6. The Crucifix's criminal profile.

It had been few days now since Yoona hid in her own apartment forbiding anyone from entering the place. She didn't cry everything out yet, but time to time had tears falling down her cheeks. Since that night when Gikwang dropped her off, he let her cool off her head. He didn’t bother to urge her to tell him what she remembered knowing it was enough to cause her to silently cry. Meanwhile he had been trying to pull the puzzle together. With the path they walked last time, he traced it on the map while adding other locations, trying to determine where the next crime will occur. Every location had always been around Yeon District, in rather dark areas. And with the serial killer’s particular way of killing, his was also very meticulous. He formed a pentagram on the map. But the question was will he touch be in Yeon District this time? 

As he thought, he suddenly received a call. He looked at the screen and Yoona's name appeared on the screen. Part of his heart finally let down the weight it was putting on it, and he was finally relieved from the situation. "Hello Ms. Im." He greeted and there was a short moment of hesitation before Yoona spoke up.

"Mr. Detective." Seemed like she still haven't remembered about him. "I have something to offer you." She said and Gikwang's interest was picked. He went to lean against the edge of his desk, listening to her suggestion. "What if I tell you I am able to create a profile of your wanted criminal?" She said and his lips curled up.

"Very interesting offer. How do I know if it is correct?" He asked and she thought for a while. He asked the question not because he doesn't trust her intuition and criminal profiling, but he needed to test her confidence. For a whole year almost, Gikwang worked on this case without a definite profile of the criminal. Listening to what Yoona will have to say could possibly help him a lot on this case, without mentioning that she have seen at least his shadow.

"It might not be correct but at least help you find where the next crime would be." Right. Tomorrow would be the 16th. He had nothing to lose to listen to her, who in fact, has very good skills in predicting events. Almost scary that she did them correctly. 

"Perfect. I am fine with that. Shall we do it now?“

———

It hasn't been a month yet since her last checkup with her Dr. but she went back just yesterday to update him about the changes that had occured in the past week or two. A lot happened and her body was indeed going through some changes. The Dr. considered this, although he shouldn't, a miracle and luck. She managed to get everything back while some would die without being able to get better at all. "We had avoided at all cost from disturbing your emotions, who might still be unstable. But Detective Lee is right, there is no growth unless they were given a chance to." Yoona was still a little confused about a lot of stuff around her, she still did not remember everything but the death of her mother... that, she remembered perfectly. She realized she had never seen the culprit's face, who wore a black cap, black sunglasses, black mask and high collar shirt to really conceal every single hints of his identity. 

She had on her lap a notebook which she scribbled words through the page. She looked at it and let out a sigh. She held up a voice recorder as she spoke to the phone. "First, the criminal's not a police officer. The way he uses a knife... no. It wasn't a knife. It was a surgical knife. The serial killer know exactly where all the points and ligaments are. If it was a police officer, his cuts on his victims wouldn't be as clean and direct. It has to be someone who had studied anatomy. Even someone who by interest picked up a book of the human body, there is no way to precisely memorize everything and to eactly know where is everything when doing the crime. It has to be someone who already does it by instinct without having to think." She said her first point which caught a point in Gikwang. Right. It didn't have to be apolice officer. Someone who is in contact with police officers and are technically "allowed" to ask about the case (somehow) are doctors. "And not any kind of doctors. The autopsy." She finished for him. He nodded. 

"Continue." 

"Secondly, the culprit's very smart and very careful with everything he does. He is able to not only manage to clean up everything after he is done with his business but also not leaving any traces of evidence at the crime scene. It could simply mean the murderer's meticulous. But it is more than that. He has a habit of cleaning after him and he knows how the forensic team works. He even prepared for the worst which is having himself seen. Which he did. That night. He however concealed every single bit of skin to avoid giving away his identity. He is a psychopath for setting up a sort of curcifixion but also, very smart. Third, he follows a very strange pattern while killing his victims. He doesn't like to change it. And if we would to prevent him of doing it, he could become extremely dangerous. Because of his personality, and his insanity, he is someone who needed to be cool headed too or else he would commit any sort of mistakes. A man who uses some sort of way to remain calm, like singing a song he is very familiar with could help someone to calm down and to cool off their heads. Fourth, all his victims are all middle-class women, who work in a company, ocnsiderably smart too. For an intellectual man like him, a place where he could find his victims would be at libraries. If you closely look at the mapping and loactions of the crimes. There are libraries closed by. Fifth, his next location would be at Yeon District to finish off his pattern he has been creating. A pentagram representing restauration. This is where the information gets more crucial for the next crime. The middle point of the pentagram represents the final stage of the process. He might not need to follow what he had been doing for the past 8 years. Sixth, he definitely went back to the crime scenes to admire his "perfect crime". This is the sort of person he is."

