The two bodies were sent to the forensic department for an autopsy. Meanwhile, Ji-Eun was being escorted to her jail cell. However, she resisted with all her might.
"LET GO OF ME!" Ji-Eun demanded, "I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING WRONG!"
"Then will you please try explaining what you did earlier?" asked Min-young.
"He touched me first!"
"That officer was simply carrying out his duty. He did nothing wrong. Even after Nam-gil told you to leave repeatedly, you didn't listen. That's why he had to use a bit of force. But after that, you even went as far as to knock down three officers to the ground."
"I just wanted to ask a few questions. Is that so bad?"
"Your questions could have waited after the police finished closing off the crime scene. But you interrupted our work. Do you have any idea how hard it is for the police when someone interrupts them when they are currently in the middle of something important?"
"Okay fine! I'm sorry. Now can you please take these handcuffs off of me? I won't do it again I promise. I was just doing my job, I would get a nice big lecture from my boss or even better, a salary cut."
Min-young sighed, "Fine...I'll let you off this time with just a warning." Min-young took off the handcuffs on Ji-Eun's hands, "You can go now."
However, Ji-Eun didn't move from her place. "What?! I said you can go now. Why are you still standing there?" asked Min-young.
"I still need the answers to my questions."
Min-young sighed, " Fine. What do you wanna know?"
"Ummm...Can I talk to someone else?"
"Why?"
"You said you were a transfer officer, right? So you probably won't know much about the things I want to ask."
"Ahhh...that makes sense." Min-young turned to Dae-jung and said, "Hey...uhh...Dae-jung was it? Take her to Nam-gil. And tell him I won't be here for the time being. I'll probably come back around the evening. I still have to do a lot of unpackaging at my house."
"Yes sir!"
Min-young then walks out of the police agency and looks at his watch. The watch looked pretty old and had a crack on it. "1 p.m already eh? I haven't even had lunch." He then called out to a taxi that was passing by. The taxi stopped in front of him. He then got into the car.
"Where to sir?" asked the driver. Min-young took a card out of his wallet which had the address written on it and showed it to the driver. The driver immediately put the address in his phone's Naver Map and then stepped on the accelerator.
"If there are any grocery shops on the way then please stop by."
"Very well sir."
Dae-jung took Ji-Eun to Nam-gil. Nam-gil was filling in some paperwork and turned toward Dae-jung. After seeing Ji-Eun with him he said, "Where's Min-young?"
"He gave me permission to ask you a few questions," said Ji-Eun.
"Okay...but where is he?"
Dae-jung said, "He left a few minutes ago. He said he'll come back around the evening because he still had to do some unpackaging in his house."
"I see...so...Ji-Eun was it? What do you wanna know?"
"My questions are regarding the Dongjak bridge incident. My first question is that-"
"Ah, excuse me. We are not investigating the Dongjak bridge incident. Or to be more precise, Team A is not the one investigating the Dongjak bridge incident. Team B is investigating that."
"Oh, so that's how it is eh? Well, I'm sorry for bothering you."
"Dae-jung, take her to the captain of team B."
"Yes sir! This way ma'am."
Half an hour later, Min-young arrived at his house. He got out of the taxi with two big grocery bags in his hands.
"That will be 10,000 won, sir." said the driver. Min-young took out 10,000 won from his wallet and handed it to the driver who then drove off. Min-young turned to look at his house. He began to recall a few memories of his parents from the time they were still alive. "Never knew I'd come back here one day." He saw a large number of boxes in front of his door. He sighed and said, "Lunch first!" Min-young went inside and put his grocery bags down. He then took out a box of Jajangmyeon which was parcelled as well as a pair of chopsticks. He sat down at one corner of a room that seemed comfortable and removed the lid of the box and kept it aside. He then picked up a piece of pork using the chopsticks and ate it. "It's cold," said Min-young. He thought of heating it but remembered that the microwave was packed in one of the boxes. So he had to settle with some cold Jajangmyeon as his lunch.
