Chapter 11: A Mess He Didn’t Ask For

“What are you talking about.
What assault.
What arrest.”

With handcuffs locked onto both wrists, Kim Yongcheol screamed at the top of his lungs and resisted wildly.

As a result, more than a dozen club guards came rushing toward the two of them all at once.

Watching the entire scene from above, Seowan clicked his tongue and pressed a hand to his forehead.

All this chaos just to grab a single witness.

If she was going to make this much noise, she might as well hang a sign on her forehead that said POLICE.

A deep sigh escaped him.

By now, the guards drawn in by Kim Yongcheol’s shouting had completely surrounded Jiwon and were threatening her.

And yet, as if she weren’t the least bit intimidated by men at least twice her size, she was dealing with them one by one, knocking them down.

Watching that made his head throb.

If only she’d think first before moving, her body wouldn’t suffer so much.

That innocent habit of acting before thinking was pathetic.

The one who deserved punishment was someone else, so why did it feel like he was the one being punished.

Deciding it was time to put an end to this, Seowan finally moved his feet toward the noisy first floor.

“Hey.
Where do you think you’re running off to.”

In the middle of an intense scuffle with the guards, Jiwon spotted Kim Yongcheol trying to flee despite the cuffs still on him and shouted urgently.

After shoving aside one bulky man blocking her path, she turned and started toward Kim Yongcheol again.

That was when—

One of the men behind her, panting heavily, raised a beer bottle high over her head.

Seeing this, Seowan’s brow twisted sharply.

The pace of his previously slow steps suddenly accelerated.

“Hey, Kim Yong—!”

Almost on instinct, he grabbed Jiwon’s wrist and yanked her toward him.

And then—

Splash.

The next moment, he was overwhelmed by an unexpected, deeply unpleasant sensation.

Catching Jiwon as she tripped over the low edge of the fountain, he ended up falling straight into the pool of water with her.

“Ugh.”

Again.

Another unpleasant, uncomfortable contact.

He could say with certainty that he had never once imagined a scene like this.

Coming out to meet a witness and ending up drenched head to toe, rolling around inside a filthy fountain—who could have predicted that.

From the first moment they met until now, he couldn’t understand why getting involved with Song Jiwon always led to situations this absurd and unbearable.

Even people who didn’t get along couldn’t possibly clash this badly.

From one thing to the next, everything was a complete mess.

Scowling deeply, he looked down at the soft, squirming woman in his arms.

Through the shirt collar pulled wide open from fighting, her soaked skin was clearly visible.

Pale, smooth skin marked with red and purple traces of struggle.

Looking at it stirred an unexpectedly awkward, almost obscene sensation.

“What the hell.”

Grinding his teeth, Seowan snapped in an irritated voice.

“What do you think you’re doing—”

“What do you mean what am I doing.
We lost him because of you.”

The woman twisted her head sharply and shoved Seowan away, striking first with her words.

Dumbfounded, Seowan frowned deeply.

“Lost what because of me.”

“Kim Yongcheol.
I was chasing him.
Why did you suddenly get in the way.”

“I saved you from getting your skull smashed in, and that’s what you say.”

At his icy rebuke, Jiwon froze and looked up at the man gripping the beer bottle.

Only then did she seem to fully realize what situation she was in and how this whole mess had happened.

Confusion flickered across her wide eyes.

By now, the men surrounding the fountain had more than doubled in number, completely encircling them.

Realizing there was no way to clean this up quietly anymore, Seowan narrowed his eyes and pulled out his badge from inside his jacket.

“I’m a police officer.
Seems there’s been a bit of a misunderstanding during an investigation, so let’s stop here and disperse.
You still want to keep your business running tonight, don’t you.”

At the word police, the club manager—who had rushed over after hearing the commotion—quickly ordered the guards to stand down.

With the situation barely settled, Seowan walked straight out of the club.

With every step he took, dirty water dripped steadily from his soaked suit.

An unbearable sense of disgust rippled through his entire body.

He had never felt this filthy in his life.

Not only had they lost the target in such a ridiculous way, but the situation had ended with him in such a humiliating state.

