‍‍Garam checked into the place , saw Shiyang existing the break-room . They didn't acknowledge each other so Garam went to Dongshik's office. It was empty so he helped himself to the whiskey. A quiet twenty minutes passed before Shiyang came into the room and he found Garam seating on the desk.

‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍" I know that you don't want to do this but we really have no choice", Shiyang told Garam who begun massaging his nose bridge furiously.

This conversation again! It begun while they were driving from Minjun's house, while they were buying food and now here again.

" Please stop with the pretending, there is no 'we' .", He paused and he grabbed the whiskey . Shiyang watched him bawl it all down

" Detective Garam, I don't understand what language I am supposed to use for you to get this. The only sort of justice that Mr Geun Namkyu can get for his suffering is if this perpetrator is caught and punished. We aren't doing this because we enjoy it. We are doing this because it's what we vowed to do, which is to protect every member of society at all costs ",

"Even one's mental health?",

" Y...yes." Shiyang obviously hesitated before he continued.

" This station has experienced workers , surely they wouldn't resort to this if they had better alternatives. Surely they wouldn't gamble with a lifetime of trauma for someone if they weren't sure of the success of that, and I definitely wouldn't have agreed to all the ideas that which you co-hosted , both legally and illegally if I didn't trust their success. ",

"Inspector Lee, I appreciate your words but they don't make it any easy", Garam wasn't flattered by Shiyang admitting that he did all the things his father would skin him alive for , because of him

" Why is it difficult for you to do this", Shiyang peered daggers at him

" Why isn't it difficult for you to do this? ",

" Who said it isn't? ", Shiyang suddenly learnt how to speak casually.

" Inspector Lee, I think there is another alternative ",

" Well , am ears! ", He bellowed, making Garam stand up and face him

His eyes shifted from stressful Garam to his phone that started crying. a few minutes were left till dinner time and if he doesn't hurry up he might miss it. Needless to explain the consequences of that but he is in a tough spot right now . Everyone in the station is waiting outside for a breakthrough from him because they feared to discuss with Garam the whole using Namkyu to get to Yesang.

The exact plan here is to let Namkyu go back to his life , precisely that of a medical officer and have him working on all the suspicious cases that have been presented after Jinyoung's disappearance. In addition to that , they would simply keep observing him. Though it sounds exactly like they are praying for Yesang to clumsy kill someone in order to catch him, there is no other bloodless route . So they expect Garam or anyone to explain to Namkyu that he has to lure Yesang out by doing certain things that might trigger him. The officers are aware that all games have rules therefore they assume that Yesang might relay some to Namkyu . they are correct though they don't know . So far only two exist, for Namkyu to tell only three people and for him to stay away from GyeongJa . however Namkyu hasn't told anyone these because he doesn't take them seriously since he doesn't know whether Yesang is a player that abides by any rules even if they are his own.

Garam turned back to the whiskey but just swayed it as his head was buried low. Shiyang was getting anxious as if he can pull him all the way .

" Just leave if you have someone here to be . Rich kids like you can't relate to what Namkyu has to go through ",

" What?! ", he peaked his gaze to him.

There is only ten minutes left. Even in a rocket he wouldn't make it in time to the mansion yet he is risking that by staying long enough to provide a concrete reason. Afterall if one is going to be late better they have a reasonable explanation backed by evidence for that. Though for the common lot, just saying one was working overtime is enough but the Commissioner Lee would want to know much more that just that unless one doesn't value their skeletal integrity

" He raised his brother alone so he did everything to be his left and right side. If I or someone suddenly told him that he is potentially a trigger for all of this so we would like to stage him to catch this psychopath implying that finding his brother is no longer a priority, I don't think you would understand what it would do to him. I am not saying to do nothing, rather that it's extremely heartless but guess it's true that power is blinding so is deafening ",

He doesn't know when but suddenly Shiyang had lept , pulled Garam by collar and brought him closer to his face. His eyes were filled to the brim with immeasurable fury but the way that Garam calmy stared back at them was like he could see the fear that they harbor. His hands held firmly onto his leather jacket but somehow seemed that they were afraid of letting go as they would be pulled towards a much more lethal presence .

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Tonnes and tonnes of stress due his father's inescapable scolding brought about by Garam's reluctance was really throwing him off radar. To think that, Garam is willing to protect the feelings of one person when a large number are already dead and about to die, is too inhumane. Shiyang was against this when Minjun pitched it to him but Minjun made some valid points. It just doesn't make enough sense for Garam to be this oblivious. To Shiyang, it seems Garam thinks Namkyu deserves mercy than innocent civilians deserve to live as baiting Yesang through Namkyu and catching him will provide a bulletproof sense of justice and security to the deceased, the bereaved and society.

Garam was intoxicated and a tiny bit enraged by the lack of respect from Shiyang . With how transparent Shiyang is right now, attacking him might lead to an unexpected ending with no beneficiaries. He wanted to blurt a mouthful of insults to him but his status as Commissioner Lee's son made him feel like he lined up to have someone wipe feces on his face . Nevertheless he aggressively yanked himself free from his clutches. If he doesn't leave he might dislocate Shiyang's jawbone. .

***

It was a little close to midnight . This guy had just came from a night club and was heading home. He was saturated with alcohol and his clothes were inside out.

He was driving carelessly at a very highspeed , ignoring all road signs. since there was little to non traffic, his actions were accident free.

