Chapter 16 – I need help from all of you

After returning home, Hansol opened the case file and played music.

Mozart’s <La Crimosa> resounded in a quiet house.

‘It is a lie that Lee Man-soo didn’t kill him. There were also saw marks on Lee Man-soo’s hand. Shin Jong-pil, Lee Man-soo, and Lee Yunseok. These three people… Yunseok has an alibi of being out on April 23rd at 22:00. The three together as an alibi….’

Thinking about it, it felt like the most important piece of the puzzle was missing.

The culprit might not be the younger brother. Was he making hasty decisions now? He drew the scene from the culprit’s point of view, but was it the victim’s younger brother? It was the right call to investigate his contacts, but was this guess the right one?

The more he thought, the more it felt like things were heading down the wrong road.

Hansol arranged the case.

The culprit thinks of himself as a judge.
The suspect believes that he is the judge of God by imitating the Tarot card number 12 and Jesus but hanging upside down.
The suspect is close enough to drink alcohol with the victim and has enough ability to get morphine from the hospital.
As long as the culprit believes that he is the judge, he can control someone. A psychopath culprit may have judged that he has the upper hand over others.
In particular, it is a psychopath who is pro-social and can make the psychological adjustments to their partner and how they want it. That being said, there is a possibility of having an accomplice, and the other possibility is that this culprit killed the accomplice after achieving his goal.

Those who consider themselves God’s judges may sometimes betray others to achieve their goals. Especially if money is at stake there.

‘… damn it! Why did I think of this? This time my judgment itself was hasty. The victims aren’t one or two. Woo Jin-hyung and his brother. His brother is also a victim. Woo Jing-hyung’s younger brother is both a victim and a suspect. The one who killed that brother is…!’

Shin Jong-pil, who was playing the role of a schizophrenic patient, and Lee Man-soo, who kept mumbling that he didn’t kill Woo Jin-hyung.

‘Wait! They didn’t kill Woo Jin-hyung…!’

At that time. Hansol’s phone rang. It was Kang Woo-cheol.

“Yes, Detective Kang.”

[Dr. Im, you need to come here right now.]

“Where are you talking about?”

[Pyeongjeong-dong, Seoul. Right next to the Pyeongmi-dong, a human body was found.]

“…! Is it the younger brother of the victim…”

[I am checking the victim’s identity right now, but we will have to look closer.]

“Shin Jong-pil, Lee Man-soo, and Lee Yunseok?”

[They were arrested urgently. Please come here and help us check the site…]

Hansol hung up the phone right away and headed to the place.

When Hansol arrived there, the police line was already dawn.

The corpse had already been transferred to the National Forensic Center. Now, the forensic team was photographing and investigating the scene.

Inspector Jung Yu-mi approached him and told him the situation.

“Detective Kang and the team leader did go to meet the victim’s younger brother, but they said no one was there. So, they came out while tracking the last call from his phone. The three of them are being questioned by the violent crimes unit.”

Hansol looked around. A small shabby looking house with a yard. It was no different from the redevelopment site they visited a while back.

“Did the violent crimes arrest the three of them, or did the CIF arrest them?”

“… when it was told that Woo Jin-seong disappeared, the violent crimes unit figured out his last location. The violent crimes unit said they visited the place in question regarding the theft charges related to the neighbor’s dog.”

“… so, the timing of the CIF and the violent crimes was spot on?”

“To be precise, it is true that we moved together, but for different purposes.”

“And the situation at that time?”

“All three of them were packing their bags, ready to escape. They were transferred to the police for now. Ah, the body of Mr. Woo Jin-seong….”

“Had nails in hands and feet?”

“How did you…?”

“I could guess it. The same as Woo Jin-hyung’s body.”

Hansol looked at the place where the body was marked. If Woo Jin-hyung’s body had been torn to pieces and nailed in the abandoned building in Pyeongmi-dong, then his brother’s body would have been found with nails on his hands and feet.

The only thing the bodies had in common were the nails, and the way the body was handled was different.

Woo Jin-seong’s body was probably copied by one of the three suspects.

“Ah, another thing. The dog next door was fine?”

“No… they said it disappeared a while back.”

Lee Man-soo’s words that he didn’t kill Woo Jin-hyung are true. If anything was missing, it was that Hansol wasn’t aware of the existence of Woo Jin-seong. This was the critical point. Maybe it could have helped prevent the death of Woo Jin-seong.

“When will the autopsy results be out?”

“Considering that he had just been killed, we will be able to receive the results in about a day.”

“Detective Kang and Inspector Jung will be in charge of it.”

“Yes. Then, how about Dr. Im?”

“I’m going to Jin Woo-seong’s house.”

“The prosecution is there….”

