Lee Deok-bae (1)

"Ha. What the hell kind of mess is this now?"

Kang Gyeong-sik clicked his tongue over the crime scene swimming in Kim Ji-hye's blood. She had died where she fell, her skull burst open, while the other two friends had survived by nothing but luck. That, however, was not the problem. The public's attention was pouring onto both cases at once.

The internet was plastered wall to wall with lurid articles, and all of it because that damned killer had dumped a video online.

"If getting attention is the goal, why didn't he release a video during the Kim Jeong-sik case?"

Officer Lee peeked out from behind him as she asked.

"...Must've figured the case would blow up on its own."

Kang bit down on a cigarette. A lunatic, through and through. A single day after murdering Kim Jeong-sik, the bastard had killed again, and shown the unhinged follow-through to go after three people at once. Two of the victims had survived by luck, so those charges stopped at attempted murder, but the sheer insanity of trying to kill three human beings left his head spinning.

How the culprit had planned the crime in so little time, and by what route he had obtained the records of their offenses, was impossible to tell. The scene yielded not a single clue about him. Not even an ordinary hair. The security cameras were useless too. No matter how thoroughly they scoured the area, they found neither his route nor so much as his shadow, as if he had finished the job and evaporated where he stood.

"Senior, do you think the victims' statements in the video are true? That he really... Oh Yu-ri, the one who killed herself at the university..."

"They could've been threatened into lying, or they could've actually confessed to what they did. Doesn't matter right now. What matters is catching that damned killer and throwing him in a cell, fast."

He pulled a long drag from the cigarette.

"Haa. What's the word on Lee Deok-bae? Did we get him secured?"

Lee Deok-bae was the most likely next target. Every victim in the video had named him as the real culprit, which meant the odds of him being murdered next were very high. Judging by the killer's willingness to act, if they failed to catch him today, Lee Deok-bae's life could not be guaranteed.

"Th-that's the thing, Senior. We can't reach him at all."

"What? What kind of bullshit is that? You can't reach him? He must've seen the video. There's even a record of him calling Kim Ji-hye not long before she was killed. A normal person would've asked the police for protection, wouldn't he?"

"That's what I can't figure out either. He's vanished completely. His phone's ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠dead, and location tracking isn't working."

"Ha. I'm losing my mind."

Kang raked a rough hand across the back of his head. His eyes went to the black tent pitched over the scene, glaringly out of place, and to Jo Jin-hyeok seated in a chair in front of it, playing a game on his phone.

"Those bastards are what's really driving me insane. What the hell are they trying to do with the victim's corpse? Why do I have to listen to assholes like that?"

"Right? I don't even know what's going on..."

The order had come down from above. Investigative authority was to be handed over to Shin Ha-na and Jo Jin-hyeok, and their commands were to be obeyed absolutely. Even if their demands flew in the face of common sense, the police were to cooperate to the fullest.

It was an order from the brass, so Kang had been swallowing it no matter how fucked it was. But they had hauled the victim's body into that tent before he could even assess its condition, and he had no idea what they were doing in there. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠He couldn't take it anymore.

"Give me a fucking break."

He ground the cigarette butt into the ground and strode for the tent. The moment his hand caught the flap, Jo Jin-hyeok's long arm barred the way.

"Mister, we told you. You can't go in."

"And why the hell not? What are you doing in there with the deceased? We're already short on time to find that murderer, and you want us to just sit on our hands and wait?"

"Haa. This guy really doesn't listen. Barge in there and you'll die, mister."

"What? You little shit. Die? You're saying I'll die? Huh!? You gonna kill a cop of the Republic of Korea?"

"S-Senior! Please stop!"

Officer Lee came running up from behind to hold him back, but Kang was radiating the intent to put a fist through Jo Jin-hyeok's face at any second. Jo only snorted, as if the whole display were laughable.

"So. Has the great detective found the culprit?"

Kang's shoulder flinched.

"What?"

"You haven't, have you. I'm telling you, Shin Ha-na is doing the job you people can't solve. Don't stick your nose in, go inside, and drop dead. Wait here quietly. You like games? Wanna play?"

Jo shook his phone and smiled.

Every part of Kang wanted to tear the tent apart and overturn the lot of it. But there was the order from above, and there was the way Jo spoke as if finding the culprit were only a matter of course, and so he forced the rage down his throat.

"A brat still wet behind the ears, talking down to me... Fuck. You messed around with the victim's corpse. If you don't find him, you'd better be ready."

"Ooh, scary. Why is everyone around me so terrifying these days?"

Jo shook his head and sank back into his game.

That was when Shin Ha-na emerged from the tent, sweat streaming down her brow. A strange reek of sulfur rolled out after her in a thick wave. She had appeared without a sound, and both Kang and Officer Lee flinched and retreated several steps.

