My Girlfriend Is a Shaman

32 – Heoju #1

March 10th.

Current time 01:00

In front of Jayu Park, Seungcheon-gu.

There, two police officers were patrolling at night in a patrol car.

The two police officers walked around the area, then stopped their car at a quiet park and took a short break.

━━Patter

It was raining that night. Rain poured down from the sky and poured out the car window. The two police officers were talking while looking out the window.

“What on earth are you doing in the middle of the night…? Sehun.”

“That’s right. It’s raining and the weather is stuffy.”

Inspector Oh Tae-sik and Constable Min Se-hoon.

The two were police officers working in the Life Safety Department of Seungcheon Police Station.

Originally, the two of them would have left work by now, but that wasn’t the case today. They were urgently deployed and were patrolling because of a gunman who had been appearing in Seoul.

“No… What on earth is that criminal doing? Why is he wearing a traditional mask and going around stabbing people?”

“He’s definitely a psycho.”

“He’s a psychopath and he’s good at escaping like a loach. I have to catch him quickly to get off work…”

A strange man wearing a traditional mask.

This was the reason why Inspector Oh and Police Officer Min were patrolling at night. A masked assailant killed 12 people at a camping site in Cheonggyesan Mountain and fled. He even killed an additional police officer while running away. It was a serious problem that even a police officer was killed. If they are not caught quickly, the status of the police will fall.

“Just show it. You’ll just have to smash the talva to pieces.”

“But. I heard that the police officer was murdered. Aren’t we in danger too?”

“Hey, Sehun! Did the police officer who was killed use his strength properly? He probably died because he was ambushed while hitting him gently to avoid excessive force.”

“Is that so, senior…?”

“Anyway, we’re going right from the beginning. Of course, it’s best not to encounter each other.”

A police officer was murdered near the Cheonggyesan camping site. However, there was no way to confirm exactly how the police officer was actually killed. When the crime occurred, for some reason, there was a lot of noise in the surrounding CCTV. Even when I tried to watch the video again, I could only hear a crackling noise. At that time, there was a power outage at the campsite.

“Let’s move slowly.”

The two people who were taking a break drove the patrol car again and tried to leave near the park.

Lieutenant Oh turned on the engine and grabbed the steering wheel.

It was right then.

For some reason, the street lights around me started blinking. Not only the streetlights in the park but also the streetlights along the road flickered uneasily.

“Huh?”

Then all the street lights around went off at once.

In an instant, the patrol car they were in was immersed in darkness.

“Is it a power outage?”

“The lights are all turned off only where we are.”

It was a strange thing. The lights were clearly visible from buildings in the distance. The power outage occurred only around the patrol car.

“Let’s first report that a power outage has occurred.”

Lieutenant Oh tried to contact the police station with a walkie-talkie. However, only a crackling noise was heard from the radio, and the signal was not received properly.

The police officer next to me tried to contact him via cell phone. However, the cell phone did not work properly.

[Current location is out of service area.]

Even when I made a phone call, I only heard an incomprehensible tone. Even though this was not a remote mountainous area, I heard an announcement that it was a service-free area. Lieutenant Oh’s cell phone also had no signal.

“What, what? My phone is broken too.”

“I can’t get a signal.”

It was a time when the two police officers were panicking.

A pure white mask appeared on the side of the park. It was a traditional Korean mask with prominent cheekbones.

The two police officers who were looking around soon discovered a masked gunman.

“Hey, that one!”

“Heo-eok.”

A masked man was suddenly standing at the entrance to the park.

I was staring at the patrol car with the police officers in it while my whole body was being hit by the pouring rain.

“Get down and catch me!”

“Yes!”

Inspector Oh and Inspector Min quickly got out of the car, nervous. He was a gunman who killed 12 ordinary people and a police officer.

The two police officers patrolling were sufficiently armed.

Inspector Oh took out a revolver and Constable Min held up a Taser. They had no intention of engaging in close combat with a three-stage baton. As I said before, I planned to suppress it properly from the beginning.

“Sehun! As soon as he moves, shoot him! Don’t expect me to take it lightly!”

“I understand!”

Lieutenant Oh shouted while aiming his revolver at the masked assailant.

Extreme swear words flowed from his excited mouth.

“Hold your hands high and kneel! You bastard!”

There was no reaction from the masked gunman. He did not kneel or raise his hands.

“Say it one more time! Get on your knees!”

“No response!”

“No way! Just use the taser!”

Lieutenant Oh spoke to the police officer holding the Taser. The police officer swallowed his saliva and aimed his Taser gun at the masked assailant. It was the moment when the police officer’s finger was about to pull the trigger.

━━Wudduk

An ominous sound was heard from the police officer.

Inspector Oh was looking at the police officer and was scared. The police officer’s limbs were twisted as he tried to pull the trigger. The police officer’s entire body was crushed as if he had been crushed by an industrial press.

“Uh, huh? Ahhh!!”

