Chapter 57 – Playground – Part 8

Chapter 57 – Playground – Part 8

“Understood.”

As Woojin hung up, Assistant Manager Im asked, puzzled.

“Woojin, if I’m not mistaken, you just spoke with the Detective. Is that right?”

“Yes.”

“Are you involved in something bad?”

“No. They’re someone I’ve known for a while.”

“Oh, I thought it was something else.”

Woojin got off the elevator and parted ways with them.

*

A few hours ago.

Kim Taehyun and Choi Gicheol were walking through the main entrance of the Police Station.

“Let’s have a cigarette before we go in.”

Kim Taehyun, with a cigarette in his mouth, scanned Choi Gicheol up and down.

“Eat some more. You just had some bread and milk, didn’t you? By the look on your face, your blind date didn’t go well yesterday, did it? You asked for a second date but got rejected.”

Choi Gicheol chuckled.

“Senior, are you imitating Woojin now?”

“Not at all, am I wrong?”

“I skipped breakfast and had a hearty sundae soup. And I postponed the blind date because of that thug, Kim Jeonghwan.”

“Ahem. Let’s go in.”

They didn’t know it, but Woojin was a person truly skilled in psychology, no less than in Observation.

However.

They immediately entered the Police Station. But it was only for a moment.

They had no choice but to quickly come back out.

An incident occurred where a person who was reported missing returned as a cold corpse two days later.

“Doesn’t it feel like things keep happening only in our jurisdiction lately?”

“Cases are decreasing, but it seems there are more crazy people.”

The two got into the car, immediately turned on the siren, and sped out of the Police Station.

The place they arrived at after an hour’s drive was a house with separate first and second floors.

Kim Taehyun, who showed his ID, headed straight for the second floor.

Click! Click!

Kim Taehyun swore as he delved into the Forensics Team.

“Which motherfucker…”

Inside the box was a large icebox, and inside the icebox, the dismembered body parts were neatly arranged.

The gruesome sight suggested that the body had been carefully managed.

“What about the identity?”

To Kim Taehyun’s question, the thug who was observing the body replied.

“He’s a male, 19 years old, his name is Park Jonghyuk.”

“What about his parents?”

“Go inside, they’re in the living room.”

Kim Taehyun immediately went into the house.

The woman who appeared to be the mother was sitting on the floor, dazed, and the father was pacing around, dry-washing his face as if he couldn’t believe it.

This was when Kim Taehyun felt most troubled.

He desperately wanted to comfort them, but the priority was to quickly gather information and catch the criminal.

Even for their sake.

Kim Taehyun asked carefully.

“I don’t know what to say… I know you’re deeply grieved, but I have a few questions.”

Just then, Park Jonghyuk’s father shouted as if he had lost his mind.

“Catch that criminal bastard quickly! That murderer bastard…”

Kim Taehyun gestured, and Choi Gicheol approached the father.

“Sir, I know it’s difficult, but please calm down…”

Kim Taehyun turned his gaze to the mother, but it seemed like she wasn’t in a state to talk.

Kim Taehyun went outside and spoke to the officer.

“The ambulance?”

“It will be here soon.”

Kim Taehyun began giving instructions to the detectives.

He ordered an investigation, including checking nearby CCTV and dashcams.

Then he ran a hand over his face and approached the forensics team.

“Did you find anything?”

“Not yet. I’ve never seen a case like this. Considering the audacious nature of the crime, it’s highly unlikely to be the Candle perpetrator.”

Kim Taehyun ran a hand through his hair.

‘Grudge? Random killing? Serial murder?’

He committed the murder and brazenly placed the body as if delivering it to the parents.

Grudge?

Did Park Jonghoon do something wrong?

Or his parents…

Amidst various intertwining thoughts, a person suddenly came to Kim Taehyun’s mind as if a picture had been taken.

Kim Taehyun immediately made a call.

“Woojin.”

*

Woojin arrived at the crime scene and walked, scanning the two-story house.

“Who are you?”

“I called him.”

Detective Kim Taehyun came down the stairs and approached Woojin.

“Woojin, I’m sorry, the case is too horrific. I feel like we need to catch him quickly.”

“Has the criminal been identified?”

“No. You came without even having dinner because of me, didn’t you? Your older brother will buy you 1++ No.9 (Beef) later…”

“I think the law of diminishing marginal utility will apply, so please buy me something else.”

“Huh? Marginal utility… what?”

Soon, Woojin’s appearance on the Second Floor caught the attention of the Forensics Team.

The student they had seen last time in a green tracksuit was now wearing a suit.

“Detective Kim called him again, didn’t he? Aren’t we underestimating him too much?”

Kim Taehyun opened his mouth with a troubled expression.

“Of course not. We have to try everything we can. Please understand with your generous heart!”

At Kim Taehyun’s words, he nodded and silently started working again.

He didn’t say anything, but that student, Woojin, looked like he was just playing detective.

But he couldn’t say anything because he was also the student who helped identify and arrest the criminal last time.

Woojin said,

“They climbed over the wall when everyone was out. One side of the wall had dust wiped clean, as if swept away. The wall is about 130 cm high. Judging by the 30 cm swath of dust, they put their stomach on the wall and climbed over. They might not be tall, or they might not have good athletic skills.”

At Woojin’s words, Kim Taehyun shook his head as if he still couldn’t get used to it.

Deducing the criminal by looking at the dust on the wall?

Who could think like that just by looking at such a subtle trace?

“If they were tall, they would have used their hands to brace themselves on the wall and climbed over like a lever, right? And the athletic ability too.”

