“Do you know this guy?”
“Isn’t he an animated character?”
“He’s really smart. Great at speaking and humor. Quick on his feet. Excellent business skills. You know? He really reminds me of the team leader.”
“…But he’s a fox.”
Han-gyeol, curious about the two’s reaction, got up from his seat and moved over to Jung-yoon’s desk.
He stared with his mouth wide open at the fox character from a famous animation displayed on Jung-yoon’s monitor.
Then he turned his gaze and gestured to Jun-hyuk with hand and foot signals.
Jun-hyuk covered his mouth in admiration at Jung-yoon’s change of posture.
“Han-gyeol, is this guy popular?”
Jung-rok, moving his hands busily, silently explained the fox and rabbit and the zoo to Han-gyeol.
Han-gyeol’s movements gradually slowed down.
Avoiding eye contact, he lowered both arms neatly and cleared his throat.
“Well, I guess so? I think someone said he looks like a celebrity. It’s an anime from a few years ago… By the way, I liked the sloth here.”
“Someone told me not to ramble on about stuff I don’t care about. Sit down. You’re distracting me.”
“Yep!”
Jung-yoon, knowing who that ‘someone’ was, was speechless.
But not wanting to continue the conversation, he shut it down.
Ignoring those around him, Jung-yoon focused back on his work.
As he calmly examined the photos of evidence discovered at the time, he paused for a moment at the photo of a disposable lighter found near the corpse.
After a while, Jung-yoon flicked his finger against his front teeth, then withdrew his thumb and stopped moving.
His eyelids opened slightly wider then narrowed again.
He scrolled down the mouse wheel and clicked on photos one after another.
The photos opened in new windows.
Jung-yoon clicked the magnifying glass icon three times, click, click, click.
Then he pulled up the incident report file that the higher-ups told him not to look at.
At that moment, the eyes of the three people watching seemed to change subtly.
As if they had planned it, the three surrounded Jung-yoon’s seat.
“Most of the printing is torn off, but if you look closely, the borders are still there. Can you see?”
“Oh, yeah.”
“But there’s no related investigation report.”
“That’s because the photos couldn’t be zoomed in.”
Mumbling as he searched again for the report, Jung-yoon heard Jun-hyuk click his tongue quietly as he put his hand on Jung-yoon’s chair and leaned in.
Han-gyeol nodded as if agreeing.
“But they must have had the original evidence back then. If you touched it, you would’ve felt something.”
“There’s nothing like that in the analysis results? The analyst should have seen this.”
“There’s no way they analyzed it. That was years ago. It was a time when they couldn’t even properly measure blood alcohol.”
Jun-hyuk reached over Jung-yoon’s shoulder and flipped through the results, sighing deeply at Jung-rok’s reply.
Jung-rok, resting his elbow on Jung-yoon’s desk, stretched his neck and frowned.
He stretched out the arm he was leaning on and grabbed the mouse.
Click, click.
He clicked the magnifying glass icon twice more, zooming in until only the letters with clearer borders were visible on the screen.
“Lang?”
“Rak?”
“Ran?”
It felt like a quiz.
At the rapid-fire syllables, Jung-yoon was speechless and rubbed his forehead.
“Why?”
“Are you kidding me right now?”
Jun-hyuk asked with a quite serious expression, still focused on reading the letters.
“You’re looking at evidence from the year 2000 and think it’s currently the year 2000? If you send it for analysis, it would be processed immediately. What is this, an eye exam?”
“Ah… yeah, that’s right.”
“I have 2.0 vision. Both eyes.”
Jungrok quickly blinked, pulling the skin under his eyes downward.
Jungyoon’s face stiffened.
Sensing something ominous, Hangeol jumped in and held out his hand.
“Shall I take over?”
“No, I’ll do it. Let me check a few more. There might be more, so it’s better to do it all at once.”
Jungyoon asked the gathered people to disperse.
Junhyuk and Hangeol immediately returned to their seats.
Jungyoon glanced at Jungrok, who was lying down with his chin resting on his forearm, looking very uncomfortable.
Jungrok stared intently at Jungyoon with an unreadable look.
“Why?”
Jungyoon turned his gaze back to the screen and took the mouse from Jungrok’s hand, scrolling the wheel.
“You know that fox from earlier?”
“Yes.”
“I’ve been thinking about it since then. That fox looks more like Detective Woo than me.”
“If you’ve been thinking about it since then, does that include when you were just looking at the evidence?”
“Lock.”
At the sudden answer, Jungyoon’s eyebrows twitched.
