Chapter 10
"Hard work alone won't be enough."
A few hours ago, 8:00 AM.
Juwon, who had forgotten Team Leader Gu Jin-gu's instruction to come in by lunchtime, was solely focused on the elementary school teacher murder case. He arrived at work early in the morning.
‘So, you’re saying that one of the weapons Kim Gab-du was carrying resembles the weapon that inflicted fatal wounds on the victim in the elementary school teacher murder case?’
[Yes. Please compare the wounds on the victim’s body with Kim Gab-du’s weapon.]
As Juwon exited the parking lot and entered the police station, he pondered.
Back in 2009.
Kim Gab-du’s case was under the jurisdiction of the Gangnam Police Station, while the elementary school teacher murder case was handled by the Gangjung Police Station.
The elementary school teacher murder case had made headlines and became quite a significant issue at the time.
However, Kim Gab-du’s case, classified as an aggravated assault, didn’t garner much attention. Moreover, it was later reclassified as a drug-related case, making it seem as though there was no connection between the two incidents.
‘Of course, Kim Gab-du was briefly considered a suspect due to the similarity of the wounds…’
[But crucially, there was no physical evidence. Not a single piece of evidence was found.]
In the elementary school teacher murder case, the wounds on the victim’s body were unusual, but the murder weapon was never identified.
Detectives speculated that it was a custom-made weapon, not available on the market.
[The detectives at the time investigated for quite a while but couldn’t find the murder weapon at all.]
‘Forensic technology back then was also lacking…’
[The similarity of the wounds alone wouldn’t have been enough to definitively identify Kim Gab-du as the perpetrator. It naturally became an unsolved case.]
‘Then, if the weapon Kim Gab-du was carrying matches the wounds on the victim in the elementary school teacher murder case…’
[Kim Gab-du could be identified as a suspect.]
Juwon headed to the document storage room in the basement of the police station.
If Terra had indeed found a connection that humans had missed,
the unsolved elementary school teacher murder case could finally be resolved.
“The 2009 elementary school teacher murder case…”
The officer in charge of the document storage room checked the records and shook his head.
“Ah, that one’s already been checked out.”
“Huh? By whom?”
The officer checked the records again.
“Team Leader Gu Jin-gu from the Violent Crimes Division… Team 3?”
“Our team leader?”
Why would Team Leader Gu be looking into that case? Juwon tilted his head in confusion when,
“Can you handle it?”
A voice from behind made Juwon turn around.
“……”
A man stood there.
Taller than Juwon, who was over 180 cm, with a formidable build.
A rugged face.
But it was a face he had seen on the news before.
‘The Unsolved Cases Team?’
The man, with cold eyes scanning Juwon, was Detective Oh from the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency’s Unsolved Cases Team.
Juwon didn’t know his name.
It had even been mentioned in the news as 'Detective Oh.'
"If it's the 2009 elementary school teacher murder case, I heard it was transferred to the Violent Crimes Division 3. You must be a member of that team."
"Ah, I'm Lee Juwon, an inspector from Violent Crimes Division 3."
"I'm Detective Oh from the Seoul Police Cold Case Unit."
Juwon raised his hand in a salute, and Detective Oh accepted it with his usual cold expression.
"Can you handle it?"
He asked with icy eyes, arms crossed.
"I'll do my best."
At Juwon's response, Detective Oh let out a faint chuckle.
"This was a case I personally handled when I was in Violent Crimes Division 1. It ended up as a cold case, though."
"..."
"There was a part I regretfully couldn't investigate thoroughly back then, so I came to re-examine it. But it seems the 'I Want to Know This' show beat me to it."
Detective Oh, still with cold eyes, looked at Juwon before heading into the archives.
"Doing your best won't be enough. I've already tried that."
As Detective Oh disappeared, Juwon called out.
"By any chance, do you know Kim Gab-du?"
Detective Oh's steps halted.
"Kim Gab-du?"
"Yes."
"...Wasn't he a suspect at the time?"
"That's correct."
"But... I remember there wasn't enough evidence. He was identified as a suspect, but the motive for the murder wasn't clear, so he was quickly ruled out."
"I see. Then I'll get going now."
Creak!
Juwon returned to Division 3 and opened an old cabinet.
This was where relatively recent cases, not yet moved to the archives, were stored.
As Juwon slowly scanned the cabinet, his eyes landed on an old box.
"This is it."
It was a box with a slightly different color.
The '2009 Elementary School Teacher Murder Case' from the archives.
[Please check the victim's wounds and injection marks.]
Juwon pulled out the file and flipped through the photos of the victim's wounds.
'Found it.'
The wounds on the victim's body caught Juwon's eye.
Stab wounds near the heart and on the face.
[The victim was stabbed with a sharp, precise weapon. It passed between the ribs but was strong enough to pierce through muscle. The unusual aspect is its length.]
'It's noted here too. The width is smaller than a typical kitchen knife. About the size of a small fruit knife. However, the wounds don't match any standard fruit knives on the market.'
[Please also look for photos of the weapon Kim Gab-du was carrying. And were there any injection marks?]
'Wait a moment.'
Juwon flipped through the file.
As he did, he thought:
If there had been injection marks, wouldn't the detectives at the time have suspected a connection to drugs?
They must have considered it.
So why wasn't it linked to a drug case at all?
As he continued flipping through the file,
'Nothing.'
There is none. Regarding the injection marks...
