A CAR CHASE
TO END
ALL CAR CHASES
TO END
ALL CAR CHASES
THE SEARCH
FOR
THE TRUTH
 
As Bong Sang Pil descended the stairs of the courthouse, he watched
the news broadcast about the unveiling ceremony of Judge Cha Byung Ho’s
statue on that very day.
It seemed Judge Cha Byung Ho, the father of Judge Cha Moon Sook, had always topped the annual survey of the most respected public figures in Ki Seong for the last twenty years.                
Bong had been trying to contact his Office Manager on the phone
but Ha Jae Yi’s phone had been turned off.
She had gone to the prison to visit Wu Hyeong Man.          
Wu knew the hitman had died. It bothered him. Would he be able to get out?
The suspended lawyer told him that Kang’s statement and the
video clip were his alibi and Bong Sang Pil was in court to see whether they
could be used as evidence.
Wu Hyeong Man was sceptical about the whole murder trial and had
few illusions about the whole justice system in Ki Seong. He thought that Judge
Cha Moon Sook would be an obstruction to justice and would try to suppress
the truth. It wouldn’t be easy for him to walk out of prison. She would kill
him with the law.
Ha Jae Yi was wondering why he brought up the issue of Judge Cha Moon Sook.
Bong Sang Pil barged in when Wu was telling her that Cha Moon Sook was in collusion with Ahn Oh
Ju to obstruct justice.
 
Bong Sang Pil’s appearance stopped him in his tracks. Wu was surprised that he was hiding Judge Cha’s evil ways from his office partner.
      
Bong walked her out of the prison. The real face of Judge Cha was frightening and no one would dare point it out. His question was whether she had thought deeply about Judge Cha.
Ha Jae Yi might think that she knew Judge Cha better than anyone else but was she wrong?
       
He didn’t want to impose his opinions on her but now he was forced to tell her the truth. His words were calm but his tone betrayed his real concern about her deeply-rooted convictions about Judge Cha.
‘Judge Cha had rejected both the evidence and the witness.’
Was it a shock to her? Had her personal feelings coloured her judgement about Judge Cha Moon Sook? Her positive impression of Judge Cha was deeply ingrained in her and seemed to be set in stone.
As far as he was concerned, the real Judge Cha Moon Sook was a far cry from her idealized picture of her from her childhood days. False appearances.
        
Detective Gong Jang Soo suddenly appeared. He was the one who had pursued the matter of her mother’s disappearance 18 years ago. Despite not being able to solve the case, he had not given up.
She also shared his goals – she hadn’t given up either.
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THE BURDEN OF PROOF
Bong Sang Pil and Ha Jae Yi were strolling along the waterfront. There was a big Ferris Wheel in the background.
She confided her past to him. She blamed herself for her mother’s disappearance. Her mother had gone out to buy a new harmonica for her, thinking that the musical instrument was faulty. Strangely, her mother vanished into the thin air. Ha Jae Yi felt guilty upon discovering that her harmonica was still in good condition. The guilt would haunt her forever.
        
He could empathize with her as he shared her anguish. Their experiences were similar.
Bong looked sad. His face couldn’t light up even at the sight of Ha Jae Yi. When she was around, he always cracked jokes but looking at her stubborn grip on her beliefs, he felt dejected.
His glum expression said it all. It was upsetting to learn that she wasn’t about to change her beliefs about Judge Cha Moon Sook. Ha Jae Yi would not believe anything he said unless he was able to prove it to her.               
Trying to cheer himself up, he decided to indulge in some comfort food. Carbohydrates. Sandwiches.
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INTERTWINED FATE 
The police were at the beach lined with cliffs. They had found yet another dead
body.
The older detective, Gong Jang Soo, was with a younger detective, who seemed to be senior in rank.
It was clear that the younger detective held a higher degree of authority as he was quite opinionated and he had called the older detective by name.
   
The younger man was ready to close shop in order to have his meal, Naengmyeon.
Gong Jang Soo wanted a more thorough check but the younger detective didn’t want him to make his own life difficult. The dead person had committed suicide and that was it.
Gong asked whether everyone who died there really committed suicide? It was a pertinent question but it didn’t make the Smart Alec speechless - he had a ready answer.
‘That’s Suicide Rock,’ he pointed out. ‘At least 20 people jump off that cliff to their deaths every year.’
  
The older detective protested that even if that was the case, they had to investigate the case thoroughly. Their investigation should be more painstaking and meticulous.
The other man argued that they found a payment reminder probably from a loan shark in his pocket so he assumed that was the cause of his death. He likened the document to that of a suicide note.
   
