Myung Jinhan, the perpetrator who killed my father.
He’s sitting in the back of my father’s taxi.
Pretending to be just another ordinary passenger, pulling his hat low over his face.
Lee Jaehyun couldn’t take his eyes off him.
His father was still in the driver’s seat, and if the man so wished, he could harm his father at any moment.
Should he tell his father to get out for now?
Weighing all the possibilities, Jaehyun watched the situation unfold.
Myung Jinhan reacted first.
“What are you looking at?”
A hat pulled deep over his face, shabby clothes.
And a travel suitcase as big as his own body.
Now that he really looked, there was more than one suspicious thing about him.
He wondered why he hadn’t noticed anything in his previous life.
Lee Jaehyun focused especially on the large travel suitcase.
“Is it in there…”
Is the last victim inside?
No, there was no need for speculation.
No matter what, the last victim must be inside that suitcase.
Anyone who looked even a little into his crimes would know—by the style of his crimes and that travel suitcase—that the last victim was inside.
Myung Jinhan always put his victims somewhere and revealed the murder in a certain way.
The first victim he claimed was Kwon Min-seo, a woman in her twenties.
A college student working part-time at a convenience store.
Three weeks ago, she was found in a trash can.
There were signs of sexual assault, and whether he wanted to hide it or not, the victim’s genitals were stuffed full of tissues.
Two of her ribs had been broken; she had been beaten severely.
Cause of death was suffocation.
She was strangled to death.
The second victim was Kim Seo-hye.
Likewise, an unattached woman in her twenties, working at a restaurant.
When she failed to show up for work, the restaurant owner filed a missing persons report.
The very next day, she was found in a trash can.
Again, the cause of death was suffocation.
There were four key reasons why this was confirmed as a serial murder case.
First.
There were traces of sexual assault, and in both cases, the genitals were stuffed full of tissues.
Second.
Both had been beaten, with abrasions around the knees, and both were strangled to death.
Third.
They were placed in plastic bags and abandoned in trash cans.
Finally, fourth.
Just with these listed facts, Myung Jinhan had already abandoned humanity—but…
He tied a red ribbon to the heads of the victims he had killed before abandoning them.
“What a total bastard.”
Sexual assault, murder, and then what was he even thinking, tying a ribbon and throwing them into a plastic bag?
Lee Jaehyun clenched his teeth, taking a deep breath, suppressing the rage boiling inside him.
He calmly recalled Myung Jinhan’s final crime.
The third incident—one that hadn’t yet happened at this point in time.
The victim: Jung Mi-rae.
A woman in her twenties, working at an Academy’s counter.
She was the only victim not found within the same region.
The reason… was that at the time, the taxi driver who picked up Myung Jinhan—Lee Jaehyun’s own father, Lee Hancheol—grew suspicious and tried to call the police.
A panicked Myung Jinhan killed Lee Jaehyun’s father, Lee Hancheol, then fled in the taxi Lee Hancheol had been driving.
He went all the way to Daejeon, murdered Jung Mi-rae, and abandoned both her and the taxi in a rice field.
Along with the large travel suitcase.
That was his final crime.
After that, Myung Jinhan couldn’t escape the tightening police investigation and was caught.
No, more accurately… he was found.
By the time the police discovered him, Myung Jinhan was already dead.
Cause of death: suffocation.
He chose the exact same end as the victims he had killed.
Myung Jinhan hanged himself and left a will.
In his will, he detailed his crimes.
How he kidnapped, how he transported, and how he killed.
But what he did not write in the will was the ‘murder tool’ and its location.
He strangled his victims, but what he used to do it, and how he disposed of it, were not revealed.
However, internally, the police suspected the murder tool was a ‘dog leash’.
The reason: Myung Jinhan was the owner of a pet shop.
Lee Jaehyun clenched his fist, holding back the explosion of anger as he opened his mouth.
“Sir, where are you headed?”
“Why the hell do you care?”
Myung Jinhan answered in an irritated voice.
Of course.
He must be extremely on edge.
