Chapter 100

Chapter 100 – Accomplice #1

“Sunbae, can you give me the newspaper clippings?”

“Yes . ”

Hyun-ho, who was organizing the materials at the investigation headquarters, called out to Kang-suk sitting on the other side . They were investigating all of the tracks of one man . The workload was much greater than he had thought . He hadn’t been able to go home for a few days since he returned from the Blue Dragon Prison .

It was the same with Kang-suk . He was writing a report that had to be handed in to his superiors in a few hours .

“Here . ”

Hyun-ho received the report from Kang-suk and checked the necessary items before yawning and getting up .

“This is never ending… A genius investigator is doing paperwork . I should ask for more people from the chief . ”

“The taste is gone . Let’s go out and get a cup of coffee . ”

“Yes . ”

Hyun-ho’s face brightened at the thought of taking a break . Kang-suk exited the investigation headquarters and walked to a vending machine in the hallway . Hyun-ho followed behind him . It was late so there was no one else in the hallway .

Kang-suk pulled out a 1,000 won bill from his pocket and asked .

“Black?”

“Today I am a sugar-type person . Sugar is required for my head to work . ”

“Is that so? I am originally a coffee shop person . ”

Kang-suk bought coffee with lots of sugar and cream . The two people talked to each other while drinking coffee with their backs against the wall .

“Isn’t it about time to receive the DNA results?”

“It should be coming by this evening or tomorrow . If that is a match then we should be able to get some support . ”

Hyun-ho was waiting for the identity of the body found a few days ago . It was the only clue they got from solving Park Sung-yul’s puzzle . They needed to know who it was so that they could specify that Park Sung-yul was the culprit in this case .

At that moment, Kang-suk’s phone started ringing .

“It comes just as we are speaking about it . ”

The phone screen showed brief results along with the autopsy from the coroner . Hyun-ho’s eyes shone .

“Are the results out?”

“Yes . There is a 98% probability that it is a family member of the boarding house landlord . ”

“…Then now we can start a full-fledged investigation . ”

It was clear that Park Sung-yul was involved in another murder .

Kang-suk gulped down the bit of coffee that was remaining . Then he squeezed the paper cup with his fist and threw it into the trash .

“Don’t we have something to do before that?”

“Huh?”

Something to do before the investigation?

Hyun-ho looked at Kang-suk with confusion .

@

“Sob… J-Ji-young…”

Park Sung-yul’s boarded house owner and Kim Ji-young’s mother burst out crying .

The National Institute of Scientific Investigation had finished their investigation into the corpse and had it cremated . The owner of the boarding house collapsed as her daughter returned after four years .

Hyun-ho said in a small voice to Kang-suk sitting next to him,

“I was too involved in the investigation and I forgot about the most important thing for a moment . ”

Kang-suk stroked his head without saying anything . Hyun-ho was surprised and moved two meters away from Kang-suk .

“Hyah! S-Sunbae! Is this your taste?”

“…What are you saying? Do you want me to turn your head into a rock?”

Hyun-ho desperately waved his hands,

“I’m sorry to keep you waiting like this . ”

Kang-suk pulled out a handkerchief and handed it to the boarding house owner .

She accepted it and spoke while wiping her tears .

“No, Detective-nim . I’m really grateful that Ji-young is home . ”

“……”

“I don’t know how long I’ve been searching . Travelling around the country and putting up missing flyers… Every day I go to a place that Ji-young would frequent… If you hadn’t found her…”

Kang-suk’s eyes turned red . It was the first time his heart was sore from hearing thank you .

“Now that you found her, I can have the funeral… I can send off my daughter . ”

Kang-suk opened his mouth and said to the owner of the boarding house .

“Thank you for your cooperation . Please contact me about the funeral . ”

The owner of the boarding house bowed before getting up . Then she whispered as she embraced the precious urn .

“Ji-young, Mother is here . I baked your favourite ribs… You must’ve been hungry for a while huh?”

