48 – Haerin Kang (48)
Haerin Kang (48)
I said it as if it was simple, but I couldn’t tell the detective to investigate all over his house and find evidence because Ban Lee-jae was the culprit.
Because in order to request a search warrant, evidence to support the facts of the crime was needed.
In other words, when requesting a warrant, it had to be a situation in which ‘only a crucial piece’ was needed in that Ban Lee-jae was a prime suspect in the ‘Gangnam club group assault and death case’.
Everything else should be in place.
I knew that ‘one piece itself’.
It was hidden somewhere in his house.
‘A button stained with the victim’s blood.’
If you ask why he brought it, we can only say that Ban Lee-jae, who usually had a sadistic and distorted judgment, instinctively and impulsively did so.
Serial killers usually fantasize about murder from an early age, and when they actually commit it, they repeat the fantasy in the belongings of their victims.
It was a button for him.
He took what fell and rolled on the floor while being grabbed and beaten.
Humans often act irrationally when their psychology is extremely cornered or elevated.
Since Ban Yi-jae was set up as a natural-born psychopath killer, it can also be said that his temperament has awakened.
That kind of temperament was the reason he started planning the ‘next murder’ in earnest after the incident.
Of course, the fact that the second target was Kang Hae-rin was a problem, so she was brutally tortured and died.
‘The victim’s button.’
If only that is discovered, Ban Lee-jae’s crime will be clarified, and therefore the threat to Kang Hae-rin will be stopped.
But to do so again requires a search warrant.
Without a warrant, the button cannot be found.
If you break in illegally and search for buttons, the evidence will not work.
That was a problem from the beginning.
‘How can I search Ban Yi-jae’s house?’
The problem was not only that.
It was also a problem to specify Ban Lee Jae.
It was true that he had an unusual name, but asking to find him with just his name and appearance was as embarrassing as requesting a search warrant.
How could they bring a man with no criminal record at this point to the police station?
I’ve been thinking about it over and over again.
How the hell do you convince and move Park Seong-gang?
Since the school had already given notice of leave of absence, I stayed in my room all day and went out for a walk.
As I walked, I went far, passed the S University campus and passed in front of my original house.
Coincidentally, I met Park Se-young there.
“… uh?”
#
Perhaps, indeed, there might be something like a radar that can swiftly detect the misfortunes of others.
Park Se-young wanted to go to law school and become a lawyer later with Plan B, if she did not become a writer.
Of course, there was a greater meaning in literature, but it was because of a chronic disease that made her want to help, to wander around when she saw a dark and gloomy person.
The trauma of not being able to save her cousin, who always pretended to be bright, from the mire, of ignoring him, was inherent in her, but it wasn’t just because of that.
Surely it is, she thought.
‘I’m doing this because it’s right.’
If you do helping others several times, you get used to it, and you develop professionalism and initiative in helping others.
What is especially important is activeness.
Goodwill comes from activeness.
When everyone sees a poor person, they try to take care of him, but most of them end up in their hearts.
An active expression of the will to help someone.
That was the difference between Park Se-young and the others.
Abused children usually pay attention to the world and try to hide the fact that they have been victimized.
Park Se-young always kept in mind not to forget that he was the third party to their misfortune.
Distancing must be maintained.
I kept my guard down lest I be overly preoccupied with their despair, their frustrations, their tragedies, and thus lose the impetus to help them.
Baek Yoo-ram believed that she was not considerate of others and acted blindly as she pleased.
‘Isn’t the help they don’t want to bother them? You want to help Lee Dong-min? He never asked for help. is not it? Don’t you think your presence endangers him?’
Park Se-young shook his head.
“no. I am right.”
Lee Dong-min no longer received calls from her, but she still found people in need.
Rather, harder than before.
She found out her motive for writing on Etta because of dating violence, and helped her go to the police station.
Kim Hye-jeong hesitated to sue until the end.
However, seeing the bruises on her face and body, Park Se-young could not stand it.
Kim Hye-jeong said as she left the book.
‘Thank you, I hesitated, but I think I did what I had to do.’
From nob le mt l. co m
Just a word of thanks.
That was the reward for Park Se-young.
‘Look, these people need help too. They just don’t know they need help.’
She was confident in her convictions again.
I don’t know how this will go, but Park Se-young promised Kim Hye-jung that she would stay with her until the end.
“… Senior Dongmin, are you okay?”
No matter how much Park Se-yeong was, she had been denied help many times, so even though she thought this was familiar, she still couldn’t forget her strangely dark face.
As time passed, I wondered if I should have helped him even if I had been a little more stubborn then.
“No, let’s not worry about it anymore. Even senior told me not to mind… Ah?”
Park Se-young was walking down the street in the pouring rain, and when she looked up, she was at Lee Dong-min’s house.
“… What is it, I am Kim Yu-shin’s words?”
Park Se-young laughed because it was absurd.
