Min-young arrived at the police station to see everyone with excited faces except Nam-gil. It was as if they won a lottery. Chan-yeol noticed Min-young and ran up to him and gave him the autopsy report of the dog. After noticing Min-young, all the officers saluted him. Min-young glanced at the report and asked Chan-yeol what he found.
"You should take a look for yourself."
Min-young began going through the report. It said that there were no physical injuries. However, several foreign substances were found inside the body. One of the substances was unidentified. This was also the substance that ultimately lead to death.
"Do you have any sort of idea what this unidentified substance is?" asked Min-young.
"No, It's my first time seeing it. It isn't even registered in the database."
Nam-gil walked toward Min-young and said, "You've got dark circles."
"I know."
"So what do you think happened to the dog?"
After a pause, Min-young said, "It was experimented on."
"Exactly!"
Chan-yeol interrupted, "We found the same substance in one of the drugs we found yesterday in Gae Baek-Hyun's house."
"Uh-huh."
Both Nam-gil and Min-young sank into deep thought. "What's there to think about captain?" said Dae-jung who had a very joyful expression. "Well someone's very happy," said Min-young.
"Why wouldn't I be?"
"May I know why?"
"We've found the murderer."
"You did?"
"YES! It's Gae Baek-hyun."
Min-young turned to Nam-gil and asked, "Is this why they're all so happy?"
"Yep! Happens every time. I'm not even in the mood to tell them anything right now."
"Okay, then Dae-jung. Care to tell me that on what basis have you deducted that Gae Baek-hyun is the culprit?"
"Isn't it obvious? He experimented on an animal illegally. He also tried to develop a new drug. The body of the victim was also found in his house. He's a biochemist. It kind of makes sense for a biochemist to resort to such a killing method." Everyone agreed with Dae-jung.
"I see...Then tell me Dae-jung. Do you have any solid evidence that it was Gae Baek-hyun who committed the murder? If he resorted to such a killing method, then why would he run away with the deceased's clothes? I'm pretty sure you guys got the news of the mysterious money transfer from the deceased's bank account. Even after transferring the money, why would she be killed? Was it because she would leak some information to the public? Do you have any evidence that it was Gae Baek-hyun who experimented on the dog? According to the autopsy report, the corpse of the dog is a month old. Shouldn't he have disposed of the body then? Why would he leave it in his backyard to rot? And then even if he left it in his backyard, it's already been a month. Shouldn't the smell of the rotting corpse be spread to the neighboring houses a long time ago? However, it was found only yesterday. Which means the corpse was transported to the backyard yesterday."
Everyone was left speechless. Hwan arrived with a plate full of coffee mugs. "I agree with him," he said. Everyone looked at Hwan who was handing everyone their cup of coffee. He said, "What you said isn't a deduction, Dae-jung. That doesn't mean you are wrong. It is just a possibility that he was the murderer. You've only been with the police agency for two years now. It's common for newbies to make such a mistake. You have to round up all the clues and arrive at an answer that satisfies all your questions. That is called a deduction. Isn't that right, Captain Min-young?" Hwan handed a cup of coffee to Min-young.
"Well...at least there are some smart people in here," said Min-young. He took a sip and was almost about to spit it out. However, he somehow managed to gulp it down. "Holy crap! That's hot! " he thought to himself.
"Well, now that this is all cleared up let's get to work," said Nam-gil. Everyone dispersed.
Min-young turned to Nam-gil and said, " You said that the person who reported the case was found."
"About that...it turns out that the guy who reported this was one of the people in the photos you sent me."
"Uh-huh. What's his name?"
"Ethan Jang. I've already called him. He's on his way here. Anyway, about the money transfer. There was a transfer of 88,000,000 won from the deceased's bank account a few hours before she died. 88,207,900 won to be exact. There's also one more thing you need to know."
"And that is?"
"Only the grandmother of the deceased is alive. She has heart issues. She doesn't even know that her granddaughter, the only family she had is now dead."
"Well...that's sad. But we can't waste time on this matter. We need to find the owner of the account named Sanguis Lunae. Finding this person will give us a huge lead in this case. Worrying about these family issues can come later. And what about the people in the photos I sent you? You said that you identified them."
Nam-gil's eyes narrowed.
"What?" asked Min-young.
"I don't remember telling you the name of the other bank account."
"Oh! Uhhh...Ji-Won told me."
"Ahhh I see...Well, you don't have to worry about that. Ji-Won is the one who is in charge of finding the owner of the account. I'll get the profile of the people in the photos you sent. Just give me a sec."
Min-young sighed, "Well that was close. " He looked at his watch. It was 8:42 a.m. He then continued to sip his coffee. Nam-gil arrived with a bunch of papers as well as a printout of the photos. He handed one of the photos to Min-young.
"The tall guy here is Gae Baek-Hyun. The other one is Ethan Jang, the guy who reported the case. It's a photo of them when they were in high school." He then handed him Ethan Jang's profile.
Ethan Jang was thirty-seven years old and is the manager of a petrol pump. Nam-gil then handed Min-young the other photo. He said, "These two guys in the lab coats are Gae Baek-hyun's university friends. But the thing is..."
