Eight

He hadn’t realised it would hurt this much, but it did. It pained Inseong to not talk to his partner, to keep ignoring him after having constantly worked by his side for the past year. They had always been there to help each other, whether it was for their work, or any other matter they had needed assistance with. It was Friday morning; it had only been three days since his little “outburst”, and he was aching to say a ‘hello’ to the other man, or even just a small smile. Remember that you’re doing this to protect him, Inseong reminded himself as he saw Jiho walk into the police station out of the corner of his eye, frowning inwardly at the sour look on his face. The former had been arriving to work earlier than usual every day, but due to lack of any other leads on the serial killings, would reluctantly have to continue with the paperwork that demanded his attention. It was by pure luck that his colleagues Byungjoo and Hansol had been assigned patrol duty for the week, or they’d have pestered the other two every minute they didn’t talk to each other.

“You can drop the act, you know,” came the all-too-familiar voice from the desk facing his, and Inseong blinked for a couple seconds before tearing his eyes away from the computer screen to look at his partner.

“I’m sorry?” He said, his voice laced with confusion; yet, there was a little part of him that was relieved at the fact that Jiho had talked to him.

“All right, one,” the other said, holding a finger up, “you may be an okay actor, but your eyes give your true emotions away. And two,” he continued, adding a finger, “I can see you’re dying to be able to talk to you dear partner again.” If one had to look at Shin Jiho’s face at that moment, he would have seemed angry, but there was an obvious hint of playfulness in his gaze that Inseong was quick to pick up on.

The taller of the two lowered his gaze with a rueful smile and a soft chuckle, looking back up at his ‘dear partner’, as Jiho had phrased it. He opened his mouth to explain his actions, but was halted when the other held his hand up.

“Save it,” he said, sounding genuinely upset now. “I know you were probably worried about me,” he continued, making air quotes along with emphasis on that one word. “But you seem to forget that I’m a police officer, and that I can take care of myself.”

That brought an outright laugh out of Inseong as he was reminded of him saying the exact same words to his partner the previous week. “Fine, okay, I’m sorry,” he said with a sheepish glance and smile at his companion. “Shouldn’t have underestimated your self-defense skills, or your ability to read me so well,” he joked with a shrug, although the smile that was starting to form on his face faded at the look Jiho gave him.

“You really haven’t heard, have you?” He asked incredulously, which was enough to sober Inseong. With a groan, he buried his face into his hands, rubbing at his eyes. “Unbelievable, how could I have forgotten?” He chastised himself. “Today is Friday,” he murmured into the palms of his hands, which made the other guy tilt his head, frowning.

“What’s so special about a Friday?” He enquired, and Inseong looked back towards him, face serious.

“Are you sure you want to help me with my unofficial investigation of this case?” He asked, and was met with a firm nod.

“Positive.”

“Good. Then I will tell you about this,” he said, tapping a finger on the loose sheets of paper stacked –haphazardly, of course, given Inseong’s somewhat lacking organisation skills – on one side of his desk, “over lunch.”

“Monday,” Jeong Inseong began, cutting right to the chase as the other junior detective sat across from him, “was when the first victim had gone missing from Yeongyang. Although, keep in mind that for this particular point I noticed, I haven’t taken into consideration the place or the time of the kidnappings, since that mainly depended on the killer’s convenience based on the victims’ schedules.”

Both of them were sitting at their table in Seungjun’s café, hunched over to look at another piece of paper Inseong was writing on while they waited for their lunch to arrive. As requested by his partner, Jiho had acquired whatever information he could from Kim Taeyang about the latest murder – he still had no idea how his senior didn’t wonder why he was so curious – and the rest of Inseong’s notes were scattered about on the table between the two. Jiho nodded wordlessly, gesturing for the other to continue.

“If we only look at the days when they were kidnapped, we advance a day each during every week,” the guy explained, sliding a paper over in front as he pointed at its content with his pen. “Monday, 11^th January for the first victim, Tuesday 19^th for the second, and Wednesday 27^th for the third. So the murderer, or murderers if there are more than one, wait for exactly eight days before going for the next victim. Based on this,” he said, steepling his fingers under his chin as his elbows rested on the table, “even before you tell me, I can say that our latest victim was abducted yesterday.”

