoheung 16th Street.”

He answered without delay and glanced around.

Sergeant Park gave him a thumbs up, as if to say ‘good job.’

“Great.

We can’t be late on a dispatch, so step on it quickly.”

“Yes.”

Mu-yun got back into the patrol car with a lighter step than before and grabbed the steering wheel again.

***

“In front of the 119 apartment complex is the sports park, past the parking lot and straight up—”

He looked up and saw a dome-shaped, pointed roof resembling a spire beyond the darkness.

Mu-yun scratched his head.

As he walked toward it, a kindergarten sign appeared.

Passing a yellow bus with ‘Child Protection Vehicle’ written largely on it, he walked up the back road of the apartment complex.

It was an extension of his duties even after work, and also continued studying.

Combining an after-dinner walk with studying, Mu-yun learned the roads by checking the ones he hadn’t taken yet.

He had been so busy unpacking and organizing for the past week that this was a rare leisurely walk.

“Going this way leads to a mountain path, a temple on the mountainside.

Across the way, the apartment complex name changes.”

Moving his fingers here and there to orient himself, he looked like a crazy person muttering to himself, but there was no better way to memorize.

Mu-yun looked up at the apartment buildings that were attached but had different exterior walls and muttered the names again.

Perhaps because the only thing behind the apartment complex was a remote road running along Bongosan Mountain, there was thankfully no one around.

After following the road for a while, Mu-yun stopped abruptly.

Something was wriggling below a high retaining wall built of concrete at the foot of the mountain.

He narrowed his eyes.

As he drew closer, a more detailed shape became visible.

It was a person.

Someone lying face down on the cover that spanned the drainage ditch at the base of the retaining wall.

“Woof!”

Mu-yun flinched at the sudden dog bark.

A large, black-furred dog moved in the shadowy darkness, blending in like camouflage, and only then became visible.

“Don’t bark, Kkammi.

I’m sorry.”

An apology came from the person who hadn’t even lifted their head.

The dog, which was quite large in size, sat quietly as if guarding its owner’s side.

Getting closer, Mu-yun saw that it was a sleek, handsome-looking creature.

He moved a bit closer to the sound of groaning.

The dog was sending its gaze toward the stranger approaching its owner, and could suddenly rush at him, so Mu-yun moved as slowly as possible.

“Excuse me.

It looks like you’re having a problem.

If you don’t mind, can I help?”

His professional conscience wouldn’t let him just pass by, so Mu-yun spoke up.

The broad back lying face down flinched.

“It’s fine.”

Wondering if the job was really done, the large man who had been stuffing his upper body into the drainage ditch finally lifted his head.

Curious about what was going on, Mu-yun leaned down slightly.

A cat was being pulled out in the man’s hands as he raised his upper body.

The first thing Mu-yun noticed was its messy, grimy fur, suggesting it wasn’t a pet.

It was a cat with common black stripes mixed with gray fur, forming a pattern among stray cats.

From the situation, it seemed the stray cat had gotten stuck in the drainage ditch and a passerby had rescued it.

The man, who had pulled out the limp, weakened cat, muttered with a sigh.

“Rambo, where on earth did you get stuck this time?”

Mu-yun’s eyebrows rose at the man’s profile as he spoke to the cat in a familiar tone, as if he knew it.

“And where did you burn your fur this time?”

The man’s laughter as he lifted the cat wearing thick gloves was remarkably gentle.

Mu-yun thought it was fortunate and straightened his bent body.

Then he prepared to quickly leave the spot.

Perhaps that thought wasn’t entirely unnoticed, because the cat held in the man’s hand suddenly moved its body.

“Yaaooowww!”

As soon as the man completely emerged from the drainage ditch, the cat swung its front paws.

Taking a series of rapid thump-thump punches, the man loosened his grip, and the creature landed nimbly on the ground, then immediately bolted away.

“He ran away again.

That little bastard.”

Stunned by the sudden turn of events, Mu-yun stood blank for a moment.

The man who had lost the cat clicked his tongue and finally turned his head.

In the darkness that had grown deeper over the alley, the orange streetlight shining from a distance cast a backlight.

The man’s eyes narrowed.

“Unit 305?”

The thick eyebrows of the firefighter who lived in the front house twitched.

Mu-yun put on the civil complaint smile he instinctively wore when facing a huge nuisance.

“Yes.

Well, then.”

He nodded his head and strode off.

This was not a relationship he wanted to encounter three days in a row.

Mu-yun, who had been avoiding him all day for fear of running into him at work, clicked his tongue at his own stupidity.

His steps, as he shuddered and shook his shoulders, were as swift as the cat that had just run away.

***

March 8th

“Here.”

Sergeant Song Hee-il from Team 2 handed over some snacks.

“Thank you.”

Mu-yun sat down next to Probationary Officer Lee Eun-shin, his colleague at the police box, and bowed his head.

His senior, Sergeant Park, brought coffee and placed it on the table.

Normally, they would have had a handover with Team 4, but due to personal circumstances that swapped the duty roster, their shift change was with Team 2.

Eun-shin, who had worked a night shift followed by a day shift as backup with her senior, had dark circles under her eyes.

“There’s a lot today.”

“Yeah, we set a record yesterday.”

At Sergeant Song’s words, the Team 1 members each checked their duty logs and patrol logs.

“215 dispatches?”

Sergeant Lee Dae-hoon, who almost never changed his expression from a gentle, Buddha-like smile, frowned for once.

“All of them?”

“That’s what I’m saying.

Must have been some bad luck.”

Sergeant Song let out a hollow laugh.

Mu-yun also read the report belatedly.

It seemed the residents of Seoheung 3-dong had spent Friday night quite spectacularly.

“I cleaned toilets forty times.”

Eun-shin grumbled that she thought she’d been hired by the police box as a bathroom cleaning service, not as a police officer.

“What’s this now?”

Sergeant Park spat out a dissatisfied groan as if he had seen something.

Mu-yun glanced over.

In his senior’s hand was a thick stack of documents.

“Missing person reports?”

They were missing person reports in the same handwriting, as if filed all at once by some organization.

The only unusual thing was that the subjects were animals, not people.

“I really hate this.”

Sergeant Park even slumped his shoulders, showing clear annoyance.

“What?”

Sergeant Song asked sullenly, as if displeased with his reaction.

Sergeant Park tapped the thick stack of papers with his fingertip.

“No, it’s just… you know.

They’re not even pets.

All stray cats and stray dogs, and it’s obvious how it ends.

Most of them are probably dead from disease or accidents.

And some people probably abandoned their own animals and reported them missing.

It’s not like this is the first or second time.”

Sergeant Song’s expression turned somewhat grim, and the atmosphere sharpened.

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