That afternoon, the detective section of the police station was noisy.
“Oh, detective, I did not do it!”
“Just exercise the right to stay silent, you bastard! You were videotaped on CCTV. How can you try to get away with it?”
“I’m sorry…”
The detective section was really noisy with those raising their voice, complaining about false accusations, and others who alleged that they are not suspects.
“Damn it! This kind of absurd case was assigned to me…”
Detective Kang, knocking on the keyboard, was grumbling.
“What do you mean by an ‘absurd case’?” asked someone suddenly from the side.
“Is it you again?”
Detective Kang, in his forties, first flinched at the woman in her 20s, and then clicked his tongue. With horn-rimmed glasses and her long hair tied back, she was wearing shabby clothes as if she just swept through Namdaemun market. She grinned lightly.
“Well, who would bring coffee to a toiling detective Kang other than me?”
The detective tasted the canned coffee she brought.
“Today I’m busy. Can’t you just go away?”
“Nope, please give me some news to break. If I go back empty-handed, a demon-like team chief will try to eat me up!”
Detective Kang broke into a silly laugh at her being such a crybaby.
“There must be someone else to be eaten up, but not you…” Kang said.
It was Han Jihye, a cub reporter for KBS, clinging to him like a leech.
Most of the reporters made routine rounds at their beat and disappeared, but she was different.
“If I give you a news item, you won’t bother me for one month, okay?”
“Of course. I won’t! I can see many other detectives out there instead.”
Han Jihye gave a big smile.
At a glance, she was far from a stylish woman, yet her smile was beautiful.
“Be sure to keep that promise,” said Kang.
He raised his eyes and looked at the detention cell.
“You see him?”
Han Jihye’s gaze moved with Kang’s chin gesture toward the detention cell.
She noticed among the adults one student leaning against the wall with his eyes closed.
“Oh, that student …”
“Do you know him?”
“Yes, I hear he was detained here on charges of killing his friend…”
“Killing his friend? No way. He gave first aid to a dying friend…”
“First aid?”
“Yeah, you already know that he was detained here, but didn’t know about that?”
“Well, I just got here…”
Her eyes glowed as she gazed at Suhyuk.
“Attempted murder?”
Han Jihye, who sneaked a glance through the report that Kang was writing, tilted her head.
She fixed her eyes again on Suhyuk. She slowly walked to the detention cell and called somewhere.
“Uh, it’s me, Jihye. Let me ask you something. A minor allegedly has pierced a person’s throat for first aid treatment in an urgent situation. The patient came back to life. Is his act a violation of the law? I mean, does it violate the ‘First Aid Law’? Oh, wait a minute! Someone is calling me on the phone. I’ll call you back soon.”
She looked at her smartphone’s LCD screen and frowned. It was none other than the team chief, her immediate supervisor who managed apprentice reporters like her.
“Yes, captain!”
(Hey, Han Jihye, are you empty-handed even today? You’ve been like that for the past several days! And why don’t you get in touch with me? You’re merely an apprentice reporter. Don’t you know you guys have to report to me every hour about your location and activities? Do you really want me to send you home and enjoy it fully?)
“Yes, but only after I’m done with this.”
(What?)
‘Oh, well, just wait a minute. When a reporter who has a duty to report to their supervisor keeps silent, there should be some reason…’
In a situation like this, it was the team chief who would make a big fuss out of it.
At that moment, Han Jihye could not speak anymore.
Bang! Bang!
A homeless man, apparently drunk, started hitting his head against the wall of the detention cell right in front of her, and the situation was no joke. Blood bursting from his head popped out everywhere.
“What the heck. Are you crazy?!” shouted those startled at the scene, “Call 119! 119!”
Suddenly the police station was all topsy-turvy.
Suhyuk, sitting there, rose from his seat. The homeless person had been sitting in front of Suhyuk. The fallen homeless person’s head, due to severe self-injury, seemed to have broken apart. Blood flowed from the head, and his nose was bleeding.
A man next to him suddenly blocked his nose by hand. As blood was coming from his nose, he wanted to block it.
“Do not block it!”
Suhyuk pushed away his hand.
If his nose were blocked, the pressure on the skull will increase and the situation would get worse.
