Chapter Text
It was night because it always happened at night. Darker, calmer; perfect for the usual escapades in which quietness and darkness were essentials. Tonight the target was the same; a lonely, oblivious, clueless girl. Her long, black hair falling down her back reminded so much of someone else it was almost unbearable to just keep looking. The button-up shirt, the tight skirt covering the half of her knees, even her height. She was strolling down the street on her own, and it was when she turned, showing off her monolid eyes, that she presented herself as perfect.
Walking out the navy blue car in firm marching steps, the most inviting smile printed on the face and the target on sight, the introductory rites started.
"Excuse me, hi!"
"Hi... do you need something?" the girl asked, her frown attempting not to show any awkwardness toward the stranger talking to her.
"In fact, yes, I do! I know it's quite odd to ask such a thing, especially at night, but I just had a problem with my little kid and I really need someone's help back in my car."
"Oh, your little kid?" The girl's wrinkle between her eyebrows exposed how she was suddenly interested. "Is he okay?"
"It's a little girl, in fact. I just need some quick assistance, it won't take long, I guarantee."
Even though the girl still had her doubtful frown, she gave out a small smile and nodded, "All right."
"By your uniform you work — there? That big telemarketing building? It's not that far, I will give you a ride."
"Oh, no, no need for that, I don't want to disturb," she said as they walked to the navy blue car.
"I insist. It's my way of paying you back — go to the passenger seat."
The wrinkle on the girl's forehead was back, but she still turned around the car and got inside without questioning.
"Where's she?" she asked when they were both inside the car, turning to the back seat. "The little kid."
It happened fast; with the ability of someone who had done that before. The telemarketing girl didn't have the time to understand what the needle in her neck meant, much less what was being injected inside her.
"Choi Minhee," a distant voice called.
She opened her eyes and saw that very same face again, except this time the smile wasn't inviting anymore, but carried a great amount of wickedness and something so fearful that she couldn't even name it at that moment. Then she realized she was on her feet, up against some cold surface that felt like metal. She couldn't move; her hands and feet hurt for they had been tied too tightly. She didn't have any clothing on and her mouth was covered with tape. A wave of desperation came down and she screamed.
"Choi Minhee… You've been making so many questionable choices ever since we've met. Why'd you scream if you know your mouth is sealed? Even better, why'd you accept getting in some stranger's car? It was the kid, wasn't it? It always is… you women get so soft when it comes to those little rascals. Did you feel good? Did you feel like you're being a good girl? I like good girls… that's why I chose you, you know that? In fact, I must say you're… absolutely perfect."
The room was so illuminated it hurt Minhee's eyes. She saw a lot of plastic all around the place and under her feet. Then she heard the sound of rubber and before hearing or seeing anything else, she felt a cold blade cutting her wrist; an excruciating pain that made her scream so loud that she was sure a bit of it could've been heard through the tape on her mouth.
Then another cut on her other wrist that impossibly hurt even more. She felt a rubber hand cup her face, then she saw that insane smile once again.
While the blood falling down from her wrists painted the plastic under her feet, Minhee desperately screamed in pain and fear, knowing that that smile was the last thing she'd see in her life.
The fifth floor was off-limits to those who weren't authorized. It wasn't fancy nor even properly organized; juniors often wondered how that could be the special task office. Many said the reason behind such a mess was the fact that the special agents were asking to be moved from time to time. Their motives were much discussed, the lack of cases being the number one topic. Officers from Homicides joked about how the agents from the special task force spent their shifts rummaging through dusty cold cases while they were the ones dealing with actual, live crimes.
Special agent Bae Joohyun couldn't care less about what the fools downstairs thought of her and the rest of the team. Even if she didn't quite know what she was getting herself into when she signed to join the team a year ago. Having in mind to follow her father's steps in the police force, after three years working in the regular Homicides, she asked Lieutenant Kim Sangsoo to move her. Joohyun was excited to be in the same team as her father was fifteen years ago, when they caught the Strangler, a serial rapist and murderer, and were the city heroes. Now, however, the special team lacked manpower and resources for they couldn't get a solid case ever since Mr. Bae's glory days.
Maybe serial murderers had gotten smarter, Joohyun thought while walking out the elevator into the fifth floor's corridor. She entered the first room, knocking on the opened door and asking in a bored voice:
"Anything?"