Irritated that his authority was being questioned, the younger detective tried belittling the diligent detective. He reminded the senior detective of the reprimand he had received years ago for raising objections to a case that was deemed to be a suicide case.
Gong’s attempts to be more meticulous in his work had been frustrated by the young upstart and yet, he had to listen to all his crap. Such slothful superiors could dampen one’s spirit.
How did the young, lazy and shallow Millennial climb over the head of the more diligent, conscientious and experienced civil servant? Gong’s promotion must have been impeded by his enthusiasm and passion in his work, especially work that would uncover many secrets.
   
But, the spirit of the older man could not be so easily suppressed. When he returned to the office, he dug into some files to find the one on the peculiar cases of two women - the suicide case of Choi Jin Ae and the missing person case of Noh Hyun Joo.
      
Bong Sang Pil had returned to his home-cum-office.
He had a smart wall, a powerful futuristic, interactive wall upstairs. Bong Sang Pil’s stunning smart wall was more sophisticated than other active walls.
The wall had the ability to sense and track his gestures even at a distance, a few feet away. And, he needn’t touch the wall, if he didn’t want to.
He could use different hand gestures to control the images.
How did he switch on the smart wall? He just had to twist the statue of Lady Justice and images would float on the wall.
Bong studied the images of Noh Hyun Joo, Ha Jae Yi’s mother on the wall.
       
Ha Jae Yi was at home. She was also thinking of her mother, Noh Hyun Joo.
A wave of nostalgia swept over her and she started playing her harmonica.
  Bong Sang Pil thought to himself. Ha Jae Yi’s mother had saved his life, so he had to devote his life to protect her from anything and everything.       |
A CAR CHASE TO END ALL CAR CHASES 
Bong Sang Pil and Tae Kwang Soo were discussing the dead hitman's mobile phone.
Bong wanted to know whether the fixer or broker had put Ahn Oh Ju in touch with the hitman. 
Tae Kwang Soo had meticulously and methodically gone through the call log and history of the hitman's mobile phone.
The fixer, the hitman and Ahn Oh Ju’s secretary had been in frequent contact with each other leading up to the murder but their communication suddenly went dead altogether after the hitman died.
Bong realised that the fixer was not a human smuggler after all and did not arrange to smuggle the hitman out. Someone else did.
Tae Kwang Soo believed the fixer was the one who introduced the hitman to Ahn Oh Ju.         
Meanwhile, Geum Gang had been tasked to tail the fixer.
Ha Jae Yi had just arrived at the office. She was curious about their plans
for the day.
Bong made it abundantly clear that she should stay at the office while the big boys went out to play. She smelt something interesting was going on.     
Intending to join them, she grabbed the car handle but Bong stopped her. He was worried about her personal safety.
     However, the look in her eyes and her strong will left no room for discussion. She wanted him to prove to her that he was right about Judge Cha Moon Sook. So, she would 'follow him wherever he went'. Her words sounded romantic.       
But, how would Ha Jae Yi know that the experience ahead of her would be unnerving and acutely distressing?
       Bong Sang Pil should have known better. Evidence that was obtained illegally could not be used in law courts.      
Bong stonewalled and avoided answering her question.
But, he advised her to get accustomed to the way they conducted their investigations.
 
He instructed Tae Kwang Soo to step on the accelerator. The car shot off and they were soon on the highway.
  
Arriving
at the wharf, they saw Geum Gang. The excited Sherlock Holmes boarded the car.
They sensed that the fixer had let his guard down.  
Studying the fixer who was with an older woman, they concluded that they were a mother-and-son pair.
Bong Sang Pil’s heart softened. He told his team to wait a little until they parted ways. Bong wanted to capture him when he was out of his mother’s sight, probably to reduce her shame and humiliation.
         
Meanwhile, Ahn Oh Ju was on his way to attend the ceremony to unveil the statue of Judge Cha Byung Ho.
All the VIPs who were invited by him had consented to be present.
   
The gangster Chairman asked his secretary whether he had unearthed further details about Bong Sang Pil.
He stiffened when he was told that Bong’s mother was a Human Rights lawyer and Choi Dae Woong was her brother. It was reported in the newspapers that she had committed suicide in Ki Seong 18 years ago.
It didn’t take him long to join the dots. He had ordered Wu Hyeong Man to kill and bury the lawyer and her son but Wu Hyeong Man had betrayed his trust and hidden the truth from him for 18 long years.
The boy, who was all grown up and had become a lawyer, had returned to Ki Seong and was conducting a personal vendetta against him.                    
The lawless group had, by now, blocked the fixer’s grey car.
Bong took over the wheel while Tae Kwang Soo and Geum Gang attacked the man’s car.   The latter opened the door and jumped in and struggled with the hit man. The former jumped away when the car lurged forward.       
The fixer seemed reckless and aggressive; he crashed his car into the lawless team's car and then, raced away.
       
