120.
“… Even if I ask you something, there is no way you can answer.”
I muttered that while looking at the spirit.
Basically, the spirit is not the person who died, but the han left behind by that person has changed.
Therefore, there are no memories that are not related to resentment, and because of that, rational conversation is almost impossible.
Of course, it’s not that there isn’t a spiritual body that can talk, but at least it’s more than a red spirit or a dark spirit.
A spiritual body that has become stronger to that point can form its own ego.
But it wasn’t this Jibakryeong.
At most a level 20 sage.
Is that why?
“… … ”
Perhaps I didn’t know that I would come out like this, the spirit wandered around me helplessly.
There was no highlighting of the spirit.
Well, the arrow didn’t point here, so it’s natural.
However, Ji Park-ryeong’s bewildered appearance made me guess the circumstances of the incident, which was unexpectedly very helpful.
“Dara doesn’t attack anyone… ”
And it turns out that all the drivers have died in the cases so far, but the driver’s wife, who was the only passenger, was rescued without any problems.
This Jibak Spirit is only attacking a specific person, that is, the person he holds a grudge against.
And the dead are all from the same hometown, and clues point to middle school.
Coming this far, it seemed almost certain that the dead had happened when they were in middle school.
“Rather, this side could be the victim.”
Now I could see why the arrow wasn’t pointing to this reservoir.
If we defeat this earthly spirit here, the incident related to the navigation will be over.
Another case that was hidden behind it will be buried forever.
In order to cleanly deal with this, first investigate the case behind it.
Of course that’s not good.
Having judged that, I decided to leave the reservoir.
Then I didn’t even swim, but as if I was levitating, my body slowly floated to the surface.
From nob le mt l. com
Ji Park-ryeong looked at the scene with a strange gaze.
“Are you okay?!”
Na Ha-jung shouted at me as I came up to the surface.
Perhaps she thought I had fallen into the water, she was just about to enter the reservoir.
I let her know there was nothing wrong, and I went out of the reservoir too.
“What happened? There must have been something.”
In response to Na Ha-jung’s question, I talked with Ji Park-ryeong, who was in the reservoir, about my guess.
That Jibak-ryeong might be a victim of a crime.
Hearing that story, Na Ha-jung’s eyes became apathetic.
“Then what are you going to do now?”
“I think we should go to school first.”
“School?”
“yes.”
I checked the location of the middle school the dead had attended.
Then again, the arrow was pointing in that direction.
There was no reason to delay any longer.
“Then let’s go.”
The middle school the deceased attended was located a short distance from the reservoir.
It was a middle school in what could at least be called a town in the countryside.
The time is now 2:00 PM.
The size of the building was surprisingly not much different from that in the city.
As if the number of students was not enough, it seemed that more than half of the classrooms in the school where afternoon classes were in progress were empty.
I parked the police car near the middle school and entered the school gate.
“Uh, if you come here carelessly… ”
Then someone standing at the front door stopped me.
He seemed to be in his 50s and tried to kick me out, but his eyes widened when he saw the police uniform he was wearing.
“Are you a cop?”
“yes. My name is Inspector Kang Jin-woo from the special edition.”
I showed him my police ID to prove my identity.
“What’s going on here… ”
“I’m here to investigate the case. Are you a school official?”
“Oh, I am the teacher of this school. I am Han Min-hoon.”
I explained to him that I had come because of the recent flooding of the reservoir car.
For a while, it was treated as a common case, and it was likely to have been featured in the local newspaper.
Maybe that’s why Han Min-hoon also knew about the incident itself.
“I heard about it, but… We have eyes to see, so let’s go inside.”
He looked sideways at the playground and said.
Some of the students who were already in PE class were talking to us.
I didn’t have anything good to stand out from the students, so I followed Han Min-hoon’s guide and entered the teacher’s office.
The classroom, where most of the teachers went to class, was quiet.
Han Min-hoon took us into the drawing room on one side of the teachers’ room.
“But the case investigation… Does that have anything to do with our school?”
He asked us after sitting us at a table in the drawing room.
“I can’t go into details because it’s an investigation, but all the dead were from this school.”
“Huh… ”
At my words, he sighed heavily.
Even if it’s someone you don’t know, it’s a complicated fact.
I spoke naturally.
“So I want to check the student roster. Roughly… It was 30 years ago.”
“3… Thirty years ago?”
