Chapter 105 – Result – Part 13

Chapter 105 – Result – Part 13

At Woojin’s agreement, Choi Gicheol clenched his fist, but he didn’t feel entirely relieved.

It seemed like a murder case, but the information was completely dark.

“Could I see the on-site photos?”

“Of course, of course. Just a moment.”

As Choi Gicheol briefly disappeared, Woojin quickly finished the last of his noodles.

It was a very satisfying meal.

“Here.”

Woojin began to look at the folder Choi Gicheol handed him.

First, a photo caught his eye.

It was a picture of the murdered woman, her neck tied to a doorknob, her tongue hanging out.

At first glance, it looked like she had committed suicide while sitting.

And another photo.

It was a picture of her neck area, which was constricted by a red cord.

From here, something caught Woojin’s eye.

Many people choose the method of suicide by hanging a rope from a high place, climbing on a chair, and then hanging themselves.

Of course, one could also hang a rope from a doorknob and commit suicide while sitting.

If their will to end their life is strong, that is.

When pressure on the carotid artery begins, one becomes hazy, consciousness fades, and they faint as if falling asleep.

If the carotid artery continues to be compressed in this way, it naturally leads to death.

It was something one could experience by holding their breath and pressing their own carotid artery with their hand.

It was a principle similar to the fainting game that was popular among students before.

Woojin muttered,

“A peculiarity…”

Quite literally, a peculiarity was visible.

There were scratches only on the left side of her neck where it was constricted.

These were injuries resulting from a conscious or unconscious action to protect the carotid artery by grabbing the cord.

In other words, they could also be called defensive wounds resulting from a reaction to an external force.

The scratches on her neck showed a desire to live.

If she wanted to live because she was suffocating, she should have gotten up immediately.

But the fact that the scratches were only on the left side…

The cause of death for her two daughters, aged one and two, was suffocation by plastic bag.

It clearly looked like murder.

The time of death was slightly different.

The time of death for the one-year-old daughter was about an hour later than the mother’s.

Of course, it wasn’t exact, but it was a possibility.

Woojin continued to flip through the documents.

Choi Gicheol clicked his tongue at the sight.

He had seen Woojin look through unsolved case documents before. Nothing had changed since then.

He was flipping through them as if casually glancing.

It was only because he knew him that he could understand it; if others had seen it, they would have frowned, wondering if he was playing around.

There was no speed reading like this speed reading.

As the pages turned, information steadily accumulated in Woojin’s mind.

There was no history of mental illness, nor was a motive for suicide found.

The door was locked from the inside, and the bars on the window to prevent external intrusion were intact.

There was also a photo showing the sturdy bars.

Finally, Woojin closed the thick folder and asked,

“Did you identify the suspect because their hair was found at the scene?”

“That’s right. He’s a man who lives in the same villa, and they were very close. They even drank together at home the day before the incident. Let’s say his hair fell out then. But the suspect took a vacation on the day of the incident? He claimed he stayed home because he had a cold, but it seems suspicious to me. Woojin, when you’ve been a detective for a long time, you get a ‘hunch,’ right? That’s what keeps bothering me.”

They told him to conclude it was suicide, but Choi Gicheol didn’t.

It wasn’t that he was completely uneasy.

Woojin nodded as if agreeing with Choi Gicheol’s ‘hunch’.

A ‘hunch’ could also be described as an unconscious reaction that appears when one has been deeply engrossed in a task for a long time.

People who excelled in one field were bound to have an exceptionally keen sense for that field.

“Where is the suspect?”

“He’s in the interrogation room. I don’t think we can hold him much longer.”

“Would you mind asking this way?”

Woojin pulled out an A4 paper from an open trash can and began writing questions on the back of it.

Soon, Woojin finished a few questions and handed them over.

As Choi Gicheol looked at the questions, Woojin spoke.

“It’s possible if we assume the person who appears to have committed suicide is the victim.”

“Ah…”

“If you look closely, the screws were turned roughly too.”

Choi Gicheol felt the fog in his mind clear.

“If this is true…”

The small scratches on the victim’s left side made sense.

“I’ll be watching from the observation room.”

“Thank you, Woojin.”

Woojin started to follow behind Choi Gicheol.

But it wasn’t just Choi Gicheol and Woojin.

Two detectives who had been eavesdropping on their conversation also stood up.

They wanted to see Woojin’s skills, which they had heard about countless times, with their own eyes.

***

A few minutes after Woojin entered the observation room, two detectives came in.

They cleared their throats and spoke to Woojin.

“Hello? You’re Woojin, right? I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“Wow… you could be a celebrity. You’re handsome.”

Woojin also bowed his head and greeted them.

“Hello.”

Detective Hana quietly asked.

“What do you think of that suspect? Do you think he’s the real culprit?”

“I think we’ll know once we see his reaction.”

“What kind of…?”

“Whether he’s lying or not.”

Of course, one could act like Reporter Yeon and hide the fact that they were lying.

But there was one thing that could not be hidden.

A secret.

When that was exposed, they were bound to react in some way.

Soon, Choi Gicheol entered the interrogation room and sat facing the suspect.