Inspector Jung mumbled. It was a nuance to run into them, and it would be better if they didn’t cross paths for the moment. However, Hansol wanted to make sure that Woo Jin-seong was also a ‘judge’ rather than encountering them.

“I will go. Give me the address.”

Hansol went there. The police lines were there around the house, and when he entered, he saw Prosecutor Seo Jae-dong with the forensic team.

“Oh-oh my! Dr. Im?”

It was clearly a sarcastic voice, but Hansol didn’t care.

When he looked around the house, he found a picture of Mozart <La Crimosa> written in large letters on the wall.

“You made a bet based on confidence. Did you win this time?”

“What is Prosecutor Seo’s opinion?”

“Curious? That will be confirmed through the briefing tomorrow.”

“I already know even without watching that. Woo Jin-seong was the one who killed Woo Jin-hyung, and Woo Jin-seong was the one who ordered Lee Man-soo, Lee Yunseok, and Shin Jong-pil to kidnap his brother.”

“Yah. As expected of a genius? The guessing is amazingly current. But now.”

Hansol was slightly shocked at this. His guess wasn’t correct?

Wasn’t the judge trying to rule and give orders through the agents?

“Based on the guess, you were only half right. And more details will come tomorrow. Anyway, let’s say that this bet is won by the prosecution.”

Hansol’s heart pounded. If he was the murderer, then this case would… no way.

“Did you have any PCL-R inspection records?”

PCL-R stands for a psychopath test. If it didn’t exist, Hansol wouldn’t believe the prosecution’s words.

To be precise, he couldn’t admit that he was defeated.

How could he, who made the perfect guess because of the ‘education’ he went through, be defeated?

“Ah, that? Surprisingly, it exists. I will tell you one thing. This much you should know. I think the police were on their own investigation but was this forgotten? Woo Jin-hyung and Woo Jin-seong’s PCL-R test records.”

Prosecutor Seo held out a piece of paper and moved it. It was annoying, but Hansol endured it.

“Woo Jin-hyung got 27 points, and Woo Jin-seong had 29 points. Both were close to perfect psychopaths. Isn’t that great? Investigating without knowing this will create loopholes.”

‘… damn it!’

Hansol’s memory was close to perfect. No matter how much he thought back, Hansol’s head couldn’t remember the PCL-R tests results of the two. The results of the investigations between the prosecution and the police changed because of one PCL-R test.

“Now then, have a look. I have to prepare for the briefing tomorrow morning.”

Prosecutor Seo smiled and tapped Hansol on the shoulder a couple times before walking away. Hansol just clenched his hand, unable to admit defeat.

What the hell happened to them to miss such important information?

Information on the PCL-R test cannot be stolen except if it was an insider who took it.

And then the case flow was destined to shift to the point where the entire flow from the start was a bust.

‘… what the hell, just who!’

Hansol got out of Woo Jin-seong’s house and got into the car as he drove down the road at night. He tried to empty his head in the cool breeze, but it didn’t help him. Instead, thoughts kept piling up one after another.

‘We need to take a look from the beginning. To stop the prosecutor’s briefing, it has to be resolved tonight. We need to find out what happened to the brothers. More important than that, the three suspects who murdered them. What did they really want from this?’

Hansol made a sudden U-turn and headed back to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency.

As soon as he got there, Hansol headed to the CIF office.

“Uh… doctor, didn’t you head to Woo Jin-seong’s house?”

Inspector Jung, who was dropping to sleep, spoke to him and Hansol just nodded as he unfolded piles of papers.

He looked around. Team Leader Woo-jin, Detective Kang Woo-cheol, Inspector Jung Yu-mi, and detectives Shin Min-cheol and Woo Jong-ju.. the people in CIF.

One of them or a few tried to interfere with Hansol. They deliberately took away an important piece of evidence that held the PCL-R test and turned this investigation into a mess, but he couldn’t guess who it was.

‘… did they want to fail me or the CIF? Who will benefit the most from this?’

“Tomorrow, as you all know, there will be an official statement from the prosecution.”

Everyone had dull faces as they knew.

“… but before the briefing, I plan to uncover the real culprit.”

Detective Kang Woo-cheol was surprised.

“How?”

“I will need the help from all of you.”

Hansol didn’t have the time. Even if one of them was a spy for the prosecution, he would still need help in these difficult times. For now, someone who didn’t know that Hansol knew of the spy would help.

“We start from scratch. Let’s take a look at the autopsy results. Ah, and I almost forgot the most important thing, the brother, Woo Jin-hyung’s younger brother, Woo Jin-seong’s files, were taken out.”

Detective Woo Jung-ju, who had been quiet till then, opened his mouth.

“No, that… doctor. It wasn’t intentionally omitted…. When we first inspected the people around him, it didn’t seem like Woo Jin-seong would gain anything….”

Hansol looked at Detective Woo and asked with a smile. “So you stole the PCL-R information?”