Chapter 116
Chapter 116
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: uly
Chapter: 116
Chapter Title: Sowing Discord
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Looking at An Do-hyun right in front of him, Lee Jae-hyun let out a light chuckle.
An Do-hyun, who had been casually denying any involvement in the murder, looked at him with a puzzled expression when Lee Jae-hyun snorted with laughter.
"You're laughing. I really didn't do it... You don't believe me, do you?"
An Do-hyun asked, slightly curling the corner of his mouth.
Lee Jae-hyun gave a small nod.
Don't believe you?
If anything, it was fifty-fifty.
He believed half of it and didn't believe the other half.
It was only natural, since Lee Jae-hyun had seen it with his own eyes—he could only trust half of it.
In any case, he knew the full story of the case better than anyone.
He could do what other cops couldn't.
The others still weren't fully convinced there were two perpetrators; they were merely at the suspicion stage.
But Lee Jae-hyun had gone beyond certainty—he had seen it clearly.
The sight of An Do-hyun brutally killing his victims.
Yes, in the scene Serhen had shown him from the time of the incident, the guy had been wearing a cap pulled low.
But Lee Jae-hyun had no trouble recognizing him as An Do-hyun.
That mouth of his.
The way he curled the corner of his mouth while watching his dying victims writhe in agony.
It matched perfectly.
Lee Jae-hyun opened his mouth, gazing at An Do-hyun, who still appeared completely at ease.
"Whether I believe you or not doesn't matter. You definitely killed them anyway."
"Ah, you really can't trust anyone, can you? Have you gone through life getting fooled every time?"
As An Do-hyun spoke, he irritably tapped the table with a thud.
Lee Jae-hyun remained unfazed, even as An Do-hyun acted like he was truly wronged and frustrated.
Reacting strongly here wouldn't do him any good anyway.
"It's natural for a cop not to believe a criminal. Even if I did believe you, nothing would change."
"Why wouldn't it? You'd be someone who believes the truth. And you've been going on about me killing people this whole time... What, do you have evidence? Is it right to accuse an innocent man without a shred of proof?"
An Do-hyun stared at Lee Jae-hyun with eyes that screamed, *What can you do without evidence?*
Right, there was nothing they could do.
They couldn't just fabricate evidence out of thin air.
But...
That didn't mean there were no options at all.
"Do-hyun."
"Yeah, yeah, go ahead."
"You're stuck here, caught red-handed, so no matter what, you can't get out for at least 72 hours."
"72 hours... You're feeding me, right?"
Lee Jae-hyun chuckled at An Do-hyun's words.
Did he not realize the situation he was in?
Worrying about food in a spot like this.
Was he truly that nonchalant, or did he genuinely believe Lee Jae-hyun knew nothing about his accomplice?
Lee Jae-hyun had deliberately tried to lower his guard, but seeing him this relaxed and off-guard was still absurd.
No matter how it played out, the fact that he was acting this way after being caught in the act made it even clearer he wasn't right in the head.
Then again, how many criminals were ever fully sane?
"We'll feed you, sure, but you won't have time to eat."
"Come on, we're all just trying to eat and survive here. Why wouldn't I have time to eat?"
An Do-hyun spoke with a relaxed expression.
It was the look of someone utterly convinced his crimes would never come to light.
He might not know about Maebong Mountain yet, but for the first incident at Gobong Mountain, he surely had a solid alibi prepared—that gave him that confidence.
Lee Jae-hyun shrugged once at An Do-hyun's words before speaking.
"You'll be staying here. Meanwhile, the cops will eventually find evidence at Gobong Mountain and Maebong Mountain."
"What evidence? There's nothing proving I did it."
"Who knows. If there's none, someone might just make some."
Lee Jae-hyun said in a leisurely tone.
With An Do-hyun stuck here, he couldn't pull off any schemes.
He couldn't even make contact with anyone.
By now, the accomplice—Woo Kyung-hwan—would have realized that Lee Jae-hyun's story about showing up at the funeral home and taking An Do-hyun away was true.
A cautious guy like him would have an obvious next move.
Feeling the pressure, he'd eventually act out of anxiety.
Or even if he didn't react at all, it didn't matter.
This was all just to rattle the An Do-hyun sitting right in front of him.
On the other hand, whether because he thought no way a detective could know about the accomplice...
An Do-hyun looked at Lee Jae-hyun's face in disbelief.
"What, so the cops are gonna fabricate evidence? You're not the type."
"Nah, why would the cops do that?"
"Then there's no evidence at..."
An Do-hyun opened his mouth roughly, as if he couldn't comprehend.
But at that moment, Lee Jae-hyun cut him off and continued.
"I said *someone* might."
"......"
Lee Jae-hyun met An Do-hyun's eyes as he threw out the words.
Their vastly different crime styles, and the personality of the accomplice revealed at the scenes.
A guy with any sense of loyalty might confess to everything alone to protect the other perp.
But Woo Kyung-hwan had flatly denied his own crimes.
He'd shown a slight reaction when told An Do-hyun had been nabbed, but it was just panic over potential blowback on himself.
In other words, there was a connection between them, but not close enough for unbreakable loyalty.
Which meant the cautious Woo Kyung-hwan would try to use the already-captured An Do-hyun.