When Judge Cha Moon Sook and Ahn Oh Joo entered the courthouse for the statue unveiling ceremony, they were welcomed by VIPs who had lined up on both sides of the aisle in the foyer.
Ahn Oh Ju was not only a dramatic showman but also a arse-kisser; he was fawning all over Judge Cha.
   
Before, Judge Cha ascended the red carpeted stairs leading to the landing where her father’s statue stood, she paused for a while for her obligatory photographs to be taken.
The foyer was packed to capacity. There was a sea of smiling faces in front of her. My, was she moved by their devotion.
All her seven (7) important cronies were with her when she unveiled her father’s majestic gold statue.
   
She looked lovingly at the gilded image of her father and everyone exclaimed that Judge Cha Byung Ho had come back to life.
There was a strong show of support. Even, Ha Gi Ho brought his placard.
Having taken the role of Master of Ceremonies, Ahn Oh Ju began making a spectacle of himself. He urged the audience to give the judge a big round of applause.
                  Bong Sang Pil was in top form; he was driving his car at breakneck speed. The exciting 'fast and furious' chase took Bong Sang Pil to a very congested place where bicycles obstinately mixed with the cars. He was determined to win this car battle. If he caught the man, he would win the court case and bring the criminals to justice.    
The chase brought them to a colourful part of the city. Red, green, blue and yellow.
The camera, giving an interesting two-point perspective of the scene, panned to follow the black car as it relentlessly pursued the grey car.
 Shocked, Bong did not slam on the brakes but deftly swerved to the left lane, and the two cars parted ways.                
The car chase has the audience on the edge of their seats. It is very thrilling to watch the two cars drawing level and meeting at some point.
The foolhardy fixer cut recklessly into Bong's path and crashed his car into Bong’s car before he raced off.
Bong Sang Pil, also a daredevil, was not going to lose the battle of the cars. He pressed on the accelerator to chase the other car.
Excitement mounted. When they arrived at what appeared to be a small roundabout, both cars headed right.
 
Bong retaliated. He was faster and turned his vehicle swiftly around to crash headlong into the fixer’s car. The impulsive and unexpected move must have been hair-raising; it must have chilled Ha Jae Yi’s blood.
Geum Gang and the fixer had also received the fright of their lives. Stunned.    
It seemed that the front part of the grey car was badly wrecked.
Bong’s black car was not any much better. The front part was badly dented. Other parts were wobbly and seemed to be threatening to detach themselves. Was Bong Sang Pil not fearful that his car might be on its last legs?  
Since the car had come to a standstill, Geum Gang took the opportunity to thrash the helpless fixer. Attacking the vile man, he ferociously shouted that he should ‘Die!’.
The 'D' word must have brought the fixer back to to life. Turning the wheel in reverse direction, the fixer was off on a flying start again. But, the mulish Bong Sang Pil wouldn’t be shaken off.
     
They raced crazily along a long narrow lane in a beach area.
When Bong Sang Pil accelerated; the car lurched violently and crashed into a pile of boxes.        
Some shocking lay ahead. An on-coming white truck blocked their path.
His car hurtled towards the other car and ploughed into it. It was a mind-blowing move. The fixer had not expected Bong’s car to bear down on him.
  
What was entertaining was the terrible impact had lifted the bonnet of Bong’s Sang Pil’s car. The front of the car was seriously dented. And, the bumper and all had fallen apart. The crash had left a huge yawning hole in the front of his car.
Imagine his chagrin - the bulldozed car wasn't that badly damaged!
 
But, Bong Sang Pil had the upper hand. The other man's car was sandwiched between two cars.
Bong was not going to allow the fixer to escape. His lips were pressed together in grim determination. Time was of the essence to him. He had plans for the fixer. They could not be late for their 'appointment'.      
Unexpectedly, the raging mad fixer suddenly swerved his car to the right, knocking off a fence.
The cool and sophisticated lawyer raced after him. But, the fixer's luck had run out. Losing control of his car, he crashed into a stationary car. The bonnet of his car crumpled upon collision. His journey had come to a dramatic end.        
Bong Sang Pil suddenly braked. He instinctively threw his right hand protectively across Ha Jae Yi’s chest to prevent her from crashing into the windscreen. A loving gesture. How romantic!
The car chase was 'A car chase to end all car chases'. It was incredibly exciting and thrilling.
The cool and composed lawyer quickly alighted from the car to apprehend the criminal.
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