Inside the small office was special agent Lee Jinki; his messy brown hair and a wrinkled suit fit the papers spreaded on his desk. Joohyun imagined he would've been handsome if he'd only iron his clothes or take a bath from time to time.
"Yeah," he said, looking up at her, "a great pain on my back."
Joohyun rolled her eyes and went back to the corridor, walking toward the next room, knocking on the opened door.
"No," the woman seated by the desk said before Joohyun could ask anything, "nothing new, zero suspects, zero trouble, zero crimes, zero zero."
Special agent Son Seungwan was a better view than Jinki in all ways Joohyun could think of. She had blonde hair just above the shoulders and round cheeks that made her look — even if Joohyun hated to admit — cute. She was also way neater; her heels were always well-polished and her shirts always ironed. Her usual suspenders somehow added to her neat-look.
"What about the Butcher?" asked Joohyun.
"Again? We've discarded that," said Seungwan. "The two crimes were only a coincidence, you have to accept that."
Joohyun sighed, the frustration of not getting anywhere for so long hitting so heavy she didn't even hide her scowl.
"Right," Joohyun nodded. "Guess cutting off body parts and throwing them in the river it's more common than I'd thought."
"We've gone through that already," said Seungwan with a hint of annoyance. "The responsibles were caught and they were both different men. Unfortunately, yeah, it was a coincidence they decided to cut their exes and throw them into the water."
Joohyun didn't answer and stormed out of the room, walking to her own office and closing the door. She was honestly starting to hate that place; the fifth floor, Jinki's office, Seungwan's and even hers. The sunlight coming through the window illuminated the last case files she was going through the other day, unsurprisingly getting nowhere with it. Joohyun took off her suit jacket and hung it on her chair, looking up at the board across the room.
Different crimes that could've been linked to the other, except Joohyun never connected more than two, and three were necessary to Lieutenant Kim even consider for it to be investigated as a special case. Their team had been walking in circles for a long time now, more than half of them asked to be dismissed from their positions to go back to Homicides and work with regular crimes.
Someone knocked at the door and before Joohyun could answer it, a tall, good-looking man entered the room.
"Officer Minho," Joohyun greeted him.
"Message for you," he said, "a reporter from the Local called, says she has something that can interest you."
"A reporter? I don't think I want to answer another round of questions about my father's successful career."
"She left her number," said Minho, taking a small piece of paper from his pocket and putting it on Joohyun's desk. He looked around the mess on the desk and sighed. "You should come back, you know, the department was good for you."
"Was that all?" Joohyun asked, ignoring his comment.
"Yes," he said, "that was all."
Minho left and Joohyun took the piece of paper from her desk, squinting at the set of numbers and the name Kang Seulgi written on Minho's handwriting.
If that wasn't about a random interview about former special agent Bae, Joohyun thought that the reporter would've at least had come in person to their station. It wouldn't be the first time that local reporters asked her for a comment about her father's deeds and how she felt knowing she wasn't doing a good job as much as he did back in his time. The pressure on her had been so much that sometimes she hated being his daughter; then she'd curse herself from thinking that of her dead parent.
He got lucky, that was all. Lucky he was an officer right when the Strangler was active and the police station had to create a special team to investigate, it also helped that he was surprisingly dumb, making it easy for her father's team to get him. It wasn't like they had caught a list of dangerous and vicious psychopaths; Mr. Bae had gotten famous for leading the investigation of the only serial murderer their city had got to know in the last thirty years. You see, it's quite unusual for a rather small town to have those kinds of crimes.
"I've nothing left to lose," said Joohyun, taking her office's phone and calling the reporter.
"Who's this?" a feminine voice said. Joohyun frowned at the lack of manners.
"Special agent Bae Joohyun. Is this Kang Seulgi?"
"Oh! Yes, this is her. I'm sorry, I was caught up in — anyways… Can we meet?"
"Excuse me?"
"I'm from the Local, the newspaper, I'm a — er — a reporter. And I really need to talk to you. I know this is sort of unexpected and… well, sort of weird, but you'll understand when we sit to talk. I've been going through some cases from our newspaper and I think you'd like to see what I've gathered, you know what I'm saying? I'm not a psycho or anything — we can meet in a public space… I can go to your office or you can come to the Local building. What's best for you?"
