* * *
The fire was mostly out, but smoke was still coming from the building.
Two detectives climbed to the rooftop of the building opposite the fire. They looked across and spoke.
“Wow…. They connected a line to this railing and crossed from there? While carrying someone?”
“Amazing, right? Could they be a tightrope-walking human cultural asset?”
“Who are they?”
“No one knows. They were wearing a mask.”
“They say they were watching the fire and climbed up the wall after seeing someone trapped on the rooftop. So, we don’t need to check the CCTV to find them, right?”
“Of course. And if it’s confirmed the fire was due to a short circuit or a gas leak, it’s not our case.”
Detective Park Ki-jung received a call on his smartphone. After checking the caller, he answered.
“What is it?”
– Why do you answer the team leader’s call with ‘What is it?’
“You keep canceling my leave. I really want to take this vacation. My passion burned out from catching criminals and now there’s only ashes left. I need to recharge.”
– We’re screwed.
“I’ve had so much trouble that I’m sick of it now…. Why? Is it arson instead of a short circuit or gas leak?”
– We don’t know that yet. That’s not the problem. A body was found on the third floor.
Detective Park Ki-jung sighed deeply.
“Damn it. I thought there were no casualties….”
His partner sighed too.
“This means it’s not just a random house fire anymore.”
Detective Park Ki-jung suggested.
“Let’s start by seeing if that tightrope-walking expert left anything behind here.”
Na Kang-in thoroughly washed off the fire residue on his body at the jjimjilbang (Korean Bath House). He then settled into a spacious room.
The AI agent suggested.
[For hydration and calorie replenishment, as well as to stabilize your body temperature, I recommend shikhye with a thin layer of ice.]
“I haven’t earned enough operational funds to splurge here yet.”
[Spending operational funds on your condition management isn’t splurging…]
The AI agent’s speech suddenly quickened and changed topics.
[I have detected the person rescued from the fire site today at 2 o’clock.]
Na Kang-in turned his head in that direction and saw Yoon Ah-reum wandering around. “We made eye contact. She’s walking this way,” the AI added.
She approached Na Kang-in with a wide smile and sat in front of him.
“Wow, Chef oppa. Did you follow me?”
“I came here to wash up too.”
“My house burned down, so I washed up here. Why are you here, Chef oppa? Do you not have a house?”
“Yeah, I don’t have a house.”
Yoon Ah-reum was slightly taken aback.
“Huh? Why don’t you have a house? Did your house burn down too?”
“I’ve only been in this neighborhood for a few days, so I’ve been sleeping at a PC bang.”
“Oh, I see.”
She nodded and then suddenly giggled.
“Hehe. Hey, oppa.”
The AI agent warned.
[I detect an impure intent in her voice.]
“I’m hungry. Can you buy me some food?”
“I saved your life, and now you want me to feed you too? Don’t you have any money?”
“My house completely burned down; do you think I had the mind to grab my wallet?”
“Yet you had enough money to come to the jjimjilbang?”
“I had just enough money in my pocket to come here. I don’t have money for food.”
The AI agent said.
[Providing food to a starving civilian rescued from a disaster site is a rightful action by the Earth Union Army. I suggest shikhye and baked eggs as relief supplies.]
Na Kang-in knew another solution.
“Since we’ve washed up, let’s go to the PC bang. I’ll cook you some food.”
“Wow! Sure!”
***
Na Kang-in returned to the PC bang with Yoon Ah-reum.
Cha Eun-seo asked, “Did you find the seasoning you lost on the way? Did you find it?”
“No. They cleaned everything up, so there was nothing left. But I found her instead.”
Cha Eun-seo was slightly taken aback as she looked at Yoon Ah-reum.
“I didn’t know she was a regular customer. But you found her?”
“She lived in the building that burned down. She has nowhere to go.”
Yoon Ah-reum quickly nodded.
“It completely burned down.”
“She said she left her wallet in the house and doesn’t have a penny, so I brought her here.”
Cha Eun-seo, the manager’s niece, narrowed her eyes.
“If she doesn’t have a penny, she can’t pay for PC bang usage, can she?”
“Right. Hehe.”
Na Kang-in explained, “I didn’t bring her here to play games. I brought her here to feed her.”
Cha Eun-seo grumbled, “Are we a charity restaurant or something?”
“Why aren’t you going home?”
She confidently replied, “I plan to eat before I go.”
Na Kang-in stared at her. Cha Eun-seo avoided his gaze.
“Eun-seo, people often tell you you’re shameless, right?”
“Oh! Since we serve food, we are a restaurant! A fine dining establishment!”
***
At a distance from the site, various items were piled up haphazardly.
Detective Park Ki-jung asked, “What are all these items?”
A police officer at the scene replied, “We moved anything that obstructed the fire suppression to this area.”
“There’s even a grocery store plastic bag?”
A fellow detective remarked, “Someone must have left it while watching the fire.”
Park Ki-jung stared at the plastic bag and said, “To save someone and climb to the top of a five-story building, you’d need to use both hands and feet, right? If you had a plastic bag in your hand, you’d have put it down.”
The fellow detective asked, “Are you saying this plastic bag might belong to that tightrope walker?”
