The Ultimate Inspector, Kang Ji-hyeok - Chapter 82



Only Noblemtl

The police investigate and the prosecutors indict.

Ultimately, it is up to the prosecutor to decide after reviewing the police investigation report and evidence.

That was the system in South Korea until at least 2022.

“The police draw a line in advance and then reinforce the evidence to match that line.”

“okay.”

“The prosecutor starts the investigation only after he reviews the report and decides to indict.”

Boohoo.

We arrived at about the last point where the motorcycle disappeared.

“So the police don’t investigate everything. The prosecutors get to know the case through a report that has no teeth, so they are pushed aside by the lawyers who get to know everything through the criminals.”

“I understand, Inspector. That’s why you always focus directly on the crime scene and collecting evidence.”

“Even if I fight with more evidence than the lawyer, I still have a hard time winning······.”

It is more difficult to prove a lie than to tell a lie.

Yet the current system aims for the opposite.

At least I thought so.

It would be nice if detectives had the power to prosecute, but that would require studying the law.

Damn it.

Human abilities have such limitations.

But now that I am a veteran detective and have become a prosecutor, I am stronger than anyone else, at least in the field.

chuck.

I get out of the car and look around the spot where the motorcycle disappeared.

“There’s a CCTV over there······.”

“Inspector, there it is too.”

We checked each location with CCTV footage one by one and confirmed the location through the footage that Detective Na Gook-hyun had handed us.

“Why is that CCTV location important?”

“First of all, the direction that the CCTV is facing is important.”

“Ah. The direction of the building that the motorcycle came in. Is it like that over there?”

“I think so. And the second is to check whether the criminal knows where the CCTV is or not.”

“I heard that on a TV show where a detective is on. If you know where the CCTV is, it’s probably near your company or home.”

“It is a fallacy of generalization to be so specific, but there is one thing that is certain.”

“What is that?”

“At least it’s familiar to him. It’s proof that it’s a place where a close friend lives or a place he visits often.”

The motorcycle owner knew.

Tell me where the CCTV is.

Is this the guy who lives here?

no.

It doesn’t make sense to keep a close eye on where the CCTV cameras are located in the area where you live.

It means that I checked every time I came here.

Some conclusions have been drawn.

“There is a high possibility that our target and possible next victim, Im Soo-jung, is nearby.”

〈We checked all the CCTV footage from that time with our future system. It might be impossible with current human capabilities, but our AI can do it. Kang Ji-hyeok.〉

‘Oh, look at this. You suddenly started talking to me. You’re the guide. Then, please find the CCTV footage of Oh Hyeon-nam.’

I relayed my thoughts to the guide, but received no reply.

I paused for a moment, smiling.

Should I say thank you?

At least I’ve figured out one secret of the guide for sure.

Ji-cheol asked me if I was strange for standing still.

“Inspector. What are you doing standing there?”

“You go down to the parking lot underneath that six-story building you see over there and check. Is there a motorcycle there?”

“That building is the one that disappeared from the CCTV footage as the motorcycle went down. You really do have a remarkable memory.”

Ji-cheol went down to the underground parking lot.

Only after he had descended completely did he mutter.

“Guide. Tell me. Tell me the CCTV location where Oh Hyeon-nam was caught.”

“Let’s speak quietly again,” the guide answered again.

〈Find Oh Hyun-nam? As expected, she’s amazing. You mean Oh Hyun-nam, not Im Soo-jung?〉

“Okay. Find Oh Hyeon-nam.”

〈The spot where you are standing now. There are quite a few of them found around there. Perhaps you wanted to check this out?〉

It was just as the guide said.

I thought so.

The distance from the building where he committed suicide to here is short.

It may seem like a long distance since it is one subway station, but Line 2 is within a 10-minute walk from Gangnam.

The news clearly said it was a 13-story building near Seolleung Station······.

“That building is the scene of the crime.”

