Ten

It took at least an hour for Inseong to explain whatever he had deduced to the Chief, but by the end of it, the entire police station was listening to him with rapt attention. Meanwhile, Jiho could only look at his partner with a sense of pride in his eyes; the other had never really wanted any fame and popularity for his work, but now he would be applauded for his intelligence. A few glances at Chief Han’s face in the beginning spoke of the disapproval the older man felt regarding Inseong’s unofficial and unsupervised investigation, but as the pieces of the puzzle began connecting, his stern expression gave way to understanding and slight relief.

“You seem pretty relaxed about this whole thing,” Hansol whispered, and Jiho merely gave a shrug and a smirk. The former gasped dramatically, shaking his head in disbelief. “You knew all about it, didn’t you?”

“I mean, we are partners,” he said simply, his smile fading into a more serious expression as the Chief walked over to his desk with Inseong in tow. His partner had an alarmed and guilty look on his face for getting the other involved in the case, but their police chief’s behaviour said otherwise.

“If what Inseong told us is true, then we have less than twenty-four hours to determine who either the culprit is, or the victim,” he said, the juniors nodding silently. “I can’t get an all-points bulletin issued, for we don’t know how this man looks like – he was careful about attacking Detective Jeong in a place with no surveillance cameras. Seeing as how the murderer leaves no traces, I want all four of you,” he continued, pointing to each of them one after the other, “to find out as much as we can about the victims.

“Detectives Kim Byungjoo, Kim Hansol: head over to Gangneung immediately to investigate the area where our second victim Kim Minjeong was found. Once that is done, interrogate any and all people related in any way to Lee Hyunjoo. I want you two to be done with these two tasks and back here at the earliest,” he instructed, the four juniors – including Inseong – amazed at the older man’s sharp memory. The Chief then turned to the other two, not wasting any breath. “Jiho and Inseong, I want you two here in Seoul to inspect the crime scene of the first victim. Search around as much as you want, but get back to the station as quickly as possible to go over everything with me and the others.

“I am sending more teams to Boryeong, Yeongyang and Seongju, and every single one of you shall be given access to any information you might require. Any questions?” He waited for their response, and gave a brief, satisfactory nod as each one of them shook their heads, before gesturing to them to grab their things and leave the station. The detectives were quick in their actions, the urgency of the situation evident on their faces as they exuded serious tension.

“Boys,” Chief Han called out as they reached the door, and they turned around to look at their boss. “I would very much prefer it if all officers involved in this come out unharmed,” he said, voice hard but eyes showing slight concern. “Especially you, Jeong Inseong.”

The guy in question could feel the man’s gaze linger for a few extra seconds on his bandaged wounds, and his cheeks burned faintly with embarrassment as he urged his colleagues and smirking partner out the door. Outside, the two pairs exchanged hasty goodbyes, heading over to the two police cars that had been made available to them, each driving off to their instructed destinations.

There wasn’t really much left to look over at the scene of the first murder, and even if there had been any traces that would have led them to the man, they had most probably been walked over by some random passerby. A month had passed since the incident, and the police had had no choice but to open the park back up for the people. After receiving news of the organ traffickers’ arrest, however, all the four places where the bodies had been discovered had been cordoned off by the police at lightning fast speed, and even as the two detectives searched the area, a small crowd had begun to form around them, whispering amongst themselves; a few had even started taking photos on their phones, no doubt to upload on social media and cause further rumours.

As promised, the Chief had given them full access to the case files, and Jiho had contacted the person who had been the first to discover the body, asking him to come over for further questioning. Unfortunately, he hadn’t noticed anything else that could be considered as a lead, and reluctantly, the two officers had to end their search and return to the police station a little before evening, all thoughts of having any lunch totally slipping from their minds.

Back at their workplace, a few senior officers were already hunched over numerous files, and Inseong and Jiho joined them, trying to find any points of similarity between the four victims. It proved to be a lot harder than they had thought; neither had they been born in the same place, nor did they attend the same school during their years of education. Apart from the first two being doctors, they didn’t even have the same job, and none of them had any connection to each other through any of their relatives, close or distant.

It was close to ten o’clock when Inseong leaned back heavily in his chair, letting out a soft groan as he roughly ran a hand through his hair, mussing it up in frustration. His partner was not feeling too different himself, and they both heard loud growls coming from the other, holding a hand to their stomachs and chuckling sheepishly at each other. Senior detective Jeon Hojoon walked over, placing a hand on Jiho’s shoulder with an encouraging smile.

