Chapter 174 – Peace – Part 10

Chapter 174 – Peace – Part 10

Woojin immediately dragged her into the living room.

Thud.

He knocked her down and grabbed her hair.

Then he showed her the knife he had prepared and said something.

Soon, when Woojin let go of her hair, her broken strands fell to the floor.

Woojin made her move to the room, and inside.

He moved the knife.

She tried to block it with her hand, but the sharp knife pierced straight through her solar plexus.

Only a little blood splattered, slowly flowing down and soaking her top. Slowly.

Woojin, who had been covering her mouth, stared at the scene for a moment before snapping back to reality.

“I don’t have anything to give you.”

Park Homin, looking haggard, offered Woojin a can of coffee.

He then glanced at Woojin once more.

A fleeting thought crossed his mind that for a police officer, his face was not just handsome but truly good-looking.

“Thank you.”

Receiving the can of coffee, Woojin looked around at the surrounding objects.

The broken small frame he had seen in the crime scene photos was gone, presumably moved.

Woojin gazed at their wedding photo, which was prominently displayed on one wall.

The smiling faces of the two were now trapped within the photograph as the crime unfolded.

The incident occurred just one year after their marriage, and both were enrolled in death insurance.

However, Woojin was not interested in that.

“You didn’t become a director.”

“Yes. I felt like I was just getting in the way. I also thought a lot about our Heeyeon… Please catch that bastard. I’m begging you.”

Woojin nodded and asked,

“You said nothing was missing, was that really true?”

Park Homin ran a hand through his hair at Woojin’s question, which was the same one Detective Kim Taehyun had asked.

“Yes.”

Woojin slowly examined the furniture and objects before speaking again.

“Shall we change the situation and talk about it?”

“What do you mean?”

“By assuming that the deceased was Park Homin, not Shin Heeyeon.”

Park Homin’s brows furrowed slightly.

It was because he had no idea what it meant.

Woojin continued,

“If Ms. Shin Heeyeon were here instead of Mr. Park Homin, I would have asked a similar question: ‘Was anything missing? What about valuables?'”

“Heeyeon would probably have said the same thing as me.”

“This time, I’ll ask the question a little differently.”

“Ms. Shin Heeyeon, where did your husband usually put the remote control? Do you happen to know where your husband hid his emergency money?”

Park Homin’s eyes widened slightly.

Seeing that, Woojin realized that he had understood his meaning.

Indeed, Park Homin was thinking exactly that.

While being questioned by the police, he had checked the emergency money hidden at home when asked if anything was missing.

The emergency money was still there.

“The remote control is in the same vein. Often, people look for it even after using it, because they don’t pay much attention to it. This doesn’t mean Mr. Park Homin didn’t care about Ms. Shin Heeyeon. It means that even among married couples, there’s a lot they don’t know about each other. They don’t know where frequently used valuables or items are kept. They don’t know where the secretly hidden emergency money is. Besides that, there are many things they don’t know about each other unless they talk about them.”

He rubbed his face as if performing a dry wash.

Woojin brought the canned coffee to his lips and continued speaking.

“I understand. With your wife’s passing, your mind and body are unstable, and you must be very exhausted from the police investigation. You probably haven’t had time to calmly recall things due to the pressure of the investigation.”

When the evidence was insufficient like this, Woojin chose a method of approaching it one step at a time.

He would try to fit a puzzle piece, discard it if it didn’t fit, and then try another piece.

The board was set anyway, all he had to do was fit the right pieces.

“May I see the room?”

“Go ahead.”

At Woojin’s words, Park Homin opened the room’s door.

Click.

The scene inside the room came into Woojin’s view.

The bed that was there had been removed, but other things remained as they were.

“Even though it’s painful, you must answer my question. What time did Ms. Shin Heeyeon usually go to bed?”

“Around 11 o’clock…”

Shin Heeyeon seemed to appear before Park Homin’s eyes.

Lying on the bed, playing with her cellphone.

“Oppa, look at this baby. Isn’t she really cute?”

He dreamed of a child.

Park Homin’s sigh trembled, and his eyes welled up.

Woojin looked at the dressing table and said,

“After washing, she would have sat at this dressing table.”

Woojin was casting a kind of hypnosis on Park Homin with his words.

To help him recall her past in more detail.

Park Homin gritted his teeth.

He desperately missed Shin Heeyeon, who would sit at the dressing table, put on a white face mask, and smile bashfully at him.

He replied briefly in a choked voice.

“Yes.”

Woojin nodded and asked another question.

“When you went to bed, did you tend to take off anything cumbersome before sleeping?”

Woojin observed his expression.

His eyes, which had been moving from side to side, suddenly darted upwards.

He was successfully delving into the past.

“I think I often wore a necklace normally, but took it off when I slept.”

“What kind of necklace?”

There was no necklace around Shin Heeyeon’s neck when her body was found at the scene.

Park Homin rubbed his eyes.

He hadn’t given her anything proper.

That’s why he had been saving up his emergency fund…

“Ha…”

Park Homin ran his hand through his hair, but he couldn’t quite remember what kind of necklace it was.

Don’t rush. You’ll remember. Weren’t you wearing earrings?

Earrings…

Suddenly, Park Homin’s eyes shot open.