Even though nothing touched the police officer’s body, it twisted like a twist. The police officer who was screaming in despair lost his life. Inspector Oh, who was watching the strange scene right next to him, was so shocked that he couldn’t even breathe properly.

“Huh!”

His instincts were warning him of danger.

I couldn’t possibly understand what was happening right now. Inspector Oh decided to rely on instinct rather than reason. His instincts told him to shoot the dangerous thing in front of him.

The masked man took a step.

The gunman took out a sharp sashimi knife from inside his thick coat.

A gunman was walking towards Inspector Oh while holding a sashimi knife.

“Go, don’t come any closer!”

Lieutenant Oh fired his revolver at the gunman. His first shot was a blank bullet. The moment he fired his gun, a loud sound echoed around the area.

In fact, anyone who heard a gunshot was bound to get scared. However, the gunman walked towards Inspector Oh without saying a word. The pure white mask buried in the darkness gradually got closer to Inspector Oh.

Lieutenant Oh fired his revolver at the gunman again.

From now on, it was not blank bullets but live bullets.

━━Tang

When the trigger was pulled, the Smith and Wesson revolver smoked. 38 Caliber bullets were fired at an invisible speed. Although the shooting took place on a rainy night, Lieutenant Oh’s skills were decent.

Puck! The bullet hit the target. The masked gunman’s chest was pierced and his blood splattered. The gunman stumbled after being shot.

‘Is this the end?’

Lieutenant Oh thought he had killed the assailant. He was filled with relief that he had survived. But his relief was short-lived.

━━Snap. Snap.

A strange man moved in the darkness. I walked while stepping on puddles on the ground. Inspector Oh said he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. A person was shot but was moving normally. This was not a dream, it was reality.

━━Tang

Lieutenant Oh fired the revolver again with trembling hands. His hand was shaking and his bullet missed by one shot. The remaining bullets hit the gunman. The gunman’s body was pierced and his blood splattered. The gunman did not stop walking.

All bullets are gone.

Lieutenant Oh was scared and tried to get into the car. The patrol car with the engine running was right behind. However, that was the moment when Inspector Oh grabbed the car door. A masked man ran towards Inspector Oh. The gunman closed the distance in the blink of an eye and raised his sashimi knife.

A pure white mask flickered on the windshield of the patrol car.

There was a strange man behind Lieutenant Oh.

━━Wheeik!

The sashimi knife flashed.

In the darkness, Lieutenant Oh’s breath stopped.

*

“Jinwoo.”

I woke up hearing Sarah’s voice calling.

This was Hyehwadang.

When I opened my eyes in the morning, Sarah was next to me looking at me.

“I have to go to school soon. Time is up.”

“Huh? Ugh….”

I got up from the sofa.

The TV was on in the living room. The anchor’s voice continued to flow from the TV channel covering the news. It was probably something Sarah played.

“Haam.”

A yawn escaped.

I spoke to Sarah, who had been watching the news since morning.

“Sera.”

“Why?”

“I heard the culprit was caught? There’s a killer wearing a mask and wielding a weapon.”

“He hasn’t been caught yet. The police are still investigating, but I don’t think they’ve found any clues.”

Listen to what Sarah said, it seemed like the culprit was not caught today as well.

Today was Wednesday. Two days have already passed since the murder occurred at the campsite. However, the assailant wearing the pure white mask had not yet been arrested. I couldn’t figure out how a single murderer was avoiding the police’s investigation net.

It was when I woke up and had a light breakfast.

Sera told me new news.

“Jinwoo, a police officer was murdered in our neighborhood last night. It was on the news that the police officers were found dead while patrolling near Jayu Park.”

“Jayu Park…?”

I stopped eating for a moment. Jayu Park was a familiar name. Jayu Park in Seungcheon-gu was close to the school we attended. It was a 10-minute walk from school.

“It’s near the school.”

“Yes. So, a masked gunman came to our neighborhood. The news also said that there was a high probability that it was the same criminal. It seems like similar weapons were used in the crime.”

“What kind of weapon?”

“A sharp knife, and the other is an unidentified weapon.”

It seemed like two police officers had been killed by a masked assailant.

Now the number of victims has increased to 15.

Unidentified weapon.

I also heard this yesterday.

Among the victims killed by the gunman, there were a small number of people who died strange deaths. These people died because their bodies were crushed as if they had been pressed in a press. I was curious about what kind of weapon would be used to crush a person.

“It’s not like the gunman was carrying a press machine. One of the murdered police officers was crushed.”

“It’s definitely strange.”

Sarah quietly asked a question towards me as she nodded.

“Jinwoo, I’m talking about this. Don’t you want to see the murder scene at least once?”

“Of course I want to see you.”

If it were an ordinary murder case, it would have been a matter for the police to solve it on their own. However, with the mystery involved, I couldn’t stay still. We wanted to solve the mystery.

“Let’s go together after school.”

After school that day.

Sarah and I left for Jayu Park wearing our school uniforms.