Free Web Novel* * *
“So, about dieting....”
Director Noh, who ran a traditional diet clinic, pushed up his glasses in confusion.
“Yes. Dieting.”
Detective Kwak leaned toward him.
“You want... herbal medicine for weight loss....”
They had compiled a list by checking the victims’ medical records.
This was a suspicious clinic that manufactured diet herbal medicine.
“May I ask what you do for a living?”
“I run a waffle shop.”
“...I see. It must be hard to manage your weight.”
Anyone could tell he was a detective, yet he insisted he was a waffle shop owner.
Director Noh was visibly flustered.
Something was off.
“What? You can’t do it?”
Using his wheeled chair, Detective Kwak rolled forward—closer, closer—until his face was right in front of him.
Suspicious as hell.
“No, that’s not it. I was just thinking about which package would suit you.”
Director Noh pulled out a chart from under the desk.
“Now, let’s see. Just taking herbal medicine isn’t enough. From what I can tell, your BMI is fairly high. There’s also something called diet acupuncture. Here, here. If you press these points like this—your appetite drops! Digestion improves! You’ll feel comfortable, refreshed, clean, light, everything. And with this diet acupuncture package, plus black balloon flower root, black goat, black mushrooms—only the best stuff—boiled down into a rich herbal tonic. And there’s also diet moxibustion, too.”
Tap-tap-tap-tap.
The speed of Director Noh’s calculator increased.
“No. No... not that. You know what I mean. The kind only people in the know talk about.”
Detective Kwak frowned.
The kind of charisma only a field-hardened detective could have made the atmosphere difficult to approach.
“Fast. Easy. Strong effect.”
Director Noh stopped tapping the calculator, as if he understood.
“One pill. That’s it.”
Their eyes met.
Then—
The sign of the clinic came into view.
“Get out!”
Detective Kwak trudged outside.
“Ah, shit. He really went off on me.”
Director Noh had exploded, saying dieting wasn’t something that could be done easily or in a short time.
As Kwak flipped through the list in his notebook, a hand reached for his shoulder—
“AAAAAH! A—!”
“What the—”
The arm that had been about to land was grabbed and twisted.
The man was an elite detective from another investigation team.
The same type as Detective Yoon.
“Heh....”
“Hey. What is it?”
“Heh... heh... heh... hahahahaha!”
“What’s wrong with you?”
Someone behind the eerily laughing detective explained,
“Our team leader laughs when he’s in pain.”
“Okay, sorry.”
After Kwak released his wrist, the sinister-looking detective cleared his throat.
“What are you loitering around for?”
“Heh heh... If it’s around here, there’s no one who knows it better than us. We grew up here. We’re the perfect fit. Heh heh....”
“I know you guys went to school with those Nonhyeon bastards. But you’re fucking annoying, so get lost.”
“Heh heh... You think you’ll catch the culprit like that?”
The sinister detective seemed to know something.
They patted Kwak Cheolsik’s shoulder once each and left.
“Ah, this is driving me insane.”
All of Kwak Cheolsik’s team had gathered.
But information on the new drug—zero.
A complete dead end.
“Team leader. Speaking of dieting, dieting... it reminded me of something.”
“Yeah. What?”
The rookie spoke seriously.
“I’m hungry.”
The rookie got slapped about five times before they headed to a nearby pancake stall.
A typical street tent bar you could find anywhere.
[Grandma’s Pancake House]
“Grandma— we’re here—”
“Who are you?”
“It’s our first time, but I just wanted to say it once.”
The overly energetic rookie sat down and ordered.
The golden-brown pancakes disappeared in an instant.
“What are we going to do about this investigation?”
“At this rate, Born-Gangnam-Nonhyeon will take it from us.”
“What’s Born-Gangnam-Nonhyeon?”
“Born-to-be Gangnam-gu Nonhyeon-dong.”
It referred to those sinister detectives from earlier.
“Don’t worry. Don’t we have our own?”
With confidence, Kwak gestured with his chin toward someone approaching.
