Somewhere in Seoul…

“Who found the bodies?” the officer asked while checking the condition of the body in front him. His name was An Jae Hwan, the head of crime department.

The cause of death was from a stabbed, believed penetrated the heart. There were a total of 8 victims in this murdered. One was found in the study room with shot wound on the head, two were found outside the house, behind the bushes with stabbed wounds in the collarbone, three were found in their respective rooms, one was shot on the heads while the other two were on the heart, and the last victim was found in the bath tub with three shot wounds, at leg, shoulder and head.

“One of the victim’s worker, sir.” His subordinate said, flipping the book note in his grip, trying to find the note he wrote before he continued, “From his statement, he said he came to send a report, when he rang the door, no one answer so  he tried to opened the door but the door was locked. He tried to call the victim while walked around the house, that was when he found two death bodies and immediately called the police.”

“Is he found anything suspicious?” An Jae Hwan asked further, his eyes wandering at the crime scene, tried to found any hint or evident that can lead them but found nothing. It was a clean murder. The culprit ensured that he left neither mark nor the evident to relate him with the crime or the fact he was there.

“No, Sir.”

He sighed, disappointed. He was hoping for some clue to help them investigated the case. Now, they can only wait for the autopsy’s result, hopefully the result would give something.

*************

It was our day off. We were sat in front of television, watching some variety show when the show was cut and replaced by news. The members groaned in frustrated, unsatisfied with the sudden interrupted. The news was about the murdered of Lee Seung-hyun, a famous businessman. He and his wife together with his maid and bodyguards were murdered in their own house, last night. Their bodies were found this morning by one of his worker, who apparently came to send a report but was shocked to found corpses outside the house. I didn’t pay much heed to the news, instead my eyes found his placed on the Sungjong’s. I watched as he reached the remote control beside him and increased the TV’s volume, obviously interested with the news. Thinking back, he had always interested in the murder cases, especially the high-profile cases where businessmen or politician involved.

I watched his facial expression, something I never done before. His face shown no emotion but his eyes was different case. They were gleam with excitement and I swear at some point I can almost saw a smile but it was so faint and so subtle I had no way of knowing if it was my imagination messing with me again. It was as if he enjoyed it. I shake my head vigorously, tried to dismiss the thought.

Suddenly Sungjong’s phone was ringing. He looked at the caller name, I can see he tensed a little before pushing the answer button, “Hello, mom.” He quickly stood up and headed to his room. I can’t help but felt suspicious.

It was not because he acted different than his normal self but there was something about him that I felt change or maybe it was the way I see him now was different. Somehow, after that dreamt, I can’t looked at him the same way anymore.

************************

At the same time in the police headquarter…

One man appeared, in his hand, there was a black file with confidential wrote on it. He knocked the door in front him before enter the room.

“Yes Donghae, what bring you here?” An Jae Hwan asked, looking at the young man in front him. He was good looking, can passed to be a model at any magazines but he chose to be a detective, followed his father’s step. He was one of the best detectives they had.

“Sir, I got the result from autopsy.” Donghae said, held the file above to let his boss saw it.

“How the result?” An Jae Hwan asked impatient. He pushed aside the paper work he’s been working on and gave fully attention toward Donghae.

“From the post-mortem, we concluded that the victims were killed around 10 pm until 2 am. The weapons used were a knife, probably 7 inches, and a semi-automatic handgun. Besides victims number 5 and 6 the culprit didn’t make any physical contacted with victim 1, 3, 4, 7 and 8 since they were shots which given us a hard time to identified him but…” Donghae explained while placing a few pictures.

“…this one however gave us the idea but I’m not sure if it was a good thing.” He pointed at the pictures of victims’ hand. An Jae Hwan took the pictures and observed it tentatively. There was a hint of recognition in his eyes.

“As you can see, there were numbers at each of victim’s wrist, carved using a knife. Probability the same knife using to stabbed victim 5 and 6. The numbers were carved in sequence from number 51 to 58 which led us to a case from four years ago. I don’t know if it was only a coincident or someone wanted to play a sick joked but the numbers were continued of number from the last victim of that case.”

The last victim known as Lee Ji Min, daughter of a very famous politician Lee Min Ho was found death outside her parent’s house. She was reported being kidnapped two days before her death. The cause of death was a shot at the side of her head. They found countless marks and bruises all over her body making the police to suspect that she was tortured and number 50 was discovered carved on her left wrist.

“So there was a possibility ‘that person’ was the murderer?” An Jae Hwan asked.

“Yes, there was a chance that maybe he was the suspect since no one other than us know about the existence of the numbers. It was never been revealed to the public, so it was impossible for a copycat to know unless someone leak the information. Moreover, half of the victims were shot either on the head or heart which was his favorite parts he aimed when he make a shot.” Donghae confirm.

An Jae Hwan sighed. This case was more complicated than what he thought. If that man was back, then it meant nightmare to the police department. The case from four years ago was a cold case where 50 victims were murder by a single man. The case happened for two-years long which the weapons as well as the methods used for killing were different each time, make it hard for the police to profile the killer. However like any other killer who left their signature to marking their crime, for this man, he carved numbers on his victim’s wrist. The numbers represent the number of victims have been killed by him. The murder continued for two years with no clue of the killer. However, two years ago, he suddenly stopped with the last victim was Lee Ji Min, the youngest victim. She was only 15 years old. After that, nothing was heard from him.

“Sir! Sir!” Donghae’s voice snapped him right out of his thought. He was mortified being caught daydreaming while the younger explaining but didn’t let it shown. He quickly composed himself, cleared his voice before spoke, “Oh, I’m sorry. You can continue.”

“As I say before if that person was the suspect, then it means we need to open the case back.”

Reopened the case caused them to go through numerous procedures which meant only more jobs need to be done. And it also meant that they need to call that person.

“I think we should call him?” An Jae Hwan said, sudden. Donghae was taken aback, he knew who his boss talking about.

“Are you sure, sir?”

“Yes, if that person was really the suspect, then we need all the help we can get.”