Call us as CIF
A man standing in a place which was surrounded by concrete walls.
In front of him was a man deep in sleep.
The man slowly approached the one who was sleeping.
Looked in to the mirror which was right in front of him.
Hair cap, latex gloves, even overshoes… nothing was amiss.
His fingerprint, foot marks and even hair wouldn’t be detected anywhere.
Feeling satisfied with his getup, the man pulled the latex gloves.
He approached the table in front of the concrete wall, which smelled extremely musty.
There were things like hammers on the table.
The man hummed while searching for the right equipment, as if it pleased him.
The man who was sleeping didn’t even budge.
What the man picked was a saw.
The light in the room flicked. The area he was in wasn’t well powered, so there were a lot of incidents where the lights would constantly flicker. Taking on look at the lamp, he turned on the saw.
Despite the sound of the chainsaw sounding loudly, the man asleep, didn’t wake.
The man took slow steps, as if he was dancing to a waltz while approaching the sleeping man.
** *
“Good Morning!”
Kang Woo-cheol’s voice echoed in the special case handling team of Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency.
“Oh… Woo-cheol, you are here.”
Team leader Soo Woojin responded in a deep voice as if he got adapted to the loud greeting.
Jung Yu-mi, who was promoted as lieutenant over here too, sat down and nodded her head at Kang Woo-cheol.
The last one to appear was Hansol.
“Good Morning.”
“Dr. Im, you came early. You didn’t have to come at all, we haven’t had any cases these days.”
At Team Leader Woojin’s words, Hansol shook his head.
“As long as I am asked to cooperate as advisor, I need to be here on time.”
Team Leader Woojin yawned and spoke.
“By the way, have you guys thought about it? The name, Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency’s special case task force. It is so huge! I was thinking of making something short in English. Any ideas?”
“Ah, sunbae. What is with this English name, seriously!”
Kang Woo-cheol didn’t like the idea of having an English name. That was when Woojin approached Kang Woo-cheol to convince him.
“You brat! Even Korean noodles has an English name, everything has an English name. Having an English name would be perfect for our team!”
“Then… ‘a criminal investigation of Specific Case’, short it is called CIF. We won’t be given official permission for it, but if we keep referring to ourselves as such, the others will also call us, right?”
Lieutenant Jung, came up with the idea. Team leader Woojin clapped his hands.
“Oh, surely lieutenant Jung is good. That is a great idea. CIF! How cool is that name! By the way, how about a glass of soju and soup for lunch? I don’t know how long we will be having such peaceful days in the future.”
“Then, what will happen if the team is disbanded because there is no work, sunbae?”
When Kang Woo-cheol said those words, he met with a fist on his head by Woojin.
Hansol who was watching this didn’t have a good feeling.
The feeling of breaking down the awkward peace caught his mind. All in all, Woojin wasn’t wrong.
‘… it can’t be this peaceful. Obviously, something should be happening.’
At that time, a detective from the homicide team walked over, the face of the detective was so scrambled that he seemed to be some kind of distress.
“This is the special case task force?”
“Yes. Right. It is too long so we call ourselves CIF.”
“Ah… CIF. Anyway, there was an incident in Pyeongmi district in Seoul. This is…”
“What is the case?”
“A murder in an abandoned building. The homicide took charge of it a few days ago to investigate it, but were unable to find clues. The site was too clean to believe that someone could have been murder in there. The peculiarity…”
“Peculiarities? What is that?”
At the question of Team Leader Woojin, the detective spoke with an expression which displayed disgust.
“The body was, well, pieces were cut off and then placed back together, and the hands and legs of the body were nailed. Like some kind of religious ritual was being done… I was instructed from the top to hand over the case to CIF.”
“Understood. Then, hand over all the related autopsy files.”
Several detectives came in and moved the data to the CIF’s benches. Kang Woo-cheol was the first to see the photo of murder scene. As Kang Woo-cheol saw the photo, he ran for the bathroom.
“Ehh, Kang Woo-cheol, how weak is your stomach… let me see. God…”
Even Team Leader Woojin ran to the bathroom.
“I’ll see the photo first.”
Hansol politely asked lieutenant Jung Yu-mi. She handed over the photo to Hansol right away as if she had no intention of seeing it.
Hansol took a very close look at the photo in his hand. However, the peculiarity was that the hands and feet and even the whole body were woven back, and the cut wasn’t that clean. Besides, the nails in hands and feet were removed. He wondered if there was any religious meaning behind it.
‘… firstly, the cut section on the body isn’t clean. This a prof that the killer didn’t use a knife. It is possible that he used a chainsaw rather than a normal saw wanting to give that poor cut marks. There are no resistance signs. It is possible that the suspect managed to intoxicate his victim.’
“Doctor, did you find anything doctor?”
“Firstly… this is my personal speculation only, the suspect seems to be suffering from some mental illness. I think its schizophrenic. It could be an obsessive-compulsive disorder added to it. But the important thing is… I might have to go to the scene and look. The suspect seems a lot more suspicious than I anticipated. Even after making the body like this, with the way the blood had been cleaned up so nicely means that it is a planned murder.”
