Chapter 37 – Tour – Part 2

Chapter 37 – Tour – Part 2

He looked to be in his late 20s, and Kim Taehyun narrowed his brows and spoke.

“Hey, idiot. Why are you here?”

He was Detective Kim Taehyun’s junior.

He scratched his head and replied,

“I thought something might come out if I looked again.”

“Damn it. I told you to go catch that gangster…”

“I caught him.”

“When?”

“I just had him order Seolleongtang. By the way… Is this the person you were talking about, senior? The Ultimate Weapon!? Oh, hello. My name is Choi Gicheol.”

Woojin lightly bowed his head.

“Hello.”

“They say you solve cases like a shaman…”

“Hey, what shaman? He’s a reclusive profiler…”

As the two bickered about Woojin, Woojin’s gaze turned to a large tree.

The phrase carved at the height of 180cm on the Righteous Path, no, it was more accurate to say it was carved with a knife.

[Luxuria]

“Luxuria…”

Woojin, muttering the Latin word carved into the tree, looked around from where he stood.

It was as if he was seeing the Day of the incident.

A dark night with only the moonlight eerily floating above.

A middle-aged person, 175cm tall, dressed in a black suit, is tied to the tree, groaning.

His mouth is blocked with a stone and covered with cloth to prevent him from screaming, and his hands and feet are bound and fixed to the tree, unable to move.

A black figure approaches him and unzips his pants.

Then he took out his genitals and cut them off.

The victim struggles with eyes that seem to shed tears of blood, but the bindings are too tight, so it’s no use.

The black figure unties his mouth and mutters something.

The victim seemed possessed, force-feeding themselves something, and the murderer, watching with satisfaction, cut the victim’s wrist deeply, very deeply.

To die slowly.

To feel death approaching.

Woojin, who had been slowly nodding his head while looking at the floor, opened his mouth.

“There are no signs of dragging. According to the Forensic Team’s analysis, the shoe size is 280, and the footprints are clearly imprinted because the victim was carried, not dragged. It seems they were knocked out and brought here. Were any components like chloroform detected?”

Choi Gicheol’s mouth dropped open, and Kim Taehyun’s eyes widened, nodding as if urging him to say more.

Woojin shifted his gaze to the tree and said,

[Lust]

“Lust, it’s Latin. Carnal desire. The criminal didn’t engrave the inscription at the time of the incident. Looking at the discoloration of the scratched tree, the Righteous Path, they brought the victim two days, or more than 24 hours, later. It seems they engraved the inscription as if predetermining the location, then brought the victim and committed the murder.”

Choi Gicheol, with his mouth still agape, blurted out reflexively,

“The Forensics Team didn’t say anything like that, no, how could you know something like that…”

“Hey, you bastard, quiet!”

“The tree’s incline is approximately 85 degrees. Blood starting from the wrist would inevitably collect at the toes. But if you look closely, unlike the surrounding area where a large amount of blood spread, there’s a round spot where the blood isn’t heavily stained. The blood, following the flow of fluid, hit something and detoured. What could it have been? A cup? A tumbler?”

Kim Taehyun narrowed his brows and said,

“You mean they collected the blood there?”

“That’s highly probable. The severed genitals were found on top of the victim. This criminal committed an act of ridicule that ordinary people couldn’t even imagine.”

Woojin looked at the photos displayed on the tablet PC and spoke.

There were several family photos of the deceased’s wife, son, and daughter smiling on his cellphone.

“The deceased must have been seeing another woman, besides his wife. For example, he was having an affair.”

Choi Gicheol instinctively looked at Kim Taehyun.

This was something they had recently discovered through their investigation.

“Did the senior officer tell you?”

“No, hey! Woojin is talking! Be quiet for a moment.”

At the denial, Choi Gicheol felt a chill run down his spine.

“However, neither the woman he was having an affair with nor the deceased’s wife is the criminal. They didn’t instigate it either. To assume that, the criminal’s actions are too cruel and filled with a playful desire to show off.

Kim Taehyun said,

“He cheated, so he has to pay the price? Is that the meaning of the murder?”

“Yes, something similar.”

“Then the person who knows the victim was cheating is likely the criminal? An acquaintance who knew him well? Or maybe a man who secretly liked his wife…”

Woojin shook his head.