“Yes. They aren’t fat. They might be old. Can I take a look too?”

At Woojin’s words, the Forensics Team reluctantly made a little space.

He understood the joints and dismembered it.

The cut was clean if you considered it clean, but it was messy when considering a criminal who deliberately committed the crime.

Just then, one of the Forensics Team members grabbed something with tweezers.

It was a small, blood-soaked thread.

Woojin looked away as if there was nothing more to see, and Detective Kim said,

“Woojin, what do you think? Do you have any ideas?”

“Can I see inside the house too?”

“Huh? Oh, yes, yes. A little while ago, the victim’s mother went to the hospital, so only the father is here.”

Kim Taehyun led the way, and Woojin followed him.

The living room came into Woojin’s view.

His father, sitting on the sofa with a dazed expression, was talking to Detective Choi Gicheol.

Woojin began to take in the living room properly.

He saw a golf trophy, and photos of family trips abroad were hung on the wall.

The dishes were also quite expensive.

The second floor house looked like a home for ordinary people at a glance.

Considering that, there was a lot of incongruity in the living room.

Woojin approached Detective Choi Gicheol and asked.

“Is there perhaps a grudge?

His father shook his head, just as he had told Detective Choi.

Then, as if filled with anger and frustration, he looked straight at Woojin and said,

“There’s nothing like that. There isn’t. I’m telling you there isn’t! Just hurry up and find the criminal…”

Woojin slowly nodded his head.

It was a lie.

He was appealing his argument as if hypnotizing the other person.

His eyes stared straight at him as if to be believed, and conversely, his back was pressed against the sofa as if to keep his body still.

This was not a lie in the form of an interrogation, but rather an unconscious resistance, not a conscious one.

“Think carefully. There must be something.”

The victim’s father rubbed his forehead, lost in thought.

Just then, Woojin spoke up.

“Butcher shop.”

It was a truly unexpected remark, but Kim Taehyun’s eyes flashed with interest.

It seemed Woojin had found a clue.

Conversely, Choi Gicheol still seemed unable to adapt, blinking his eyes.

Unlike the two, the father seemed to remember something and slammed his fist on the table with a bang!

“Could it be that bastard Lee Seongbeom…?”

Woojin asked.

“Who is Lee Seongbeom? Is he someone who works at a butcher shop?”

“Well…”

He was startled. But as he soon hesitated, Woojin nodded.

He’s still caught up in past glory and doesn’t know his place.

His child died, but he’s trying to save face.

However, perhaps his paternal love was stronger, as he soon opened his mouth.

“A long time ago… there was a guy who went around boasting that our son sexually assaulted his daughter. He’s a butcher… From my perspective, it looked like consensual sex. Yes! It was consensual! We settled it amicably! That son of a bitch… Please catch him right away! No, I’ll kill this bastard right now!”

Choi Gicheol stopped him from getting up.

As Woojin went back outside, Kim Taehyun quickly followed.

“Woojin, how did you know he was the butcher shop president?”

If this is the Righteous Path, isn’t it truly a remarkable, no, god-like deductive ability?

Woojin spoke softly.

“Because it was too obvious.”

Kim Taehyun unconsciously gasped.

It’s not obvious at all.

“Why did you think that?”

“To sell meat, you cut it and store it in the refrigerator. You can think of the refrigerator as an icebox. The Righteous Path is bold enough to bring a dismembered body to their doorstep, but ‘bold’ also means ‘meticulous.’ They’re confident. ‘I’ve been here.’ They were that confident. But they left evidence. Stitching, people use work gloves a lot when cutting meat. The criminal intentionally left show-off evidence, thinking of the forensics team. There’s a high possibility they smeared pig blood or cow blood. And one more thing. If someone who runs a butcher shop had cut it, the surface wouldn’t be that rough. They’re not skilled. It’s just a disguise.”

“Framing someone to incriminate them?”

“Yes. If you trace the CCTV, it will lead to the butcher shop run by Mr. Lee Seongbeom. Because the criminal guided it that way.”

“Then the criminal isn’t the butcher shop president?”

“That’s highly likely.”

“So the criminal might have a grudge against the butcher shop president?”

“No, it’s a completely different person.”

“A completely different person?”

Just then, a detective who had been investigating outside approached.

“It seems like there won’t be any findings from the surrounding vehicles because people usually turn them off when their batteries die. I got a call from Detective Go, and a suspicious car was caught on CCTV at the convenience store intersection. It was a passenger car, and someone wearing a delivery uniform briefly got out and disappeared. They were also wearing a hat and had their face covered with a mask.”

Woojin spoke up.

“It’s for show. The butcher boss’s alibi will be perfect.”

Kim Taehyun quickly spoke to his colleague.

They needed to confirm it to rapidly advance the investigation room’s direction.

“Get all the CCTV footage and track that passenger car quickly.”

“Yes!”

As he disappeared, Kim Taehyun asked Woojin,

“Woojin, you said the criminal is someone else, but you can’t identify them yet, right?”

“I can identify them.”

Kim Taehyun’s surprised eyes again became stained with anticipation.

“Who could it be?”

Meanwhile, the forensics team, who hadn’t heard Woojin’s story in the living room,

looked at Woojin with an incredulous expression, as if to say, “Let’s hear it.”

Woojin’s gaze swept over the people gathered around, as if he were watching from the second floor.

“Someone who dislikes Mr. Lee Seongbeom, who runs the butcher shop, and someone who hates the murdered Park Jonghyuk.”

Woojin’s body turned back towards the living room.

“The criminal’s name will come from the victim’s father.”