"Well, well, who do we have here? If it isn't our much-talked-about rookie!"
"...And you are?"
"Ah, see, this is exactly why rookies are hopeless, you know? Can't even recognize their seniors."
Two men dressed in black suits.
They seemed to be from the same company as Jae-hwan.
Ji-yeon spoke to the man in a stiff tone.
"Section Chief Kim Min-jun."
"Ah, should an assistant manager really answer a section chief so stiffly?"
"What do you want?"
"Ah, my business isn't with you. So get lost and get out of the way."
Min-jun roughly shoved Ji-yeon's shoulder aside and headed for Jae-hwan.
"Being high-ranking doesn't mean you won't die, so knock it off. We might be holding your funeral tomorrow, Section Chief."
But Ji-yeon wasn't an easy opponent either.
Ji-yeon grabbed Min-jun's shoulder in return and stopped him in his tracks.
"Oho, you're not letting go?"
"Take it easy."
"Take it easy? Take what easy? Isn't taking it easy what got your little brother killed?"
"...!!!"
Ji-yeon clenched her fist as if she were about to punch Min-jun right then and there.
The moment Jae-hwan, unable to watch any longer, was about to step in for Ji-yeon.
"Now, now, let's leave it here, both of you. We didn't come here to fight, did we? Haha..."
The meek-looking man who had been accompanying Section Chief Kim Min-jun hurriedly began to break up the fight.
"What? Out of the way, you punk. Did you lose your mind too, now that you've made associate?"
"N-no way. It's just, since upstairs isn't looking too kindly on you right now, Section Chief, any needless conflict..."
"What? You little bastard...!"
Min-jun turned his temper on the man trying to stop him.
But only for a moment.
"...Tch."
His pride crumpled, Min-jun had no choice but to turn away.
"Ah, by the way, rookie. Another job's come in for you. Try not to die out there."
"Ah, sure. Same to you, Section Chief. Let's meet again alive."
Jae-hwan, who had been quietly watching, shot back at Min-jun sarcastically.
At that, Min-jun's face twisted for a moment.
But conscious of the eyes around him, he had no choice but to back off.
At the same time, the meek-looking man bobbed his head apologetically to the team and followed Min-jun.
"...He's gone."
"Yeah. That crazy old fart. He could die any day. How on earth has he stayed alive this long with that personality?"
As soon as Min-jun was gone, Ji-yeon began talking behind his back.
"Guess he's always been like that?"
"He's famous for it. Jealousy, office politics, throwing his weight around. But apparently he thinks he's hot stuff. They say he's sore as hell about not getting into the Alpha Team."
Trying hard to keep her composure, Ji-yeon vented her complaints to Jae-hwan.
But Jae-hwan looked at Ji-yeon as if what Min-jun had said earlier was bothering him.
"Senior, what he said earlier about your little brother..."
"Let's not talk about that."
Ji-yeon cut Jae-hwan off immediately.
"Ah, okay..."
After a brief, awkward silence.
"Just know that he died working here with us."
Ji-yeon reluctantly opened her mouth and told Jae-hwan.
"...Understood."
Sensing Ji-yeon's bitterness, Jae-hwan quietly closed his mouth.
"Then let's go to work. The job that blockhead Section Chief mentioned."
Jae-hwan nodded and followed her out.
***
In the car on the way to the crime scene.
The team had received the case files from Chang-ho and were going through them.
"Two victims in total. The victims are minors?"
"Yeah. Both 13, they say."
"Aren't they elementary schoolers? Poor kids, at such a young age."
"Cause of death?"
"Strangulation. They say they were strangled with several thin strands."
"Several thin strands?"
"Yeah. And of course, no such tool was left at either scene."
"Was anything else reported?"
"There was. Both had terrified expressions on their faces."
"If it was right before they died, they'd naturally make that kind of face."
"Well, I suppose that's true. But what I suspect is..."
Chang-ho took a breath and kept talking.
"That the victims recognized the aberration."
"Recognized it? But aberrations look pretty gruesome to begin with. Anyone who saw one would freak out, wouldn't they?"
"Ah, not that. It's only a guess, but I'm thinking they might have recognized what the aberration looked like as a human."
"What it looked like as a human?"
"Yeah. In other words..."
"You suspect someone who had some kind of connection to them turned into an aberration."
"Right, that's it."
Chang-ho voiced his agreement with Ji-yeon's summary.
"What's the first thing that comes to mind as a reason a 13-year-old elementary schooler would get murdered?"
"No reason for being murdered comes to mind at all. They're just elementary schoolers, after all."
"True, I suppose not. Then let's head to the first scene for now. While we wait for the police to pass along more information."
In the end, without forming any real hypothesis, the team went in to examine the scene.
The crime scene was a back alley behind an all-too-ordinary high-rise building.
But the team, stepping into the scene, couldn't hide their bewilderment.
"What's this?"
"There's nothing here?"
Because the bodies had already been removed from the scene.
"What happened?"
"Ah, I forgot to mention it. There are no bodies. The bereaved families threw such a fucking fit that they were cleared away in advance."
"Then what are we supposed to look at?"
"Who knows. We look for anything we can find."
With that, Chang-ho pointed at handprints on the wallpaper.
"Ah, and this here. It's what's left as so-called evidence. See anything suspicious?"
Following Chang-ho's words, Jae-hwan examined the handprints on the wall.
