The Violent Crimes Special Investigation Unit gathered in small groups to check out the video uploaded by the suspect on YouTube.

Wearing cotton work gloves, he showed the camera the clothes and belongings of the missing persons and spoke.

- These are the clothes Mr. Lee Gwang-soo wore. Ugh, disgusting. These are the cigarettes and lighter he had, and… ah, a family photo. Hehe.

His voice was altered to the point it was impossible to tell his gender. Aside from the gloved hands, none of his appearance was visible.

- These are Mr. Yang Su-bong’s clothes. Vomit stains, ugh...

There were a total of six videos uploaded. Aside from the introductory one, each was filmed in a different location, mentioning a different missing person.

Bloodstains were visible in the videos, but the missing persons themselves were nowhere to be seen. Most viewers dismissed him as a clout-chasing attention seeker and either cursed or ignored him.

In the last video, after introducing the clothes and belongings of the missing person, he didn’t end the video right away. It suddenly went quiet. His breathing could be heard. He had brought the phone very close.

- Hoo, hoo… After seeing this, there will definitely be bereaved families who recognize these as their loved ones. But don’t harbor false hopes.

His final words were firm and resolute.

Once the video ended, silence fell over the Violent Crimes Special Investigation Unit headquarters. After a few seconds, the team leader was the first to speak.

“This is a declaration of war, isn’t it?”

“Yes, it’s basically a declaration of war telling the police to catch him if they can. It can be interpreted as an intent to mock the police in front of countless citizens.”

At Haesu’s words, Oh Gaeng nodded and continued.

“If this guy’s bluffing, then the chances the missing people are still alive…”

“Probably less than one percent.”

“Phew... First, start with checking the identities of the missing people. Contact their families. Rookie, request support from the Intelligence Division. Ask them to analyze the uploader’s IP and account.”

“Yes, understood.”

“Yes, team leader!”

Haesu confirmed that all five had gone missing over a span of ten months, from last year to two months ago. He picked up his phone and stepped outside the headquarters.

- Yes, Haesu-hyung. Long time no see.

“Yeong-su, this one’s a bit of a headache.”

- Isn’t handling headaches my job? Just make sure the bonus is big.

“I’ll send you a video. Try to find where this YouTuber might be.”

- Ahh… my head’s already starting to hurt. Got it. Deadline is… as soon as possible, right?

“I’ll send you the rest of the info as soon as it comes in.”

- Yessir!

Haesu ended the call with a grave expression.

His confidence toward the police, his boldness in uploading to YouTube, his deranged insistence on introducing each victim one by one—this case didn’t feel like it would be easy. That’s why Haesu reached out for help from the high school hacker Jeong Yeong-su right from the start.

While they waited for the IP analysis from the Intelligence Division, the Violent Crimes Special Investigation Unit dissected the videos in detail and analyzed the homes, families, and lives of the missing persons.

“Ugh, I don’t get it!”

Oh Gaeng stared intensely at the monitor before clutching his hair in frustration.

They had combined everything: locations visible in the videos, regions where the victims lived, and the victims’ information. Yet, no commonalities were found.

From high schoolers to middle-aged people with graying hair, the ages, backgrounds, and even genders were all different.

If these weren’t grudge killings, the perpetrator would definitely strike again, so identifying future victims in advance was crucial.

To do that, even the smallest motive or pattern had to be found to narrow down the search field—but there was none to be found.

“Intelligence Division just contacted us. All the IPs trace back to Vietnam, the Philippines, or China. The account was also created overseas.”

“Damn it, do you have anything more hopeful to say instead of the obvious?”

“They said they’ll keep digging.”

They were in the dark. Like trying to find Kim in Seoul. But if they just sat idle, they wouldn’t be the police—certainly not the Violent Crimes Special Investigation Unit. The suspect had declared war knowing this.

They had to find something. Anything. Just start digging.

“We’re definitely catching this bastard. Let’s check all the CCTV footage from when the missing people disappeared.”

