Chapter 5
Chapter 5
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 5
Chapter Title: Myeong Jin-han, the Killer of My Father
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Myeong Jin-han, the killer who murdered my father.
He was riding in the back of my father's taxi.
Just pretending to be an ordinary passenger, hat pulled low over his face.
Lee Jae-hyun couldn't tear his eyes away from the guy.
His father was still in the driver's seat, and if the guy wanted to, he could harm him at any moment.
Should he tell his father to get out first?
He was weighing all the possibilities, keeping a close watch on the situation.
Then Myeong Jin-han reacted first.
"What're you staring at?"
Hat pulled down tight, shabby clothes.
And a travel suitcase about as big as his own body.
Now that he looked closer, there were more than one or two suspicious things.
He couldn't believe he hadn't noticed in his previous life.
Lee Jae-hyun paid particular attention to the oversized travel suitcase.
*In there...*
Was the final victim inside?
No, he didn't need to guess.
There was definitely the final victim in that suitcase, no question.
Even a brief look at the guy's crimes made it clear—his style, and the fact that the last victim was always in a suitcase like that.
Myeong Jin-han was the type to stuff his victims somewhere and leave them out in the open for the kill to be discovered.
His first victim was Kwon Min-seo, a woman in her twenties.
She was a college student working part-time at a convenience store.
Three weeks from now, she'd be found in a trash bin.
There were signs of sexual assault, and he hadn't bothered hiding it—her vagina was stuffed full of tissue paper.
Two ribs were broken, evidence of severe beating.
Cause of death: asphyxiation.
Strangled to death.
The second victim was Kim Seo-hye.
Another woman in her twenties with no family, working at a restaurant.
She didn't show up for work, so the owner filed a missing person report.
The very next day, she was found in a trash bin.
Same cause of death: asphyxiation.
What confirmed it was a serial killing? Four reasons.
First.
Signs of sexual assault, and both had their vaginas stuffed with tissue paper.
Second.
They'd been beaten, with scraped knees in common. And both strangled to death.
Third.
Stuffed in burlap sacks and dumped in trash bins.
And fourth.
Even listing that much showed Myeong Jin-han had abandoned any humanity...
He tied red ribbons around the heads of his victims before dumping them.
*That fucking bastard.*
Sexual assault, murder, and then what the hell was he thinking tying ribbons on their heads and stuffing them in sacks?
Lee Jae-hyun ground his teeth, took a deep breath, and barely suppressed the surging rage.
Calmly, he recalled Myeong Jin-han's final crime.
The third incident, which hadn't happened yet at this point.
Victim: Jeong Mi-rae.
A woman in her twenties, working the counter at a tutoring academy.
The only one not found in the same area.
The reason... The taxi driver who picked up Myeong Jin-han at the time—Lee Jae-hyun's father, Lee Han-cheol—sensed something off and tried to call the police.
Panicked, Myeong Jin-han killed Lee Han-cheol, stole the taxi he was driving, and fled.
He went all the way to Daejeon, murdered Jeong Mi-rae, and dumped her in a rice paddy along with the taxi.
With the large travel suitcase.
That was his last crime.
After that, Myeong Jin-han couldn't escape the tightening police net and got caught.
No, more precisely... found.
When the police located him, he was already dead.
Cause of death: asphyxiation.
He chose the same end as his victims.
He'd hanged himself, leaving a suicide note.
In it, he'd detailed his crimes.
How he'd abducted them, transported them, killed them.
But what he didn't write about was the 'murder weapon' and its location.
He admitted to strangling them but didn't say what with, or what he'd done with it.
Police insiders speculated it was a 'dog leash.'
Because Myeong Jin-han owned a pet shop.
Lee Jae-hyun clenched his fists, suppressing the rage about to explode, and spoke.
"Excuse me, sir, where are you headed?"
"Fuck off, what do you care?"
Myeong Jin-han replied in an irritated voice.
It made sense.
He had to be on edge.
With the third victim stuffed in the suitcase beside him, and police doing a DUI checkpoint.
On top of that, the taxi driver and cop seemed to know each other. It had to be unnerving.
"Whew, sir, you're a bit tense."
Lee Jae-hyun felt his boiling anger cool slightly thanks to his cool head and responded.
Here, he needed to throw Myeong Jin-han off his game.
Make him more panicked, force him to show an opening.
"You blind? Can't you see the meter running? Fuck, you and your dad trying to scam me on the fare or what?"
"That's going too far."
A curse flew from Myeong Jin-han's mouth.
Lee Jae-hyun subtly lifted the corner of his lips.
Yeah, get more riled up. Show me that opening.
As Lee Jae-hyun watched him with that thought,
Park Dae-hyung, who'd been doing checks on the other side, sensed something off and started approaching.
"Oh dear, sir, I'm sorry."
In the midst of it, Lee Jae-hyun's father, Lee Han-cheol, apologized to Myeong Jin-han.
Lee Jae-hyun hated that so much he nearly yelled in anger but barely held back.
"I won't charge you the fare."
Lee Han-cheol chuckled dryly, fiddled with the meter, and turned it off.
"It's not about the fare! I'm busy as hell, and you're wasting my time dragging this out."
He'd picked at the fare, but when told it was free, suddenly it was about time.
Proof he'd lost his composure.
Lee Jae-hyun silently watched Myeong Jin-han.
Wanting to resolve it quickly for Lee Han-cheol's sake, he hurried another apology and continued.
"I'm sorry. We'll head out now. Jae-hyun, send me off."
"Wait a minute."
Unable to let his father go like this, Lee Jae-hyun grabbed his shoulder.
Lee Han-cheol looked at him in confusion.
"What's with our boy today..."
In a bewildered tone, Lee Han-cheol spoke.
Lee Jae-hyun opened his mouth in a firm voice.
