The Cop Is Too Strong [EN]: Chapter 82

The Violent Crimes Unit gathered in small groups, their attention fixed on the YouTube video uploaded by the suspect.

Wearing work gloves, he presented the missing persons’ clothes and belongings to the camera, his voice distorted:

-This is Lee Gwang-soo’s clothing. Ugh, it’s filthy. Here’s his cigarette, lighter, and… ah, a family photo he had. Kekeke.

He had disguised his voice to be androgynous. Only his hands, clad in work gloves, were visible.

-This is Yang Soo-bong’s clothing. Vomit stains, ew…

He had uploaded a total of six videos, each filmed in a different location and featuring different missing persons, except for the initial introduction video.

Although bloodstains were visible in the videos, the missing persons were nowhere to be seen, leading most viewers to dismiss him as an attention-seeking troll.

In the last video, after introducing the missing person’s clothes and belongings, he deviated from his usual routine and fell silent. His breathing was audible, suggesting he was holding the phone close.

-Hoo, hoo, after seeing this, there will be surviving families who recognize these things as belonging to their family members. Don’t hold onto false hope.

His final words were delivered with chilling certainty.

Silence descended upon the Violent Crimes Unit headquarters as the video concluded. After a few seconds, the team leader broke the quiet.

“Is this a declaration of war?”

“Yes, it’s as if he’s openly defying the police, daring us to catch him. He’s mocking us in front of the entire city,” Hae-soo added.

Oh Gyeong nodded in agreement, continuing, “The probability that this guy is bluffing and the missing persons are still alive is…”

“Probably less than 1 percent.”

“Hoo… First, verify the identities of the missing persons, contact their families, and have the youngest request support from the Intelligence Division to analyze the IP address and ID of the video uploader.”

“Yes, I understand.”

“Yes, Team Leader!”

Hae-soo confirmed that all five individuals had been missing for a period ranging from ten months ago to two months ago. She then picked up her phone and stepped outside the headquarters.

-Yes, Detective Shin, it’s been a while.

“Young-soo, this case is a real headache.”

-Isn’t it my job to handle headaches? Just promise me a generous bonus.

“I’ll send you a video. I need you to find out where this YouTuber is operating from.”

-Ah… I’m already getting a headache. Understood. The deadline… is ASAP, right?

“I’ll send you the rest of the information as it comes in.”

-Yessir!

Hae-soo hung up, her expression grave.

The suspect’s confidence in taunting the police, his audacity in uploading the videos to YouTube, and his twisted desire to reveal the victims one by one, all led Hae-soo to believe that this case would be particularly challenging. She decided to enlist the help of Jung Young-soo, a high school hacker, from the outset.

While awaiting the IP analysis from the Intelligence Division, the Violent Crimes Unit meticulously analyzed the videos and investigated the missing persons’ homes, families, and backgrounds.

“Ugh, I don’t get it!” Oh Gyeong exclaimed, staring intently at the monitor before running a hand through his hair.

They had compiled the locations featured in the videos, the areas where the missing persons lived, and all available information about the missing persons themselves, but they couldn’t find any common thread.

From high school students to middle-aged individuals with graying hair, their ages, backgrounds, and genders were all different.

Since those who didn’t commit murders out of personal grudges would definitely commit the next murder, it was important to identify the victims in advance.

To do that, even a small motive or commonality had to be identified to narrow the scope of the search, but this guy had nothing in common.

“The Intelligence Division called. The IPs all originate from Vietnam, the Philippines, or China. The IDs were also created in foreign countries.”

“Damn it, can’t you give me any hopeful news instead of stating the obvious?”

“They’re looking into it further.”

It was a complete mystery. It was like finding a needle in a haystack [a nearly impossible task].

But the police, the Violent Crimes Unit, wouldn’t simply stand by. The guy knew this and had declared war.

They had to find something. They would search everything.

“We’re going to catch this bastard no matter what. Let’s start by going through all the CCTV footage from the times the missing persons disappeared.”

“We’ll only be able to do that for the most recent missing person. The CCTV footage for the others has already been overwritten.”

