Various morning sunlight rays landed on the sleeping beauty through the window glass. A few seconds later, she tossed in

the bed and suddenly opened her eyes. While looking at the clock beside her, ‘Oh my god, I’m late for school. Today is

mortuary day. I have to go there no matter what,’ Eunjung murmured to herself & quickly got dressed. When she reached

downstairs, her mom & dad were having breakfast. ‘Mom, why didn’t you wake me up? You know I’ve morning class today,

right?’ She asked her mom with half-blaming voice.

            ‘Em..you came home late last night. So I’ve decided to let you sleep. Who told you to return home past midnight?

Come, have breakfast.’

            ‘Mom, I don’t have time. I’m going. Mom, Dad bye!’ she rushed out of the house.

AT MORTUARY

            As usual, the mortuary room is filled with strong formalin scent. There were numerous bodies placed on every table in

front of the seats.  Eunjung saw Shin Hye & grabbed a seat beside her, obviously panting with breathlessness. ‘I thought you

wouldn’t make it today.’ Shin Hye turned to Eunjung. ‘I heard today demonstrator is a new, handsome, charming teacher.

Rumour is that he’s a lady-killer whom every girl would die for his attention.’

            ‘Huh? What is that? I just hope that demonstrator would be really good at teaching,’ Eunjung said sarcastically.

Forensic had been her favorite major subject. Studying and discovering the causes of death & of accidents had always

impressed her. Unlike her, her friend, Shin Hye, found it boring. But she took it as major for Eunjung so that they could have

the same class together. Eunjung had to help Shin Hye in this subject almost always, though she never found it tiring. By

re-explaining forensic lectures to Shin Hye after every class, she almost learned that all by heart & found ample time to read

more topics about these lectures.

            ‘Eunjung, haven’t Sung Gi oppa returned yet? This time, he’s gone overseas longer than other times,’ Shin Hye

inquired shyly. Yes, Shin Hye had a long time crush on Sung Gi oppa, perhaps since junior high school. And she had

confessed only to Eunjung although Eunjung was Sung Gi cousin from her paternal side. Actually, Shin Hye was a person

whose feelings were shown all over her face. Eunjung couldn’t understand whether her cousin really didn’t know Shin Hye’s

crush or deliberately pretended not to notice. She had a little pity for her friend as she had to store all her feelings inside her

own heart.

            ‘I heard he’s coming this week but I don’t know the exact date. Don’t worry. I’ll inform you immediately if he’s returned.

Do you know which topic will be taught today?’ Eunjung flipped through the prescribed book. ‘I really hope it’d be an

interesting one.’ She found one random topic & read it right away.

            She did not know how fast time flied when she heard someone shouted to all the students. ‘All of you please leave

your seats and gather around the corpses.’

            When she lifted her head towards that direction, her eyes narrowed. ‘Could it be him? It can’t be. It can’t be that

ert. How come would he become a lecturer? No, no, please, don’t let him be that drunk.’ Many thoughts were racing

inside her. She could hear whispering conversations about the demonstrator how attractive, lovely & good-looking he was.

            By the time all students were assembled, that man greeted, smiling. ‘Good morning, everyone. I’m the new

demonstrator who will replace Mr. Yun ho. My name is Kim Jae Joong. It’s nice to meet you all. Now, I’ll be teaching how to

dissect a body that died of hanging to uncover the real evidence of hanging so that we could produce a medico-legal

certificate for proof. Before the start, I want to know your knowledge upon hanging. Would you pls tell me what type of death

hanging is?’

            The demonstrator he called himself was talking continuously, without Eunjung hearing all the words he had said. She

was balancing herself to keep standing. ‘What is this? I’m sure he is the one I met last night. What am I going to do?

somebody pls tell me this is fake. I can’t stand the sight of him.’ She clenched her fists & ended up staring at him. At that

time, Shin Hye touched her with her shoulder and gave her an unbelievable look. ‘Are you all right? You look pale. Answer

him fast. What is hanging?’ She then heard Shin Hye’s voice, urging her to answer his question. Since she could not stand

the silence between her classmates, she swallowed all her anger & replied, ‘Hanging is a form of asphyxial death where the

body is wholly or partially suspended by a ligature around the neck, the constricting force being the weight of the body or

that of the head or upper trunk.’ Her answer had little shaky echo which she only realized.

            ‘Not bad,’ he commented her with delicate smile over his face. In his mind, he could not help remembering someone

in the face of her. ‘She really looks like her, especially her eyes. But why is she looking at me like that, full of rage and

anger? I don’t think I’ve met her before.’

