Chapter 10 – Call us as CIF

A man was standing in a place that was surrounded by concrete walls. In front of him was a man deeply sleeping. The man slowly approached the one who was sleeping.

He looked into the mirror, which was right in front of him. Hair cap, latex gloves, even overshoes… nothing was amiss. His fingerprint, foot marks, and hair wouldn’t be detected anywhere. Feeling satisfied with his getup, the man pulled on the latex gloves.

He approached the table in front of the concrete wall, which smelled extremely musty. There were things like hammers on the table. The man hummed while searching for the right equipment as if it pleased him. The man who was sleeping didn’t even budge.

What the man picked was a saw.

The light in the room flicked. The area he was in wasn’t well powered, so there were a lot of incidents where the lights would constantly flicker. Taking on look at the lamp, he turned on the saw.

Despite the sound of the chainsaw sounding loud, the man asleep didn’t wake up.

The man holding a chainsaw took slow steps as if he was dancing to a waltz while approaching the sleeping man.

“Good morning!”

Kang Woo-cheol’s voice echoed in the Special Case handling team of Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency.

“Oh… Woo-cheol, you are here.”

Team Leader Soo Woojin responded in a deep voice as if he got adapted to the loud greeting.

Jung Yu-mi, who was promoted as lieutenant over here too, sat down and nodded her head at Kang Woo-cheol.

The last one to appear was Hansol. “Good Morning.”

“Dr. Im, you came early. You didn’t have to come at all. We haven’t had any cases these days.”

At Team Leader Woojin’s words, Hansol shook his head, “As long as I am asked to cooperate as an advisor, I need to be here on time.”

Team Leader Woojin yawned and spoke, “By the way, have you guys thought about it? The name Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency’s Special Case Task Force. It is so huge! I was thinking of making something short in English. Any ideas?”

“Ah, senior. What is with this English name? Seriously!”

Kang Woo-cheol didn’t like the idea of having an English name. That was when Woojin approached Kang Woo-cheol to convince him.

“You brat! Even Korean noodles have an English name. Everything has an English name. Having an English name would be perfect for our team!”

“Then… ‘Criminal Investigation for Specific Cas,’ CIF for short. We won’t be given official permission for it, but if we keep referring to ourselves as such, the others will also call us that, right?” Lieutenant Jung came up with the idea.

Team Leader Woojin clapped his hands.

“Oh, surely Lieutenant Jung is good. That is a great idea. CIF! How cool is that name! By the way, how about a glass of soju and soup for lunch? I don’t know how long we will have such peaceful days in the future.”

“Then, what will happen if the team gets disbanded because there is no work, senior?” When Kang Woo-cheol said those words, he was met with a fist on his head by Woojin.

Hansol, who was watching this, didn’t have a good feeling. The feeling of breaking down the uneasy peace caught his mind. All in all, Woojin wasn’t wrong.

‘… it can’t be this peaceful. Obviously, something should be happening.’

At that time, a detective from the homicide team walked over. The face of the detective was so scrambled that he seemed to be in some kind of distress.

“This is the special case task force?”

“Yes. Right. It is too long, so we call ourselves CIF.”

“Ah… CIF. Anyway, there was an incident in the Pyeongmi district in Seoul. This is…”

“What is the case?”

“A murder in an abandoned building. The Homicide Team took charge of it a few days ago to investigate it but could not find clues. The site was too clean to believe that someone could have been murdered there. The peculiarity…”

“Peculiarities? What is that?”

At the question of Team Leader Woojin, the detective spoke with an expression that displayed disgust.

“The body was… well, pieces were cut off and then placed back together, and the hands and legs of the body were nailed like some kind of religious ritual was being done… I was instructed from the top to hand over the case to CIF.”

“Understood. Then, hand over all the related autopsy files.”

Several detectives came in and moved the data to the CIF’s benches. Kang Woo-cheol was the first to see the photo of the murder scene. As Kang Woo-cheol saw the picture, he ran for the bathroom.

“Ehh, Kang Woo-cheol, how weak is your stomach… let me see—God….” Even Team Leader Woojin ran to the bathroom.

“I’ll see the photo first.”

Hansol politely asked Lieutenant Jung Yu-mi. She handed over the photo to Hansol right away as if she had no intention of seeing it.

Hansol took a very close look at the photo in his hand. However, the peculiarity was that the hands, feet, and whole body were woven back, and the cut wasn’t that clean. Besides, the nails on the hands and feet were removed. He wondered if there was any religious meaning behind it.

‘… firstly, the cut section on the body isn’t clean. This a proof that the killer didn’t use a knife. It is possible that he used a chainsaw rather than a normal saw wanting to give that poor cut marks. There are no resistance signs. It is possible that the suspect managed to intoxicate his victim.’

“Doctor, did you find anything?”

“Firstly… this is my personal speculation only. The suspect seems to be suffering from some mental illness. I think it’s schizophrenic. It could be an obsessive-compulsive disorder added to it. But the important thing is… I might have to go to the scene and look. The suspect seems a lot more suspicious than I anticipated. Even after making the body like this, with the way the blood had been cleaned up so nicely means that it is a planned murder.”

