Chapter 49: SSS Team
“Good morning.”
Aize and I dramatically pulled up in our sports car at the entrance of the Blue House.
I greeted the security officer standing guard.
“What brings you here?”
The security officer saluted and approached.
“I was transferred here.”
I proudly handed him my transfer order.
“Yes....”
He read it.
“You were transferred starting today.”
Then his expression changed.
“Huh?”
He tilted his head.
“SSS Team?”
Aize looked at me.
“Oppa, what’s the SSS Team?”
“No idea.”
The transfer order clearly listed SSS Team.
But nobody at the police station knew what the name meant or what kind of work the team did.
The security officer examined the papers for a while.
Then he returned to his booth and called someone.
Afterward, he wrote something on a memo and came back.
“Detective Kang.”
“The transfer order is correct.”
“But your workplace is not here.”
He handed me the memo.
“If you go to this address, someone there should explain everything.”
“Good luck.”
The security officer saluted and returned to his post.
I stared at the address.
Aize leaned over.
“Was something wrong?”
“Apparently, I’m not working here.”
“Then where?”
“I don’t know.”
I showed her the memo.
“There’s only an address.”
“I’ve never heard of the place, so we’ll have to use navigation.”
I had a bad feeling.
But the transfer had already gone through.
I couldn’t exactly refuse to report.
I turned the car around and followed the address.
“What is this place?”
I looked at the sign.
“Mangawon?”
The address from the Blue House led us deep into Insadong.
It was a traditional tea house hidden in a quiet alley.
I parked the car.
Aize and I entered Mangawon.
The interior was surprisingly large.
A beautiful hanok with elegant tiled roofs spread across the property.
“Welcome to Mangawon.”
A graceful woman wearing modernized hanbok approached.
“Did you come for tea?”
I hesitated.
Was I really supposed to show my police transfer order inside a tea house?
“Is this address correct?”
I showed her the memo from the Blue House.
“Yes.”
She smiled.
“That is our address.”
“Then... could you look at this too?”
I reluctantly handed her the transfer order.
“Oh!”
Her eyes brightened.
“You’re Detective Kang.”
“We’ve been waiting for you.”
Wait.
Was I transferred to a traditional tea house?
Judging from her reaction, I had come to the right place.
But what was a violent-crimes detective supposed to do in a tea house?
And this had supposedly been a Blue House transfer.
There was definitely something strange going on.
“Please come this way.”
The woman guided us deeper inside.
Beyond the main building was another spacious garden.
A small octagonal pavilion stood in the center.
“Was there a fire recently?”
I pointed toward a large tree near the wall.
It was completely blackened.
“No.”
The woman looked uncertain.
“There was no fire.”
“I believe some kind of accident occurred.”
Apparently, she didn’t know the details.
“Please rest here for a moment.”
She prepared tea inside the pavilion.
“Thank you.”
Aize and I sat at a table made from old wood.
What is this? Some secret test?
I stared suspiciously at the tea.
Did they poison it?
“Ugh!”
Aize suddenly made a strange sound after taking a sip.
“Aize!”
I immediately panicked.
“What’s wrong?”
“Is there poison in it?”
Then she stared into the cup.
“This is Dragon Well Fragrance Tea!”
Fortunately, it wasn’t poison.
“What’s Dragon Well Fragrance Tea?”
“This is tea from Heaven.”
Aize looked shocked.
“And not just any tea.”
“Grandpa Jade Emperor used to drink this in the Heavenly Palace.”
She took another sip to confirm.
“Why is it in the living world?”
“What?”
My expression changed.
A terrible feeling hit me.
And when I had bad feelings like this, even Spider-Man’s danger sense would probably bow and call me teacher.
“Hehehe.”
A familiar woman’s voice came from behind us.
“It has been a long time, Mija.”
Aize froze.
“What?!”
Then her eyes widened.
“Mom?”
“What?!”
I was even more shocked than her.
When Aize told me Taebaek’s story, there was only one person in the world whom Aize called Mom.
