Chapter 20: The Man in the Black Raincoat

It was a not-very-wide clearing.

It was a bit too small to even call a clearing, but there was a makeshift shelter made of styrofoam boxes, placed by someone in a spot where at least a medium-sized mat could be spread between the trees.

If it hadn’t been covered with plastic to keep out the rain, it would have looked like someone had illegally dumped trash.

They said they took away all leftover food to prevent other animals from coming, but a single damp metal food bowl was left sitting off to one side.

“Rambo?”

Tae-i called carefully, tapping the can.

Even with the rain falling like this, there wasn’t a single cat in sight—where had they all gone?

Mu-yun carefully held his breath and listened intently.

He wasn’t familiar with the cats here yet, and since strangers had entered their territory, there were surely some that had run away or were hiding.

Even though Tae-i tapped the can and called the cats, not a single tail appeared.

Mu-yun blinked.

“Did they move somewhere else because of the rain?”

It didn’t seem like it, but the words came out anyway.

There was hardly anything to block the wind and rain in the clearing except the styrofoam box, but it was under a pine tree thick with needles year-round, so not much rain fell there.

Tae-i carefully checked inside the box shelter, but it was completely empty.

Sighs escaped from both of them.

Mu-yun continuously swept his bangs back with his fingers, as if trying to sort out his tangled thoughts.

For some reason, he felt particularly exhausted today.

Because of what he had said, Tae-i had come out to help him on his days off, and it felt like he was doing him wrong.

Maybe, as Sergeant Park said, Rambo was safely somewhere, and his ominous feeling was just a wild imagination.

“Let’s go down.”

Mu-yun’s voice was damp and sagged.

Tae-i looked at him and nodded.

The clumps of mud stuck to the bottom of his shoes were heavier than before.

Mu-yun clicked his tongue, feeling a tightness in his chest.

Dissatisfaction with himself suddenly reared its head.

“Let’s come back when it’s clear next time.”

Tae-i exhaled deeply and spoke.

“You want to come here again?”

At Mu-yun’s question, Tae-i blinked casually.

“If it bothers you, you have to see it through.

You can’t ignore a person’s sixth sense.

Besides, I’m not the type to give up easily either.”

At his joking addition, Mu-yun let out a snort like a sigh.

“Fine.

Let’s come when it’s clear.

Today’s not the day.”

His gaze swept over the old, worn blanket inside the styrofoam box.

Next time they came―

Clang―!

Mu-yun immediately spun around at the sound, almost like a scream.

Tae-i was also staring in the same direction.

The sound had come from somewhere in the mountain.

They both stopped even breathing and waited.

Then the cry came again.

It was a very sharp, pained, and fierce animal cry.

As soon as he gauged the direction, Mu-yun literally sprang forward.

There was no path, but there was no hesitation either.

The mud filled the way, and his legs slipped on the slope as if all friction had disappeared.

Wet leaves didn’t help either.

But staggering, Mu-yun pushed forward relentlessly.

A sharp cry and scream rang out through the trees once more.

Stepping on branches, he forced his body forward.

Even though it had rained, the branches that had been dry for a long time made even louder cracking sounds.

Even if he couldn’t catch the cause of the scream with his own hands, he hoped it would be startled and run away by such a noisy commotion.

Using his arm to shield his face, Mu-yun took a large, churning step.

His body swayed as if walking through swimming pool water.

The pouring rain ran down his head and into his clothes.

Roughly wiping the moisture away as if scrubbing his face, he opened his narrowed eyes and looked ahead.

Behind a tree’s shadow, there was someone wearing a black raincoat.

And not just standing there—they were clearly running away.

“Stop!”

Even though he was in plain clothes, he was still a police officer.

At Mu-yun’s shout, the black raincoat in the dark mountain shade stopped abruptly.

Mu-yun barely managed to escape the dry vines that had tangled like a net.

He quickly scanned his surroundings with his eyes.

“I’ll check.”

Unlike Mu-yun, who was focused on the culprit, Tae-i, who had followed right behind, saw what he needed to see a bit faster.

Despite his large build, his light and agile body headed toward the corner of a spot that was hardly different from the small clearing they had just been in.

Only a limp tail came into Mu-yun’s view.

It was the same color fur and mackerel pattern as Rambo.

He bit his lip hard.

Still, he tried not to lose his composure.

He slowly advanced toward where the culprit was.

He wasn’t in uniform and wasn’t carrying anything.

Still, the person was a flagrant offender, so he had to arrest him.

Mu-yun’s head tangled in complexity.