Anger surged at his own unbelievable appearance.

For a moment, he wondered if someone had sent Song Jiwon deliberately to test him.

If this was some cheap trick meant to leave an irreparable stain on his flawless police career.

Unable to suppress his rising fury, Seowan stopped and spun around to face Jiwon following behind him.

“If your head’s useless, at least use your body properly.
If your body’s slow, then at least be quick on the uptake.”

The woman—soaked like a drowned rat herself—glared at him with an incredulous expression, biting down hard on her scabbed, bloodied lips.

Shivering and dripping wet, no less.

That only irritated him more.

“Do you ever think at all.
He’s not even a suspect, just a witness.
Did you really think making that much noise was a good idea.
What, advertising to the whole neighborhood that you’re a cop.”

“You saw it.
He was running for his life.
That bastard definitely knows something.
How was I supposed not to grab him.
We need him to catch those assholes.”

“So did you catch him.
No.
You lost him.”

“I told you, it’s because of you.”

“Yeah.
With a cracked skull, you’d have done a great job.”

“Ha….”

Jiwon, clearly furious as well, shoved her wet hair back roughly.

“So all I need to do is bring him in.”

“What.”

“If I catch Kim Yongcheol, that’s enough, right.
He’s got handcuffs on both wrists.
He couldn’t have gone far.
I’ll go get him.
You go back to the station.
I’ll bring him in soon.”

Just as Seowan was about to snap at her for spouting more nonsense, her hand suddenly plunged into the inside of his jacket.

“Lend me your car.”

She flashed the car keys in front of his eyes as she curtly informed him, then immediately headed toward his parked car.

Vroom.

The black car’s headlights turned on, and the loud roar of the engine filled the air.

A car whose steering wheel he had never once allowed anyone else to touch disappeared completely from sight under someone else’s control.

Watching the scene with a fixed stare, Seowan let out a hollow, disbelieving breath.

“That lunatic.”

“That lunatic actually went and caught him again.”

Choi Jaehong shook his head in disbelief.

“You can’t ignore that national team experience.
Detective Song’s grit deserves credit.”

Muttering that, Minjeong suddenly sensed someone approaching and sprang to her feet.

“Oh.
Team Leader.”

As Cha Seowan walked into the interrogation room, his gaze locked through the glass onto Jiwon, who was sitting across from Kim Yongcheol at the table.

“She waited near his house and caught him.
Apparently chased him down while he was trying to escape on a motorcycle with one hand cuffed.”

It had been exactly three hours since he’d vanished from the club.

Whatever she’d done, however she’d done it, the cut on her lip was worse than before, her clothes were torn, and her hair was a complete mess.

It was hard to tell who was the criminal and who was the detective.

Unable to watch any longer, Seowan frowned and turned his head.

On the table, he spotted his own car keys that Song Jiwon had set down.

“Make sure you record even the smallest detail.
I’m going home to change clothes and I’ll be back.”

“Yes, sir.”

Grabbing the keys, he strode out of the interrogation room.

At some point, the time had slipped by.

The hallways and elevators were crowded with employees arriving for work.

They bowed and greeted Seowan, but unlike usual, they stared in confusion at his soaked, disheveled state.

This was a first.

Never had he imagined walking through headquarters looking this filthy.

Ignoring all greetings and stares, he headed straight for his car in the parking lot.

Grabbing the large handle, the headlights and side mirrors blinked on, and the driver’s door lifted open smoothly.

He was about to slide his tall body inside out of habit when an unpleasant sense of wrongness stopped him.

Looking inside, he saw the luxury leather seat—normally pristine—soaked with some unknown moisture.

The moment he saw it, he knew exactly whose doing it was.

Deep irritation darkened his eyes.

Grinding his teeth, he dragged a hand down his face.

In the end, Seowan lowered himself onto the damp seat and jabbed the ignition button irritably.

As he gripped the steering wheel and slammed the accelerator, a rare impatience colored his movements.

His mind was filled with a single thought—

To get home as fast as possible and shake off this clammy, miserable feeling, even for a moment.

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