And that person did not belong to the living world.
I turned.
Madam Jang entered the pavilion.
Uncle Frankenstein walked beside her.
A middle-aged man followed them.
“You secretly ran away from the Heavenly Palace.”
Madam Jang smiled.
“Have you been well, Mija?”
“Yes, Mom....”
Aize answered like a real child speaking to her mother.
As I listened to them, one thought repeated in my head.
No way.
No way.
Uncle Frankenstein stepped forward.
“My lady.”
He bowed to Aize.
“I’m glad to see you are healthy.”
Aize stared at him.
“Huh?”
She looked him up and down.
“Wait....”
Uncle Frankenstein grinned.
Blue energy suddenly appeared around his body.
Aize’s mouth fell open.
“Uncle Cheongpung?!”
“Yes.”
He smiled with his enormous mouth.
“It is me, Cheongpung.”
“What the hell is going on?”
I looked between them.
“Are all of you people from the Underworld?”
The middle-aged man chuckled.
“Hahaha.”
“After hearing everything, it seems Madam Jang was telling the truth.”
Apparently, he and Madam Jang had discussed all this beforehand.
I looked at him.
“Are you from the Underworld too?”
“No.”
He shook his head.
“I am the person who transferred you to the SSS Team.”
“...I apologize.”
I didn’t know why.
This man simply looked far above Captain Kim’s level.
My mouth apologized by itself.
Madam Jang’s expression became serious.
“Detective Kang seems confused.”
“Allow me to introduce everyone properly.”
She looked directly at me.
“I am Lady Sunhwa, queen of the Jade Emperor, ruler of the Heavenly Palace.”
“....”
I lost the ability to speak.
Just as I had suspected...
Madam Jang, Witch of Rodeo Street and my natural enemy, was the Jade Emperor’s queen.
She gestured toward Uncle Frankenstein.
“And this is Heavenly Steel Chasa Cheongpung.”
“He is a Royal Guard Chasa and one of Heaven’s Three Great Combat Chasa.”
Uncle Frankenstein immediately bowed deeply to me.
“Detective Kang.”
Then he corrected himself.
“Inhwang Chasa.”
“I apologize for pretending not to know you until now.”
He looked genuinely respectful.
“As one of the Underworld Chasa, I have always deeply admired the Inhwang.”
“It is truly an honor to formally greet you like this.”
I became speechless again.
The surprises continued.
Lady Sunhwa gestured toward the middle-aged man.
“This is Mr. Ma.”
“He will be Detective Kang’s direct superior.”
“He is director of the Special Affairs Department overseeing the SSS Team.”
The man extended his hand.
“My name is Ma Seokdae.”
“Most people simply call me Mr. Ma.”
He nodded.
“A pleasure to meet you, Detective Kang.”
My temporary speech disorder showed no sign of improving.
Aize finally asked,
“Mom, why are you here?”
“Mija.”
Lady Sunhwa smiled.
“I came down to the living world about ten years ago.”
“I know.”
Aize suddenly looked knowingly at her.
“It’s all because of Grandpa, right?”
Lady Sunhwa’s face changed.
“What?”
“How do you know about....”
She immediately signaled Aize to stop talking.
Aize understood and shut her mouth.
“Ahem.”
Lady Sunhwa quickly changed the subject.
“The reason I came to the living world was to observe former Iljik Chasa Taerang and the activities of evil spirits.”
“Recently, however, an incident occurred in the Underworld.”
“I already heard about that from Arang.”
Lady Sunhwa looked thoughtful.
“Really?”
“Arang must have been extremely worried.”
“She even told the Inhwang about it....”
It seemed the recent Underworld incident was highly classified.
Lady Sunhwa was probably wondering why Arang had told me.
She continued.
“Afterward, I received a request from the Underworld.”
“They said it would be difficult to deal with Taerang, the Three Evils of the Underworld, and the other evil spirits using only the power of the living world.”
“At the same time, the Underworld cannot easily investigate them while they remain here.”