"Why can't you tell me now? So I can say if it's bullshit or not?"
"'Cause you have to see it!" Kang Seulgi exclaimed on the phone. Joohyun wasn't liking that girl at all. "It's… it's serious stuff, I assure you. I wouldn't call if I wasn't sure, you can trust me on that."
"I'm not trusting you, I don't even know who you are."
"Kang Seulgi, from the Local — not a psycho, not a bullshitter, just someone who has something for you."
"God…" Joohyun sighed, resting her hand on her waist and hating how desperate she was to even consider that offer from a total stranger. She had nothing left to lose after all. "My office, three o'clock. Ask for me in the reception and they'll let you up."
"You won't regret this, Joohyun."
Joohyun huffed in annoyance. Who this Kang Seulgi girl thought she was to be on first-name terms with her?
Joohyun didn't let go of the quick conversation with the cheeky reporter until their meeting at three o'clock. Sensing that it could be just another dead end, or even worse; a funny joke, Joohyun anticipated what the reporter had to show her. In a year of being a special agent, Joohyun was now getting tired of working hard for nothing. Some higher-ups had even tried to extinguish the special department, for their resources didn't bring any results for the police force. Gladly, Lieutenant Sangsoo was able to restrain those requests, with the condition of lowering the resources and limiting the agents so they wouldn't be a waste of public money.
It was three o'clock exactly when Joohyun heard someone knocking on her opened door. She looked up and saw who she thought to be Kang Seulgi. She had a bag over her shoulder and was wearing a white button-up shirt tucked inside her black trousers and her hair was tied up in a bun. Honestly, Joohyun was expecting someone like Jinki, but Kang Seulgi's figure wasn't at all what she imagined. Her round face reminded Joohyun of Seungwan, and she almost thought that Kang Seulgi was cute too — although her monolid eyes gave her some kind of mysterious look. Joohyun couldn't decide if that was a good surprise or not; she settled for completely ignoring how surprisingly good-looking the reporter was.
"Joohyun," she said, bowing her head.
"Special agent Bae Joohyun," Joohyun said through gritted teeth, suddenly forgetting about the girl's good looks.
"Oh, sorry about that, special agent Bae Joohyun, I've been sort of off lately… those cases, I mean… — I'm Kang Seulgi, from the Local" — she raised her hand and Joohyun shook it with no enthusiasm — "anyways, may I sit?"
Joohyun nodded and watched Seulgi sit down and take a stack of paper from her bag.
"The ones I've told about this said the same thing, that it was a coincidence… at first I thought it was a coincidence too," she started as she spread pieces of the Local newspaper over the desk. Joohyun noticed how careful she handled the material, "It all happened while I was reading the news and I saw this, — here — two weeks ago, Choi Minhee disappeared, her boss only noticed that because he didn't see her at work — she worked with telemarketing —, but he wasn't the one to report the disappearance, it was a colleague, saying Minhee wasn't the kind to just vanish like that, even if they weren't that close to each other, she knew something about that was wrong. Minhee didn't have any relatives, children, or boyfriend… she didn't even have any friends from what this colleague said." Seulgi bit her lip and took a small breath before continuing. "Then I instantly recalled this," she pointed at another piece of newspaper, "Do Munyeong disappeared a year ago, her boss reported, she was also a telemarketing girl, and this — look at their pictures — don't you think they look similar?" Then Seulgi excitedly took another one of her papers and said, "Then I did my own research and found her: Jung Jiyoung. Disappeared two years ago, no relatives, no boyfriend. Then," Seulgi took the three pictures of the girls and put them together, "this."
Joohyun felt an excitement she didn't remember feeling in a long time. Even if she wanted, she couldn't deny how the three missing girls looked alike. Straight long black hair, around their twenties, and their eyes. Joohyun impulsively looked up at Seulgi's monolids.
"How old are they?" asked Joohyun.
"Choi Minhee, twenty-five; Do Munyeong, twenty-two; Jung Jiyoung, twenty."
"The one who disappeared two years ago, was she working for telemarketing too?"
"That's the only problem," said Seulgi, biting her lip. "That I couldn't link. Jung Jiyoung was a waitress in some cheap bar."
"What else do you know about that?"
"What do you mean?"
"Did she wear a uniform to work?" asked Joohyun.
