The usually calm and deserted alley was filled with people at that moment; a few busy officers controlled the scene – and tried to keep nosey civilians away – and many technicians from the crime scene investigation team walked around, going in and out of the large dumpsters.

In the middle of all that movement, the two detectives were standing still, getting the statement of them man who first found the remains. He was part of a kitchen staff of a near-by restaurant, to which the logo was stamped on his dirty white uniform.

“I was just taking out the trash, because we forgot to do it last night, so I had to do it before we started prepping for lunch, and when I opened the lid, there it was! A head! A human head! No neck, no body, just the head!”

The man was clearly freaking out, and the two detectives sympathized, as they knew it must have been a traumatic experience.

“I mean, who does something like that? Who chops people up?!?!”

The man had unconsciously started to scream, and Minseok put his notepad down, aware that he wouldn’t be able to get anything else that was useful while the man was like that. But the duo didn’t have the time to wait for him to get a hold of himself and calm down, they had a lot more to supervise around there.

“Try to calm down sir. Here, this officer will get your statement and then you can go home.”

Jongdae said, passing him over to an officer why was on stand-by. They watched as the two walked away, the kitchen man still speaking loudly and panicking a lot. At times like that the duo was thankful for their promotion to detectives, because they could delegate those troublesome tasks to the officers that were there to help them. And once they were isolated enough, they could return to discussing the case without much distraction.

“The head is definitely our 3rd victim’s. I guess we might be wrong about the 2 bodies per dump being their M.O. Looks like they just did that because it was easier.”

Minseok said, looking around, watching all the people work, sifting through the trash, collecting what could be important.

“You’re doing really good, dude. I can see you’re holding your own, I’m proud of you.”

Jongdae encouragingly mentioned as he smiled to his partner, showing his support. Both knew that Jongdae was talking about how Minseok was handling the sight of the chopped body parts coming and going all around them.

Minseok still felt a bit bothered by it all, and he found that looking at the severed head was extremely difficult, but somehow he started to get used to it. It was not ideal yet; a man passing by while holding part of an arm was still a disgusting sight to him, but he was able to handle it without gagging or feeling his legs wobble.

“Thanks. And I’ll get even better, so we can go down to the morgue together, when we’re finally working in the murder division.”

He said as he smiled back at his friend, feeling good about himself.

“Detective.”

Someone called out before they could even resume talking about the case, so their response was immediate, turning to where the sound came from. One of the crime scene technicians was approaching them with a serious look.

“Yes?”

Jongdae answered back, waiting to hear what the news was.

“My team decided to check if there were any more parts on the dumpsters from the street over, since a lot was missing from these, and their hunch paid out. More parts were found, of an arm, and a section of a torso.”

The guy informed, and waited for instructions, which Jongdae gladly gave him.

“Widen the search perimeter even more. Try to spread out five to ten blocks from where the head was found in all directions, because we know that these guys like to spread out a lot. It’s going to be some hard work today, I’m sorry.”

Jongdae didn’t really need to apologize, those people were there to do that job, but considering he had just told the man to search over hundreds of dumpsters, ‘sorry’ seemed like the right words to follow with. The man just gave him an understanding nod and smiled, turning around to go back to work.

While the conversation happened, Minseok got distracted midway through, well aware that Jongdae would be able to handle telling the man what to do. He had suddenly started feeling really conscious of his surroundings, and when finally looking around – in a need to check if someone was looking at him, since he creepily felt a pair of eyes on his back – he saw another technician, standing-by quite close, holding a blue plastic box in his hands. He looked like he wanted to talk to them, so the detective nodded and waved, allowing his to come near.

The man walked over, and without a single word, he showed Minseok what was in the container.

Minseok knew that those containers were for the transportation of the body parts, so he already knew that what he would see wouldn’t be pretty, but what he actually saw was surprisingly unexpected. It didn’t make him feel grossed out or nauseated, he was too occupied getting worried by it to feel anything else.

It was another head, severed at the top of the neck, just as the other ones. But that was a face he didn’t recognize. There was no report of a fourth grave theft, and yet they had a fourth victim.

“Jongdae.”

He called out, making his partner come close. The younger’s reaction was more controlled than that of his partner’s, but he definitely looked weirded out.

“Another head… But, how…?”

Jongdae didn’t know what to say, how to react. His mind was filled with the thought of failure. Was there a cemetery they forgot to call? Where was that body stolen from? He didn’t wish to let his mind wonder, since it carried him to the darkest places.

“So there are two bodies?”

Minseok asked the technician, knowing that his question was redundant, but wanting the man to expand on their findings.

“It appears so. We started to find duplicates, like two left hands, and such. It seems that it’s just like the last time, sir. Two bodies, all mixed together.”

The man reported, and didn’t even give them time to respond before adding a comment he had forgotten.

“I think we need more teams here, sir. We’re too few; it’ll take too long to find all two bodies like this.”

The detectives hesitated, still feeling at a loss about the fact that there was an extra body they didn’t account for. But Jongdae was the first one to snap back and respond.

“Yeah, you’re right. Call in a few more teams, as many necessary. We need this to go fast.”

The man didn’t even bother to voice out a response, he just strongly nodded and went away to do what he was told, leaving the two detectives alone again.