Novels2Search

Chapter 3

Thanks to the school system registering children enrolled into the education management and all individuals sixteen and above being obliged to obtain national identity cards, it's easy to track anyone.The school system did it for government policy reasons , while government wants it done so everyone is recognized by the law as being citizens and to track migration statistics.

Finding a criminal has never been so easy than in the past where only past convicts were identifiable. after the law decided to have the national id include one's finger print and link the RO(read-only )database to stations, identifying people is as simple as the snap of a finger, that is of course if they have been to school or are sixteen and above . The only drawback is, there are some people who refused to register for the hassle-free service and live as ghosts. If such a person commits a crime, it would take a longer time to find them . Anyway one can simply, through the use of a warrant ,obtain more information , by searching further through the database and come up with the names , address , occupations and emergency contacts , just to mention a few. The mentioned I'd is changed every ten years so there is no unreliability there. And the best part is that it is totally free.

After this Garam will head to the computer at the station and conduct such a search .

(Six hours later)

Garam adjusted his uniform and he headed inside. He had found Jiwoo's address and YeongHwan accompanied him. Normally there would be a lot of paparazzi surrounding this case but the chief in command changed the law that no media should be passed from the journalist to the public when the police aren't the source because people twist things up. Therefore right now , the family would be informed first and then afterwards if need be , the death would be told to the media.

Nevertheless some people still manage to pass this news by stealing pictures and submitting it to journalist stations . Through the internet ,the news is broadcasted and a lot of traffic will flood there but everything remains supremely anonymous. Hopefully, the family doesn't know about it from unrecognized or unaccredited places

They opened the door and they found an old lady watering a small garden by a pond

If there is one thing that the police despise reporting, it's a death to the vulnerable members of society. That is the young ,old, sick , disabled and lowest class or economy. It's always heavy on them not that others are an exception but it just registers a heavier form of guilt towards any police officer

She placed down the watering can and she softly navigated towards the police officer.

" Hi, I am Detective Garam and this is Inspector YeongHwan . Can you please take a seat?",

The lady sat on the chair and she looked at them.

" It comes with great sadness to inform you that Mr Jeon Jiwoo has passed.";She clasped her mouth,

"..if there.."; Garam continued but then she asked who that was.

The two men looked at each other in confusion. It went from burdensome to extremely awkward in a flash

" Jeon Jiwoo, this is him", Garam spoke producing a picture. According to him , dementia might be possible, hopefully the photograph rings some bells

" I don't know him to be honest. Maybe my children do", she sweetly remarked and smiled , a clear indication that she might have no strings attached

" He placed his address as here.", YeongHwan was reluctant to keep talking

"Oh, maybe it's because my daughter just moved into this place. She bought it from a child who lost both his parents", she nodded and quaked

Garam looked at YeongHwan . Now they know why the child was depressed but then why was he sorry to his dead mother?

They bid farewell and checked with the neighbors.

Immediately in the next house , they found a heavily pregnant teenager causally playing with her phone and next to her , a sleeping infant and another toddler playing with a makeup kit. She was extremely rude and without a doubt moody but she managed to explain that Jiwoo was just close with his mother , sadly both the parents had a car accident. According to her, Jiwoo felt down and out so he left school and placed his parent's belongings in a rental garage before selling his house to the current owners

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She wrote down a name and number of someone that she described close to the boy. Maybe they know the location of the deceased or his garage.

***

" Jinyoung, for the love of god atleast practice talking to me", Namkyu yelled when he got home and placed the bag on the counter.

He had been at work all day and trying to not lose his mid over Jiwoo's death decorating the news. He is just a pathologist not a coroner but he can't help it. He knows it's a murder but the body isn't giving a lot to work with. Furthermore with the case now public, the deceased's family might come for the body to prepare for burial. He did his usual wine routine but he found yesterday's bottle in the fridge and checked breakfast. Usually Jinyoung hides the wine and eats breakfast at night but it was untouched.

He went towards Jinyoung's room.

He pushed open the door and there was not a single sign of life in this room. His uniform was on the couch by the bed and his tennis gear was by his study desk. The said desk had a computer , a sports magazine ,some cologne and a comb.

He went towards it and he opened the drawers with only pen inside and some tennis balls.

Namkyu dialled Jinyoung while he sat in his desk but he didn't pick up.

He hates when he becomes like this. It would make sense if he was drinking or smoking but he doesn't do that and simply just accompanies his friends and later falls asleep playing at the arcade.His favourite is one near the library where he used to wait for Namkyu in. He would play nonstop and later Namkyu would pay a hefty bill for his gaming. It was worth it than to have him roaming around with the likes of DoekHwan and his nymphomaniac girlfriend along with his beneath ideal friends

He placed the phone down and he went to take his uniform and wash it . He picked it up and when he did so, a stone fell from his pockets and onto the floor.

He checked the stone and it looked like something from a souvenir shop moreover something like gifted by notorious DoekHwan. He is always giving Jinyoung weird things who never refuses nor uses them and it becomes up Namkyu to throw it away.