Seulgi shifted excitedly on her seat, leaning on the desk and saying, "You think it's the uniform?"
"It's something to think about."
"So you're actually considering it?" snapped Seulgi with a grin on her face. "You don't think this is nonsense?"
"It's something to think about," Joohyun repeated. "Why did you come here? Why didn't you just put this on the Local's front page? This could be huge, most reporters would simply want all the credit for the investigation for themselves."
Seulgi leaned back on the chair, the grin was gone and she was biting her lip again.
"Special agent Bae Joohyun," she said, looking down, "I'm not a reporter."
"What?" Joohyun said with a start. "Are you fucking kidding me? Did you just lie to a special agent?"
"No — no! It's not really a lie, I do work for the Local, I swear! But I'm not a reporter… I'm a cartoonist."
Joohyun let out a small and unamused laugh, "You're fucking kidding me."
"I'm not the best one for the job, I'm aware of that!" Seulgi retorted. "No one would buy this story if I went up to them, they'd think I'm insane… Special agent Bae Joohyun, the truth is people here don't think it's possible for a serial murderer to be active."
"I've been working on cold cases, trying to make connections for a year and the one who does it it's a fucking cartoonist — brilliant," said Joohyun miserably.
"You couldn't track this even if you wanted, special agent Bae Joohyun," said Seulgi motioning at the papers on the desk. "These aren't murders, you wouldn't find them because you're not looking for them in the first place. That's why I knew I had to come here, flesh and bone, to show you. You're the only one who wouldn't think it's bullshit — I've read all about you…"
Joohyun ignored the sudden red in Seulgi's ears.
"I'll see what I can do about them. I can't do much without my Lieutenant's green-light. I'll take the case to him."
"Really?" asked Seulgi, bright-eyed. "I knew I could count on you, special agent Bae Joohyun."
"Fine, you can leave now."
Seulgi's excitement was gone.
"Sorry?" she frowned.
"I told you to leave," said Joohyun, gathering the papers on the desk.
"But this case is mine!"
"Excuse me?" Joohyun chuckled nastily. "You're a cartoonist, what're you going to do exactly? Draw the files?"
"That's not fair," Seulgi said, shaking her head, "I was the one to crack this, I should —"
"What? You're not an officer, you're not even a proper reporter. I couldn't see where you fit in an investigation."
"Of course I can help! I brought you this, not any of your special agent friends. You should at least show some gratitude!" snapped Seulgi, rather irritated for being discarded so easily.
"Keep your voice down otherwise I'll arrest you, d'you hear me?"
Seulgi looked completely astonished by Joohyun's words. She stood up and gathered the pieces of newspaper, throwing them inside her bag.
"And I thought you were different from your father," she said with a disgusted look and left.
Joohyun wanted to shout back at that insolent girl, but her words had hit Joohyun harder than she was used to; she hated being compared to her father, especially to his personality.
"Who was that?"
Seungwan stopped by the door, her eyebrows wrinkled in doubt for she probably crossed paths with the irritated Seulgi on her way.
"I need you to do something," said Joohyun. "Get me the files on the disappearance of Choi Minhee, Do Munyeong and Jung Jiyoung."
"What?" Seungwan frowned. "What for? Did you get any lead on —"
"I'll tell you when you bring me what I've asked," Joohyun interrupted with a glare. "Off you go."
Seungwan winked and left. Joohyun rested on the chair, staring at the board across the room and thinking how she shouldn't be that excited over those cases because she was tired of realizing she had just gotten herself into another dead end. Barely fifteen minutes later, Seungwan was back, and she had the files under her arm.
"Freshly printed for you," she said, sitting on the chair across from Joohyun. "Can you spill now?"
Joohyun told Seungwan all about the missing girls and Kang Seulgi. They went over the files and tried to find more similarities between the three of them, attempting to bring the case as solid as they could to Lieutenant Kim so they could officially investigate those murders as a special case.
"Do you think this is enough for him to believe that there's only one responsible for those?" Seungwan asked.
"He can't deny the similarities, but…"
"Without a body, I can't do much for you," said Lieutenant Kim when Joohyun and Seungwan showed him the cases. "I know the similarities are… undeniable. But this is Homicides, and without a homicide, the case isn't ours."
