"Then, are you saying that the Prosecution and the Law Firm joined hands? Then why did they—"
"Normally, the Prosecution and Police never get along. It is because of one of those things: the lack of evidence was a chance for them to show how incompetent the Police are."
"… Ah."
Hansol continued, "However, the struggle isn't what's crucial right now. So, what happens to the Kim sisters in the end? They will be dealt with in some way after they are used to demean the Police. In other words, it is dangerous if we do not know who is behind this."
"Kim Jiyeon has been released and Kim Jiyo is missing. We don't know… you want us to re-investigate this?"
Hansol nodded his head. The person who made the assessment has indeed planned to downplay the Police, and the secondary goal would be to deal with the Kim sisters, who were just used pawns.
"Team One of the Violent Crimes Unit, please do our best to secure the two people."
The team members nodded at Hansol's words.
Team Leader Woo-jin looked at Hansol and said, "Right, Team One will take care of the Kim sisters. Come to think of it, the sentencing date for Shin Jong-tae and the group is set to July 30."
Inspector Jung nodded her head and said yes.
"They claimed to be mentally weak… according to the information I've found, all three came out normal. Both on PCL-R test and other tests too. Everything was normal."
Detective Kang Woo-cheol was happy.
"There is a high probability that the data from the psych they were heading to will not be taken into account?"
"it can be seen that way. The problem is that they recently hired a lawyer…."
"It cannot be an amazing firm, right?"
Team Leader Woo-jin nodded to say it was a great one.
Seeing that, Hansol fell into thought. Two cases of his being defended by large firms. Why do the Prosecution and Law Firms keep moving hand-in-hand to drive the Police to a corner?
"I will go to the trial this time."
"No., Doctor Im, you don't have to—"
"There is something going on that I am not able to pinpoint."
"Hm? What is that?" Woo-jin asked bewilderedly.
Hansol just stood up without answering, saying he had to leave.
When Hansol went home, he checked the case of Shin Jong-tae and others.
'Prosecutor Kim Soo-hyeon, who was in charge of the sister's case, then Prosecution Lawyer Lee Jae-hyuk…?'
Is it a coincidence that Kim Soo-hyeon will be on two CIF cases?
'… it doesn't matter. CIF is also busy dealing with special crimes, but they are trying to take the culprits out… who is the one behind this?'
Hansol contacted Team Leader Woo-jin and asked for information.
Team Leader Woo-jin sent a brief summary of the newly acquired information after 5 minutes.
— All three of them had no psychiatric problems.
— When it was determined that there was no problem with them, Shin Jong-tae and the group stated that they had only done what the Woo brothers had ordered them to do.
— But as for what the brothers ordered, the three wouldn't speak.
'Then… let's think about it. Among the Woo brothers, the elder brother was brutally murdered by the younger brother, who called himself the judge of God. The problem was that they were both psychopaths, and it seems like they were pursuing heinous pleasures.'
So, who is Shin Jong-tae, the murderer of the younger Woo brother?
It is highly likely that he blindly followed the orders given. In the process, the young brother killed the older, and the younger tried to become a god.
Shin Jong-tae and the group may have different beliefs about the brothers and the judge when the older brother, who they thought was the initial God, was murdered. All three of them knew the elder one. The brother's assets went to the younger one, and it is possible by blind faith they had split, and the younger one was killed.
'The imitation of tarot card's Hanged Man, thinking pain was his enlightenment and pleasure. However, the way the brother was murdered was different. Which means Shin Jon-tae and others didn't know what the Hanged Man card actually meant….'
"Hmm… who will be the Prosecution act on this trial? What on earth is the person behind the scenes thinking? Is this a fight between the two institutes? Is this a triumph for criminals? Considering that this was a triumph for criminals, the foolishness of Shin Jong-tae and the group who took the last attempt in the crime…."
Hansol looked at the calendar.
One week is left until the trial on July 30th. Today's date is July 23.
It will be essential to know which direction the trial will go.
Hansol had many questions about how many years they would be sentenced and if the Prosecution would appeal.
A foreboding feeling passed through Hansol like something would happen before July 30.
And that will distract him from the trial.
In the meantime, the trial of Shin Jong-tae and the group will end without an appeal. The case will be finished with a lighter sentence than expected.
That is what the one behind this would want.
For that to happen, an 'event' must occur.
'… that would be the case with the Kim sisters.'
"CIF, we need to dispatch urgently!"
"What…?"
