Free Web Novel“Yeah? What is it.”
“—48A 0000 in front of you. That’s my car. Get in.”
It was Lee Seohae, parked not far away. Gam Seonghwan frowned in confusion but got into the passenger seat.
“You here to visit our team leader too?”
Without answering, Lee Seohae held out a tablet.
On it was someone’s immigration record.
“Most false testimonies are built on truth. If someone lies from beginning to end, it becomes unstable in many ways. They won’t know if their story is consistent, and they won’t be confident they can repeat it the same way later.”
— What is this, who is that
— Never seen that name before
— ??? what’s going on
— Sansung stop the PPL, this is my final warning, this was just barely okay
“So they usually mix a little lie into the truth.”
In the quiet car, Lee Seohae continued.
“The photo of your team leader’s son was taken at least three years ago. It was not taken that day.”
The uneasy music grew louder.
“The chocolate pie product printed on the snack company truck in the background—there was a production line defect where metal fragments were mixed into the product. It caused complications in a three-year-old girl, severe enough to require stomach resection surgery. The backlash at the time was enormous. All products were recalled, and the product was discontinued afterward.”
Gam Seonghwan recalled the photo from the team leader’s phone that day.
The yellow snack company truck behind the man.
The chocolate pie printed on it.
“After checking his son’s departure records, he is currently in Korea.”
And the records displayed on the tablet in his hand.
“You lived in the same neighborhood as the team leader when you were young, didn’t you? You also had contact with his son.”
Fragments of the past flickered across the screen.
A once-close family.
The team leader and his father—senior and junior.
“According to the case file, the team leader was the first officer on scene.”
The past came back vividly.
“No.”
A residential street sealed off with police lines.
“Uncle....”
“You can’t go in.”
“It’s our house... why not?”
The sorrow on his face as he witnessed the devastation.
“No, you can’t, kid... for now—”
“It’s our house! Why not!”
Blood smeared through the crack in the door. frёeωebɳovel.com
His younger sister’s small, pale hand.
“In 1996, one of the three major juvenile delinquency issues was glue inhalation, along with running away and theft. Glue was cheap, easily accessible, and loosely regulated. For students in so-called delinquent circles, it became both a habit and a bonding activity. Within such groups, those who had never inhaled glue—or who did not act violently afterward—were often ridiculed.”
“What are you even talking about....”
“I obtained your team leader’s son’s dental records. It’s uncommon for a teenager to have necrotizing gingivitis. What’s even less common is—”
Despite Gam Seonghwan’s quiet denial, she continued.
“There is enamel damage where the surface has oxidized, become rough, thinned, and peeled away in a consistent pattern. Classic signs of glue inhalation. However, it doesn’t seem to have reached full addiction. Considering your father was a detective, it’s possible he didn’t notice. Or perhaps, since a busy detective and a student wouldn’t cross paths often, he was already addicted and simply went unnoticed.”
— This is insane
— holy shit
— chills, is the culprit really from this side????
— I take it back, this is not like my dad, what the hell
Gam Seonghwan turned off the tablet.
“I don’t understand what you’re saying, Investigator Lee. He’s my only family. He came to my high school graduation....”
His voice was forcing denial into reality.
“As you know, this is commonly referred to as revisiting behavior. It may be a sense of retaining control, or rationalizing guilt through good deeds, or—”
“That’s not it.”
“—monitoring behavior to assess the investigation’s progress. I believe the last is the most likely.”
“That’s not it....”
Gam Seonghwan slowly turned his head to look at her, dazed.
“...Why would he?” ƒreewebɳovel.com
And then—
Lee Seohae said something he could not accept.
A feeling he had never experienced before.
Yet in this moment, the most logical conclusion.
“Because he loves him.”
Gam Seonghwan is a relative.
But his son is his own blood.
He could care for him, love him—
but never like his own child.
So he must have tried to destroy evidence.
And then lingered nearby, as if repenting.
As if she had expected this reaction, Lee Seohae continued.
“The records are old and access is restricted, so I couldn’t review them in detail. However, in that same year, there is also a record of the current commissioner’s son leaving for Japan. Coincidentally, they attended the same school.”
“....”
“I believe the person involved in the crime was not just your team leader’s son. At least three individuals. All children of police officers.”
“....”
Gam Seonghwan forced his voice out.
“Say it’s not true.”
“Yes. It isn’t.”
Lee Seohae answered calmly.
“So go upstairs and tell your team leader my hypothesis. Tell him Lee Seohae has finally gone insane, spouting nonsense. That it doesn’t make sense.”
“....”
“You can’t, can you. The moment you say it, all evidence will disappear, and the case will remain unsolved forever.”
“....”
“I assume the suspicious details you’ve noticed while working with him are coming back to you now.”
Yes.
“You digging into the wrong things again is a bad habit. Don’t you remember last time you chased the wrong lead?”
Tragically—
“Your ‘instinct’ my ass. Stop digging holes on your own every time you catch a case. Focus on what’s assigned to you! Are you going to solve every crime in Korea?”
Gam Seonghwan remembered.
Bzzzz. Bzzzz. Bzzzz.
In the silent car, his phone rang.
Caller: Team Leader.
He stared at the screen blankly.
Then opened the passenger door.
As he walked away across the parking lot, Lee Seohae simply watched.
“Hey, you bastard, your uncle’s lying in a hospital bed and you came empty-handed? To visit him?”
The team leader lay with his leg in bandages, smiling playfully.
But Gam Seonghwan couldn’t smile.
“What’s wrong? Something happen?”
“...Just....”
He muttered.
“How much can a parent love their child?”
“...What kind of question is that?”
His gaze fell on the calendar on the bedside table.
“Your brother’s memorial is coming up, so you’re feeling uneasy again? Tch. Of course, you love them enough to trade your life!”
“Because he loves him.”
Lee Seohae’s voice overlapped in his mind.
“So pull yourself together. Don’t overthink it, just focus on your cases. If you miss the golden time, imagine how the victims’ families feel!”
Gam Seonghwan stared blankly at his uncle’s face.
— TT__TT
— Seonghwan... Seonghwan...
— I thought Ja Sokhwan was the psycho, but there’s someone worse here
— this ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) is tearing my heart apart
After leaving the hospital room, half denying reality and half driven by deduction, Gam Seonghwan began investigating.
And five minutes before the end of episode 12 of 〈Unfair Trade〉—
— ???
— fck fck f*ck please
— what is this
— seriously stop
— no TT__TT
As he drove, someone started following him.
Dangerous music swelled.
Ignoring signals, the car behind sped up.
“What the hell.”
Noticing it, Gam Seonghwan pressed the accelerator.
He tried to lose them using traffic, but the other driver pursued him skillfully.
Just as he finally shook them off—
HOOOONK—!
A truck charged in from the opposite lane.
Crash!
His head slammed into the steering wheel.
Slowly, he lifted it.
Dark red blood ran down his forehead.
And in front of him—
“...Investigator Lee?”
Lee Seohae’s car.
It had come in from the side lane.
— ?????
— ??
— what is happening
— Seohae TT_TT
— did she just take the hit for him??
— fck
— no no no
— please don’t
— our girl just got run over fck
Lee Seohae had wedged her car between his and the truck.
“Ah!”
“Are you insane?!”
“What the hell is this...!”
Everyone watching live gasped.
With Lee Seohae now unconscious—
Gam Seonghwan was left alone.
To pursue the unsolved case—
without the genius investigator with an IQ of 160.
Crash.
〈Unfair Trade〉
And from this moment on,
no one paid attention to any other show in that time slot.