Lieutenant Kim Sangsoo was a tall and pouchy man. He had slicked-back white hair and a mustache, and his nose was rather beaky; he often wore suspenders like Seungwan. Joohyun couldn't understand why those were so liked inside the police building.
"Come back here with more," Lieutenant Kim said, "a body, a suspect — then we can work on this, alright?"
Joohyun knew better that they couldn't do much with only similarities and suppositions, so she went back to her daily life of going back and forth over cold cases in the next weeks, trying to get anywhere but never forgetting those three missing girls. Joohyun would come back home, pour herself some wine and study those cases over and over. Truth was no one was looking for any of those girls; Joohyun had contacted the responsibles for the cases, and they simply hadn't gotten anywhere with their investigations, and without family, friends or boyfriends, no one else cared enough about those girls to ask the police for answers.
It was rather easy to have them as targets, Joohyun thought while sipping her wine. Who cared about poor, lonely women?
She was dozing off with Choi Minhee's file on her lap when her phone buzzed and she woke up with a start.
"What? Seungwan?"
"You won't believe this," Seungwan said in an excited voice, "they've found a body, by the road, just now. I was still in the office when they got the call —"
"Just get to the point."
"It's a fucking telemarketing girl," said Seungwan. "They're taking her to the morgue, you should check on her right away. God, I can't fucking believe we got this lucky."
Joohyun got up from the couch in a rush, feeling anxiousness running through her veins. She didn't know if she had ever felt such a thrill in her whole Police career. But while she put on her trousers and made a quick bun, she felt something bothering her, something that just wouldn't let the excitement take over. Rolling her eyes at herself, she sighed and took a small piece of paper from her pocket to call Kang Seulgi to join her.
Joohyun sat there, outside the morgue, her back straight and her legs crossed, completely aware of Seulgi's pencil running around her sketchbook for almost two hours. They had wordlessly settled for ignoring how their conversation ended back in Joohyun's office. They were sitting side by side, waiting for the medical examiner to finish the autopsy so they could check on the body. Joohyun peeked at Seulgi's notebook and saw what seemed to be a naked female body.
"What the fuck's that?" Joohyun snapped.
"Oh!" Seulgi jumped on her seat, quickly closing the notebook and looking at Joohyun with terrified eyes. "That wasn't — it wasn't — I mean, it's nothing like that. That's just — I didn't even know you're looking!"
"I wish I weren't. Are you some kind of pervert or what?"
"Of course not! This is just my mind flowing around, I'd never —"
"And your mind's been thinking about naked women?" asked Joohyun, grimacing.
"Aren't we waiting to see one?" said Seulgi matter-of-factly. "That body can prove my theory, it's all I'm thinking about right now. This is sort of weird, I know — but I just can't stop imagining how he kills them. How he gets rid of them. He seems so… skilled."
"You don't know if the other girls were killed," said Joohyun, still grimacing at Seulgi when Seungwan turned from the corridor and walked toward them.
"Kim Younghee," she announced, sitting by Joohyun's side. "Taemin sent me her information after I almost begged him — that prick. I don't think they'll let go of this case so easily, we must have solid proof this time."
"Will they let us in?" asked Seulgi.
"You again," said Seungwan with a kind smile. "I don't think we've been introduced yet, I'm Seungwan."
"Seulgi," she said and they shared grins.
"Thanks for the help, you know," said Seungwan, "we were at rock bottom really, you saved our —"
"What did Taemin say?" Joohyun snapped.
"Right, about that," Seungwan cleared her throat. Joohyun rolled her eyes. "The case is his, so far of course. The problem is he didn't buy the serial murders, and I honestly can't blame him. All we have are suppositions, and even with this body, we still need another one to have a solid case. And, Seulgi, yeah, they'll let us in. Taemin's inside with his partner. Said we can go after them."
"Great," Joohyun sighed, "we're depending on officer Taemin. Do we have any special agent authority?"
"You know how he is," said Seungwan.
"I don't care how he is, we shouldn't be waiting for his call, he should be waiting for ours. This could be a fucking serial murderer."
"Our reputation's been… well, you know," Seungwan shrugged.
"Fuck this, I don't wear this special agent badge for nothing."
Joohyun got to her feet and strolled to the corridor, turning to the right where the door to the morgue was, but before she could do anything, Taemin stormed out of the room, bumping into her. He had dark, slicked-back hair, and wore a long black coat, and his juvenile face features turned into a scared expression.