Judging by the reaction his partner was giving him, Inseong could tell that this piece of information was new to him – which was unexpected. “Don’t tell me they hadn’t figured this out?” He asked tentatively, receiving a shake of the head as the reply. “You have got to be kidding me...” he muttered, voice trailing off as he caught sight of Seungjun himself walking over with a food tray in hand. Immediately, he pushed all his notes off to the side of the table to make space for the dishes, relaxing his expression as well as his body while leaning back comfortably into his chair, Jiho mirroring his actions. The last thing he needed was for his housemates to find out that he was working on this sensitive case without his superiors knowing.

The café owner had his usual smile on as he placed their food down on the table, but Inseong could tell from up close that it was more of a strained one, and his jaws were pressed together in a clench. It was obvious to him that the older guy was restraining himself from speaking about what had happened to Jihun in front of his partner, and he didn’t force the other to say anything either. He merely exchanged looks with Seungjun before thanking him for the food with a smile, breathing out a sigh as the latter went back to his business.

The two stayed silent as they ate, not taking much time to finish their meal. Once lunch was done and the empty plates had been taken care of, the detectives brought their attention back to the papers. Inseong cleared his throat, glancing up at the other with a frown. “See, now you can’t really blame me for calling them stupid, can you?” He said frankly, which brought a smirk to Jiho’s face, despite the grave situation they were looking at.

“I guess it is as you said,” the latter admitted with a small shrug, shaking his head with a sigh as he sifted through some of the notes. “The fact that these killings could be related to the old organ trafficking gang must have distracted them, enough for them to just ignore the other more glaring details.” His face was impassive as he said that, yet Inseong could detect a slight hint of disappointment his partner felt about their seniors. “Although,” he added, “this does not mean that I’m convinced these are copycat murders. Tell me everything you’ve deduced so far, only then will you be able to see if you were convincing enough to change my mind completely.”

“Challenge accepted,” Inseong said with the smallest of grins, confident in his ability to persuade others.

The fourth victim was Lee Hyunjoo, a businessman in Gangneung, who had been heading home after a late night shift on Thursday. One of his colleagues had seen him on his way home somewhere around midnight, but he had never made it to his house. According to what Jiho had relayed, the thirty-year-old had been alive for approximately ten hours, and a black polythene bag had been found in the bin outside a police station in Boryeong at around dawn, with the six body parts sans kidneys stashed inside.

“Seems like the murderers are beginning to openly challenge the Korean police force,” Inseong had commented grimly while exchanging looks with his partner.

Presently, he was on his way to visit the hometown of the late businessman, fortunate enough to have had the weekend off, unlike last week. Jiho wasn’t working either, but Inseong had stubbornly refused to let the other accompany him. The former had insisted since he now knew everything, but something in the other guy’s eyes had made it obvious that he didn’t want to involve anyone in this directly.

He didn’t have much luck in Gangneung, however, and was back in Seoul the same day, albeit late at night. No one had been able to tell him more than he already knew about the case and the guy. Lee Hyunjoo had dropped out of college to start his own business, and while he had found quite a bit of success, the colleague the junior detective had spoken to hadn’t been able to pinpoint any work rivals the man might have had.

The tall, dark-haired young man also knew better than to head to Boryeong, since the police over there were now directly involved in the case, in more ways than one. He had ended up with zero leads from his second little trip, and headed home sullenly; something important tugged at the back of his brain again that another part of his mind kept pushing away, neglecting.

Somewhere close by, unbeknownst to him, the next course of action in the plan had already been laid down.

‘Just thought of something. We need to meet.’

‘Café. Immediately. Hurry.’

‘No reply from you. I’m assuming you’re on your way.’

‘Shin Jiho, get your over here. I swear if you’re still asleep-’

Jiho sighed loudly, muttering under his breath about what a maniac his partner was when it came to his work – ironically, one that was not even officially his to begin with. He hurriedly ruffled his brown hair to make it somewhat presentable before leaving his apartment, breaking into a jog in the direction of the café. As much as he loved working with the other guy, this was a bit too much. What idiot spams his colleague with messages at freaking five A.M. on a Sunday? He thought with another exasperated sigh, quickening his pace as he caught sight of the familiar restaurant a couple blocks ahead. It was barely six in the morning, and the majority of the city was still in dreamland. Fortunately – or unfortunately in his case currently – Seungjun had made it a habit to get the café up and running by six A.M. every morning, and while he wasn’t personally present at that time every day, his employees had been instructed to do the same.

