Chapter 8
Tae-oh knew all too well the shallow motives of people who held power.
He had entered the National Police University at the top of his class and graduated at the top of his class as well. After joining the police as an inspector, he had steadily proven himself through his achievements, ranking first in the Criminal Investigation Division’s arrest rate and having his team selected as the top investigative team. He had followed what was commonly called the elite career path.
After being promoted to superintendent before he was even thirty, people had begun attaching the phrase future Commissioner General to his name.
That was why he understood the muddy, filthy desires hidden deep inside people.
People were rarely satisfied with what they had in their hands. They inevitably grew greedy, wanting to climb higher.
Even within the limited world of the National Police Agency, this was easy enough to see.
Take the Commissioner General alone. How many political enemies had he eliminated and how many connections had he cultivated in useful places just to reach that position?
Tae-oh had watched that process with his own eyes. Even though he considered such behavior as filthy as sewage, he had never deliberately rebelled against it.
Human beings were inherently selfish creatures, and in the end, he too was simply another part of the organization. He wasn’t blinded by ambition, but neither was he foolish enough to abandon the smooth road laid out before him.
Yet even Tae-oh had people he couldn’t hide his dislike for.
“I hear the Imperial Family is sending one of its members to help deal with this accident. Inspector Kwon, you’re in charge, so make sure you keep a close eye on her.”
Called in early that morning and given the Commissioner’s instructions, Tae-oh had scoffed.
Imperial Family.
Parasites who flaunted the privilege of having noble blood while refusing to fulfill their obligations.
This wasn’t a premodern era. If the world had changed, they should have changed with it. Instead, they held their noses high and tried to rule over everyone from their lofty positions.
Tae-oh’s reason for hating the Imperial Family was clear.
He was one of those people commonly called an elite, and because of that, he had earned the trust of his superiors.
He had seen countless senior officials who cleaned up after various Princes and Provincial Lords from the Imperial Family, secretly enjoying the sense of superiority that came from handling their messes while groveling before them to their faces.
There were even members of the Imperial Family who bypassed the higher-ups and approached Tae-oh directly.
People who acted as though they occupied the highest position in the world, yet begged for help when faced with laws that could actually render them powerless.
That had been Tae-oh’s mindset when he went to receive Lady Cheongyang, Lee Seon.
Her name was one he had often heard in a positive context through the media, but he was certain that her true nature would be no different from the rest.
“Well, do you really think this makes sense? Is that why everyone brought these materials here?”
This was a TF team established in name only.
Apparently, members of the Imperial Family were so noble that even after death, they had to undergo a special investigation before the formal funeral procedures could begin.
Since Tae-oh had joined the police, this was the first time an Imperial Family member of such stature had been involved in an accident. It was his first time joining a TF as well.
Of course, even he had noticed things that seemed strange.
For one thing, the fact that the Crown Prince had been involved in such a massive traffic accident wasn’t something that could easily be understood.
On top of that, Tae-oh was frustrated by what exactly they were supposed to investigate with such a poorly assembled TF team.
But when he had raised those doubts, the Commissioner had told him that this was all merely for appearances.
There was no need to conduct a real investigation.
Tae-oh had been mildly dissatisfied, but he hadn’t thought it was something worth worrying about.
He was already so overwhelmed with cases piled up in the Criminal Investigation Division that he would have to spend several nights awake just to get through them all.
The probability that someone as important as the Crown Prince had been involved in an attempted murder was surely lower than the probability of him dying in a traffic accident.
It was easier to think that way.
“The CCTV footage covering the road where the Crown Prince’s vehicle was traveling is missing for five whole minutes. Can we really dismiss that as nothing more than incredibly bad luck?”
But the woman standing before him was different.
She was unlike any member of the Imperial Family Tae-oh had encountered before.
Perhaps it was the intelligence shining in her eyes.
Perhaps it was her confident but non-arrogant manner of speaking, or her calm voice.
Everything about her seemed almost deliberately crafted, yet somehow that only made her seem more dignified.
I’m actually thinking this while standing in front of an Imperial Family member?
As he watched Seon continue to raise objections throughout the meeting, Tae-oh covered his mouth.
He kept finding himself suppressing laughter, and he was beginning to worry that someone might notice.
He had known this woman for barely an hour, yet there was no comparison between her and the Imperial Family members he had encountered until now.
A woman with eyes like that didn’t look like someone who would come crawling to the National Police Agency merely to have them cover up her own misconduct.
Still. She’s Imperial Family, in the end, isn’t she?
Tae-oh studied her with wary eyes.