He decided to tune up the radio and drawback the windows to reduce his fatigue level . As he was retracting his eyes back to the road ahead , the next thing he saw was someone running full blast infront his car.

At a moment of desperation he swayed the car , dodged the person and hit the harsh brake a few feet from the person.

Upon checking the rearview mirror, he saw the person laying cold on the floor.

His fear and panic got the best of him . He was sure he didn't touch the person . But his above recommendable alcohol consumption is a catalyst for hallucination henceforth he may have hit the pedestrian.

He got out to go and see. It was apparent from his shock that despite the high volume of booze in his circulatory, there is no way that he could have hit this lady and not felt a single impact . Her condition was just too incredibly bad. Her face was bruised, her skin broken, multiple cuts as well as fractures. The angle of her foot show that it was indeed dislocated . Her breathing was very faint and looked like she was hanging onto life by a thread. She bleed a lot and some blood looked dried up on her face. To add to that , the trace of blood she made was from running and rolling on the road by myself after the car had long stopped.

Utter disbelief!

" Help!", The lady whimpered shocking the man back to reality and on that note he carried her back to his car . Regardless of not being able to properly explain this scenario, atleast he can lie to his wife saying that he was escorting a person to hospital. The nearest hospital is five yards away but that won't be a problem

Nearly an hour later , his car hit a violent break at the emergency station. he ran into the emergency ward and announced the person in his car. No later, a group of health care workers tended to the patient.

(Two days later)

"Detective Lee , this is beyond believable. We have to let him go", Minjun told him in a low voice as he himself couldn't process the reality of the nonsense in front of him

<< Garam's imagination >>

" You know the scumbag that is killing people , don't you?", He yelled ,

Namkyu had never seen him look this way and wondered what on earth he was talking about.

" Why was your car with that woman? She worked for an arcade Jinyoung frequented, she drove YOUR car that mutilated her. The last I checked, you drove your own car to the police station. Your car keys were with you when you came to the hospital. ",

" What are you talking about??", He screamed with the little bit but then his face changed colour and he started to cry

He cried for Jinyoung and not the the accusations from Garam's tone

" Lee Garam have you lost you mind? My brother is missing, people are dying and I have been dragged into this and you are accusing me of being a player . Are you delusional as you are useless? I trust you to find my brother but what you spew is this??", He sobbed with his head down.

"Don't you understand the kind of pain I am in? So you think I have pleasure in being made a bait in this? Do you think my brother's disappearance was a coy? Let me tell you now. I know I am a failure as a son and a guardian but that acceptance of my flaws doesn't extinguish the flames of guilt inside of me. I hate myself every single second I spend breathing, imaging the worst possible scenarios that my defenseless brother could be in? Whether he is alive , whether he is cold, whether he is sick, hungry, scared or injured . All of it come rushing and crushing like twelve thousand steel panels , yet you have the audacity to look me in the eyes, and trying to torture me like this , for what? What have I done so wrong that asking you for help has pushed you to this point? If I am such a sinner , I pray the devil to drag me to hell instead of letting me suffer like this!! ",

' I... ', Mind went blank.

<>

The thing is this man was driving while drunk and almost ran over someone.. The traffic cameras show that she got out of the driver's seat of a car , leaving the car in the middle of the highway. She crawled with all her futile might to the adjacent road and waited patiently on the sidewalk bush , only to jump in front of a car. The car she left in the road had her finger prints all over the wheel and a large potion of her blood on the door , driver's eat and pedals since she was driving barefooted. Added to that , the vehicle was dented with the same impressions as the ones that damaged her body . The dents on the car were multiple but not deep such as those on her body meaning that it was at a low speed. In other words she drove the weapon that caused her injuries to the highway. But what's even worse is that she doesn't own that car as it belongs to Namkyu and she works in the arcade that Jinyoung frequented .

Shiyang refused to enter the observation room and was standing outside the interrogation room . when Minjun left Garam to go to ChaeWon, they met.

" He is not handling it well", he told him and Shiyang didn't react since he is being ignored by Garam like he was the one who hurled insults .

Minjun playfully touched and patted him on the shoulder before proceeded to enter the room

Immediately after he left Shiyang winced in pain because for being late to dinner he was forced to do five hundred pushups . In other worlds for every minute is ten pushups .His body is swore from every angle but this punishment was subtle since it is caused by work things. However the fact that he couldn't provide feedback for his lateness , the discipline was merely minimized from seven hundred to five hundred.

At the same time he groaned , Garam exited the room to head to meet other team that will be scouting Namkyu.They locked eyes for a few seconds and Garam turned then went away without saying anything. Once again, he pretended that he couldn't see Shiyang which for some reason made Shiyang angry.

" I am telling the whole truth.", The man who brought the lady to the hospital cried to ChaeWon but soon Minjun walked into the room and he undid the guy's cuffs . He did the protocol and after a load of swearing, he went away .

****

" Please take care of your health and remember your medication", the nurse told Namkyu while he was getting discharged.

GyeongJa promised that she ensure that and escorted Namkyu to the car.

" Shouldn't you be somewhere else?", He asked and she responded that she didn't.

Truth is she should be at work but she knew he was getting discharged today and wanted to be his support system. At current, she assumes , he has no one and would be very careless to leave him alone to take a taxi since his car is already at the station.

He looked around as he picked an overwhelming feeling of being watched.

" Are you okay?", GyeongJa scanned his eyes

' She is warm but her care and touch makes me feel like I am committing a sin that will cost me Jinyoung ',

He knodded