Chapter 1
The Inevitable DeathSeolhwa walked slowly as she hopped down from the bus. The winter breeze made her body shiver in response, but it didn’t bother her at all. After all, today was her first day of being detective. Her main goal was to impress whoever she was going to work with, displaying her skills obtained from the academy. A wide smile formed on her face as she stopped at the big, dull building before her.
‘Seoul Police Office’
Police offices in fact, never made her scared. She walked closer to the police office, pushing the door open and making her way into a warmer, heated room that brought little colour back to her pale cheeks.
“Is there something I can help you with, miss?” A police officer asked her, before she could move further into the building. He was standing by with two other men wearing the similar uniform.
Seolhwa looked up to the person, finding a man who seemed a little bit older; probably by a year or two. He stood with two other men who all wore uniform that was thoroughly ironed and neat until the folds could be seen. “Oh, Annyeonghaseyo. Park Seolhwaimnida.” She introduced herself while giving them a polite bow. “I’m actually a new detective here, but I still don’t know where I’m assigned to.” She gave them a small smile, a little embarrassed about her problem.
“If that’s the matter, you could walk to the first room on your left side and find Officer Cho. He’ll take you to your assigned place. By the way, I’m Jongin.” He took out his hand from his pants pocket and pointed his hand to his co-workers to introduce them. “This is Minho and Jonghyun.” They bowed at her and she replied the gesture.
“Thank you for help.” She thanked them and walked straight to find the room Jongin told her. When she found the room, she knocked twice before opening the door and walking inside. “Excuse me. Are you officer Cho?” She asked a male officer before her. He nodded his head without looking up from his computer screen. “Annyeonghaseyo, Park Seolhwaimnida. I’m a new detective here but I still don’t know where I’m assigned to. I met an officer named Jongin who told me I should look for you about it.” She told him even though he didn’t leave his gaze from his computer screen. Yet she knew he listened to the things she just mentioned.
“Ah, Park Seolhwa.” He suddenly stood up from his seat, lifting his hand for a hand shake. “Nice to meet you. I’m Cho Kyuhyun, from public relation department. I’m glad you’re here. We need more people lately.” He smiled at her before he continued, “Please wait a minute. You could sit on that chair while I save some files.”
Seolhwa sat on the chair at the corner of the room as she watched Officer Cho shuffle around and type in his working space. After a few minutes, Officer Cho led her outside his office.
The walk to her assigned place was full of silence as the two of them shut their mouth. Officer Cho walked in front of her, leading the way. They walked through many aisles to the back of the building. He stopped in front a closed room and mouthed her a good luck without giving her a single clue about the department she was assigned at.
Seolhwa knocked on the door and entered when she heard a faint ‘come in’ from inside the room. Walking in slowly, she found a young man sitting on his seat with half of his face covered by his hair, his desk full of papers, files and photos. When she walked closer to the desk, a quick look was enough to register that those photos weren’t particularly the best to give sweet dreams at night.
“Annyeonghaseyo. Park Seolhwaimnida. I’m the new assigned detective here.” She introduced herself to the person in front of her. He only nodded his head in return. “Ehm, actually what department is this?” She couldn’t help but ask him out of curiosity. Well, more to confirm her rising suspicions. After all, Officer Cho left her with a worded good luck.
That question got his attention as he stared at her with an unreadable expression. As he looked up, she stared at his surprisingly young face. A pair of big doe eyes, a sharp nose and a small pair of lips in a thin line. He was really good looking but she somehow felt that he wasn’t the most friendly or approachable.
“You have no clue what department this is?” He asked her with such an expression, as if he didn’t believe her. Like she was a fool for asking such kind a question.
The response given only made Seolhwa annoyed. “If I knew what department this is, I wouldn’t ask you, Sir.” She answered him shortly whilst rolling her eyes.
Her small gesture didn’t go unnoticed by him. He scoffed and took a photo from his desk. He lifted it in front of her face.”What do you think this is?”
The photo in front of her gave her an image of a bloody body on a chair with the head drooping low. The neck had a deep cut which explained the dead body. From the deep cut, blood was dripping down below, soaking the white shirt in a deep, gruesome red.
“Corpse,” she said shortly. “So what do you think this department is?” He repeated the question.
The image of that photo allowed her to conclude something she didn’t want to realize before. “Wait…is this homicide division?” She blurted.
“The one and only,” he said whilst trying to stifle his laugh. For him, her expression was priceless when she realized that she was assigned to homicide division. Her eyes and mouth were wide open.
“Welcome to the homicide division Miss Park. You’re assigned to be my assistant as you’re a new detective with no experience in this field yet.” He welcomed her with a slight smirk. “Well… that’s your desk,” he pointed to a desk in the right corner of that room. “You could start with finishing my report. I’ll send the files in a moment,” he continued.
Seolhwa walked to her desk as realization dawned upon on her. She had never thought she’ll end up in the homicide division. If she were to choose, any other division besides homicide would be fine. She wasn’t a big fan of blood, moreover corpses.
She sat on her seat, turning on the computer. She turned her head around the room, observing her work place. The room wasn’t big and only three big desks were placed around. The wall was dull and lifeless. Well… this was homicide division, where all the cases were to deal with lifeless bodies. The atmosphere of this place is just perfect, Seolhwa thought.
