Chapter 273.2

“Huuu! This place is a jackpot. Though more and more establishments are using digital lockers lately,” the slender man in a beanie mumbled as he smoked a cigarette and focused on his task.

He was in a locker room, picking the locks with tools that resembled two long skewers.

“Okay! A designer bag! Woohoo! I wonder what’s in their wallet?” the man said as he grabbed a wallet from the black bag. He opened it, and its contents put a wide smile on his face. “Sheesh! It’s nice to meet you, ladies and gentlemen!”

“Nice to meet you, too, pal,” someone said from behind him.

“Wha—” The man quickly turned around, but felt himself floating as if he were on a Viking ride, and was flipped upside down. “GAAAAAHHH! MY ARM! MY ARM!!!”

Sang-Sik had subdued the thief with a flawless judo technique, smashing him into the ground and putting him in an arm lock.

“Don’t you know you’re not allowed to smoke in here, pal?” Sang-Sik said as he grabbed the cigarette on the ground and sucked on it by habit.

It felt as if the nicotine was diminishing the intense secretion of adrenaline to reduce its effects.

“I’ll read you your Miranda rights first, Na Tae-Soo. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to talk to a lawyer for—”

“Gurgh! You have the wrong person!”

“If you feel you’re being falsely accused, console yourself with a Mirinda [1].”

“I-I...”

“If you’re bored in jail, I’ll send you a magazine with Miranda Kerr on it or something.” Sang-Sik tapped on his smartphone to call his junior. “Oi, I got your boyfriend in cuffs here. Take him away.”

***

Shit! This is the worst, Sang-Sik shouted inwardly as he sprinted toward the claw machine store, his suit fluttering.

Considering the amount of time it took to tail the suspect to find the right opportunity and keep him restrained until his junior arrived, almost two hours had passed. He had taken off, leaving his blind date by herself for almost two hours. Not even the online dating experts could save this level of fumble.

She was my type, too... Sang-Sik trailed off in his thoughts. Would she meet me again? Would she forgive me if I begged on my knees?

Sang-Sik was certain Sae-Byeok had already left, but since he had nowhere else to go, he restlessly sprinted to where the claw machine store was. As he entered the store and looked around while panting heavily, he heard a voice.

“Welcome back, Sang-Sik.”

“Huh?” Sang-Sik turned to the source of the voice and saw Sae-Byeok holding three raccoon plushies. “Y-you’re still here?”

“You asked me to wait, didn’t you?”

“No... I mean, I did... but...”

Sae-Byeok smiled widely as she stared at Sang-Sik’s apologetic expression and replied, “I was thinking about going home, but... I was curious, so I waited.”

“Curious? About what?”

“Your expression.” Sae-Byeok playfully moved the corners of her mouth up and down with her thumb and index fingers and said, “I thought you were a softie, but your expression turned super hard and cold all of a sudden. What happened?”

“Oh, the thing is...” Sang-Sik explained what happened with Na Tae-Soo, and Sae-Byeok listened attentively with shining eyes. “I had to wait until my junior arrived, which was why I was so late—”

“Wow! You’re so amazing, Sang-Sik!” Sae-Byeok interrupted Sang-Sik’s excuses and smiled brightly.

“Huh?”

“How did you recognize the face of someone you had only glanced at?”

“Oh... I never forget a face.”

“You’re amazing!”

Sang-Sik could only scratch the back of his head as Sae-Byeok showered him with praises.

“That’s a homicide detective for you! Okay, I don’t have a medal to give you, but I’ll get you something from a claw machine. It’s your reward for catching the bad guy.”

“No, you don’t have to—”

“Can you hold these for me? I didn’t know, but I think I’m pretty good at this,” Sae-Byeok said as she handed Sang-Sik the three raccoon plushies and walked to the claw machine beside her.

It wasn’t one for picking up the prizes with the claw, but for pushing. As if backing her bravado, she won something on her first try.

Sang-Sik approached her to ask, “What did you—”

“Sang-Sik. You lied to me, didn’t you?” Sae-Byeok interjected.

“Pardon?”

Sae-Byeok bent down and grabbed the plastic box she had won. She opened it and handed him the silver object that was inside.

“You smoke... don’t you?” Sae-Byeok asked.

Sang-Sik grabbed the object in silence. It was a silver Zippo lighter.

That seals the deal, he thought, certain this was the worst date ever.

Sae-Byeok turned around and said, “It’s late, so I don’t think we can ride the merry-go-round.”

“I... think so, too,” Sang-Sik replied dispiritedly.

