Chapter 21 – I could be like my father

Inspector Jung Yu-mi followed Hansol despite him saying that he was going alone. Even if Hansol is a genius profiler, there could be clues he could miss.

But now, she’s witnessing him crushing down the poor dragonfly that the child was playing with.

‘.. why?’

A child makes a mistake like this because they don’t know the line between good and bad, and they don’t see the value of life till a later time.

Hansol’s method of teaching the preciousness of life to the child seemed cruel: to kill a dragonfly in front of a child.

So she followed him at a faster pace.

“Doctor Im!”

“Ah, Inspector Jung, you didn’t have to come.”

“It is because I am the kind of person who can’t stand it when I have a question.”

“… what are you curious about?”

“Why did you do that in the playground?”

Hansol didn’t know someone was watching him.

‘If I had been a murderer, I would have been a failure to do a perfect crime.’

“It’s a kind of education.”

“Uh? Education?”

Inspector Jung couldn’t understand the answer she got. Ordinary people get along well. Life should be cherished, the weak should be protected… They say such things.

However, Hansol showed contempt for life. And that is, too, a cruel way to kill one.

“I don’t understand that at all. It’s different from usual, and that won’t work on me.”

“Children cannot tell the difference between good and bad. Others might not think so, but I definitely do. So they need to be educated properly from the start. It’s like shock therapy.”

“Isn’t that too much of a trauma? For example, a person who is bitten by a cat as a child will be afraid of cats even after they grow up. The same goes for people scared of dogs. A person who sees a dead animal and a person who sees the animal they are scared of as dead doesn’t ease the fear but heightens it. Your method creates trauma for people. It is definitely not an education.”

“It may be different from what Inspector Jung thinks, but I grew up with such a kind of education.”

Inspector Jung was at a loss for words when she heard the last line. How the heck was he educated to be this cold?

Hansol went to the scene of the incident and spoke to Inspector Jung.

“It must have been the same with the arsonist. As a child, he was properly not educated with fire. So, even after growing up he couldn’t give up the habit of childhood and began to do this. Arson is a habit forming offense. Now, we have around 20 in 2 weeks time, and there is a high chance that there are more to come.”

“… so what you want to say is that education at a young age is important? That is how you sound. However, I cannot understand. Are there not many more ways to get your message across?”

“Is there guarantee that a person who commits just one crime won’t do it again? Do you think it is possible to resocialize the brain which is imprinted with the crime? Then, what do you think of the criminals with two or more records on their heads?”

Hansol has a very negative response to ‘resocialization.’ Inspector Jung tried to think of why he was like this.

‘Ah! He lost his mother in the villa incident. His father was the one who instigated the murder.’

She thought that maybe the memory might have been a trauma for Hansol. That was why she thought he was giving the child such a cruel education in the playground.

“Thinking about it, it seems Doctor Im’s words are also true.”

“To say it’s right… it would be appropriate to say something like ‘it seems like it’, that would help open more possibilities in all directions during investigation.”

And that was when she realized that dealing with Hansol was more difficult than she thought. Sometimes he seemed like an average human, and other times, he didn’t even seem human.

The sky was getting darker. Hansol could smell the rain that would come.

“Inspector Jung, we need to hurry.”

“But Doctor Im, which way are we going now? The road we are going doesn’t seem to be on the investigation list.”

Inspector Jung thought that Hansol was walking down an unknown road. Were they really going to walk down a path they didn’t have to investigate?

This place was more distant from the crime.

“It is the road to the crime scene.”

“… the crime scene is several dozen meters away from here.”

“Which is why we are going to the crime scene.”

Inspector Jung couldn’t understand Hansol, who had been using the city shared bike app. GPS was being captured in real-time.

Within a few meters of them was another stand. Maybe… was this the place of the culprit? Inspector Jung only felt confused.

Tuk!

The rain began to pour down. On their way down to check the 16th incident, Hansol and Jung went under the eaves to avoid getting drenched.

“This is bad. If it rains so much. The scene will be damaged….”

“It could be an opportunity.”

Inspector Jung asked why at the vague words of Hansol.

“The culprit must be relieved that the case is under investigation but he isn’t caught yet. And if it rains it is good timing for him.”

“Then you mean the man will probably visit the scene again?”

Hansol thought Inspector Jung, who could deduce what he was saying, was quite bright. It was not for nothing that she was appointed as the Inspector of the team and was one of the bests among the CIF members right now.

“Right. The person will probably look around the scene. And as it is raining, he might take a leisure walk to come take a look. Inspector and I should just find that one person.”

“The ID of the shared bikes is still being investigated. It is difficult to pinpoint the culprit right now. What does the doctor think the criminal will be like?”