            Eunjung did not even bother to say thanks. She was being busy staring at him with widened eyes that were in no time

about to come out of eye sockets. ‘Doesn’t he recognize me? Maybe, as he was very drunk. Still, he doesn’t qualify to

become a demonstrator which will set example to his students. Tut…tut…  I should stop gazing & judging him. He doesn’t

even worth it. Concentrate…concentrate…concentrate…’

            ‘Then, what is main differential death to hanging?’ Jae Joong quizzed again.

            One student held up his hand & responded, ‘Strangulation?’

            ‘Of course, you’re right.’ Jae Joong praised the student. ‘These two types are unequivocally similar and troublesome.

Based on your autopsy findings, suicide case can become homicide case and vice versa. To differentiate those, inspecting

external features is as important as performing autopsy. According to this body, ligature around the neck is present in situ.

We must carefully examine this ligature. Also, we must observe the general features of the body like head inclination, face,

eye looking, tongue, extremities, nails, etc. This body is unlikely to be strangulation. Why?’

            Quietness again consumed the surrounding. Eunjung recalled her memories while examing the dead body. ‘I’ve read

it somewhere. What is it? What is it? Ah, yes.’ She held her hand up. ‘Because strangulation has well-marked PM (post-

mortem) features of asphyxia while hanging has only a few of them.’

            ‘Yes,’ Jae Joong approved her with a nod and continued, ‘Now, let’s start dissection. Unlike other autopsy, we must

do Y or V incision around neck in situ, layer by layer dissection so that we can get bloodless dissection. If we get so much

blood in neck region, it’d be difficult to find PM features for hanging or strangulation.’

            Jae Joong skillfully dissected the body and explained the structures in detail, ‘See, subcutaneous tissues is faintly

bruised. Strap muscles, thyroid cartilage and hyoid bone don’t show any damage. Epiglottis and trachea show congestion

and blood stained froth. If we open thoracic region, lungs are congested and edematous. We can see non-specific signs of

asphyxia such as cardiac dilatation, cyanosis, dark fluid blood and other visceral congestion. For strangulation, the

underlying neck structures will be greatly damaged. In short, negative finding is the positive proof of suicidal hanging. Do

you all get it? Form a team each and practice on other dead bodies. I’ll be rounding the room.’ He took off his gloves,

washed hands & walked around the class, watching the students dissecting.

            30 minutes later, the class was dismissed. Eunjung collected her things into bag & strolled away from the class with

Shin Hye & to another class. At pathology class, Shin Hye could not stay anymore and asked her about her strange manner.

‘It’s not like you to dis-respect a teacher. You looked as if you will eat him the whole body sooner or later. So, speak now. I’m

all ears.’

            Eunjung then spilled last night’s incident to Shin Hye. ‘You remember? blah.blah.blah’ (Please forgive my laziness^^)

            ‘What? He’s that kind of guy. I can’t believe it. No, it’s not that I don’t believe you. I can’t imagine him acting like that

drunk guy. He seems like a decent guy. We’ve to be careful of him. Eunjung, just erase this incident & focus on your study,

ok?’ Shin Hye comforted her.

            ‘Yeah, you’re right.’

            Another couple of hours flied away swiftly.

            On the other hand, at the teachers’ room, Jae Joong was constantly thinking about Eunjung. Why do her eyes look

alike to ‘hers’? The same black spinel color, deligient, enthusiastic, ambitious eyes… phew… I must stop now.’

            Yoo Chun was using the computer and noticed Jae Joong lost in thoughts. ‘Jae Joong-ah, how’s your first

demonstration? Is everything ok?’

            ‘Ah, yes, it’s alright. I’m amazed the students are very diligent. I’ve found no difficulties.’

            ‘Of course, they are. By the way, don’t get too inebriated again like last night. Do you know how much trouble I’ve had

to get you to your apartment? Unless some kind-hearted passerby searched your phone and dialed me, you’d be dead by

now. Let bygones be bygones. It’s been seven years. You have your own life. Make good use of it.’ After Yoo chun had said

all he had wanted, he went back to the computer.

            ‘Yeah, you’re right. Thanks fri,’ Jae Joong murmured. But he doubted he could do that.

Somewhere in Jae Company, Kim Chairman was having a private meeting with a middle-aged man and a younger

woman. ‘My son’s arrived. But he seems he isn’t over her yet. I’ve no choice but to proceed with our agreement. Miss

Hyuna, are you ready to sacrifice your life?’

            The girl confidently replied with no hesitation, ‘Yes, Kim Chairman. You know my love for him.’

            ‘So, Mr. Son Hyeon Ju, please accomplish my request as nearly as possible. I want it to be realistic and natural. I’ll

provide you with everything you want. Please just fulfill my wish.’ Chairman spoke those words to the man, half-begging &

half-ordering.

            ‘Yeah, Chairman, please be assured. You have my words,’ the man guaranteed with certainty.