Chapter 16: A Doubt Too Clean

Sooyoung logged into the investigative records network and tapped steadily on the keyboard.

Tap.

She pressed Enter, and the screen changed.

Pressing her lips together, she clicked on the case she had searched for.

The monitor filled with case records.

With Jo In-ho’s death officially closed as a suicide, the files were now accessible.

Since it had been nagging at her, Sooyoung slowly scrolled down, reading line by line.

[Cause of Death: Hemorrhagic shock due to excessive blood loss.]

That was the direct cause listed.

He had slit his wrists multiple times himself, and in cutting deeper than the veins, he had severed an artery, leading to shock and death.

Based on the scene photos and the National Forensic Service report, closing the case that way seemed entirely reasonable on paper.

Yet even with the case concluded, a sense of unease still lingered in Sooyoung’s chest.

“What are you staring at so intensely?”

At the presence behind her, Sooyoung whipped her head around.

Jooyeon, just back from brushing her teeth, leaned in slightly and checked the monitor.

“This case was closed as a simple suicide, wasn’t it?”

At Jooyeon’s words, Sooyoung released the mouse and rubbed the back of her neck.

Doubting a case that had already ended meant believing the investigation itself had been flawed—hardly something to say lightly.

After a brief hesitation, Sooyoung finally let go of her bitten lip.

“I was wondering… if it could have been a murder disguised as a suicide.”

Jooyeon narrowed her eyes slightly.

“Hm… It’s not impossible, but realistically unlikely.
If no signs of homicide were found during the scene investigation, it’d be hard to make that case.
The records say there weren’t any footprints or fingerprints left behind at all.”

Sooyoung looked up at her.

It was strange how confidently Jooyeon spoke, as if she knew the case well without even rechecking the file.

For a simple suicide, it wasn’t something one would normally pay much attention to.

“Did the team leader review this case too?”

At the question, Jooyeon’s gaze dropped.

She nodded almost immediately, then explained why she had no choice but to look at it.

“This morning, Team Leader Baek Si-eon asked me to go over the case records with him.”

At the mention of a name she hadn’t expected at all, Sooyoung’s long lashes fluttered.

“Team Leader Baek Si-eon?”

Jooyeon shoved the hand resting on the partition into her pocket and tipped her chin toward the monitor.

“Team Leader Baek was thinking along the same lines as you, Lieutenant Han.
Even though it was closed as a suicide, he was reviewing the case under the assumption that it might have been a homicide.
Come to think of it, you two used to clash every time—now you’re suddenly on the same wavelength?”

So it seemed.

They hadn’t worked together much, but whenever they did, they had clashed over nearly everything.

Lately, though, they were thinking alike more and more.

‘They say yesterday’s enemy can become today’s ally.
I guess people aren’t all that different after all.’

The words he had said to her resurfaced, and Sooyoung squeezed her eyes shut.

When she lightly shook her head, Jooyeon asked,

“Why, does something hurt?”

At the concern in her voice, Sooyoung opened her eyes and looked at her.

“No. Just a bit of a headache…”

Her words trailed off as she pressed her lips together again.

Pressing her temple gently with her fingers, Sooyoung steered the conversation back.

“Why does Team Leader Baek think it might be homicide?”

“Hard to say. He didn’t go into that much detail.
He asked for my opinion—whether there really wasn’t even the slightest possibility.
So I looked, but unless something turns up… it’s so clean there’s no need to overthink it.”

Her straight brows twitched faintly.

Everything in the record pointed toward suicide.

And yet, that was precisely why Sooyoung couldn’t let go of her doubts.

“That’s exactly why I think it might not have been a suicide.”

“Because it’s too clean?”

“Yes.”

Turning her gaze back to the monitor, Sooyoung studied the scene photos and continued quietly.

“Jo In-ho wasn’t someone who lived completely cut off from the outside world.
Witness statements confirm that members of Saetalyeon visited his home frequently.
Even if we ignore footprints, the fact that not a single partial fingerprint from another person was found—couldn’t that mean someone deliberately wiped them away?”