It was a famous anecdote that Kim Yu-shin tried to change his mind, but the horse remembered the bar of Cheon-gwan-nyeo, whom he often went to, and cut off her throat when she visited again.
“…Dongmin sunbaenim said he took a leave of absence. Do you want to go home?”
Perhaps it was because of the rain, but even though it was still daytime, seeing the darkening sky beneath the whitish clouds made me depressed.
Moist air clung to his skin.
It was like walking on a stormy beach, and the thick smell of earth mixed with it made my nose tingle.
Park Se-young put the white AirPods in her ears.
For some reason, I wanted to walk indefinitely listening to sad songs and sorrowful songs that filled me with emotions.
Whenever she was depressed, she did this now and then.
Depression is the law to soothe with greater depression.
The song started, and along with the singer’s voice, the lyrics flowed little by little from Park Se-young’s mouth.
“… It’s raining after you left. My black hands are getting wet, and since you are leaving, it is raining. Until the end of the day I…”
“The fragrance that blooms from the falling leaves, it has a black face. Until the rain stops, I…”
As if becoming the main character in the music video, Park Se-young looked at the house where Lee Dong-min lived.
I found myself feeling pretty ugly.
It was like a girlfriend with a car.
I’ve never actually been in a relationship.
In the first place, he had no relationship with Lee Dong-min, but since his thoughts could not be erased from his head, it felt like this Cheongseung was just for him.
“Is this really my habit?”
To no one, she murmured.
She sang before coming to university, when she was having a hard time studying, and when she was accused of pretending to be nice because she was misunderstood for trying to help others.
I savored the sad and desperate lyrics as much as possible.
As if the main character in the lyrics had become herself, acting as one, the emotions of the narrator, which had been stagnant, touched the trigger of her emotions.
then…
Tears flowed like a burst of water.
Rather than feeling sad about the situation, she cries because she wants to cry, like plucking her fingertips with a needle after pretending.
In short, today was the day I wanted to cry.
“… The words of your lips that were silent when you left, I didn’t know then. Ah, it was our parting song. The leaves still fall with a black scent.”
Now she was listening to a popular song from the 80’s.
As I listened to the rugged voice of the singer harmonizing with the guitar accompaniment, I suddenly burst into tears.
“… bad human! Can you tell me what the story is? I can help!”
Soon it flowed.
Not only when I was depressed, but also when I had dry eye syndrome, I cried profusely.
“Ah, even thinking about it, I really don’t want to look bad.”
Park Se-young turned around.
It was time to go home.
It’s raining and she’s holding an umbrella so no one will notice her crying.
“… uh?”
However, there was Lee Dong-min in front of her when she turned around.
“ah…?”
Park Se-young was also taken aback, then recalled that she was shedding tears.
Besides, this is Lee Dong-min’s house now.
Lee Dong-min’s girlfriend, Kang Hae-rin, treats her as a flirty b*tch, but-
It was unfair, but from a girlfriend’s point of view, how angry would she have asked her to vicariously satisfy herself with a novel?
“……..”
Park Se-young hurriedly grabbed Lee Dong-min, who was about to turn around.
“Senior- Wait a minute-”
Not knowing what it was, she jumped up and grabbed Lee Dong-min’s arm.
“Senior, no. Not really.”
“… huh?”
Lee Dong-min smiled awkwardly.
“what? When I see you singing while looking at the house I live in, I don’t mind?”
You’ve seen it all, heard it all!
Even though Park Se-young was hit by the wind enough to feel the cold, she felt her ears turn red in an instant.
“So… so, no! It’s not that I sang in the dark while watching my senior’s house… I do that sometimes. When you’re depressed and like that. I don’t like you. You don’t have to pay attention to Kang Hae-rin. Really.”
“okay. I didn’t think so…”
Watching Lee Dong-min turn away, Park Se-young thought.
‘I don’t believe you!’
Still, there was an innocent laugh.
‘Why?’
He was a person who believed that the relationship was completely over, but was he relieved that the reunion was not awkward?
Park Se-young decided to try hanging around.
Didn’t the 80’s singer she listened to with her AirPods say that in a clunky voice?
‘The leaves still fall with a black scent.’
I didn’t want to part like this.
If you spend it like this, the black scent will permeate your body forever and won’t disappear.
Still, it would be burdensome if I spoke too sentimentally, so I spoke as naughty as possible.
“Senior, you can’t. I can’t send my senior like this. What will my image be? Even after seeing this, I am the representative of fresh and lively freshmen! I can’t be remembered as crying in sorrow as I look at the house of the man who moved into the house. So… let’s talk for a minute!”
Lee Dong-min laughed.
Park Se-young felt a little more joy.
#
Although embarrassed, Park Se-young seems to have a habit of crying while listening to songs when she is really sad.
I don’t know why he did it like a ritual in the house where I lived, but I burst out laughing when I saw him desperately trying to explain.
“… do you believe me?”
“… then.”
