Chapter : 1 – The Pet Salon Next to the Prosecutors’ Office
“Look at this! Can’t you see how depressed my baby is? Just look! Can’t you see how worn out she looks?”
A middle-aged woman folded her arms and glared angrily.
After glancing at the dog, Seolhee, who was yawning with her mouth wide open and scratching her ear with a hind leg, Dasol replied,
“…Ms. Seolhee’s guardian, I clearly recommended a scissor cut. But you insisted on a full clipping.”
Solsol Pet Salon.
Owned and operated solely by pet groomer Jin Dasol.
At that moment, Dasol was doing the part of her job she hated the most.
Dealing with impossible customers.
The middle-aged woman continued raising her voice as if she were belting out a high note.
Dasol clenched her teeth and forced herself to stay calm.
“What? Creepy? What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Clipping. You asked me to shave her completely with the clippers.”
She had been the one insisting that Seolhee generated too much body heat and therefore needed to be shaved all over.
Hoo…
Dasol slowly exhaled, releasing the anger boiling inside her.
If she didn’t, she felt like she might explode.
“I told you many times that sensitive, timid dogs like Seolhee shouldn’t be shaved completely bald.”
She deliberately emphasized “completely bald” and “many times.”
“So I did everything I could to keep her calm while grooming her. Look at her. She actually seems to be in a good mood now.”
Having run out of arguments, Seolhee’s owner merely pursed her thick lips and glared at Dasol.
Ah… that look.
A look she could never get used to.
“How dare you talk back to a customer?”
“The customer is king.”
Or, failing that,
“You’re younger than me, so who do you think you are?”
No one enjoys being screamed at in a shrill voice or receiving murderous glares.
Every time Jin Dasol dealt with customers like this, her heart pounded as though she had just sprinted at full speed.
Just like now.
“The total is 70,000 won. Please make your payment.”
The longer this conversation dragged on, the worse it would become.
With customers like this, the best strategy was to get them out as quickly as possible.
Pretending to remain calm, she swallowed hard, mentally preparing herself for the storm she knew was coming.
“Payment? Seventy thousand won? You’ve got to be kidding me! You butchered my baby’s fur like this and expect me to pay seventy thousand won?”
Spittle flew from the woman’s mouth as she screamed.
Just as Dasol had expected, the moment money entered the conversation, the volume increased.
Meanwhile, bald little Seolhee happily wagged her tail, wandered over to sniff the other dogs…
…and promptly peed on the floor.
Trickle…
The sound of urine splashing across the floor filled Solsol Pet Salon, accompanied by the unmistakable smell.
But Seolhee’s self-proclaimed “mother” paid absolutely no attention to her beloved child.
Instead, she planted her hands on her hips and glared furiously.
If you really treasured her like your own child, you’d worry about the dog first.
“The grooming price is fixed. It includes a bath and Bichon specialty grooming. The price list is posted right over—”
“Hah! Isn’t this daylight robbery? You’re asking me to pay? You should be paying me! You can’t glue her fur back on, so what are you going to do about it?”
She had knowingly requested the cheaper full shave because she knew a scissor cut cost more than twice as much.
And now she didn’t even want to pay for that.
A sinking feeling crept into Dasol’s stomach.
She had a feeling she wasn’t going to get paid.
“…Please make the payment and leave before I call the police.”
“What? You’re calling the police? Hah! Do you even know who my son is?”
“Do you know who my husband is?”
“Do you know who I am?”
Or perhaps,
“Do you know who so-and-so’s father is?”
Those were phrases Dasol heard all the time.
Her pet salon happened to be very close to the Prosecutors’ Office.
Close enough that people casually referred to it as “the pet salon next to the Prosecutors’ Office.”
It wasn’t literally next door, but most customers called it that anyway.
Why had she opened her shop here?
There were several large parks nearby.
The first-floor rent was affordable.
And it was close to where she lived.
Since her customers couldn’t speak, word of mouth mattered.
If people heard you were good, they’d come regardless of distance.
Dasol was confident in her skills.
She had also assumed that being close to both the Prosecutors’ Office and a police station would mean fewer troublesome customers.
Everything had gone according to plan.
Except for that part.
“So you’re seriously asking me to pay when I’m the one who deserves compensation?”
Normally, customers tried negotiating around this point.
But Seolhee’s owner had about as much intention of negotiating as Seolhee currently had fur.
Maybe she’d planned this from the beginning.
If the argument continued, Dasol would lose no matter what.
Customers with reservations would immediately cancel.
But if she gave in, word would spread.
And troublesome customers attracted even more troublesome customers.
Suppressing her emotions, Dasol spoke calmly.
“Actually, Seolhee should have incurred additional charges.”
Seolhee had been so timid that she’d trembled the entire time, requiring constant reassurance.
“It’s okay. It’s okay. Creepy… just do whatever you think is best. Everyone says you’re good.”
That was exactly what Seolhee’s owner had pleaded earlier.
“I spent time playing with her first so she’d get comfortable. I trimmed her nails. I petted her for quite a while before grooming. Then I spent forty minutes untangling her matted fur by hand. Untangling mats alone usually comes with an additional fee.”
Dasol inhaled deeply before continuing.