[Are there no photos or records of the victim's entire body?]
Juwon shook his head.
There were no photos of the corpse, nor any mention of injection marks or drugs anywhere.
Just as Juwon was lost in thought...
"This case..."
From behind, the voice of Team Leader Gu Jin-gu was heard. It was unclear when he had arrived.
"Team Leader?"
"How did you find out about this case?"
"Do you remember this guy? Kim Gab-du, the perpetrator of a robbery case and a drug offender."
A short while later, in the violent crimes investigation team's meeting room.
Detective Kim Seok-ho, who remained silent, Team Leader Gu Jin-gu with a surprised expression, and Officer Han Geon-woo were all looking at Juwon.
No, they were looking at the phone in Juwon's hand.
"Kim Gab-du...? I feel like I should remember him..."
But Team Leader Gu Jin-gu shook his head.
It was 15 years ago.
At that time, robbery cases were more common than they are now, and there were plenty of guys who looked like Kim Gab-du.
He couldn't remember that guy exactly.
"So, why are you specifying him as a suspect? Please explain the reason."
Detective Kim Seok-ho sat down and looked at Juwon.
He seemed to have calmed down, but his voice still carried a lot of doubt.
Juwon began to speak.
"I compared the weapon used by Kim Gab-du and the wounds on the victim's body. Ah, just a moment."
Juwon quickly brought in the documents from the office.
Then, he spread out the photos stored as evidence on the conference table and continued.
"A precise investigation will need to be conducted by the National Forensic Service, but it seems highly likely that the wounds on the victim were caused by Kim Gab-du's weapon."
The team members began comparing the photos on the table.
Soon, Team Leader Gu Jin-gu spoke to Juwon.
"But even if Kim Gab-du is the perpetrator, to find evidence that he stabbed the elementary school teacher victim, we need to find the weapon he made himself. The weapon used in 2009."
"Correct. So first, we need to confirm Kim Gab-du's identity and residence."
This time, Detective Kim Seok-ho asked.
"And we also need to confirm the motive. Why Kim Gab-du killed the elementary school teacher. The connection between the two."
Juwon nodded.
That was the part that bothered Juwon the most.
The connection between the two.
Was it drugs?
If so, the murdered elementary school teacher had some kind of relationship with Kim Gab-du through drugs,
and something went wrong, leading Kim Gab-du to kill the teacher?
Officer Han Geon-woo rested his chin on his hand and rolled his eyes.
"That's right... What could it be? Kim Gab-du was also involved in drug cases, so could the victim have been using drugs?"
"If that were the case, there would have been injection marks on the victim's body."
Detective Kim Seok-ho flipped through the files and shook his head.
"The detectives in charge at the time reported that there were no injection marks on the victim's body..."
"I didn't take any notes. I didn't find any particular drug-related clues."
That's right.
But Terra seems to think differently.
[All of Kim Gab-du's cases were related to drugs. The charges of robbery and assault were also crimes committed because he couldn't get money from the victims who owed him for drugs.]
'So, if it's true that Kim Gab-du killed the victim with a specially crafted weapon, there must be a connection between them.'
[And that connection is likely to be drugs.]
'Right, but there's no evidence.'
The meeting room fell silent.
The weapon Kim Gab-du made himself and the victim's wounds are strikingly similar.
That means Kim Gab-du could really be the suspect in this 15-year-old unsolved case.
But there's no link.
We need to find that link.
Even veteran detectives 15 years ago couldn't find the link and had to leave the case unsolved.
Juwon was deep in thought, and Terra was also silent for a while.
Fortunately, Sergeant Kim Seok-ho didn't oppose any further.
Perhaps because a clue to the case had emerged.
He, like the other team members, was pondering with his head down, and Juwon, who had been watching him, suddenly had a spark in his eyes.
"The media is focusing on this case... If the media finds out that our team is handling this case, they'll focus on us too..."
He muttered the words Sergeant Kim Seok-ho had said.
There is a lot of public interest in this case.
If it becomes known that Juwon's team is handling this case, the team will also receive public attention.
"...A case that's getting attention for no reason, if we take it on and fail to solve it, we'll be called incompetent or a waste of tax money..."
The attention on the case leads to attention on the Violent Crimes Division 3 team.
Juwon's eyes slowly rolled.
The voices of the team members, who had been pondering the connection between the two cases, echoed in Juwon's mind.
'What if it's the opposite...?'
Just as attention leads to attention.
Indifference leads to indifference.
If you look at something without interest, you're likely to ignore what's hidden behind it with the same indifference.
[Are you saying that the detectives in charge of the case missed something?]
'What if Kim Gab-du and the elementary school teacher victim were really related to drugs, and we ignored that evidence?'
[But there were no traces of drug injection on the victim's body...]
But then, Terra's words stopped.
Then she uttered something incomprehensible.
[Type 1 diabetes patients cannot produce insulin because the cells that secrete insulin are destroyed, so they need to take insulin injections for life.]
'Type 1 diabetes? Injections?'
The case records Juwon had just seen flashed through his mind.
'Could the victim have been...'
[He had Type 1 diabetes. Page 9, line 13 of the case report. 'Note: The victim suffered from Type 1 diabetes.']
If that's the case, even if there were injection marks, the detectives might have overlooked them without suspicion.
So if they never considered the connection to drugs...
"Injection marks."
A clue to the culprit of the 15-year unsolved case has emerged.
