Sinuiju Free Market (18)

“I’m a little worried this place might be inconvenient.”

The police officer who had arrived in front of a nearby police substation joked lightly.

“It’s fine. If we had to move anyway, I figured we’d be going to a police station.”

“If that’s the case, then that’s a relief.”

After hearing Hyeonseong’s reply, the officer led the group inside the substation.

‘Nemesis, come out. I’ve got something for you to do.’

The moment she stepped inside the police substation, Hyeonseong summoned Nemesis.

To the Nemesis awaiting orders, she gave the instruction to monitor the internet line inside the substation.

‘If any page or file gets transmitted to this substation, let me know.’

If the auction house people were going to send materials related to the arsonist, this was the most likely moment.

‘If you spot any videos or photos taken of that basement floor… you know what to do, right?’

“Over here, please.”

A police officer spoke to Hyeonseong, who had been conversing inwardly with Nemesis. Hyeonseong went over to the prepared seat and sat down.

The police returned to their respective places and briefly questioned Hyeonseong’s group and the office-center staff. The questions the police asked were nothing special. They merely asked where they had been and what they had been doing when the fire broke out.

“So, Ye Hyeonseong…-ssi, and Ye Hyeonyeong…-ssi, and then…”

The police officer’s gaze aimed at Haesu turned subtly sour for a moment.

“Ji Haesu.”

At the police officer’s voice, thick with exasperation, Haesu quietly averted her eyes and feigned indifference.

“When the hell is that brat ever going to grow up?”

“Still, today she wasn’t brought in for picking pockets.”

“I don’t care. I just want to stop seeing that brat’s face.”

At the police officers’ continued reactions, Haesu’s expression also gradually turned sour.

‘…Come to think of it, we somehow ended up at a police station.’

She had said that if Haesu just guided them properly, she would let the matter go without reporting her to the police, but before she knew it, Haesu was sitting in a police substation.

Of course, Haesu was not sitting there as a suspect or criminal, so there was no problem with the contract Hyeonseong had written with Haesu. The only problem was Haesu’s mood.

‘…Anyway, not my fault.’

Hyeonseong decided to quietly pretend not to notice the standoff between Haesu and the police.

“Enough of the useless chatter. Let’s get back to what we were saying.”

When one of the police officers said that, the conversation finally returned to its proper course.

“Ahem. Anyway, you three are saying that you witnessed a group believed to be the arsonist’s accomplices. And because you saw the scene of the arson, those people chased you and you ended up at the office center.”

“Yes.”

Hyeonseong answered naturally.

“If that’s true, shouldn’t we first identify who those people are and bring them in?”

“But we don’t know where they’re from or what they do.”

“There can’t be that many bastards working in groups that large…”

After hearing Hyeonseong’s group’s answers, the police looked over the interrogation records and fell into thought.

“Um…”

Haesu timidly opened her mouth toward the police. At that, several officers shot her dirty looks.

“I-if the questioning is over, can we go now?”

“Go where…”

“I said I wasn’t brought in for picking pockets.”

“Ah, right.”

The officers, realizing that Haesu was not here because of pickpocketing, thought for a moment and then nodded.

“Well, there’s nothing more to ask.”

“Yeah, go.”

“Please, if possible, try not to give us reasons to see you here again.”

The police gestured for Haesu to leave quickly, as though shooing away something annoying. Haesu promptly rose from her seat. Just as she was about to run out of the substation without even bothering to say goodbye—

Bzzz…

Hyeonseong’s phone gave a short vibration. At the same time, the video screen Nemesis had sent appeared before her eyes.

‘It just arrived.’

What appeared before Hyeonseong was footage of the area around the transfer room and the floor where the transfer room was located. In the footage, naturally enough, Hyeonseong herself was shown setting the fire and fleeing.

[This footage is a preserved copy of the original. The original has now been edited as requested.]

After Hyeonseong checked the footage, a message sent by Nemesis appeared. Along with it, a new video was displayed.

The scenery in the newly displayed footage was exactly the same as before. But the person captured in it was different. Another person stood where Hyeonseong had originally been.

‘It’s one of the bastards who was chasing us earlier.’

In a short span of time, Nemesis had gathered graphics suitable for compositing and created a convincing video. It was skillful enough to make her marvel anew.

‘If it’s already this good despite being only mid-grade, just how high-performance is it going to be later?’

“Hm? Wait a second.”

While Hyeonseong was checking Nemesis’s message, the police also noticed the existence of the footage that had just arrived.

“Reference material regarding this fire incident…? Who sent it?”

“Had it been publicly disclosed that this was under investigation?”

“I don’t think any official announcement has been made yet… but if it’s someone near the center, they’d probably know the rough situation.”

“So you’re saying someone who was near there heard about it and found the footage to send over?”