“Let us not lose hope, boys, okay?” He said, patting his subordinate’s shoulder. “Chief Han went ahead and ordered food for everyone. You’ve worked really hard till now, let’s all take a collective effort and nab this guy, all right?” His reassuring words made the two feel a bit better, and they gave their senior a grateful bow each, turning to look at the door as a delivery guy entered with steel boxes full of food. Everyone took a short break as they dug in, having worked up quite an impressive appetite.

“Hey, Jiho,” the taller of the two spoke up between bites, eyebrows knitted together in a frown. “What do you think, will I really be fired after this is over?” Despite him saying over and over that he did not care about losing his job, Inseong really loved working in the police department, and it would hurt if the Chief fired him when he was only trying to do his job. Sitting across him, Jiho pondered over the question for a few seconds, before shaking his head.

“I doubt it,” he began, his voice taking on a comforting note as his lips gave way to an easy smile. “Despite you having acted out of authority, you and the Chief have one goal in mind, which is to arrest the man behind this all, and see to it that he is safely behind bars for all his crimes. But,” he added, “let’s think about that later. We are nowhere close to finding out who this mystery man is, and we have a long night ahead of us.” The other nodded, taking faster, bigger bites of his food, albeit being careful as to not choke on it. Everyone in the department knew that they would have to stay the night at the station, and they were all ready for it; it was their job, after all. Once he was done with dinner, Inseong sent a quick message to Seungjun saying that he was swamped with work, and wouldn’t be home for the night. He had half a mind to apologise for behaving the way he had the other night, but after thinking about what he was currently in the process of doing, he wasn’t sure if that was such a good idea. He decided he would properly explain everything to his housemates once this nightmare was over, and apologise sincerely.

His phone buzzed after a few minutes, and he checked the reply from the older guy with a soft smile on his face. ‘Take care.’ They were just two words, but it made him feel a lot better as he went back to his work, talking with Jiho and a few other officers about the next best step, since they had begun running out of strategies. Once again, there was a small part of his mind that kept saying they were forgetting to check something very important, but that voice was too small and soon, it was silenced by the rest of his brain.

Having pulled an all-nighter, exhaustion and fatigue could be seen on every single police officer’s face, and as early Friday morning approached, they started taking naps so as to not collapse while on duty the whole day. Inseong, sitting on his chair, was asleep, too, head lolling to one side as he breathed softly, his hands in his lap with the fingers interlocked. Near him, Jiho was talking to one of his colleagues, both expressing their disappointment about nothing having turned up in their research about the victims. Inseong’s phone started vibrating noisily from its place on his desk, and the guy jerked awake, taking a sharp intake of breath as he fought to get rid of the drowsiness enveloping his mind. He grabbed the phone, peering at the unknown number flashing on the screen. He exchanged a quick look with his partner before answering the call, visibly grimacing at the loud voice on the other end.

Less than a minute later, the caller hung up, and the junior detective sighed, rubbing his face with one palm. “What happened?” Jiho asked, and the other shook his head somewhat miserably, straightening himself in his chair.

“Remember that old lady?” He said, watching as realisation dawned on the other guy’s face, followed by a pitiful grimace. “That day, before we left, I had given her my number so that she would hopefully stop bothering the entire police department. Turns out she wants to bother me now,” he said, only half kidding as he stood up, his partner blinking in confusion.

“Wait, don’t tell me you are going to abandon this,” he said, making a circular motion around himself with a finger, “and go to help her?” His confusion only increased as Inseong nodded, pocketing his phone and slipping one hand in the sleeve of his overcoat. “We need you here, Inseong,” Jiho insisted, and the other rolled his eyes.

“Please, I’m just one person, what difference is it going to make if I’m here or not?” He said, shrugging lightly as he adjusted the beige overcoat on his shoulders. “Besides, as per the plan everyone has formulated, there will be officers posted at every other block throughout the city, so I don’t think there’s much for me to do now except wait for the guy to make his next move and get caught.” Inseong wasn’t lying; with the amount of surveillance Seoul would be under for the whole day, there was little chance of the murderer being able to kidnap anyone. He briefly talked to the Chief to ask for permission to leave, Jiho promising he would join his partner within a couple hours.