At Hansol’s words, lieutenant Jung immediately took the photo to check it. She did swear a lot by looking at the photo, but she didn’t rush to the bathroom like Woo-cheol or Woojin. As a result, she checked the photos and put them on the board, she felt sure of Hansol’s words.
“The scene of the incident was really clean. As if cleaning had been done thoroughly.”
“Let’s head over to the scene.”
Team Leader Woojin and Kang Woo-cheol returned, and the four of them headed to Pyeongmi.
Police were already at the scene as the four of them entered the place after providing their ID’s to the police who were guarding the scene.
“How many days old was this incident again?”
Team Leader Woojin picked out menthol from his pocket and applied it under his nose.
“It seems to have been around 2 weeks. Sunbae, give me one too.”
“Me too.”
“I am fine.”
Excluding Hansol, lieutenant Jung and Kang Woo-cheol applied menthol.
The place where the body was found is the 2nd floor of an abandoned building.
The most corner room.
Even though he was still walking on the 1st floor, he could feel it.
Taking a deep breath Hansol turned. The space was cold and the smell strong. It has been two weeks since the incident, there must be some damage to the body.
“Uh… it is kind of creepy. Right?”
Said Kang Woo-cheol while rubbing his arms.
Team Leader Woojin and Lieutenant Jung just shook their heads, as if they weren’t bothered.
“Hey, seeing you, you should be wearing a jumper as it would go along with your antics. Believe in yourself and enter the scene.”
“Sunbae, I am still getting used to all this!”
“Yeah, well… Doctor, how does the scene seem to you?”
“Since we are still on the 1st floor, I am not sure, but I understand that the odor is all around.”
“Ah… then I’ll ask you once again once we reach the 2nd floor.”
As soon as I headed up to the 2nd floor, they wore overshoes and latex gloves to preserve the site.
CIF walked towards the corner room.
“Wah… I put on menthol, and it still smells this bad! How could a body get damaged to this extent? Ugh, such a smell!”
Kang Woo-cheol couldn’t stop talking about the decaying smell. Only Hansol was calm. Hansol opened the corner room and looked at it.
“That, that light working?”
Hansol turned on the light. The light flashed a couple times before it turned on.
In a concrete room, it was a kind of room which no one would even look at twice.
And in such a place, a body was found.
“Who was the first to find this body?”
“Since this is a redevelopment area, I think it was a member of the Redevelopment Association.”
“I see. It is a little strange that electricity is still connected to an abandoned building.”
Hansol walked into the room.
The body in the photo was in the middle of the room. Hansol squatted over and checked to see if there were any traces of blood left on the floor. There was no trace of a single drop of blood.
‘… after the murder, the blood must have continued to flow. How did he manage to clean the floor without leaving a single drop of blood mark behind? Which means, the suspect must have waited till the blood came out entirely. The suspect must be well aware of the fact that no people enter and leave this building, and also aware of the light working in the room. Since there are no window, no one must have even seen the light turn on.’
“Doctor, how is the scene?”
“Seeing such a scene is really surprising. The body was amputated, and the tool used is most likely a saw. That too a chainsaw, not an ordinary one. Because the cut surface isn’t smooth, but seems like a lot of force has been applied. If it was a manual one, it would have taken a lot more time to cut it. Even then, not a single drop of blood seems to be…”
“Is the suspect a person who knows anatomy?”
At the question of Team Leader Woojin, Hansol nodded.
“It is a high probability that the suspect know anatomy very well. And there is a possibility of being religiously intoxicated, or the suspect believes in a god of some religion, and maybe suffering from schizophrenia and OCD. It is difficult to estimate the age range of the suspect. Were there any traces left on the CCTVs around here?”
Team Leader Woojin shook his head. He said that after the area was turned into an Urban Redevelopment area, all the CCTVs were removed and there were no vehicles coming or going, which made it impossible to even secure a black box.
“Hmm…”
Hansol closed his eyes and tried to reconstruct the scene again.
‘… When the body was amputated, the victim must have been overdosed on sleeping pills. If not that, then a morphine like pain reduction drug or something else. That would have made it easier to amputate the entire body by preventing the splatter of blood all over this place. The problem is the motive for crime… if I was the guy, why would I do this?’
“Team Leader, the identity of the victim has been confirmed, right?”
“It was said to be a 32 year old Woo Jin-yung, who owned Yueido Securities and stock broker. Unmarried and his parents are alive.”
“What if the victim was hated by the suspect?”
“Since he was in that work… there were told to be a lot of complaints when the stocks fell. Maybe one or two?”
Upon hearing those words, Hansol opened his mouth.
“.. then let’s add another thing. The suspect must have suffered damage.”
“That means that he had a grudge against the victim, right doctor?”
“According to the situation and murder site, and the job of the victim, it is likely that the suspect planned this murder because of grudge. And… this is my guess, but the suspect must have changed his job. In particular, if he was someone who used chainsaws often for his work. Would someone working with a chainsaw have any work in abandoned places?”
After Hansol, gulped.
The suspect’s crime was enough to rile up Hansol. His eyes shone brightly.