After finishing, he realized that there was no dust bin to throw the box and chopsticks in. So he kept it aside for now and went to wash his hands and mouth. After doing so he said, "Let's clean this place up first." He went to take out some cleaning equipment from the boxes outside. They weren't hard to find as he had labeled the boxes. He first began to clean the place with a broom. Min-young was surprised to see how many cockroaches were hiding in every corner of his house. He then began to mop his house and clean the windows. He then placed two different dust bins which were for dry and wet waste. He then threw the box and chopsticks into the dustbin. This entire process took about three hours. It was 4:30 p.m by the time he finished. He decided to just take out the parts of his sofa and assemble it and then leave for the police station.
After an hour, Min-young finally finished assembling his sofa. "This was harder than I thought," said Min-young. After looking at the time he left everything as it was, locked his door, and ran toward the nearest subway station.
Meanwhile, the autopsy report of the female body was finished and handed out to all the officers. Nam-gil asked Chan-yeol, "What does the post-mortem report say?"
"Well, it turns out he was right captain. It's not rape. She died due to poisoning."
"I see..."
Dae-jung looked at the autopsy report and noticed the name of the deceased was Kim Ha-rin. "Now I remember!"
"Remember what?" asked Ji-won.
"I saw this woman on TV before. She's a k-pop idol who recently debuted. Her first song 'Moonlight' was a huge hit."
"Damn...well that's sad."
"It is indeed," said Hwan.
"However there is one thing captain Min-young was wrong about," said Chan-yeol.
"And that is?" asked Nam-gil.
"The deceased didn't engage in sexual activity before she died."
"What?! Then that means..."
"The murderer made it look like it was rape. The deceased was made unconscious before he injected the poison into the body. I found a tiny hole on the arm of the deceased which was made by a syringe."
In the autopsy report, it was written that chloroform was found in the blood of the deceased which made her unconscious. If chloroform is injected in high doses it can cause respiratory injuries, pneumonitis and pulmonary edema and can even lead to death. However, the amount found in the body was just enough to make her unconscious. Then Maitotoxin was injected into the body. Maitotoxin is a cardiotoxin, it exerts its effects by increasing the flow of calcium ions through the cardiac muscle membrane causing heart failure.
Just then Min-young walked into the room and looked at Nam-gil and Chan-yeol. "Give him a copy," said Nam-gil. Chan-yeol nodded and immediately printed out another copy of the autopsy report and handed it to Min-young.
"She didn't engage in sexual activity before she died," said Nam-gil.
"I thought so," said Min-young.
"Wait, you knew?"
"It was just a gut feeling." Min-young began to go through the pages of the autopsy report and read the cause of death.
"So the murderer made it look like it was rape eh? Pretty clever. What about the dog?"
"We only finished the autopsy and post-mortem examination for the woman. We are going to look into the body of the dog now," said Chan-yeol.
"Very well then."
Min-young told Nam-gil to gather up all his men. In a few seconds all officers of team A gathered up around a table and took a seat. Min-young took the initiative to speak first. "I think I've already introduced myself earlier. But I haven't gotten the chance to know all your names. So first I want all of you to introduce yourselves one by one," said Min-young.
All the officers began to introduce themselves. Do-yun whispered into Ji-won's ears, "He looks handsome, but he's not my type. Hey Ji-won, after we're done closing the case let's-"
"I have a girlfriend dude...I have a girlfriend."
Do-yun sighed and turned away. "Well I guess that is everyone," said Min-young. Nam-gil began to brief everyone about the case, "Earlier today, a body was reported to be found in a house. With respect to the current time, the time of death was thirty-one hours ago. The deceased was found naked lying on a bed. She had marks on her hands which were made by handcuffs. This has been confirmed by the autopsy."
"Are you sure about that?" asked Min-young.
