Summoned to a conference room the moment they arrived, the team received a thick stack of documents.
'What is it this time...?'
As Jae-hwan grumbled at the endless onslaught of missions, Chang-ho spoke up as if voicing his feelings for him.
"Isn't this too much? We haven't had a single proper rest, you know?"
"It's an emergency. You leave first thing tomorrow."
Chang-ho sighed, making his reluctance plain.
But the moment he checked the documents, Chang-ho immediately frowned and asked seriously.
"When did contact break off?"
"Two days ago."
"Was there nothing unusual in the last regular report?"
"Nothing unusual, nothing of note. That's why our response to this situation was late."
"...Understood. We'll leave first thing tomorrow."
Chang-ho nodded with a stiff, hardened expression.
After they returned to their seats, Chang-ho immediately gave the team instructions.
"Tomorrow morning, we leave for the island in the documents. Rest right away and get ready to leave."
Ji-yeon asked Chang-ho a question.
"What's going on? For you to call us up like this right away..."
"It's pretty serious. An agent went off on his own and disappeared."
"On his own?"
Ji-yeon frowned.
"Isn't it a rule that we always act as a team?"
"Jae-hwan's right. This idiot was so blinded by glory that he acted alone. And then he disappeared."
"Unbelievable."
"Who is it?"
At Ji-yeon's question, Chang-ho paused for a moment before answering.
"Section Chief Kim Min-jun."
***
On the boat headed for the island.
There, the team was going over the situation once more.
No, to be precise, they were trying hard to go over it.
"UWEEEEEEGH!"
"Come on, Team Leader, you never said you got seasick."
"I didn't know that either..."
Chang-ho was busy getting seasick and throwing up with gusto.
Ji-yeon and Jae-hwan looked at Chang-ho for a moment as if he were pathetic.
"That's why you should've taken motion sickness pills sooner..."
"Pwah... so, where were we?"
"We've just been repeating that Section Chief Kim Min-jun went missing."
"Right, so we were... We haven't made any progress at all."
"We'd have made progress if the Team Leader had thrown up just a little less."
"Well, can't be helped, can it? Then let's talk it through again. Section Chief Kim Min-jun went off to the island on his own and ran around trying to find the aberration. Then, for some reason, he went missing. And the last message he left was..."
"...That the landowner is dangerous."
"Right. That was it. Only... UWEEEGH!!"
"Ugh, seriously."
Ji-yeon shook her head and sighed.
"By the way, there is something that puzzles me. I wonder what 'the landowner is dangerous' means."
"That's true. Whether 'the landowner is dangerous' means the landowner is a dangerous being or that he's in danger, there was no explanation at all."
"And he didn't tell us anything about the context either."
"...Cough, that Kim Min-jun guy's always been like that. He works however he damn pleases. That's why the people under him all keep dying. Blinded by glory, he runs his own subordinates ragged, too. Honestly, he's the scum of humanity."
"Amazing that someone like that made it all the way to section chief."
"What can you do? That's just how our organization is. It's hard to recruit people, and most rookies die before long. So it's no surprise that someone like that makes it to section chief."
"That's the worst."
At Jae-hwan's words, Chang-ho was about to nod in agreement, then hurriedly turned his head toward the sea and spoke.
"...What's even worse is the state of my stomach right now!"
Having finished speaking, Chang-ho began dry-heaving again.
Ignoring Chang-ho, who kept emptying his stomach, Jae-hwan turned away.
***
"Is your stomach any better?"
"Ugh... do I look okay?"
The team supported the staggering Chang-ho and barely managed to get off the boat.
Those who greeted them were the local residents, wearing thoroughly sour expressions.
"Cough, hello. I'm Team Leader Lee Chang-ho, dispatched from National Police Agency headquarters. I look forward to working with you."
Unlike Chang-ho, who forced a friendly smile, the local residents' eyes were rather cold.
"By the way."
"Yes?"
"Why did you people come? We were getting along just fine on our own to begin with."
"Ah, we heard that one of our people went missing in this area. We plan to search quickly for just that person. So we'd appreciate your cooperation."