Please, someone just kill me already, Inseong groaned inwardly as he gazed warily at the old woman sitting next to him on the sofa. She had clung to him possessively the moment he had entered her house, and now he regretted the decision to come over with every fibre of his being, mentally cursing at himself every chance he could get. The woman had a new housekeeper Lee Minah, a young lady in her late twenties who usually kept a close watch on her charge so that she wouldn’t trouble the police every waking moment; somehow, today was the day the girl had failed to pay continuous attention. Inseong had been informed by her that the poor lady suffered from dementia, which explained why she had suddenly thought he was her son. He felt bad for her, but at the moment, he felt even worse for himself as she made him look through old photo albums of her family.

An hour and a few minutes later, he heard familiar voices, and looked over his shoulder to see his partner being escorted inside by the housekeeper. Inseong stared at him with wide eyes, silently begging for help as the girl walked over to peek into the album. “Oh, so you’ve moved on to the college class photographs now,” Minah noted with a smile and a sympathetic glance towards the detective, before turning and heading to the kitchen. The old lady had told him that her husband had been a professor in one of the popular medical colleges in Seoul, and presently, she peered at every year’s class photo with interest, her aged, shaking fingers always resting for a few long seconds on the teacher’s face. Jiho stood behind the couch, gazing casually at the photographs, knowing that Inseong had given up on being able to escape for at least a few more hours. A while later, the housekeeper walked back into the living room, sighing faintly at the passion with which the older woman talked about every picture.

“My brother was in that college, too,” she said lightly, and the two men gave her a nod each. The other woman huffed, dismissing the girl with a wave of her hand.

“You’ve already told me that so many times,” she complained, turning back to the album, completely oblivious to the sighs the detectives let out. Jiho patted his partner on the shoulder, who shook his head slightly in return. A moment later, however, Inseong found his eyes zeroing in on the face of one of the students, frowning as he wondered why the man seemed so familiar. He pointed to the guy and looked over his shoulder at his colleague. “Why do I feel like I know this guy?” He asked, which made the other frown and peer at the photo.

“That’s strange, I think I’ve seen him somewhere, too,” he muttered, and Inseong let out a loud gasp, plucking his phone out of a pocket. He scrolled through a few pictures he had taken, stopping at one of them: that of a deceased guy lying on a bare, steel bed in the autopsy lab. “Kang Jaewon,” he whispered, referring to the third victim.

“How is that possible?” Jiho countered, taking a hold of the other’s phone even as he knew Inseong was right; he looked quite younger in the class photograph, but there was no mistaking the resemblance. The two detectives exchanged sombre, urgent looks before the taller guy clutched the album, pulling it in his lap as he murmured an apology to the old woman, who seemed to have kind of given up on her ‘son’, busying herself with something else. He made some room for his partner on the couch, and they flipped a few pages back till they found the one they were looking for: an older class, with a much younger looking Kim Minjeong, victim number two. A few more searches, and they ended up with two more photos; they had found the pictures with victims Song Youngji and Lee Hyunjoo as well.

“I don’t understand,” Jiho began, his brow knitted together in utter bewilderment. “The second two victims were college dropouts. One was a businessman, and the other a florist, for crying out loud. Why would they be in a medical college?”

Inseong had the same questions running in his mind for quite a while now, and he let out a long, painful sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger. “That’s what we have been overlooking all along, Jiho,” he said, looking up at to meet the other’s eyes. “All of us had been so focused on the fact that they had different hometowns and careers, that we didn’t even think about checking what colleges they had attended.” The other man stared at him wide-eyed as the pieces began clicking together in his mind.

“So this is it?” He whispered, glancing at the album. “Is this the link we have been searching for?”

The housekeeper came back to see the two officers looking back and forth between a few photographs they had removed from the album. “Are those photos really that important to you?” She asked, receiving slightly vague nods in return.

“We’re trying to see if there’s a common student in the ones we’ve picked,” Jiho said, although it was a little difficult for them to try and find the same face in all four. The girl bent over, examining the pictures for a few seconds before she straightened with a smile.

“That’s easy, I found him already,” she said, and the men’s heads whipped up in surprise.

“Seriously?” Inseong asked, wondering with slight suspicion how she could do it that quickly. Lee Minah nodded with another smile, pointing at a guy in each of the photos one after the other, letting the detectives take a few seconds to compare his face in one photo to that in the others.

“He’s my brother, the one I told you about: Lee Dongwon,” she provided helpfully, which was all the men needed as they exchanged looks yet again, this time a determined energy in their gazes. Inseong grabbed his shoulder bag as they both shot up from their seats, turning his attention to the young woman.

