Chapter 6. Picture & Key

It turns into a circus. A horrible circus where Taeyeon gets caught in the middle, tangled and frustrated.

The fourth victim was a secret boyfriend of a nugu idol, found dead by the girlfriend herself who then have to be treated in hospital due to severe trauma. Media come for the news like vultures to a corpse, creating unnecessary attention to the case. National Police Agency now under the scrutinize of the whole country, pressuring Taeyeon to solve the case even faster.

And here she is, in Gyeryong, trying to unravel the tangled threads of the case. In front of her is the caretaker of the foster home where Lee Minjun was adopted from. On her side, Bambam is looking straight at the caretaker. Taeyeon let her partner carries out the investigation this time. She's playing mentor at the moment.

“Admiral Lee had done a lot to this foster home. That additional wing on the left was all his. The playground and vegetable field too.” The old woman sitting behind the desk smiles wanly, pushing her thick rimmed glass up the bridge of he nose. “I'm afraid I can't give you more information on his adopted son's background. Admiral Lee was the one who put Minjun in our care then he himself decided to adopt Minjun.”

“Admiral Lee put Minjun in this foster home?” Bambam leans in. The serious look on his face is the complete opposite of his usual playful charm.

“Yes. In 1996, A few months before the adoption happened, he came with five kids in tow. All were taken to our care.”

“Five?” Bambam scribbles the number into his note. “Do you have any data of all these kids?”

The old woman bends to take something from her drawer, a thick photo album. She opens page after page of pictures, stops to gaze at particular one then shows it to Bambam. “The one standing on the far left, in plaids, that's Minjun.”

Taeyeon cranes her neck to see better. An old picture shows about twenty kids or so, posing in front of the foster care building.

“This one is Kihong.” The caretaker point at a bony boy in gray shirt. “These two girls, we call them Ara and Areum.”

“Twins?”

“We don't know. They don't talk. Admiral Lee provided no document too.” The caretaker sighs. “We drew names from a hat for the girls, just like we always do when kids come with no name.”

“This one is Kibum.” Pointing to another boy, the caretaker gazes away. “The five of them, you could tell something bad has happened to them. Minjun and Kihong, albeit being shy and introvert, were the only two who actually socialized with others. The other tree just... you know? Stay in the corner. We didn't get regular visit from children therapist those days. Never know what actually traumatized those poor kids.”

“Admiral Lee adopted Minjun, do you have any idea why he chose Minjun instead of the others four?”

“Just like he didn't tell us the origin of these kids, he also didn't explain why he only took Minjun.” The caretaker sighs again. “Admiral Lee actually had promised to take all five of them.”

“He promised to adopt all of them?”

“Yes and he broke his promise. I didn't prod back then.No matter how rich and how kind someone is, adopting five kids at once can be a little too much, I guess."

“The other four kids, do you know where they are now?”

“Ara is a housewife now, I guess. A wedding invitation came three years ago. But of course I couldn't come all the way to Jeju.” With a sigh, the caretaker looks at Bambam. “I know you'll probably ask me of her spouse name, I forgot. I'm getting too old to remember stuffs. But I do recall one of our staff made a comment of how rich yet how much older than Ara the groom seems to be.

“Okay.” Bambam smiles, scribbling into his note again.

Her partner's attempt to hide disappointment is too clear for Taeyeon to see. So she takes over the questioning for him. “How about Kihong, Kibum, and... this girl, Areum?”

“Kihong is adopted two years after he arrived. Kibum, well, given his complicated nature no one interested in him. He and Areum ran away from this foster home five years after. Never hear of them ever since.”

“Some of our kids keep contact, some just disappear as they got adopted or as they reach the age where they have to live on their own. Of these five kids, only Minjun who sent letters to us. He visited often, helping out here occasionally. Too bad his life has to end so soon”

“Do you have individual pictures of these five kids? Any other data had been recorded as they arrived here? Height, weight, hair color, age, everything.” Bambam asks as Taeyeon brings the photo close to her eyes. Something is bothering her. It can't be a coincidence that all their victims had no record before 20 years ago and these five kids also arrived at this foster home 20 years ago.

“I'm sorry. Every data was on paper back then, I don't think we still have the documents on these kids. Not after the big fire that burnt down most of our repository five years ago.” The old lady gazes up at the ceiling. “Again. I'm too old to remember much. But In term of age, I think they were not too far apart. Minjun said he's six at his first day here and we had a small celebration for Kihong's 9th birthday a few months later.”

“That will make them at their twenties today.” Taeyeon turns the photo so the caretaker can see it. “Can you tell if the long mark on this kid's arm was a scar or a birthmark?”

“Which kid? Kibum?” The lady leans in then smiles. “That was not a birthmark. It was a scar. He got into a fight with Kihong. A messy one, knife involved, we had to get the wound sutured.”

“Knife?”

“Yes. I didn't remember the details but Kihong had a knife with him somehow.” The lady shudders. “He kept on defending himself saying it's an accident. But who knows? There were something going on between these kids, like they were split into two opposite sides.”

Taeyeon leans back, letting Bambam continue with his questions. She waits until they get out of the caretaker's office before bringing Bambam's attention to the picture they have confiscated from the caretaker.

“This kid, Kibum, had the same scar with our fourth victim. Kwangsoo reported a six inches scar on his left arm, remember?”

“Really?” Bambam brings the picture close to his eyes. “Scar like this is not unique to one kid, noona. I had one on my shoulder myself, thank to this bike accident I had when I was seven. This picture is not in finest quality either, I wouldn't notice the scar if you didn't mention it.”

“It's there, Bambam. On his arm, the caretaker confirmed it. Call Kwangsoo, see if he can determine the origin of fourth victim's scar. Run the picture with Chanyeol too, the facial recognition software might identify the kid as our fourth victim.”

“But our fourth victim's name is Lee Donghae.” Bambam taps his chin in thought while taking out his phone. “Unless, he got his name changed.”

“Which is not uncommon for someone with marred past. The caretaker said they were all seem traumatized. Go give Kwangsoo and Chanyeol a call.” Taeyeon glances at her phone. She gets a call from the chief. “Yes, Chief.”

“Tell me you've got something in Gyeryong.”

“Twenty years ago Admiral Lee brought five kids to this foster home, Chief.” Taeyeon glances at Bambam who's in the middle of phone conversation too. “One of them is Minjun, his adopted son, our second victim. And my hunch tells me that our fourth victim, Lee Donghae, was also one of these kids. Bambam is doing a follow up about that subject at the moment.”

“Media are tailing me. Someone has tipped these hungry vultures about the first three victims and now they come for me asking if there's actually a serial killer running loose in this country.” The Chief sounds as annoyed as he can be. “The joint chiefs of staff breathing down my neck, Taeyeon. They want me to hold a press conference as soon as possible . I need solid information.”

“Yes, Sir.” Taeyeon suppresses her sigh. “If the fourth viction is indeed one of the