Even with the Commissioner General of the National Police Agency, a man in his early sixties, sitting before her, she showed no sign of intimidation and looked him straight in the eye.
Her voice was remarkably clear. She spoke with restraint without going too far, yet conveyed exactly what she wanted to say.
“And why has no one from the Gyeonggi Southern Provincial Police Agency, who responded to the scene, joined this TF?”
“Investigations involving the Imperial Family have traditionally been handled exclusively by the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, so…”
“Isn’t this case different?”
She even interrupted the Commissioner’s words.
And somehow, even that looked elegant.
Her round eyes, like glass beads, held nothing but genuine curiosity.
Tae-oh even wondered whether that, too, was intentional.
“Surely they weren’t excluded because of an internal power struggle.”
“Of course not.”
“Then I think it would be better to have the officers who responded to the scene join the TF as well.”
Before anyone realized it, Seon had taken control of the conversation and brought it to a conclusion.
At this point, anyone who opposed her would have looked strange.
He got completely dragged into her pace.
The Commissioner General had been so confident just moments ago, declaring that this investigation was merely for appearances.
Yet now he was sweating profusely despite the weather, wiping the back of his neck with a handkerchief.
He looked nervous.
“Perhaps we should have the officers who responded to the scene join the TF, as Lady Cheongyang suggested.”
Perhaps sensing the Commissioner’s desperate plea for help, a middle-aged woman who had supposedly been dispatched from the Office of the Inspector-General stepped in.
She had a sharp appearance, with red lipstick and equally bright red horn-rimmed glasses.
It was Inspector Park Tae-hwa, who had introduced herself earlier.
She twisted the corners of her mouth upward unnaturally before speaking.
“But the police will be leading the overall investigation. The Imperial Family’s participation in the TF is intended for general observation.”
“Are you saying I interfered too much?”
Seon asked with the same smile.
There wasn’t the slightest hint of aggression in her smiling face, but Tae-oh could tell that something sharp existed beneath their exchange.
As far as Tae-oh knew, the Office of the Inspector-General was one of the most independent organizations within the Imperial Household Department, while also possessing considerable political power.
There was even a saying that Imperial Household Department officials who passed through the Office of the Inspector-General at least once were promoted more quickly.
Yet the attitude of the inspectors dispatched from there toward Seon could hardly be called respectful.
It was a subtle form of disregard that stopped just short of outright insolence.
She was a famous member of the Imperial Family, but did this mean she had little influence over the Imperial Family’s central power structure?
“I believe she’s simply saying that the Commissioner General may have been caught off guard. Please don’t misunderstand her too much.”
Inspector Hong, who had been sitting nearby, also joined in to support Park Tae-hwa.
Seon looked lonely, as though there wasn’t a single person in this room on her side.
As Tae-oh observed the situation, he noticed the triumphant expression returning to the Commissioner’s face.
Only moments ago, he had been unilaterally attacked by a woman far younger than himself.
But after receiving even a little assistance, he had immediately regained his composure.
Tae-oh knew perfectly well that there were times when, for the sake of maintaining a peaceful future, one had to deliberately overlook certain things.
And this was clearly one of those situations.
The intention of the higher-ups who had assigned an already busy man like him to the Special Investigation TF for Imperial Family Cases was probably similar.
It was an unspoken threat telling him to simply follow the flow, just as he always had.
But when Tae-oh looked at Seon, standing there like an isolated island, he suddenly felt capricious.
This woman was Imperial Family too, so surely she wouldn’t be all that different from the people he knew.
Still, until she showed her filthy true colors, couldn’t he at least make her dance according to his tune while he still had her within the palm of his hand?
With that thought, Tae-oh quietly raised his hand.
The Commissioner’s eyes lit up, and he immediately gave Tae-oh permission to speak.
The expression on his face was as though he had just encountered a great army of reinforcements.
It made Tae-oh’s mood turn even more sour.
No matter how accustomed he was to humoring the Commissioner, he wasn’t such a pathetic person that he would gang up five against one on a single woman.
“Let’s take a short break.”
“No, well… Isn’t today’s meeting sufficient?”
The Commissioner had clearly been convinced that Tae-oh had interrupted to help him.
When Tae-oh failed to meet his expectations, the man’s expression darkened in an instant.
Such a transparent man.
Tae-oh slowly lowered the hand he had raised and shrugged.
In the meantime, Sergeant Yoon, who had been watching the situation nervously, hurriedly declared a recess.
Feeling everyone’s eyes turning toward him, Tae-oh quietly rose from his seat.
Apparently, that Imperial Family member was more perceptive than the others as well.
