Chapter 16

With familiar steps, Iheon entered the kitchen and turned on the coffee machine at one side of the counter.

While the machine preheated, he took a capsule and a mug from the cupboard, and as the coffee brewed, he scanned the emails and messages that had arrived overnight on his phone.

Just as he leaned against the sink and took a sip of the freshly brewed coffee, the sound of slippers dragging came from the hallway.

A moment later, Jei appeared at the kitchen entrance, rubbing her sleepy eyes.

Iheon set down his coffee cup and took a glass from the cupboard. He filled it halfway with ice from the water purifier, then took orange juice from the refrigerator and poured it in.

Jei silently took the glass he held out. Still half-asleep, she stared blankly at the ice melting in the glass, then a beat late brought the juice to her lips.

As she swallowed a mouthful of the cold liquid, focus gradually returned to her blurred eyes.

Once Jei settled at the table, Iheon also took his cup and sat across from her. From his cup rose the dark, bitter aroma of the coffee he favored.

A brief quiet settled between them. Jei rubbed the water droplets on the glass with her fingertips, then raised her head.

Having shaken off the remnants of sleep, she spoke first.

“I think I’ll go back there today.”

Iheon’s hand, bringing the coffee cup to his mouth, stopped in midair.

“I’ll visit the real estate office nearby and ask the local shopkeepers too.”

“…….”

“The fact that Muerte deliberately called us to that place means the establishment there and the man in the recording are connected in some way.”

Iheon had thought the same. There was no way the bastard had chosen that place for no reason.

“Alone?”

Iheon set down the cup he was holding. The ceramic base touched the table with a dull sound.

“I’m not trying to do anything grand—just going around a few shops and asking questions.”

“Hmm.”

“I can’t just sit at home waiting until Muerte contacts me again.”

Jei raised her glass, took a sip of orange juice, and smiled brightly.

“I don’t want to be the fool who can’t even make soy paste because she’s afraid of maggots. It’s not night; it’s broad daylight. What could happen while walking around in plain daylight?”

If he had his way, he would lock her in this house so she could not go anywhere.

If he kept her where his eyes and hands could reach, he would not have to fear what might happen to her in some unseen place.

But he could not tie her ankles because of his own anxiety.

“Muerte wants us to look for him.”

Jei set down her glass. The ice clinked lightly.

“At least until he’s certain we’ll uncover his identity, he won’t touch us. Right?”

Iheon did not argue.

He had reached the same conclusion.

Muerte had not called them there to harm them. He wanted them to discover the traces he had left, follow them, and eventually reveal who he was.

The problem was how long that intention would remain valid.

Iheon swallowed a sip of his cooling coffee. If it were not for his morning lecture, he would have silently grabbed his car keys first.

He still did not like it, but he could not stop Jei by citing only uncertain danger.

“What time are you leaving?”

“Around eleven.”

“The real estate office first?”

“Yes. I’m going to find out when it closed and who the building owner is.”

Iheon traced in his mind the route Jei would take, then nodded.

“All right.”

Jei’s eyes widened slightly, as if surprised.

“If I told you not to go, would you not go?”

“That’s not it, but.”

“Instead, keep location sharing on, and contact me when you come out of the real estate office.”

There was still a trace of displeasure in his tone. As if hiding a smile threatening to spread, Jei took a sip of juice.

“Don’t go anywhere else without contacting me.”

“Yes.”

“Not after something happens—the moment you feel something is strange, call me right away.”

Despite his repeated warnings, Jei showed no sign of dislike. Rather, she quietly nodded, rubbing water droplets with the fingertips wrapped around her glass.

* * *

After a glance at the screen, Iheon began explaining the case.

“In this case, the victim is a housewife in her forties. She was murdered on the day she demanded a divorce from her husband.”

Iheon pressed the remote to enlarge the suspect’s statement.