“It’s possible.”
The fellow detective opened the bag to check its contents.
“It’s just sauce for cooking. Ah, there’s a receipt too. Well, there was, but it’s wet and torn, so it’s hard to tell whose it is.”
“We can at least see the name of the store. If we check the CCTV there, we can find out who bought it.”
The fellow detective asked, “Do we really need to find out who saved someone? It’s not like they’re a criminal.”
They had many other cases to solve. The fatalities in this fire had them all on edge.
Park Ki-jung grumbled, “True, but the chief told us to find out. What can we do? Orders are orders.”
“Damn it.”
***
Na Kang-in plated the food he had prepared.
Yoon Ah-reum, eating the food, exclaimed, “Chef oppa, your skills are amazing! I want to eat this every day!”
“Flattery won’t get you more.”
“I’m serious.”
“Now that you’ve eaten, you should go.”
“My house burned down, remember? I have nowhere to go right now. No money either. But!”
She pointed to an A4 paper on the table.
“It says here that you’re hiring part-timers. Awesome!”
“I know nothing about that.”
Cha Eun-seo chimed in, “Our night shift part-timer had to quit due to personal reasons. They’ve been running late recently, so we’re hiring anew. My uncle told me to print that out….”
Yoon Ah-reum quickly flipped the A4 paper to hide the job posting and said, “Unni, there’s no need to put this up. I can start working right away!”
“What? Am I unni?”
“I’m a freshman at Korea University!”
“Oh….”
Cha Eun-seo was older. She said, “We already have a freshman from Korea University working here.”
“I’ll get along with him! Is he coming today?”
“He only comes when he’s busy, so he won’t be here today. But telling me won’t help anyway, since my uncle is the one hiring.”
Yoon Ah-reum blinked her eyes with a pitiful expression.
“I don’t have a home anymore, so I have to live in a jjimjilbang (Korean Bath House). But my wallet and phone were all burned, so I don’t even have money to go to a jjimjilbang.”
“Don’t you get insurance money when your house catches fire?”
Yoon Ah-reum clasped her hands together and said with a truly pitiable look.
“When will that insurance money come? I’ll starve to death before it does. Please let me work for now. Okay?”
Her expression was so desperate, and her demeanor so forlorn, she looked like a little match girl shivering in the cold.
AI Zinji spoke.
[She’s acting.]
“Yeah, I know. She was full of energy just a moment ago.”
Cha Eun-seo was convinced by her act.
“Alright, I’ll talk to my uncle when he comes out.”
“Yay!”
***
Boss Cha Dong-seok conducted a brief interview.
The night shift worker had quit suddenly, so he needed someone to start working tonight. If no one was available, Cha Dong-seok himself would have to do it, but he was busy with other work outside.
Moreover, Yoon Ah-reum’s pitiful act also worked on Cha Dong-seok.
“Wow, if I don’t hire her despite her difficult situation, I’d be a bad person. You’re hired!”
***
Na Kang-in was gathering various information on the internet as usual during the day.
AI Zinji reported.
[There are many claims online that it is not currently 2022.]
“Impossible.”
[None of these claims are reliable.]
“See? I told you it’s 2022.”
[However, the technology of 2022 cannot explain my existence.]
“Right? Even if it’s a massive multinational corporation’s data center AI, embedding it in a body is beyond current technology, right?”
AI Zinji is a combat support AI embedded in the body.
[Correct.]
“But what can we do? No matter how you look at it, it’s 2022.”
The door to the Zijin opened, and a man entered. But he wasn’t a customer.
Detective Park Ki-jung walked to the counter and held up a local market bag.
Cha Eun-seo, the boss’s niece, asked.
“Shall I take it for you?”
“Oh, no, that’s not it.”
Park Ki-jung showed his ID. Then, he opened the bag containing some sauces and spices and asked.
“This card was used to buy these items here.”
Cha Eun-seo clapped her hands as soon as she saw the contents.
“Oh! This is it!”
“You know it? Who bought this….”
“Kang-in oppa! The policeman brought the seasonings you lost while watching the fire yesterday!”
Park Ki-jung was disappointed upon hearing this.
‘So, it was just left by someone watching the fire.’
Cha Eun-seo was impressed.
“Wow, the police in our country are amazing. They even bring back things like this to the owner.”
“Um… that’s not….”
Na Kang-in walked from the corner of the Zijin and took the bag.
“Thank you.”
Park Ki-jung smiled awkwardly.
“You’re welcome. This is also part of the police’s duty.”
Detective Park Ki-jung handed over his business card and left. Na Kang-in took the card and went back to his secluded spot.
AI Zinji used his hand to search the internet.
[Detective Park Ki-jung. Identity confirmed. He is a real detective.]
“Of course, he’s not fake.”
Detective Park Ki-jung didn’t say much about the fire incident and left. So, Na Kang-in was a bit curious about the situation there.
“Zinji, instead of that, find out what happened to the building that caught fire yesterday.”
AI Zinji searched the internet.
Related articles appeared immediately.
[A body was found at the scene.]
Na Kang-in frowned.
“Did we miss someone there?”
* * *
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