"...Cooperation?"
At the word "cooperation," the brow of the man who seemed to be the village chief twitched.
"Hey, Jang-hoon. Take good care of these folks."
The village chief all but dumped the team on the middle-aged man beside him and left.
'What's with these people?' As Jae-hwan eyed the village chief askance.
"Now, now... sirs, don't take it like that. People here are always wary when outsiders come, that's all."
The middle-aged man greeted the team as warmly as he could.
"If you have nowhere to go, come stay at my house. It may not look like much, but we're among the better-off households around here."
"We're fine. But where's the officer? He should've been contacted."
"He's a bit busy right now. Hahaha... so please, follow me."
"Ah, I'm sorry, but we're officially law enforcement. We can't impose on ordinary citizens."
Jae-hwan once again politely turned down Jang-hoon's persistent offer.
At that, Jang-hoon's mouth twisted.
But only for a moment. Jang-hoon immediately put on a good-natured smile and began coaxing the team.
"Well, the officer here is my nephew anyway. So just come along with me..."
At that moment.
With loud footsteps, someone rushed at the team.
'Wait, what?'
Jae-hwan instinctively drew a blade.
But the owner of the footsteps desperately grabbed Jae-hwan's arm.
"You! You... you came on that boat, right? Please, please, take me with you!"
"W... wait, let go of this first..."
A shabby appearance and ragged clothes.
Anyone could see at a glance that he wasn't in a normal state.
The man poured out incomprehensible words at Jae-hwan.
As the situation took an alarming turn.
Chang-ho clicked his tongue, tsk, as if he'd caught on to something.
"Um, just a moment, please calm down a little. You have to tell us what's going on..."
Ji-yeon tried hard to calmly get the man talking.
But that didn't last long either.
THWACK!
"Aagh! Aaagh!"
The man suddenly screamed and collapsed.
Behind the man stood the officer holding a club, along with a group of burly men.
"Oh dear... my apologies."
The officer gave the team an awkward smile.
"...Huh?"
While Jae-hwan showed his bewilderment.
The officer kept talking to the team as he beat the man.
"It's nothing. This guy just... ran off on his own..."
"No! Let me go! Please!"
The officer paid no heed to the man's desperate cries.
He just silently dragged the man away into the distance.
Jae-hwan watched this with a puzzled look.
"Ah, I told you it's nothing. Please, follow me quickly."
Jang-hoon coldly urged the team on.
As if this were nothing at all.
Finding this suspicious, Jae-hwan and Ji-yeon began to be wary of Jang-hoon.
"Yes. We'll follow right away."
But Chang-ho made an unexpected decision.
As if he'd noticed the team's concern, Chang-ho whispered quietly to them.
"Let's follow him for now. I'll tell you the details later."
"...Understood."
Without knowing what the other side was scheming, the team quietly began to follow Jang-hoon.
***
"What do you think?"
"It goes without saying."
Ji-yeon sighed as she answered Chang-ho.
"They're being blatantly wary of us. At this rate, we won't get any information worth the name."
"Is that so? What about outside?"
"Outside..."
At Chang-ho's words, Jae-hwan lifted the curtain for a moment and looked outside.
Sure enough, a fierce-looking man was loitering near their lodging.
"...They're still watching us. Guess they've got nothing better to do."
"Persistent bunch."
Chang-ho clicked his tongue as he spoke to the team.
"By the way, you have to tell us now."
It was Jae-hwan who spoke up to Chang-ho.
"Tell you what?"
"What you noticed earlier, Team Leader. About the officer and the man who was running away."
"Ah, that."
Chang-ho let out a short sigh and went on.
"You two, by any chance, know about island slaves?"
"...Island slaves?"
Hearing Chang-ho's words, Jae-hwan tilted his head.
A horrific practice one couldn't believe happened in a democratic country.
A 21st-century version of slavery, in which people with intellectual disabilities or homeless people with no family ties were taken in, exploited, and forced into labor.
Anyone from South Korea would have heard of it at least once.
"...I do know about it. Then don't tell me, the man who was running away earlier...?"