“I am placing you under emergency arrest for violation of the Animal Protection Act.”

He put his hand in his pocket and rummaged.

He hadn’t brought handcuffs, so there was no way he would feel anything.

He just pretended, moving a bit closer.

He planned to get within arm’s reach and then pounce and pin him down.

He swallowed deeply.

The black raincoat, which had been standing still without fleeing, moved.

It was as if they had been waiting for that moment.

As the culprit charged in the opposite direction from which they came, Mu-yun quickly reached out, but his foot slipped on the rain-soaked ground.

Letting out a low groan, he fell, then immediately jumped back up.

“Stop right there!”

He glanced back at Tae-i once and then ran forward.

The raindrops falling in spots on the broad back, hunched as if stuck to the ground, were ominous, but he had to chase the culprit.

As the culprit slid down the mountain, Mu-yun slid down after him.

Emotions he wasn’t accustomed to surged up.

He couldn’t tell what they were.

Though he kept slipping and getting injured, he didn’t take his eyes off the figure running away in the distance.

Unlike him, who didn’t even know where he was running, the culprit ran through the trees as if seeing everything clearly.

And in an instant, he escaped the mountain.

The bastard ran briskly through unfamiliar terrain, as if he hadn’t known such a path existed here.

Once he emerged from the mountain, it was the public parking lot.

Mu-yun gritted his teeth and ran.

Regret belatedly washed over him—he should have just lunged and arrested him before he ran.

“Stop!”

No matter how much he shouted to stop, the culprit didn’t stop.

The bastard ran away quickly.

It was lamentable that there was no one in sight today to catch the bastard as he fled the parking lot.

Mu-yun ran with all his might and finally caught up to the culprit’s tail.

It was close enough that a little more reach would touch him.

His breath was ragged, his throat burning.

Even though his entire body was soaked by the pouring rain, his nose and mouth felt completely dry.

“There!

I said stop!”

Mu-yun’s hand, gritting his teeth, finally grabbed the bastard’s clothes.

To stop him, he pulled hard on the slippery waterproof fabric.

“Ugh!”

The raincoat tore off in an instant, as if shedding a skin and escaping.

As if mocking Mu-yun, who staggered from the loss of resistance, the culprit didn’t stop and ran into the four-lane road.

It was the edge of the road, but it was still a road where cars were speeding by.

The bastard ran fearlessly.

A car approaching from a distance honked violently.

The bastard crossed the road in an instant and ran into the alley on the opposite side.

Mu-yun bit his lip and ran after him.

“You crazy bastards!!”

The driver, who had stopped the car sliding due to the rainy day’s braking distance, rolled down the window and hurled insults.

Mu-yun, feeling sorry, bowed his head several times and raised his hand in apology, then entered the alley entrance where the bastard had disappeared.

Seoheung 14th Street, an old town, still had the unique atmosphere and scenery of an old neighborhood along its narrow alleys.

Running along rough concrete walls that looked like solidified cement, Mu-yun scanned the alleys.

There were only a few forks to exit this alley.

The further in you went, the more it became a dead end.

After passing the first fork, then the second, then the third, the bastard was still not in sight.

Mu-yun sped up a bit.

The bastard’s backside, which had been invisible, finally appeared only when it came back out onto the main road, not the narrow alley.

The bastard, who had quickly jumped across the two-lane road, was hiding again in the narrow alley ahead.

Seeing the culprit run into a dead-end alley with no exit except the entrance, Mu-yun followed, calming his explosive breath.

The fact that it was his second jaywalking bothered him, but that was something to reflect on after catching the culprit.

“This is…”

The rainy day made the atmosphere completely different and unfamiliar, but Mu-yun had been here recently.

Recalling the memory of patrolling with Sergeant Park, he let out several short breaths.

Greedily sucking in the moisture-laden air with his dry tongue, he walked slowly.

The bastard couldn’t escape this alley.

Even if he ran, all that was left were the walls of other people’s houses.

Following the high wall that seemed too high to climb over, Mu-yun walked in, tense.

He carefully checked the buildings bordering the alley, not missing any, and pushed deeper into it.

After looking around, he arrived in front of the abandoned motel at the very end of the alley.

Mu-yun rubbed his face with his wet palm.

If anyone had moved, he would have surely noticed in this quiet alley, but there wasn’t even a trace.

However, during the way here, there had been no suspicious places.

Every gate was locked, and he hadn’t even heard the sound of anyone entering a house.

He couldn’t even tell now if the sound of the rain had erased it all.