Chapter 241

***

Unaware that his coat was coming undone, Moon Seok-il silently listened to his colleagues discussing shadows.

“Does he not know?”

“Seems like it. He didn’t notice back then either.”

Kim In-rang and Jeong Sang-tae, each with their arms crossed, wore serious expressions.

Kang Heon-chang grumbled.

“Wow, you guys had something like that happen and didn’t say anything?”

“You didn’t say anything either, man. If you talk, you’re dead. You got the guts to blabber about it?”

At Kim In-rang’s scolding tone, everyone fell silent.

Nothing is more precious than life.

If you’ve witnessed something supernatural, you can’t exactly test whether talking about it will kill you or not.

“Let’s go.”

As the group followed Moon Seok-il toward Jo Seol-chan’s house.

“Stop!”

Yep.

The group froze in place.

“Ah-, it must be cold, but please wait there for a moment.”

Jin Hyuk, who had stretched out his arm, hesitated and then stepped inside the gate.

The difference from the morning was immediately noticeable.

‘Footprints.’

There were traces of someone entering and exiting the gate. Though faint due to the thin layer of snow, they were visible to the naked eye.

‘Did someone come by after we left for the hospital?’

He looked back.

The footprints of the paramedics and Jin Hyuk were cleverly mixed, making it impossible to distinguish at a glance.

In such a suspicious situation, Jin Hyuk’s eyes burned with intensity.

‘Not a burglar.’

The footprints led somewhere other than the house.

He followed the trail left in the snow.

To the space between the wall of the kitchen and the temporary slate exterior wall.

The wavy slate, made of cement and asbestos, was cost-effective and practical. That’s why Jo Seol-chan likely used it to block drafts. Like the Udegi in Ulleungdo.

There was a coal boiler there.

Click-.

Though it was daytime, it was dark, so he turned on the light.

Jin Hyuk’s eyes narrowed in suspicion as he checked the coal boiler.

‘This isn’t fully burned.’

The bottom had turned sandy from burning, but the top remained black, with one piece of coal carelessly placed. Next to it, a completely ashen piece of coal lay broken.

The frugal Jo Seol-chan wouldn’t waste like this.

Using a short metal rod, he opened the boiler’s coal inlet.

Whoosh-. A damp, acrid smell of fire rose.

There was no warmth, indicating it had been off for some time.

He removed the top piece of coal with tongs, then the middle one.

The top piece was intact, while the middle one was about a third burned.

Checking the bottom piece, most of it had turned to ash.

‘Did someone remove the good coal and put in wet coal…?’

Deduction must be based on facts.

Realizing his lack of knowledge about coal, Jin Hyuk knew he needed advice.

He called Moon Seok-il, who was waiting outside.

“Could someone who knows about coal heating come over? The others can check if there are any strange footprints under the snow.”

– Hold on.

There was murmuring in the background.

– I’ll send In-rang. But footprints? What are you looking for?

“Signs of intrusion.”

Kim In-rang soon arrived at the boiler and stroked his chin.

“Hmm-. The air holes are crucial.”

Squatting, Kim In-rang examined the lower front.

“Most are open. This means it’s supposed to burn quickly. Normally, you open them wide when starting the fire, then adjust later.”

Though his words weren’t immediately helpful, Jin Hyuk waited quietly.

You never know when a crucial clue might come.

“Whoever adjusted the air holes, it wasn’t the person living here. In weather like yesterday, you’d set it to less than half to keep the fire going till morning.”

“What about this?”

Jin Hyuk pointed to two pieces of coal scattered on the floor.

“What time does Seol-chan usually sleep?”

“He’d sleep early because of his grandmother.”

“Not certain, but keep it in mind. Coal burns at different rates depending on the environment.”

Jin Hyuk nodded seriously.

Even if it wasn’t certain, he knew the value of input from someone more knowledgeable.

“Let’s see. It was cold yesterday, so if the air holes were two-thirds open, two pieces would take about eight hours… No, maybe ten. The top piece barely burned…”

Kim In-rang furrowed his brow, counting on his fingers and muttering.

Calculating the time.

“Around five or six in the morning?”

“That’s when it went out?”

“If it were when I lived in Seoul, that’d be the case. My mom was quite the penny-pincher.”

Ah, Kim In-rang had lived with his mother in a rural area on the outskirts of Seoul. Now he’s fixing up a house abandoned by Park Dae-soon.

“Look. It’s dried out from the heat, but it’s heavy and crumbles like this-.”

As Kim In-rang fiddled with the coal using gloved hands, it crumbled like castella. It was the coal from the top of the boiler.

“This means it dried quickly due to the fire. Coal needs to dry naturally to be usable. If you burn it like this, it releases a lot of carbon monoxide. And the fire dies out quickly.”

This matched what the doctor at the medical center had said.

It seemed like a lethal dose had been inhaled in a short time.

“Someone must have done this on purpose…”

Unless, as the doctor said, it was a suicide attempt.

Though you can’t know people’s hearts, Jin Hyuk wanted to believe Jo Seol-chan wasn’t that kind of person.

A guy who cared so much for his grandmother, studying design, machinery, and architecture before bed, would take his own life?

It’s more realistic to say Jang Gun-i stopped eating sashimi.

“I think so too…”

Kim In-rang muttered in agreement, looking up.

“Jin Hyuk, look at this.”

Following Kim In-rang’s finger, Jin Hyuk saw the chimney.

It was wrapped neatly with aluminum tape, likely done by Jo Seol-chan during winter preparations.

“Strange, right?”

“Yes…”

It’s called a bongchang.

A hole in the wall, sealed from the inside with paper.

Perhaps used as a chimney for a stove before the boiler was installed, or originally for lighting.

But that’s not important.

“Very strange.”