"God," he breathed out, "you scared me. What're you doing here by the door like this?"
"I came to see the body," said Joohyun, "I have my own questions to ask the examiner."
"Well, I told Seungwan you could came in after —"
"That's the problem, you don't tell us what to do, officer."
"Except this case is mine, and it's detective" said Taemin, glaring back at her. "You can make up film theories, but this is real life, special agent, no one's been planning to kill uniformed young girls in cold blood out of fun. Young girls die, people kill them, welcome to reality."
"I know you've asked Lieutenant Kim to join the special task force. Maybe your limited mind was the reason why he rejected you, right, officer?"
"Detective!" Taemin snapped at Joohyun, visibly shaken by her words, he stepped closer, intimidatingly.
"Enough of that, are you out of your mind, detective?"
Minho came out from the morgue and pulled Taemin by his arm.
"I'm sorry about that, Joohyun," said Minho. "Guess he's just affected by the dead body."
"The hell I am!" Taemin retorted, getting rid of Minho's grip. "I don't get affected by dead bodies, I'm a detective, for Christ's sake."
"What are you doing here?" Joohyun asked Minho, ignoring Taemin.
"I got promoted," he said, trying to hide his boyish grin. "I'm a detective now, they set me up with him," he motioned at Taemin who was now arranging his suit and hair.
"I'm sorry about that part," Joohyun said and exchanged glares with Taemin, "but congratulations."
"Excuse me, but I'm still waiting for the other detectives… If I'm not interrupting anything."
A woman of around Joohyun's age wearing a lab coat and round spectacles was by the morgue's door. She had long black hair tied in a ponytail and very clean red heels.
"We're here," said Seungwan, who had Seulgi by her side. Joohyun frowned at them; she didn't even notice their arrival. "Did you have to make a scene?" she whispered to Joohyun.
"I'll wait for your report," Minho told them before taking Taemin by his arm and leaving.
They set off to the small room that kept a stainless steel table with a body on it. Joohyun felt Seulgi squirm by her side. Around the table was what Joohyun thought to be too many sinks for such a small place, but she liked how everything was organized and clean.
"I'm doctor Park Sooyoung," said the woman in the ponytail.
Joohyun raised an eyebrow at Seungwan's warm look toward the doctor.
"It's such a pleasure to meet you, special agent Bae," said Sooyoung with gleaming eyes before bowing, "I'm a huge fan."
Joohyun wanted to ask why she would be a fan of hers when she had done nothing relevant in the past year, but she decided it wasn't the moment. Instead, she just gave her a nod and looked down at the body.
"What happened to her?" Joohyun asked, grimacing at how Kim Younghee seemed to have been beaten up really badly.
The body had been sewn, the cuts had been done in the y form on the girl's upper body. Then Joohyun noticed multiple cuts that didn't seem to have been made by doctor Sooyoung.
"Cause of death was" — she pointed at a cut on the chest — "stabbing. Seems like a regular knife, nothing too abnormal."
"What're those?" asked Seulgi, pointing at the inner thighs with several cuts.
"Marks I'm sure to be of self-mutilation. You can see for yourselves how they're superficial compared to the deadly one on the chest. Some are already healed, the scars are visible. Some were recent, I'd say they had been made three, four days ago. The black eyes and the bruise by her mouth meant she was violently beaten before being murdered. The stab on the chest was the final blow."
"Those?" Seungwan pointed at the marks on the girl's wrist.
"Her wrists were tied very tightly from the marks. I unfortunately can't tell you what was used to tie her, but the same marks are on her ankles also."
"Any signs of rape?" Joohyun asked. "Any drug in her system?"
"No," Sooyoung said.
"Signs of fight?"
"No."
"So she was bound, tortured, then killed?" asked Seulgi.
Sooyoung nodded.
"God, he's vicious," Seulgi muttered.
"Who is?" asked Sooyoung.
"Erm," Seulgi shot a worried glance at Joohyun, who only sighed. "We think this murder might be linked to a series of missing girls' cases."
"A serial killer? In our town?" asked Sooyoung, looking deeply worried.
"Even though it should be classified information," Joohyun glared at Seulgi, "It's only a guess. Anyways, what happens to the body if no one comes after it?"