“It would be exactly 28 to 30 years ago. Are you keeping it?”
Things from when the deceased were in middle school.
“yes. That would be it. for a moment… ”
Accordingly, Han Min-hoon left for a while to find the list.
In the meantime, Na Ha-jeong opened her mouth.
“Are you trying to find an address?”
address?
Why is the address suddenly appearing?
I just thought, if you look at the list, there will be a name highlighted.
However, I just nodded my head casually.
“yes.”
“The dead are all from the same village. Besides, there is a reservoir between the village and the school. It’s probably not a coincidence.”
“… you’re right.”
That’s what I heard.
I naturally chimed in.
As I talked about the incident with Na Ha-jeong, after a while, Han Min-hoon returned.
“Here it is.”
What he brought was a seemingly old list.
I immediately went through the list and found five highlighted names.
Three were the names of the victims of the navigation incident who had already died.
The other two were new to me.
And as Naha-cho said, their addresses were all in the same village.
Enough of this… I’m sure
I checked the names of those two and left the school.
I got into the police car again and the first thing I did was hand over the names and social security numbers of the two people to the analysis team to request an investigation.
The results came back quickly.
“Is this the person?”
First isos*xuality.
That name had also disappeared from the student rolls the year before graduation.
Although the list did not record why the name was erased.
The reason was clearly stated in the police DB.
This person went missing when he was in middle school, and is currently dead after more than 30 years.
then… The other, naturally, was that this woman, Kim Hee-eun, was the perpetrator.
She was listed as currently residing in Incheon.
Then, at the moment I wonder if I should go all the way to Incheon.
“huh… ?”
The arrow of the quest suddenly began to flicker, and when that wasn’t enough, time appeared above it.
7:28
It’s been a while since I tilted my head at a phenomenon I’m seeing for the first time.
As the number 28 changed to 27, the intention was revealed.
It was time-limited.
That said, there was only about 7 minutes left.
The arrow was clearly pointing in the direction of the reservoir.
Feeling unusual, I immediately spoke to Na Ha-jeong, who was behind the wheel.
“Let’s move.”
“yes? Where?”
“It’s a reservoir. We must go as soon as possible.”
* * *
“after… ”
Inside the car driving down the road, Kim Hee-eun let out a heavy sigh.
There wasn’t much left to reach the destination, but she stared ahead with uneasy eyes.
A reservoir was gradually visible ahead.
“… … ”
A place I don’t have very good memories of.
So she didn’t want to come here, but she couldn’t help it.
Her parents still live in the small town beyond the reservoir.
And the only way to enter the village is through this reservoir.
So no matter how embarrassing it is, it’s not like I’ll never see my parents for the rest of my life for that reason.
Above all, today I even received a call that my father is in critical condition.
Originally, his health was not good and he was convalescing at home, but recently, it seemed that his symptoms had suddenly become serious.
“I hear there was an accident here… ”
She was aware of the sudden death of her hometown friends.
In just a few weeks, three of my friends drowned in this reservoir.
Remembering that fact, she hardened her face and slowed down significantly on the road adjacent to the reservoir.
She knew what had happened at this reservoir a long time ago.
“Where is the ghost… ”
she murmured.
However, it was not that Kim Hee-eun did not feel fear from the series of accidents.
I don’t think that’s possible now, but I couldn’t let go of the guilt.
So she deliberately took half a day off from work and moved in broad daylight.
The time is half past two in the afternoon.
It was a time when the sun was pouring.
The sky is absolutely clear, and because of that, you can see clearly ahead.
At this rate, there would be no foolishly taking the wrong path and falling into the reservoir.
“… … ”
So she took a deep breath to control her anxiety and entered the road adjacent to the reservoir.
I wanted to get out of here quickly like a chimney, but I didn’t even speed up just in case.
The moment I entered the sharp curve section of the reservoir.
“It is on the left.”
Suddenly, such a voice came from the navigation system.
Kim Hee-eun got goosebumps.
That’s because the left side was the direction of the reservoir.
Unknowingly, the hand holding the steering wheel was strained.
Then, contrary to the navigator’s instructions, she turned the steering wheel to the right.
however,
“what… what!”
The steering wheel did not move.
It doesn’t budge no matter how hard you try, as if it’s caught on something.
“Why are you doing this!”
“It is on the left.”
And the voice of the navigation continued.
