Chapter 1
Inside the dark conference room, Sea began her briefing in a grave tone as she displayed the case materials on the screen.
“The skeletal remains were discovered on a wooded hill near Hansol Middle School. Based on the degree of decomposition and the breeding condition of the insects found on the remains, we estimate that the body was buried secretly sometime between September and October of last year. The victim, Han Hee-yeon, was a forty-one-year-old woman. She had no relatives and was unemployed, so no missing-person report had ever been filed.”
“Thought it was strange that the rain was coming down so hard. Finding skeletal remains because of a landslide is a first for me, too, even after more than a decade on the force.”
Park Gi-cheol, the team leader of Violent Crimes Team One, frowned slightly as he stared at the skeletal remains displayed in Sea’s presentation.
The body had been stuffed inside a large Boston bag, with the shoulder and knee joints unnaturally folded. Even at a glance, it was a gruesome sight that immediately brought a horrific image to mind.
“Have we narrowed down the suspects?”
“Yes. There are currently three suspects. All three had unclear alibis at the time of the incident and had experienced financial disputes with the victim.”
Park Gi-cheol flipped through the documents distributed across the spacious table and carefully examined the forensic materials sent over by the crime-scene investigation team.
“If the bag is estimated to have weighed around fifty kilograms at the time of the crime, then Kim Seong-hun, the only male among the suspects, is the most likely culprit. He also has a history of being reported for stalking the victim, so there’s a clear motive in addition to the financial dispute.”
“That isn’t necessarily the case.”
Sea immediately contradicted him.
Everyone in the conference room turned their eyes toward her.
Everyone except Yoon Sea herself.
Her eyes were fixed on empty space.
More precisely, they were staring at a translucent, sky-blue status window floating clearly in midair.
「Reading Mode activated. Please select a target to read.」
Kim Seong-hun.
「Target set to ‘Kim Seong-hun.’ Fragment of memory found.」
「Emotion: Longing.
Scene: Numerous empty liquor bottles are scattered across the room.
Voice: “How could I possibly forget you, only for you to come back after dying…?”」
After checking the status window, Sea moved on to the next part of his record.
“Mr. Kim Seong-hun does have a history of stalking the victim, but it only happened once, and that was two years ago. It’s a stretch to say he murdered the victim simply because she reported him two years ago.”
“But the report was two years ago. There could have been incidents she never reported because she was afraid of retaliation.”
“That’s true.”
Sea lowered her gaze to the document containing the personal information of another suspect, then glanced at the status window.
Change target. Jeong Hye-na.
「Target changed to ‘Jeong Hye-na.’ Fragment of memory found.」
“But there is another suspect who is more likely. Her name is Jeong Hye-na, the victim’s former coworker.”
“Jeong Hye-na?”
Park Gi-cheol looked baffled by Sea’s statement. He flipped through the documents until he found her information.
Since the investigation was still in its early stages, the file contained little detailed information. However, a young woman with a remarkably youthful appearance stared back at them from her identification photograph.
“Jeong Hye-na is impossible. You’re saying a woman committed the crime alone, dragged the body to a wooded hill, and buried it there. There’s no way she could have moved it without being noticed.”
Team Leader Park quickly shot down Sea’s argument, then turned another page and frowned.
“And judging by the stab wound found on the victim’s neck, the weapon came down from a considerably elevated position at almost a ninety-degree angle. If the impact was strong enough to leave compression marks on the bones, the culprit would have to be at least as physically powerful as an adult man.”
「Emotion: Anxiety.
Scene: In front of Han Hee-yeon’s house. Looking over a wall approximately two meters high.
Voice: “Mister! Why are you looking over someone else’s wall…? Huh? What? It’s a woman…?”
“Hey, look over there. How is a woman that tall?”」
“The possibility isn’t entirely nonexistent. The victim was only 152 centimeters tall and weighed forty kilograms, so she was extremely petite. Meanwhile, suspect Jeong Hye-na is taller than the average adult man.”
“Jeong Hye-na is taller than the average man? Have you already gone out and interviewed people?”
“Yes. The company where Ms. Jeong Hye-na works is nearby, so I was able to confirm it from a distance.”
It was a fabricated explanation, but it was delivered so cleanly that Team Leader Park pondered it for a moment before shaking his head.
“You can’t identify someone as the culprit simply because she’s tall. Not unless you have solid evidence that completely eliminates Kim Seong-hun from consideration.”
“We do.”
“What?”
“There’s circumstantial evidence that lowers the likelihood of Kim Seong-hun being the culprit. When Kim Seong-hun was previously booked for stalking, he was diagnosed with alcohol dependence. There’s a possibility that his condition has continued to this day.”
The atmosphere in the room changed instantly at the new information.