“I’m sorry, ma’am, but we are going to need your assistance. Could you please ask one of the neighbours to look after her,” he said, motioning towards the aged lady, “while you accompany us to the police station?” He asked, taking the album of class photos with him as they tried to persuade the girl.

“Good job, detectives,” Chief Han said as he proudly looked at the two, who were currently poring over all the information about Lee Dongwon the database had provided them with, while Lee Minah sat in a chair a little ways from them, unsure as to why the police were so interested in her older brother. So far, all they had done was ask her about his behavioural patterns and tendencies, family history, and mainly, where he lived.

A couple other officers were assisting Inseong and Jiho, but there still was one thing no one wanted to voice out loud: among all the citizens of Seoul who might have once attended this particular college, who was the fifth victim? Even after having found such a major lead, they did not have the liberty to feel even a little relaxed. Going by what the woman had told them about this man, he was intelligent, slightly boastful at times, but had never once shown any violent tendencies. There had been no incidents in his family that would have made his life painful in any way, and the house at the address she had given them was totally empty; in fact, there were no signs of anyone having lived there for at least half a year.

It was well past noon, and Inseong was starting to get more fidgety by the minute; they had not received any suspicious reports from the officers stationed out all over the city. Photographs of the man had been circulated, an APB was finally issued as well, yet there was no sign of him. Could it happen that the murderer might not even show up because of all the security? He doubted that would happen; after everything the guy had done so far, a perfectionist like him wouldn’t give up. His phone buzzed, and he snapped out of his thoughts, frowning as he read Oh Heejun’s name on the caller ID before picking up.

“Inseong-hyung, have you heard anything from Seungjun-hyung the whole day?” He asked in a soft voice, and the older guy could heard a slight buzz of people in the background.

“I haven’t, what’s wrong?” He questioned, hearing a sigh from the youngest. He took a peek at his wristwatch; it was almost three in the afternoon.

“My supervisor’s classes got over early today, so I came here to hyung’s café, but he’s not here. His employees said he hasn’t been to work at all today.” This piece of information was alarming to Inseong, as there wasn’t a single day when the chef would not be working in his café. “I asked Youjin-hyung and Jihun-hyung as well, but they don’t know, either,” the kid rambled nervously, while with his heart in his throat, the junior detective pulled the album closer, flipping through the pages for photos of newer batches of students as Jiho stepped closer, glancing between Inseong and the album. The taller guy’s index finger came to a rest on the photo of a young, smiling Park Seungjun, standing next to Youjin. Standing a few places from the two was the same Lee Dongwon they had been looking for. He had completely forgotten that they had both been medical college students.

Taking a couple deep breaths, Inseong forced himself to stay as calm as he could for the sake of the younger guy on the other end of the line. “Heejun, listen to me,” he said, interrupting the boy mid-sentence, “do not go anywhere alone. Stay in the café, a few police officers will be there soon to you home.” He looked at the Chief briefly, who understood and turned to instruct two detectives to do the same. Inseong threw his boss a grateful look, and continued, “On your way home, pick Youjin-hyung and Jihun up, and do not leave the house at any costs. Stay together, and don’t worry about Seungjun-hyung, he will be fine.” Who exactly are you trying to convince, Inseong? He asked himself as he ended the call, and sat heavily on a chair as his legs gave way. Jiho stared at him worriedly, watching his partner close his eyes and ball his fists.

“Inseong, don’t jump to conclusions,” he warned even as he knew how stupid that sounded. No one else in the city had been reported missing apart from Inseong’s flatmate, and Lee Dongwon had not been sighted either. Seungjun had been one of the latter’s classmates in college. There were not many conclusions to be drawn from this except the obvious: Park Seungjun was the man’s final target. The problem? They did not know where else to look for the culprit.

Inseong brought a fist down on the table loudly, startling everyone standing near him, even the Chief. “If it is indeed Seungjun-hyung, then he must have been kidnapped somewhere between seven and eight today morning – that’s the time when he usually leaves for work.” His colleagues were somewhat shocked at the unwavering way in which he spoke, and Jiho realised grimly that Inseong was trying his best to not let emotions cloud his mind. The latter glanced at his watch, sighing softly. “That leaves us with barely two to three hours to find him and save him.”