"Yeah. He was probably an island slave. The moment outsiders came in, he lost it and rushed at us."
Only then could Jae-hwan and Ji-yeon understand why the man had rushed at them.
But apart from that, Chang-ho's behavior raised a question for Jae-hwan.
"...But Team Leader, then shouldn't we have stopped that?"
"Stopped what?"
"Beating the island slave and hauling him off. That's wrong in the first place..."
"No, before that, isn't it even more absurd that they're keeping slaves at all?"
Chang-ho let out a deep sigh at Jae-hwan's words.
"...Our mission is to find Section Chief Kim Min-jun. Not to free island slaves."
"But...!"
"Enough. Stop right there. Nothing good comes of getting tangled up with the customs of this place. What we do is dangerous enough as it is."
Jae-hwan couldn't say anything in reply to Chang-ho.
What Chang-ho said made sense.
But Jae-hwan couldn't help feeling repulsed by it.
'Let me go! Please!'
The man's last desperate cry as he wailed.
That scream wouldn't leave Jae-hwan's mind.
"That's just how the world is, you young punk."
Chang-ho finished as if scolding Jae-hwan.
Jae-hwan's mouth twisted as he suppressed his emotions.
Ji-yeon spoke to Chang-ho in Jae-hwan's place.
"Then how should we investigate now?"
"Who knows. For now, it seems the people here have no intention of cooperating. We'll have to investigate on our own."
"No, there's that too, but... I was thinking maybe these villagers are unfriendly to us because we found out about the island slaves."
"...So?"
"Maybe these guys aren't just shunning us, but trying to drive us out..."
At that, Chang-ho's face showed he had just realized something.
"...Didn't think of that."
At that, Jae-hwan asked a question as if to argue back.
"But officially, we're supposed to be from the National Police Agency. If they attack us too, people from HQ will come swarming in."
"Don't they say ignorance breeds courage? National Police Agency or whatever, they believe they can bury it at the local level."
Chang-ho went on, surprisingly calm.
"That's absurd. What kind of..."
"What can you do? The world is wide, and there are plenty of idiots..."
CRASH–
The sound of a window breaking rang out.
Jae-hwan quickly threw himself forward and shoved Ji-yeon aside.
"What...!"
Lodged where Ji-yeon had been was a brick that had flown in from outside the window.
"What the...!"
"Ugh... That was close. Thanks."
Chang-ho quickly got up and stuck his head out the broken window to look around.
There was a group of delinquent teenagers.
They scattered and ran off, cackling.
"Those damn brats."
Chang-ho muttered a quiet curse.
"Too dangerous to write off as just... kids' pranks."
"Tell me about it. This is way past that. Quite the welcoming ceremony, huh?"
Ji-yeon thought something over carefully, then spoke to Chang-ho.
"Team Leader. I don't think this is just a prank that started with the kids?"
"You think so?"
"Yes. Kids like that usually pick on someone who looks weaker than them. But we're full-fledged adults and civil servants."
"Right. What are you getting at?"
After a pause, Ji-yeon continued.
"I'm thinking the adults might have put them up to this. Openly shunning us. And even if the kids got caught, they could just write it off as a children's prank."
"These goddamn..."
Chang-ho forced himself to swallow the curse that was leaking out again.
"...Let's head out for now. We can't just keep holing up in here."
Just as Jae-hwan and Chang-ho were about to get up.
"...Team Leader."
Ji-yeon called Chang-ho in a stiff voice.
Only then did Jae-hwan and Chang-ho realize Ji-yeon had found something.
She was frozen, staring into an unidentified box.
"...Lee Ji-yeon?"
Ji-yeon swallowed hard and went on.
"Here... looking closely at the brick, there was something else. In the middle of the brick was something wrapped in paper."
"And?"
"If you look... you'll see."
Ji-yeon gave a somehow ominous answer.
At that, Jae-hwan and Chang-ho slowly looked at the contents wrapped in paper.
Blood-soaked paper and, in contrast, a white sphere.
Inside was a human eyeball that looked freshly gouged out.