Investigation

Chapter 12

Taehyung

"Guys, we have another dead body," Chaeyeon said as she approached us. "I just got back from the murder scene."

The four of us groaned out of frustration. We were doing our best to speed up the process, but the killer almost didn't leave any trail behind, so it was harder than we'd ever expect.

I sighed, then leaned onto the desk and asked, "Cause of death?"

"The forensics said that the victim most likely died from a heart failure," she said, "but they can't know for sure until they have the body in their lab."

"Heart failure?" Seokjin asked. "Are you saying that someone drugged him?"

Chaeyeon shrugged. "I don't know. They haven't reported back to me."

"What did he do for living?"

She grabbed the file and read his profile. "He's a 18 year old college student."

I raised both eyebrows. "He's so young."

"Have you found out what he was doing hours before he got murdered?" Jihyun asked.

"He was in his class when he was found unconscious," she said. "Isn't it terrifying?"

"Okay. Chaeyeon, you wait for updates on him. Seokjin, go check on the victims' dental records. Taehyung, you go work with the techs and the forensics," she said. "I'll go check on the CCTVs."

We nodded, then we left to do the things Jihyun just assigned us to do, except for me who still stood there, looking at her with a chuckle.

"You're not going to check on the CCTVs, are you?"

"I am!" she said. "I just... need to reopen these past cases too."

"Just don't push yourself too hard, alright?" I said. "We need you to be sane enough to do this."

"I noticed some similarities, alright. I just need to make sure," she said. "Don't worry. I'm not going to snap."

---

"Okay, let's recheck it," I said. "First victim, Song Minyoung, a 20 year old college student whose throat got slit at 3 AM when she was on her way to a mini market."

"Second victim, Go Jinpyo," Seokjin said, "a 19 year old college student whose heart got stabbed at 9 AM when he was working at the field."

"Third victim, Kim Taemin," Chaeyeon said, "a 21 year old college student whose heart suddenly stopped at 3 PM when he was at the classroom."

"Okay, this is good," Seokjin said. "We found a pattern here. The victims are all college students."

"Yeah, we know," Chaeyeon said, "but why?"

I grunted, then I put the files back on the desk. "This doesn't make any sense," I said. "How did two of the murder cases happen in a broad daylight? How come no one saw it happen?"

"Is it possible that these victims recognize the killer?" Seokjin asked. "No one saw it happen because the victims didn't show any sign of panicking or being scared."

Not long after that, we saw Jihyun coming out of the elevator and approached us.

"Hey, Jihyun," I said. "Have you found anything?"

"Yes, a lot," she said. "Okay, so this is definitely the killer that murdered a bunch of people ten years ago. They nicknamed whoever they are The Tiger Killer for some reasons. All of the victims were also college students just like now."

"Okay, how about the CCTV?"

Jihyun grabbed one of the papers that she was holding and put it on the desk to show it to us. "I found this from the CCTV near the mini market where Minyoung was supposedly murdered."

I squinted. "But I can't see the face."

"I know, but this is all I got from every CCTV that I've checked," she said. "However, with this image, we can assume that the killer is a 6 feet man who always wears a black hoodie and a black cap with a tiger picture tattooed on his right side of the neck, at least whenever he's on action."

I let out a long 'oh' and said, "Hence the name The Tiger Killer."

"So what's the plan here?"

"Since this man here is targeting college students, we need every unit on board to keep an eye on these students," she said. "Tell them to move now and call every college's security to tell the students to lock their dorm rooms now. We have a serial killer on the loose now."

We all nodded then started to make phone calls here and there. Let's just hope there would be no victim for tonight.