He stood up abruptly, pacing around in front of Chief Han, who – surprisingly – remained silent as he let his junior speak. “There must be something,” he said, more to himself than to the others, “some clue or indication as to where the man must be.” He halted, spinning around on his feet to look at Jiho. “That night, when he attacked me! I don’t think it was to necessarily scare me as much as it must have been to talk to me without revealing himself. What was it that he said…” he trailed off, his eyes fluttering shut for a moment.

‘…even if it is for the first and the last time.’

“The first place ever… which would also be the last place we would think of,” he muttered, eyes widening in realisation as he strode across the station to where the young woman was sitting. “Miss Lee Minah, where did you live with your brother in the past?”

She frowned, tilting her head. “At the same address I had given–”

“Not that!” He exclaimed, interjecting impatiently. “The first ever house after your birth,” he prodded, hoping against hope that his hunch was correct.

“Well, there was this one place we had outside the city, close to Bucheon…”

It turned out to be a two-storey bungalow on the outskirts of Bucheon, surrounded by a few buildings and what would have been lush green fields if it weren’t for the currently cold weather and occasional snowfall. Inseong and Jiho had left the police station the minute they got the address from the young lady, the former insisting that the Chief not send an entire van full of officers – it was only one man, after all. He had driven to the place at breakneck speed, covering the distance within fifteen minutes.

Presently, the two males alighted from the car, taking a look at the medium-sized house as they reached the outer gate. Inseong lay a hand on his partner’s arm, shaking his head lightly. “Stay here, I’ll go inside,” he said, receiving a glare from the other.

“Don’t be silly, I am coming with you,” he protested firmly, only for his colleague to give another shake of his head.

“I need you to be my backup, Jiho, so that you can call the Chief for more officers, if required. Plus, I don’t want to overwhelm that guy in any way, so I hope you don’t come inside at any point of time,” he added, although he and Jiho both knew the real reason behind Inseong going alone. The man had hurt one of his housemates and kidnapped another; he had made it personal. The shorter of the two nodded, taking his gun in one hand and mobile phone in the other. Inseong grabbed his own gun as well, soundlessly opening the gate and trotting to the front door.

It was unlocked, which confirmed his theory about the man wanting him to come here, and he quietly slipped inside, closing it behind him. His gaze wandered around the house to check if there were any security cameras installed anywhere – he could not see a single one. Inside, the house looked like any other normal, moderately decorated bungalow, with actual signs of presence of a person. There was a stack of recent newspapers neatly placed on the couch, and on the kitchen counter, washed utensils had been laid out to dry. The entire place felt airy and cozy, and in any other circumstance, Inseong wouldn’t have believed that a murderer lived here.

He meticulously checked out every room on the lower as well as the upper floor, but there was no one to be found. However, he couldn’t shake off the feeling that someone was present somewhere in the house – call it his detective’s instinct – and he walked back into the kitchen, mildly surprised to find a door leading to the backyard. He went back out, realising that this area was completely hidden from view for anyone on the road, due to the right-angled, L-shaped architecture of the bungalow. Clear as day, there were stairs near him leading down into what looked like a basement, the heavy wooden plank meant to cover them lying to one side. Just how confident was this guy?

Gun cocked and ready, Inseong climbed down the stairs, once again surprised as he stepped into a long corridor, with a single room at the far end. It was obvious that this basement had been made quite a few years after the house had been built, maybe even for this very plan of the guy’s. He tiptoed ahead, grasping the doorknob with his free hand, the metal cold against his palm. He took one deep breath, letting it out before swinging the door open, weapon raised.

The sight in front of him was enough to make him reel in shock. The room was big enough, storing a variety of medical and surgical equipment in glass cabinets and on steel tables. An open wooden shelf on one wall contained glass jars, and there was a surgical bed smack in the middle of the room. A seemingly unconscious Seungjun was lying down on the bed, his arms and legs strapped tightly to its steel bars. Standing right next to the bed, smirking at the detective, the scalpel in his hand inches from his former classmate’s throat was the man Inseong had been after all along.

“Lee Dongwon,” he growled, teeth clenched as he trained his gun on the man. He was in his early forties – although he definitely did not look that old – a guy with charming, handsome facial features, his dark hair resting on his forehead in neat bangs. His doe-like eyes stared condescendingly at the younger man as he let out a sharp, deep-voiced chuckle.

“Sure took you long enough to get here, Jeong Inseong. For a while, I almost thought you would show up only after this lanky fellow’s death,” he said, his low-pitched voice making a shiver run up Inseong’s spine. He tightened his hold on the gun, steely eyes gazing evenly at the serial killer.