"We have a time limit," Sooyoung answered, recovering from the news with a hand to her chest. "If no relative comes by to make the funeral arrangements in three days, we keep them refrigerated. If the body is still unclaimed for four more days, we make an appeal to the State for it to be burned."
"Shit," Seungwan muttered, "do you do that frequently?"
"It's more common than it should," said Sooyoung with a weak smile.
Seungwan put her hand on Sooyoung's shoulder above Kim Younghee's dead body, receiving a round of awkward stares from everyone in the room — except Sooyoung herself, who seemed quite grateful toward the gesture.
"She's really nice, doctor Sooyoung, don't you guys think?" Seungwan asked cheerfully.
They were heading out the morgue toward the parking lot. Doctor Sooyoung had given them her card after Seungwan convinced them it was important to have the contact of a doctor they could trust.
"I liked her," Seulgi added.
"She's just a doctor, what's up with you two?" Joohyun said, rolling her eyes.
"She has her charms," Seungwan muttered.
"What do you think happened?" Seulgi asked Joohyun. "Why did he leave the body like that?"
"I'm guessing it was an accident. Something went wrong," said Joohyun. "We need to be attentive, while going through those cases I noticed how easy it is for a victim to be forgotten and turned into a cold case."
"Bind, torture, kill," Seungwan noted. "That can give us some direction, right? Young girls who were killed and had marks on wrists and ankles — God, this could take forever."
"I don't think Taemin's getting anywhere with this case," said Joohyun, "I have a feeling this was our guy. We just need another body, he can't be successful every time."
"Are we going to just sit and wait for another girl to get killed?" said Seulgi.
"We can't investigate Younghee's murder 'cause it's their case, and we can't do much with what her body gave us but keep studying."
"He won't mess up again," Seulgi shook her head. "He'll learn from his mistake. Whatever it was."
A week later, Taemin and Minho's investigation was going nowhere as Joohyun guessed. Security camera footage didn't show anything suspicious, Younghee's house was inspected and they found no evidence. She didn't have any friends, any relatives nor boyfriend. She didn't have a police record. The road she had been found led them nowhere but to more questions.
Joohyun let out a long exhale before checking herself on her car's rear view mirror. She had bags underneath her eyes that her light makeup couldn't cover. She had been studying cases every day at work and every night at home, almost believing that this killer was as skilled as Seulgi suggested him to be. Her guts told her those girls had been victims of Younghee's murderer, even if her guts always told her what she wanted to hear.
As Joohyun walked out of the police station's parking lot and entered the building, she spotted Minho seated by the station's reception. When he saw Joohyun he got up and walked to her, looking disturbed even though Joohyun knew he was trying not to.
"A woman called," he said, dismissing any greeting, "she found something you have to see."
He took her to the third floor, walking in hurried footsteps to the forensics science room. The small place was full, but the second they saw Joohyun they all exited, leaving her alone with Minho and the short, blonde woman in a lab coat who was looking carefully at something on the evidence bench.
Joohyun stepped closer and the woman turned to her.
"Long time no see, special agent."
"Hi Yerim," Joohyun greeted, still trying to see what she was looking at.
"I think you'll enjoy this very much," Yerim said, finally moving.
It was a human, feminine hand with its nails painted in bright red. Joohyun squinted, trying to get more details with the naked eye.
"The cut's perfect," said Yerim, "It was drained and cleaned. They knew what they were doing. The cut was made post-mortem, which means she was dead."
"And this hand belongs to…?" asked Joohyun.
"The result was fast because the person was in our system. Arrested for shoplifting four years ago," Yerim said, going to her desk to bring Joohyun a printed picture. Joohyun felt her stomach sinking, "her name was Choi Minhee."
"Joohyun," Minho called and Joohyun noticed his soft tone, "the woman who called found it inside a box by the river, when she was doing her morning jog. It… it has your name on it."
He pointed at the cardboard box beside them, big enough to fit the hand and nothing else. On one of its sides was written in capitalized letters:
SPECIAL AGENT BAE JOOHYUN
"Shit," Joohyun muttered.
"The woman's clean," Minho added, "we requested all the camera footage from around the place it was found… but honestly, this isn't amateur work, they wouldn't get caught in any camera if they're smart enough to make that cut."
"Serial killers had been caught because of parking tickets," Joohyun said, "they're not the geniuses we paint them to be."