The last time I saw her, I thought it would be awkward, not very nice, but it wasn’t.
I felt comfortable too.
Maybe it’s because I’ve made up my mind not to ignore Kang Hae-rin anymore.
Park Se-young still had a good personality and generously talked about her own affairs.
Maybe it just seemed like he was struggling to erase his ‘ugliness’ from my memory, but in the end, thanks to that, I learned something new.
“… What is the name of that date violent man?”
“Half. why? Do you know something?”
I stopped.
Ban Lee Jae?
Are you the half Lee Jae I know?
The name was not very common.
“Seyoung, do you know where his house is?”
“… well, no. To the house… First of all, it’s not our department. He might be able to find out if you ask Hyejeong, but…”
“Hyejeong… what if?”
“It’s a motive. Seniors may not know. You’re not doing well in school…”
“Can I ask you a favor?”
“… to Hyejeong?”
A look of hesitation appeared on her face.
It would be embarrassing to ask the woman who broke up with you to tell you the location of the house again as the worst way for a lover to break up after experiencing dating violence.
“no. Fine…”
In an instant, several thoughts came to my mind like lightning.
‘If Ban Yi-jae is from our school…’
The first time, Baek Yoo-ram and Park Se-young came to my house and had a conversation about the news when they made chicken stir-fry soup.
‘A man who went to a club with his girlfriend was beaten to death while fighting with a gang of men who tried to drug his girlfriend. Isn’t it terrible?’
I’ve heard that Eta has become quite agitated because one of them was wearing our school overjam.
The possibility that the dating violent man is the same person as the Ban Lee-jae I know increases by one.
My sister and I were similar enough to infer that the case was related to the first episode of my novel.
‘The club and the gang… they’re the same criminal.’
It was clear, if not 100 percent, that if that anti-Lee Jae was who I thought he was, there would be a button in his house that he had stolen from the victim.
If you are a man who commits dating violence, if you are a person who even uses drugs, it is not strange to become a murderer.
‘Dating violence, drugs, murder.’
three strikes.
There were several reasons why Kang Hae-rin chose Ban Yi-jae as her scapegoat in the novel.
The settings are tough for a first episode, but it was to convince Kang Hae-rin of his actions.
It’s because he has to be a serious criminal to understand why Kang Hae-rin wants to kill him and to have a justification.
‘… furthermore.’
I thought of Ban Lee Jae’s other evil deeds.
‘Ban Yi-jae had a ‘golden phone’ that recorded everything he had with his lovers.’
Even in Korea, it was calculated that it would not be difficult to rot for decades as long as the evidence was caught.
“Seyoung, I need help.”
I held Park Se-young’s hand and shouted.
“Yes, yes?”
She panicked and tried to back away, but the more I did, the more I grabbed her hand.
“Connect me to Hyejeong. please.”
“… well, even if you say so…”
A shadow fell on Park Se-young’s face.
“I wouldn’t want to talk about this with anyone else. Most of them want to escape from their painful memories. I will definitely refuse. The Hyejeong I saw was having a really hard time.”
#
The categorical detective groaned.
He looked at me and my sister with a puzzled expression, and my sister also looked at me as if she was in trouble.
Detective Park Seong-gang crossed his arms and pretended to continue listening to what I was saying, but his serious expression gave rise to suspicion.
“… Looking at it objectively, you know that you are talking about something that is quite difficult right now, right?”
Park Seong-gang said.
“Yes, I know.”
I said.
“There is no special evidence ‘at the moment’, but the culprit of the ‘Gangnam club massacre and death case’ is Lee Jae Ban, a theater and film student at S University. Did you film all of them illegally?”
he added at the end of his thoughts.
“Aren’t there any proofs?”
Park Seong-gang, as well as the categorical detective who was kind to us all the time, made an expression of regret.
“… this must be difficult.”
“no. it’s possible.”
I said.
“Isn’t it okay if you make the other person confess on their own?”
“…so what are you going to do?”
Seonggang Park said patiently.
Like the ‘character of justice’ I created, he didn’t try to cut me off.
This was really fortunate.
Even if I dismissed it as absurd and got up from my seat, I would have nothing to say.
“Harryn.”
And I nodded at Haerin Kang.
“Ahh.”
Kang Hae-rin, who had been clearing her throat a little, smiled at the people who were staring at her.
It was a playful expression.
She picked up her phone and called someone.
And he said it in a blunt tone.
Like someone who is mad at their lover.
“brother.”
When his name came out of Kang Hae-rin’s mouth, everyone there was shocked and shut their mouths.
In particular, my older sister raised her eyes wide as if she had seen a ghost, and even Detective Park Seong-gang was startled.
“… I know everything. Did you take a hidden camera of me?”
From Kang Hae-rin’s expressionless face, the voice of ‘Kim Hye-jeong’, a victim of illegal filming and dating violence, came out.
Not only his voice, but even his way of speaking, changed high and slender, as if he had become a different person.