Kang Woo-cheol was confused and asked the question, but the team leader patted him on the back.
"Alleged bodies of Kim Jiyeon and Kim Jiyo were found."
"Uh?"
"Don't stay like that; get in the car! Doctor Im, we should move together."
It happened just as Hansol predicted.
Today's the 29th, the day before the trial of Shin Jong-tae. The special case handling team also serves as profiling, so they had to dispatch to the scene.
As they were on their way, the others complained that they wanted to see their family and didn't like working overtime like this, but Hansol was curious about other things.
If the Woo brothers were crafting their murder, this also should be like that.
If so… in what form did the Kim sisters die?
The car entered the area. The site was none other than the place known as the house of Kim Jiyeon and Kim Jiyo.
"Uh… according to the records, isn't this the house the sisters moved from?"
Detective Kang Woo-cheol titled his head and asked which team leader nodded.
"Team One must have been tracking them and keeping an eye on them. The Kim sisters were seen entering by chance and didn't come out, so they thought they were staying in or something. So, they went in to secure them and… a smell came from the front door, and the neighbors reported it, so they then were sure of it. Now, apply menthol under your nose. And don't forget the latex gloves and overshoes, okay? We are the first one."
"Phew…"
Detective Kang Woo-cheol applied menthol even though he looked like he really didn't want it. It was the same for the others.
Only Hansol and Inspector Jung's expressions didn't change.
"… this is huge. You said before that Team One saw the Kim sisters. When was it?"
"A week back."
"Hmm. So they saw the sisters come and go to the house for a week?"
The detective of Team One frankly confessed that he didn't catch that happen.
He said that after securing the identity of the people, they went back to the other buildings to observe them from far.
They couldn't get closer to the sisters because Kim JIyeon was released due to insufficient evidence.
As such, even if they did succeed in knowing the location, the Police wouldn't be given the right to arrest them again, considering that they were going after an innocent woman.
In the meantime, the sisters were found dead.
"I didn't see the sisters come and go."
Hansol asked again. "Then did someone come into this house?"
"We checked to see if there was CCTV in the building… Unfortunately, this place had no CCTV installed so it was difficult to confirm. Once we were done checking, we went to look at the black box, and there didn't seem to be any intrusion into the house either."
"… a death with no signs of intrusion…. it can't be suicide…."
The other members of the CIF team took photos of the site and sprayed luminol to catch traces. However, Hansol only looked at the dead bodies of the sisters.
Hanged Man…
They were hanging upside down. The right leg is tied and was like the tarot card too. Both the arms stretched out in a line, slightly dropping as if they had been fixed with something to hold stiffness.
Hansol drew the scene of the crime in his head.
'There may have been three people in this house from the beginning. There could be one or more people involved in the Kim sisters' matters. What's clear is that the Prosecution or Law Firm wouldn't have 'directly' touched them. Assuming they were focused on a goal to undermine the Police… the purpose was achieved. Yet, following the Hanged Man as in the case with the Woo brothers… whoever did this must be…are they trying to imitate Hanged Man's numerological number 12?'
The number 12 wasn't seen, and the corpses' forms were similar to the Hanged Man. Hansol decided to not put too much meaning into this.
The case he was seeing now was new. Among the Woo brothers, it was the older brother. Now, it's the two sisters. They were the only ones in the Hanged Man form. In total, three people were touched by the judge of god, and they were beings who felt extreme pleasure or pain as this happened.
These people were just toys to the person behind them.
A thing used until its use is bound to be thrown away.
"Doctor Im!" The team leader called for him.
Hansol walked towards him.
"Doctor Im, if you look at this place, doesn't it look like something was written using blood and then erased?"
Hansol looked at where Woo-jin pointed to.
'La Crimosa.'
It's written on this site.
"… wait…"
"It was also found in the Woo brothers' murder scene. It was written and erased. They wrote it but erased it. Doctor Im, what do you think of this? Why write it and then erase it? Why wasn't it left alone? Wouldn't they have known that luminol would show it? But… we will have to examine the body to find more about the blood used. But first, there didn't seem to be any signs of abuse on the sisters' bodies."
No abuse marks.
That said, the two knew the person who came.
"We will need an autopsy first…."
"Team leader! This is huge! Lee Man-soo! That bastard in prison…."
Detective Kang Woo-cheol seemed a bit anxious.
"Lee Man-soo has his trial tomorrow, right? What about it?"
"… it is said that he was seen being hanged. He is currently unconscious."
"…!"