Jungrok stepped back and confidently asked, “Wanna bet?”
Jungyoon felt irritated but didn’t respond.
It was better to give up on a normal conversation.
A few days later, Jungyoon received a message saying a report on the additional evidence he requested would be sent.
He packed his toiletries and left the duty room.
He looked terrible after several sleepless nights.
Jungyoon debated going to the sauna but gave up and headed to the shower room.
After a long time, being alone in the empty shower room lifted his spirits somewhat.
He finished showering leisurely and stood in front of the mirror.
“Captain!”
Just as he plugged in the hair dryer, Jungyoon suddenly turned his head toward the shower room door, which swung open abruptly.
Hangeol, pale as a ghost, was frantically signaling with his hand.
Startled, Jungyoon tilted his head, but then his phone, tucked into the pocket of his sports pants, began to ring.
It felt serious.
A chill ran down his spine as he quickly pulled out his phone.
“Team Leader Moon – Where are you?”
“Team Leader Moon – To the team”
The terse messages were uncharacteristic.
Jungyoon threw down his toiletries and rushed out of the shower room, forgetting to unplug the hair dryer.
He roughly brushed back his wet hair and hurried down the suddenly noisy corridor.
Rrrrr—.
From the office entrance, a loud ringing hit his ears.
Jungrok picked up the receiver and immediately hang up, then left it on the desk.
Noticing Jungyoon, he gestured sharply as if to say, “No nonsense, just come in.”
Jung Yoon took heavy breaths as he headed to his seat.
Just then, Han-gyeol, who had received the car keys, bowed his head once again toward Jung Yoon.
When Jung Yoon gave him a glance, Han-gyeol sighed deeply and answered in a tense tone.
“They found a body in Deokdong.”
His damp hair started to feel sticky and uncomfortable.
As he roughly pushed the hair sticking to his cheek aside, his hand froze midair at the unexpected news. With a stiffened face and wide eyes, Jung Yoon looked at the expressionless Jung Rok. When their eyes met, Jung Rok just nodded silently.
“Peach?”
“No, it’s not that…”
“Not that?”
Jung Yoon raised his eyebrows and changed the octave of his voice. His booming voice drew the attention of nearby detectives, and even Gwajeong, who was coming out of the chief’s office, heard it.
“Right. It’s not Peach.”
“Then is it a new victim discovered?”
“Whether it’s a new one or someone else, are you just going to stand there?”
“Someone else?”
Jung Yoon turned his body to follow Hyun-chul, who was passing by.
“I shouldn’t have said that,” he thought.
He stubbornly stared at the back of Hyun-chul’s head shaking from side to side.
Meanwhile, Jung Rok took out his belongings and spoke.
“It’s a body that hasn’t decomposed. I’m pretty sure it’s not someone murdered 20 years ago.”
“Change your clothes as quickly as possible and come straight to the parking lot. Seo Han-gyeol, give me the keys. I’ll drive.”
“Yes.”
“Are you coming too, Chief?”
Jung Rok asked, looking at Hyun-chul gathering his things.
“No, I’m going with the forensic team. They’re starting the site investigation first. Hurry and leave. Contact me as soon as you arrive.”
Jung Rok nodded roughly, then reached out to Han-gyeol, who was standing still.
Han-gyeol immediately placed the car keys into Jung Rok’s palm.
Jung Rok passed Jung Yoon and went outside.
Han-gyeol followed him, and Jun-hyuk, who was carrying handcuffs, lightly tapped Jung Yoon’s stiff shoulder and gestured outside.
“Don’t you need to change clothes?”
Jun-hyuk asked bluntly, glanced over Jung Yoon once, then looked down.
Only then did Jung Yoon remember his outfit and started walking quickly.
He didn’t know how fast “as soon as possible” really meant, but he stripped and changed clothes as fast as he could.
While doing so, he thought about the discovered body.
It wasn’t Peach.
Then who was it?
He felt like he had read something about it before, but it was vague and unclear.
Eventually, Jung Yoon gave up and went outside.
It took less than five minutes.
He got into the waiting vehicle.
The van broke through the road and arrived at the village in about an hour.
By the time the task force stepped onto the ground full of countless footprints, the police line already surrounded half of the hill like a huge fortress wall.
“We’re entering now.”
At the entrance blocked by a patrol officer, Jun-hyuk showed his ID.
One by one, the patrol confirmed the identities of the task force members and lifted a section of the police line.
Han-gyeol immediately received disposable shoe covers from a forensic team member behind him and put them on.