“What did you just say? Sounded like you were talking shit.”
“I’m always talking shit in my head, so don’t worry about the small stuff. Did you find anything?”
Yun Hyeonjo sat down on the red plastic chair and shook his head.
“They’ve caught on.”
At that, the detectives’ expressions darkened.
“Seriously....”
“You’d know if you’d tried dieting. Fuck.”
“The victims were all young women.”
“If only we knew someone who was into this kind of thing....”
A small rustle spread through the audience.
The tension had loosened.
Because everyone knew who was about to appear.
A predictable flavor—that was the charm of <War with the Rule of Law>.
“Someone interested in dieting.”
“Active on SNS.”
“Who could that possibly—”
Just as they sighed and poured soju—
“Unnieee! This place has a nice vibe. There’s lighting nearby too.”
Influencer 1 appeared.
The moment Han Yeoreum appeared, soft laughter spread.
“Oh—!”
“Huh? What? Why are you here? Did something happen nearby?”
As the detectives acknowledged her, Influencer 1—dressed carefully in OOTD to match the outdoor bar vibe—shouted loudly.
“Murder? [N O V E L I G H T] Drugs? Drunk driving? Gambling? Human trafficking? Wanted fugitive on the run?”
At the sight of gathered detectives, every crime imaginable came out.
All eyes turned instantly.
“What....”
“That’s scary....”
“Is that person the criminal...?”
The public’s gaze focused on Detective Kwak.
His colleagues fell silent for a moment.
* * *
After breaking up the drinking session, Detective Kwak and Detective Yoon headed to Influencer 1’s house.
She had said she knew about the diet pills.
“This is seriously amazing. How does it line up like this? I’ve always been lucky.”
Director Gong had placed one essential trait into each role.
Detective Kwak’s overwhelming physical power—this is where the catharsis of <War with the Rule of Law> comes from.
Detective Yoon’s precise judgment—this is where its refreshing clarity comes from.
‘And lastly.’
Influencer 1’s luck—this is where the comedy comes from.
The audience, watching the actors, unconsciously picks up clues.
If Kwak Cheolsik is on screen, you won’t lose.
If Yun Hyeonjo is on screen, you won’t be deceived.
If Han Yeoreum is on screen, things will somehow work out.
‘Not a character to use once and discard.’
Director Gong had perfectly filled the gap.
An indispensable scene-stealer.
The presence that lightens the weight of <War with the Rule of Law>.
“This is it. The one I took.”
Influencer 1 handed over the medicine packet.
But the two detectives looked at her with puzzled expressions.
“But mine is relatively mild. Because, as you can see, I’m not really the type who needs dieting that badly, right? So it probably won’t help much. But since I’m a model citizen. Ah, by the way, I saw on the news they give out Brave Citizen Awards and stuff. Where’s mine?” fгeewebnovёl.com
The two detectives sighed as they looked at the medicine.
“You took this?”
“Yes, that one.”
“Once a day? Regularly?”
“Why... what’s wrong?”
On the back of the packet, it read:
[Healthy Best Internal Medicine]
It was a digestive aid.
“Oh my, what is this?”
In the messy corner of the table, the real diet pills had been thrown to the back.
The detectives stared at the untouched diet pills and sighed again.
“This is the standard one already in circulation.”
“At this rate... tracing the origin of the pills circulating on Tgram right now....”
Even in this serious situation, Influencer 1 spoke brightly.
“Then we just sell fakes from our side, right?”
Both detectives turned to her again.
“If we sell fakes, you think they’ll just sit still? If it were me, I’d come looking. And I’ve taken it, you know. If you believe it’s a diet pill, then it’s basically the same anyway.”
They stared at her like she was talking nonsense.
“There are regulatory issues too.”
“Unapproved products—”
Influencer 1 said simply,
“If we sell fakes, we’ll run into the ones selling the real thing anyway. Then we can catch them quickly. Doesn’t seem like a big problem?”
A way of thinking only someone with a completely blank mind could have.
But—
“....”
“....”
