SOG Ch 139

Kwon Joon-young’s face distorted. He resisted the urge to immediately go back to his superior and say, ‘So what did I say!’ and sent thejunior investigator away. At the same time, he looked back at Jae-chan.

“You said you came on Hwi-young’s recommendation. Let’s go together!”

*

That way, Seon Jae-chan got into investigator Kwon Joon-young’s jeep. After about five minutes of a bumpy ride, Kwon Joon-young received a phone call. Glancing at the screen fixed on the mount, Kwon Joon-young turned on the hazard lights and pulled over to the side of the road.

“Don’t come to the scene?”

Kwon Joon-young let out a series of exasperated sighs before grumbling and hanging up. From what Jae-chan overheard, it seemed they had already moved the body from the crime scene.

“It’s so suspicious. How did they finish the on-site investigation so quickly? They’re putting on a show to make it look like it’s nothing.”

As Jae-chan listened to Kwon Joon-young’s persistent muttering, Jae-chan recalled what Kwon Hwi-young had said about his brother. He had mentioned that while his brother personality was generally agreeable, once he fixated on something, he couldn’t see anything else.

‘Well, thanks to that personality, I was able to ask for his help as a guide. He thought you’d be helpful in his work. If you just pretend to help, he’ll cooperate on his own.’

So, is this what he was fixated on? Does that mean he had to assist in investigating a murder case?

Jae-chan cautiously opened the window a bit. Though not as bad as the rental car, the strong smell of cigarettes made his nose twitch. At that moment, Jae-chan felt an unexpected longing for Woo-jin. His car always smelled so fresh and pleasant that you’d want to bury your nose in it.

‘I miss him.’

He wished he could just hug Woo-jin tightly and bury his face in his neck. He wanted to embrace that broad chest and hear that soft voice. Even though it had only been two days since he last saw him, but Jae-chan couldn’t stop thinking about him.

Then he suddenly noticed that the scenery outside the window was becoming increasingly strange.

“…?”

The huge cylindrical chimney he had only seen from afar during his short stay in District 5 was gradually getting closer. It was the nuclear power plant.

“Weren’t we going to identify the body?”

Jae-chan turned to investigator Kwon Joon-young.

“Yes. We’re going to the Special Ability Management Center.”

Investigator Kwon answered in a serious tone, but Jae-chan was still puzzled. To the center? For an autopsy confirmation? Why Special Ability Management Center? And it seemed like they were heading to the nuclear power plant instead of the center.

He soon learned a surprising fact. As it turned out, the nuclear power plant and the District 5 Ability Management Center were right next to each other. Having never been to District 5 before, this was news to him.

‘Aunt… You’re only working here for this year, right?’

Wasn’t it too dangerous?

Jae-chan was dumbfounded as he passed through the center wall, which was as high and thick as a prison. Knowing that the power plant had exploded in the past made the location of his aunt’s new workplace, the District 5 Center, seem extremely precarious.

However, that strong impression soon faded.

After passing through dilapidated buildings and arriving at the autopsy room, a smell more potent and acrid than anything he’d encountered today bombarded his nose.

“That person is the latest victim…”

Kwon Joon-young covered his nose with a handkerchief to block out the strong smell of preservatives and spoke in a muffled voice.

On the central autopsy table lay a body that had been moved directly to the autopsy room without passing through the morgue. A ceiling fan whirred in one corner, acting as ventilation. Just as he thought how outdated it all seemed, the fluorescent light that had been flickering and making a tapping noise against the glass tube since they entered suddenly went out.

“The lights go out like this sometimes.”

The medical examiner, who was trying to collect fingerprints from the body using state-of-the-art electronic equipment in contrast to the building, straightened her back and grumbled. She removed her surgical gloves and turned on an auxiliary light from a switch behind a cabinet filled with various cleaning agents. The smoothness of her actions suggested this was a frequent occurrence.

“What’s this? Did you deliberately install faulty fluorescent lights to prevent me from seeing clearly?”

“Investigator Kwon, you’re starting with conspiracy theories again.”

“We have plenty of flashlights, so feel free to look as closely as you want!” Only after the examiner actually offered him a flashlight did Kwon Joon-young step back, clicking his tongue.

“What about the identity?”

“Unknown. The fingerprints are too smudged to collect. I wonder what this person was doing and where.”

With the two of them partially blocking his view, Jae-chan could only see that the body appeared male and that the fingertips were gray, indicating the absence of fingerprints..

By this time, Jae-chan’s nose seemed to have gone numb, making the situation more bearable. He felt a vibration in his thigh. Checking, he saw a text message.

[Do you have time now?]

[Let’s meet briefly. 4:21 PM]

The sender was Gyeong Hye-in.

