Just as the two detectives were about to step onto the stairs to the second floor, urgent footsteps came rushing after them. Somehow the word had spread—guards burst into the room in a hurry.
“Take care of it—.”
K waved his hand lazily at the guards, speaking playfully. Fists immediately flew toward the two detectives.
‘As expected, this is good.’
Watching the clean, satisfying action on the screen, Wi Jaehwi admired it. The composition followed the classic buddy-movie formula to the letter. Front and back, the two had their backs to each other, dealing with the enemies in front of them.
“Kill them!”
“Listen to this asshole talk. Add attempted murder to the charges.”
Shouting while swinging weapons, the gang members were taken down with heavy, solid blows mixed with jokes—by Detective Kwak.
“You filthy bastards...!”
Looking at them like insects and subduing them with neat, efficient self-defense techniques—that was Detective Yoon. He didn’t say a word, using only his body, but every time his loosened shirt fluttered, the audience watched with satisfied smiles.
‘This is going to sell Yun Hyeonjo hard.’
Wi Jaehwi had no doubt this scene would soon become the thumbnail for <Law-Faster-than> Intube promotional clips.
“This is V0. Situation’s under control.”
K smiled as he contacted someone. It wasn’t hard to guess that more men would soon come flooding in.
Yeoreum crawled under the table, inching her way toward the detectives. Her terrified expression was captured clearly on screen.
With her lips pressed into a thin line, Yeoreum looked utterly small and pitiful—and adorable. The audience was already accepting her as ‘one of us,’ no longer just a hopeless influencer.
Bang!
“Waaah!”
Something shattered. Just as Yeoreum finally crawled out from under the table, Detective Yoon and Detective Kwak were standing in front of her.
“Hey. Stay put over there. Play with the balloons.”
Detective Kwak motioned her away. With Yeoreum scrambling diligently toward the corner full of balloons in the background, the two detectives beckoned to K.
“You. Come here.”
K laughed stupidly at that. Then he grabbed one of the balloons beside him. The balloons floating around K were tied together—grabbing one caused a dozen or more to trail along behind it.
Click, click.
The Zippo lighter in his other hand made an irritating sound.
“I’ll give you credit for making it this far. But?”
Smiling broadly, K flicked the lighter on. He lifted a napkin from the table. Both detectives shouted at once, sensing what was coming.
“Hey, you bastard!”
“Fuck!”
K tossed the lit napkin straight at the Funny Balloons. The flame spread explosively.
“Aaaah!”
Yeoreum screamed. At the same time—clunk. A door in the corner of the second-floor room opened.
There was another emergency exit.
“You can’t catch us—.”
K casually poured whiskey from the table onto the floor, feeding the flames.
Then, grabbing a bag filled with Funny Capsules, he ran leisurely toward the emergency exit. The gang members around him fled after him.
Boom!
“Aaaah!”
Because of the Funny Balloons stacked throughout both floors, the fire kept spreading.
The detectives couldn’t chase K immediately. Most of the people here were barely conscious—leaving them behind would surely lead to deaths.
“Fire extinguishers! Fire extinguishers!”
“This fucking—.”
Before the flames grew any stronger, the two detectives searched for extinguishers. Detective Kwak tore off his parka and smacked at the burning balloons. Yellow smile balloons melted and collapsed.
“Hh....”
Still sniffling, Yeoreum tried to retreat further into the corner when—clunk. Something caught under her hand.
“This....”
What she found through tear-filled eyes was a fire extinguisher.
“Here! Here! Fire extinguisher! Here!”
As Yeoreum shouted with a bright smile, Detective Yoon ran over immediately. Click—unlocking it, then suppressing the flames in one smooth sequence. It looked straight out of a movie.
As if inviting the audience to admire him, the screen slipped into slow motion.
“Are you filming a solo movie or what? Fuck, hurry up and put it out so we can chase them!”
Detective Kwak snapped, and Detective Yoon frowned.
“While I’m putting it out, you go! Goddamn it, use your head!”
“Oh. Right.”
Detective Kwak bolted without hesitation.
To catch K.
* * *
Tap tap tap tap, clack clack clack.
K hammered the elevator button in a panic. But no red light came on.
It was dead.
“Hey, why isn’t the elevator working?!”
Taking the elevator was the fastest way to reach the underground parking lot. Snapping at his men, K had no choice but to run for the stairs. The sound of multiple expensive shoes echoed through the emergency stairwell.
Bang—bang—bang—!
That was when it happened. Footsteps thundered down the stairs, almost dropping a full floor at a time.
“You fuck—stop right there—police—.”
“What the hell is that guy?!”