"Chan-yeol's reports have never been wrong so far Min-young."
"Very well then. You can continue."
"The name of the deceased is Kim Ha-rin. She was a kpop idol who recently made her debut. She died due to lethal poisoning. The deceased was first made unconscious using chloroform and then Maitotoxin was injected into her body causing heart failure. The clothes and shoes of the deceased are currently missing. The house in which the body was found belongs to a biochemist named Gae Baek-hyun. He is thirty-eight years old. Aside from the body of Kim Ha-rin, a body of a dog was also found. The dog belongs to someone. The body is about a month old. That is all the info we have on the dog. The cause of death is still unknown. An autopsy is currently being conducted by the forensic team. Any questions?"
"Did you guys find the person who reported the body?" asked Min-young.
"Unfortunately, no."
"Who was the first officer who arrived at the crime scene?"
"That would be me," said Byung-ho. Min-young told Byung-ho to give him a brief description of what he noticed when he arrived and not to miss any details. After explaining everything, Min-young asked, "Wait, you're saying that the door was already open?"
"Yes...I also found that quite strange."
"Is it possible for the biochemii-whatever to be the murderer?" asked Ji-won.
"There is currently no evidence that tells us that he is the murderer. But that is possible," said Nam-gil.
"Byung-ho, did you put your gloves on before you entered the house?" asked Min-young.
"I'm a veteran officer. I think I'm six to seven years older than you. Putting on gloves was the very first thing I did when I noticed the crowd."
"Well that's good."
"Are there any more questions?" asked Nam-gil. All the officers remained silent. "Okay then, I'm going to assign some specific tasks to all of you. First, Dae-jung and Ji-won, you both will be in charge of finding the person who reported the body. Hwan and I will investigate the interpersonal relationships of the deceased. Do-yun and Byung-ho, you both will have to find the owner of the dog." Nam-gil gave them a picture of the dog which they could use. He then went on to assign tasks to all the officers. "Min-young, you-" Nam-gil was cut off mid-sentence.
"I...prefer to work alone. Plus I already know what I have to do," Min-young claimed.
"You know...we usually work together here."
"I know...but I prefer working alone. If I find anything useful, I will definitely inform all of you about it."
Nam-gil sighed and said, "Very well then. Be careful."
"I will."
"Alright, now that all of you have been assigned to your specific tasks I want you to start working immediately. And get ready stay up late at night for the next couple of days. Let's hope to solve the case as fast as possible."
"YES SIR!"
Everyone began to leave the the police agency to carry out their task. Min-young was also about to leave when he noticed Ji-Eun was behind him. She had a very displeased look on her face.
"You're still here?" asked Min-young.
Ji-Eun lifted her head and noticed Min-young. "Ah! Well you see...I just had a lot of questions."
"Did you get your answers?"
"Unfortunately...no. They refused to give me any information."
"I see...well you can go home then."
"Jeez! Why are you so mean?!"
"Mean?! What did I say?"
"Uhhhhh...forget it. Anyway, Where are you going?"
"I'm going to investigate."
"Oh! Are you talking about what happened earlier today? Tell me about it."
"No, I can't do that. This case hasn't been made public yet. And if this comes in the newspaper headlines, It's gonna cause a lot of commotion."
"Please. I don't wanna go to my boss empty handed. Okay...screw that. I won't tell him about this case. I have a deadline which is next week. So I still have time. So now can you tell me?"
"Just go home."
"Please, at least let me come with you."
"No. Why do you want to know anyway? Wasn't your job related to the Dongjak bridge incident?"
"Well this seems more interesting. I will tell my boss about it once you guys close the case. Then you won't mind right? Plus I might even get a raise in salary. Now, please...Can I come with you?"
Min-young sighed, "Fine..."
"Yay!"
The two went out of the police station and began walking toward the nearest subway station."You know...I feel like I know you," said Ji-Eun.
"That's funny...I also have the same feeling."
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