The peach harvest was in full swing.
The color was good, and this year, she planned to sell them for a higher price than last year, licking her lips in anticipation.
To her, the man appeared like a pile of money rolling into her lap.
Upon a closer look, he seemed somewhat innocent, with a pale complexion.
A few days ago, she heard that Bong-im had sold peaches for twice the price to someone in Seongbuk-dong, Seoul.
Perhaps he came here after tasting them?
“Where is Bong-im’s house?”
Ah, so that’s it! Upon hearing Bong-im’s name, the woman was certain.
“Bong-im unnie… why?”
“Ah… well…”
“Peaches?”
The woman smiled as if she knew everything and slowly approached the man.
The man didn’t respond, his lips curling into a strange smile.
“I haven’t seen Bong-im unnie for a few days… is there something urgent?”
It wasn’t a lie.
After selling all the peaches, Bong-im came by every day, causing a ruckus, but for the past few days, she hadn’t shown up at all.
Her husband said that she went to Jeju Island or perhaps to Seoraksan.
She didn’t ask more, feeling uneasy.
The woman, with her hand brushing her upper lip, took two steps closer to the man, covering her mouth with her hand and lifting her head.
She was smiling.
Even though they were whispering close together, the man stood stiffly, not even bringing his ear closer.
She thought he was rude but changed her tone.
“…Our family also grows peaches. Since we’re all from the same area, the taste is the same. Actually, ours turned out better.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes, it is!”
“Then.”
The man, who had been staring at her with a blank face, paused for a moment and then smiled softly.
The woman gulped as the warmth that had been absent from the man’s face started to emerge.
“Can I taste them?”
***
“Han Bong-im, Seo Mal-sook, Seo Jun-sim…”
The handwritten case files were stacked high on the corner table of the investigation team, almost resembling the exterior of a high-rise apartment.
The sky-blue files were precariously piled, and Jung Yoon, for the task of digitizing them, picked up the file with the oldest date from the pile.
“00. 08. Deokdong-gun Woman’s Serial Murder Case”
It was the summer of 2000.
A village in Deokdong-gun, famous for its peaches.
A small, harmonious village with twelve households, once full of laughter, was now filled with wailing and sirens, and turned into a grim scene.
Han Bong-im and Seo Mal-sook’s husbands were cousins, and Seo Jun-sim was Seo Mal-sook’s cousin who came to help with the farming after becoming a widow.
These three women went missing at two-week intervals, and before long, their bodies were discovered, and the case escalated into a serial murder investigation.
Jung Yoon entered the case summary, evidence records, investigation results, and suspect details one by one.
Every time he turned the page, horrific victim photos appeared, causing him to furrow his brow involuntarily.
He let out a sigh inwardly.
Even though this was a case from a time he couldn’t avoid, it still felt lonely seeing the pile of unresolved documents in the cold filing cabinet.
His hand slowed as he turned the pages in regret.
The days of flinching at the victim’s photos and gagging were long gone.
He didn’t expect he’d become so numb to it, but with a clear purpose in mind, it wasn’t a big deal anymore.
More than anything, when he thought about how he was in a situation not so different from the victims in those photos, his initial disgust was completely washed away.
Jung Yoon instinctively brushed the back of his head.
After regaining his senses, whenever the painful memories of his head splitting came to mind, his hand would automatically go to his head.
Jung Yoon rubbed his tired face with the back of his hand and brought his hands back to the keyboard.
The sound of typing clicked, clicked. It echoed regularly.
The first body discovered was Han Bong-im.
Based on the dates, she was presumed to be the first victim to go missing.
Han Bong-im was found in a truly horrific state.
There were signs of severe beating all over her face, shoulders, and abdomen, and her genitals had been mutilated.
Her lower body was completely stripped of clothing.
Next was Seo Mal-sook.
Near the scene, there was a hat that was a mix of pink and purple, and she was found naked.
Her body was in an even worse condition than Han Bong-im’s.