All the better for people like Jeong Inseong, he thought, a fond smile on his face as he pushed the door to the eatery open. His smile only widened as he saw the man in question sitting down at their everyday table: right leg shaking ceaselessly, fingers drumming on the wooden surface of the table, lips moving silently as he whispered to himself, and eyebrows set in a seemingly permanent scowl as he stared at the all-too-familiar notes. Jiho didn’t even get a chance to open his mouth before his partner bombarded him with questions about why he couldn’t have arrived sooner and how he had to wait oh-so-long for his precious partner to finally show himself.

The slightly shorter guy merely took a deep breath with a shake of his head, silently sliding himself into the seat opposite Inseong’s. He leaned back casually, folding his arms as he let out yet another sigh. “Inseong,” he began in a complaining tone, “for the love of all things holy, it’s six. In the morning. On a Sunday.”

“So?” Inseong questioned, being completely serious, and the other could only laugh wryly as he realised that the fellow detective had zero problems working at any time of the day when he had put his mind to it. Jiho raised his eyebrows a little before inching his chair closer to the table, and propped his elbows up as he peered at his colleague.

“Okay, before you burst with excitement, spill it,” he said, and it was all Inseong needed to launch into another of his deductions. He slid a few papers off the middle of the table until his gaze rested on the one he was looking for. He placed his palm on it, however, no wonder wanting to test the other detective.

“Did you ever think about why the killers change places every time,” he enquired, “but at the same time, some of the cities are being repeated?”

“It did cross my mind once, yes,” Jiho said, nodding. “Although I just assumed it was for their own convenience – travel costs, you know?” He joked, although one look at Inseong’s face told him that now was not the right time to do so.

“I mean, what else did I expect,” the taller retorted with an exaggerated roll of his eyes, getting back on track with a smirk and an airy laugh once he heard the other guy clear his throat noisily. He finally uncovered the paper, and both men leaned closer to it.

“So till now, there have been five cities involved: Seoul, Yeongyang, Seongju, Gangneung and Boryeong,” he began, pointing with a pen to each respective city on a rough map of South Korea he had drawn as he spoke. “The first victim was kidnapped from Yeongyang, and the body was found in Seoul. So here,” he paused, pen touching the dot to the east labelled Yeongyang, and drew a straight line from there to Seoul, “we have our first line. The same way, if we draw lines for all the victims...” he trailed off, his as well as Jiho’s eyes trained solely on his pen. He traced the path for each murder as he whispered the places to himself: Seongju to Gangneung, Boryeong to Yeongyang, and Gangneung to Boryeong.

The two detectives were now staring at four lines of an almost complete star shape, and slowly, their heads rose as they locked gazes. “Whoa,” Jiho whispered, and Inseong only nodded silently in reply. The former soon frowned, however, and breaking eye contact, used his phone to bring up a map of their country. The latter arched an eyebrow curiously, but decided to stay quiet as he observed the other’s actions.

“Got it,” Jiho announced, sounding somewhat proud of himself as he grinned, laying his phone on the table to show his discovery to Inseong. “The five cities make a star, but it could also mean a pentacle,” he explained, getting a bit excited at having realised something on his own, “the murderers seem to be planning something ritualistic, so if we locate the place smack in the middle of the pentacle, we get,” he paused dramatically as he pointed: “Mungyeong.”

He looked up at Inseong to see whether the latter was impressed, an expectant smile on his face. However, the other’s head was bowed and his shoulders were shaking violently. Jiho narrowed his eyes.

“Are you... laughing?” He asked hesitantly, feeling a tad bit embarrassed. Meanwhile, the other man’s chuckles could be heard clearly as he wiped an escaping tear away from his eye. Inseong shook his head, taking a deep breath as he stopped laughing at last, and gazed at Jiho.