The callous machine sound repeated the same words as if teasing Kim Hee-eun, who was clinging to the steering wheel and looked like she was about to cry at any moment.
“It is on the left.”
“Do not be ridiculous!”
Kim Hee-eun desperately broke the steering wheel.
Then, slowly, the steering wheel barely moved to the right.
Following the steering wheel that gradually tilts to the right, the car also gradually leaves the sharp curve section and heads for a normal road.
“It is on the left.”
“The left one freezes to death… !”
At this, Kim Hee-eun showed a faint smile as if she had won.
But at that moment.
“Left!”
The situation was reversed as the navigation system suddenly let out a scream-like scream.
Tremendous force forced the steering wheel to the left.
Because of that power, Kim Hee-eun momentarily lost control of the steering wheel.
By the time she put her hands back on the steering wheel, the car was already crashing into the reservoir.
“no!”
Along with Kim Hee-eun’s scream, the car crashed into the reservoir.
At the same time, seeing a face attacking her, Kim Hee-eun lost consciousness.
* * *
“Whoa… ”
that evening.
I admitted Kim Hee-eun to a nearby hospital and got into the police car.
“You must have been late.”
Kim Hee-eun, who fell into the reservoir, was almost killed by Ji Park-ryeong, who was there.
However, after hearing my words, Na Ha-jung spoke with a cold attitude.
“Was it really necessary to save it?”
I had some agreement with that question.
Immediately after rescuing Kim Hee-eun.
It was because the things she confessed to me in front of me in panic were not things to be passed on.
As expected, Ji Park-ryeong at the reservoir was the victim of a murder case.
Kim Hee-eun and the group, including the deceased, continued to harass Lee Seong-hwa, a victim 30 years ago, during middle school, Kim Hee-eun said.
In the meantime, a group of them tied a stone to Lee Seong-hwa’s feet and drowned her in a reservoir.
As a result, Seonghwa Lee drowned in the reservoir and was treated as missing.
But now the police have been unable to punish the crime.
Since that was a case long before the statute of limitations for murder cases was abolished, the statute of limitations was applied.
Even so, of course, nothing had happened to Kim Hee-eun.
“Still, from Ji Park-ryeong’s point of view, he pulled out one limb, so it must have been a way to vent his anger.”
When we found Ji Park-ryeong, Kim Hee-eun’s condition was already not normal.
Because the left arm and right leg, which had been forcibly twisted and pulled out with great force, were being torn to pieces.
“And that helped too. No damage.”
After that, I went through a lot of trouble to get Kim Hee-eun out without getting rid of Ji Park-ryeong.
But in the end, Ji Park-ryeong reluctantly gave up on Kim Hee-eun, and thanks to that, I was able to secure a valuable confession and testimony.
“that… Yes.”
In my words, Na Ha-jeong also said the same.
There was one more person in Kim Hee-eun’s testimony that we hadn’t caught yet.
My name is Jeongsook Choi.
She was a high school student living in the village at the time, and said that she was the ringleader of the group that harassed Lee Seong-hwa.
Kim Hee-eun knew that she had just moved to Seoul after getting a job at a large company.
After that, I checked and found that Choi Jung-sook’s job was… Surprisingly, he was an exorcist.
It seemed that this incident led him to open his eyes and walk the path of an exorcist.
It wasn’t even a funny story.
“But if you pardon the exorcist… How is the calculation going?”
A statute of limitations would apply to crimes committed by ordinary people, but there is no such thing for crimes committed by exorcists.
However, in this case, the exorcist committed a crime when he was an ordinary person.
Then, is the statute of limitations valid or not?
Na Ha-jung replied to my words.
“The punishment will be hard. but… Your status will be demoted.”
“Identity?”
“Like me.”
“ah… ”
In other words, they will be treated the same as the C class of the training center and death row inmates.
then… It might end up being surprisingly easy.
I nodded like that, but Na Ha-jeong opened her mouth again.
“But that’s not the problem.”
“sure?”
“The exorcist is a valuable talent. So, the institution to which this woman belongs would rather deny the fact. Evidence is only words.”
Na Ha-jung’s words made sense.
But I shook my head.
“Don’t worry about that.”
Choi Jeong-suk, who became an exorcist, actually worked for a large company.
And the name of the conglomerate… None other than the Chinese group.
“I’m kind of close with that executive.”
Choi Jeong-suk was an exorcist belonging to Hwarang, headed by Executive Director Lee Hyun-ah.