“Drop that,” he said, nodding towards the scalpel. “Let him go, and surrender right now. If you don’t, it would take me less than two seconds to fire at you, and I won’t hesitate.”

The man let out a louder laugh this time, apparently finding the situation funny. “You really are something, I must say,” he said casually, although the smile on his face never reached his eyes. “You seriously underestimate me if you think I can’t majorly hurt him in those two seconds. No, dear boy, I want you to drop your gun this instant. Besides,” he added, “we both know you enjoy this twisted game of cat and mouse, with me always being two steps ahead of you, and you feverishly following the footprints I leave behind. It would be such a shame if I had to die at your hands right now, wouldn’t it?”

Inseong knew the man was stalling him, trying to distract him with his words so that he could meet his final goal: the completion of that wretched star pattern. He had no option, however, and was well aware of the fact that this Lee Dongwon guy could easily slash at Seungjun’s neck if he tried to shoot him. Reluctantly, he lowered his gun, letting it fall to the floor as he kept his gaze on the man.

“Very good,” the other said, smile widening as the officer stood straight. “Now all you have to do is wait with me till it’s six P.M., when it’ll finally be cutting time, and then you will watch me leave for Seongju. Although I might have to tie you up so that you don’t interrupt my work,” he mused, shaking his head amusedly. “I have to admit, you police officers can be so stupid sometimes. There were so many of you patrolling the city, yet not a single one was anywhere near Park Seungjun’s house by the time I reached there. Or should I say, your house?” He said smugly, Inseong gritting his teeth, feeling his nails dig into the palms as his hands balled into fists at his sides.

“Why him?” He asked. “Why is Seungjun-hyung the last victim? Do you have it against me that badly?”

Dongwon raised a hand, palm facing the other. “Please, don’t give yourself too much credit, Mr. Police Officer,” he said, his patronising tone only humiliating Inseong further. “First, this one wasn’t personal. I had already handpicked all my victims months ago, and I hadn’t expected anyone related to any victim to get involved. Ah, your blond friend. You can call that one collateral damage. I honestly hadn’t wanted you after me at that time.

“And second, what makes you think this guy is the last? It’s like I said, Jeong Inseong, this is going to be a game of cat and mouse, and I am going to keep killing, and you are going to helplessly keep watching me drop body after dead body. I am the star of the whole show after all, just one star is not going to be enough for me to make my mark.”

“Drop the act,” Inseong snarled, “don’t think of yourself as an artist. You are nothing but a cold-blooded murderer, out for revenge against all his old batchmates who surpassed him every year.” While they hadn’t had much time to find out everything about the man’s past, it had been enough for the detective to find out exactly why he was murdering these seemingly random people. Lee Dongwon had always been an intelligent student – he was also somewhat of a loner – according to his education records, but somehow, had never been able to secure a high rank in any of his years at the college. He had also been famous for holding grudges, as had been unwillingly revealed by his sister, always having held several of them against her for snitching on him during their childhood.

Despite Inseong’s harsh words, the murderer remained calm, shrugging slightly. “You do know a lot about me; good, less for me to explain. You know, there’s this one line in a song that I always liked. Revenge is always sweet, and chaos is the prize. It’s not just to take revenge, it’s the chaos that follows. The panic that takes over everyone’s minds. All because of something I have done,” he said in a loud, booming voice, a maniacal grin forming on his face. “Admit it, boy, isn’t it all very impressive? How perfect all of my plans were, how perfectly I executed them, how perfectly I predicted every single thing that happened after?”

“You’re perfectly sick,” Inseong spat, the other laughing once again.

“I have a favourite drink,” Lee Dongwon announced, and the other faltered, wondering where he was going with this. “It was very well-known every year in college, because I was obsessed with it. The only place it was available was in the college cafeteria: a double caramel hazelnut coffee with two shots of espresso–”

“What does that have anything to do with–”

“Let me finish,” he said coldly, glaring hotly at Inseong. “I mentioned that to every victim before kidnapping them, a final test to see if they remembered me because of the beverage. No one did. But now, the whole country will remember me for what I have done, and will keep doing. My memorabilia will also keep increasing,” he snickered, gesturing towards the glass jars behind him, and the younger man looked closely, realising in horror that there were pairs of kidneys in four of them. So that’s what he does with the kidneys he removes? Inseong realised, a sickening feeling in the pit of his stomach.

