Ba Reum had stayed home all day yesterday. He had been feeling slightly nauseous still and he was starting to have a cold. His nose was completely clogged up and he had a small cough. But all in all he felt better. His mother had explained him what she was trying to do with SNS support, and he had already seen how quickly it became widespread.
He still didn't like to think about how good it had felt to try to strangle Kang Duk Soo. When he talked about that feeling with his mother, she said it was a natural, albeit extreme response, a crime of passion, sort to speak.
She said that just the fact that he had stopped in time and tried to made sure Kang Duk Soo was alive by bringing him somewhere the paramedics could find him, that was what was important. As well as the fact that he felt guilty of course.
Seeing that his mother had called him sick, he had spent the rest of the day posting on all kinds of forums about his case, trying to add oil to the fire of the general outrage.
He had also received a text message from Chi Kook saying that Halmoni had awakened, and that gave him an idea. He posted a letter to the broadcasting station saying that instead of trying to arrest the one who stopped Kang Duk Soo, that they should make a special interview of the brave women who tried to save the child after failing to save her granddaughter.
He was trying to deflect all attention to the victims of this case, making his actions seem more and more justified.
He decided to check on Bong Yi herself and called her.
"Hey Bong Yi."
"Oh, Oppa, are you okay?"
"I should be asking you that."
"Ah, I am," she said flustered, "it's just, your voice, it sounds like you got a bad cold."
"Ah yes, I was sick yesterday, and just trying to shake it off." He answered, smiling slightly to himself over her concern. "How are you doing? And halmoni?"
"We're okay. Halmoni has to stay in the hospital for a couple of days though."
"Oh. I hope it's nothing bad."
"Oh no, it's not really something bad. It just that the doctors are afraid that she is getting pneumonia from being in the rain. So they want to keep her in for observation. She doesn't want to, but I convinced her."
"Well, she is almost as stubborn as you are." Ba Reum said with a teasing tone.
"Oppa!" she answered.
"Bong Yi," he said, his voice taking on a serious tone, "make sure to call if you need help."
"… I will oppa." She said.
They hung up the phone and he stared a bit at the ceiling. He normally didn't care for a lot of people, but the people close to him were special. They were "his" people and no one should be allowed to hurt them.
He suddenly sneezed, breaking his own serious mood.
Hisis cold was getting worse, so early in the evening he went back to bed and the next morning when he woke up, he felt better. He felt as if it were possible to at least go to work.
He checked the social media and saw that Kang Duk Soo was going to try to find him and sue him for attempted murder. His stomach rolled at the thought. He scrolled down and saw all the comments and petitions that were being held in his favor. But like his mother said, better to not get caught at all.
He quickly got dressed and went to work, before he was too late. He skipped breakfast on account of his stomach still feeling rather poorly, due to having the cold and just plain stress and anxiety.
"Oh you are back, thank goodness." Park Du Seok was already in the evidence room when he entered.
"Missed me that much?" Ba Reum asked.
"Of course." Du Seok answered in a dry tone.
"But really, you are gone one day, and no one remembers how to officially demand and store their evidence. Some of these guys deserve a proper dressing down."
"I hope they didn't screw anything up." Ba Reum said, already starting the computer and checking all activity in the files from yesterday.
Park Duk Seo was a nice guy, and he explained the proper procedures very well, but sometimes he was too nice. He should enforce the proper procedures a bit more to these detectives.
He started to systematically check everything that changed since the last time he was here straightening out all the boxes and seeing if everything is was returned to where it was. Of course it wasn't.
These detectives should know better. If the evidence was misplaced or lost, that could mean that the proof they had would not make it to court and that would mean the culprit could get free.
He spent the rest of the morning chasing after all the missing pieces. They should know that at the end of the day that it should not stay at the desk but should be returned back into evidence for safekeeping.
In the later part of the morning some new evidence was delivered at their station. He signed for the envelop and checked it.
It were the medical records of the womb stealer victims. Evidence requested by Detective Ko Moo Chi.
He made sure to scan in all the reports. After that was done he glanced around and moved his chair so his back was hiding the PC area. He quickly pulled a flash drive out of his pocket and made sure to save a copy for himself.
Afterwards, after he had the medical files entered in the records he jotted down that these would be transferred in the possession of Koo Moo Chi, and now he would just have to find said detective.
Moo Chi returned to work. It was already late morning, but after the days and nights he had, he felt it was justified. He had finally slept through a complete night. He felt refreshed, well as refreshed as he could and he was ready to throw himself into the murder cases with renewed vigor.
Detective sang had given him the extensive family records and friends related to the victim.
He was setting up is a white board with pictures and all the information he had about them.
Family, friends, working place, hobbies and all. He was halfway through when Ba Reum showed up.
He was holding an evidence folder and came to stand near Moo Chi's task, observing the man at work.
"You do know that all evidence should be returned in the evenings before you go home right?" Ba Reum asked.
Moo Chi turned around startled.
He looked at his desk guiltily.
"Most of the evidence is new from today." He said with a slight pout, Ba Reum just crossed his arms, pulling Moo Chi's attention to the folder that he was holding.
"Are these the medical files of the victim?" Ba Reum nodded.
"Yeah, they just brought it in." he laid them down on the desk and looked at the white board.
" Is this all the information you have about this case? No common factors yet?"
