The Ultimate Inspector, Kang Ji-hyeok - Chapter 90



Only Noblemtl

“First, let’s get off work today, and Hyejin, go around the police stations tomorrow and investigate the past incidents.”

“All right.”

I know that Hyejin is good at this kind of thing because she is a former detective.

“I’ll go to the scene of the crime tomorrow morning, so Ji-cheol, come to the prosecutor’s office by 7 AM. Get ready to go to the scene right away.”

“Yes, inspector. I’ll prepare some iced coffee and go.”

Hyun-ah said she would guard the office and look into Prosecutor Park Jin-soo a bit more.

“Okay. Okay. Everyone, get off work.”

After everyone left work, I was left alone in the office.

Huruk.

While drinking cold coffee, I looked into the incidents that Um Ja-hyeon had committed one by one.

The first incident may not have been intentional.

“My older brother was hit by a drunk driver and became paralyzed from the waist down. He received 78 million won in insurance money at that time. He also received 150,000 won for medical expenses over the course of two years.”

Because it was drunk driving, even the insurance investigators were shaken by the incident.

The truck driver, who was 100% at fault, paid her 20 million won in settlement money to avoid being arrested.

Her brother stayed at home after being discharged from the hospital.

“That’s when I realized. The concept of a settlement and the sweetness of insurance money······.”

After that, there was an incident where my older brother committed suicide by drinking poison at home.

At the time, it was reported that he had consumed poison, blaming his life for becoming paralyzed from the waist down.

“No. This must have been poisoning. She was so addicted to the sweetness that she attempted murder for the first time.’

Her mother must have known to some extent that she had poisoned her.

But would it have been easier to think that the son, who was paralyzed from the waist down, had committed suicide rather than been poisoned?

Her mother stated that her son had a habit of saying that he wanted to die.

“The police obviously knew that her brother, who was paralyzed from the waist down, would have had a hard time getting the poison, but they just ruled it a suicide because it was easier.”

Wait, then what did insurance investigators do back then?

Insurance investigators also ruled it a suicide due to paralysis of the lower body.

Compared to other incidents, it was enough to raise suspicion.

No matter how high the suicide rate is, it’s a strange incident to anyone who sees a paralyzed man obtaining poison that is presumed to be cyanide.

Of course, even if the police did not want to investigate suicide as homicide, which is very common in the Republic of Korea, an insurance investigator is different.

If you can just prove that this incident is a murder, you get an incentive.

Of course, the perspective on the incident itself should have been different!

“The total insurance payment was 220 million won. Normally, if an insurance investigator finds out that something is false, you would receive an incentive of over 20 million won?”

[Find out about the insurance investigator in the suicide case of brother Um Ja-hyeon.]

I wrote a note like that and put it on HyunA’s keyboard.

Then I sat on the sofa and called out a guide in my head.

“Hey, Guide. I have a question for you.”

Huruk.

There was no answer in my head until I finished drinking the coffee in front of me.

“Are you saying that you don’t plan on helping me with this case and that I should try to do it alone?”

Still the guide did not answer.

I was talking to myself like a crazy person, then I laid down on the sofa and closed my eyes.

‘Um Ja-hyeon. The greatest insurance murderer. I will definitely bring you to court.’

Although it was early in the morning, my tired body began to recover quickly thanks to my excellent resilience.

* * *

Some sea on the east coast.

“I think it’s that rock.”

After parking the car and walking for about 20 minutes, I arrived at the scene of the incident I had seen in the photo.

A fluttering yellow police line surrounded the rock.

“So the victim was found on that rock?”

“I think so.”

Ji-cheol looked around and spoke with a face lost in old memories.

“I used to play a lot when I was young······. That rock was Turtle Rock. When I got tired of swimming and playing, I would rest on the rock.”

“I see. Wasn’t it dangerous when you were young?”

“It’s not dangerous. The water here is relatively shallow for the East Sea.”

Black rocks surrounded the bay in the distance.

“Unusually, there’s some sand underfoot around here, but it’s actually solid rock. It’s nice because you don’t sink in.”