“Only the last missing person would be possible. The rest are already overwritten.”

“Ah, right, damn it.”

The last victim went missing a month ago. If they were lucky, the CCTV footage might still be intact.

It had been reported by family but had been classified as a simple disappearance.

Haesu checked the victims’ phones. While the devices themselves hadn’t been found, they had managed to get records of their KakaoTalk and text messages using the associated numbers.

And in the KakaoTalk records, something strange appeared.

- Gwang-soo, hey.

- Who are you?

- You look normal, so why’d you do it?

- I said, who the hell are you, bastard?

- Just as expected. It’s rewarding to find you when you immediately start cursing!

- Want me to do more than curse, asshole?

- Gwang-soo, South Korea’s a small place. Let’s live properly, alright?

- Screw off. I’m blocking you.

Haesu felt a chill run down his spine as he read the conversation. He checked the KakaoTalk histories of the other missing people—and found similar exchanges in all of them.

There was more to be done at the desk now than in the field. Feeling frustrated, Haesu stood up abruptly.

“I’ll head over to the Intelligence Division.”

“Ah, okay. Should I come with you?”

“It’s alright.”

Thump, thump, bang—

After a polite knock, Haesu opened the door without waiting. The Intelligence Division staff, startled by his appearance, jumped slightly.

Perhaps because they only worked indoors, their faces were pale and soft-looking.

A female officer sitting closest asked,

“What’s the—oh, you’re from the Violent Crimes Special Investigation Unit.”

“Yes. I’ve got a lot of requests. Would it be alright if I stayed here for a bit?”

Haesu pulled over a folding chair and sat beside her.

“Huh? Ah… sure.”

She looked visibly pressured but couldn’t bring herself to tell him to leave.

“I found something strange in the KakaoTalk conversations. Please track the IP of the person who had those chats first.”

“O-okay.”

They traced the IP from that time. As expected, it was from China, the Philippines, and Vietnam. It was very likely the suspect.

Haesu furrowed his brows and stroked his chin.

“How did he even find the KakaoTalk IDs of the missing persons?”

At Haesu’s muttering, the female officer gave a small smile and opened her mouth.

“Finding the ID is easy. You can just search the phone number, and unless they’ve changed the settings, if they leave a comment on a search engine, you can follow that to their blog. If you search the blog ID as a KakaoTalk ID, most people match.”

“Aha.”

She tapped away at the keyboard and soon turned to Haesu, pointing at her monitor.

“All five matched—search engine ID and KakaoTalk ID.”

“So that’s how he found them and left a warning. Thank you.”

As Haesu got up to leave, the female officer kept clicking her mouse and continued speaking.

“Looking at the conversation, there is something suspicious… Just a moment.”

“What kind of suspicion?”

“Malicious comments. Unless there’s a grudge, people look for a reason to kill someone, right? And often, to them, that reason seems justified.”

“That’s true.”

“Looking at the route of the warning, I’m thinking the missing people probably went around leaving malicious comments under their search engine IDs.”

Even as she talked, her hands kept moving. With the IDs of the missing people, she pulled up rows and rows of comment logs left on blogs, news articles, and videos.

┗GwangGwang: Ugh, that plastic monster b*tch is disgusting. Why are you alive? Just die already.
┗GwangGwang: Bet this guy was a nuisance in real life too. Execution is the only answer.
┗GwangGwang: LOL a total nobody in life, but getting views after death. What a clout-chasing legend.
┗GwangGwang: Hope you die soon too, UnNaDo-nim.
┗GwangGwang: Your mom doing well? She was under me last night…
┗GwangGwang: Ugh, another one of those “believe it or not” washed-up celebs. Still alive?

The logs were filled with comments too vile to speak out loud. For a moment, one could almost understand that bastard’s actions.

“Hmm… Yeah, that’s intense.”

Haesu furrowed his brow. He felt uneasy at the thought that some people might actually view the man’s actions as a kind of justice.