"You think it's your guy?" Minho asked.
"It can't be anyone else. It's him, I know it's him. But how the hell… how did he know?"
"Joohyun!"
It was Seungwan, rushing inside the room.
"I've heard about it — God, it's him, right? Joohyun — if we're right, if this is really something, then he's one of us — he wouldn't know we're working on it, he couldn't —"
"Did you tell anyone about our investigation?" Joohyun asked Minho.
"No," he said straight away, "but Taemin knows, so everyone else knows too."
"That prick," Seungwan huffed.
"What happens now?" Minho asked.
"Now Lieutenant Kim can't give me a no for an answer."
"I can't let you investigate this, Joohyun," Lieutenant Kim said.
"What?" Joohyun snapped. "What do you mean, sir? He addressed me with a goddamn hand!"
"That's exactly why, you could be in danger."
"I already am, sir."
"Joohyun…"
"Let me have this, sir, I need only one chance to prove the special department isn't useless."
"I know it's not useless, I was part of your father's team, you know that," Lieutenant Kim said. "And I know you want to be like him and —"
"I don't want to be like him," Joohyun retorted. "I'm doing this for the team, for those missing girls. This has nothing to do with my father."
"All right," he said, smiling kindly at her, "I admire you for that. Look… Fine, you can have the case. You're the head of it, so don't screw up."
Two glasses of wine after dinner were all Joohyun planned to drink to celebrate her getting the case, but she was finishing the bottle when she thought it'd be a great idea to answer Seulgi's texts that night. She had been ignoring her for a whole week now and honestly, she didn't even know why exactly.
She sat by her couch, the glass still on her hand and the other ready to dial Seulgi's number.
"Seulgi?" Joohyun called.
"Special agent," Seulgi answered.
"Someone sent me a hand."
"What? A hand? A real, human hand?"
"Yes," Joohyun chuckled, "a real, human hand."
"What? How — what does that even mean? Are you okay? Where are you now?"
"I'm home, and I'm okay. It was this morning… Someone found it and called the police. The box had my name on it. It was him… the killer."
"You're joking! How are you so calm about this? Are you alone?"
Joohyun sniggered at Seulgi's worry, the alcohol letting her feel the warmth of someone caring about her.
"I'm alone, but it's okay, he won't come after me… I don't fit his pattern, you know that better than anyone."
"You shouldn't trust that."
"If he wanted me dead he'd've killed me already."
"Don't joke about that."
"I'm not joking. You're right… he's really skilled, Seulgi… he made a perfect cut on the hand… he drained it and cleaned it. It was Choi Minhee's hand, Seulgi."
"What?! Were you planning to tell me this at all? God, you left me on read for a whole week! I've been feeling so — so…"
"So…?"
"I was the one to give you the case, I deserve to know what's been happening."
"How have you been feeling?"
"Why are you asking me this?"
"I want to know."
"I don't know… discarded? That's not a nice feeling, if you're wondering."
"I don't need to."
"Well, then… this is sort of…"
"Come by my office tomorrow, I'll update you on everything."
Joohyun ended the call before Seulgi could answer. She finished the last of her wine knowing tomorrow she'd regret even calling her. Something about being so open toward Seulgi made Joohyun too aware. So she decided to pretend that all she had done was to tell Seulgi to drop by her office; anything about sniggering and useless conversation had already been forgotten.
It was night but not like the others. Tonight, things didn't go well and shouts of rage echoed around the chamber. The terrified girl watched from afar as sets of knives were violently thrown to the floor. Her hands and ankles were tied and she was naked, which made her even more intimidated.
"It was supposed to be perfect!" the girl trembled when that face was now screaming right in front of her eyes. "You've ruined it! What — what is this supposed to mean? Why did you do that? The body must be perfect! Pure and clean! And you did that!"
The girl knew the problem was her self-harm marks, the screaming had started as soon as her skirt had been removed. Now, she felt the consequences of a life fighting against depression, but in the most unexpected and cruelest way. She didn't know whether she had passed out or died, she couldn't make sense of anything else, illusion or reality, while she was being beaten up.
That inviting smile from before had disappeared, the wicked one too, now there wasn't even a hint of a smile on that face. If Younghee were to name what that expression reminded her of, she'd instantly say the devil itself.