Chapter 5
It wasn’t about covering up the case.
“I’m sorry. I guess you really needed to use the restroom.”
At the dining table in Go Sang-yeop’s house, Detective Kim Seok-ho apologized to Go Sang-yeop while waiting for Ju-won, who had gone to the bathroom.
“It’s fine. I mean, it’s a natural bodily function…”
However, Go Sang-yeop’s expression didn’t look good.
He had seemed unfazed when they barged into his house and snooped around his bedroom earlier, but now…
‘What’s going on?’
Though Go Sang-yeop’s behavior was suspicious, Detective Kim Seok-ho didn’t show it.
With a calm face, he quietly observed Go Sang-yeop.
Go Sang-yeop kept glancing nervously at the bathroom where Ju-won had entered.
After a moment, Detective Kim Seok-ho got up and headed toward the bathroom.
At that moment…
“So, the two of them were members of the same hiking club. Then, of course, they should know each other. But Go Sang-yeop claims he doesn’t know the victim? This smells fishy. Way too fishy.”
Inside the bathroom.
Ju-won, sitting on the closed toilet lid, stroked his chin.
Then, Terra spoke.
[Isn’t it just because we’re in the bathroom that it smells?]
“You don’t understand metaphors, do you? I’m saying it smells fishy because it seems like he’s hiding something. Wait, smell…? It doesn’t smell… at all.”
[You just said it smelled fishy. What do you mean?]
Ju-won suddenly stood up and scanned the bathroom.
“Doesn’t it seem too clean in here? There’s no smell at all.”
[Are you talking about the bathroom? It looks clean. Given the state of the house earlier, it’s likely the bathroom was cleaned regularly.]
“No, but it’s too clean. Even the smell of bleach is pretty strong. It seems like it was cleaned recently… maybe just yesterday.”
[Now that you mention it, there’s not a single strand of hair near the drain. The trash can is empty too.]
“Exactly… it’s weird. Way too weird…”
Just then,
*Bang bang!*
“Inspector! Are you done in there? Who are you talking to and muttering about?”
The sound of knocking on the door and Detective Kim Seok-ho’s angry voice came from outside.
“Ah, yes! Just a moment! I think something I ate yesterday didn’t agree with me… I’ll be out soon!”
Ju-won stood in front of the sink, looking at the reflection of the bathroom in the mirror.
A spotless, immaculate bathroom.
The driver, Go Sang-yeop, had hidden his relationship with the victim, Kim Mi-yeon,
and had cleaned the entire house meticulously.
Like someone trying to hide something.
‘What is it? What kind of relationship did they have that Go Sang-yeop is pretending not to know the victim… What?’
At that moment, Ju-won’s gaze stopped at the ceiling.
One of the ceiling tiles looked yellowish.
‘…Since when has it been like that?’
[Ah, you finally noticed? I marked it in your field of vision because it seemed suspicious.]
‘Terra…!’
Half surprised by Terra's ability and half scolding her for not speaking up sooner, but there was no time to dwell on it.
Juwon immediately stepped onto the bathtub, quietly opened the ceiling panel, and reached inside.
And then,
'It's there.'
[What is it?]
He pulled out something he had grabbed.
'A phone?'
It was a phone wrapped in plastic.
The screen was cracked, with glass fragments stuck to it.
[The phone on the dining table, belonging to Go Sang-yeop, seemed to be the latest model. It had no cracks and appeared to have been recently replaced.]
Juwon took the phone out of the plastic and pressed the power button.
At that moment, Detective Kim Seok-ho knocked on the bathroom door again.
"Detective!"
"Ah, just a moment! Just a moment! I'll be out soon!"
[He’s not an easygoing person. He keeps his house tidy and maintains it daily. Rather than carelessly discarding evidence, he’s more likely to hold onto it until he finds a sure way to dispose of it. Therefore, the phone Juwon is holding now is likely that evidence.]
'I agree.'
As Juwon thought this, the phone powered on.
But then.
"Ah, a pattern lock."
Juwon grabbed his forehead.
The phone had a pattern password.
'Ah, to unlock this, we’d need a warrant...'
[Analyzing the pattern.]
Juwon's eyes widened.
'Analyze? Can you figure out the pattern?'
[......Analysis complete. Move your finger according to the numbers I call out. 3492.]
"Huh? Oh!"
Juwon drew the pattern on the phone as Terra instructed.
Then, with a click, the phone unlocked.
'What, what just happened? How did you do that?'
[I analyzed the traces of oil left by the fingerprints.]
'Wow.'
As expected, artificial intelligence is on another level.
If I were alone, I would’ve tried everything and still failed to unlock it.
[Enough admiration, let’s take a look at the phone first.]
'Right.'
Juwon began examining the phone.
From the call and message apps to the photo gallery.
And the more he looked through the phone, the more his brow furrowed.
[The two of them were indeed acquainted. More precisely, they seem to have been in a romantic relationship. Judging by the photos taken together and the messages exchanged in the photo app.]
The phone, presumably belonging to Go Sang-yeop, had the victim Kim Mi-yeon's name in it.
And next to her name was a heart emoji.
'She’s his girlfriend.'
12:45 AM - <Mi-yeon, are you saying we should break up? Why are you doing this? Let’s not do this and meet up to talk. You know the 24-hour soup place, right? Let’s meet there in the evening. I’ll wait for you.>
"Victim Kim Mi-yeon had no family, no close friends. So, there was no way to confirm whether the perpetrator, Ko Sang-yeop, was her boyfriend."
