"Sir. Do we really have to do this?"

"Do what?"

"Daerim's as good as buried. The bodies have all gone over to China by now, and the Chinese police have shut their mouths too, so why would we……"

"Scared?"

"Honestly, yes. Ever since we saw Kim Cheolsu I haven't been sleeping right."

"A detective has his face to keep! Scared? Like you've never seen a defector like that before?"

Tsssss.

A back alley behind Yeongdeungpo Station. Saturday, eleven in the morning.

An old samgyeopsal place that has been there forever. They had stopped in for a breakfast that was also lunch.

Senior Inspector Park Jeongho and Inspector Lee Sangmin sat across from each other, tipping back their glasses.

It was a belated get-together, just the two of them, after a night shift.

On the grill thick samgyeopsal was cooking, spitting fat. But Lee Sangmin had no appetite, and the stiffness would not leave his face.

"What did you find out in Sokcho? How'd it go?"

Park Jeongho put down his soju glass as he asked. Lee Sangmin, the one with the sources, had done a round of asking locally.

"More came out than I expected."

"Let's hear it."

"First, three or four months ago there was a big fight in Sokcho, they say."

"A big fight? In a little place like that?"

"Yes."

Lee Sangmin's voice went quiet.

"A local outfit and a crowd from out of town went at each other in a big way, and the investigation tilted oddly one way."

"Which side won?"

"That's the strange part."

"What is?"

Park Jeongho turned the samgyeopsal, cooked to a nice brown, and kept his ears on Lee Sangmin.

"It was that security company, Cheonmu, that went up against the gangsters there."

"What? That Cheonmu?"

A few puzzle pieces that had been lying apart were clicking into place.

"Yes. They're pretty famous in that line of work too."

"How famous?"

"The word is they're the hardest of any protection team working."

The corner of Park Jeongho's mouth went up in a slow grin.

"Keep going."

"The Sokcho survival-game site too."