His gaze then fixed on the dressing table.

Now that he thought about it, there was always a thin gold necklace next to the cosmetics, over there.

Nakeuroba…

It was a very thin 14K necklace shaped like a nakeuroba.

And.

It was a set.

An earring and necklace set that cost less than 300,000 won.

Park Homin began to search the room as if possessed.

A curse word reflexively escaped his lips.

Damn it… damn it, damn it…

It was a voice close to a sob.

No matter how much he searched, he couldn’t find the necklace and earrings.

Could it be that someone killed Heeyeon just to steal a necklace and earrings that weren’t even worth much money?

Just, just…

Heeyeon was so pitiful and pathetic.

Unlike other women who were picky about everything, Heeyeon had married him, thinking only of him and their love.

Heeyeon came to me even though I had no money.

There was so much I couldn’t do for her.

Park Homin, who had been rummaging through the wardrobe, finally spoke to Woojin with bloodshot eyes.

They’re gone. The necklace and, ugh! The earrings are gone. They’re not here.

Woojin nodded.

The puzzle and algorithm clicked into place.

This increased the probability that it might not be the work of an acquaintance criminal.

If you guide the clues like this, they can pop up anywhere.

“Do you happen to have a picture of Ms. Shin Heeyeon wearing that necklace and earrings?”

“J-just a moment.”

He quickly began searching his cellphone.

Woojin looked at the wedding ring on his finger.

Because it had initials engraved on it, he hadn’t removed the ring from the finger of the deceased Shin Heeyeon.

“Here. Here.”

Park Homin held out his cellphone as if asking him to look quickly.

Woojin looked at Shin Heeyeon, who was smiling brightly on the screen, and nodded, replying,

“Can you send me this photo?”

Woojin immediately received the photo from him.

“I’ll contact you.”

“That bastard… please catch him for me. I’m begging you.”

Park Homin clasped his hands together as if pleading.

Tears streamed down Park Homin’s cheeks and fell, drop by drop, onto the back of his hand.

“I’ll contact you.”

***

Woojin, who had come outside, took in the studio apartment building and brought his cellphone to his ear.

“It’s me, Shin Woojin.”

It was Cha Juhyeok from SH Strategy.

“Did you check the photo I sent?”

-Yes. I checked it.

“The necklace and earrings are a set. Search all the gold and silver pawnshops in Gyeonggi, Seoul. See if anyone sold the necklace and earrings in the picture. I don’t care how much it costs. You can deploy all the private investigator agencies and contractors nationwide. Move immediately. Mention a reward to the first person who finds them.”

-Understood.

Woojin, who had finished the call, turned around.

A car was approaching, and soon Kim Taehyun got out of the stopped car.

“Shin Woojin!”

Kim Taehyun approached Woojin with a broad smile.

He hugged him with both arms and patted him on the shoulder.

“It’s so hard to see your face these days.”

“It looks like you haven’t been home for a few days.”

Kim Taehyun pulled away from Woojin and said,

“Does it show? I washed my hair today, you know.”

Woojin nodded.

“Yes, it shows.”

“You truly are a fortune teller.”

Woojin smiled slightly and said,

“It’s, ob, ser, va, tion.”

Kim Taehyun shook his head and laughed.

“If you were coming, you should have told your brother.”

Woojin’s gaze shifted to the side.

His eyes rested on a laborer in work clothes, walking over and dusting off his clothes with his work gloves.

“That person probably doesn’t have a proper job.”

“Huh? What are you talking about?”

“The criminal.”

“Right? It doesn’t seem like an acquaintance criminal, does it?”

“With high probability. And the necklace and earrings are gone.”

Woojin continued, looking at the entrance of the studio apartment building.

“The person suspected of being the prime suspect entered the studio apartment but was not seen coming out. The police suspect he escaped through the window, but the suspect was carrying a bag. He committed the murder, changed into clothes he had prepared in the bag, then wore the bag backward and put on a windbreaker. Like someone with a bulging stomach. If you watch the video again, the windbreaker man’s gait is too light for his build. The creases in his clothes are also unusual. When you look at it suspiciously, it all fits together in detail.”

“He committed murder, stole the jewelry, changed clothes, and then calmly walked out?”

“Yes. But the jewelry is too cheap. No, it must have been very special to Shin Heeyeon. That’s why I’m angry. I sent the photo of that jewelry to Detective Kim.”

Kim Taehyun checked his cellphone and immediately called someone.

“Magnify the photo I just sent and immediately send it to Geumeun Room Pawn Shop!”

Darkness seemed to settle low in Woojin’s eyes.

“The criminal must have been watching the victim for some reason. They knew the area well, and even the people living in the studio apartment.”

The reason must have been a desire to kill.

The jewelry was merely a reward for satisfying themselves.

***

7:00 PM.

Woojin was on the phone with Cha Juhyeok.

-It’s a pawn shop in Pyeongtaek. It’s located at the main entrance of K55.

It was a place often called a small Itaewon because of the large number of foreigners.

Woojin, who had been looking down from the third-floor coffee shop, replied,

“Please prepare a car for me. The fastest one you have.”

Woojin did not inform Kim Taehyun of this fact.

The reason was simple.

It was to catch him with his own hands.