That very day, the special investigation team began producing fake diet pills.
* * *
“Setup complete—.”
“Watch the cables.”
Bright lights shone overhead like the sun.
This was a broadcast studio set.
Behind them was a panel reading <Speed of Health>.
“Thank you so much for agreeing to appear.”
“No, thank you for inviting me.”
“Our Director Sa is the perfect fit for <Speed of Health>, the main writer praised you so much—”
The MC spoke cheerfully to Director Sa, who was dressed impeccably.
“From an orphanage to self-studying into medical school, building a name, winning awards—wow, it’s incredible.”
At those words, Director Sa simply looked at the MC.
His neat face was expressionless, like a mask.
“Yes. Thank you.”
Filming began.
With Director Sa’s introduction, the panel discussed trending health topics.
“...Sigh. The thing you must avoid most in dieting is obsession.”
Director Sa looked at the camera.
“The mind controls the body.”
Staring into the lens, as if preaching a gospel to be spread across the world—
“The most important thing is loving yourself. That should come first, shouldn’t it?”
So that ignorant lambs would believe and follow him.
* * *
The screen shifted to VeryBerryLove.
Influencer 1 took out a pill from a white bottle and swallowed it.
“What’s that?”
“Unnie, seriously, I hit the jackpot.”
She deliberately raised her voice.
Around her were other influencers taking photos for SNS.
“Ever since I started taking this, I haven’t gained any weight at all!”
“No way.”
“She’s lying again.”
Attention slowly gathered.
“It was fucking hard to get, so what do you mean lying? It’s expensive as hell!”
She shook the white bottle.
Rattle, rattle.
More eyes turned.
After a while, she got up and went to the bathroom.
Inside a stall, she sent a message.
“Hoo—.”
Holding her phone, she tapped her foot lightly.
Unable to suppress the ticklish thrill, she even danced.
Click.
As she came out, she met a woman applying lipstick in front of the mirror—just as Detective Yoon had said.
Pretending nothing was wrong, she washed her hands.
The woman beside her spoke.
“That pill... by any chance.”
She was very thin and beautiful.
“Is it Rotichelli?”
As if she was already taking it.
* * *
“Excuse me, Director Sa!”
After filming ended, someone grabbed him as he was leaving.
He lowered his gaze.
One of the panelists asked cautiously,
“May I ask you something?”
“Yes, of course.”
The woman hesitated, then sighed lightly.
“It really depends on mindset, right? For anything. Actually, my child is taking diet pills... for studying. Concentration isn’t something kids can control. But the desire to study is so strong. As a parent, I want to do everything I can.”
Speaking in a lowered voice, she was extremely cautious.
Director Sa looked at the hand still gripping his clothes.
He gently removed her fingers and nodded.
“You couldn’t get an ADHD prescription, so you turned to diet pills as an alternative.”
“Yes... neither my child nor I can have that kind of record.”
Diet pills contain appetite suppressants and stimulants.
They can produce central nervous system stimulation similar to ADHD medications like Concerta, Bavirians, and Atomoxetine.
For improving grades—or maintaining them.
It was a method quietly known in Daechi-dong academies.
One pill guarantees a perfect score.
That was the rumor.
“Were there any significant side effects?”
“Side effects... not really. Just, you know. Feeling a bit thirsty.”
She spoke as if confiding in him, yet she didn’t reveal her true thoughts.
Because she didn’t want a real answer.
Just justification.
“Then it should be fine to continue taking it.”
That one sentence—
“No problems at all.”
“That’s right? Right?”
His voice became even calmer.
“Yes. Everything comes down to mental strength.”
At that moment, in Daechi-dong.
Before class, students rushed into convenience stores, buying energy drinks and coffee.
Before lessons, they swallowed Rotichelli along with supplements.
To stay awake tonight.
To memorize formulas and past exam answers.
A girl with dull, empty eyes sat at her desk.
“Alright, everyone. Let’s read the problem. No one should get number one wrong.”
Over the instructor’s voice, ominous music began to play.