“And just so you know, because I spent so much time taking care of Seolhee today, I couldn’t accept any other appointments. Since it was your first visit, and because Seolhee eventually trusted me, I treated it as a complimentary service—”
“So what?!”
…There it was.
The response she’d hoped not to hear.
Meeting the owner’s furious glare, Dasol bit her lower lip.
Realizing they would only keep going in circles, she quietly picked up her phone.
[112]
She pressed the call button.
The emergency operator answered almost immediately.
“Go ahead! Call them! Do it!”
Ignoring the woman’s screaming, Dasol calmly explained the situation.
After finishing the report, she waited awkwardly for the local police officers to arrive.
A short while later, they did.
The situation ended quickly.
The owner, who had been shouting louder than ever, immediately changed her tune once she realized the situation wasn’t in her favor, claiming she was the real victim.
“Yelp!”
During the commotion, Seolhee was accidentally kicked by her owner and cried out in pain.
The whole scene was complete chaos.
In the end, after the officers responded firmly, the owner glared viciously at Dasol before reluctantly handing over her credit card.
“You’ll regret this. I’m going to blast your shop all over the internet.”
Suppressing her anxiety, Dasol accepted the card while pretending to remain composed.
She was careful not to let her trembling hand show.
At times like this, she had to appear strong.
And with that, the incident finally came to an end.
She drank three full glasses of cold water in one go.
Then she opened a drawer and took out a bag of red beans instead of salt.
Normally, she didn’t believe in superstitions.
But after watching the crime film Eternal Snow, she’d prepared them just in case.
There had been a scene where restaurant staff scattered red beans at the entrance after a troublesome customer left.
For some reason, she’d loved the idea.
It was unique.
And much easier to clean up than salt.
Hope you step in dog poop!
She muttered inwardly as she scattered the beans across the entrance.
It felt satisfying—for a moment.
But the anxiety soon returned.
What if that woman spread false rumors online?
What if she posted lies?
She also regretted not standing up for herself more.
Hoo…
She drew in a deep breath before slowly letting it out.
Just endure it.
The salon had only been open for a year.
Things were finally beginning to stabilize.
As she worked to calm herself, a Shih Tzu padded over to her feet.
The little dog gently scratched her ankle with one paw, almost as if trying to comfort her.
It was Mongi, the companion dog of an elderly regular customer who had been coming ever since the salon opened.
Today, the grandmother’s children were visiting for dinner, and her eldest son happened to have a dog-hair allergy.
The worry had been written all over the grandmother’s face, so Dasol had offered to watch Mongi until dinner was over.
“Mongi… you came because you were worried about me, didn’t you? Aww, you’re so sweet. Thank you. I’m okay.”
After sitting there quietly for a long while, Dasol finally stood up around the time dinner should have finished.
“Mongi, let’s go back to Grandma.”
At her gentle voice, Mongi trotted over.
Dasol crouched down, clipped the harness onto the dog’s chest, and stood up.
“Let’s go. Off to IL Apartments!”
As if understanding they were heading home, Mongi wagged his tail happily and skipped after her.
*
Meanwhile…
At the Prosecutors’ Office next to Solsol Pet Salon.
A meeting was underway in the Violent Crimes Investigation Division Chief Prosecutor’s office.
The division chief sat at the head of the table, with prosecutors seated on both sides.
“Prosecutor Jang Jihyeok, begin.”
“Our investigation confirms that the suspect entered the residential district.”
Jang Jihyeok.
A handsome man with a well-defined forehead, a sharp nose, and full lips.
Beneath his thick eyebrows, his jet-black eyes carried an icy intensity as they swept across the meeting room.
They were eyes no guilty person could withstand.
“Residential district?”
The chief prosecutor frowned.
As Jihyeok rested his interlocked hands on the table, his broad shoulders became even more pronounced.
“The suspect was under the influence of drugs at the time, so he couldn’t identify the exact location. This group moves constantly. We need to locate the site before they relocate again.”
“Time is short.”
“If you authorize it, I’ll begin preparing the search warrant immediately and coordinate with the police.”
“Good. No unnecessary explanations.”
Watching Jihyeok lead the briefing, the chief prosecutor leaned back in his chair.
The other prosecutors observed him with equally sharp eyes.
Genius Prosecutor Jang Jihyeok.
He was the prosecutor the chief trusted more than anyone else.
From the chief’s perspective, Jihyeok had been born for this profession.
His abilities were beyond question.
It had taken considerable effort to bring him into this division, and the chief expected great things from him.
“So, your prediction?”
“Mapo, Gangnam, or Seocho.”
“Good. I’ll request the search warrant from the deputy chief immediately. Once it’s approved, Prosecutor Jang, you’ll take command on-site.”
“Yes. I’ll prepare everything right away.”
When the meeting concluded, Jihyeok rose from his seat.
“You’re ridiculously tall.”
The chief prosecutor said with satisfaction.
Jihyeok gave a respectful nod before returning to his office.
He reviewed the investigation files sent over from Customs.
After analyzing the evidence, he checked his wristwatch.
It was already well past the end of the workday.
Picking up his jacket, he left the Prosecutors’ Office.
A five-minute walk later…
[IL Apartments]
Standing in front of his apartment building, Jihyeok looked up at the darkening evening sky and slowly rolled his stiff neck.