Meanwhile, Dongwon was still calm, continuing his monologue as if he were giving a speech. “I didn’t feel too angry at the first two, they studied hard and became doctors. The other three, however,” he paused, glowering at the man on the bed, “were clever enough to score more than I did, but what did they do? Dropped out, like the damn cowards I had always thought them to be.”

He turned his gaze back on Inseong, but his eyes felt distant. “After a while, no one is going to talk about the victims. But me? I will be the literal talk of the town. I will finally get recognition for my intelligence, everyone will appreciate my dedication.

“You know what?” He said further, pointing to his latest victim’s face with the scalpel, warning bells ringing in Inseong’s head as he tightened his stance, ready to intercept the moment the blade touched any place on Seungjun’s body. “They didn’t even recognise me. Not the slightest hint of recognition on their darn faces. No, they were always too busy with their own lives to care about someone like me.”

“Oh, give me a break,” the detective scoffed, staring angrily at the older man. “Don’t blame them for being busy with their lives; the lives they had strived to make for themselves. Don’t blame them for not remembering you when you took zero effort in the past for them to do so. You are the only one responsible for the circumstances that led to your life being the way it is, so do not blame anyone but yourself for the sorry, pathetic excuse your life has become.”

Inseong was merely stating facts; he had no idea the guy would get this riled up. Anger twisted Dongwon’s handsome features as he lunged forward, all thoughts of his victim completely vanishing from his mind due the blow to his massive ego. He swiped at the officer’s face with the scalpel, although he seemed to have forgotten that Inseong was a policeman and a trained fighter. The latter easily blocked his attack, a quick flick of his wrist loosening the killer’s grip on his weapon, and the knife fell down, the metal clanging as it hit the tiled floor.

Inseong held the man’s forearm in a vice-like grip, twisting it behind his back as his foot shot out, connecting with the murderer’s calf. Dongwon let out a painful cry as he crumpled to the ground, and it was all Inseong needed as he used a bit more strength, kneeing the man in the back of his neck, just enough to render him unconscious. It was all over in a matter of seconds, and he reached inside his coat for the handcuffs, binding the other’s wrists together, before standing up as he panted softly.

He phoned his partner who was still obediently waiting outside, and asked him to call Chief Han and a few officers over to the place, informing him about the basement. It was quite puzzling when they all arrived the next minute – the telltale sign of Jiho having called them long ago – two of them escorting the knocked out culprit to one of the police cars parked outside. Inseong paid little heed to any of that as he took a few steps to the bed in the middle, studying his housemate’s face. Park Seungjun looked peaceful, blissfully unaware of what would have happened to him if the junior detective had made even the slightest mistake.

Inseong let out a long, shaky breath as he gently rested a hand on his beloved Seungjun-hyung’s arm, closing his eyes slowly as he felt truly relaxed for the first time in weeks.

The nightmare was finally over.

Author’s Note:

Holy heck, this chapter in itself was one rollercoaster ride. I… feel that I owe you guys an apology for giving Dongwon that role. I know I had said previously that he wouldn’t be in this story because all roles were fixed, but then I realised that it was only the murderer’s role that was not. I had not decided anything about him: his looks, his voice- nothing. And then I thought that it would be the perfect way to include him without unnecessarily adding another character just for the heck of it. So yeah, it was only half a lie, hehe.

6500 words sound like a lot, huh? I really wanted to deliver, give it my all, and go out guns blazing for the ‘grand finale’, so I hope none of it seemed like I was dragging things at a snail’s pace. Because I definitely did not want to hurry or half- this; I wanted to write as many details as I could.

Lastly, (sentimental speech incoming) a big, BIG thank you to everyone who read this story, and especially those who took time to let me know what they felt about it. I got this plot idea on 2^nd December, 2016 (yes, I remember the date), started writing it in January 2017 after my exams, and it’s finally a whole, complete story in August of 2019. Two and a half years full of excitement, nervousness, happiness, stress, uncertainty, giving up and then deciding to finish what I’ve started, have led to this. Once again, I’m sorry for all the pain I’ve caused my characters (and indirectly, the readers), but I hope you know that it was all for the sake of the story. I love you all, I mean it.

If you want to get in touch with me for anything, or want to discuss any of my stories, or just want to have a random chat, my Twitter is @prxnceinseong. Thank you so much again for staying with me all this while!