Jo flicked a glance at her — she looked a shade more haggard — and asked.

"Oh, you're back? Find it? Where do we go?"

"Huu. No."

Shin Ha-na answered on a deep sigh. Jo was so startled he paused the game and shot to his feet.

"What? You couldn't find it? Our great, illustrious Shin Ha-na? Puhahaha! So even you fail sometimes! Ha — I'm writing this in my diary when I get home."

"Quit your bullshit. Haa. This one's no ordinary bastard. I can't even track that anomaly's traces. It feels like I slammed straight into some wall I can't make sense of."

"The anomaly's on that level? Man, I wanna fight it already."

Kang had been listening closely, and his brow twitched.

"What? You screwing with me? So you played around with a corpse and got absolutely nothing out of it?"

"Mister, quit smoking. Your breath is rank."

Shin pinched her nose, her face twisted with distaste.

"And who says we got nothing. We failed to chase the culprit, but we pinned down Lee Deok-bae's location. He'll come there too, so we wait and grab him. That's the end of it."

"You really found where Lee Deok-bae is?"

"I said we did, mister. Why are you so bad at trusting people?"

"So where is he?"

"Hm? Why would I tell you that?"

"...What?"

"What's ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the point of telling a bottom-rung grunt like you. Hey, let's go."

Shin beckoned to Jo Jin-hyeok and started off.

"W-wait!"

Officer Lee thrust out a hand in a hurry to stop them, but strangely enough the pair was already far in the distance. Jo Jin-hyeok and Shin Ha-na climbed into the sports car they had parked nearby. Shin dropped into the seat at a crooked angle and scowled.

"Hey, what even is this color? Your taste is genuinely the worst."

The rainbow-drenched sports car fell miserably short of Shin Ha-na's aesthetic standards.

"Hm? It's flashy, so it's nothing but cool, miss~ How about customizing your bike the same way?"

"Hard pass. Just drive, idiot."

"Yes, ma'am~"

The sports car tore away from the scene on a snarling exhaust.

Kang stared blankly after them.

"Ha. Fuck. I seriously don't know what any of this is."

Beneath a clear, brilliant sun, Han Yuhyeon looked at the firmly shut door of Zelkova Tree Bar.

He had come even though it was a holiday, and found the place already shut, just as he'd expected. He lifted his gaze to the second floor. The lights were out, and there was no trace of anyone up there.

He had not seen this coming at all. From everything that had come before, he had been certain the System would track Lee Deok-bae the way it always had.

The answer that came back was this.

Unwilling to leave it there, he ran several tests. First he set the dead Kim Jeong-sik as a target.

He tried Kim Ji-hye as well, whose death the news had confirmed that very day.

That was all he ever got. When the message refused to match the one that appeared for Lee Deok-bae, he went further and designated a criminal who was already dead as the target.

The same line as Lee Deok-bae. Just as he began to wonder whether the man might be dead after all, he tried once more — this time with a criminal locked in prison.

From those results, Han Yuhyeon drew two hypotheses. A person already dead could not be searched as a target. And neither could someone he had never met.

Thinking back, he had met all of them — Kim Ji-hye, her friends, and Kim Jeong-sik. But he had never met Lee Deok-bae. Looking after his little sister had kept him out of bars. So he left open the possibility that Lee Deok-bae was still alive, and went out to search.

A suffocating frustration burned through him, as if his insides were charring.

Where did he go? He doesn't seem like the type to kill himself.

"Huh? Senior?"

A familiar voice. Song Yu-na stood there in light clothes, and he remembered that she lived in a studio just off campus.

"What brings you here?"

"I was supposed to return a book to the library yesterday, and it slipped my ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠mind."

He drew a book from his bag and showed it to her — one he had brought along just in case.

"Oh, really? It's a holiday. You should be resting. That must be tiring. Um..."

Song Yu-na hesitated, then went on.

"Did you hear? A video went up on our university community of those kids we met yesterday, and all of them..."

"Yeah, I heard. It's just their own sins coming due. That's all."

She was a little startled by how calmly he said it, but she nodded in agreement.

"Y-yeah... I suppose so? Still, I can't believe kids we were talking to just yesterday ended up like that. And that they tore up the suicide note we found, too."

"Yeah."

Han Yuhyeon glanced at the bar. Catching his look, Song Yu-na spoke carefully.

"Thinking about it now, it's honestly creepy. Even yesterday he was insisting he hadn't done anything wrong."

"...What? You saw Lee Deok-bae yesterday?"

"Yes. He said he was so shocked that he was closing the shop for a while and going to a vacation rental. He even told me to come by if I had the time. Ugh, if I'd actually gone, who knows what would've happened to me..."

At her words, the corner of his mouth lifted.