Judging by the state of the apartment, Jo In-ho hadn’t been a particularly tidy person.

There was no reason to believe he’d cleaned thoroughly before his death.

And even if he had, fingerprints weren’t something human hands could erase perfectly.

After thinking it over, Jooyeon’s faintly furrowed brows slowly relaxed.

“…There could have been a change in his state of mind right before he died.”

She let out a quiet sigh and went on.

“Either way, digging into a case another jurisdiction has already closed as a suicide won’t do you any good.
If they accuse us of overstepping, we wouldn’t have much ground to argue.”

Even for a higher agency, interference without proper procedure counted as overreach, just as Jooyeon said.

No matter that they belonged to the same organization, there were lines that shouldn’t be crossed.

As she returned to her seat, Jooyeon offered a final piece of advice.

“You’ve already got plenty on your plate with other cases.
Don’t give yourself a headache over something unnecessary.”

Sooyoung replied only with a bitter smile.

She knew it wouldn’t be easy to overturn, yet the more she thought about it, the more uncomfortable she felt.

Then the name of a man who shared her doubts surfaced in her mind.

“Team Leader.”

“Hm?”

Sooyoung stood up and looked down at Jooyeon over the partition.

“What is Team Leader Baek planning to do?”

“He didn’t say anything specific.
And it’s not a case our department would handle anyway, so there’s not much he can do.”

True enough—violent crimes units at headquarters didn’t deal with ordinary cases.

No matter his position, even a team leader had no authority to investigate a case that hadn’t been assigned.

“Still, he didn’t look like someone ready to give up.
His expression was exactly—exactly like yours right now.”

Aside from sharing the same suspicions, though, there didn’t seem to be much help to gain.

In the end, the only thing left to do was visit the address listed in the case file herself.

Sian pulled out a cigarette and brought it to his lips, then stopped just as he was about to flick the lighter.

He raised the file tucked between his arm and torso and read it once more.

It was a record he’d reviewed so often that he could nearly recite it from memory.

Still, no matter how many times he looked, he couldn’t find any clear sign of homicide.

With CSC’s help, he’d managed to enter the scene, but he hadn’t uncovered any meaningful evidence.

It would have been ideal to search the apartment thoroughly, but that authority wasn’t granted to crime scene cleaners.

That was when—

“Team Leader Baek!”

At the voice calling him from behind, Sian glanced over his shoulder.

Deputy Superintendent Jo Jooyeon approached with quick steps, lifting her small hand in greeting.

She stopped beside him and pulled a cigarette case from her pocket.

“Out here alone?”

“Yes. Want a light?”

“Don’t mind if I do.”

Jooyeon took a cigarette and placed it between her lips.

When he lit it, she inhaled lightly, then exhaled, her gaze drifting sideways.

As Sian finally lit his own cigarette, her eyes narrowed.

“You really are persistent, Team Leader Baek.
You’re still holding onto that case?”

Since he’d brought the file to her for advice, it was no surprise she recognized it immediately.

Sian let out a short sigh along with the smoke.

For a moment, his brow and the bridge of his nose twisted together.

“I think I should let it go.”

“It’s clean, isn’t it?”

“Yes.”

Exhaling smoke in the opposite direction, Sian relaxed his furrowed brows.

“It was just my own suspicion.”

“Ah… I guess you don’t know yet.”

At Jooyeon’s words, Sian’s gaze dropped.

She flicked ash into the ashtray and met his eyes.

“You weren’t the only one who doubted this case.
Sooyoung said it might be a homicide too.”

“…Lieutenant Han Sooyoung?”

“Mhm.
She said it was suspicious because it was too clean.
Sounded like she was planning to visit the scene today, too.”

The site had already been cleaned, so what good would going there do?

And yet, since she shared his doubts, he wanted to know why she thought that way.

All the more because she was a criminal profiler.

“You two really are stubborn, you know that?”

At the soft laughter drifting toward him, Sian brought the cigarette back to his lips, lost in thought.