Lieutenant Jung instantly took the photo to inspect it after hearing Hansol’s statements. After glancing at it, she did swear a lot, but she didn’t hurry to the restroom like Woo-cheol or Woojin. After that, she double-checked the images and pinned them to the board, confident in Hansol’s statements.

“The scene of the incident was immaculate. It’s as if cleaning had been done thoroughly.”

“Let’s head over to the scene.”

Team Leader Woojin and Kang Woo-cheol returned, and the four of them headed to Pyeongmi.

Police were already at the scene as the four of them entered the place after providing their IDs to the police who were guarding the scene.

“How many days old was this incident again?”

Team Leader Woojin picked out a menthol from his pocket and applied it under his nose.

“It seems to have been around 2 weeks. Sunbae, give me one too.”

“Me too.”

“I am fine.”

Excluding Hansol, Lieutenant Jung and Kang Woo-cheol applied menthol. The place where the body was found was on the 2nd floor of an abandoned building. It was located in the corner room.

Even though he was still walking on the 1st floor, he could feel it.

Taking a deep breath, Hansol turned. The space was cold, and the smell was strong. It has been two weeks since the incident, and there must be some damage to the body.

“Uh… it is kind of creepy. Right?” Said Kang Woo-cheol while rubbing his arms.

Team Leader Woojin and Lieutenant Jung just shook their heads as if they weren’t bothered.

“Hey, looking at you, you should be wearing a jumper as it would go along with your antics. Believe in yourself and enter the scene.”

“Sunbae, I am still getting used to all this!”

“Yeah, well… Doctor, how does the scene seem to you?”

“Since we are still on the 1st floor, I am unsure, but I understand that the odor is all around.”

“Ah… then I’ll ask you once again once we reach the 2nd floor.”

As soon as they headed up to the 2nd floor, they wore overshoes and latex gloves to preserve the site.

CIF walked towards the corner room.

“Wah… I put on menthol, and it still smells this bad! How could a body rot to this extent? Ugh, such a smell!”

Kang Woo-cheol couldn’t stop talking about the decaying smell. Only Hansol was calm.

Hansol opened the corner room and looked at it.

“That..that light is working?”

Hansol turned on the light. The light flashed a couple times before it turned on. It was a kind of room that no one would even look at twice in a concrete room. And in such a place, a body was found.

“Who was the first to find this body?”

“Since this is a redevelopment area, I think it was a member of the Redevelopment Association.”

“I see. It is a little strange that electricity is still connected to an abandoned building.”

Hansol walked into the room.

The body in the photo was in the middle of the room. Hansol squatted over and checked to see if there were any traces of blood left on the floor.

There was no trace of even a single drop of blood.

‘… the blood must have continued to flow after the murder. How did he wipe the floor without leaving a single drop of bloodstain? This implies the suspect had to wait until the blood was completely gone. The suspect must be well aware that no one enters or exits this building and the working light in the room. No one must have seen the light turned on because there is no window.’

“Doctor, how is the scene?”

“Seeing such a scene is really surprising. The body was amputated, and the tool used is most likely a saw. That, too, was a chainsaw, not an ordinary one. It’s because the cut surface isn’t smooth, but it seemed like a lot of force had been applied. If it was a manual one, it would have taken a lot more time to cut it. Even then, not a single drop of blood seems to be….”

“Is the suspect a person who knows anatomy?”

At the question of Team Leader Woojin, Hansol nodded.

“It is a high probability that the suspect knows anatomy very well. And there is a possibility of being religiously intoxicated, or the suspect believes in a god of some religion and may be suffering from schizophrenia and OCD. It is difficult to estimate the age range of the suspect. Were there any traces left on the CCTVs around here?”

Team Leader Woojin shook his head. He said that after the area was turned into an Urban Redevelopment area, all the CCTVs were removed, and no vehicles were coming or going, making it impossible to secure a black box.

“Hmm…”

Hansol closed his eyes and tried to reconstruct the scene again.

‘… The victim must have overdosed on sleeping pills when the body was amputated. If not, then it was morphine used like a pain reduction drug or something else. That would have made it easier to amputate the entire body by preventing the splatter of blood all over the place. The problem is the motive for crime… if I was the guy, why would I do this?’

“Team Leader. The identity of the victim has been confirmed, right?”

“It was said to be a 32-year-old Woo Jin-yung, who owned Yueido Securities and stockbroker. Unmarried, and his parents are alive.”

“What if the victim was hated by the suspect?”

“Since he was in that work… there were told to be a lot of complaints when the stocks fell. Maybe one or two?”

Upon hearing those words, Hansol opened his mouth.

“.. then let’s add another thing. The suspect must have suffered damage.”

“That means that he had a grudge against the victim. Right, Dr. Im?”

“According to the situation, the murder site, and the victim’s job, it is likely that the suspect planned this murder because of a grudge. And… this is my guess, but the suspect must have changed his job. In particular, if he was someone who used chainsaws often for his work. Would someone working with a chainsaw have any work in abandoned places?”

After Hansol said that, the rest of the team gulped.

The suspect’s crime was enough to rile up Hansol. His eyes shone brightly.