Chapter Text
Blood faded into the rain-soaked asphalt, washed thin by the evening drizzle.
The wail of distant sirens blended with hushed conversations and the clicking of cameras.
Taehyung barely heard any of it.
His eyes remained fixed on the corpse.
The victim stared back with glassy eyes that no longer held anything human.
"Sir! Sir!" someone calls out. Taehyung doesn't budge.
"Detective Taehyung!!" He flinches, turns around. It's Jihoon, the intern.
"Captain Bogum wants to see you" he pants. Taehyung nods as he starts looking for him.
A few feet away, Bogum was discussing the dead body with the forensic team.
Jimin was speaking with a witness, his notebook tucked beneath one arm.
"Fifth murder in two months."
"Fourth," Taehyung corrected.
"See? That's how tired I am."
Taehyung rolls his eyes and stops beside Bogum.
"You called for me, sir?"
"What do you think?" Bogum asked.
Taehyung looked back at the body.
The victim's hands had several cuts. More like defense wounds.
"He fought back."
The forensic doctor nodded. "Looks that way."
Taehyung frowned.
"Whoever did this wasn't expecting resistance."
Bogum crossed his arms. "Meaning?"
"The wounds are messy."
His gaze swept over the body.
"Not impulsive. Just... irritated."
A strange silence settled between them.
"You're telling me the killer got angry?" Jimin asked.
Taehyung shook his head.
"I'm saying something went differently than planned."
Taehyung's phone vibrated in his pocket.
He glanced at the screen.
Forensics Lab.
"Kim Taehyung."
"We finished re-examining the second victim."
His expression tightened.
"And?"
A pause.
"We found traces of smoke particles embedded inside the wound tissue."
Taehyung frowned.
"Smoke?"
"Not from a fire. The burns were inflicted with something heated. Deliberately."
His gaze drifted back to the corpse lying beneath the flashing blue lights.
The call ended.
Jimin noticed the look on his face.
"Bad news?"
"We were right."
"About what?"
Taehyung slipped the phone back into his pocket.
"The burns weren't postmortem damage."
A chill passed through the group.
Whoever was doing this wasn't marking the victims after death.
The victims were alive when it happened.
For a moment nobody spoke.
Then the forensic doctor quietly muttered,
"Jesus."
Everyone was terrified of what's yet to come.
Bogum was speaking with the forensic doctor while Jimin stood nearby, staring at the body.
"Something bothering you?" Taehyung asked.
Jimin pointed.
"The hands."
Taehyung frowned.
The victim's hands rested neatly over his abdomen.
Not naturally.
Placed. As if someone had arranged them.
His clothes were straightened too.
Almost tidy.
Almost respectful.
A shiver ran down Taehyung's spine.
"Same as the others?" he asked quietly.
The forensic doctor nodded.
"The first two victims were found like this."
Silence settled between them.
Jimin looked away first.
"I think that's worse."
"What is?"
"The fact that he takes his time."
Taehyung didn't answer.
His eyes drifted back to the victim's face.
To the eyes still staring at nothing.
And for a moment he couldn't stop thinking about the killer kneeling beside the body after death.
Straightening the clothes.
Folding the hands.
Making sure everything looked exactly right.
Taehyung was about to step away when something caught his eye.
"Wait."
Bogum looked over.
"What is it?"
Taehyung crouched beside the body.
There, just above the collarbone, partially hidden beneath the victim's shirt, was a dark mark.
At first he thought it was another bruise.
Then he reached out and gently pulled the fabric aside.
Jimin swore.
The mark wasn't a bruise.
It was deliberate.
A Roman numeral.
Burned into the skin.
IV.
For a moment, nobody spoke.
The forensic doctor stepped forward.
"The previous victims had markings too."
Taehyung's eyes remained fixed on the burn.
The first victim.
I.
The second.
II.
And this one—
IV.
His brow furrowed.
Something wasn't right.
Beside him, Jimin suddenly went still.
"Hold on."
"What?" Bogum asked.
Jimin looked between the photographs from the previous cases and the mark on the victim's neck.
Then the color drained from his face.
"Where's III?"
Silence.
The distant sirens seemed louder now.
Taehyung stared at the burned numeral.
IV.
Not III.
IV.
A cold feeling settled in his chest.
Because killers never skip numbers.
And if there was a third victim...
They hadn't found them yet.
Bogum rubbed a hand over his face.
"This case is getting out of control."
"It's already out of control," Jimin muttered.
The captain didn't disagree.
For a moment, the only sound was the distant wail of sirens.
Then Bogum sighed.
"I'll talk to the chief."
Taehyung looked up.
"About what?"
"We need help."
The words hung in the air.
Nobody argued.
Not this time.
Bogum glanced back at the body.
"Someone who understands how this bastard thinks."
A criminal profiler.
A psychologist.
Someone who could get inside the killer's head.
Bogum shook his head.
"I should've called him after the second victim."
Taehyung frowned.
"Called who?"
The captain's expression darkened.
"Professor Kim Seokjin."
"Who's that?"
"Criminal psychology professor."
A pause.
"Yonsei University."