“Even if that’s the case, I’m not sure whether it’s okay to open this…”

The police hesitated over whether they should really open the video materials that had arrived. The transmission route itself was not the problem, but it seemed the issue was that they could not guarantee the informant’s identity.

“If we accept this kind of thing carelessly, it could be a big problem…”

“Still, shouldn’t we open it if possible?”

“If it’s a problematic file, it should get filtered out. The inspection program is running too.”

After a brief exchange, the police decided to open the file. Soon, the video file was saved to the substation computer. When the file inspection came back normal, they immediately played the footage.

“Where is this place?”

“Was there a place like this underground around there?”

The police asked in puzzled voices when they saw the underground scenery shown in the footage.

‘I thought the police would know… Is it because this is a police substation, not a full police station?’

Hyeonseong briefly found their reaction odd, but soon arrived at the answer herself.

There was a high probability that only a small number of people knew of the underground transfer room’s existence. The odds of some low-ranking police officers being included among those few were extremely low.

“Looks like it’s that again, doesn’t it? Something those damned bastards hid underground…”

“This market keeps coughing things up the more you dig into it.”

The officers looking at the footage grumbled. They seemed to have forgotten that civilians they had been questioning, not fellow police officers, were sitting right in front of them.

Hyeonseong considered whether she should give them a hint, but decided to keep quiet. If they were going to talk on their own, she could gather information without having to do anything, which was a gain.

“Is that the guy? The culprit who set the fire?”

“He looks suspicious at a glance.”

“Huh? But isn’t that just ordinary fire magic? Can something like that really start a fire that big?”

“You never know. There could be some item or skill hidden inside that magic.”

From where Hyeonseong was sitting, she could not see the footage the police were watching. But judging from the conversation going back and forth, she could tell which part of which footage they were looking at.

‘It’s the edited footage Nemesis made. Is it the exact moment the fire started?’

“Ah, so that’s the part Ms. Ye Hyeonyeong mentioned.”

“Oh wow, they really are chasing them like they’re trying to kill them.”

It seemed the footage had now moved on to the scene of Hyeonseong’s group being chased. Judging from the conversation, that part too had been properly edited to make it look as though they were pursuing witnesses.

“It’s over.”

“If this really is proper footage, then that means the guy from before is the arsonist…”

When the video ended, the police stared at the monitor and fell into thought.

“But where exactly is this place?”

“We’ll figure that out if we start by investigating the office center.”

“True, after those people escaped earlier…”

The officers who had continued talking suddenly flinched for a moment. It seemed they had only then realized that Hyeonseong’s group was still sitting here.

“Ahem, we told you earlier that you could go…”

One of the officers said to Hyeonseong’s group with a cough.

“You said ‘just a moment’ earlier, so I thought maybe there was still something left to deal with.”

Hyeonseong answered calmly.

“Huh, did I?”

“There was someone who said that when we checked the tip-off materials earlier.”

“It was a situation where someone could misunderstand the timing, wasn’t it?”

Several officers answered someone’s question.

“If that was the case, then I can see how the timing might have been confusing. Well… judging from the tip-off materials, your testimony seems all but confirmed, so you’re free to—”

“Uh, wait a second. Another tip-off video just came in.”

One officer looking at the computer screen cut into the conversation.

‘Another video?’

The moment Hyeonseong felt puzzled, Nemesis sent a message and video just like before.

[Transmission of the video has been detected and the modifications have been completed.]

The footage that came with the message was the same video as before, manipulated in exactly the same way.

‘If it’s the same footage… did the same side that sent the earlier video send it again?’

Hyeonseong asked Nemesis. The answer that came back was that the sender appeared to be different.

‘Appeared to be? If even Nemesis can’t tell for sure…’

That meant the security level of the sender that transmitted the footage exceeded Nemesis’s capabilities.

Hyeonseong immediately judged that the party who had sent the video materials was the person who had been sending messages by computer from the underground transfer room, or the force behind that person.

‘Looks like they’re watching what’s going on inside this substation. Seeing how they immediately resent the footage because something seemed off.’

But the newly arrived footage this time, too, was edited the instant Nemesis detected its receipt. Even the police examining the footage seemed puzzled as to why the exact same video they had just seen had been sent again.

‘If they’re watching this place, then another new video will come soon.’

As it happened, she had once again missed the natural timing to leave. Hyeonseong decided to stay seated in the substation and watch the situation a little longer.

The third video arrived less than three minutes after the police checked the second.

The third one was footage shot from a different camera angle than the first and second. It seemed they had discarded the already-failed footage and retried with another one.

Of course, the new footage too was edited by Nemesis the moment it reached the server that received tip-offs at the substation. Since it used the same inserted person as in the first footage, the police did not find anything strange.