We headed towards the rocks where the police line was.

It wasn’t that far from land, and just as Ji-cheol had said, the sea water only came up to about thigh level.

“A 17-year-old boy who committed suicide was found on this rock?”

Ji-cheol interrupted me as I was muttering while looking at the photo I was holding.

“Usually when someone drowns in the ocean, they float and come up with their arms down. When I was young, I saw someone drown in the ocean.”

The rock was quite large.

It was about the size of two medium-sized cars.

“Here you were lying in the center with your arms outstretched?”

“Yes, I saw the picture too. I think it probably floated down the water and then crashed and came back up.”

Beep!

That was when.

A whistle was heard from behind.

“You must not approach there without permission. You must not damage the crime scene.”

It was a police officer.

Perhaps the police patrolling the area found us.

“This is Kang Ji-hyeok, prosecutor of the Western District Prosecutors’ Office.”

“My name is investigator Kim Ji-cheol.”

When I took out my ID card from my pocket and showed it to him, the policeman saluted.

“This is Police Officer Kim Kyeong-rye.”

“Who was the first discoverer?”

“There were ten-year-old kids there making sand castles.”

“How do you know that?”

“I know this well because I was the first police officer to be dispatched. The neighborhood is so small that I am in charge of patrolling this seaside area.”

I observed the rock and asked him.

“Do you have any plastic bags?”

“Yes. Here.”

He took out two black plastic bags, handed them to me, and said with a sheepish look on his face.

“I patrol the area near the ocean and carry a few plastic bags to pick up and throw away trash.”

“Ms. Kim Kyung-rye is a good police officer.”

“Thank you, Inspector.”

I wrapped my shoes in a plastic bag and climbed up.

Ji-cheol also felt sorry and asked Police Officer Kim.

“If you happen to have two more of those plastic bags······.”

“Here it is.”

When I actually climbed up, it was much flatter than I thought. Ji-cheol also climbed up and looked out at the sea and was amazed.

“The view is really nice.”

“Is the sea water rising enough to overflow this rock?”

I squatted down and took pictures here and there, asking:

“No. As you can see, this rock is completely dry. It hasn’t rained since the incident······.”

“But there isn’t any at all.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Like bloodstains. If it doesn’t rain and the sea water doesn’t rise, I think there should be bloodstains.”

Police Officer Kim answered calmly, as if asking what the question was.

“There was no blood on the body itself when it was discovered. The upper garment was removed, but… there was no way a body that had fallen into the water would bleed….”

I got up from my seat and looked at the edge of the rock and the sea.

Jicheol also stood next to me.

“This is the East Sea, so there will be almost no difference in tidal range.”

“Yes. That’s rare. So when I was little, I would come up and sleep when I was tired.”

“Ji-cheol. Give me your phone.”

“Why are you calling?”

Ji-cheol called me.

After I answered the phone, I pushed Ji-cheol and threw him into the sea.

with a splash.

Ji-cheol was surprised and climbed up holding the rock.

“Inspector, why are you doing this?!”

Bam.

I pushed him away again.

with a splash.

A huge splash of water came out.

Ji-cheol climbed up again, placing both hands on the rock.

“Oh, really! Inspector!”

“Did you hit your head on the floor?”

“Yes. There is a little sand on the floor.”

“Lie down and dry. The rocks are dry, so your wet clothes will dry quickly.”

Ji-cheol crawled to the middle of the rocks, looked up at the sky, and lay down. Then he muttered with a pleasant expression on his face.

“It’s nice that the rocks are warm. The clothes dry quickly.”

I looked through the documents with the autopsy photos attached one by one and thought.

Ji-cheol spoke to me while lying down.

Perhaps it reminded me of the time I rested like that as a child.

He looked as excited as a child.

“You already searched the site at the orchard anyway, so why did you bother looking for it again?”

“I always told you that when you come to the site, you’ll definitely find something. And the orchard report didn’t go into detail about the rock itself.”

“So, did you find anything important at the scene today?”

I lay down next to Ji-cheol without answering.