Jin Hyuk muttered in a monotone.

The boiler’s chimney was directed into the bongchang, leading inside.

Where the kitchen is.

*

“Sigh…”

To calm his racing heart, he held his breath for a moment.

Beyond the hole in the slate wall where the chimney once was, the blue sky was visible. It felt like the freedom one longs for in prison, a color that breathes life.

“Jin Hyuk, come here.”

“Yes.”

Turning the corner, he headed to where Kim In-rang was.

Kim In-rang was acting like a detective, pointing out suspicious things one by one.

“Hey…, this…”

In Kim In-rang’s hand was a crumpled piece of blue tape.

“It’s new. Someone left it. And here, paint on the tape. It came off the door.”

He was referring to the side door facing the backyard, which had blue tape on it.

“I thought it was to block drafts. But looking again, it’s new. It hasn’t been there long.”

Though it could be dismissed as trash on the floor, Kim In-rang noticed it.

Jin Hyuk had to admit that insight from experience is as important as intelligence. If he’d tried to solve this alone, his mind would’ve been filled with endless question marks.

“Come here.”

Following Kim In-rang, they went to a small window.

“This one wasn’t removed.”

“Why not?”

“Probably the same reason as the chimney.”

As Jin Hyuk tried to grasp the meaning, Kim In-rang shrugged.

“They must’ve been in a hurry. Only dealt with what was visible.”

“Ah…”

The chimney and window, much taller than a person, were out of sight. In their haste, their vision narrowed.

Whoever did it, the intention behind the tape was clear.

“Any fingerprints?”

“Even if there were, they’d be hard to find. And fingerprints are only needed when handing things over to the police, right?”

Right. That was a pointless question. Jin Hyuk closed his eyes expressionlessly.

If he kept them open, it felt like fire would shoot out.

“If they wanted to kill, would they need to go through all this?”

“To make it look like an accident, right? They removed the tape from that door. In my dumb judgment, it doesn’t seem like a spur-of-the-moment thing. What’s it called… impulsive?”

“Premeditated…?”

“Yeah. If it’s ruled a crime, it’d be a headache.”

“So they came back to erase the traces…”

As Jin Hyuk irritably peeled off the blue tape from the window, he fell silent. Realizing the footprints in the yard were to erase evidence, the human disgust he’d just wiped from his mind began to resurface.

“What’s wrong?”

“I need to look outside.”

He crossed the yard and stepped out the gate.

Moon Seok-il, who had been searching the field for footprints as Jin Hyuk requested, approached.

“There are footprints in the field-.”

“Probably mine.”

“Right.”

He examined the fence.

Running his hand over the rough cement bricks, glaring at them like an enemy.

Turning the corner, he took two steps and saw a dirt-stained fence.

Where someone had stepped to climb over.

Using the dirt as a guide, he slowly turned toward the field.

Moving his gaze, he drew a straight line starting from his toes.

At the end of that line, he met the ridge of the field, where the early morning mirage spread like a haze.

‘Was it those bastards?’

There were two of them.

Having never suspected attempted murder, he hadn’t considered them suspects. He thought they were just nearby residents heading to work, crying like fools while holding Jo Seol-chan.

Squatting, he brushed away the piled snow with his hands.

Moon Seok-il and the others watched Jin Hyuk and assisted.

It didn’t take long to find footprints in the field. The March soil was surprisingly helpful.

“Footprints.”

“Work boots, right?”

At Jeong Sang-tae’s remark, Moon Seok-il nodded.

Kang Heon-chang, with his hand flat on the ground, added.

“Bro, two of them. One at 281, the other at 275.”

Listening to the conversation, Kim In-rang whistled.

“Some decent-looking guys, huh?”

Moon Seok-il cleared the snow where Jin Hyuk was standing.

His movements were as careful as an archaeologist’s.

“One waited here.”

“Where’s Jin Hyuk going?”

At Jeong Sang-tae’s shout, the group followed Jin Hyuk.

Jin Hyuk reached the gate and lowered his head until his ear nearly touched the ground.

Among the chaotic footprints in the snow, he thought there might be protruding ones.

“Right, they must’ve come back this way.”

Crumpling the blue tape in his hand, Kim In-rang gritted his teeth.

“They were in a hurry to clean up, but they’re not amateurs.”

“They mixed it well.”

The footprints of the paramedics were cleverly overlapped, making it hard to distinguish.

Either highly intelligent, considering every possibility, or experienced in such matters.

Letting go of his doubts, Jin Hyuk headed to where the footprints were found.

Recalling the straight line he’d imagined earlier, he followed it.

Reaching the ridge where the bastards had stood, he cleared the snow again.

“This is tough. There are other methods.”

“Yes. I believe you can catch them. But more evidence makes it easier to identify, right?”

Moon Seok-il fell silent.

Even if said a hundred times, it was the right thing to say.

“For example, cigarette butts…”

As he said this, Jin Hyuk held up a half-burned cigarette butt.

Moon Seok-il squinted.

“There’s a cigarette like this?”

“XiLi. Must be a Chinese brand.”

XiLi.

The name was clearly engraved in red on the filter.

“They didn’t have a Chinese accent. But it’ll be easy to identify them later, right?”

“Hmm. Good clue.”

Moon Seok-il nodded, pulling up one corner of his mouth.

Though there are quite a few Chinese people living in Taeyang County, those who smoke such cigarettes aren’t common.

Standing up, he brushed off his hands to focus.

“This might be the first time I’m assigning tasks to all four of you at once? Those bastards…”

He took a deep breath, then exhaled slowly.

“Please catch them.”

“Hmm.”

With a short answer and a nod, Moon Seok-il’s jaw tightened.

The look in Jin Hyuk’s eyes resembled Hong Ki-jun’s when ordering gangsters to be dealt with.