"Dad, get out for a sec."
"Huh?"
Lee Han-cheol blinked, but Lee Jae-hyun opened the driver's door to let him out.
Lee Han-cheol hadn't grasped the situation but got out awkwardly since his son asked.
"What, a DUI?"
Meanwhile, Park Dae-hyung spoke to Lee Jae-hyun.
Instead of answering, Lee Jae-hyun turned to Myeong Jin-han in the back seat.
"Sir, you might not know, but there's a serial killer on the loose around here lately."
No more beating around the bush—Lee Jae-hyun threw a straight pitch at him.
Myeong Jin-han flinched, body trembling in panic.
"What the fuck..."
Stammering curses, and Lee Jae-hyun continued calmly.
He'd once thought if he saw Myeong Jin-han, he'd charge and kill him on sight.
Surprisingly, he was handling it with ice-cold composure.
"That huge suitcase not in the trunk but right next to you. Doesn't look like you're on a trip either... Mind if I take a look inside?"
"Who the hell are you to—"
Myeong Jin-han glared at Lee Jae-hyun and cursed again.
Lee Jae-hyun didn't hold back anymore.
Cold calculation said it was time to act.
Clunk.
He yanked the door open and dragged Myeong Jin-han out by force.
Myeong Jin-han thrashed to protect the suitcase, but under Lee Jae-hyun's forceful grip, he tumbled onto the asphalt.
"Jae-hyun, what the hell are you doing!"
"Inspector Park, check the suitcase please."
Park Dae-hyung stared at Lee Jae-hyun in bewilderment.
Lee Jae-hyun smashed his fist into Myeong Jin-han's rising face and said.
"Gah!"
Myeong Jin-han's face twisted in pain, Park Dae-hyung's in shock.
Then Lee Jae-hyun grabbed the suitcase from the stunned Park Dae-hyung and quickly unzipped it.
Inside was.
A woman.
The third victim, Jeong Mi-rae.
"Huh!"
"What the fuck...!"
Lee Han-cheol cried out in shock, Park Dae-hyung cursed.
Lee Jae-hyun strode toward Myeong Jin-han, who was stumbling back to flee, and grabbed his ankle.
"Fuck, let go!"
"Go on, resist more."
Myeong Jin-han tried kicking free, but no chance.
Lee Jae-hyun twisted the ankle hard.
Crack.
"Arghhh!"
Myeong Jin-han screamed in agony.
Lee Jae-hyun slammed his fist into the guy's open, screaming mouth.
Thud.
The undefended punch knocked Myeong Jin-han out cold.
Only then did Park Dae-hyung pull Lee Jae-hyun off and cuff Myeong Jin-han's hands.
* * *
Victim Jeong Mi-rae was rushed to the hospital via 119.
Myeong Jin-han got basic field treatment for his injuries and was arrested, taken to the substation.
The Hanseong Police Substation buzzed with a strange tension.
A serial killer was still out there committing crimes, uncaptured.
And now a guy caught with a woman in his suitcase had been brought in.
Naturally, the first thought was, *Is this guy the serial killer?*
With a potential serial killer in custody, tension was inevitable.
Park Dae-hyung started the interrogation first.
Lee Jae-hyun, just a month into being a patrol officer, could only watch from outside.
"Name."
"......"
Ankle broken so he couldn't walk alone, face swollen comically.
Yet he was far calmer than in the taxi with Lee Jae-hyun.
Had he prepared for this?
He just invoked his right to silence.
Park Dae-hyung kept questioning, but with no answers from Myeong Jin-han, it was pointless.
Eventually, Park Dae-hyung left the room empty-handed.
"That crazy fuck must've smeared his lips with glue or something."
Park Dae-hyung grumbled irritably.
Lee Jae-hyun looked at him and spoke.
"Can I go in?"
"You?"
Park Dae-hyung gave him a strange look at the question.
Something had been off since earlier.
The guy he'd thought was just mild had taken down four big thugs in seconds, and now spotted a perp during a DUI check and subdued him instantly...
It wasn't the usual Lee Jae-hyun.
And it wasn't now either.
Normally, Lee Jae-hyun preferred staying quiet, not stepping up like this.
The change to being proactive was good, but interrogation required skill.
Especially against violent criminals.
Park Dae-hyung was about to refuse.
But.
"Sure, give it a shot."
"Team Leader?"
Oh Cheol-jin, superintendent and Team 4 leader at Hanseong Police Substation who'd been watching, stepped in and approved.
Lean but sturdy build, Oh Cheol-jin looked like a typical construction worker at first glance.
But Park Dae-hyung, who knew how seriously he took cases despite the friendly vibe, stared at him in surprise.
This wasn't just interrogating a kidnapping perp.
Very likely... no, highly probably the serial killer behind the recent murders.
Handing that to the rookie?
Oh Cheol-jin shrugged at Park Dae-hyung's gaze and spoke.
"He caught him, so why not? Cops see things through to the end, right?"
Oh Cheol-jin patted Lee Jae-hyun's shoulder.
"Give it a try."
"Thank you."
Lee Jae-hyun bowed neatly in thanks at Oh Cheol-jin's approval.
He'd asked first but expected possible refusal.
With the team leader's direct okay, it was a relief.
Lee Jae-hyun entered the interrogation room.
Park Dae-hyung watched him with worried eyes.
"You sure about this?"
"We'll see. Even if nothing comes of it, so what? Where else will the rookie get this experience?"
Oh Cheol-jin brushed off Park Dae-hyung's concern.
To him, this was performance rolling in, so approving the interrogation was no burden.
If Lee Jae-hyun failed, nothing lost.
Still, the usually passive rookie stepping up with resolve sparked a bit of curiosity.
Did he really think he could make Myeong Jin-han talk?
Time would tell.