I turned my head and looked at the rooftop of the 13th floor building where Oh Hyeon-nam was murdered, and checked the quick service envelope data that had been delivered to the broadcasting station.

[Oh Hyun-nam. Suicide, 13-story building near Seolleung Station]

It was clearly written like this.

The broadcasting station would have naturally broadcast it based on the written content.

However, the 13-story building was located near both Seolleung Station and Samseong Station.

I muttered to myself.

“That building is close enough to be seen from here. They must have written on the envelope that it was a building near Seolleung Station, which was intended to cause confusion. It’s not near Samseong Station······.”

〈That’s a good approach, Kang Ji-hyeok. And I’ll tell you another secret. If you look at the CCTV of the convenience store below that building, there’s a picture of someone going up to the building with Oh Hyeon-nam at the time of the incident.〉

“Okay. Thank you. Guide.”

The guide is like hacking and scraping the part that I can hear by talking.

That has become certain.

‘The guide’s nanotechnology is clearly tethered to the neurons that connect my ears and optic nerves to my brain.’

It seemed that the guide would not know unless he spoke or listened.

So, the guide is not to perceive my thoughts, but to accept the sensations I feel.

‘That’s not important right now. Let’s solve this case first.’

That was when.

Ji-cheol, who had gone down to the underground parking lot, ran out excitedly.

“Sir! I found it. The motorcycle is in the underground parking lot.”

I immediately picked up the phone.

“Detective Na Gook-hyun?”

– Yes, sir. Did you find anything?

“I’ll send you the address. I think we’ll have to search the entire six-story building. I’ll get a search and seizure warrant right away, so come here right now.”

– Okay, please send me the address.

About 20 minutes after sending the address, the police came rushing in.

“Detective Na, search the entire building. I have somewhere to go for a bit.”

“All right.”

The dispatched police surrounded the building and began a search.

Ding dong.

As we entered the convenience store the guide had mentioned, the part-timer spoke with sleepy eyes.

“What’s going on?”

I showed the certificate from my pocket.

The guy’s face became tense.

“I’m not here to catch anyone, but you know about the suicide incident that happened in the building in front of here, right?”

“Yes, I know.”

“Please copy the CCTV footage from that time here.”

I handed him the USB.

“Okay, just a moment.”

We also secured CCTV footage of the incident.

‘Thank you, Guide. It will be a great help in solving the case.’

* * *

A search of the six-story building where the motorcycle was found found her on the top floor.

Im Soo-jung had long hair.

As you may already know, he was 168cm tall, but he had a thin body, perhaps because he had worked hard all his life.

“Call an ambulance!”

The moment the police opened the door, Im Soo-jung attempted suicide by taking a large amount of sleeping pills she had collected.

But he vomited out all the sleeping pills he had taken on the spot and returned home in vain.

As the ambulance carrying her returned to the hospital, Detective Na Gook-hyun said with a relieved look on his face.

“The inspector caught him first again.”

“I didn’t catch her. I saved her, Ms. Im Soo-jung······.”

I answered like that and fiddled with the USB in my pocket.

“Detective Kim. Let’s go back to the office. I have something to do.”

“All right.”

It was almost midnight.

When I returned to the office, I sent Ji-cheol off work and made him some coffee.

Wheein.

The sound of Americano being poured was heavy.

Click.

I checked the video on the USB I brought.

I played the video back with the date and time in just a few clicks.

I found the video the guide told me about.

“So, the person who went up to the rooftop with Oh Hyeon-nam······.”

The person who went up to the rooftop with Oh Hyeon-nam in the video was a woman with long hair and a thin body.

“Isn’t that Im Soo-jung?”

Boom!

I slapped the whiteboard with my palm.

Ding dong.

The sound of the Americano being ready was heard cheerfully.

“That day, did Im Soo-jung help Oh Hyeon-nam commit suicide?”

After Oh Hyun-nam fell, the convenience store CCTV captured her back as she hurriedly came down and ran toward the 6-story building where she lived.