The suspect had thin eyebrows with double eyelids, and thin lips.

Just as Choi Gicheol opened his mouth to speak, Woojin’s pupils slowly dilated as if absorbing light.

“So. You were home on the day of the incident and didn’t go out, right?”

The suspect sighed and said,

“Yes. I think I’ve told you several times.”

And he lightly scratched the bridge of his nose.

At that sight, Woojin’s eyes began to observe him more deeply.

When catecholamines are secreted, the area around the nose becomes itchy.

“I don’t know why I have to answer the same question several times here. It’s true that we were close, but I’m really not that kind of person.”

He swallowed and frequently raised his eyebrows to emphasize his words.

And he looked directly at Detective Choi Gicheol and spoke.

He also constantly fiddled with his bracelet.

Women often fiddle with accessories when they feel anxious or want to gain psychological stability, and that reaction was appearing in the suspect.

Woojin slowly nodded his head.

He’s not good at acting.

Seeing him lie and outwardly assert himself, he seemed like a criminal.

The last reaction would confirm it.

Choi Gicheol asked, pressing him.

“Then let me ask one more thing. You know well how the deceased, Miss Park Minyeong, died, don’t you? No, that’s not right. Miss Park Minyeong was strangled by a clothesline while holding a one-year-old child. Why was she strangled while holding a child? Because even while being strangled, she knew the child would get hurt if dropped. She was holding the child with her right hand and trying to loosen the clothesline with her left hand. Even as she was dying, she tried to protect her child to the very end. Now, here’s a question.”

If this were the case, as Woojin said, the assumption that the small scratch on the left side of her neck and the one-year-old child died last would be established.

The suspect’s pupils repeatedly dilated and constricted as his sympathetic nervous system activated.

His body became one with the chair, his movements ceased, and his eyes, which had reacted with the sympathetic nervous system, soon moved around the room as if searching for a place to hide.

“It wasn’t me!”

Choi Gicheol smirked, seemingly convinced by the suspect’s agitation, and spoke.

“Why are you so surprised? That’s just how the murder was committed.”

He bit his lip slightly.

“The window was where the criminal staged a suicide and escaped. He ripped off the security screen. There are traces of the screws being turned. The screws were stripped, leaving metal shavings like sawdust. That’s because they were turned in a great hurry.”

Choi Gicheol continued speaking, watching him sit silently without opening his mouth.

“Now, after the criminal left, who would have screwed the security screen back on…?”

“It wasn’t me. I don’t know anything about it.”

Choi Gicheol slowly nodded his head and said.

“I can let you two go in together. If you confess, of course. It’ll be too late once the warrant is issued and the house search begins.”

Choi Gicheol quietly waited for his answer.

“Alright. Well. Let’s go all the way.”

Choi Gicheol stood up from his seat and headed towards the entrance without hesitation. But then.

“Um… did that person come here too? Did that person speak first?”

Choi Gicheol sat back down, and Woojin, who had been watching, nodded and said.

“He seems like he’s going to confess.”

The two detectives watching the interrogation room with Woojin tilted their heads.

“You’re saying there are two criminals?”

Woojin opened his mouth as if to answer.

“The only person who could naturally enter the house is the husband. Reporter Choi Candle is also the husband. The wife doesn’t have a large insurance policy either. The suspect, or rather, the criminal’s gesture, which seems about to confess now, strongly resembles a woman’s. They seem to be left-handed, and usually, men have longer ring fingers than index fingers, but this person’s index and ring fingers are similar in length due to hormone influence. From several points, it’s highly likely they are gay, and the deceased wife’s husband is likely bisexual.”

One of the detectives, blinking at Woojin’s words, opened his mouth as if making a deduction.

“So, a gay man and a bisexual man planned and killed the wife and children?”

“If what Woojin said is true, then, what the hell, there are all sorts of crazy bastards out there, aren’t there?”

At that moment, Choi Gicheol’s loud voice was heard from the speaker.

“You son of a bitch! Are you even human! What, love!? You crazy lunatics!”

At the criminal’s confession, Choi Gicheol kicked the table.

The pushed table slammed right into the suspect’s stomach.

“That bastard is acting up again, again!”

“Stop him quickly!”

At the sight, the detectives quickly entered the interrogation room.

* * *

At that time.

A video uploaded by a YouTuber had surpassed 1 million views in just 24 hours.

The video was on the topic of the synesthete.

[Hello, everyone! These days, the Synesthete is trending in real-time searches and is very hot, right? Unknown (Actor)! Who could he be? So, I’ve prepared this! I’ve recreated the Unknown (Actor)’s face by age group. You have no idea how much I struggled for days because of this! Oh, you’re tired of the ads and think I talk too much? Then watch it now!]

The YouTuber disappeared, and the face of the visually impaired person who played the criminal in Synesthete appeared.

And gradually, the wrinkles disappeared, and the skin became vibrant.

Photos of the face gradually transforming into a late 30s face and a mid 30s face appeared and disappeared repeatedly.

[Now, this is what he looked like in his 20s!]

As the photos gradually became younger from various angles, they began to resemble Woojin’s face.