“Wuwewek!” He poured out his vomit.
“Call 119 quickly!”
As soon as he shouted, Suhyuk responded swiftly. He pushed the homeless person to one side and opened the airway as wide as possible. When he stopped vomiting, Suhyuk’s expression was seriously hardened because he was not breathing. Suhyuk then opened his mouth and quickly checked its insides. He noticed an unknown object stuck deep in the back of the uvula, which obviously came up with the vomit. Suhyuk did not hesitate to put in his finger and took it out. It was a meat lump. Apparently he did not chew and swallowed it because it was quite thick like raw meat.
“Wuwewek!”
His mouth poured out vomit again, and then he gasped for air.
Taking a breath, Suhyuk put his head on his thigh. Cerebral edema, which can cause a rapid increase in water content in the brain parenchyma. He was trying his best to prevent its occurrence as much as possible.
Suhyuk shouted again, “Please call 119!”
The ambulance arrived in an instant.
Watching the whole situation all along until the ambulance with the patient left, Han Jihye mumbled, “Hmm… the situation must have been similar to this back then.”
Stroking her chin in a pensive mode, she tilted her head and moved.
‘Who do I have to interview first, the emergency crew who transported that Jaemyung HS student or the doctor?’
Suhyuk was right in front of her. Of course, she had to do the interview only after she talked to him first.
…………………………..…..
The next day, Suhyuk could see his parents’ faces.
“Suhyuk, do not be afraid. Do not worry. Mom and Dad will get you out of here soon. You should not worry about anything.”
Tears rained down from Kim Myunghee’s cheeks, who was speaking to him in a calm manner. Before she met him, she vowed never to shed tears before her son because that would make him scared.
His father looked at his son quietly and said, “Good job.”
He already knew why his son was led away here.
‘I would not just sit idle and do nothing, be it a judge or prosecutor, if they are laying the blame on my son who saved a person’s life…’
“I’m fine. I’ll soon be right out of here, so don’t worry!” said Suhyuk, smiling as brightly as he could. He felt he had committed an undutiful act to his parents like before.
‘To vindicate it, I have to get out of here by all means…’
“Your interview time is up,” said a detention officer. His mom became all the more impatient at his words.
“Suhyuk, I brought in some private food. Eat a lot! Just relax and feel at home while waiting, okay?”
***
News about Suhyuk made an internet sensation.
<What the heck? Why did the police detain him who saved a person’s life? Hell to this country!>
< Are you kidding? Please release him quickly! How could you do that to him, when you should reward him!>
Vast numbers of comments supporting him were posted about on relevant news stories on the internet.
***
“Did you finish up the report about Lee Suhyuk? Let’s do it quickly!”
The chief detective, who was checking the comments on internet, was nagging them.
There was intense pressure coming from the higher-ups, which was kind of a bluff to wrap up the case quickly before it became noisier.
“Yes, yes.”
The detectives made a drowsy voice, but moved slowly like a slug.
The chief detective would laugh and talk loud, but he was uneasy this time.
That kid saved a person’s life, and yet, was taken to the police station. Moreover he demonstrated his skill to save a man in the detention cell. A minor who gave proper first aid. Despite all this, they had wanted him to be charged in one way or another…
***
Meanwhile, Suhyuk’s story was spreading to other places. Three broadcasting companies; they were competing to break the story first.
<A Mr. Lee attending a prestigious private high school saved a person’s life with dramatic first aid, but unfortunately …>
“What?”
Kim Hyunwoo, who had been talking to Dongsu, fixed his eyes on the news.
Kim had not seen him for a while. He thought something happened to him, but decided to wait. And now, Suhyuk’s story was aired on the news.
‘Anyhow he’s a great guy.’
“Yeah, do not worry too much,” Kim Hyunwoo ‘s eyes were cool after talking to Dongsu.
‘Someone reported to the police about him who saved a man’s life with first aid? How dare did they take action against him?’
Kim stopped his finger from pressing the call button, and then threw his cell phone on the sofa. Even if he did not do anything, Suhyuk could handle it quite well by himself. Suhyuk was such a guy.
He muttered, taking beer to the mouth, “The people’s voice is the voice of God…”