Before long, Jae-hwan easily spotted something suspicious.
"The fingertips are pointing toward the floor. As if it came down the wall from the ceiling."
"Right. Not something an ordinary person could easily pull off."
"So it came down the wall from above."
Chang-ho nodded at Ji-yeon's conclusion.
"Right. But there's one strange thing. Look closely at the handprints. There's more than one or two on the ceiling and walls."
"So there are. Looks like it wasn't just moving around for a moment?"
"What does this make you think of?"
At Chang-ho's question, Jae-hwan fell into thought for a moment.
What if the aberration had cared only about killing the victims?
It would have attacked its target in one go and snuffed out their breath, without needing to crawl around leaving handprints like this.
Then there was only one hypothesis left.
"It dragged things out on purpose."
"Right. Seems that way. Then the remaining question is this. Why did it drag things out?"
While Jae-hwan hesitated briefly at Chang-ho's question.
Ji-yeon, who had been quietly listening, calmly voiced a cruel hypothesis.
"It was toying with them. Making the victims terrified right up until just before death, then killing them."
"...Sorry?"
Jae-hwan asked, appalled at her answer.
"No, wait a minute. The target was just a 13-year-old kid? It set the mood like this just to kill a kid like that?"
Ji-yeon sighed and answered Jae-hwan.
"We're dealing with an aberration. Things that defy common sense."
"Right. Aberrations will do anything to begin with."
Chang-ho agreed with Ji-yeon as well.
"Then I think we have our answer."
"Seems so. Apparently this aberration didn't simply arise from negative emotions."
Jae-hwan had no choice but to agree as well.
"Yes. So it's an aberration with enough rage and hatred built up to psychologically corner a 13-year-old and then murder them."
"Probably a grudge. And a tremendous one at that."
At the horrific truth, Jae-hwan was speechless for a moment as he looked at the others.
'What on earth would a 13-year-old have to do to earn a grudge like that...?'
But Ji-yeon and Chang-ho seemed to take this case relatively calmly.
As if this wasn't the first or second time.
With a look of disgust, Jae-hwan followed the others out.
***
After they finished inspecting the second crime scene.
The team set out to visit the parents of the first victim.
"This one was the same."
"Yeah. We didn't get anything worthwhile."
"All we found out is that the grudge is really strong..."
After a brief exchange in the elevator, the team rang the doorbell.
"...Who is it?"
"Police. We have some questions regarding the recent case."
At Chang-ho's words, a woman with an irritable face opened the door.
Smack –
At the same time, the woman swung her palm at Chang-ho.
"Team Leader!"
"What are you doing...!"
"Get lost! I told you never to come back, didn't I? My son died because of you people! How do you have the face to come here again?!"
Facing the appalled Jae-hwan and Ji-yeon, the homeowner only grew more brazen.
Having said her piece, she reached for Chang-ho again.
But Chang-ho caught her hand lightly.
"Let go, you lousy pig! Useless bastards, how dare you, you can't catch the murderer, so you take your temper out on the victims!"
"That's enough, ma'am. If you keep this up, I'll arrest you for assaulting a public official."
At the murderous look in Chang-ho's eyes, the woman flinched for a moment.
"...Tch."
Clicking her tongue, she reluctantly let Chang-ho into the house.
"Wow, she's seriously rude. It's a shame her son died, but this is too much."
"I know. What kind of woman is this?"
Ji-yeon and Jae-hwan also followed Chang-ho into the house, grumbling.
And as soon as they stepped into the house, the woman began screaming again.
"You useless bastards, what do you want this time?!"
'...Hold it in, hold it in.'
The team gritted their teeth and held in their anger.
A middle-aged man who had appeared at some point backed her up.
"What the hell, why are you pig bastards here again?! The ones who did nothing while our son was dying?"
'Ugh, the smell.'
A nauseating stench of alcohol hit them from the man, who was soaked in booze.
"I'm sorry, but even the police can't prevent a murder committed with this kind of premeditation."
"Bullshit, keeping the peace is your job!"
Unable to watch any longer, Jae-hwan began holding back Chang-ho, who was about to snap back.
"Stop it. They won't listen anyway."
"...Very well. Then let me ask you directly. Did your son ever do anything that would earn him a grudge?"
At Chang-ho's blunt words, the parents froze for an instant.
But only for a moment.
"Shut up! What do you know?! Our son was a good boy! The cops are all the same. You believed only what the other bastards said and ignored everything we said!"
The man suddenly exploded in anger.
"Damn it, as if those goddamn whore bastards know anything, as if those tattling goody-goodies know anything... It came to this because cops like you believed them when they pinned it all on our son!"
The team was simply bewildered by their excessive outburst.
But even in the midst of it, Jae-hwan began to go over their words step by step.
The victim had been blamed for some crime based on others' testimony.
But since it was his own family saying so, the chances of that being true were low.
Most likely, the victim really had committed a crime, the kind of thing that earns a grudge.
'Which means...'
Jae-hwan quietly spoke up and asked the victim's parents a question.
"So, according to what you're saying."
After a deep breath.
"Your son was, in the end, a juvenile offender who committed a crime. Isn't that what you're saying?"
Filled with rage, Jae-hwan hurled the pointed accusation at them.
TL Notes:
TL Note: juvenile offender - 'chokbeop sonyeon' in Korean, a legal term for a minor who has broken the law but is too young to be criminally punished for it.