A similar situation repeated itself about three more times. A person presumed to be connected to the Heukwol Auction House kept sending evidence videos, but the footage was edited the moment it arrived at the substation.

“Why do similar videos keep coming in?”

“Maybe somebody really wants this bastard caught.”

“What kind of big shot hid this underground floor away…”

“Honestly, is that any concern of low-ranking people like us? We just bring in whoever the chief tells us to catch…”

Even the police checking the footage showed signs of boredom. That was only natural, since they kept having to look at similar videos over and over.

“In any case, it definitely looks like this is a demonstration telling us to hurry up and catch those bastards…”

“It’s good that we’ve definitely memorized the arsonist bastard’s face.”

“All right, then now let’s extract the facial image of the arsonist bastards and start investigating…”

Once it seemed like no more videos were coming, the police began moving away from the computers. It looked like they were now going to use the tip-off videos to track down the whereabouts of the arsonist gang.

“I think we can get up now too.”

Hyeonyeong said to Hyeonseong in a small voice.

“I was just about to.”

As Hyeonseong rose from her seat, she summoned Nemesis again.

‘Just in case, I think it might be better to keep watching for another day or so.’

To Hyeonseong’s request, Nemesis replied that it would look into whether there was a usable method. Soon after, a message came saying that it could leave behind a simple program.

‘Would it really be okay to plant something like that…’

Such a concern surfaced in Hyeonseong’s mind. And then she quickly realized that it was a bit late to be worrying about that now.

‘After all the things I’ve already done, worrying now is a bit ridiculous.’

Just as Hyeonseong finished thinking and was about to ask Nemesis an additional question,

her phone vibrated briefly.

‘A message?’

When she took out her phone and turned on the screen, sure enough, a new message had arrived. It was a message with the sender ID restricted.

‘…I can guess who sent this.’

Hyeonseong immediately unlocked it and opened the message.

[Well now, I’ve been properly outplayed. Escaping was one thing, but I never imagined you’d be able to doctor the evidence videos too.]

A message appeared in the same tone as the messages she had seen in the underground transfer room. In other words, the one who had sent the evidence videos to the substation really was someone connected to the auction house.

[I only sent the footage to the substation you lot were in because I felt like teasing you a little. Had I known this would happen, I should have sent the evidence tips to other substations and police stations too.]

[Ah, now that I think of it, even if I had sent them elsewhere, the result might have been similar. All tip-off submissions use the same server, after all.]

[Anyway, I’ve confirmed that your reflexes are better than expected. I acknowledge your skill, so we’ll withdraw at this point.]

[There’s no need to worry that we might stab you in the back. We know how to retreat cleanly too.]

[Well then, we’ll be waiting at the auction house.]

The stream of messages that had kept coming after Hyeonseong turned on her phone stopped there.

‘…Can I really trust them when they say they’re stopping?’

Hyeonseong glared at the message with dubious eyes. Since she had nearly been had once already, she could not trust it at all.

‘Does installing the program take a lot of effort?’

She called Nemesis again and asked. Nemesis answered that it would be fine for about a day, but while maintaining the simple program, some of its actions could be restricted depending on various environmental factors.

It was a somewhat ambiguous condition, so Hyeonseong had to think it over again.

‘If I could be sure there won’t be any need to call Nemesis outside anymore, it wouldn’t matter.’

Hyeonseong sent Hyeonyeong a message on her phone asking for her opinion. After waiting a moment, Hyeonyeong sent a reply.

[There doesn’t seem to be any need to go that far.]

After checking the reply, Hyeonseong moved her fingers again.

[Why?]

[Even that sort has a minimum amount of pride. If there wasn’t any extra jab tacked on, then they really won’t try attacking again now.]

Hyeonseong paused for a moment after reading Hyeonyeong’s answer.

‘Well… Hyeonyeong handles that kind of shady organizational type better than I do. She’s probably dealt with more of that sort.’

Soon, Hyeonseong decided not to leave behind the program.

“Then let’s go now.”

Hyeonseong started walking out of the substation. Hyeonyeong and Haesu followed behind her.

“So where are we going now?”

Once they got outside, Hyeonyeong asked.

“We need to find a place nearby where we can stay for about a day.”

“To watch the situation?”

“That too, and we need to check things over before going, don’t we? Who knows what might happen there.”

“That’s true.”

“Honestly, if it were just the two of us, it wouldn’t matter if we went a little earlier, but this person has to come with us too.”

Hyeonseong pointed at Haesu. At that, Haesu let out a long sigh.

“Well… since that’s how it turned out, I’ll be counting on you until we reach the auction house.”

“…Fine, just make sure to pay me something extra later.”

“Sure, fine, just find us an inn first.”

At Hyeonseong’s request, Haesu let out another deep sigh and then guided them toward an inn. Hyeonseong and Hyeonyeong followed behind Haesu.