"The thing is?"
"They died four months ago. A case was opened on this matter. Turns out they died due to a drug overdose. It was the same drug that was found in the dog's body."
"And?"
"That's it...The case was closed."
"WHAT?!"
"Team B investigated this case. I talked with the captain of Team B. She said that they were forced to close the case. It was the chief's orders. She didn't know why though. That's all I know."
After a pause, Min-young said, "Well, no wonder the crime rates in Incheon are so high."
"I won't argue with that."
Do-yun barged in and said, "Captain, Ethan Jang just arrived."
"Well, bring him here then."
Meanwhile, Dae-jung and Ji-Won were trying to find out the owner of the Sanguis Lunae account. "THIS DOESN'T MAKE SENSE!! Why does it always show an error in the database when I input this name?" asked Dae-jung.
"I'm just as puzzled as you are."
"And why is your coffee in a proper coffee mug and mine in a paper cup?"
"So that you don't make a ruckus. The staff was getting pretty annoyed about buying new cups," Ji-Won laughed.
Ethan was brought to the interrogation room. "Ahh, you must be Ethan Jang. Please have a seat," said Nam-gil. "So I was the one who spoke to you earlier. We will be asking you some questions. Please answer them with honesty."
"Sure officer. You can ask me anything."
"I'm pretty sure you already know about the current situation."
"I am."
"Hopefully you haven't told this to anyone."
"Absolutely not officer. I haven't even told this to my wife."
"Well, that's good. Describe your relationship with Gae Baek-hyun."
"Well, we were friends since high school. Best friends."
"Tell me a little about his personality."
"Well, he is normally a very fun person. He can sometimes be short-tempered. He's also pretty smart. He was a class topper."
"When you arrived at Gae Baek-hyun's house, was the door locked?"
"Yes, it was. I opened it."
"What?! Do you have the key?"
"Yeah, Baek-hyun gave a copy of his house key to me a long time ago. He said that if I ever wanted to come over, I didn't have to knock."
"I see...Was there any specific reason why you went to his house yesterday?
"Well, we didn't see or call each other for a while, so I decided to pay him a visit."
"When was the last time you were in contact with him?" asked Min-young.
"Three months ago. Didn't see him ever since."
"Did you notice anything strange about him?"
"Ahh, yes I did actually. You see...two of his friends died four months ago. Ever since then he started acting weird. He said that he was busy whenever I called him. We even started to see each other less often."
"I see...And where were you in the evening the day before yesterday."
"I was at home. It was my daughter's birthday."
"Okay. That's it for now. You can go. We might have to call you a few times if we need something."
"Very well officer. Oh, you don't suspect me do you?"
"Not for now," said Min-young. Ethan got up from his chair and walked toward the door. He then turned back and said, "Baek-hyun is not the type of person who would do such a thing officer. I know that he is innocent."
"Well, we don't know anything about that yet. If he didn't do anything wrong it's well and good. But if he did do something wrong, he will have to face his punishment. Right now he is our prime suspect."
"Very well...I'll go now then."
Min-young asked Nam-gil, "Did you find anything else about the deceased's interpersonal relationships?"
"Yeah...She has an ex-boyfriend. His name is Liam Jong. He works in a museum. I'm planning to pay a visit to Gae Baek-hyun's family. Wanna come with me?"
"Nah, take Hwan with you. I'll pay this ex-boyfriend a little visit."
"Alright. The name of the museum is Deorimi Art Museum."
"Well, I don't wanna waste anytime then. I'll get going."
After two and a half hours Min-young arrived at Deorimi Art Museum. There were a lot of people who were going in and coming out. Min-young went to the reception counter and asked for a person named Liam Jong.
"Ahhh, Liam Jong eh? Well, he's one of our guides here. May I know what business you have with him?"
Min-young takes out his badge and shows it to the receptionist. The receptionist understood and called Liam Jong on the phone.
"Well, he is currently busy with some customers. So it will take some time. Why don't you look around the museum, for the time being, officer?"
"Very well then."
Min-young begins roaming around the museum observing different art pieces. The place was very crowded. "I didn't know there were this many people who were interested in art. " he thought to himself. He then noticed a bunch of high school girls who were taking photos in front of different art pieces.
"Ahem," he said, catching the attention of the girls.
"Yes?"
"Shouldn't you girls be at school right now?"
"Our class is on a field trip," said one of the girls.
"Ahh, so where is the rest of your class?"
"They're all over the place."
"I see..."
"Do you need anything else mister?"
"Ahhh, yes I do," said Min-young, pointing towards a signboard that said 'No Photos'.
"Oh, I'm very sorry. I didn't see that." Min-young then nodded and walked away. After going through several different art pieces he came across a painting that caught his interest. He stood there for a few minutes observing the painting. He was suddenly interrupted by an employee.
"Are you the officer who is looking for me?"
"Ahh, yes. You are Liam Jong I presume."
"That's me. I can see that this painting has caught your interest."
"Well, yes. It's very... eye-catching. Anyway, I want to ask you a few questions."
"About what?"
"About Kim Ha-rin."
Liam's eyes narrowed. "Let's go somewhere else," he said.
Comments (0)
See all