Since the culprit probably used too many IDs for the bike, it is practically impossible to know just what kind of person it is, and it was only now that the investigation was being tightened. It was pretty tricky to find the criminal who would only be looking around and not do anything in this situation.

Hansol looked at someone and said, “Found her.”

Inspector Jung looked at where Hansol’s eyes went. It was a woman with an umbrella in plain clothes walking by. An ordinary-looking face that no one would even look at a second time.

‘A woman?’

“Doctor, knowing that target investigations are dangerous… why are you doing this?”

“All the paths which we took so far have been shortcuts going back and forth between two buildings. How many times do you think we have met this woman along the way?”

“…!”

Inspector was scanning the traces left by the criminal, and she didn’t look at the others, but Hansol was watching the people they were passing by.

“Up to this shortcut, the woman was with us. She didn’t care about me or you. I don’t know if it was because you are wearing normal clothes.”

“…I will take that into consideration.”

“There is no need for that. In any case, the woman walked between the two buildings and didn’t even care about us, and she only chose the path which was the fastest and which could have only one bike pass through. A quick witted person, do you think this could be a coincidence?”

Same time.

Team leader Lee Jae-woo and CIF Team Leader Woo-jin looked at the crime scene while in the rain.

“Ugh! Shit! What is this rain! It was said that it would only be cloudy today!”

Lee Jae-woo was angry. Although the crime scene investigation was done, any evidence they could get would be damaged and lost if it rains.

Woo-jin was equally annoyed with the weather and scratched his head.

“Team Leader Lee, did you know anything about the culprit?”

Woo-jin asked him.

“I did get the call from the kids saying that they guessed it with a few IDs… but they need to check it and verify.”

“Can we figure it out with just IDs?”

“How do I know? Dr. Im was the one who said so, so I guessed trying wouldn’t be wrong. And did try. In this case, both teams are guessing for answers.”

Lee Jae-woo still didn’t know of their skills or working with Hansol.

“I heard rumors about him somewhere saying he is a psychopath, some say he is a sociopath….”

“Yah, Team Leader Lee, that is too much.”

“What? Covering for your teammates?”

“It isn’t about covering for them, it is about being dignified about the partner. Will you like it if I talk behind your back?”

“Ah, I will hate it. I don’t like CIF team, but I hate being below you all. I will even head to the chief I come to learn you were talking behind me and protest. Disband CIF.”

“Wow, you and your narrow mindedness.”

Both the team leaders were accomplished detectives. Lee Jae-woo was at Hwajong police station and was recognized for his skills first and brought over to Seoul station.

After a few years, a new team called CIF was formed, and Woo-jin was brought in as the new leader. That was why they could talk to each other.

“I cannot take the rain, let’s sit this out on the convenience store chairs.”

Lee Jae-woo ran first, and Woo-jin followed behind him and brought out a simple drink from the store.

“Thank you. And Woo-jin, are you really dignified? No, right?”

“You brat. Manners and dignified means to love the nation and love the people.”

“brat, I am trembling for achievements after this case. Will my love for the nation and people catch my worth in other people’s eyes? But… what do you think of Dr. Im?”

Woo-jin gulped down the drink in question and slowly opened his mouth.

“Well, how do you see him?”

“It sounds like he is missing a few things. I only heard about it… in the course of investigation of the last case of Dr. Im in Hwajong case, it was revealed that his father instigated the murder of his mother. That is why it feels like he is missing a few things. Seems very cold to be honest.”

“Um… you are right. But that is not all, things aren’t what we see. There might be something which is off, but human beings are known to be social animals and one doesn’t do that, we end up discovering their lack of skills.”

Woo-jin believed that even Hansol’s cold appearance would change if they worked together as a team. And Lee Jae-woo, who wasn’t even with Hansol for a few days, couldn’t know the other man’s intentions.

“But, Woo-jin. Is that true? The rumor about Dr Im’s antisocial personality disorder… that thing.”

Woo-jin smiled and said, “yah, you must have heard it wrong. Why will psychopaths work in police departments? Do you think that is even possible?”

“Well… that is true too. If he is dealing with the people who have similar thoughts of his, he might fall into a deeper and deeper abyss… he might turn out like his father.”

“… my words exactly. That can be overcome with ‘education’.”

Woo-jin threw the bottle into the trash can and stood up.

“… education? What education?”

“Enough. It’s end it today. It is raining cats and dogs, and you know that nothing will come out going around the site in this state.”

Woo-jin ran to the place where the car was parked. And Lee Jae-woo grunted as he moved into the vehicle…. Without knowing that someone was staring at them as they entered the vehicle.