“The criminal is bold and meticulous, having planned the location in advance. They must have committed the crime with the police’s investigation in mind.”

Woojin’s mind, as if trying to find the criminal, began to conjure up countless people with various professions.

“It’s possible they secretly watched someone who would give meaning to the murder, or they might have found out by chance. Such a person… someone oppressed by society, someone people don’t pay attention to, someone people actually avoid. Someone whose face and body could be hidden in broad daylight or at night, and people still wouldn’t notice… Therefore, someone who can freely observe others.”

Woojin, who had been slowly nodding, spoke again.

“Lust, one of the Seven Deadly Sins in the Bible. One has been revealed, and now six remain. His murder, expressing society’s suppressed dissatisfaction, believing himself to be a judge, has begun. A person with shoe size 280 and a good physique, able to carry an adult, someone no one pays attention to, but conversely, someone who can observe everyone.”

Woojin’s eyes seemed to catch a glimpse of him, shimmering in the dawn fog.

“I think you should start by looking for a sanitation worker.”

Choi Gicheol was dumbfounded.

Senior Kim Taehyun had mentioned it often.

That he had a junior who was incredibly good at profiling.

With that calm, gentle face, he speaks as if just observing his surroundings, yet information that was missing from the forensics team pours out.

Profiler Han Johoon was convinced it was an acquaintance criminal, but this student offered a completely opposite opinion and even added an explanation to support it.

It all makes sense. All of it.

“Senior, what is that student…”

“I told you. He’s our ultimate weapon, our savior.”

Choi Gicheol approached Woojin as if possessed.

“Uh… by any chance, will I be able to get married?”

“You crazy idiot! Stop talking nonsense and contact them immediately to find out the jurisdiction of the sanitation workers!”

Choi Gicheol picked up his cellphone, and Woojin said,

“They might have watched the detectives conducting their investigation.”

He’s probably smiling, covered from head to toe.

Thinking that they finally recognize him, or that they’re playing into his hands.

Kim Taehyun, who had been lost in thought for a moment, spoke up.

“Is he feeling relieved? We were investigating under the assumption that it was an acquaintance crime.”

“You could call it a temporary room for the mind. A festival of hormones is happening in the criminal’s head. It must be as thrilling as someone trying drugs for the first time. He’ll be happy. Ecstatic. The feeling that the world moves according to his will, a sense of superiority that he’s special. He’ll know all the CCTV locations and utilize blind spots very well. He’s using the scene to express that he’s an important person. There will definitely be a fabricated alibi.”

“So, the criminal understands geographical elements and is also intelligent?”

“Yes. But he’s only pretending to be smart; he’s not actually smart.”

“What do you mean?”

“Most murderers who commit their first murder and taste the thrill have a dormant period. ‘Will I get caught?’ They watch the situation, picking up their traces one by one or thinking of creating an alibi. But this criminal is different. He’s essentially declared that he will commit murder. To give a ‘lesson’ to the judge, the murder will happen again soon, and that self-absorbed thought is not a smart action.”

“No, the criminal seems smart, but with you, Woojin, he just looks like another murderer. Thank you. We just need to catch him before that. Our handsome younger brother is helping us so much, we can’t fail to catch him.”

“The criminal targets an unspecified number of people, but he will look for someone who can be given the meaning of the Seven Deadly Sins mentioned in the Bible. Pride, Envy, Wrath, Sloth, Greed, Gluttony remain. He will target someone to whom he can assign meaning.”

“Thanks! I’ll buy you beef when the case is over!”

Woojin’s calm eyes seemed to sparkle.

“Perhaps 1++ No.9 beef?”

“Number nine? What’s that?”

“It’s the highest grade, they say.”

“Ah… Hahaha! I’ll have to buy that for you!”

Woojin nodded.

He wondered if he could feel that warm sensation again, but the emotion didn’t return.

While Kim Taehyun and Detective Choi Gicheol were busy making calls, Woojin looked at the tree where the victim had been tied.

The content of the Seven Deadly Sins was carved in Latin, not Korean or English. In addition to that, there were also traces of blood being taken.

