The Last Case I

The file case fell down on the table with a pat. The Head Inspector Choi sighed and drummed on the arm rest with his fingers.

“How long am I supposed to look for a culprit? I have talked to everyone, looked everywhere!”

“ I don’t want to close this case yet.”

“ It’s been three months already. There’s still no clue. I can’t solve it!”

“ You can’t or you don’t want to?”

Inspector Jung Yunho looked at his supervisor with gritted teeth. The case of a highschooler, Lee Donghae, was supposed to be his last case before his early retirement. He was tired and wanted to quit being detective.

“ Head Inspector… I won’t change my decision…”

“ I don’t want you to change your decision. I want you to lead this case to the end decently, like you always did.” Yunho rolled his eyes and murmured a little irritated “ Yes, I understand.”

The man stood up and left the room. While strolling down the corridor he put his hands into his pockets. The office was busy as a bees’s hive. People were running with piles of documents in their arms; others were talking over the phone or were busy with the copier. Yunho bent over a young lady’s desk and said:

“ Younji-ah, I need you to check again the highschooler's disappearance cases dating back at least three months.”

“Aigoo, again?  But it was all what I could find.” Younji looked troubled.

“ I know, but I need to find the clue. Anything will be good. Check if there’s anything we’ve missed.” She nodded her head and Younho walked away.

He sat at his stall in the office. On the walls there was hanging plenty of notes, pictures and paper cuts. He glanced at the photos of Lee Donghae and Han Sunhwa, two highschoolers that he was looking for. Both of them had disappeared without a trace, suddenly and for unknown reasons. Or maybe he really didn’t want to solve that case? Maybe he wasn’t focusing on it enough, since one thing he thought about was breaking away from work? He glanced at a photo of a petite woman with fire-red hair and a frivolous smile. Her name was Jia. She had come from China to train dancing and now was working as a dance instructor. They had met in a bar where Yunho had been leading some investigation once. They had appealed to each other and had decided to live together. Thanks to Jia’s energetic personality Yunho had become less grumpy and neurotic and in return he had given her a feeling of trust. This way they had become a couple at last.

He sighed and started to research through his notes, once again, to find something he might’ve overlooked.

“Lee Donghae, student in Seoul High School, class 3.

Disappeared in the middle of the night, June 15th, after coming home from school. Bullying and bad relations with teachers excluded.”

“No trails found at the scene.” 

“Han Sunhwa, student in Seoul High School, class 1.Disappeared after leaving for school, in the morning of June 21st.

Her bicycle has been found, abandoned in front of the entrance to the old tunnel in Gwanak District.

Bullying and bad relations with teachers excluded” 

The searches in the tunnel had been ineffectual since it was many, many kilometers long. They hadn't found the body either. It’s like the girl had simply vanished. Yunho decided to go to that place and examine it.

Once he was at the place, he felt cold misgiving. The weather was chilly; autumn was really close and nobody could’ve stopped that. The days were mostly still sunny, but the smell of faded leaves was hovering in the air.

The tunnel was dark, following into the depths of the ground. It had probably been used in war as a way of recession from the occupied city. But why had a continuously expanding city like Seoul not gotten rid of it yet? It must’ve been really meaningful.

Yunho stared for a moment into the tunnel’s abyss.The man felt like it was calling for him. He took a step closer like he’d like to go inside. He could hear something move, walking or running fast inside, and it was getting closer and closer. Yunho waited in a tension and was ready to strike in the event of danger. Now he could also hear the breathing of something approaching him. Yunho placed his hand on his gun but then he was knocked down by the blazed, white head of hair.

With a gasp, the detective stood up from the ground and brushed off the dust from his grey suit. Rubbing his forehead he leered with a mad eye at the bony figure of Lee Hyukjae.

It was a friend of one of the missing kids; he remembered him because of his funny hairstyle.

“ Ya! What are you doing?” He growled.

“ I’m trying to solve the case.” Said Hyukjae, also raising from the ground again.

“ You? I couldn’t and you think you’ll do any better?”

“ At least I haven’t given up so easily like you.” Yunho raised is arm in a hitting gesture.

“ Don’t you talk to me informally!” he walked over to his car. “ Get in!”

Hyukjae sat on the front seat next to Yunho. His face was grumpy and arms folded in act of objection.

“ The Head Inspector wants me to start this investigation again. That’s why I was there.”

The boy didn't speak. Yunho sighed and rolled his eyes. I don’t want to squabble with this kid! I want to go home! To Jia!, he thought.

“ Then, so, did you find anything?” He asked the highschooler who only shook his head. He apparently decided not to be angry at him. “ I’ll get you home.” He added. In that moment he got a message:

“ Yunho-nim, I’ve checked the files as you asked. Couldn’t find anything new, though. But I found something that you'll maybe be interested in. I am sending you some documents about the disappearance of an old lady. Her granddaughter is in the psychiatric hospital at xxx. Talk to her. Y.”  

The woman had disappeared at night, two months ago. Her granddaughter had been sent to the psychiatric hospital after she had stated that her grandmother was possessed by a demon.

Yunho briefly read the notes on his ipad. He dropped off Hyukjae at the verge of the street and drove to the hospital. The detective was about to meet up with a young woman that probably was not able to tell the truth from illusion.

Her room was on the third floor, number 201. When he walked down the hospital’s corridor, one of patients had an panic attack. She was screaming that her husband came back from the dead and wants to kill her. Yunho tried to ignore the ruckus around the woman and was focusing on counting numbers on the doors. The name of the young woman he wanted to meet was Choi Sooyoung. She was sitting on the bed, reading a book. Yunho glanced at the title. The Demons. After introducing himself he told her that he wanted to ask her a few questions.

“ Good. At last someone is taking care of this. I know, it sounds so freaky.” she laughed lightly.” But I swear, what I say is the truth.”

Yunho rubbed his chin and looked her straight in the eyes.

“ Tell me, what happened that night?”

It was already evening when the detective stood in front of Choi Sooyoung’s house. The windows were dark and the area was so quiet, he could even hear  the pounding of his own heart in his ears. The door was closed and shut with police tape. He teared it off and opened the entrance with a key he had been able to get from Sooyoung.

Yunho the lights; the electricity was working fine right now, and so he slowly started to climb up the stairs. The door to the room of the grandma’s deceased husband was closed and couldn’t be opened. Yunho tried to twist the doorknob but it had no effect. He still doubted the girl’s story. What if she was indeed insane? He kneeled and lowered his head so he could see through the crevice between the door and floor. But of course it was too dark to see anything. The man stood up and with a sigh left the house. While driving away, he couldn't see that in the place he had stood a few minutes ago, a mysterious person appeared. He was holding an axe…  

We're getting slowly to the end... Few more chapters and the riddle will be solved. But don't worry! There will be next series - Horror Stories from Seoul, vol. 2 :)

I have so much fun writing. Thank you for all your subsciptions!

Have a good day!

Love you!

M.