Fallen Angel | k.sj

Chapter 3

Warning: Mentions of murder and blood and stronger language

The next morning, I was up at seven to get ready for my first day of work. I was still getting accustomed to my new life and was struggling to get adjusted to a routine. It's not easy to go about a normal life when twenty-four years of your life doesn't exist in your memories. It was quite stressful actually. Imagine that feeling that you have when you vaguely remember something but you can't exactly remember the whole story or where you remember it. Now imagine feeling that every second of every day. That's my current life summed up right there.

After showering, I changed into some comfortable clothes. Thankfully, detectives had the freedom of dress, so I wouldn't be stuck in a stuffy uniform.

Once I was ready, I headed out in my car, picking up two coffees on the way. Seokjin and I had gotten off on the wrong foot. Maybe some coffee could bridge the gap slightly. But if he refused it, I would drink them both.

I arrived at the station shortly after, almost immediately met with stairs as I entered the station. The station was already filled with citizens filing reports as well as people moving in and out of interrogation rooms. It was lively, to say the least.

"Looking good Cheonsa!" Someone called out.

I tried to ignore their inappropriate comments and made my way to my office. Seokjin was already at his desk typing away at his computer, but when he saw me he let out a loud sigh.

"I thought you'd actually taken my advice and pissed off. But I guess not," he huffed.

I rolled my eyes. An attitude this early in the morning? Jeez, he was more of a jerk than I thought.

I passive-aggressively passed him his coffee without another word and logged onto my computer. I was immediately let into the police database and was met with several different files about the cold case.

I grabbed my own coffee, taking a stressed sip. Who was I kidding? I had no idea what I was doing. I wasn't even sure how I got that recommendation. But then I got the most brilliant idea ever. If I had been in an accident of some kind, it would've been logged into the system. So I punched in my name, but after several searches, nothing came up. And I mean absolutely nothing. Which was strange because if I was a member of a different police force, there'd at least be a picture and a tag right?

And so the mystery deepened.

"Why did you get me this?" Seokjin asked.

I sighed, "Consider it an act of mutuality. However, clearly that's out of the question. If you're not gonna drink it then give it back to me."

He grunted, "Of course you'd ask for it back. For your information, I like coffee."

I raised an eyebrow as he silently drank his coffee. That was it? No 'thank you' or 'I'm sorry for yesterday, we got off on the wrong foot.' How rude.

After a few more failed searches of trying to find my name anywhere, I let out a frustrated sigh.

"Detective Kim, I know you aren't happy about this arrangement, but I care about my job. Can you just brief me on the case?" I asked.

I saw his shoulders droop across the desk. He really wasn't happy about sharing this case. But I wasn't gonna take no for answer.

After a few tense moments, he stood up from his seat and turned around a large whiteboard in the corner of the room. And let's just say I was amazed at what I was seeing.

There were four pictures. Each one was of a girl tied up and gagged with a pool of blood surrounding them as they laid in a fetal position. Spatters of blood were all over the walls of each corresponding crime scene and obvious efforts to clean it up were made. What I was more worried about was how the pools of blood seemed to encase each girl. It wasn't in one central area. There were pools of blood around their entire body.

It was gruesome. I felt sympathetic for the girls and their families. I couldn't imagine the thought of a family receiving a call that their child had been murdered.

Another interesting feature was that all the girls looked like they had been crying in the moments of their death. So they were clearly aware of what was happening yet they were bound so tightly that they couldn't fight back.

My heart ached for them.

"You okay angel? It can be overwhelming at times," Seokjin fretted. I swear I heard genuine concern in his voice.

I swallowed hard, "I'm fine. But it makes me want to find the asshole who did this."

"You and me both."

Seokjin pointed to the first girl.

"This is Lee Yuri. She was the most recent murder. She was killed three weeks ago. Her body was found inside a trash bag at the crime scene which was an abandoned warehouse. She was eighteen years old and had just graduated high school. The autopsy showed that there were fourteen gunshot wounds to her. Two in the head, two in the chest, two in the stomach, and two in each of her four limbs. She died from blunt force trauma to the head."

He moved to the next girl.

"This is Yoo Jaehwa. She was Yuri's classmate. She was also eighteen and her body was found in a trash bag in a different abandoned warehouse. She was found with the same gunshot wounds as Yuri and died from blunt force trauma."

I clenched my fist as he moved to the next girl. They were young. But that didn't stop someone from senselessly killing them.

"This is Song Haewon. She was the first murder of these kinds that happened this year. She too was a classmate of the other girls and was found in a trash bag in an abandoned warehouse. And her injuries and death were the same."

He moved to the last girl, but as he pointed at her, I felt a strange feeling in the back of my head. Like a headache or a migraine but in the back of my head. It was bizarre.

I stood up, walking to the board. I observed the picture closer. Hers might've been the worst of all. The bloodiest. The scariest. The trial run.

"This is Hwang Jisol. She was murdered in twenty-fourteen at the age of eighteen. Her murder was vastly different than the others, but I still feel there is a connection between them. Her body was found in a river, but she was in a trash bag and positioned the same way. However, instead of fourteen gunshot wounds, she had sixteen. The autopsy said she also died from blunt force trauma to the head. The thing I'm stuck on is why did that happen in twenty-fourteen and then six years later, similar murders come up?"

I was barely registering what Seokjin was saying though and was completely focused on this Hwang Jisol girl. She seemed so familiar. So much so that I felt like I personally knew her.

Suddenly, overwhelming dizziness overcame me and I staggered back, leaning on my desk for support.

Hwang Jisol. Who were you? Why do I feel like I know you?

"Are you okay Cheonsa? I understand if it feels like a lot at once. Why don't you take the rest of the day off?" Seokjin suggested.

"I'm fine. I just need some air," I said, brushing past him.

It had only been three days since I woke up yet something about this Jisol girl made me feel closer to my past than anything. It could've been a coincidence but this was a chance I couldn't pass up. Whatever had happened to me, fate had clearly brought me to this moment, to this job, to Hwang Jisol, for a reason. And I was gonna figure that reason out.