“So they asked me to find a way for people of the living world and the Underworld to cooperate.”
“That sounds like the Underworld is planning to interfere with the living world.”
Mr. Ma answered before Lady Sunhwa.
“Looking at Detective Kang, the Underworld is already interfering.”
I pointed at myself.
“Me?”
“Detective Kang can no longer truly be called an ordinary human of the living world.”
I couldn’t argue.
He was right.
I had already become something very different from a normal human.
“Real people are already being harmed.”
Mr. Ma’s expression became serious.
“People are disappearing.”
“Especially women.”
“I was told evil spirits are using them as food.”
His eyes hardened.
“And we do not know what Taerang or the Three Evils of the Underworld intend to do.”
“The living world cannot simply ignore them.”
I finally understood.
“So my transfer....”
“That is correct.”
Mr. Ma nodded.
“We are gathering personnel to form a team capable of cooperating with the Underworld.”
“Then why Detective Park and Officer Kim?”
My involvement made some sense.
The other two didn’t.
“You cannot work alone.”
Mr. Ma folded his hands.
“However, this involves the Underworld.”
“We cannot casually explain the truth to ordinary members of our organization.”
“Someone still needs to support you.”
“We also need people who can act as a bridge between you and the rest of the organization.”
His eyes remained steady.
“The best candidates would be people who know Detective Kang better than anyone.”
“Can you recommend anyone more suitable?”
“....”
I had nothing to say.
My human relationships were so poor that outside those two, I had almost nobody.
Mr. Ma stood.
“We will contact you separately regarding your exact duties.”
Before leaving, he handed me a phone.
“Take this.”
I accepted it.
“This is a dedicated phone used by our organization.”
“It has encrypted security codes and several other special functions.”
“I’ll explain them later.”
It looked like an ordinary new-model smartphone.
I couldn’t see anything unusual.
“I should leave first to prepare everything else.”
Mr. Ma bowed slightly toward Lady Sunhwa.
I quickly asked,
“Then what should I do for now?”
“Rest for a day or two.”
Mr. Ma answered.
“You must be exhausted after yesterday’s battle.”
This guy knows everything.
Then he left as though he had said everything necessary.
The moment he disappeared...
“Detective Kang.”
Lady Sunhwa’s tone changed completely.
“You ignored a lot of my calls, didn’t you?”
It felt like Lady Sunhwa had instantly transformed back into Madam Jang.
“Hahaha....”
“I didn’t exactly ignore them.”
“I just didn’t have time to answer....”
Honestly, this atmosphere felt more comfortable.
Apparently, Aize felt the same.
“Mom!”
She immediately jumped into Lady Sunhwa’s arms.
“I really missed you!”
Lady Sunhwa hugged her.
“I missed you too.”
Then she smiled knowingly.
“So?”
“You finally met the Inhwang.”
“Are you happy?”
“Hehehe.”
Aize smiled brightly.
“Yes.”
“And about what you almost said earlier.”
Lady Sunhwa lowered her voice.
“You must not tell anyone.”
“It is a secret.”
“I know.”
Aize nodded.
“Grandpa Jade Emperor had an affa.... Mmph!”
Lady Sunhwa immediately covered Aize’s mouth.
I could roughly guess what they meant.
I pretended I hadn’t heard anything.
“By the way.”
I changed the subject.
“What does SSS Team mean?”
I had been curious since seeing the transfer order.
“Oh, that?”
Lady Sunhwa looked casual.
“They can’t openly call the Special Affairs Department by its real name.”
“So publicly, they just call it the SSS Team.”
“Then what does SSS stand for?”
“Nothing.”
I stared.
“What?”
“They apparently chose something easy to remember.”
Lady Sunhwa started listing possibilities.
“Super Secret Service?”
“Special Security Service?”
“Super Sound System?”
She shrugged.
“They said you can interpret it however you want.”
“....”
That idea didn’t fit Mr. Ma’s serious and dignified image at all.
Suddenly, I had a terrible feeling.
My new organization was probably going to bring me nothing but trouble.