The computer before her made a sound, notifying her of a new email. The files he had mentioned earlier had arrived in her inbox. Opening the file, she placed it into a new folder created on her desktop. From the half made report that was sent to her, she got some information.
The person who sent the report was named Luhan, the head of the Homicide division. He actually worked in that case with Kim Minseok, a senior detective of the division. They closed the case after months working on it. The thing that made the case hard to close was to catch the murderer. He escaped to Japan after police tried to catch him.
Seolhwa worked on the report for hours as she typed and typed. When she finished it, she leaned her back against the chair, feeling exhausted but satisfied. She took a glance at her wrist, the watch displaying exactly 1 p.m. She was too absorbed in completing the report, that she didn’t realize lunch hour had already passed by. In the end, Seolhwa dragged her famished self towards the cafeteria.
The cafeteria was actually quite big that it could accommodate around thirty people. The corner of the room was aligned with several vending machines, differing from drinks to snacks. On the right side from the cafeteria’s door, an old lady stood behind a row filled with food provided by her.
Seolhwa picked up a tray and let the old lady fill it up with a range of foods. After saying thank you to her, she towards an empty table, preferring to be a loner on her first day. As she ate, Seoulhwa found the food appetizing.After finishing her late lunch, she walked towards the vending machines, purchasing a coke and a few snacks.
When she entered the office, Luhan was nowhere to be found, and so as Minseok who wasn’t checked in since morning.
She walked to her seat, turning on her computer again and sent the finished report back to Luhan. After that there was nothing to work on anymore for her. Seolhwa then decided to utilize her time by reading through past homicide cases, expanding her knowledge.
Since Luhan wasn’t present, reading homicide cases were not an option. Seolhwa then decided to use this available time to eat snacks instead. She opened the can of coke, taking a few sips before munching on a candy bar.
She was practically on her third candy bar when Luhan barged into the room, startling her in a weird way. The candy bar was half dangling inside , her hand on the wrapper and her eyes wide open because of the shock.
On the other hand, Luhan seemed to be in a hurry to get into the room. He picked up his coat and wore it immediately. After that he took his bag and slung it on his shoulder.
"Park, get all your things with you and meet me outside in 10 minutes."
"Why? Is there any problem? You seem in a hurry."
“Don't ask too much. Just meet me outside in ten." He said, walking outside
Seolhwa walked outside exactly ten minutes after Luhan went out. Her glance met Luhan halfway. He leaned against his car waiting for her to come. After seeing Seolhwa, he got into the car and open the passenger seat from the inside.
"Park, get in quickly."
Seolhwa fastened her steps, getting in immediately. She put on the seatbelt without Luhan telling her to do so. She didn't question him either because it looked urgent, judging from his actions.
The drive was silent but not awkward. Neither Luhan nor Seolhwa let out a sound. Luhan was entirely focused on the driving whilst Seolhwa looked outside through the window beside her.
Luhan increased the speed, making a sharp turn to the right, causing Seolhwa to grip onto her seatbelt. He stepped on the brake after his navigator informed he had reached his destination. Drive with Luhan didn't seem safe at all and Seolhwa made a mental note about that.
He pressed the red button to remove his seatbelt, glancingat her making sure she also did the same thing before he got out from his car.
The two of them made their way into an apartment block, which looked rundown, dirty and cheap. The wall was peeled off and dirty.
"Sir, which floor are we heading to?"
"We are required on room 508. I think it's on the fifth floor." He said, looking behind to Seolhwa.
She tried to find an elevator but found nothing. They actually needed to climb up the stairs to get to the fifth floor.
Seolhwa inwardly sighed but started to climb up the stairs to the fifth floor. On the third floor she's already exhausted but continued nonetheless. She made a mental note to work out more after this.Being a detective required stamina.
Finally arriving on the fifth floor, they walked down along the quiet hallway to room 508. The hallway though was too quiet for Seolhwa’s taste. Too quiet that it gave her goosebumps.
Luhan opened the door quickly. Which she thought was weird as the owner didn't lock the door.
They walked into the place, passing through the living room and heading towards the bedroom.
In front of the bedroom, they found an officer waiting for them. The officer opened the door for them and stepped outside, allowing them to enter after giving a polite bow to both Luhan and Seolhwa.
Luhan opened his bag, putting on a pair of gloves. He took out another pair, handing it to Seolhwa. Luhan motioned her to follow him towards the bed.
On the bed, a dead body - which similarly represented a woman - was drenched in her own blood. Her skin was pale and they could see that her life had been already out from her body. She lied there lifeless as stone.
Luhan stood next to the bed, inspecting the corpse without touching it. His face was stoic without any expression. On the other hand, Seolhwa stood there stiff as a rock. The feeling was overwhelming for her. She could see a pool of blood in front of her, not more than a foot. Her stomach churned with a nauseous feeling.
"Park, help me hold the corpse. I need to inspect it," He told her, moving closer to the corpse.
She silently obeyed his order and followed his steps closer to the corpse.
"Take some pictures as a part of the report first. Then help me to inspect the corpse." He commanded.
Seolhwa took out a camera from her bag and started to take some pictures of the room. After that, she moved closer to Luhan, giving him the camera. He pointed his finger to the corpse silently ordering Seolhwa to inspect the corpse.
She crouched down carefully not to step on the pool of blood around the corpse. Looking at the corpse,Seolhwa found the eyeballs misplaced, as if the corpse stared back at her with no eyes at all.
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