Kang-suk and Hyun-ho looked at each other and said nothing as the boarding house owner left .

“Huu…”

Kang-suk leaned back on the couch and sighed . He put his wrist to his forehead like he was tired . A hoarse voice emerged from his mouth .

“That aunty… Until the end, she didn’t say any words of resentment towards Park Sung-yul . Rather, she might feel regret that he became a killer . What is that bastard? People… Damn…”

Hyun-ho gazed at Kang-suk and said in a low voice,

“Sunbae . The average of missing people is over 30,000 a year . Not all of them are the victims of a hidden crime but…”

Kang-suk stood up and shouted,

“Are you glad you found the body now?”

“……”

“…I’m sorry . I know you don’t think that, I think I’m a little tired . ”

“No, it’s okay . If you’re tired, do you want to go to the sauna? I’ll pay . ”

“No thanks . Anyway, did you investigate what I asked you to?”

It had been 10 days since finding Ji-young’s body . In addition, Park Sung-yul had remained silent since then . So how long would it take to find the remaining 12 people that he said he killed?

The best way was to plant a spy in the Blue Dragon Prison where Park Sung-yul was staying . He tried to find someone using all his connections, but it was in vain .

“There is a lot of acting to be done . It is too much for the criminals I know . ”

However, he couldn’t hear a positive answer from Hyun-ho .

“So I told you to check with the other detectives . ”

Detectives who caught criminals were well aware of their ecology . Therefore, they might know people inside criminal organizations .

“I know . Most of them are busy with what they are doing right now . In addition, criminals who are free changed after hearing the words Blue Dragon . They said that monsters are imprisoned there . ”

“Huu…”

Kang-suk sighed . He would do it himself if he could . However, there were two criminals who knew Kang-suk’s face in Blue Dragon . One was Park Sung-yul, the target, and the other one was Yoo Cheol-ho .

“…I have no choice but to ask him . ”

Joo Hyun-ho recalled how Kang-suk said a few days ago that only Phantom could do this .

“Still, collaborating with Phantom…”

“He is the best . Didn’t you hear about the Killer case? Phantom can imitate other people’s faces . He also knows a lot about criminals . Furthermore, don’t you remember the Bomber incident? He penetrated the psychology of the culprit . If it is the Phantom, he will be able to get everything from Park Sung-yul . ”

Hyun-ho fought with Phantom . He didn’t want to acknowledge it, but Phantom had a terrifying ability .

“…But will he want to be a source of police information?”

“I will fall to my knees and beg him if he contacts me . He isn’t a sociopath who doesn’t understand a person’s feelings . If I ask…”

In order to find out the truth of the murders, a detective was willing to fall to his knees before a murderer .

“Sunbae…”

But Hyun-ho didn’t want to see that . In the end, he said something with a determined expression .

“How about hiring him with money? He did ask for money in return for capturing criminals . ”

“Well, this isn’t like the Bomber case . I don’t think 100 million won will come out of the budget for this case… However, it does seem like the best method . I’ll ask the commissioner . ”

“If you don’t have enough budget then I’ll add a little bit . I’ll cooperate as much as possible with Phantom . ”

Kang-suk nodded quietly . He decided to try everything he could, with kneeling as a last resort .

“…Anyway, first Phantom needs to contact me . ”

“Keep talking, he might call just because your voice will tickle his ears . ”

“Aish, it can’t be . ”

Dururu-

There was suddenly a call . Kang-suk stared at the phone . The called ID said God of Crime .

“Eh! Sunbae! Did Phantom actually come? You did tickle his ears . ”

“Shush . I need some quiet to receive the call . ”

He pressed the call button and brought the phone to his ear .

–Have you been well? Detective Cho Kang-suk .

Kang-suk gulped and quietly opened his mouth .

@

Tae-hyuk was talking to An Eun-young while lying in bed .

