A body laying in a dark red puddle in the back of a dark alley.

This was becoming a regular occurrence during the past few weeks. Seoul was becoming a playground for villainous acts and I decided to stand at the forefront of the resistance, aka the police force. Of course, I was the first person on the scene.

“Lemme through! Detective Yung coming through!” I said as my badge pushed the lower levels out of the way.

I ducked under the police tape and squatted down at the edge of the red pool around the body. The latex gloves snapped against my wrists before carefully picking at the body’s pockets, looking for anything that could give me a lead to go on. This was the 7th body that had appeared by what seemed to be the same murderer.

“Once again. No clues. A body in the middle of an alley. Nothing around except the rooftops where we assume the bodies came from. Is his usual sign up there? I bet it is.” I whispered out loud to myself.

A bright light from above lit up the area around the body, “Detective! I found it again. Just a single red rose.”

All seven bodies have been found exactly the same way with the same red rose at the jumping point.

“Get me the victim’s information back at the station. I’m heading back now to try to sort through this crap again.”

My nights were filled with coffee and a paper covered desk full of unanswered questions. All the newspapers that ran articles about the deaths were piled on my keyboard.

May 17th, 2020. THE 6TH BODY FOUND! WHERE IS THE POLICE!?

“Ahh.. My 33rd birthday just passed.” Was the first thought I had as I rubbed the bridge of my nose with my fingers. It always felt as though the city was against us, if we did everything right then it was expected but if there was trouble then we aren’t doing our job. I shook my head, “No. No. Just get back to work. Drink some coffee and get back to work.”

The office coffee maker had made it’s way to the corner of my desk from frequent use and an endless number of chinese take out boxes and chip bags lined the floor surrounding my desk. A lonesome police office had become my home away from home, and luckily enough it actually had enough amenities to do the job. The long nights alone always seemed to make time go by even slower. They’ve been even worse with the murderers happening and showing no signs of stopping.

“6am. I need a shower to clear my mind. This is getting nowhere.” I thought as I trudged toward the full bathroom that had been conveniently placed inside my office.

The mirror reflected an image that was not pleasant to see. During slow periods, I would manage to refine my body into the sculpted body of a Greek God. Unfortunately time had caught up to me and the take out food had obvious detrimental effects on the formerly defined abs. Slapping my stomach, I hopped into the shower to soak some of my worries away.

Unfortunately my worries couldn’t be washed away that easily. Steam clouded the same room as I tried to sort out the little amount of information I had from the case. The shower was not as pleasant as I had hoped and didn’t help me sort much out, so I ended it after a quick scrub of my body. With a new determination, I redressed in my black jeans and green button down shirt. Everything had become a routine, roll my sleeves up three times so that they stopped right before my elbow, no show black socks that helped prevent blisters from my black and white addidas running shoes, and the top three buttons undone on my shirt.

Sitting back down at my desk, I tried to once again organize my thoughts on this serial murderer. He left nothing for us to go on. Obviously he was a professional of the likes that we have never dealt with before.

A knock on the door interrupted my concentration so I looked up for the source. Standing in the doorway of my office was a small brunette girl that seemed vaguely familiar. Her figure caught my attention, the tight white blouse emphasised her large s and the bandaid skirt showed off her small waist and long legs.

“Hi. My name is Jessica Jung. I’ve been told that I will now be your partner. Please treat me well.”

“Wait. The former idol? Of Girls’ Generation? I know you.” I said as if a light bulb lit up above my head.

“Uhh… Yes sir. It’s been a few years since anyone has talked about my past though. It seems as if most people don’t seem to remember.”

I used to be a big fan of the group as I studied at the academy and rose through the ranks to detective. Since I started the detective work, the former kpop fanboy took a backseat to the thoughts that now filled my mind.

“I used to be a big fan. BUT. You’re going to have to change. If you really expect to help you’re going to have to be in clothing that you can move in. Anything you can exercise in is fine. You never know when you might have to chase a criminal.”

I could tell that she understood the point I was making, but she had obviously dressed up for a good first impression. About fifteen minutes later, she returned in a pair of jeans with the same white blouse tucked inside, with a pair of white sneakers instead of the black stilettos she previous wore. Her hair in a tightly wrapped bun and her arms full of folders.

“Sir. I was told to give you these cases to investigate for now. Your current case is going to be taken over by another detective so that some productivity will happen here. Or at least that’s what I overheard as I was leaving.”

I leaned back in my chair and ran my hands through my hair with a long sigh. There was nothing I could do about it, but that didn’t mean that I liked it.

My lower right hand drawer was full of solved cases so I pulled out one of the case files from the pile and tossed it to my new attractive assistant.

“Let’s start with an easy one and see what you got.”

Jessica flipped through the pages and looked back up at me with a confused face.

“Let’s see what you got. You’re in charge of this investigation and I’ll just be here to help you along the way. Tell me what you got from the case files and what you think we should do.” I clarified.