[That's correct. Moreover, since the incident was initially classified as a traffic accident, no one would have thought to check the relationship between the two.]
"Then did he run her over with his car out of anger after she broke up with him?"
Juwon sent the text.
01:14 AM - <Mi-yeon, come back, I was wrong. Where are you? Let's meet and talk, I'll come pick you up.>
01:58 AM - <I'm going to kill you, how dare you ignore me? You looked down on me because you graduated from a good university, and now you're ignoring me like this? I won't let you get away with this. I'll tear your body to pieces…….>
02:27 AM - <I'm sorry, Mi-yeon. I didn't mean what I said earlier.>
02:34 AM - <You orphan, even if you die, no one will care. B****, I won't let you go. I'll really……>
[Based on the circumstances so far, it seems that way.]
"This guy is a complete psycho."
Juwon's fingers moved.
Then he stopped at the last message.
03:30 AM - <I told you, didn't I? I won't let you go. You brought this upon yourself.>
[Time-wise, it seems like he sent this message after calling 119.]
"Sigh……"
Juwon let out a sigh at Ko Sang-yeop's inhumane messages.
[The file states that Kim Mi-yeon's cell phone was not found. It is presumed to have been thrown out of the car during the collision, but it seems highly likely that Ko Sang-yeop has it.]
"……"
[What do you plan to do? If you collect evidence now, it is unlikely to be admissible as it would be considered illegally obtained.]
At Terra's words, Juwon gripped his phone tightly.
At that moment, outside the bathroom.
"He hit his head a few days ago, so he might be feeling a bit unwell."
Sergeant Kim Seok-ho, standing in front of the bathroom door, was trying to calm Ko Sang-yeop down in as composed a tone as possible.
'What's going on…… what's in the bathroom……'
While subtly keeping an eye on Ko Sang-yeop in the kitchen, Sergeant Kim Seok-ho noticed.
Creak.
The bathroom door opened, and Juwon appeared.
"Detective……"
"Let's go, Sergeant."
But Juwon looked calm.
No, he seemed much brighter than before.
"……Alright……"
Clank!
Juwon and Sergeant Kim Seok-ho got into the car after leaving Ko Sang-yeop's house.
As soon as the car door closed, Sergeant Kim Seok-ho spoke up.
"What was it?"
"Huh?"
"What did you find?"
Juwon's head turned.
Sergeant Kim Seok-ho continued.
"I told you not to make a fuss over nothing, but I wasn't saying to cover up the case."
"……"
"……."
"What was it? What did you find?"
That night.
"The garbage truck will be here soon. Then…… hehehe! It's over."
In the back alley of the driver Ko Sang-yeop's house.
Ko Sang-yeop, holding a garbage bag, slowly approached the pile of trash.
"Damn it, I was startled when those cops suddenly showed up earlier."
He tossed the bag onto the trash pile and pulled out a cigarette from his pocket, placing it in his mouth.
Ko Sang-yeop's expression looked relieved.
As if there was no longer any murder evidence that could tighten the noose around him.
At that moment.
A man in a fluorescent vest, presumably the garbage disposal worker, approached from the alley.
"Wow, there's a lot of trash today."
Ko Sang-yeop exhaled cigarette smoke and subtly stepped back.
The garbage worker, wearing a cap over his fluorescent vest, began neatly organizing the general waste.
"Why is this so heavy?"
As the man, who appeared to be the garbage worker, picked up and put down the trash Ko Sang-yeop had discarded, Ko Sang-yeop approached with the cigarette in his mouth.
"Hey, old man, stop touching that and just clean up. Oh, but where’s the garbage truck? Did you come alone…… huh?"
But as Ko Sang-yeop approached the garbage worker, he frowned.
"You’re the one from earlier……."
The man in the fluorescent vest, who he thought was the garbage worker,
was Juwon.
"The police car to clean up the trash will be here soon. I came early because I heard there’s quite a bit of trash to clean up today."
As Juwon took off his cap, Ko Sang-yeop's face twisted.
He pulled the cigarette from his mouth and staggered back.
"Thanks to you, I won’t need a warrant. Really, thank you."
A few hours earlier,
when Juwon entered the bathroom in Ko Sang-yeop's house.
[What do you plan to do? If you collect evidence now, it is unlikely to be admissible as it would be considered illegally obtained.]
Detectives catch criminals and find evidence. Then they hand the criminals over to the prosecution.
After that, the prosecution and the court determine the criminal's sentence.
What’s needed for that is evidence.
Not just any evidence, but evidence collected through 'legal procedures.'
No matter how solid the evidence, if it’s not obtained through proper procedures, it cannot be recognized, nor can it be used to punish the criminal.
"It’ll be hard to catch him unless he brings it out himself……."
[According to the criminal psychology embedded in your subconscious, Juwon, criminals who have been investigated are highly likely to attempt to conceal evidence.]
'So?'
[Ko Sang-yeop is a meticulous planner. His tidy house, his prepared reactions anticipating the police might come to his home—all of it. Yet, he killed his girlfriend in a moment of impulse. He seems perfect, but he’s easily swayed by emotions. You entered the bathroom where he hid the phone, and by now, he’s probably very agitated.]
'Then…… he might try to dispose of the evidence earlier than planned?'
[Correct. And the easiest way is through waste disposal. Once trash is taken to the recycling center, the chances of finding it are significantly reduced.]
So Juwon waited.
Until Ko Sang-yeop made a move with the evidence.
And Ko Sang-yeop, as Terra predicted, made his move.
"Shall we start collecting the trash now?"