“So, if he’s still suffering from alcohol dependence, that means Mr. Kim Seong-hun would have been physically weak for an extended period. Even as a man, he wouldn’t have been capable of carrying a bag containing a body up a mountain?”
“Yes, exactly.”
Park Gi-cheol stared sharply at Sea.
Then he folded his arms, as if telling her to continue, and went straight to the heart of the matter.
“Fine. We’ll check whether Kim Seong-hun is still suffering from alcohol dependence. But how exactly are you so certain that Jeong Hye-na could have moved that heavy bag?”
“You can tell from her work history.”
“Her work history? Don’t tell me you’re referring to the fact that Jeong Hye-na has worked in logistics for a long time. Not everyone in logistics does physically demanding work. Did you actually check the details?”
“Yes. As you said, we can’t assume someone is physically strong simply because they’ve worked in logistics for more than ten years.”
Sea used the presenter in her hand to advance several slides.
A screenshot from a corporate review website appeared on the screen.
“So I did some research myself. The logistics department at this company has numerous reviews saying that even the male employees find the work physically demanding, which is one reason the pay is relatively high.”
“In other words, someone like Jeong Hye-na, who has more than ten years of experience there, can reasonably be assumed to have greater physical strength than the average adult man?”
Silence settled over the conference room.
No one dared to speak easily while watching a debate between a veteran team leader with more than ten years of experience as a detective and the rising star detective who had recently attracted tremendous media attention after solving one long-unsolved case after another.
Then, after a moment—
“I see.”
At Team Leader Park’s quiet affirmation, the tension in the room disappeared in an instant.
“First, organize the evidence and get an arrest warrant.”
“We’ll do that.”
Park Gi-cheol nodded and rose from his seat.
He had risen rapidly through the ranks thanks to his exceptional investigative skills, becoming a team leader faster than his peers.
But strangely enough, ever since becoming a team leader, he had found it difficult to demonstrate his abilities.
There was one person who possessed information no one else knew.
Yoon Sea, the new ace of the Violent Crimes Division, had taken over that role.
Even in this case, all Sea had done was sift through the victim’s phone records to narrow down suspects with financial connections to her and search for information about Jeong Hye-na’s company.
Sea had never once met any of the suspects involved in the skeletal remains case.
She had never conducted a single field interview, either.
The only reason she knew all this information was because of a status window that had suddenly appeared one day.
She could still remember how bewildered she had been when it first appeared.
It had happened on her very first day working in Violent Crimes, when she had finally achieved her dream of becoming a detective. She had been sitting in a meeting with her seniors when the status window had abruptly appeared before her eyes.
No matter how hard she tried to look away, it followed her gaze.
She had even rubbed her eyes repeatedly and tried rubbing the files on which the status window appeared.
Nothing worked.
Thanks to that, I got chewed out like crazy on my very first case for messing around during a meeting….
Well, she had certainly made up for that impression afterward, thanks to her ability.
She was thinking nostalgically about those days as she left the conference room when she spotted Hee-woo approaching her cheerfully with a cup of instant coffee.
“Here’s your coffee.”
“Oh. Thanks.”
She took the paper cup and rolled her stiff neck a few times before casually leaning her back against the wall.
“Senior, did you watch the news yesterday?”
“No.”
“These days, every time you turn on the news, they’re talking about you. You really didn’t watch it?”
“What am I supposed to do by watching it? If you have that much free time, get started on the final case report for these skeletal remains.”
Hee-woo’s eyes widened at her thoroughly annoyed response.
“Wait, what? You haven’t already decided that Jeong Hye-na is the culprit, have you?”
“I have. She’ll be arrested within a week, so don’t go poking around in unnecessary places.”
“But it’s still a little too early to be that certain….”
“Hee-woo.”
“Yes?”
Sea took another sip of her coffee and spoke as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.
“What are the three basic conditions for identifying a suspect?”
“Uh… opportunity, motive, and alibi?”
“Physical capability checks out. She’s been doing a job for more than ten years that even an adult man would struggle with, she had a financial dispute with the victim, and she has no alibi for the time of the crime.”
“……”
On top of that, she had been caught secretly peering over Han Hee-yeon’s wall.
“Jeong Hye-na is the only suspect who satisfies all three conditions, and she’s by far the strongest suspect we have.”
Hee-woo stared at her for a moment before narrowing his eyes suspiciously.
“Senior… is your real goal getting promoted two ranks at once? The news made a huge fuss about you solving two long-unsolved cases in a row recently, and it looks like the higher-ups are seriously considering it. You know that if you solve this case too, you’re guaranteed a special promotion, right?”
“Hee-woo, you have a tendency to think far too highly of our police organization.”
“What?”
Sea crumpled the empty paper cup and tossed it into the trash before patting him on the shoulder several times.
“Even if we get stabbed to death chasing a criminal, all we get is a one-rank promotion after death. Don’t expect too much.”