“…But.”

The officer picked up right where Haesu left off.

“There’s no justification for abduction and murder. A lunatic is still a lunatic.”

Haesu nodded deeply at her words, which mirrored exactly what he was thinking.

“You’re right.”

He glanced at her name tag. She noticed and held it out toward him first.

“Sergeant Kim Simin. I’m a fan of yours, Detective Shin.”

“Ah, thank you. Well then—”

“Yes, fighting!”

She pumped both her small fists downward and shouted, “Fighting!” Haesu raised his right fist in return. Her eyes briefly wavered with fear.

“Malicious comments!”

As soon as Haesu burst into the Violent Crimes Special Investigation Unit’s office, he shouted.

“Malicious comments?”

“The motive for the abduction and murders—malicious comments. It’s most likely that he abducted and killed people who left hateful comments all over the internet.”

In the meantime, Kim Simin from the Information Division had messaged Haesu the malicious comment records of the missing persons. All five had a habit of leaving vile, offensive comments that even detectives frowned upon.

Oh Gaeng patted his shoulder.

“Good work. No wonder you looked so damn confident when you came in. But what now? We know the motive, but there’s no progress in the investigation.”

At Oh Gaeng’s words, the team leader stood up abruptly.

“What do you mean, ‘what now’? It’s time to get moving. If he made such a public declaration, he’ll probably lay low for a while. And considering the motive, the pool of possible next victims is way too broad. Let’s pause on that and focus on finding the missing people. They disappeared from different locations, so it couldn’t have been easy to hide them all.”

He used the word “missing,” but he was already treating them as corpses in his orders.

“Yes, sir.”

Haesu and the rookie set out to find the last missing person. The team leader and Oh Gaeng went after the second-to-last one.

They wandered from the missing person’s home to places she frequented.

Bzzz Bzzz

It was Jeong Yeong-su. Haesu quickly picked up the call, delighted.

“Did you find something?”

-Ah, I still have no clue where the guy is.

“Ah… Alright. Thanks.”

Haesu’s hopeful voice suddenly lost all energy. Yeong-su quickly changed tone and added:

-The culprit wears thick-rimmed glasses, is on the chubby side, and has a large mouth. He's in a semi-basement with a window.

“What??”

-I took reflections from the victim’s clothing buttons from different angles and overlaid them. I’ll send the photos now.

“Buttons?”

Soon, the photos arrived on Haesu’s phone. The button was magnified dozens, hundreds of times to reveal an outline. A human face was clearly visible, and above it, a small window.

A semi-basement, likely.

‘This bastard… he’s a genius.’

Jeong Yeong-su had performed far beyond expectations. As Haesu looked at the semi-basement window, something clicked in his mind.

“Study room!”

“What?”

The missing person’s study room was on the second floor, and that building had a semi-basement.

They arrived to find a padlock on the door, but it wasn’t secured to the frame. As soon as they opened it, a stench rushed out.

Inside was the same space seen in the last victim’s video. In the center was a large object covered in plastic.

Haesu slowly pulled back the plastic.

“Hmph…”

“Ugh…”

It was a woman’s corpse tied to a wooden chair. The skin of her face had been peeled off, and her wrists were severed. Letters written in blood were on the floor.

-Congratulations on finding Kim Hae-eun.

“This psycho bastard…”

Just as Haesu and the rookie were about to radio in in horror, the team leader’s radio buzzed first.

-Hey, f*ck! That psycho just uploaded another video! Check it now!

At the team leader’s words, they opened the culprit’s YouTube channel.

A person wearing a crying-face mask appeared, filling the screen, with a pitch-black background behind them.

In a distorted, creepy voice, he said:

-Tonight, the 29th, at midnight, I will judge Lee Seo-eun, a resident of Jijeong-dong, Gangjin City. I will start a live stream at 11:50. I hope many of you watch. Don’t forget to like and subscribe. Turn on notifications, too.