Huruk.

Bitter iced Americano flowed through my body.

Cells have become more sensitive to their senses.

“I found him. The real culprit.”

* * *

“Are you feeling okay?”

“Yes. I vomited everything right after taking the sleeping pills, so I don’t feel any pain.”

“Today is the first round of interviews. Please give me brief answers.”

“I’ll tell you everything I know, Inspector.”

Lim Soo-jung was taken to the interrogation room the next day.

First, I checked her age and name.

“What were you doing in that building?”

“I was writing.”

“Why did you go from the gosiwon to that building?”

“I got an email.”

We had obtained an email from an anonymous person from the confiscated laptop.

“Is this an email asking if I can use an empty officetel for free to help you with your writing?”

“Yes. Thank you for the email.”

“You said you didn’t know the person who sent the email? But did you just receive the email and go there?”

“Because it’s free.”

“Shouldn’t you have left after your contract with the goshiwon expires?”

“There’s no such thing as a contract expiration at a goshiwon. You just have to use up the amount of the deposit you paid. I didn’t even want to talk to the goshiwon······.”

“So you went there just by looking at the email without even knowing who it was?”

“At first, I thought it was a lie. But when I went there, the password was exactly as it was in the email, and it had even been cleaned.”

“Didn’t you suspect who it was?”

“···I’m not in a position to suspect or not suspect anyone, Inspector.”

She raised her head and looked at me with cold eyes. Her expression itself was like a white egg with no expression at all.

It was a face I felt like I’d seen somewhere.

“Then shall we talk about something else?”

Slightly awkward speech.

Dark eyes.

A sadness that has no end in sight.

She had that kind of smell coming from her.

The pungent scent of death.

“Why did you buy a car?”

“Because I wanted to buy it.”

“Why did you want to buy it?”

“Just like that. Why? Can’t a piece of shit like me buy a car?”

“But you lost it right after you bought the car?”

“I left my car keys in the car and went to the convenience store, but someone drove off with them.”

“You left your car keys at the convenience store?”

“It’s my first time buying a car.”

She was trying her best to answer my questions.

I felt a little uncomfortable.

She, who was a mess to the point of wanting to commit suicide, was not like that at all in this interrogation room.

Honestly, I thought you wouldn’t say anything.

But I was wrong.

She was answering fiercely, with all her might.

Among the confiscated evidence was a laptop file containing the writing.

“What you were working on was a mystery novel.”

“yes.”

“It’s about a person with cancer who kills off the people he wanted to kill one by one before he dies.”

“I haven’t written it all yet, so there’s no ending.”

She answered calmly.

Then he looked around.

“Is that the Magic Mirror? Do they also have a psychiatrist there? Do they check for mental weakness and such?”

She asked so.

“No. The Magic Mirror is there, but only our investigators are there.”

“Ah. That’s too bad. It would be nice if there was a psychiatrist······.”

“why?”

“Only he can see me properly. Not a detective or a prosecutor.”

Her speech was so flat that it made even the listener feel weak.

“Okay. So, do you know this guy?”

I took out the photo and placed it in front of her.

It was a photo of Oh Hyeon-nam.

“Ah. It’s Oh Hyeon-nam.”

Her voice tone was higher than usual.

“Do you know Mr. Oh Hyeon-nam?”

“Yes, I know. We lived together in that building for about a month.”

It was an unexpected answer.

This was before the investigative materials that had been seized and searched were handed over.

She personally revealed new facts about Oh Hyun-nam and their living together.

“How did Ms. Im Soo-jung meet Mr. Oh Hyeon-nam?”

She paused for a moment.

He put two fingers together and tapped them together.

“If you don’t want to answer, you don’t have to. We’ll discuss this later······.”

She cut me off and spoke quietly, her tone still flat.

“I pushed Hyunnam off the rooftop and killed him. I even filmed it.”