Fatal Trouble | Y.Jw

| 2.22 |

Detective Ahn let out a small sigh as he watched Jiyeon reach across his desk and turn on the recorder he had placed in the middle of the table. Meanwhile, he was pacing back and forth in the room, sending small glances towards Jungwon, leaning against the wall behind Jiyeon. 

"Your case is closed," Detective Ahn pointed out, "we caught the perpetrator."

"I don't care," Jiyeon calmly stated and adjusted the recorder slightly, "you can say all you want sir, but I need someone to listen to what I remember," she insisted and glanced up at Detective Ahn, "please? Once I'm done you can decide if you want to do anything with the information."

"Why do you want me to listen, of all people?" Detective Ahn questioned and sat down in his chair, rolling a bit away from the table to perceive Jiyeon properly. She clearly hadn't slept well. Her eyes were slightly red and despite her best attempts to look presentable, there was still a hint of something being dishevelled. 

"Because you know the case the best," Jiyeon replied quietly, "and because you're not gonna feel bad for me."

"Hm..." he hummed and placed his hands against each other under his chin, "whenever you're ready Miss Young."

Jiyeon nodded and adjusted herself slightly in the seat, directing her eyes down at the recorder. A silence fell in the room and once Jiyeon had sniffled slightly Jungwon had pushed away from the wall he was leaning against, ready to declare that this was a bad idea, but he never got that far.

"I hadn't taken my bicycle to the university that day. When I went down to get it in the morning it was gone, so I walked along Main Street. As you know I was staying with Detective Yang at the time after some... events around my own apartment. He was gone by the time I had woken up and so I had to walk alone," Jiyeon started and slowly Jungwon leaned back against the wall and kept his eyes on her as he listened, "after my lessons were done I was going to walk to the police station, I don't think I had any work to do, but I was gonna go check if Detective Yang was still here or if I should go home and find him there. So when you have to walk from the university to the police station you can't walk along Main Street, you have to go down a few back roads."

Jiyeon had started gesturing the different roads with her hands. Showing how the police station was located in comparison to the university and Main Street. She was right, it had been the most sensible way for her to walk.

"I was one street away from the police station when something... it was twine... wrapped around my neck and pulled me into the alley between the butcher and the bakery. At first, I fell down and it burnt my neck," she murmured and gestured to her neck where it had burnt her, "then... I don't think they wanted me to trip, but they pulled so hard that I ended up falling. The man you have in custody now was the one in the alley. He dragged me further into the alley by... he first tried dragging me by my hair, but I must've been screaming or yelling too much... so he... yeah, he kicked me in my left side and grabbed my arm to pull me along instead."

"Your left side?" Detective Ahn frowned slightly.

"The bruised rib," Jiyeon hummed with a small nod before continuing, "and I tried to pull my hand to myself and kick after him. He kicked me in the side again and then forced me onto my stomach, where he tied my hands together behind my back. Well, he took my jacket off before that, that's why you found it in the alleyway."

"As we found you," Detective Ahn remarked.

"Exactly," she nodded quickly, "and when he had done that he lifted me into the backseat of the car, and I kicked after him. There were two others in the car, the man who tried to murder me and the old mayor from the next town over."

"Song?"

"The one before him," Jiyeon shook her head and corrected Detective Ahn, "the mayor was on the backseat with me and... he was the one with the assaulted assistant case."

"Ah..." Detective Ahn nodded, recalling the creepy interest he had taken in Jiyeon during the court days.

"Anyways. He was in the backseat and the man who tried to kill me was in the passenger seat and the man in custody drove. I know we had gotten out of town by the time they stopped. But they stopped because first, the mayor had slapped me... the bruised cheekbone, because I had kicked after my kidnapper. And then they stopped the car because the mayor had started shifting around on my shirt, like uhm... lifting it and pulling down in the collar, so I bit his hand. So they stopped the car and I was pulled out onto the ground. They yanked on my feet and let me tumble out and land... on my stomach it must've been, on the road. In all that smushy grey snow. So uhm... the attempted killer pulled me over behind the car and I remember panicking because I thought they'd drive over me until I was just dead. But uhm... they opened the trunk and I was thrown into it. Then... the man in custody he had gotten an electrical cord somewhere - and then he just started beating me with it."

"All the red marks," Detective Ahn hummed quietly and Jiyeon nodded before frowning slightly down at the recorder, "how long did he do that?"

"Uhm... Ten minutes I would say. The two others had gone back in the car," Jiyeon waved it off, "and then... when he finished that he threw the chord down onto me and he bent down to whisper to me. Uhm... he was one of the workers at the morgue and he'd do the same to my corpse as he did to the other female victim."

"Miss Park," Detective Ahn nodded, "what was it that he would do?"

"I'm gonna take a wild guess and say Necrophilia," Jiyeon shrugged and let out a small sigh, "that was at least the insinuation he was giving off, like uhm... well, he did touch me around on my hips and legs when he made the remark so I think that's what he meant. Then he shut the trunk and we were driving again. Then the next stop was the pine forest. And... The man in custody came to pull me out of the trunk, he threw me down onto the ground and I hit with my right knee first and sprained it. But he forced me to my feet and pushed me over to the man you caught at the scene. The mayor and the kidnapper drove off when I was getting dragged into the forest, and lost my shoes somewhere along the way, I think."

"We found them in various places, yes," Detective Ahn nodded.

"And then he forced me to the ground, now it's as I've told in my old testimony. He tried to smother me with his hands, snow and whatever was in sight. Then he got chased off and I just remember it getting cut off around there," Jiyeon finalised and Detective Ahn hummed.

There was silence for a bit in the room as Jiyeon patiently waited for Detective Ahn to come with any questions. When he didn't say anything she calmly reached over and turned off the recording and made sure it was saved properly before finally placing the recorder on the table again.

"The mayor, you say?" Detective Ahn questioned.

"As far as I know they've arrested him up north this week," Jungwon finally piped in and Detective Ahn hummed.

"We'll look into the man we have in custody right now. Thank you, Miss Young," Detective Ahn smiled slightly and looked back at Jiyeon, who quickly stood up and grabbed her bag from leaning against her chair, "impressive how much you remember it."

"I've relived it in my dreams for the past three nights," Jiyeon calmly excused and turned around to Jungwon, "we should go eat lunch somewhere before taking the train back home," she remarked and he quickly nodded and reached down to grab his bag as well.

"So long, sir," Jungwon smiled at Detective Ahn before following after Jiyeon out of the detective's office and out into the front hall, straight out onto the street.

Jiyeon let out a small sigh as they reached the street before glancing up and down it. Quickly she checked the time before turning to Jungwon.

"The bakery usually has some nice things," Jiyeon remarked, leaving Jungwon speechless. If he were her, after what she just recalled, he would not want to go anywhere near that bakery again. Regardless of whether he was alone or not.

"Are you sure?" he questioned and she nodded before looking up at him as if she was completely sure, "even after what you just-"

"I'm fine," she hummed calmly before smiling gently up at him, "besides... now I have the big bad detective with me. Come on," she urged and reached over to grab his hand, intertwining her fingers with his.