“I have to stay in the hospital for two, maybe three more weeks . Please tell Teacher Jung Nam-ho . ”

–Y-Yes . But if you are hospitalized, come to our hospital… No . If you can move, will you come to our hospital tomorrow? There is a double room empty .

“No . I have to stay here . ”

-T-Then let me know the address! I will back you a delicious lunch and go visit!

Tae-hyuk swallowed his saliva .

An Eun-young had been strangely active starting from a week ago .

Tae-hyuk discovered that her mother had passed away before An Eun-young arrived at the hospital . He then used his crime skills to deceive her . He acted like her mother who was happy about hearing her daughter’s admission into university .

He definitely did it for An Eun-young, but he still couldn’t help wondering if it was okay . Class President would think it was the truth for the rest of her life . Perhaps he had committed an unreasonable crime . Therefore, he felt guilt every time he heard An Eun-young’s voice .

“…I think tomorrow will be okay . Can you come then?”

–Yes!

“I understand . The place…”

Tae-hyuk gave her the address of the hospital . He was going to shatter this place in a few days, so it wouldn’t be too bad to have a break before that .

–Then I will see you tomorrow . I’ll make a lot of delicious things!

Tae-hyuk ended the conversation with An Eun-young and called Kang-suk this time . Of course, he used the Phantom dedicated phone .

[Voice Modulation has been used . ]

-You can directly imitate the voice of Kim Bum-soo .

He didn’t know if it was due to his crime skills or his stamina that was over 50 points, but Tae-hyuk showed great resilience . Looking at his outward appearance right now, it didn’t seem like he had been shot in the head .

‘Then it is time to move . ’

In fact, he wanted to be more stable for a week or so . However, there was something that shouldn’t be missed today .

‘Wasn’t Park Sung-yul’s second puzzle released three days later?’

Park Sung-yul, the serial killer who murdered 14 people .

He said that he treated the victims he liked like a puzzle . Tae-hyuk only had rough information about him . His memories were faint and blurry . He was already dead when Tae-hyuk entered the prison .

‘The cause of death was suicide . ’

Park Sung-yul had revealed his puzzle pieces to the police . He felt great joy when he saw the embarrassed police being unable to solve it . However, there was a police investigator who was called a genius . Although it took a long time, he ended up solving all of the puzzles .

Park Sung-yul was found dead in the bathroom .

Tae-hyuk knew the ending of the Park Sung-yul case . Unfortunately, only a few knew about the contents of the puzzle . Originally, he would’ve ignored this case since all of the victims had already died and were hidden somewhere . He wouldn’t get any affinity points from them and they also didn’t have weapons that could be used like the Triads killer .

However, Tae-hyuk had a reason to grab Park Sung-yul . In the Blue Dragon Prison, the gold bars hidden by the Japanese were hidden . It would be hard to enter there, even with Phantom’s abilities . He intended to use the pretext of cooperating with the police in order to infiltrate Blue Dragon .

‘Hopefully, I can eat all the gold alone . ’

Either way, it would solve the case that would cause the police’s mind to rot over the next two years . It absolutely wouldn’t be a loss for the police . Tae-hyuk opened his mouth after confirming that Kang-suk had received the call .

“Have you been well? Detective Cho Kang-suk . ”

–P-Phantom…!

“You seem to be working on a hard puzzle while I rested . ”

–…How did you know?

“That is a trade secret . I contacted you today because I wanted to give the police a nice present .

–More than that, what about the bombs and weapons from the killer? If you hand them over then I will talk to the commissioner about reducing your other sins…

“I definitely gave you the opportunity . It was the police who betrayed me . At any rate, the bombs are in a very safe place . So the only thing left is to talk to you in person . ”

–You want to meet?

“Yes . The time is two days later in the evening . I will contact you again with further details . ”

–W-Wait a minute…!

Tae-hyuk ignored Kang-suk’s cries and hung up . Once the news came, the police would be upset .

He closed his eyes and thought about how he could get the most out of this .

First, he should take a break .