“The husband said he barely remembers the conversation he had with the victim on the day of the incident. And yet he described the exact time he arrived at the scene and the expression on the victim’s face when she opened the door down to the minute.”

His characteristic impassive gaze slowly swept across the lecture hall.

“Distinguish the overly specific parts of the statement from the especially vague ones. The clue is there.”

The students all lowered their heads at once. As the sound of pens scratching filled the lecture hall, Iheon turned his wrist.

11:10. It was the time Jei would have left the house.

As if nothing were wrong, Iheon brought up the next case on the screen.

He compared the husband’s statements before and after the incident, pointed out the contradictions the students had missed one by one, and continued the lecture.

His tone as he threw questions and parried answers showed no unusual sign.

Only, whenever the students’ eyes left him, he checked the time.

11:57. More than enough time to have arrived at the real estate office.

He took his eyes from his wrist and pointed to a student to question.

“The weapon used in the crime was a knife from the kitchen. Is this a planned crime or a spontaneous one?”

“Since he wasn’t carrying a weapon, wouldn’t it be spontaneous?”

“People generally mistake the easier-to-accept answer for the correct one.”

He used a kitchen knife, so it was spontaneous.

The scene was clean, so it was meticulous.

The body was mutilated, so he hated the victim.

“Once you decide on the answer first, you can attach plausible meaning to any action. That is not analysis but confirmation bias.”

Iheon calmly continued explaining that the same action could be interpreted completely differently depending on the context before and after the crime, while remaining conscious of the phone that had not rung.

12:34.

If she had heard what she needed at the real estate office, she would have finished long ago; if not, it was time to have moved elsewhere.

Either way, he could roughly picture in his head where Jei would be by now.

She had said she would contact him immediately if anything happened. No contact meant nothing had happened.

How many times had he checked the time today already? Tsk. Suppressing a bitter smile, he raised his head.

“Let’s continue. What is the husband hiding in this statement?”

As soon as the question fell, several hands went up.

Iheon leisurely indicated one of them with his chin. But on his crossed arms, his tapping fingers beat an anxious rhythm.

* * *

“We’ll stop here for today. See you next class.”

The first thing Iheon did after announcing the end of the lecture was check the phone on the lectern. He scanned the notifications on the screen, but there was no contact from Jei.

There were two missed calls, but they were from someone else.

Instead of checking the missed calls, Iheon called Jei first. The signal went on for a while, then cut off abruptly.

What on earth was she doing that she could not even answer the phone?

“Haa……”

Iheon swept his disheveled hair back over his forehead and let out a sigh.

Once she had a question, she did not let go until she confirmed the answer with her own eyes. Even now, she must have been holding onto something and had completely forgotten that she was supposed to contact him.

Iheon opened the messaging app. In the chat window with Jei, his one-sided messages lined up in a row.

[Where are you.]

[Is something wrong?]

[I’m worried, so contact me as soon as you see this.]

[Why aren’t you answering the phone.]

[Jei. Answer the phone.]

[Why are you suddenly doing this? You quit your job, and what’s this about going to America?]

[I talked to your mother. I want to hear it from you directly. Call me. I’ll wait.]

[I won’t tell you to come back. Just let me know you’re okay. At least let me hear your voice.]

[Why on earth are you doing this? I need to know the reason so I can either wait or come find you.]

[Whatever the reason, I’ll understand, so contact me.]

[Is this your answer?]

[Did you think I’d just sign if you sent papers without even seeing my face once?]

[At least say you want a divorce to my face.]

[Answer the phone.]

[Jei.]

[Jei.]

[Please, I’m begging you, answer the phone.]

Dozens of messages were drifting, lost with nowhere to go.

Iheon scanned down the chat window without expression.

Until he passed the first few lines, there was no change in his face.

As worry became anger, then turned back into coaxing, only his eyes moved slowly downward. Then, near the end, his jaw hardened.

It was already over. It was supposed to be over.

She was a wife who had never once replied despite his many messages, but she had come back.