“My apologies,” he said, not sounding the least bit apologetic. “I had a feeling that that’s the conclusion you would arrive at, but I never expected this deduction of mine to be true as well,” he admitted, raising his eyebrows with a slight smile as the other’s face flushed a faint pink.

“So, are you saying that what I thought is wrong?” Jiho countered, evading his eyes. “How can you be so sure about that?”

Inseong cleared his throat, straightening up in his chair as he leaned forward, placing both arms on the table. “Okay, the first thing to know here is that we’re dealing with only one killer,” he said, ticking the points off on his fingers one by one. “The reason for that is simple: just look at the level of perfection involved in the whole string of murders. There’s no way multiple people could decide upon something this elaborate, as well as see to it that the plan is followed to a T. No, this is someone who works best alone, and in a way, gets off on showing off his perfect plans.

“Second,” he continued, “we can be sure of the fact that this person possesses sound knowledge of medicine and biology. He administered his victims with heavy doses of anaesthetics, yet not to an extent that would kill them; the anaesthetics were only used to numb the pain so as to make this as effortless for himself as possible. What did kill them was the blood loss from the amputation of their limbs. Which,” he added, sliding a sheet of paper containing a list of possible objects that could be used for said amputations, with a few of them struck off, “could only be done with a scalpel first, followed by a surgical saw, to achieve the clean cuts as stated in the reports. Although I do want to ask Youjin-hyung about it once before I jump to this conclusion.”

The guy paused, taking another breath to calm his adrenaline-filled nerves before he continued. “Finally, to answer your question, just think about it. Why would one person go to such lengths and take such an amount of risk just to complete some random ritual?” He asked, Jiho nodding slowly in thought as he rubbed at the nape of his neck with one hand. “People like him aren’t attracted towards vague ritualistic nonsense. What attracts them is facts and logic. This guy, whoever he is, prides himself immensely upon his knowledge and abilities. He doesn’t care about spiritual and ritualistic stuff.”

His partner whistled softly, a grin forming slowly on his face. “Not bad at all, my Korean Sherlock,” he commented, which got a good-hearted chuckle out of Inseong as both of them loosened up slightly, but the taller frowned a couple seconds later.

“Now we know that to complete the star on the map, the murderer intends to kidnap the next – and possibly last – victim from Seoul and dump the body in Seongju. However,” he paused, all traces of a smile disappearing from his face, “we have no way of finding out who the said victim is going to be.”

A bell chimed above his head as he swung the glass door open with a firm push. His sneakers were noiseless as he took confident, purposeful strides towards the counter. A tall man greeted him at the counter with a soft, polite smile. “Welcome, what would you like to have?” He asked in a deep but courteous voice, eyes turning into crescent moons.

“I was wondering – do you guys happen to serve a double caramel hazelnut coffee with two shots of espresso?”

He watched as the man’s smile faded ever so slightly. “I’m sorry, we don’t, but I’m sure we could whip you up something similar.”

“Never mind, I was just wondering, like I said. Please go back to whatever you were doing. I’ll leave.”

In return, he received a confused, somewhat irritated expression before being met with the man’s back. He turned to his right, leaning against the counter, elbow propped up on its surface. Fancy meeting you here, he thought, his wandering eyes coming to a rest on a certain meddlesome police detective, even as he knew that was a lie. He knew the guy was here in the café; after all, he had been keeping a watch on the other’s movements.

Hands tucked inside the pockets of his overcoat, he exited the place. Your days of snooping are over, Jeong Inseong.

Author’s Note:

I have finally, FINALLY placed all the deductions on the table now (literally). You have no idea how relaxed I feel.

I’m aware that the conversations between Inseong and Jiho tend to be on the longer side, but I kind of don’t want to rush anything by skipping on writing something that might make things a little clearer. Besides, I enjoy the camaraderie these two characters have, and love delving into the depths of their friendship to the point where the two are totally comfortable with each other even while the other is teasing him.

I am also glad that this chapter progressed at a steady pace, and I could cover everything I wanted. Also, about the scalpel and saw thingy, I had to ask a friend of mine who had studied science in college for help with that.

Hope you enjoyed reading it!