Not only had her genitals been mutilated, but her nipples had been sliced off as well.
Unlike Han Bong-im, she seemed to have fought back fiercely, as there were large defensive marks on her hands and arms.
Finally, Seo Jun-shim.
The biggest issue lay with Seo Jun-shim, the presumed last victim.
She was not yet classified as a murder victim. ‘Presumed.’
Until recently, she had been considered missing because her body had never been found.
However, her body was recently discovered near a redevelopment area, which led to the case being reclassified as a murder and ultimately to the establishment of the cold case investigation team.
As Jung Yoon was sorting through Seo Jun-shim’s case, he let out a deep sigh.
Unlike the two victims, whose bodies were crucial evidence, Seo Jun-shim’s body had never been found, so there was not much to input before he received more information.
Had it not been for the cases of the previous two victims, Seo Jun-shim’s case might not even have been classified as a murder.
Jung Yoon stared at the monitor with a serious expression.
He knew that, despite this, no leads would appear.
But if only a memory would resurface…
Maybe, by reading through it repeatedly, even if just a single line came to mind, the stagnant investigation could regain momentum.
“Damn…”
Thud.
A dull sound came from Jung Yoon’s forehead.
His shoulders shook slightly as the youngest member of the second investigative team hit his head, but there was no time to feel the pain.
The sense of helplessness that Jung Yoon often felt since becoming ‘Woo Jung Yoon’ surged like an ebbing tide, covering his entire body.
As he let his body relax and leaned back in his chair, the wheels creaked as if to announce his exhaustion.
At the edge of his slightly twisted vision, he could see the stack of case files piling up.
After a recent overhaul, all the long-unsolved cases were now on the table.
The case of Seo Jun-shim, along with the discovery that a convicted murderer had been behind a notorious 15-year-old murder case, had a profound impact.
Various investigative programs and news outlets launched full attacks, and the public’s demand to solve cold cases sparked quick action from the police.
As a result, special cold case investigation teams were set up in the capital’s investigative team and three other regional police departments with high case rates.
Jung Yoon took his eyes off the case files and entered the internal system to check the personnel transfer documents.
[Personnel Order]
Police Officer Appointment Regulations Article * Section 1: It has been judged that the person’s investigative abilities will contribute to the investigation team.
They are assigned to the newly established Cold Case Investigation Team.
Department: Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, Gwangyeok Crime Investigation Division – Cold Case Investigation Team
Current Department: Gangnam Police Station, Serious Crimes Team 1
Position: Inspector
Name: Woo Jung Yoon
Jung Yoon had been transferred to the Cold Case Investigation Team as planned.
He received the appointment order on the afternoon he met Jeong-rok.
As the police had announced to the media, an official cold case investigation team had been formed.
At the same time, discussions on the statute of limitations related to the investigations had begun.
The judiciary and the legislature were at a standstill, with experts passionately debating the matter.
It all seemed familiar to Jung Yoon, just like the beginning of a novel.
He closed the personnel order that he had pulled up on the second monitor.
There was no longer any need to cling to the memories; he pushed them aside into the recesses of his consciousness.
Then, he turned his attention away from the evidence that was following the flow and faced the evidence that wasn’t moving forward.
The novel covers five cases, all based on real-life events.
While the endings aren’t clear, based on the reactions after the publication, it could be inferred that it ends with a happy conclusion.
If so, the perpetrators must have been caught, but the problem was that Jung Yoon knew nothing since he had only read the introduction.
If he had read more carefully, maybe he would have easily solved the cases laid out here.
Every time that thought crossed his mind, his teeth clenched.
The anger he felt while sorting out the cases in the past week ultimately turned inward.
Jung Yoon promised himself that from now on, he would check the endings of any book he picked up, no matter what, even if he skipped the middle parts.
Especially when it came to stories about catching criminals, he would definitely check who the criminal was. Love stories? He didn’t care.
“Whether they live happily or not…”
“Who?”