‘He’s trying to show meaning in the Seven Deadly Sins, but is that also an act of mocking the Bible?’

Woojin’s gaze, which had been fixed on the tree, shifted to Kim Taehyun, who was shouting angrily into his cellphone.

‘We just need to catch him before that.’

It seemed it wouldn’t matter once he was caught, as everything would be over.

“Woojin, if you catch it, can you let me off the hook just once?”

“Of course.”

It’s 1++ No.9 beef.

***

Woojin, who woke up early in the morning, stood facing his mom.

“My son, you look even more handsome in this suit. So handsome.”

His mom patted his shoulder as if to brush off any tiny dust, and adjusted his tie.

“Mom, I think you could take your time with college and then prepare. I wonder if this is too fast.”

“They say if you complete an internship with excellent grades, you get a lot of bonus points or benefits when they officially hire you. I think it’s a good opportunity.”

His mom smiled and placed her hand on Woojin’s cheek.

Woojin felt warmth.

“Alright, you know Mom always supports you no matter what you do, right? My handsome son, have a good day.”

“I’ll be back.”

Woojin took the bus, transferred to the subway, and soon arrived at Shinhwa General Trading.

Woojin looked around before entering the building.

People in suits moving busily, Woojin looked at himself reflected in the glass.

He wore a suit and tie, just like everyone else.

A slight smile played on his lips, and he felt like he had become an ordinary office worker, just like everyone else.

“Woojin, why are you standing there instead of coming in?”

His dad’s friend, Uncle Munjin, was approaching. His dad had contacted him.

Woojin said it was fine, but Uncle Munjin insisted he come 30 minutes early.

“Hello.”

“Wow… the suit looks good on you. Let’s go in.”

Uncle Munjin guided Woojin to Haneul Park.

He handed Woojin a drink and said,

“Don’t be nervous. An interview is…”

As Woojin listened to Uncle Munjin, he thought of one thing.

Nervousness.

Had he ever felt nervous since returning home?

“Try to be as comfortable as possible. It’s good to promote yourself, but from the interviewer’s perspective, they need someone who can blend in well with the company. So…”

Woojin nodded his head.

Blending in well was always like his homework.

Woojin nodded as he listened to Uncle Munjin’s advice.

“I’ll do my best.”

Uncle Munjin placed a hand on Woojin’s shoulder and smiled warmly.

He looked calm, but how nervous must he be inside?

It felt just like looking at himself in his twenties.

“Yes, the most important thing is to have the mindset of approaching it comfortably.”

“Thank you.”

“Do well. Fighting!”

After greeting Uncle Munjin, Woojin headed to the interview room.

There were 10 applicants in total.

Woojin pinned something like an applicant number, given to him by the person in charge, to his chest and sat down.

Then he looked around.

Things like anxiety and nervousness were clearly visible on their faces, and they mumbled as if repeating something.

Had 10 minutes passed like that?

A woman in a suit entered.

“When your name is called, please come out one by one according to your number. First, Choi Ik-soo.”

“Yes!”

The young man stood up and walked out boldly, clenching both fists.

Woojin, watching him, nodded as if satisfied with his number.

Because it was right in the middle.

Choi Ik-soo returned in eight minutes.

He rakes his hand through his hair and lets out a long breath. His brows are furrowed, and his mouth, which had been exhaling, closes as if pulled at both ends.

‘The interview didn’t go as planned.’

“Lee Hana.”

“Yes.”

Lee Hana returned after her ten-minute interview.

Her expression seemed calm, but there was a difference in her behavior before and after the interview.

Her movements, such as her stride and tidying up the room, were exaggerated.

This is a form of self-display, showing confidence.

“Good luck.”

As if to express her thoughts through her actions, she bowed 90 degrees to the other interviewees before disappearing.

“Im Sangmok.”

People who returned from their interviews conveyed information to Woojin through their expressions and actions.

“Shin Woojin.”

“Yes.”

Woojin walked down the hallway, thinking for a moment.

If you know what kind of person the other party is and act within that framework, you can gain their favor.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

When he knocked, a voice came from inside.

“Come in.”

Click.

He opened the door and entered, seeing three interviewers.

Woojin’s eyes flickered slightly from side to side.

In an instant, he read their micro-expressions.