In a Maze...

Chapter 16

It happened that Jinyoung had to go to work earlier than Mark, and thus Mark accompanied him to his company, following him by his car.

When they arrived there, Jinyoung continued to the basement car park, while Mark pulled up at the roadside and waited there, for Jinyoung to come out.

"Do you want to come in? You've never been inside, right?" asked Jinyoung, when he met Mark again.

"No. Maybe next time. I need to head for my department."

"Oh, yeah. I forgot that. So," Jinyoung paused, "Here, we part our ways."

Under the morning sun, Jinyoung looked so fresh; even though his hair was not styled, he still looked gentlemanly in a suit. Mark stared at him for a moment and then gave him a smile.

"If I come pick you up in the evening?"

"You'll do that?" Jinyoung asked.

"Yes. Wait for me. I'll come."

"And then we'll have dinner together?"

"Of course."

"I'll be waiting for you."

When Jinyoung headed back for his company, Mark also drove off, to the law enforcement building. He was quite late when he arrived there; the other detectives had already started the meeting. As usual, there was nothing much to report, as they were quite at a loss in this investigation.

Mark reviewed the victims' profiles and recalled the man, who had escaped last night. When he shared his last night experience with his fellow detectives, they were quite indifferent.

"It could just be anyone, Mark, maybe who came to meet someone there," Hyunwoo said.

"You know, we can't afford to shift our attention from Park Jinyoung to someone else. Another murder and we'll be doomed," Seongho pointed out.

"What if it wasn't him?" Mark said, "It's not like we've a solid evidence against him."

"But you didn't forget the weapons in his room, right?" Minsoo asked, with his eyebrows raised.

"That's one thing but," Mark trailed off. He was aware that this was the strong root of their suspicions. "All I feel is that he could be the next victim. That man, why did he hurry off when he saw me coming out? You don't know but I've this feeling that we're barking up the wrong tree."

"While Park Jinyoung has a good motive for each of those murders and the weapons in possession? In fact, he should already be here to be interrogated," Seongho said.

At the end of the meeting, there was only this same conclusion that Jinyoung's moves must be watched constantly.

Mark remained in the room, when the other detectives left, and studied the victims' profiles again. If they were to be separated into groups, it would be the Park family in one and Chang Younghwan in another.

"What did they have in common?" Mark racked his brains.

Most of the Park family were gone and only one was left. And that one could also become another one gone. Then, supposing the whole Park family were gone. If Park Byungchul had not died two years ago, could he also have been a victim? If Chang Younghwan had had any family members, would they have been murdered too?

Mark felt that he had answers to those questions. All of them would have been victims. Then the Park family and Chang family. Mark reflected on his thoughts and it seemed he was getting near something - something they had never considered before.

He got back to Chang Younghwan's profile and reread about the business the three friends had set - Park Byungchul, Chang Younghwan and another man.

For the following hours, Mark researched into this whole business, the three men and the whole issue that had been among them. Yong Jungsoo was another man, who had manipulated the figures and cheated the company money. And it had not been just a small dispute between him and the two friends but he had gone on trial for that, which resulted in him serving a three-year sentence in prison.

This was the information that had not been looked into, until now. Although Mark felt that this was all just a matter of suspicions, everything was starting to make sense to him.

In the late afternoon, he was on the way to Jungnang district and searched for the apartment, according the certain address.

Although he did find the apartment quite easily, it was found locked and he contemplated whether to wait for the owner to be back or to come back here later.

"Excuse me."

Mark turned around to find a middle-aged woman who seemed to be cleaning the front of her apartment, which was right opposite the one Mark was standing before, now.

The woman eyed Mark curiously and asked, "Who do you want to meet though?"

Whether she was being a busybody or not, Mark did not know, but he answered anyway, "The one who lives here. I guess he's out."

"You're mistaking something, I think. No one lives there."

"But I thought Yong Jungsoo is the owner of the apartment. No?"

"Yes, yes, he was. Or he still is. But he's not appeared again there for years."

Mark approached the woman and asked her, "If you don't mind, could you tell me more about him? I think I mistook the whole thing."

She looked somehow upset as she seemed to recall the past, "During the last few months he was there, he was pretty much in a bad state. I remember, it was when he had finished serving his prison sentence. You know that?"

Mark gave her a nod and she continued, "He was quite unstable. Sometimes, he'd come back home drunk, singing sad songs loud, at night. It disturbed us, the neighbours, but we tried to understand him. I think he was going through a lot at that time. Then, starting from one day, he never appeared again and he still doesn't. It's been years."

"You don't know, then, where he's moved to?"

"I've no idea."

It seemed hopeless to find Yong Jungsoo now, but still this visit was not at all useless for Mark.

"Thank you so much for this information."

Later, Mark left the place and headed back for the department. Everything was now not only beginning to make sense to him but starting to connect with each factor in this case. He was near the truth, and then he thought of Jinyoung and panic overwhelmed him.