He could even fabricate evidence from his own murders and pin it on him.
Lee Jae-hyun faintly curled the corner of his mouth and spoke to him.
"Doesn't matter if you did it or not. Soon enough, you'll be the scum who murdered three hikers."
An Do-hyun's face hardened.
He could feel an ominous vibe lingering.
He'd left no evidence, but what if?
What if the "someone" this detective was talking about wasn't a cop, but his accomplice?
An accomplice could manufacture evidence that didn't exist...
Then he'd have no escape.
*'Woo Kyung-hwan, that bastard...!'*
An Do-hyun ground his teeth.
He'd thought they could be good partners.
But the guy had a timid side he lacked.
The thought crept in that Woo Kyung-hwan might really abandon him and find a way to save his own skin.
Watching An Do-hyun lost in thought, Lee Jae-hyun subtly curled the corner of his mouth.
*'A crack has formed.'*
Because of what Lee Jae-hyun said, a slight rift had begun to form between them.
And that crack would soon lead them to destroy each other.
* * *
Park Dae-hyung let out a small scoff as he watched Lee Jae-hyun conversing with An Do-hyun in the interrogation room.
The way Lee Jae-hyun was handling this case... even Park Dae-hyung was stunned.
He'd stuck close to Lee Jae-hyun and solved cases with him, so he knew full well the guy had never been ordinary, even back as a patrol officer.
Even after promoting to sergeant, he didn't act like your typical sergeant.
Park Dae-hyung thought he'd built up an immunity to it, but apparently not.
From the start of this case, he'd been shocked by Lee Jae-hyun.
*'It was the picture of a perfect veteran detective.'*
Up to now, Lee Jae-hyun had solved multiple murders.
First with Myeong Jin-han, when he'd sensed the change in him, then Park Chun-beom, and various other violent cases.
But seeing a corpse up close was a first for him.
Even Park Dae-hyung and the other detectives, who'd seen plenty, weren't fully used to human bodies.
And these victims were especially hard to look at.
They hadn't been killed with a sharp blade like a knife, but bludgeoned to death with a blunt object.
It took real guts to face a scene that gruesome.
Yet he hadn't recoiled or averted his eyes—he'd leaned in closer for a better look.
On top of that, he'd searched alone and found the smartphone.
Crucial evidence.
It confirmed the dead couple had been having an affair, letting them narrow down suspicions and possibilities stemming from that.
And that was just the start.
*'He even caught An Do-hyun himself.'*
Evidence had been sorely lacking, making the investigation all but impossible.
Yet amid that, Lee Jae-hyun had quickly grasped the scene and proposed the fastest possibility no one else had.
That there were two perps.
Whether that was true or not, he didn't know.
But including Park Dae-hyung, many detectives on site had heard him out and agreed.
The reasons Lee Jae-hyun gave for suspecting an accomplice were logical.
The possibility was strong.
Thanks to that, the police investigation was now split in two directions.
Normally, with An Do-hyun in custody, they'd focus solely on evidence hunting and relax.
But now they were keeping in mind there might be another perp while rushing to find proof.
And in the midst of it, Lee Jae-hyun was personally interrogating An Do-hyun...
And it was working.
"That's An Do-hyun getting rattled, right?"
Kim Ho-cheol, the Violent Crimes Unit chief watching alongside, muttered.
When An Do-hyun first arrived at the station, he'd denied all his crimes.
Even when Lee Jae-hyun entered the room, he'd been yapping about food.
Park Dae-hyung had thought the guy was a total psycho...
But as Lee Jae-hyun's words continued, his expression shifted—subtly, but unmistakably.
His brows furrowed, and his body, once lazily reclined in the chair, leaned forward slightly.
Signs he was feeling uneasy.
As the other detectives nodded in confirmation, Park Dae-hyung spoke up.
"He seems properly shaken, Chief."
"Ha... I figured we could use the accomplice angle, but I didn't expect him to play it like this."
Kim Ho-cheol let out a scoff, then gazed at Lee Jae-hyun conducting the interrogation with an admiring look.
Usually, an inexperienced interrogator gets steamrolled by the perp's bravado.
But Lee Jae-hyun was disrupting his headspace with an even more relaxed demeanor.
Subtly and relentlessly.
Park Dae-hyung wholeheartedly agreed with the admiration.
Of course, he'd seen it as a usable angle.
The question was how to use it—and Lee Jae-hyun had done so leisurely, mirroring An Do-hyun's attitude toward the cops, dropping hints about "possibilities."
An Do-hyun seemed confident in himself.
*'But what about his confidence in the accomplice?'*
Right now, An Do-hyun's only lifeline was that accomplice.
But if that accomplice wasn't trustworthy?
If he was the type who'd stab you in the back without warning, no loyalty at all.
It would leave him psychologically rattled for sure.
Just like what he was showing in the interrogation room now.
*'If An Do-hyun cracks here for real.'*
Park Dae-hyung watched the scene with keen interest.
If he got shaken enough by Lee Jae-hyun's words to suspect his accomplice.
If he spilled the full details of the murders, the evidence, and confirmed the accomplice's existence—beyond mere possibility—
Then Lee Jae-hyun... would once again make his name known across the entire police force.