Hearing Detective Kwak’s voice, K panicked. He jerked his chin at his men, and they ran back up the stairs to block him.
But as Detective Kwak vaulted the railing, he kicked them square in the faces. Two of them tumbled down the stairs at once.
“Come all at once! Come on! All at once!”
The remaining men rushed him together.
“Wow. Thanks for the consideration. I’m touched.”
They were all subdued with ease. It happened so fast that only K was left standing. K pulled out a blade disguised as a collapsible baton from inside his coat.
Click—!
With a light downward flick of his wrist, the hidden blade slid out and gleamed sharply.
“You blue-collar or something? Making industrial tools like this.”
“Shut up, asshole.”
The way K wielded the knife showed he’d learned somewhere. His hand movements, sharply targeting the carotid artery, were no joke.
All K wanted was escape, so he clung to the railing, slashing as he descended—keeping Detective Kwak at bay.
“You still can’t catch me!”
As K laughed, Detective Kwak grabbed his wrist with a snap.
“Yeah. I caught you.”
Then he threw him in a flashy over-the-shoulder flip. K slammed back-first into the stairs, groaning in pain. Detective Kwak opened the bag K had been holding.
“...What is this.”
There were only a few capsule packets left.
Sprawled on the floor, K cackled.
“Told you... you can’t catch us....”
Staring at K’s bloodied face, something clicked in Detective Kwak’s mind. Images overlapped. Suspect K. The frontman of Club D.K, supplier and distributor of the <Funny Series>....
“What is this? Did you get laser treatment or something? No—your mole’s on the left.”
And the mole under the right eye—
“Why do you think it’s Club D.K... not just K....”
The K Detective Kwak was holding didn’t have a mole under his right eye. His was under the left.
Like a mirror image.
“It stands for Double K, you idiot. Khhh....”
K was a twin.
“You know how to spell double? Say it.”
“....”
“Don’t know shit, but guys like you always love English.”
“I don’t care! Whatever—hey, I’m getting compensation for property damage, emotional distress, my guys’ medical bills. Do you even know who you messed with?”
K revealed his vulgar nouveau-riche nature.
“Cutting you loose is nothing to me. You get that?”
“Oh. No idea.”
In a world where money solves everything, K had nothing to fear. Even covered in blood, his condescending gaze still glittered.
“Do it by the law, you fucking bastard!”
“By the law?”
“Yeah. By the law!”
Detective Kwak punched him square in the face. K dropped unconscious.
“This is faster than the law.”
Slapping cuffs on K, Detective Kwak immediately keyed his radio.
“All vehicles owned by K—no, all vehicles registered under his shell corporations—put out a BOLO! Lock down the airport!”
* * *
The fire extinguisher finally ran dry. Even so, small flames still /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ lingered.
Unaware there was another K, Detective Yoon stripped the jacket off a man lying on the floor and used it to smother the remaining fire.
“Detective, go! Now!”
But Yeoreum still had the wire in her ear. Like she was part of the team, she shouted at Detective Yoon.
“They haven’t caught the other K yet!”
“What are you talking about.”
“K is buy-one-get-one! There’s another one!”
Detective Yoon understood instantly. He pulled the wire from Yeoreum’s ear and took it.
“Where do I go.”
Yeoreum snatched the jacket from his hand and slapped at the burning floor.
Detective Yoon secured the wire in his ear. To Yeoreum—now barefoot, shoes kicked off, working hard to put out the fire—he said,
“I’ll be back. Watch the smoke.”
As he disappeared, Yeoreum looked around.
There was a pretty luxury scarf nearby. She carefully took it from a collapsed woman, soaked it with water, and wore it like a mask.
“Ugh....”
When one of the downed gang members showed signs of getting up, Yeoreum smashed his head with one of the shoes she’d taken off. She hadn’t held back. fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓
Bang!
“Ugh.”
Just in case, she went around and hit the heads of the other gang members once each.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Hearing those sounds, Yun Hyeonjo’s legs moved even faster.
* * *
At the same time, the other K was driving calmly.
One hand lazily on the supercar’s steering wheel, K snickered.
“Man, this is way too easy.”
Cruising down the Cheongdam main road, the world felt like it belonged to him.
The watch on his wrist worth hundreds of millions, thick gold rings, luxury shirt, belt, shoes—every bit of it was money earned far too easily.
“Told you. As long as you’ve got money, the world’s yours.”
Mocking the stupid world, K muttered—and then a red light appeared ahead. Just as he was about to ignore it and hit the accelerator—
“Traffic signal violation. Fine: seventy thousand won!”
An arm suddenly locked tight around his neck from the back seat, yanking the steering wheel sideways.