With the third victim right next to him in the suitcase, and the police running a sobriety checkpoint.
On top of that, it probably looked like the taxi driver and the police knew each other, which must’ve made him even more flustered.
“Geez, you’re awfully sensitive, sir.”
Lee Jaehyun felt his boiling rage cool a little, thanks to his returning composure.
He needed to make Myung Jinhan lose his poker face.
He needed to shake him more, make him show an opening.
“Don’t you see the meter running? Damn it, are you and your old man trying to scam the fare or what?”
“Watch your mouth.”
A curse burst from Myung Jinhan’s lips.
Lee Jaehyun grinned at the corner of his mouth.
Yes, get more agitated. Show your opening.
As Lee Jaehyun stared at Myung Jinhan, Park Daehyung, who’d been running the checkpoint on the other side, noticed something off and started walking over.
“My apologies, sir.”
At that moment, Lee Jaehyun’s father, Lee Hancheol, offered Myung Jinhan an apology.
It made Jaehyun want to yell in disgust, but he barely managed to suppress the urge.
“I won’t charge you for the fare.”
Lee Hancheol chuckled awkwardly, reaching over to turn off the meter.
“Is the fare the problem right now? I’m in a hurry, but you’re wasting my time.”
He’d just argued over the fare, but when told it was free, he suddenly complained about the time.
It was a clear sign he was losing his composure.
Lee Jaehyun quietly watched Myung Jinhan.
It seemed Lee Hancheol felt the need to resolve the situation quickly, as he hurriedly apologized and continued.
“Sorry. We’ll depart now. Jaehyun, Dad will take care of it.”
“Wait.”
He couldn’t just let his father go like this, so Lee Jaehyun grabbed his father’s shoulder.
Lee Hancheol looked at him in confusion.
“What’s gotten into you today, son…?”
In a bewildered tone, Lee Hancheol spoke.
Lee Jaehyun spoke firmly.
“Dad, please step out for a moment.”
“Huh?”
Lee Hancheol blinked in surprise, but Jaehyun opened the driver’s door so his father could get out.
Although Lee Hancheol didn’t quite grasp the situation, he awkwardly stepped out at his son’s request.
“What, is this a sobriety check?”
Meanwhile, Park Daehyung approached and addressed Jaehyun.
Instead of replying to him, Jaehyun turned toward Myung Jinhan sitting in the back seat.
“Sir, you might not know, but there have been a series of murders in this neighborhood recently.”
No more beating around the bush; Jaehyun threw it straight at Myung Jinhan.
Myung Jinhan flinched and trembled, clearly shocked.
“What the hell are you…?”
Stammering, he cursed, but Jaehyun continued calmly.
He’d always thought that if Myung Jinhan were in front of him, he’d lunge to kill him right away.
But even surprising himself, he was facing Myung Jinhan with a cool head.
“You’re not even putting that big suitcase in the trunk, just keeping it next to you. And you don’t seem to be on a trip… Mind letting me see what’s in the suitcase?”
“Who the hell are you to talk to me like that?”
Myung Jinhan cursed at Lee Jaehyun again.
Jaehyun didn’t hold back any longer.
Judging with a cold mind, now was the time to act.
Clack.
He quickly opened the door and forcibly dragged Myung Jinhan out.
Myung Jinhan struggled to protect the suitcase, but under Jaehyun’s forceful grip, he was dragged onto the asphalt.
“Lee Jaehyun, what are you doing?!”
“Sergeant Park, please check the suitcase.”
Park Daehyung stared at Jaehyun in utter confusion.
Jaehyun punched Myung Jinhan’s face as he tried to get up.
“Gah!”
Myung Jinhan’s face contorted in pain, and Park Daehyung’s face turned to shock.
Then Jaehyun, instead of the stunned Park Daehyung, quickly pulled out the travel suitcase and unzipped it.
Inside—
A woman.
The third victim, Jung Mi-rae.
“…Hhff!”
“What the hell…!”
Lee Hancheol cried out in shock, and Park Daehyung spat curses.
