The news about the recent serial murder case is very much discussed, especially after it was discovered that the victim who died recently was a model of a well-known brand. People feel anxious and keep asking the police to immediately arrest the culprit.

It has been two days since the last incident; means today is the second day since the establishment of the special investigation team for the serial murder case committed by The Joker. And here they are, in the meeting room, listening intently to Jaehwan explanation about the autopsy result of the victims.

“All of his victims had died as a result of multiple stab wounds in the chest and viciously slashed at the throat area. Third victim, Park Hoon stabbed eighteen times, fourth victim, Na Dohee stabbed thirteen times, and fifth victim, Byun Taehyun stabbed fifteen times.” Jaehwan explained, making the others tremble in horror. Hongbin even felt sick to hear it.

“How can he explain it comfortably? Doesn’t he cringe?” Hongbin whispered to Wonshik who sit next to him.

“Eheii, he even had autopsied three victims. What he has seen is more horrible than what we hear.” Wonshik replied, nudged him with his elbow. Hongbin can’t help but sighed. Wonshik was right. It’s his job though.

“What about his first and second victim?” Taekwoon asked, making Hongbin back to his sense and trying to get back on focus with Jaehwan's explanation.

“According to my senior’s autopsy result, first victim, Joo Jinwoo stabbed twenty times. And the second victim, Hong Yiseul stabbed—”

“Twenty seven times.” Hakyeon cut off, got a nod from Jaehwan, though he was quite surprised how Hakyeon knew about it.

“And there is one more thing. He had cut off the fingers of his victims. At first I didn’t feel strange. But after seeing the condition of the fifth victim, I am sure that this was done on purpose.”

“What do you mean?” Taekwoon asked in confusion, as did the other four.

“The third victim lost three fingers, the fourth victim lost four fingers, and the fifth victim lost five fingers. Even polices did not find their cut fingers at the crime scene. So I asked my senior who autopsied the first and second victim. And guess what, the first victim lost one finger and the second victim lost two fingers.”

“What?!” All of them but Jaehwan screamed in unison. So this is a new clue for them.

Hakyeon leaned forward, placing both hands on the table, “so, what you're trying to say is the number of cut fingers indicating the number of the victims?” Hakyeon asked, trying to clarify what Jaehwan meant.

“Absolutely.” Jaehwan replied confidently.

They all fell silent instantly after hearing Jaehwan's answer. They were busy with their own thoughts. If the culprit cut off the victim's finger as a sign of the order of the victim, then where are the fingers that have been cut off? Why none of those fingers were found at the scene? Does he throw it in a separate place?

The rest of the meeting passed quietly, until Hakyeon open his mouth to conclude about all the modus operandi and signature they already knew.

“Well, so far he has killed five people. The first homicide, a 21-year-old college student, Joo Jinwoo, occurred on August 8, 2015. The Joker stabbed him twenty times in the chest, slashed his throat and cut off one of his finger. Four months later, on December 21, 2015, he killed a 25-year-old dentist, Hong...” Hakyeon paused. He took a deep breath in order to calm himself, shoved his tremble hands to his pocket, “Hong Yiseul, by viciously stabbed her twenty seven times in the chest, slashed his throat and cut off two of her finger. The third homicide took place on June 15, 2016. The victim was a 27-yeard-old officer, Park Hoon. He was stabbed eighteen times in chest area and had his throat slit. He also had three of his fingers cut out. Fourth homicide, a 26-year-old nurse, Na Dohee, occurred on February 5, 2017. She stabbed thirteen times in the chest, had four of her fingers cut out, and his head nearly severed from her body. And two days ago, on March 31, 2017, he killed a 23-year-old model, Byun Taehyun by stabbed him fifteen times, had his throat slit, and had five of his fingers cut out.”

“And as you know, he always left a tiny thing next to his victim’s corpse, his what-so-called signature, a joker card, red joker for female victims and black joker for male victims. That’s why we call him The Joker.” Sanghyuk added, leaned back in his chair.

“There is one more thing,” Taekwoon said, caused all of them tilted their head to stare him, waiting for the further explanation, “all victims were murdered five days after being kidnapped.”

“How do you know that? Yiseul was reported missing one day later, so according to reports she was killed four days after being kidnapped.” Hakyeon asked, quite surprised how could Taekwoon find out about it.

“I've read this case before and I feel there is something strange. Four other victims were found killed after being reported missing for five days, but in Hong Yiseul's case, she was found killed only four days after she disappeared. So I went to the hospital where she worked, and they said she did not show up for work five days before she was found dead.”

They went silent again. Hakyeon was secretly impressed with Taekwoon's initiative of conducting an inquiry even before he asks him, while the others are surprised by this fact. The killer even planned the length of the abduction perfectly. All of the victims were found five days after being kidnapping. He's really a psychopath.

After a few minutes of silence, Sanghyuk’s voice broke it, “until now, no one knows what that Psycho’s reason was to kill the victims. All victims have different jobs. They do not even know each other. So maybe he does this not out of grudge against the victims, but because of something else. All that's known is all of the victims are in their twenties.”

“He also never left any trace in the crime scene. The only evidence we have is CCTV footage when he committed his third homicide. But the scene was far enough away from where the CCTV had been installed, and by that time he was wearing a hoodie so we couldn’t see his face. We only know that the culprit is a man.” Hakyeon said, silently clenched his fist from under the table.

“And judging by the pattern, he is very concerned about his victim’s . The first victim was a male, and the second victim was a female, then the third victim was a male, and so on.” Wonshik added.

“So, according to his pattern, his next victim is a 20s female.” Hongbin said, as if he can read Wonshik’s mind.

“That's what I'm trying to say.”

“Then what will we do? We have no evidence to find who the murderer was.” Taekwoon asked listlessly. They have no single evidence now. Then how do they find the culprit?

“We have to do a re-investigation. There is a possibility that he accidentally made a mistake somewhere when he committed the murder. We have to find the culprit. We need to find even though the smallest evidence to send him to jail.” Hakyeon said as he gripped the edge of the table, trying not to show how angry he is.

“Now our job is to find out about where the victims visited before being kidnapped and check their phone records. Find out if there is anything related between the victims, whatever it is. Taekwoon will find out about the third victim, Wonshik and Hongbin will find out about the fourth victim, and Sanghyuk will find out about the fifth victim. I'll find out about the first victim.”

“What about the second victim?” Sanghyuk asked, realizing that Hakyeon didn’t mention about the second victim.

“I’ll handle it.” Hakyeon replied.

"Ah, and Jaehwan, please contact me if there is anything else you find about the victims." Hakyeon turn to ask Jaehwan.

“Alright, hyung.” Jaehwan nodded.

“Let's move quickly.”

***