"You came by my office and saw the map?" He suddenly asked and Yoona didn't deny it. 

"But there is a problem." She quickly added suddenly. He wondered why the sudden rush to tell him tis. "He discovered that we are getting closed to tracking him down because you simply needed to check the police station data to find him based on his profession and year he was the autopsy of the first murder case. And indeed, a police officer has been helping him. And I dare to say the mastermind behind all this is in fact the police officer." As she spoke, he did as she said and found a man called Kang Songjae. As in for the police officer... He needed to catch this one first before locating the traitor of their police force.

"Hold up." Gikwang said and noticed he had been taking a vacation since few days ago, when Yoona and him returned from the "therapy" to trigger her memories. He was from the same neighbourhood they went on that day.... If he was a nocturnal criminal, he should've been there like she mentioned to re-visit the crime scenes. Therefore, if Yoona did remember the location of the crime, he might've been there. And if he had, he would definitely remember the girl who was there, who happened to forget and now remembered. If that was the case, they were in deep trouble. Because, his next target was her. And she knew it. "Yoona. Don't hang up. Stay put, stay in your apartment. Don't..." Before he finished he heard a huge hit on the door.

"Mr. Detective, he doesn't have much time before he is wanted by the police force, and plus I am not able to walk...." Another hit on the door. He was already rushing to his car, yelling for officers to come with him. "The rooftop is the closest place to my apartment. He will go there and threaten everyone to let him go using me as a hostage." She explained. Gikwang was listening and heard another hit. The next one he would be in. Right. He cannot kill her yet because they've already found him. Impressive he was but it wasn't time for that. There was something more urgent to do now. He rushed into his car. "Don't let him escape..." Before the call ended with a cry.

He cursed under his breath and put on the siren on top of his car, before he pressed full onto the accelerator to rush out from the parking lot. He dialed the number of the patrol centre to ask for reinforcement. "Dr. Joo had taken an hostage. Be sure to not provoke him." He was thankful that Yoona lived closed to the centre of Yeon District because it was easier for her to move from places to places. Gikwang thought for a while. "I want someone to patrol above the buildings and try to locate anyone from another building."

———

”You are pretty good for identifying me. The detective and you. No one ever thought that a criminal would be right under their nose and continued to investigate further and further. Those idiots. You’re impressive.” He said after listening to the voice recorder. “Very correct. But now since it’s the end of my killing streaks, I need to end it with satisfaction." Yoona remained silent.

"How is that satisfaction. By the end, you've got caught. The perfect crime would have happened if you've never continued your streaks." She told him and his expression harden. They were at the rooftop and Yoona was forced there without her wheelchair. Luckily for Dr. Kang, she was skinny enough be carried easily. “And if that night you sinply killed me off, there wouldn’t be a witness today.” She said. “Despite having guessed about your scheme. I still cannot get why you didn’t kill me. 8 years. And still now, you could’ve just stabbed me. But you’re simply holding me hostage. What use would this be?” He was silent for a while. 

He was thinking about whether he should tell or not. “A promise I made. Your mother’s death wasn’t what I wanted. But she knew too much. She recognized me without even seeing my face.”

”You knew her.” She commented and he didn’t reply for her to know if it was a yes or no. She already knew the answer by watching his actions and facial expressions. It was simply too much. This man was insane. Disturbed. And broken.

“I’ve watched you for a while. A little more therapy, you could walk again after today’s event.” He said and stood up. “I’ve lost my feelings. Let’s change the course of my history.” He said and climbed up to the edge of the rooftop, he shouted with all his strength and reached out his arms to each side of his shoulders. “You look a lot like your mother. I simply can’t. Your mother helped me once when we were still in University. While others constantly outcasted me, she remained a good friend. It is one of my regrets to even lose my sanity and hurt her. Maybe it is because you’re a psychologist, but my mind’s still somehow clear.” He explained and laughed. 

Right. She misread something about him. He wasn't simply a psychopath. He wasn't. He was smart. He was simply mentally unstable. Living under stress. Only spending time with dead people and solving cases. This caused him to lose his mind completely. "Ahjussi." She said and she forced herself up with her arms, and held onto the edge of the rooftop to maintain her balance. "Ahjussi." She called again and he was silent for a bit.

