"Boss, you're here."
At the hotel room entrance, a young detective immediately bowed upon seeing Ma Seok-do.
"We checked the hotel's security footage. It caught a man accompanying the victim and later leaving alone. Unfortunately, his face isn't visible."
"We searched the room. Besides some empty liquor bottles, we also found this."
He took out a small ziplock bag and showed it to Seok-do. The bag had a blue letter 'H' printed on it.
"We found it in the trash bin and lifted a fingerprint, but it didn't match anyone in the system."
"Eh? Why not? Is he a foreigner?" Seok-do frowned as he examined the evidence bag.
In Korea, all males aged 18–35 were required to register fingerprints for military service, meaning most adult Korean men had their fingerprints on record in police databases.
Foreigners, on the other hand, had their fingerprints stored separately—with the immigration department, not the police.
"Possibly. We've already requested assistance from immigration. Should have a match by tomorrow at the latest."
The young detective, still curious about Jack, kept stealing glances at him.
"Hmm… I think I've seen this before somewhere…" Seok-do muttered as he stared at the ziplock bag.
"It's a drug packet." Jack sighed.
Though his job mostly involved targeting suppliers, he had seen plenty of these retail drug packages—especially new synthetic blends.
Pills were often packed into these small ziplock bags, each marked with a code or logo, typically ten pills per bag—cheap and easy to distribute.
Seok-do scratched his head. "I know that. But I mean, this 'H' looks familiar… I think it's one of those trendy new drugs. What was it called? 'HAPPY' or something?"
"Boss, it's called 'HYPER'—it's been all over the place these past two years," the young detective eagerly chimed in.
"Ah, right! 'HYPER'—really dangerous stuff. Not sure what they're mixing into it, but it's extremely easy to overdose on."
Noticing his subordinate still eyeing Jack curiously, Seok-do smacked him on the head.
"Ah, crap—I forgot to introduce him! This is Detective Jack Tavola from the FBI—he's a big shot. Maybe later he'll let you take a look at his big gun—it's thicker than that thing you keep in your pants!"
Jack's face darkened—Seok-do had completely dropped all formalities now.
All he could do was force an awkward smile.
"We don't usually call ourselves 'detectives'—just Agent Tavola is fine."
"Wait… FBI? The FBI? Like, American FBI?" The young detective's eyes widened in awe.
"Uh… yeah, pretty much," Jack muttered, stepping slightly backward.
Seok-do slapped the kid again.
"Show some respect, dumbass—he's a guest. Now, have we traced the victim's movements?"
"Ah, not yet. We're still reviewing street surveillance footage to backtrack her route."
Jack scribbled a word in his notebook, then tore off the page and handed it to the detective.
"This was stamped on the back of the victim's hand—'Orange.' It's a nightclub entry stamp.
Women don't usually go to these places alone, so you should check who she was with."
After a quick sweep of the hotel room, Jack and Seok-do found nothing new.
Forensic teams would handle biological samples, prints, and DNA—their job here was done.
Before leaving, they also examined the fall site.
There was very little blood, further confirming Jack's theory—the victim had likely died before she fell.
Feeling like he couldn't contribute much more, Jack said his goodbyes, arranged a dinner meeting with Seok-do, and took a cab back to the temporary FBI base.
Not long after, the rest of the team returned, loaded down with shopping bags.
Clay seemed fine, but Aubrey had so many that even his neck had bags hanging from it.
After packing up their luggage, they all headed out for one last meal—since breakfast the next morning didn't count, this was their final dinner in Korea.
And, in a surprisingly unanimous vote, they chose Sichuan hotpot—again.
—
When Seok-do finally arrived, he looked visibly troubled.
Even expensive liquor—Jack had ordered a bottle of "Shui Jing Fang", even pricier than "Hai Zhi Lan"—failed to lift his spirits.
"Case trouble?" Jack guessed.
Seok-do downed his drink in one go—only to grimace in pain, overwhelmed by the liquor's strong bite.
"The autopsy confirmed the victim had a fatal dose of 'HYPER' in her system.
But now the case is being handed off to Narcotics.
I won't be allowed to investigate further."
"It's 'HYPER', not 'HAPPY,'" Jack corrected, then raised an eyebrow.
"You really wanted to stay on this case?"
Seok-do exhaled heavily, then shook his head.
"The victim's parents are both in their sixties.
She was their only child—they had her late in life.
They were wailing outside the morgue… It was heartbreaking."
Jack watched Seok-do in silence for a moment before pouring him another drink.
"Alright—tell me everything you've got so far."
Seok-do took the shot without hesitation, despite sweating from the heat.
"My guys found the victim's friend, the one she went clubbing with.
She was in the hospital—almost didn't make it.
She said she only had two drinks before blacking out.
When she woke up, the victim was gone.
Someone must've spiked their drinks."
Jack immediately set down his bottle.
"Come with me."
—
Standing outside the hotpot restaurant, Jack lit a cigar and handed one to Seok-do.
After blowing a smoke ring, he finally spoke.
"How far do you want to take this?
Do you just want to catch the killer, or do you want to wipe out the entire supply chain?"
Seok-do almost choked on his cigar smoke.
"Wait… Are you serious?!"
Then, seeing Jack's expression, he quickly clarified.
"Wait, wait—you're willing to help?"
Jack watched the fashionably dressed women passing by on the busy Seoul streets.
His voice remained calm.
"That depends.
If you just want to catch the guy who spiked their drinks, I can ask Agent Valentine to pull some strings with Prosecutor Kim.
They'll let you stay on the case—that's an easy favor."
"But if you want to destroy this drug operation completely…
That's gonna require some real work.
And probably some unofficial methods."
Before leaving for dinner, Jack had dug into 'HYPER'.
It turned out to be just cocaine—but cut with other substances.
The problem?
The cocaine content was too pure—making overdose deaths extremely common.
And unlike in the U.S., where cops carried Narcan (naloxone) for overdoses, Korean police had no such antidotes.
By the time users reached the hospital, it was too late.
Unlike most Korean street drugs, which typically came from U.S. military bases, this particular batch had a different source.
It was coming from across the Korea Strait—from Japan.
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