Leo opened the door and found himself face-to-face with several guests he had not expected.
"Hello, Mr. Leo. I hope we did not interrupt your sleep."
As Leo looked at the female police officer and the small girl holding her hand, an expression of surprise that he could not hide appeared on his face.
When the police officer explained why she was here, Leo's surprise only grew. At some point, Leo's mouth had stayed open for so long that a drop of saliva fell to the floor.
Leo noticed his own drool hitting the ground and snapped out of his shock.
"So what you are asking is: since Hana wants it, can Hana stay with me until her mother is found?"
While Leo was asking this, he casually took out his phone with his other hand and began explaining the situation to an artificial intelligence app. He wondered if the adoption laws of this world were completely different because of some butterfly effect.
When the police officer saw what Leo was doing, she clenched her teeth, asked Hana to step inside for a moment, and pulled Leo out into the corridor.
"I know this sounds strange, but we had no other choice."
"What the fuck is that supposed to mean? She is just an innocent little girl, and I am a stranger teenage boy. What if I am a fucking pedophile? What if I hide a serial killer inside me? Are you going to hand Hana over to a complete stranger??? You can be absolutely sure that I am going to sue you guys. The police of this city are completely unreliable! Do you know what? I think you people are insane! FROM THIS POINT ON, EVEN IF YOU WANT HANA BACK I WILL NOT RETURN HER TO YOU, GOT IT? Have you ever heard of something called the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission? UH, if you have not, believe me, you will soon! Fucking morons!"
Leo's voice rose as he spoke, and he grew even more furious.
When he finally paused to breathe, he realized his hands were trembling from the adrenaline rushing through his body.
At that moment, the female officer finally found a chance to speak, and against her own better judgment, she let some things slip.
"Mr. Leo, I understand why you are angry. When I heard the order from above, I also said this was ridiculous, but I do not have the luxury of disobeying orders. Please understand us. Under normal conditions, we would never do something like this."
When Leo heard her words, he understood the situation was much more complicated than he had thought.
Seoul was the capital of Korea, and the police force here held real power. Which meant that when this woman said the order came from 'above', she truly meant from high above.
Leo's mind started racing. How had he drawn the attention of people at that level?
His first thought was the lottery wins, but to them, that would just look like a clever fraud by a smart kid.
Leo's head was full of thoughts like these: Were they planning to use my scamming skills for some high-level operation? Nah, absolutely not, this is real life. I did not reincarnate into some fucking Ron Howard movie. This is a parallel, but still a real world. No no no no no. Damn it, I am so stupid! The real issue must be my recovered albinism. There should be no cure for albinism. Someone like me suddenly recovering would obviously draw the attention of the people in the government's shadow. But what is their goal? What will giving Hana to me prove? Does she also have some incurable illness, and are they expecting me to feel pity and use the same secret method to cure her as well? Maybe they searched my house while I was out, trying to find out how I recovered, and they found nothing. God, a thousand giraffes should fuck my brain! How can I be this careless? I should have at least made an appointment with some underground plastic surgery clinic.
"You can file a complaint if you want... no, you really should file a complaint. But know that this has nothing to do with the police force. And I will probably lose my job just for telling you this. I am sorry."
"Thank you for telling me, but I also hope three thousand giraffes fuck your ass."
"What?"
"Lady, please just get the hell out of here."
As the police officer turned away and walked toward the elevator, she worried about the small, sweet girl. Then, behind her, she heard Leo's voice.
"Is there any chance you forgot to put on one of those voice recorders that police carry?"
The woman did not understand why Leo asked this, but she still answered. She already assumed she was fired anyway and did not want to think too hard.
"Body cameras and voice recorders are only used during operations."
"Then why did you say you would definitely be fired?"
"Because..."
"So you are just straight up stupid... waow... You did not tell me anything, and I did not hear anything. Capisci baby?"
"But..."
"No but. But is dead. Muslims, Christians, and even Chinese people held a funeral for But. By the way, did Hana's relatives not object to Hana staying with me?"
The policewoman clenched her teeth like she had been forced to cheat on her husband, but a moment later, she accepted the reality and answered Leo's question.
"According to Hana, she has no relatives. That is what her mother taught her. So even if she has relatives, for some reason, Miss Yuna chose to stay away from them. In such cases, before giving Hana to her relatives, the social security and family structure agency must investigate her family. During this time, the colonel went to Hana and asked whether she wanted to stay with you until her mother was found. When I tried to object, he said this was an order from above and forbade everyone from speaking about it."
Leo sighed and put the policewoman at ease. The officer looked a bit more relaxed when she heard that Leo was sharing a house with a middle-aged woman who had two children.
While Leo repeatedly told the female officer not to be stupid and not to tell anyone what had been discussed, he also explained why he had come to Seoul and where he would be living.
That way, if the officer's superiors asked why she had spent an abnormal amount of time there, she would have something to say.
Of course, Leo did not tell her the real reason he was giving her those details. After all, the woman was clearly naive. But when she needed to lie, those informations would be the first things to occur to her, and later these informations would help her lie more naturally.
...
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