“Ok. Ummm…. A body was found in the middle of a living room, stabbed four times. The victim was a young man at the peak of his physical condition, and a black belt karate practitioner. The television’s volume was turned up loud enough to drowned out any cries for help and the only clue was a single coffee mug on the table. Well it is obvious that the murderer was someone that caught the victim by surprise since there is no sign of struggle and the victim was a talented martial artist. Maybe it was somebody that was jealous of his fame throughout the country and desperately wanted to triumph over the champion at some point in their life.” Jessica said with confidence at first and then slowly shying any from a committed answer.

I smiled and through her the second half of the case, the conclusion.

“Ish! He was drugged from the coffee and then stabbed after falling asleep suddenly on the ground. The murderer was an overly jealous girlfriend that had gotten violent after she found him surrounded by a group of fan girls. That’s why there was no sign of struggle, a girlfriend was somebody that could walk in without causing suspicion.” She said while hitting herself in the side of the head.

I nodded happily, “Not bad for a former idol. I never expected someone like you to pursue a career in police work. So… What kind of talents do you think you bring to the table?”

“I’m actually very observant and I enjoy trying to read people by looking at their clothes and mannerisms. That’s why so many people in the kpop world believed that I was such a cold person, but actually I was just in my own little world quietly observing my surroundings. I would say that I’m pretty confident in my observation skills but I do feel like I need work with most other skills.”

I laughed to myself and slightly smiled, “No need to give such an “idol-ish” answer. I trust you until you give me a reason to not trust you. Just know that if trust is lost, it is near impossible to earn it back.”

Jessica nodded with a confident gleam in her eyes. I could see the excitement and eagerness to learn on her face.

“Meet me at this restaurant ok? There’s a report about a body there so get your desk together and just get out there as soon as possible.”

The young girl quickly tossed the case files onto her empty desk and headed out towards her car.

A passing officer caught her on the way out, “Hey. Are you the psycho detective’s new partner? You better be careful. All his partners end up leaving because they can’t handle how crazy he is. Just be careful!”

The officer left before Jessica could question him so the conversation ended with an open mouthed girl standing confused in the parking lot. Still slightly taken back by the sudden precaution by a stranger, she shook her head and drove off toward her destination.

By the time she arrived, her new mentor was already squatting next to a pool of blood with a body soaking in the middle. A large knife protruded from the body’s spine and the amount of blood made it look as though there were multiple cuts on the hidden side of the body.

“Opp… Uhh… Detective Yung. What happened?”

“Young female. Soo Jung Woo. Age 27. Stabbed once in the back with a knife. And lastly…..”

My hands roughly rubbed against my face before running through my short hair. I pointed at the clue found next to the body, “A red rose.”

“Must be a copycat. There wasn’t enough clean up. The scene is too messy to be the murderer from the previous cases. Look you even marked the evidence of the shoe prints coming from the pool of blood. There is absolutely no way that this is the same person as the past murders.” Jessica said quickly almost computer like to her mentor.

“Good. I noticed that too, but do you realize what this means now that a copycat has shown up? Other psychos are getting the guts to act however they want since we haven’t been able to catch the ‘red rose murderer’”

“Did you just make up a codename for the murderer on the spot?”

It was too late, I was already too focused on the case at hand. I closed my eyes and envisioned how the situation could have played out.

A boyfriend and girlfriend meet at the restaurant to have a meal. An argument breaks out and the girlfriend walks out of the restaurant. Angry by the actions of his girlfriend, he chases her out of the restaurant and stabs her with one into her back. Stands there confused by his own actions, and tries to find a way out. Remembering the single rose that he brought with him to give to his girlfriend, he tosses it onto the body. He then runs to a familiar place out of fear.

Meanwhile Jessica was coming up with her own conclusion in her mind.

A stalker follows his love to her blind date at the restaurant. Angry that she is meeting another guy, he confronts her and is bluntly denied. The one overturned chair indicates that only one person was angry and attempting to leave. Must be the man judging by the distance the chair was thrown. The woman must have been shocked by her stalker’s presence so she tried to leave while texting her blind date and the stalker followed angrily. Overtaken by anger, he stabs her in the back and then looks for an out. Judging by the roughly shaped bush in front of the restaurant, he pulls out a rose and tosses it by the body in order to lead the police in a different direction. Based on the distance between footprints, he didn’t run but simply walked so he must have been wearing something that hid his face from the public. Most likely had a plan of what he was going to do before coming. He probably went to an already planned out hiding place in order wait out the investigation.

“We need to check his house, her house, and his parents house. He’s looking for a comfortable place to go now that he’s scared. All officers look into other places that he might frequent so that we can end his case quickly.” We shouted almost at the exact same time to the surrounding officers keeping the area confined from the public.

I turned towards her and nodded approvingly, “I don’t know how you got to that conclusion but we came to the same decision. Good good.”

It wasn’t hard to find the identity of the stalker, which made it even easier to find all the necessary addresses. Within the next couple of days, the man was found and quickly admitted to the murder now that he had been found out.

Jessica and I met back at the office and discussed the situation and how we both came to the same conclusion. After listening to her detailed observations and results that came from those observations, I praised her for the work that she put forth after her first official case.

“Don’t worry. There is still plenty more cases to solve and more for both of us to learn.”