From the beggining of their alliance, he had been presenting him things like toilet paper wrappers, leadless pencils, egg shells and old toothpaste.At first he agreed with people who thought he was crazy, but growing up with a mother as an archaeologist is significantly influential even for a child as naughty as DoekHwan.

He put the rock in his own pocket as it is already fated for the recycle bin and he took away the uniform.

****

A chubby arthritic man who was probably the manager of the apartment rattled the keys of the place , opening way for these two. He was struggling significantly but his tattooed skin and golden jewelry mixed with some western vodka suggested that he takes offense easily.

They didn't have a warrant so whatever they were doing wasn't exactly legal meaning that they can't make this man angry as he is entitled to refuse. They just have to basic and submissive.

Finally they gained access . The room was small.They went in the space that was literally a one room house and the only privacy was given to the bathroom and toilet that were conjoined. Despite the claustrophobic air, it was clean , no dishes or foul scents . The owner lived a mute life

there was a fallen chair, a notebook on the table and some pills next to a glass of water . YeongHwan took out his camera and he begun to snap pictures.Afterwards he called the station to check the progress of the warrant.

There was one thing clear to all eyes. Someone died here. All those facts were obvious as night and day but nobody has an idea where to start searching.

He sighed loudly and he made a few calls to ask for some people to get warrants.

The old man was still by the door and he was stressed because he knew what this means. It's going to be difficult to find tenants if someone committed suicide in this room. But maybe they won't be too judgmental.

Garam turned where he was and questioned him about the boy . The rebellish -looking man said the guy never talked to anyone and always alone. He had no friends, no girl , not even a dog. He was spending the money he got from selling his family house and though he was chubby when he first moved in , he had lost a lot of weight

" How long has he been living here?", YeongHwan asked and the man responded ever since his parents died.

Garam drove home and he stayed outside listening to the news report on Jiwoo's death. To be honest , whether or not the Chief-in-command was serious about his 'no unauthorized publications', is very much unclear. If it was so difficult to obtain a search warrant, how much easier would it have been to have the stations already broadcasting these . It's okay to bend a few little rules but Mr Yuk is taking it too far . He probably accepted a bribe and authorized the broadcast while at the same time saying such a case doesn't have enough evidence for a warrant

On the way here , BomSoek verified that the clothes were indeed in the garage and nothing was amiss. Jiwoo had a lot CDs explaining probably why his suicide note he was apologizing. Maybe he was meaning that he should have been more attentive to the mother.

'It is a suicide but who and why move the body? ', this question!

He got off the car and when he opened the gate, a small-framed girl came running to him and she hugged him heavily.

Janhee thinks of Garam like her father. She literally does every thing to prove that fact. She buys him clothes, gifts, dolls , paintings, cake and even clothes. Every day after school ,she is always seating in front of his house hoping that one day he might give her the keys to his house.

Her father passed away in the army when she was four weeks old and Garam out of pittance took care of her and her mother. later she got remarried and left Janhee with her aunt who isn't exactly sure what to comment on their relationship. Is Janhee shipping Garam and herself or the aunt with Garam since Aunt is like her mother?

" Sugar bear, you look tired ." She sang.

" How can you call him that yet say he's your father?", A young male about five foot eight in the same uniform commented while seating on the valender.

ChinHwa, Janhee's official chaperon. Wherever she is , he is always three steps behind her.He acts like her boyfriend but she friend-zoned him brutally. Despite their dog-tail relationship, Janhee is a senior and is two years older than ChinHwa.

" Song ChinHwa, how many times do I need to tell you to stop bringing her here?",

" Little brother didn't bring me, I came by myself", she answered pulling Garam's cheek.

He looked at ChinHwa's bicycle by the door and he told her off .

" I said that if you can spend hundred days away from me , I will give you my house keys", he added and ChinHwa smirked.

She cursed under her breath saying that's like asking her to stop breathing. To change the topic , she asked if he is coming over for dumplings later and he obviously lied saying he wouldn't miss it for the world.She tried to kiss him but he blocked her face with his hand and told ChinHwa to take her away.

Without explanation, she ran off and took the bike before she rolled away.

" I have to go and clean since you are coming over. Little brother can stop by and eat before going home", she yelled and disappeared.

" I hate it when she calls me that", ChinHwa whined under his breath, clearly sounding bothered by that

" little brothers are cute and you are lucky to have those kind of looks", he told him and he went into the house.

He didn't want to walk all the way home so he sat down on the valender after Garam went inside.

ChinHwa never goes into people's houses and prefers to just waits outside. Even on weekends when they visit Garam, he will just stay here and play games while Janhee acts melodramatic and plays house with Garam. Janhee thinks it's funny how ChinHwa always mocks Garam yet doesn't mind following Janhee there. All the other places he would seem impatient to leave but when at Garam's, he can even fall asleep or watch a movie on his phone waiting for Janhee.