The sky was high and the clouds floated across the pretty blue sky.

He looked at the sky and spoke quietly.

“Did he see that sky too?”

“Who are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about the seventeen-year-old boy who died on this rock.”

“······.”

Ji-cheol suddenly closed his mouth.

His face quickly turned cold, as if he felt a little sorry for having been so excited about memories from his childhood.

“What was he thinking? Looking at that sky at his last moment.”

“You don’t think it was suicide, Inspector.”

“Suicide… In three years, when you become an adult, you will receive 50% of the insurance money from your father who died in a car accident. Why would you commit suicide? Shouldn’t you know that much when you’re seventeen?”

Ji-cheol got up from his seat.

He reached out to me, shaking off his fairly dry clothes.

I took that hand.

“No, sir. Give me your cell phone.”

It was the first time.

I’ve never been this surprised by Ji-cheol.

“Here it is.”

He opened the cell phone I gave him and called the National Forensic Service.

“Hello. This is Detective Kim Ji-cheol. Can I come see you in about two hours? Yes. Our Detective Kang will be with you.”

I closed my eyes and smiled.

‘Yes. That’s what I’m doing. Now you’re a real detective. Kim Ji-cheol.’

We went down and took off the black plastic and gave it to Officer Kim.

“This. I’ll use it to buy some vinyl.”

I gave him 100,000 won as well.

“It’s like this just to buy vinyl······.”

“I’ll buy some vinyl and have a glass of soju today, that’ll be fine.”

“Thank you, Inspector.”

So we checked the scene of the incident and headed to Seoul.

* * *

National Institute of Scientific Investigation.

By the time I drove up the hill and parked, it was already afternoon.

“I must have had a high blood alcohol level because I drank a lot. To the point where I had trouble walking. I also drank a lot of seawater.”

The attending coroner spoke in a dry voice.

The death of a seventeen year old boy… What about blood alcohol level?

“Are you saying you drank alcohol?”

“I think so. Otherwise, how could his blood alcohol level be that high?”

“In the picture, right? Is this the injection hole?”

“Since it was a body that drowned, the injection hole is more visible. Yes, that’s right. That’s the injection hole. Rather, it looks like they got injected with something like a ringer.”

“Did you do any drugs or anything?”

“No, that’s not it. Again, I think it’s a Ringer’s needle. A normal injection hole clogs up quickly, but a Ringer’s needle stays open for a long time, so it’s noticeable. And because it was in salt water, the surrounding area has changed color a little.”

He showed me a picture of the head of the report.

“There’s a pretty big bruise on the back of your head······.”

“It looks like he hit a rock. It looks like he was drunk and jumped and hit a rock.”

“I see. It was clean even after hitting the rock······. Doesn’t it usually get torn?”

The coroner shook his head at my question.

“No. The seawater acted as a cushion and hit the back of the head. That’s not the definitive cause of death. Depending on the person, they may lose consciousness for a while. The cause of death is hypoxia due to seawater filling the airway and lungs.”

The coroner’s explanation was simple.

Having performed autopsies on drowned bodies for a long time, he was certain that it was drowning by seawater.

“I see. You’re saying it’s a typical drowning, where the back of the head hits a rock in the ocean and the person falls into the water with a bruise but no blood.”

“Yes.”

I looked into the forensic scientist’s eyes and asked him one last time.

“What you’re saying is that he died from typical drowning, not from submersion or drowning death?”

Only then did the forensic scientist answer seriously.

“As rumored, Prosecutor Kang’s forensic knowledge is quite impressive. That’s right. It’s definitely drowning in seawater.”

“You’re saying that it’s not like you suddenly went into cold water and stimulated your sensory nerve endings, causing a cardiac arrest, or something like a laryngeal spasm to keep yourself from inhaling the water?”

“Yes, that’s not it. It’s definitely drowning in sea water.”

“thank you.”

Ji-cheol and I headed to the office.

Ji-cheol asked cautiously.

“If you fall into water and die, isn’t it all drowning? What do you mean by drowning? Death by drowning? What do you mean by that?”