Jaehyun, meanwhile, strode over to Myung Jinhan, who was trying to stagger away, and grabbed his ankle.
“Shit, get off me!”
“Go ahead, resist some more.”
Myung Jinhan tried to shake Jaehyun off with a kick, but it was futile.
Jaehyun just gripped Myung Jinhan’s ankle and twisted.
Crack.
“Aaaargh!”
Myung Jinhan screamed in agony.
While he was screaming, Jaehyun punched his gaping mouth.
Thud.
Struck squarely, Myung Jinhan lost consciousness on the spot.
Only then did Park Daehyung intervene, cuffing Myung Jinhan’s arms.
***
The victim, Jung Mi-rae, was taken to the hospital by Emergency Services.
Myung Jinhan, after receiving brief first aid on the scene, was arrested and brought to the Capital Region Police Station.
A strange tension filled the station.
A serial killer was still at large, and no one had been caught yet.
Then, the guy who’d been dragging a woman in a suitcase was brought in.
Naturally, the first thought was, “Could this guy be the serial killer?”
With the possibility that he was the serial killer, everyone was on edge.
Park Daehyung began the interrogation first.
As the rookie officer, only a month on the job, Lee Jaehyun had to watch from outside.
“Name.”
His ankle was broken, so he couldn’t walk on his own, and his face was swollen in a ridiculous way.
Yet he seemed much calmer than when he had been talking to Jaehyun in the taxi.
Had he prepared for a situation like this?
He simply exercised his right to remain silent.
No matter how many questions Park Daehyung asked, Myung Jinhan stayed silent.
In the end, Park Daehyung left the interrogation room with nothing to show for it.
“Is this bastard’s mouth glued shut or something?”
Park Daehyung muttered irritably.
Jaehyun spoke up as he watched.
“May I go in?”
“You?”
Park Daehyung gave Jaehyun a strange look.
From earlier, his behavior had been unusual.
The way he’d taken down four thugs at once, or how he instantly spotted and subdued a suspect during a sobriety checkpoint—
Those weren’t things the usual Lee Jaehyun would do.
And it was the same now.
Normally, Lee Jaehyun preferred to keep quiet, never stepping forward like this.
Being proactive was fine, but interrogations required more technique than people thought.
Especially with suspects in violent crimes, even more so.
Park Daehyung was about to refuse his request.
But.
“Well, sure. Give it a shot.”
“Team Leader?”
The Team Leader of Hansung Police Station’s 4th team, Oh Cheol-jin, interjected and gave his approval.
Oh Cheol-jin, with his slightly lean but solid frame.
At a glance, he looked like the kind of man you’d see working on a construction site, the so-called “nogada” laborers.
But, despite his approachable appearance, Park Daehyung knew very well how serious he could be with a case.
That’s why he was surprised to see Team Leader Oh giving the go-ahead.
This wasn’t just dealing with a kidnapping caught in the act.
This could very well be—no, almost certainly was—the interrogation of the serial killer who had been committing these murders.
And they were letting the rookie handle it?
Team Leader Oh just shrugged at Park Daehyung’s stare and said,
“He caught the guy, so why not? It’s the police’s job to see a case through to the end.”
He patted Jaehyun on the shoulder.
“Give it a try.”
“Thank you, sir.”
Gratefully, Jaehyun bowed to Team Leader Oh.
He’d half expected to be refused, but with the Team Leader’s approval, he was both thankful and relieved.
With that, Jaehyun entered the interrogation room.
As he went in, Park Daehyung cast a worried glance at him.
“Will he really be okay?”
“We’ll see. So what if he doesn’t get a confession? Where else would the rookie get this kind of experience?”
Team Leader Oh answered casually.
This was a case that could become a career milestone for Team Leader Oh, so he felt no burden letting Jaehyun try the interrogation.
Besides, even if Jaehyun failed, nothing would go wrong.
Still, seeing the usually passive rookie stepping forward with such determination was a bit exciting.
Did he really believe he could get Myung Jinhan to talk?
Time would tell.