The date was over; he had dropped the ball on his belated chance to find love.

Just then, Sae-Byeok turned around with a bright smile and added, “How about we go watch a movie instead? Something like a crime movie where the detective comes out on top and arrests all the bad guys.”

Dawn illuminated Sang-Sik.

***

“Huuu!” Sang-Sik exhaled the smoke.

The cigarette had been burned to the tip, and he could smell the filter burning.

“I still remember you... And I always will,” he mumbled.

He remembered Sae-Byeok when they first met, when she handed him the Zippo lighter, when her bridal veil was removed, and her emaciated state in the hospital. He remembered every moment of Sae-Byeok vividly.

She loved stories of criminals being arrested. Sang-Sik had told her about even the smallest of details about whatever happened at the station to make her smile even a little as she fought against pancreatic cancer.

“I’m so glad... I was able to hold your funeral before I was Lost.”

If he hadn’t, he wouldn’t have been able to make the choice he was about to make. Footsteps rumbled from afar. Sang-Sik closed his Zippo lighter lid. He felt like he had woken up from a dream once the warmth vanished. All that remained was the cold, hard reality.

“I have to be the one to do it.”

Wang Chen and Gerard D’Armont couldn’t do it, leaving only him, Hector Jameson, and Tigrinus. However, they would be far more helpful to the escape than he would be.

KYEEEEEHHH!

KRAAAAAHHH!

KREEEEEHHH!

He could hear the bloodfiends charging at him from the opposite end of the blood collection site. There were easily over ten thousand of them. They were so fast that they would easily catch up to the slow escapees if they were left to pass. The bloodfiends weaved between the blood tanks as they sprinted toward the exit where Sang-Sik was.

Sang-Sik gripped the Zippo Lighter of Memories and thought, No... not yet... They need to be as close as possible!

He calmly waited for the right time. He needed to kill as many bloodfiends as possible with just one sacrifice. He took a deep breath, feeling peace of mind, perhaps because of the nicotine that had entered his system for the first time in a year.

People might have thought he was pretending to be a hero if anyone saw him, but he was simply doing what needed to be done. It was the job of a police officer to protect the people with their lives on the line. He had received a public servant’s salary from the country and Coins from the Union for this moment.

Work as a police officer was filled with frustrations. No one noticed if you did a good job, but everyone noticed if you did a bad job.

“Well, I never did this to be noticed anyway. I just need one person... just her to know.”

KRAAAAAHHH!

KRRRRR!

AAAAAHHH!

The bloodfiends at the front had arrived right in front of Sang-Sik with their sharp claws raised, but Sang-Sik did not assume a defensive stance. He simply placed his hand on the blood tank beside him.

[Activating Exploding Blood.]

The thousand blood tanks turned orange, and the blood inside bubbled.

“It appears... this will be my last case,” Sang-Sik mumbled.

He would now meet his wife. His world had been a pitch-black darkness after her death. He had simply been holding on by remembering her voice.

Perhaps... I’ve been searching for a place to die all this time.

Life without her had been unbearable. Sang-Sik closed his eyes, feeling only the Zippo lighter he was clenching on for dear life with his right hand. Just then, he saw a flash of orange light through his closed eyelids as if dawn had risen, then everything went silent.

***

An ear-splitting explosion echoed behind the fleeing group as they were escaping through the third path.

“W-what was that noise?”

“No idea. It came from under us.”

“Could the blood tanks have exploded?”

“It can’t be...” Wang Chen trailed off as his eyes narrowed. He recalled Sang-Sik’s somber expression as he asked to be entrusted with the observer position, eyes filled with resolve.

Wang Chen remained silent. He didn’t know why, but he was nearly certain that Sang-Sik had something to do with the explosion.

Just then, Seong-Hwi, with sixteen wings on his back, appeared with a flash of iridescent light. He was supporting Tae-Jin with his shoulders. An overweight man with three eyes was following behind him as he carried a small child wrapped in a blanket.

“What was that explosion just now, Wang Chen?” Seong-Hwi asked.

“I think... Ma Sang-Sik is dead,” Wang-Chen mumbled quietly.

Seong-Hwi remained silent for a moment and replied, “I see.”

However, now was not the time to be swept by emotion.

He immediately continued, “We’re leaving this dungeon. The escape route has already been secured.”

If one wanted to survive, being hurt by every single death of another was an unfavorable trait to have in the Mirror World.

***

A person doesn’t die when he should but when he can.

Gabriel Garcia Marquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude

1. Mirinda is a carbonated soft drink. ☜