“Ah, that’s right, damn it.”

The last victim had been missing for a month, so if they were lucky, the CCTV records would still be available.

The family had reported it, but the case was initially closed as a simple missing person case.

Hae-soo checked the missing persons’ cell phone records. Since they couldn’t find the actual phones, they requested cooperation to check the KakaoTalk [a popular Korean messaging app] and text message records for the corresponding numbers.

And something strange was discovered in the KakaoTalk records.

-Gwang-soo, hello?

-Who is it?

-You look fine, why did you do that?

-Who are you, you son of a bitch?

-As expected, you’re cursing from the start, so rewarding to find you~!

-Want me to fuck you instead of curse you?

-Gwang-soo, Korea is small, let’s live kindly, okay?

-Fuck off. Blocked.

Hae-soo felt a chill after reading this KakaoTalk conversation. He then examined the KakaoTalk logs of the other missing people and found similar exchanges.

Now, there are more things to solve by sitting down than running around in the field. Hae-soo got up from his seat, feeling frustrated.

“I’m going to the Intelligence Division.”

“Oh, okay, should I come with you?”

“It’s alright.”

Thump, thump, bang-

Hae-soo knocked politely and immediately opened the door. The Intelligence Division employees were startled by Hae-soo’s sudden appearance.

Perhaps because they primarily worked indoors, their faces were all pale and delicate.

The female officer sitting closest asked, “What’s the matter… Ah, you’re from the Violent Crimes Unit.”

“Yes, I have a few requests. Can I stay here for a bit?”

Hae-soo pulled up a folding chair and sat next to the female officer.

“Yes? Ah… Yes.”

She looked burdened but couldn’t openly refuse Hae-soo’s request.

“I was looking through the KakaoTalk conversations and noticed something strange. Could you please track the IP address of the person who sent these messages first?”

“Yes, yes.”

When they tracked the IP address, it turned out to be China, the Philippines, and Vietnam. It was highly likely to be the suspect.

Hae-soo narrowed his brows and stroked his chin.

“How did they find out the KakaoTalk IDs of the missing persons?”

The female officer smiled slightly at Hae-soo’s mutterings and explained, “It’s easy to find out the ID. You can search the phone number, and if the user hasn’t adjusted their privacy settings, you can access their blog by searching for their number on search engines. Most people use the same ID for their blog and KakaoTalk.”

“Ah.”

The female officer tapped on the keyboard and quickly turned to Hae-soo, pointing at the monitor. “All five have matching search engine IDs and KakaoTalk IDs.”

“So that’s how they found them and sent those warnings. Thank you.”

As Hae-soo was about to get up, the female officer clicked the mouse and continued, “Looking at the conversations, I have a suspicion… just a moment.”

“What suspicion are you talking about?”

“Hate comments. Usually, if it’s not a personal grudge, they look for a reason to justify killing someone. A reason that’s justified to them.”

“That’s right.”

“Looking at the pattern of the warnings, I think it’s highly likely that the missing persons were leaving hate comments using their search engine IDs.”

Even as she spoke, her hands continued to move. The comment history of the missing persons’ IDs on various blogs, articles, and videos appeared on the screen.

┗GwangGwang: Wow, that plastic surgery monster is so disgusting. Why are you living? Go die

┗GwangGwang: That kind of guy probably caused a lot of trouble in normal times, only the death penalty is the answer

┗GwangGwang: lol, a nobody when they were alive, but views explode when they die, great attention whoring

┗GwangGwang: I hope you die too

┗GwangGwang: Is your mom doing well? Yesterday under me…

┗GwangGwang: Untrustworthy celebrity appeared, still alive?

The records listed comments that were too obscene to repeat. For a moment, he could even understand the guy’s actions.

“Hmm… it was severe.”

Hae-soo also narrowed his brows. He felt uncomfortable at the thought that an unspecified number of people might view that crazy guy’s actions as righteous justice.

“…But.”

The female officer continued Hae-soo’s words.

“No reason can justify kidnapping and murder. A crazy person is just a crazy person.”