Jae-chan’s eyes narrowed. Hadn’t she told him to get lost this morning?

Nevertheless, if he could get Gyeong Hye-in’s help, it would be good. Unlike this morning, her message seemed cooperative, so Jae-chan readily typed a reply.

[As I mentioned yesterday, I’m in District 5 now. Shall we meet in District 1 on the weekend?

4:22 PM]

Just as he sent the carefully considered reply, unable to go to District 1 immediately, Kwon Joon-young, who had been whispering with the examiner, beckoned him.

“Come and see this.”

Though wondering why he was being shown this, Jae-chan leisurely walked towards the body.

“I heard you even received a medal for outstanding contribution to investigation assistance.”

At Kwon Joon-young’s words, Jae-chan thought it was a mistake. Though he seemed more flexible on the surface, Jae-chan had heard that Kwon Joon-young was quite a stickler for rules. Therefore, to gain his twin brother’s cooperation, Kwon Hwi-young had slightly lied, saying that Seon Jae-chan was someone from the Ability Center who had been assisting with police investigations.

If he had been the real twenty-three-year-old Seon Jae-chan, he would have been horrified at the sight of the corpse. However, in the future alliance where the Black Swan roamed freely, he had grown quite accustomed to dealing with bodies. Maintaining a calm demeanor, he examined the autopsy table.

A bright orange body bag with its zipper open was spread wide, and on it lay the body of the deceased man. Out of respect for the deceased, the face was covered with a white cloth.

The apparent cause of death was a large wound on the chest. As Jae-chan carefully examined the wound, he noticed something peculiar about the injury.

‘Did it explode from the inside?’

It looked as though the bullet had entered through the back and exited through the chest. But since there were no rifling marks or powder burns, it couldn’t have been a gunshot wound.

Then what kind of weapon could do this to a person? As soon as he thought that, he suddenly realized.

The perpetrator must be an Esper.

“I was wondering why the autopsy room was inside the Center.”

It seemed they were conducting a joint investigation with the Center, as the perpetrator was identified as an ability user.

“Shall I show you one more peculiar thing?”

At that moment, Kwon Jun-young, who had maintained a grim expression since seeing the body, grasped the cloth covering the face. Then, before the medical examiner could stop him, he swiftly removed the cloth.

The face of the pale corpse smiling faintly was revealed.

“…”

“I shudder every time I see it, but you seem unfazed. Anyway, this is the sixth body with wounds resembling gunshots but aren’t, and a smiling face. Isn’t this a serial murder case?”

A real serial killer.

If Kwon Joon-young’s words were true, it was a serious matter. The last time there was a serial killer in the Union was ten years ago. While there were terrorist organizations like Black Swan, there had been no serial killers at this point in time.

Meanwhile, Kwon Joon-young shuddered and hastily covered the face of the corpse with the cloth again.

‘It gives me goosebumps.’

Was it because of the dead person’s bluish-grey smile? It felt a bit eerie. The already cold temperature of the morgue and the broken lights made it even more chilling. He rubbed his goosebumps on the back of his neck with his palm.

“Look at the fingerprints. All disfigured.”

“Well, it seems the fingerprints disappeared over ten years ago. Obviously unrelated to this case.”

The medical examiner, putting away the fingerprint scanner, interjected. Investigator Kwon rebutted.

“You never know. An ability user of this level might be able to erase fingerprints and make it look like an old wound healed over.”

“I stake my career on this, but that at least is not due to an ability-“

As the examiner was about to point out Kwon Joon-young’s overly suggestive tone, suddenly, boom. The ground shook. Simultaneously, the already nervous Kwon Joon-young yelped, “Ahhh!” and grabbed the examiner’s shoulders in surprise.

*

“Ah, seriously, what is this!”

Even while startled by the vibration, the examiner recoiled in disgust. Instantly pushed away, Kwon Joon-young cried, “Ahhh, I’m sorry!” and clung to Seon Jae-chan next, who caught the investigator with a sour expression. The examiner was holding onto the autopsy table.

After a while, the vibration completely stopped. Jae-chan shook off Investigator Kwon as if dusting him off. Looking embarrassed, Kwon Joon-young spewed out excuses.

“This is the second time lately, it’s becoming ridiculously frequent… Could it really be an earthquake? I swear, if you keep farting, you’re going to shit yourself. Maybe I should have followed that brat Hwi-young to District 1…”

As Investigator Kwon said, Jae-chan also had a serious expression on his face. The cause of the nuclear power plant accident that occurred two years later was also due to an earthquake.

“What earthquake? How could they build a nuclear power plant in a place prone to earthquakes in the first place?”