"No, they have no common ones yet. Or at least we haven't found it yet. I'm convinced though that we have two different killers."
Ba Reum nodded.
"Yes, the M.O. is completely different. You can also see that the rope knot killer has got more experience in killing."
Moo Chi looked at Ba Reum, "Why do you say that?"
"If you look at the rope knot killers victim you see no extra bruises or markings. He knows how to find his victim, make them feel save. It makes them easy for him to approach and attack them without suspicion on their parts. There is no hesitation in the kill. He just goes for it."
"Yes I can see that, but the other murders are also like that."
"No they are not. Here, you can see the cut is uneven, right here and here, as if he didn't realise how tough it is to cut through human skin. You can even see that with the first victim he nicked quite a few organs and part of this skin was actually ripped, instead of cut. With the second victim you can see the cut was already much smoother. As if he had practised already."
Moo Chi looked at Ba Reum in amazement.
"How do you know this?"
"I did a year of medical school before I decided I wanted to be a police officer."
"Seriously, doctor studies?" Moo Chi gave him a look of disbelief. "And you became a cop?"
"I just wanted to be a police officer." Ba Reum said uncomfortably. "Say, shouldn't detective Sang be helping you?"
"He is." Moo Chi answered, letting Ba Reum get away with changing the subject. He probably found the studies too difficult.
"One of the victims of the rope knot killer had a stalker. We're trying to find him now. He might be the killer, but I doubt that. But still, if he kept on stalking the girl he might have some idea who could be the killer."
"Oi, Ba Reum, Du Seok is searching for you." Someone called, interrupting the conversation.
"I guess I have to go." He left the medical files at Moo Chi's desk and went back to his job, storing the information of the murder victims in the back of his mind.
Halmoni wasn't happy that she had to stay in the hospital for longer than a day. The bed was uncomfortable, it was too light inside to sleep and the nurses came in and out when it pleased them.
Every time she coughed, everyone wanted to know everything about it, the consistency the color, how many times already today. She coughed up another bit of phlegm.
Of course seeing that she was so sick and had a recent trauma the doctors deemed it safer for her to stay in the hospital. She tried to refuse, but Bong Yi would have none of that.
So she made a deal with Bong Yi. Her granddaughter will go back to school and she would stay in the hospital.
She had also gotten an offer for an interview about what happened this evening and what happened 10 years ago.
At first she had just plain out refused, but they tried to convince her by saying that it could help in making sure that Kang Duk Soo's punishment would be a lot stricter.
She had said that she would think about it, but she really needed to check with Bong Yi if it was okay. This was more her granddaughter's story then hers.
Halmoni was feeling restless in the small clean room so she had asked permission to walk around a bit.
The doctor said that a little bit of movement wouldn't harm her, but if she felt ill, to go back to her room and contact a nurse. She should also inform someone at the nurses station that she would be gone a little while, so that they wouldn't worry. And she had to dress warm of course.
She put on her cardigan and felt something hard in the pocket. She took out what it was and saw it was the knife she had been sharpening for the past 10 years.
She quickly put it back in before anyone saw. Might as well keep it with me, she thought.
When she was walking around she came to a hallway and saw a cop sitting on a chair. She glanced around the corner. That must be where they kept Kang Duk Soo.
This morning, her granddaughter had showed her some of the articles that appeared about Kang Duk Soo. She was angry that someone would try to sue the guy that saved her and Yu Na.
If only the government had done their jobs the first time he did something like this. He should have been in jail for the rest of his life, instead he just got a slap on the wrist.
Her granddaughter still suffered from it every day you could see it in her behavior, the way she pushed people away, afraid of being hurt again.
Why should she be condemned for life and he just for a few years, as if being raped was something that people could heal easily from. If you steal from the rich, then you get a real punishment, but this, it seems like this is barely worth a judge's time.
Halmoni was getting more and more angry. What would happen now? Would he be in jail for another few years, let out early because of good behavior. Able to hurt someone else once again? Will they sue her saving angel? Will he have to go to jail?
She couldn't let that happen.
She kept on staring. Suddenly the cop stood up and looked inside the room. He glanced around in the corridor and left.
Halmoni snuck closer to the room and opened the door just a crack.
She saw Kang Duk Soo, his wrists attached to the side of the bed with handcuffs. He was sleeping peacefully, not a worry line to be seen on his face.
She looked around and nobody was there, just an empty chair next to the door.
She entered the room and stood next to the man, a cold look on her face. Slowly she reached for the knife in her pocket, glad that she had taken it with her.
"This is what you deserve." She said and leaned over him, "this is what you promised to do."
She removed his blanket and before he could wake up, she cut off his genitals, the whole bunch.
Immediately he shot up awake and in pain. The handcuffs kept him in place, but the screams were ungodly.
Blood was pooling in between his legs. Alarms started to blare.
The police officer ran into the room, closely followed by a nurse. Both entered and suddenly stood stock still, shocked at the image in front of them.
They saw the old woman standing there, her hands coated with blood, Kang Duk Soo screaming and writhing on the bed. On the floor were his genitals, cleanly cut of by the sharp knife.
The nurse recovered first and called in a doctor, bunching sheets together in between his legs to try to lessen the blood flow.
The last thing halmoni saw of him were a couple of nurses rolling his bed out of the room.
She could hear his screams even when he was out of the hallway.
She was glad that she helped him keep his promise.