"Im Yoona-shi. I might not have performed the perfect crime of history. But you will never now entirely how and what I did to the victims. This I can guarantee. I don't believe in coming back or starting fresh. This never was my intention or plan. Perhaps my intentions to kill had died down after the years. I don't wanna do anything now." He said and came down from the edge of the rooftop.

"That is not the right way Ahjussi." She said and noticed Gikwang getting out of the car who was in panic. The culprit wasn't going to jump down the rooftop and commit suicide. No. This wasn't his kind of character. He was going to make the unknown officer shoot him.

"I will choose my ending. Im Yoona-shi. Help me." He said and pointed a surgical knife to her neck when Gikwang arrived at the rooftop his gun pointing at them. His eyes were focused and his movements were dry. Very sure of himself. But Yoona was a hostage and so he couldn't simply shoot. He noticed from the corner of his eyes Yoona's expression. It wasn't the expression of someone scared. But sad. He wondered what she wanted to say. Don't-shoot. She mouthed. 

"Kang Songjae-shi. Drop down your weapon and surrender. You've already been surrounded." A voice announced from the bottom of the building through the speaker.

"It is time to surrender. I can't guarantee that everything will end perfectly fine. But this isn't the only ending." Gikwang said on his side.

"Good try Detective." They heard the firetruck trying to bring up the ladder to reach the rooftop. "You don't need to point your un at me. You won't shoot me. But someone else would." As he spoke, a gunshot from another building was heard then the bullet hit the Dr. Dr. Kang dropped his surgical knife and another gunshot. Then a third one. Yoona was shocked as Gikwang came up to her after the first gunshot was heard. Gikwang analyzed his surrounding. Someone else wanted him dead and it was someone who might've been following the dialogues exchanged between him and the station. One last gunshot was heard and once again, he bent over to cover Yoona from any danger. 

"Are you alright?" He asked after everything was calmed again and his team ran up witht the medics. The gunshots on Kang Songjae made blood flew onto her face. She simply looked at him and smiled. He didn't know what that smile meant but it was nice seeing it. Gikwang on the other side stood up and noticed the man, wearing a black sunglasses, a snipper, aiming at him. He pointed his gun to him and it amused the killer a lot. 

"AJ oppa, if I was to be hold hostage, what would you do?"

"What sort of question is that? Of course I will protect you no matter what."

"No. Wrong." Yoona said and turned to the sky.

"Don't worry. For me, it doesn't matter if the culprit runs away. I can always catch him again. But if I lose you, it will be forever. I don't find anything worth that shot." 

That time, it wasn't time for confession yet. But both of them knew exactly what each other felt and simply enjoyed each other's presence. They were still young at that time, daing wasn't something that would've crossed their minds. But if they were to date, they wouldn't let go easily. They didn't date for fun. They would've dated to get married. And that time, it was just too early for any of that.

Dear future me,

If you're reading this... then you're a loser. You've lost to Im Yoona and to emotions. But I wouldn't say you're completely a loser because, you've managed to say something that I myself have been unable to say to her since the first time I caught her into my arms. And it means that my feelings weren't simply a causation of my hormones. Rather, genuine and sincere feelings. And now that you've realized that, and that you've confessed, I hope that at least you're somewhere near our goal which is being a detective. 

Anyways, I hope you do realize that once you've decided to confess, there would be no turning back. And that you won't never be able to find someone else nor replace Yoona in your heart. It is that serious. Despite being told that emotions affect our judgments, at least you've let emotions drive you for once.

Im Yoona, you were, are and will always be the most special person in my life. You have amazing skills and personality and I guess this is why I like you, or love by now. Anyhow, I had always hinted about my feelings and you always ignored my advances. Know that even if you actually did reject me, I need a proper reason.I won't give up that easily. And, I also hope that you're ready to work alongside with me in the police force. This was our promises. You might now wonder since when I've fallen for you. Well... It was that time when you weren't paying attention to your surroundings and bumped into me. Smh. Be careful. I don't hope that you've done that to someone else too. I hope to ever be the only to have seen that shocked expression on your face. You've rarely shown any emotions, that time, it was the first time which you felt human. Knowing how amusing, special you are, without realizing, my heart was already heading to you.

Dear future me, now everything's out, you'll have to marry her!

Lee GiKwang, July 21^st, 2006.

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