Hae-soo nodded emphatically as he looked at the female officer, who had articulated exactly what he was thinking.

“That’s right.”

Hae-soo glanced at her name tag. She noticed and, grabbing the name tag, held it out and spoke first. “My name is Kim Si-min. I’m a fan of Detective Shin.”

“Ah, thank you. Then…”

“Yes, fighting!” [a Korean expression of encouragement]

She clenched her small fists and lowered them, shouting “fighting!” Hae-soo responded by clenching his right fist at her. Her eyes momentarily widened with surprise.

*

“It’s hate comments!” Hae-soo shouted as he burst into the Violent Crimes Unit headquarters.

“Hate comments?”

“The motive for the kidnapping and murder is hate comments. The most likely scenario is that he kidnapped and murdered people who left hate comments online.”

In the meantime, Kim Si-min from the Intelligence Division sent Hae-soo the hate comment records of the missing persons via messenger. All five of them habitually left vicious hate comments that even the detectives found appalling.

Oh Gyeong patted him on the shoulder. “Good job. I knew you had a confident look on your face when you came in, but what can you do? There’s no progress in the investigation even if you know the motive.”

At Oh Gyeong’s words, the team leader jumped up and said, “What do you mean? It’s time to pound the pavement [start actively searching]. If he made it public and declared war like this, he’ll be careful for a while. If the motive for the murder is like that, it’s too broad to know which guy this bastard will kill next, so let’s stop and find the missing people first. It wouldn’t have been easy to hide the missing people because the locations were different.”

The team leader used the term “missing person,” but he was already directing the investigation under the assumption that they were corpses.

“Yes, I understand.”

Hae-soo and the youngest set out to search for the last missing person, while the team leader and Oh Gyeong set out to find the second to last missing person.

They were aimlessly wandering around the missing person’s house and the places she frequented.

Beep, beep

It was Jung Young-soo. Hae-soo quickly answered the phone, his heart filled with anticipation.

“Did you find anything?”

-Ah, I have no idea where that guy is.

“Ah… okay, good work.”

Hae-soo’s expectant voice lost its enthusiasm. Then Young-soo raised his tone and continued, -The culprit wears horn-rimmed glasses, is on the chubby side, and has a big mouth. And a basement window.

“What??”

-I collected and overlapped the images reflected in the missing person’s clothes buttons from different angles. I’ll send you the photos.”

“Buttons?”

Soon after, the photos Young-soo sent arrived on his phone. It was a photo of the button magnified hundreds of times to capture the outline. You could actually see the shape of a person’s face, and a small window above.

He’s suspected to be in a basement.

‘This guy… is a capable one.’

Jung Young-soo played a much bigger role than expected. Hae-soo saw the basement window and suddenly something flashed through his mind.

“Reading room!”

“Yes?”

The missing person’s reading room was on the second floor, and there was a basement in the building.

When they arrived, there was a lock, but it was not fixed to the door frame and was useless. As soon as they opened the door, a terrible stench wafted out.

When they went inside, the space that appeared in the last victim’s video was revealed. In the middle of it, something large was covered in plastic.

Hae-soo slowly removed the plastic.

“Hmm…”

“Ugh…”

It was the corpse of a woman tied to a wooden chair. The skin on her face had been cut off, and her wrists were severed. The words were written in blood on the floor.

-Congratulations on finding Kim Hye-eun.

“This crazy bastard…”

Just as Hae-soo and the youngest were about to call for reinforcements in shock, the team leader’s radio crackled to life.

-Hey, damn it! This crazy psycho uploaded another YouTube video! Watch it now!

At the team leader’s words, he took out his cell phone and checked his YouTube channel.

A person wearing a crying face mask appeared in a place where the background was all black. The screen was filled with his face.

He said in a distorted, grotesque voice, -Today, at 12:00 AM on the 29th, I will judge Lee Seo-eun, who lives in Jijeong-dong, Gangjin City. I will turn on the live broadcast at 11:50 PM. Please watch a lot. Subscribe and like. Even set the alarm.

< #82. Declaration of War > End